Rachel raises her arms into the air, "I can't take it anymore!" If anyone was nearby, they'd take a good hit in the face.
Clearly the odour of the ex-tenants and their poultry weren't subdued by the cans upon cans of Febreze. The stench was getting too much to bear for the two lady inhabitants.
It's been about five minutes since the boys left for their basketball game and the girls were sulking over yet another lost bet. Rachel's pacing was making Phoebe dizzy so she decided to start knitting a scarf and Monica, as per usual was tending to the hygiene of their apartment.
"I know sweetie, me too, but there's nothing we can do about it," Monica says as she leans over the counter she's wiping. They've stayed in this tiny apartment for way too long and it's starting to look like they'd be there forever. It was a nightmare neither her nor Rachel want to come to life.
Rachel pauses to cross her arms, "There has got to be something we can do! Think guys, think!" She felt desperate at this point, there has got to be something that the boys would take from them.
"Let's think like guys maybe that will help!" Phoebe's proclamation makes sense. "Like, beyond sports!" She drops her needles for a second and gestures her hands in excitement, "Aha! Maybe we can get them some girls fighting in mud! Oh! OH! And maybe, they can be naked!"
Monica laughs at her friend's enthusiasm before finishing her job and taking a seat, "I thought the Knick's tickets were golden for us. I mean, did you see Joey? He was begging Chandler to take the trade!"
"Damn that Bing," Rachel growls before joining her girls on the couch. "He just had to be stubborn about all this. It took forever to convince my mom to give us those tickets."
Monica laughs, lightly resting her hand on her best friend's shoulder, "You mean, it took forever to wait for her to sleep before we stole them?" She laughs at the flashback. Her mother was too busy talking about her new single life to allow them to convince her to give the tickets.
"What? She wasn't going to use them anyway!" Rachel rolls her eyes at the memory.
"So you guys just took them?" Phoebe's a little shocked by the thought, but smiles at her friends, beaming in pride. "I didn't think you would have the guts! Now that's how you get what you want! That's how I grew up, you know? There was no time to negotiate, I just stole that guy's leftovers when he wasn't looking! Now I really should get back to this scarf, it isn't going to knit itself!"
Monica and Rachel exchange knowing looks, "Wait Pheebs, what did you just say?" Monica asks with a sparkle in her eye.
"I said I should get back to my scarf because they don't make themselves you know," she gasps, "Unless! Unless you know a way?" she stares at Monica hopefully, getting only a small laugh in return.
"No, no sweetie, that part about taking what we want?" Monica stands up, Rachel following after knowing exactly what she was thinking.
"That's it! Pheebs, you are a genius!" The two girls scream in excitement before hugging Phoebe in appreciation. They're nearly jumping up and down and although Phoebe's smile is stretching from one end of her face to the other, her eyes are screaming confusion.
"Thanks, I already knew that but wait, what's happening?"
Monica takes Phoebe's hand and Rachel's before exchanging looks with both, "We're going to take our apartment back."
Of course, the pregnant one takes a step back from the heavy lifting and decides to sit still and work on her scarf while the other two move the furniture back and forth with a strength awoken with new inspiration. Within the next hour and a half, almost everything is moved in its proper place.
"Those guys won't know what hit them," Rachel cackles triumphantly after she and Monica place the foosball table back in their original spot. It's the final piece of the guys' furniture they had to move.
The two are giddy as they enter their original apartment, their huge, girl appropriate apartment with its purple walls and nice, not bird smell.
"Joey and Chandler should be back within the next hour," Monica says oh so casually as she sits on her couch, in her apartment, where she should be.
"I can't wait to hear their screams," Rachel cheers, wrinkling her nose and pumping her fists.
"I'm so happy for you guys but," Phoebe starts as she joins the two on the couch, "Don't you think they'll just move everything back? I mean, as much as I support you two, this isn't really fair. You'll probably have to trade something again."
Phoebe's scarf is looking rather questionable at the moment, but Monica and Rachel are only looking at each other. They search each other's eyes for a response since Phoebe was unfortunately right. What were they going to do when the guys arrived? They needed a back-up plan.
Rachel breaks eye contact first to turn to Phoebe, "Pheebs, this was your idea! Can't you say something that will inspire the next step?"
"Look Rachel, I may be a genius but every genius has a limited supply of ideas for the day and I'm afraid I'm out of them."
Monica's eyes light up as Rachel heaves a sigh, "Wait a second, remember Phoebe's mud wrestling girls idea from earlier?"
"Look Mon, I love this apartment as much as you do and am willing to do anything but I don't think we can find girls and mud in time to do that."
The younger Geller simply smiles at Rachel before placing her hands on her shoulders, "Sweetie, we can improvise."
Rachel raises her brow, "But, Mon, you know mud is very messy. And if you remember, you don't really like that. And what, did you think we could just pull random strangers from the street to do this favour for us?"
Monica pauses for a moment before turning away. She had an idea similar to Phoebe's, but it was something that Rachel might not exactly be okay with. However, they both wanted the apartment badly so, "Look, I know something we can do that doesn't involve mud or strange women."
"What is it, Mon?" Rachel is a little concerned about Monica's seriousness. This must be some intense - and knowing her best friend - but thorough plan.
"Yeah, I wanna know too," Phoebe chimes in, looking at Monica with curiousity.
"Well," she turns around to meet Rachel's eyes, "We're…girls."
Instantly, Rachel understands what Monica is getting at. It crossed her mind before while they were thinking about ways to get the guys to give their apartment back. After all, Joey always gave a very approving nod when he saw her and Monica giving each other a hug. It used to baffle her how he could think of their friendly gestures as something so intimate and lewd but she had to admit that they were rather touchy. Her eyes are locked with Monica's and she nods in understanding.
"…and?" Phoebe asks after a moment of their silence, unsure of what Monica was getting to.
"What if we, you know, kissed for them?" Monica's bashfulness is clear in her question as much as she hates it. Rachel finds it rather endearing actually and Phoebe nods in approval.
"That's perfect! I bet those guys have sick fantasies about us all the time!" Phoebe claps her hands together in excitement, "They'll agree to let things stay the way they are for sure!"
Rachel wants to say something, but hesitates, trying not to sound too eager, "H-How should we kiss?"
"Use tongue! Oh, OH! And do it for like an entire minute, I'm sure the guys would never refuse that!" Phoebe's practically bouncing in her seat, "This is so exciting! Oh wait but…wouldn't this be awkward for you two?"
"Not really," Monica says right away which almost surprises Rachel, "I mean it's not like it would be out first time."
Phoebe's eyes light up, "No way! Although, to admit, I have imagined you two having experimented a little bit you know, living in the same apartment for so long and everything."
The two blush instantly, but turn away from each other to hide their embarrassment, "W-We never did that!" Monica almost yells, "We just, you know, in high school maybe practiced…on each other."
There is a moment of silence for Phoebe to take in the information and for the other two to compose themselves. Monica is the first to recover, swallowing the memory before walking towards the kitchen for a drink of water.
Rachel lets out the breath she was holding and wished that Phoebe wasn't in the room for this, almost intimate moment. It's just a stupid kiss to get their apartment back, why was she getting so worked up?
Phoebe is the first to speak up, "So you guys really going to do it?"
"Rach?" Monica looks to Rachel for her answer; after all, she was the one who thought of it so Rachel just had to agree.
Trying not to cause any suspicion, she just casually answers, "Yeah, sure. We'll offer them one minute."
Monica smiles at her best friend and they share eye contact again. The moment felt appropriate for a hug so they wrapped each other up in their arms and laughed at nothing. Both of them felt the small amount of tension and wanted to say something, but Phoebe spoke up instead.
"Awesome! Do you guys think I can film this?"