Second Chances

Jen

It had been a very long day and she was so relieved to finally be in her bed underneath the comforter, cuddled up with her dogs. Clyde, Sophie, and Lord Chesterfield kept her warm and safe in her big house at night. She reached for her phone to do some mindless scrolling on the ‘gram before calling it a night. She watched a few reels posted by some of her friends and then decided to browse her dm’s. She never read the majority of them, but her most recent one caught her eye.

_schwim_: For the record, I think you wore it better! :)

She clicked on the picture and a huge grin spread across her face as she realized what it was. 

She watched her much younger self parade down the aisle with her bright pink bridesmaid dress caught in her underwear, allowing the whole world to see much more of her than they should have. The edit then cut to her and David singing together in the same episode. She cringed a little when she watched herself, but she couldn’t help but smile as she watched the couple interact on the screen in front of her. The memories she had experienced with the reunion over the past few days had created some intense feelings that she didn’t expect. Overall, she enjoyed the experience very much, but she didn’t expect it to bring up as many emotions as it did.

Being on set with her old castmates again after 17 years felt like nothing had changed. But she couldn’t help but think about how much had changed - pretty much everything. They were all completely different people since they were last in that studio. They had each lived so much life and experienced so much heartache. Her mind immediately turned to David. As familiar as it was to fall into a comfortable rhythm with him, she couldn’t help but notice how strained and uncomfortable it was between them at the beginning. They had spent 17 years on opposite sides of the country since the show ended, hardly speaking at all until the past few years. Honestly, separating from each other was the only way to move on with their lives. The healing took years. It was so difficult to forget someone who gave her so much to remember, but eventually there were days that occurred where she didn’t think about him.

Lord Chesterfield nuzzled up against her hand, demanding all of her attention, to which she lovingly obliged for a few moments. Her dogs were her children, after all.

She had been lost in thought, but her dogs brought her back to reality. She picked up her phone and noticed that some reels had continued to play.

‘I was scared to lose you then

But secrets turn into regrets

Buried feelings grow

Oh, you were a good dream’

She couldn’t take her eyes off of the edit as a montage of Ross and Rachel’s best moments flashed across her screen and the lyrics to the song filled her ears.

Her heart pounded as she watched the scene unfold where Ross and Rachel nervously made their way towards each other in the living room, equally unsure and hopeful of what might happen next. When they finally met in the middle, the kiss was electric. She could still feel it inside of her, all these years later. This was the first time Ross and Rachel were a real couple and they were exploring a whole new world with each other in it. It was so much more than just a kiss. It was their opportunity to be together - even if only behind a camera, so they took full advantage of it. They put every feeling and emotion into the moment as possible, stunning the cast and crew. She thought back to how happy she was that she finally got to explore that with David. They had harbored secret feelings for each other for months but couldn’t do anything about them out of respect for the show and their castmates. Suppressing these feelings had caused their sexual tension to escalate off the charts. Jen blushed as she watched them kiss. She remembered getting a lot of crap for that scene. To be honest, her friends had given her crap about every scene she and David did together. But the truth was that when she was with him, she had absolutely no control. Apparently you’re not supposed to use tongue on a sitcom. Oops.