AN: This won't be finished by Easter. Even the Valentine's fic won't be finished by then (maybe but I think it will take another two chapters). But I wanted to do an Easter fic and it makes no sense to start it after Easter so here goes.
This is in the same story line as 'Just for Us' – the same alternative season 5 – getting close to the end of that season.
Dinner with Friends
Time: A week before Easter
Rachel was proud of herself. She had made dinner all by herself from a recipe book and basic ingredients. She hadn't cheated even once, although she'd been tempted to. It was the first meal in her new apartment, aside from take out and it was in some way a house warming. Monica had offered to help, not just because she was Monica, but also because Rachel was keeping a very important secret for her, not that Rachel needed any bribery.
It would take special care to put to Ross that his sister would be getting a new flatmate, and not just any flatmate, but Chandler. Of course, he had no right to make any kind of fuss – Monica was grown up, she was already in a relationship with Chandler for goodness sakes – but just because he had no right to make a fuss didn't mean that he wouldn't make one. As if no-one could see they were practically living together anyway.
Rachel had had to spend so many evenings out to give Monica and Chandler a clear field that she had decided to move out. Once she'd made that decision, Monica had behaved very oddly. If anything, Rachel had been worried about offending Monica by suggesting that she make the move, but Monica who was the one who was shifty about it. Finally she came out with,
'Would you mind if Chandler moved in?'
'Mind?' Rachel had stared. Why on earth would she mind? She wasn't going to be there.
'Well I don't want you to think that I've been making you feel unwelcome…' Rachel had hugged her to stop her saying such ridiculous things.
'Of course I don't mind. That's the way it should be, that's what I want you to do,' Rachel had said firmly.
The hard part would be letting everyone else know. So far, no move had been made yet, at least not officially. Joey suspected something was up, but Chandler hadn't moved many of his things yet. Those two had to come to some arrangement too – but the hard part would be Ross.
Rachel remembered when he'd found out about the relationship in the first place. The sneaking around had been terrible and then Emily had spotted what was going on and had rolled her eyes and said,
'Just tell him! He's just going to have to put up with it.' Like it was that simple. But it had been. On hearing the news, Ross had started on his explosive trip to the stratosphere when Emily had intercepted with an angry,
'How can you be so selfish? You're happy so why can't they be happy?' Somehow, when he tried to explain it to her, a person whom it had to be said was an outsider at that stage, for all she was Ross's wife, it had sounded so silly. Emily pretended that she couldn't understand any of Ross's objections, which led him to say,
'How could you be happy that they did this at our wedding!'
'At least someone was happy then!' Emily had shot back, spiking his guns. That had been the end of his resistance – but that had just been to the idea of Monica and Chandler dating. This was another thing entirely.
Rachel took another look at her table setting. It hadn't been easy, but she'd done it. She deferred thinking about the kitchen. She had been able to pull across an indoor louvre which hid the damage that promised hours of toil. Maybe it wouldn't look so bad the next time she went into the kitchen – not that she felt like testing this out now.
Everyone arrived almost together, and suddenly her flat was full of noise, flowers, bottles of wine, and a cake. Rachel hadn't been able to stop Monica from having a peek in the kitchen and she knew that she didn't approve of what she saw there. Rachel told herself that she wouldn't approve of anything anyway.
Then she brought it all out. She wasn't pleased with the looks of apprehension she saw on their faces, and she demanded,
'What?'
'Oh, nothing,' Ross said.
'Nothing,' Monica said. Everyone else just looked down at their plates. 'Here,' Monica said, 'I'll help you dish up.' It really wasn't that bad. She'd made macaroni cheese, salad, and grilled some fish. The fish hadn't been planned but someone had told her while out shopping that it was a good deal and worth getting.
There was lots of dinner conversation, but Rachel, who had been watching closely, noticed that not much eating was going on. In fact, she heard Chandler, or thought she heard him mention the word glue. Ha, so he'd like it if she told Ross would he? But Monica was forcing herself to eat.
'Seconds, Joey?' Rachel asked.
'No thanks Rachel, I'm full.' Everyone else shot him a look of surprised. 'I er ate before I came – I forgot, sorry, gee I'd love to have more but I, I can't. Anyway, I've got to go on a diet.'
'What diet is this?' Chandler asked with a glint in his eye. 'Is this the diet where you eat every single oreo?'
'Um, yeah,' Joey said, 'I'll pay you back.'
'Chandler doesn't need more oreos,' Monica said firmly.
'This is good,' Emily said, 'You just need to add the fish to the macaroni cheese.' Rachel watched closely for any sign of sarcasm. Emily could occasionally drop a sarcastic remark, the significance of which was realised only later. But you could not doubt the sincerity of a woman who was at that very moment scraping the last morsel from her plate, the only person in the room, hostess included, to do so.
'Add in the fish?' Ross asked nervously. Rachel had to admit that this wouldn't have occurred to her.
'Mm yes,' Emily said, as she helped herself to more of everything. 'That, and some mustard.' Mustard? How did that get on the table, Rachel wondered, and then realised she'd put every condiment she had there.
'Ugh, no thanks,' Chandler said.
'It's a lot better than it sounds,' Emily said. 'It doesn't do to be a stick in the mud about food. It's boring if you only have the same combinations.' Monica looked at her as though she was mad. Emily was often the last person to try something new.
'That's so true,' Phoebe said, 'We're too bound by conventions.' She mixed in the fish, added a dollop of mustard, took a spoonful and gagged. Covering her mouth she ran for the bathroom. Emily looked surprised, but fork laden, took another mouthful. That mouthful didn't seem to have any alarming effects on her but Rachel was mortified anyway. More than one person had to like your meal for it to be a success – and let's face it, if you yourself didn't like the meal you'd made, there was something wrong.
'Sweetie, it's all right,' Monica said. 'Let's have some cake.' Rachel was about to say that she'd made some cake, but her biased eye could no longer deny the different between the flat brown disc she'd produced and Monica's cake.
'Okay.'
'And guys,' Monica said, 'While you're all here, I'm doing dinner on Easter Sunday.'
'Thank G – thanks,' Joey said, quelled by Rachel's look.
'And maybe the Sunday after that, you could cook for us all, Joey,' Rachel said, startling him.
