Disclaimer: This writer is most certainly not the owner of Friends.
Phoebe Buffay sighed loudly in annoyance. She had been playing the guitar for five hours straight outside this dumb coffeehouse, her fingers were in fact numb from all the strumming, yet she had gotten nothing in return to match her efforts. " Not even a lousy dollar," she said to herself out loud, as she counted the feeble amount of quarters and dimes currently strewn about in her guitar case. " Oh, oh a condom, well that's just great. They can't hand me a dollar, but they see nothing in dropping random contraceptives in here," she muttered, recovering the foil and disapprovingly holding it between her thumb and index finger.
" Hey, I could use a condom," came a sudden voice from above. Phoebe quickly looked up, only to come face to face with a really rather good-looking, young man, who was dressed to the nines. She didn't trust him at first, this due to her mom once telling her to never trust a man in a fancy suit. But then again, her mom had told her more things, that hadn't turned out to be true. Like that time, when she'd promised her and Ursula that she'd always be there looking out for them and then, she'd killed herself the very next day.
" I mean… if you don't want it… I uh…" he paused, then motioned for her to come closer. When she reluctantly did so, he whispered: " I have this date and I'm thinking there's a pretty good chance I'm gonna get lucky tonight, so if you wouldn't mind, you know…"
Phoebe gave a slight shrug, then said: " Sure, take it, it's yours," as she handed him the package.
" Oh my god, your hands… they're, they're so cold," he then remarked in a bit of a shock, when her slender fingers brushed against his.
" Well, that's kinda what you get, if you're out on the street all day," the blonde retorted sharply, right before attempting to retract her hand from this stranger. She didn't feel comfortable with people getting this close to her, touching her even. Everyone's usual reaction was to either ignore her or send her an intense glare of disgust.
The man didn't seem to want to back down however, as he only tightened his grip on her hand.
" Oh, I'm so sorry, I hadn't really thought about the fact that you could possibly be homeless," he then brought out sympathetically, concern shining in his deep chocolate brown eyes.
" Please let go of me," Phoebe begged quietly.
" No! No, I want to keep you warm, here," he proclaimed strongly, while he hurriedly began rubbing the palms of his hands over her knuckles.
" There, doesn't that feel better already?"
" Well… yeah, actually it does, Mr…" she threw back, displaying a slight smile, at the sudden warmth she felt rushing through her digits.
" Oh, uh… Tribbiani, Joey Tribbiani. And you don't have to call me Mr.! Heck, I think we're about the same age, from looking at you. What's your name, by the way?"
" Phoebe, Phoebe Buffay."
Joey threw her a disarming smile, which she had to admit was actually quite sexy, then suggested: " Well, Phoebe, Phoebe Buffay, can I by any chance interest you in a pair of these warm leather gloves?"
" What leather gloves?" the blonde asked in confusion, failing to spot any signs of said garments.
" Oh, shoot! I thought I was wearing them, oh man! I'm sorry, I can go buy you another pair, if you want! Oh, I'm sorry!" he exclaimed apologetically. His whole panicky demeanor causing her to let out a brief chuckle. Maybe this guy… this Joey, wasn't such a bad seed after all. If anything, he certainly wasn't bad looking.
" Hey, relax, will you? I don't mind and you don't have to buy them for me. I've gone without them for quite a while now, I'll survive."
" No, no, I insist. I want to help you. As the matter of fact, I'm going out to buy you some, right now. I… uh… I won't be long. I'll just have to call my friend, to ask him where that clothes shop is again, seeing as I don't really… you know, remember."
Joey then promptly took out his phone and Phoebe heard him talking to a certain Chandler for a while.
" Okay, I know where it is, I'll be back in no time, I promise. it's only a couple o' blocks away from here. In the meantime, take care, okay?" the young man stated, while placing a gentle hand on her admittedly ragged and filthy coat, sending a new very welcomed rush of warmth to her shivering body.
Then, the blonde suddenly remembered something, as she asked: " Hey… wait a minute. Didn't you have a date?"
" Oh, oh yeah, that's right. Well, she can wait you know, I.. I need to see to it that you're feeling better first."
" Oh… thanks, that's so sweet of you," Phoebe beamed, suddenly liking this man a whole lot more. He must really be concerned about her wellbeing, if he was just gonna ditch his date in order to get her some stupid mittens.
" Hey, it's nothing, don't worry about it. I just wouldn't want a pretty girl like you to freeze to death. That would be a damn shame, you know… since you're like very pretty," Joey retorted, sending her another one of his charming smiles, effectively causing her to blush.
" Thank you, you're not so bad yourself," she brought out quickly, then inwardly scolded herself for going along with his antics that easily. For all she knew, he could still only be out to take advantage of her. She couldn't even begin to start counting the amount of men, who had mistaken her for a prostitute and had sent her leering looks, before they'd started throwing themselves at her. Then again, she couldn't really picture the guy in front of her doing such a thing. There was a certain streak of innocence to him, that she couldn't quite put her finger on. He just looked so cute, boyish even.
" Thanks, now, I'll be on my way, see you soon," Joey then announced, right before waving at her, turning around and running in the general direction of the subway.