My Heart Won't Let Me

No Side to Choose

Chapter 9

'No Side to Choose'

He jinxed it.

This morning he was pretty sure nothing could've brought his mood down, but it turned out he jinxed it because right now Ross was clenching his fists so tight, his nails dug into his skin and his knuckles turned white.

His day had been great until two minutes ago. He went to a park with Emma, fed the ducks and ate their lunch by the tree. After lunch, the father and daughter made their way to where Ross used to work - The American Museum of Natural History. Ross met a bunch of his former coworkers there, even his former boss. He beamed in pride every time they mentioned how cute Emma was as they caught up with their lives. They spent good hours in the museum and of course he stopped at a few spots he always cherished in his memory, the spot where he and Emma's mother used to be in love.

"This is it." Ross showed Emma the planetarium where once he and Rachel had their date, bending down to Emma's eye level as his gaze fixated to the starry stars across the ceilings. "This is the place where no doubt in my mind I knew for the first time that your mommy is the love of my life. That she is it.." He murmured to his baby daughter as he silently relived the memory in his head - thinking about how happy they were at the time. Emma's small finger followed his daddy's gaze and she pointed across the stars, babbling something resembling the word 'mommy' and managed to put Ross' face into a smile because of it. He leaned in and kissed Emma's cheeks, smiling at her with his slightly teary eyes. "That's right, sweetie. Mommy is still the love of my life and that's why daddy will do his best to wait for her until she's ready."

That was how his day went so far - filled with hopes and dreams for their future, until half an hour ago he decided to wait for Rachel at Monica's apartment, completely forgetting who was living just down the hall from his sister.

Ross stared at the man standing by the kitchen of his sister's apartment and he had to fight the urge to yell at him and potentially made a scene. He had to remind himself that Emma was just a foot away from him - playing with her favorite toys by the floor - and he didn't want his baby to be traumatized by the fight his father would have with his Uncle Joey. So instead, Ross stared at him with so much anger - it made the guy squirm uneasily.

Monica watched the whole scene with a frown on her forehead. To say she didn't like how Ross reacted to Joey's arrival was the understatement of the year. Her stupid brother was now staring at their friend so intensely, it was so obvious to anyone's eyes that Ross didn't welcome their friend's presence in the room. In fact, she was pretty sure if it wasn't for Emma, she had to break a potential fight happening between the two men.

Joey casted his glance from Ross' intense gaze to Monica then to the floor gingerly,  it was obvious that all of their friends had heard what happened between him and Rachel and judging by how Ross was staring at him with the mix of disgust and rage right now it was pretty safe to say that Joey should've just stayed at home instead of taking the dinner offer from Monica. The only two people Joey had told about what happened were Monica and Chandler, and after he told them everything, Monica had invited him for a dinner - telling him that he wasn't supposed to be alone and that as much as they were upset about his action, it wasn't their business and that of course they'd still be friends.

If Joey had known Ross was going to be here, he'd have just declined the offer. But again, of course Ross was here. Duh, Ross was Monica's brother and Chandler's brother-in-law after all, of course he'd always been welcomed here.

Joey frowned as the realization hit him.

If they had to choose sides, there was no doubt that they'd take Ross' sides. Ross was family, meanwhile Joey was just their friend. Family clearly trumped friends.