It's nearly 7:45 and everyone is ready to go. Rachel, Ross and Phoebe knock on our door. I'm in my bedroom getting my shoes on so Joey answers the door.
"You guys ready?" I can hear Ross ask him.
Joey looks back at me in my room. My door is open, he can see I'm ready and I'm merely getting my shoes.
"Yeah, why don't you guys share a cab and Chandler and I will split one - we'll meet you there," Joey suggests.
"Alright," I hear Ross say.
I watch them all leave as Joey shuts the door behind them. I have both my shoes on now. I get up, turn my light off and walk out to the living room.
"I was ready," I tell Joey.
"I know," he says.
"So, we could've walked down with them."
Joey looks at me with a mischievous smile.
"But now we can be alone in the cab," he explains.
"Uh, the cab driver might be there. It's not like we can do anything," I warn him.
He gives me a foolish look.
"We can make-out," he argues.
"Joey, no that's awkward," I oppose.
I walk right past him so he hopefully gets the hint to forget this idea.
He follows me downstairs and helps me catch a cab. We get in and give the driver the address. The guy puts the car in drive and the second we start moving, Joey scoots right next to me in the backseat. I roll my eyes, secretly loving how much he's always all over me, but truthfully, it's uncomfortable to make-out in front of a stranger.
Joey breathes over my neck, not saying anything, just reminding me of his little idea. I stretch my neck towards the window, away from his asking lips. Next thing I know Joey's hand finds my knee and starts gliding slowly up my thigh. I swat his hand away and quickly study the driver's eyes in the rearview mirror to see if he's looking back at us. Luckily, the driver is focused on the road.
I turn to Joey and mouth "no" to him. He frowns at me. I look out the window, but I can feel Joey's fingers start to tug on my suit jacket. I go to slap his hand away again, but his hand soars from my jacket collar to my far cheek and he pulls my lips right to his. Of course, I'm going to fold now that he got me. How can I say no to his delicious lips. Even weeks into this, I still enjoy every second I get to kiss him, touch him – but not in the back of a cab. I pull back, widening my eyes at him, giving him a stern look. This doesn't even faze him.
I look to the small mirror again and see the driver's eyes are still forward.
Unfortunately, Joey barely breaks a second before his lips press against my neck.
He can't be serious. I quickly turn and grab his face in my hand.
He's smirking at me like a devious child.
"Stop," I whisper harshly and then point to the other side of the backseat.
Joey sighs and finally slumps back over, putting space between us again.
We get to the restaurant and meet up with our friends in time for our reservation. We get seated at a large table. I make an extra effort to sit away from Joey. I can't risk him trying any footsie ideas. It's a long, rectangular table, so by me sitting at the opposite end I can't even see Joey without leaning back or forward in my chair.
We all settle in to enjoy this night of Monica's food. It's delicious and great.
The night flies by until we're all being handed a dessert menu that's three pages long. I assume Joey will probably be ecstatic about this; I lean forward to sneak a peak at Joey when I find his chair empty.
"Where's Joey?" I ask Phoebe, who's sitting next to me.
"He's having some fun at the bar," she wiggles her eyebrows with a giggly voice.
"What?" I shake my head, shocked by this news.
"Yeah, he hit it off with one of the waitresses, they've over at the bar," she informs me and then proceeds to study her dessert menu.
I can barely move now. I stare down at my dessert menu so I don't look suspicious, but I'm too in shock to even focus my eyes or even think about food.
Joey's flirting with some waitress? He was just all over me in the cab. We had sex this morning – how could he do this? My head is spinning until I finally realize the cold, hard facts: we're not together; it's just a fling. No one even knows about it, in fact Joey and I never even talk about what we're doing.
I can't even bring this up to Joey, I have no argument. There's no reason he's not allowed to date or see other people.
The sad part is, I knew all this, I was never in denial. I never actually thought Joey and I were even remotely serious. I guess I was so happy having this casual thing and not thinking about the future I've become blind to reality. I didn't expect this at all.
Suddenly someone is calling my name. I look up and all my friends are staring at me.
"Chandler? Chandler, are you ordering any dessert?" Ross questions me and then points up to the waitress who is waiting for my decision. Clearly everyone already ordered and I was so in my own head I completely zoned out.
"Uh, no – no thank you."
I don't talk much for the rest of the dinner because Joey never returns to the table. He missed dessert for this woman.
I go home to an empty apartment.
I wish I could forget this entire night, but I can't and I also can't sleep. I'm sitting in a trance on the couch, literally staring at nothing, but the wall across the room. Unfortunately, I'm still sitting here when Joey finally comes home around one in the morning.
I watch him close the front door.
He turns and when he sees me on the couch he jumps a few feet back. His hand crosses his heart.
"Jesus Chandler, what are you doing?" he huffs.
I don't say anything.
I thought the moment I saw him I would be angry or upset, but weirdly I'm not.
Joey walks over, confused by my silence.
"You okay man?" he asks.
Still no answer from me.
"Chandler, hello?" he asks and leans down to wave his hand in front of my face.
This is when I make my move. I grab his shirt collar and yank him onto the couch next to me. He falls easily from being too caught off guard.
I speedily climb on top of his lap. I'm not letting that dumb waitress be the last thing he thinks about before going to bed. I just want to show him what he's missing, but I don't even know how to do that. How can I really compete with some busty blonde?
I lean in and press my mouth harshly to his; hoping kissing him will clear my head for even a moment.
His eyebrows are raised. He looks like he's about to say something so I lean in and kiss him again. This time I slip my tongue into his mouth. His hands grip onto the seams of my shirt and I keep exploring his mouth with my tongue. When I pull back I can already feel he's hard – I told you he's always horny.
He lets out an excited breath from my attack.
"Wanna go to my room?" he smiles eagerly at me.
I shake my head no.
He looks lost.
"I'm not interested in being seconds," I say.
He stares at me, surprised I said it – so am I.
I slide off him and walk to my room. He doesn't follow me.
I shut my door and go to bed.