It's been a week or two since Monica, Chandler and the twins moved out from across the hall of Joey's apartment. Although, Joey has been speaking with Chandler over the phone, it still did not fill the void in his chest that longed for the presence of his best friend he has known for ten years. He knew he had to see Chandler, but he also knew how busy Monica and Chandler have been with the twins, the move and he did not want to bother them until they were all settled in .
"Hmm, maybe I'll go see if Phoebe and Mike want to go grab a cup of coffee or something at Central Perk." He thought to himself, remembering that Ross, Rachel and Emma were in Paris checking out the residential areas. So, Rachel would be able to continue on with Gucci with Ross and Emma by her side.
Ring..Ring..Ring..Ring.. "Hello, Buffay- Hannigan residence, Princess Consuela speaking."
"Hey Pheebs, do you an-"
"I'm sorry Crap Bag and I are not able to answer the phone right now, and if this is the cops calling then I'm going to have to politely ask you to... go to hell cause' I'm not going back-" Beep!
"Dammit!" Joey cursed as he slammed his phone down in anguish. "I'll just go down to Central Perk myself..." He mumbled to himself as he walked out of the apartment and pulled his key out of his pocket to lock his door.
Usually Joey doesn't lock his door, knowing that Monica, Chandler, Phoebe, Rachel or Ross would want to stop by and hang out. Or, maybe drink a few beers, play some whack PlayStation, or possibly just to have a few laughs. Sadly, Joey had to put that all in the past.. for now at least...
Now we find Joey sitting in his and his friends' usual sitting area on the orange couch in Central Perk.
"Okay, Chandler, Mon, there's only one banana-nut muffin left." says Rachel as she serves it to them.
"Oh! I ordered mine first!" Monica yelled as Chandler snatches the muffin off of the plate.
"Yeah but I'm so much faster." Chandler wittily replies.
"Give it to me."
"No."
"Give it to me!"
"Okay you can have it." Chandler remarks as he licks the muffin.
"There you go, enjoy your coffee." Monica says in a childish manner after licking the coffee cup that she grabbed from the table.
"That was there when I got here." Chandler smirks knowing he had won the battle .
Joey and the gang then break into laughter as Monica looks disgusted by the coffee cup she had just licked.
"Hey Joe! Joe! Joey?"
"Yeah?" Joey replies as he snaps out of the flashback to see Gunther hovering over him.
"Can I get you something?" Gunther willingly asks Joey in hope for a nice tip.
"Yeah, a lemonade would be nice, thanks. "
"A lemonade huh? Are you okay?"
"Huh? Oh yeah, I'm fine..." Joey lied. He thought to himself, how could he be fine? How could he be fine with his best friend living outside of the city? Or, having no steady girlfriend/lover in his life. How could he possibly be fine with all of these sudden changes in his life?
"Hey Gunther, on second thought, make it a coffee to-go, thanks."
"Sure, coming right up. So, um to-go huh ? Are you in a hurry to get somewhere?"
"Well, I have a pair of Rachel's old shoes that the duck puked in, when she was living with me. Oh, and some old clothes of Emma's that Rachel left in a box in my apartment before she moved out."
"Oh?" Gunther asked creepily as if he were aroused.
"Yeah, she wanted me to take them down to a donation center, and since I have to go interview this woman; I figured I'd go drop them off on my way to her office ."
It's been a couple of months since Joey's former agent, Estelle, died and he felt like he was ready to hire a new one.
"Well if you want, I can save you the trouble of donating Rachel's old things, and take them myself."
"No, It's okay you don't have to do that for me Gunther."
"No, I insist." Gunther pleaded as he fantasized about owning something of Rachel's.
"Wow, well thanks man, I guess I'll just leave the box outside of my apartment." Said Joey, while he paid Gunther for his cup of coffee and exited out of Central Perk.
Ring! Ring! "Hello, this is Joey Tribbiani speaking." He answered on his way to the interview.
"Hello this is Jan's intern speaking, and she wanted me to call you to ask, if you guys could change the location of t he interview?"
"Oh, yes that'll be fine just give me the place and I'll be there within a hour." He then hung up the phone after Jan's intern told him the location.
Joey remembered this restaurant. For, this is the same exact restaurant he took Rachel on their first "date". He was even wearing the same shirt of Calvin doing Hobbs under his button-up shirt.
"Oh my god, Joseph Tribbiani, is that you?"
Joey knew that voice... it was the same voice that made Chandler's balls jump up ... could it be her? "Janice?" Joey said with utter confusion. "What are you doing here? Wait Jan... Janice... Jan... Jan...ice. "Huh!" Joey gasped with wide eyes, while pointing his index finger at Janice.
Janice then sat down and told Joey how she became an agent. She told him how being married to the Mattress King felt a lot like being his agent.
Joey despised Janice. He knew he wasn't going to hire her as his agent. For, he was annoyed by every second Chandler spent with her, when her and Chandler were together. Then, as the night grew older , he realized something different about Janice. Something that he never realized about her before. Was it because, he was just just lonely and wanted to fill this emptiness inside of him? Or, are these feelings for real? Maybe, he was starting to see what Chandler saw in her years ago. Maybe he just felt sympathetic for Janice, as she told him about her marital problems; and how her and her husband have separated again.
"May I ask why you and your husband separated? If it's not to personal."
"Well, you see I caught him sleeping with our real-estate agent, Kate, and then it was just Splitsville from there."
"Oh, well I'm sorry for your loss."
"Don't be... Its just that, me and him have been on-again, off-again for years and I was stupid for giving him more chances to hurt me..."
"You're not stupid Janice. In fact, you are so smart that I want to hire you as my new agent!" Joey exclaimed as he motioned the waiter towards there table.
"How may I help you sir?"
"A bottle of champagne would be nice, thanks."
After receiving the bottle of champagne, Joey paid the bill and him and Janice went to go celebrate down the street in her office.
"I propose a toast to my newest agent, Janice!" Joey stated as he raised his glass in the air, clinking it against Janice's.
"Why thank you, Joseph Tribbiani." Janice replied as she sipped from her glass of champagne. "Let me just get my contract to make it official." Janice than bent over to grab her contract out of the bottom drawer of her desk, while Joey watched her from the top of her desk, sitting and sipping his glass.
"Oh I forgot my pen, let me just go grab one form my intern's desk." Janice said as she walked over to her intern's desk , leaving the bottom drawer of her own desk open.
On her way back over to her desk, Janice suddenly trips over the bottom drawer of her own desk, but just as she was about to land face first into the wood floor; Joey catches her and gazes into her bewildered eyes. She then kissed him and it felt nice... Maybe it was the champagne in his system talking but there was something about that kiss he really enjoyed.
The next morning, Joey looked around with weary eyes to realize that he was still in Janice's office. Confused he looked next to him, only to see a resting Janice by his side on her office couch. " Oh. .. my... god...what have I done?"