Chapter 1 : The kiss in Barbados

Boring stuff : although I consider the characters as my puppets and I'm the puppetmaster, they are not mine… Rated "R", so kiddies :"Shoo"… what else? If you don't like my English, deal with i. That's all!

Btw, in my own little world, things are perfect and Ross doesn't overreact. Friends writers put enough obstacles already, why add more? So that's where the title came from. It makes a shorter story, granted, but that the way I want it. Hopefully, you'll enjoy it! Please read and Review!

So it's set immediately after the kiss in Barbados… In fact, I start during that kiss.

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Was it just a dream? She was definitely kissing a man. Tall, muscular with a firm body. They pulled away for a few seconds. She wasn't dreaming. There he was. A face so familiar to her and yet, everything about that kiss was new to her. All she was able to say at that time was "Oh." and he leaned back in to kiss her again, but more passionately this time. He stepped in the room and closed the door with his foot, without breaking their embrace.

His hands were exploring her bare back, her hair, her waist. She loved it. To her surprise, it didn't feel awkward, on the contrary. It felt as natural as breathing. She pulled away a few seconds to look at him again. She melted. He looked so good. They were friends for so long now, they knew everything about each other. They couldn't hide anything from the other one, even if they wanted to. She looked up at him and couldn't help but smile.

"Hey Rachel."

He looked so peaceful now. An hour before, when she told him how she felt about him, he told her he couldn't act on his feelings because of Ross. "Ugh! Ross!", she thought to herself, "Why does everything in my life has to be affected by him anyways?" Joey broke her heart before leaving the room and she was pretty sure his heart was in pieces too. He was torn between the girl he loved for over a year now and his loyalty for his friend. So why the change of heart all of a sudden?

"Joey?", she asked him.

"Yeah Rach?"

"What happened?"

"What do you mean?"

"An hour ago, you couldn't, now you're in here kissing me... what happened?"

He rose his eyebrow and started to look away from her "Nothin'", he lied.

"Ah, come on! It's me! I know when you're hiding something! I wanna know what happened between the moment you left my room an hour ago and now."

He sighed. "Ok..." Why not tell it? Is it so bad? "I was in the lobby, heading for the front desk to find myself another room and I saw Ross... kissing Charlie." He wouldn't look at her in the eyes.

"Oh… I see. So what was that just then? Some kind of sick revenge? Are you trying to get back at Ross? Because it's really not funny!" She had her arms crossed and looked very angry.

Joey knew he had to say something quick. "No, no, no, no, no! It's nothing like that Rachel!", he said trying to get her to look at him directly. He was able to make eye contact again. "When we talked earlier, I told you I couldn't do it to Ross... He's my friend and you know how I feel about the rules between friends." She nodded. Indeed, she knew how loyal Joey has always been to all his friends, even if it means giving up something that could have been great for him.

Her expression softened. "But then, I saw the two of them in the lobby, kissing. I wasn't jealous. At all. But there they were, crossing the same line that I put in front of myself. But they looked happy, while I was miserable. I kinda took it as a green light from Ross. He would understand it. He's moved on and does what he can to be happy and that's what we should do too : move on, stop living in the past and try to find happiness."

She was smiling now. Joey can really impress her sometimes. "I came back to tell you how I really feel. Let's forget about everyone else and focus on us. I want us to happen. Do you?" She slowly walked towards him with a flirty look. He looked at her and said : "How you doin'?" She wrapped her arms around his neck and said with a grin : "Let's focus." and kissed him deeply.

They were getting very passionate, the hands running through each other's hair and touching the skin under their clothes. They were moving towards the bed and weren't looking like they were going to stop when suddenly, Joey broke the kiss and started to frown.

"What's wrong?" Rachel was worried something else would postpone their passion again.

"I... gotta talk to Ross."

She sighed and looked defeated. But she knew exactly what was on Joey's mind. "Sure, go ahead. But come back soon, ok?"

"Don't worry, I'm not doing it because I want to, you know."

"Yeah, I know." She cupped his face between her hands and kissed his lips. "I'll stay right here, waiting for you."

"Thanks. I know I'm asking a lot from you." He looks at her with his puppy eyes. "I won't be long, I promise."

They kiss again. They didn't look like they were going to separate anytime soon, until Joey stumbled against the door and came back to his senses.

"I'll be right back."