A Place We Once Knew

Let's Waste It Right

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Hold Me While You Wait - Lewis Capaldi

I wish that I was good enough
If only I could wake you up
My love, won't you stay a while?
Tell me something I don't know
Did we come close to having it all?
If you're gonna waste my time
Let's waste it right
And hold me while you wait

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The next few weeks flew by as she fell back into her usual routine of work during the day and spending her evenings and weekends with Elliot. He worked at Mt. Sinai Hospital and lived in the East Village so it was a quick commute to see each other. In fact, they pretty much spent all of their time together when they weren't at work, and she enjoyed every minute she spent with him. Their relationship was effortless. The last few weeks had been filled with smiles and laughs and conversation and plenty of great sex. He really was everything she wanted in a man and she could definitely see a future with him. Not long ago, she wasn't ready for that at allt, but now she was at a point in her life where she was becoming established in her job and settling down didn't sound like such a bad idea.

It was the night of the benefit for Ross's work, and she was in her bedroom finishing her hair and makeup. She wore a long spaghetti strap black dress with a slit up one side and black heels. Her hair fell loosely around her shoulders. As she reached for her perfume, the phone rang.

"Hey babe, it's me. Look, I have some bad news. I got called into the hospital for an emergency... I'm not going to be able to make it tonight. I'm really sorry."

"Oh no, are you serious? I was really counting on you to keep my sanity during this thing. I even got a new black dress just for you."

"Ah come on, don't kick me when I'm down. I feel awful. How about we meet up later tonight when I get off? And hey, keep that dress on. At least for a little while."

She laughed. "Deal."

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Ross nervously moved around the banquet room, eager to rub shoulders with the right people, but equally determined to not appear too eager. The evening had gone quite smoothly so far. The dinner and the presentation had wrapped up and guests were left to mingle, drink, or dance as desired. He sat at the round table with his five closest friends as he sipped on his cocktail.

"Thanks for coming tonight guys. I know it isn't exactly your idea of a good time."

"Are you kidding me? Free booze!" Ross shot Joey a look. "I mean uh, we are so here for you, man", he said as he downed his drink and flashed a huge smile.

"What's not to like? I just gave birth to triplets... I'll take all the free booze I can get!" Phoebe chimed in. "Hey, by the way... where are Monica and Chandler? They went to the bathroom like 20 minutes ago..."

Joey looked around. "Glad I didn't have what they had for dinner".

He couldn't help but notice that Rachel was being quiet, and haphazardly swirling her straw around in her glass. He had seen her dressed up a dozen times, but she still took his breath away every time. Hell, she could be wearing sweatpants and still have a debilitating effect on him. She was the most beautiful woman in the room tonight and she didn't even know it. But he couldn't ignore the fact that she seemed a little off tonight. "Hey, are you okay?"

"Me? Oh yeah, I'm fine..." her voice trailed off.

He looked down at the table, and then back at her, hesitantly. What the hell.