Chapter XXI

"The One With Rachel and Joey's Scandal"

January 9th, 2005

It was a quite Sunday evening at the Green Geller apartment. After putting Emma to bed, Rachel sat on the living room's couch and called Monica. The three of them, Rachel, Monica, and Phoebe made a promise to call each other as often as they could since they were all not living in the same neighborhood anymore.

"Hi Mon. How's the twins?"

"Hi, Rach. The twins are doing fine. We just went to the pediatrics for our monthly check up yesterday and they're both are doing great. How are you?"

"Well, that's good to hear. Ross and I went to the doctor last week, everything is normal and the baby's doing great. But, I started to worry on how Emma will react when the baby is born. "

"I'm sure she will be thrilled. I mean, looking at the way she behave around the twins, she will make an excellent sister. Don't worry about it."

"Well I hope you're right."

"I'm always right."

Monica suddenly yelled.

"Oh my God! This can't be true!"

"What happened, Mon? You're scaring me."

"Rach, did you buy this week's edition of the tabloid? The one we used to buy. "

"Yeah, I bought it this morning. But I haven't read it. Why?"

"I need you to calm down and don't freak out, okay?"

"What is it? You really started to creep me out."

"Just promise me, please?"

"Alright, what's wrong?"

"Read page 16"

She then opened the page 16 of the tabloid. As soon as she read the tittle, her hands started to shake.

Actor Joey Tribbiani is in Love with His Best Friend's Wife?

(Below the title, there is a picture of Joey and Rachel (blurred) hugged at Joey's Movie Screening in L.A with a caption "Joey Tribbiani and RG were hugging at L.A. movie screening a few weeks ago")

The rising actor, Joey Tribbiani's fame blew up after his latest role as a mafia. Soon after, he got dozens of movie offers and interviews. One of his statements at the interview caught our attention when he said something about his first love. He said, "my first love was someone I knew I'll never have". His fans are going crazy with his statement, stating that any normal woman wouldn't turn Joey Tribniani down. His fans are sympathizing on him, earning him a nick name amongst his fans, a 'hopeless romantic'.

However, there are rumors going around that he is in fact still in love his first love. The lucky girl was no other than his best friend's wife, RG. RG was his ex-roommate and briefly dated him, back in his New York days. According to a source, RG attended Joey's movie premiere a few week ago in L.A along with her husband and their mutual friends.

Rachel was frozen, processing all the things she just read. Even though she always wanted being mentioned in Joey's interviews, she'd never imagine actually being mentioned on one. Let alone on a cheap gossip tabloid involving her personal life.

" Rach? Are you there? Rach! "

She finally snapped back into reality.

"Mon.. What the hell is that?! "

"I don't know! I'll call Joey. Are you going to be okay? Is Ross around?"

"I cannot believe this is happening. Ross went to the grocery store, I think he is on his way home right now.. And.. Oh my Gosh, Joey too!"

"What do you mean?"

"Joey said he will come over later. He promised Ross to see him and apologize to him in person."

Right that moment, the doorbell rang.

"I think Ross is back. I'll call you later."

"Okay, call me."

Rachel brought the tabloid with her as she opened the door. Her hands were still shaking, she was unsure how to tell this to Ross. As soon as she opened the door, it turned out to be Joey.

"Hi Rach, is Ross home yet?" Joey said.

She stayed silent for a few seconds.

"Rach? Hello?" Joey waved his hands in front of her face

"What the hell is wrong with you?!" Rachel snapped at him as she threw the tabloid into him.

"What do you mean?" He was very confused about the whole thing.

"Read that. Page 16"

Rachel then went to the living room and sat at the couch. Joey quickly picked up the tabloid, turned it to page 16 and then he read it. He was genuinely shocked. He didn't know anything about the article. But he knew this is going to make things a lot worse than it already does.

"Look Rach, I don't know anything about this. I -"

Joey tried to explain it to her, but she looked really upset. She sat down on the couch and buried her face with her hands. He hates to see her cry, moreover it was his fault. He then sat next to her and tried to hug her. Before he had a chance, Rachel stopped him.

"Don't. Just. Don't."

She paused.

"These past few weeks have been a living hell for me. Did you know that? On one side I was feeling really sorry for you. On the other side I was so afraid things could go sideways between me and Ross. I'm really sorry, but I am very happy with Ross and I don't want to lose him. So tell me Joey, how could these happen?"

She couldn't hold her emotions as tears started to fall uncontrollably.

But then, Ross came back from the grocery store. The first thing he saw was Rachel sat down on a couch, crying so hard he can heard it from the doorway. And Joey was sitting next to her.

"What the hell is going on here?" Ross asked Joey

"Why is she crying?" Ross added

Joey just sat there quietly, not sure what to say or what to do.

Ross then put the groceries down, walked over Rachel and gave her a hug as he tried to soothe her.

"Hey, what's the matter?" He asked her softly as he tried to wipe her tears.

But she didn't say anything and hugged him instead.

Then Joey mustered up his courages, and said, "Look, Ross.. There is a misunderstanding. She read this article on the tabloid and she is upset." He explained

"What tabloid?" Ross asked him

"This. Page 16" He then handed Ross the tabloid.

Ross sat down on the coffee table as he started to read it. His face slowly turned red. He couldn't believe what he just read.

"Get out." Ross said to Joey weakly

"What?" Joey said

"Just get out." Ross ordered as he raised his voice

"Look Ross, it was-" Joey tried to explain things but Ross cut him off.

"Please just get out. I'm this close to punch you in the face." Ross said angrily

Joey then went home feeling extremely guilty. He was also mad about the article. He was hurting to see Rachel cried like that and to make it worse, Ross was extremely mad and disappointed at him. He always knew one day, once his fame started to rise, his private life would be invaded. But he never could've imagine that not only his life, but his two best friend's life also being invaded. Soon after, he made a call his agency, looking for a solution.

...

Back in Ross and Rachel's apartment, Rachel was still crying as Ross hugged her.

"Please stop crying.. You'll exhaust yourself." He said as he wiped tears from her face.

"It's just.. Ross.. How can things be this complicated? I thought everything is going to be fine. But it just get a lot worse instead."

"I know. Look, I promise I'll take care of this. We're all in this together, okay? Can you trust me?" He asked as he gently stroked her hair.

She nodded

"Okay, now you should take a rest. I'll make some call."

He smiled at her then walked her to their bed.

Soon after Rachel fell asleep, Ross made a call to Monica's.

"Ross? Did you heard about the article? "

"Yes, I read it. That's why I called."

"How was she?"

"She's been crying for almost an hour, but I managed to calm her down. She's sleeping now. I just don't want her to stress out. I mean, it's not good for her and the baby."

"I know. I'll come over tomorrow, first thing in the morning."

"Thanks a lot Mon."

"And Ross.. Rachel said Joey is coming to your place tonight?"

"He was already here when I got back from the grocery store. Rachel was crying and he was there. I cannot believe this is happening to us. Why did he say those things in the first place anyway? "

" I don't know. Did he say anything else? "

"He said it was a misunderstanding. But I just couldn't hold my anger anymore, so I told him to leave."

"So he didn't know any of this? How could they get Rachel's initial on the first place?"

"That's exactly what I thought. Do you think we can do something about the article? Take it down, maybe?"

"I don't know how it works, but I don't think we can do anything about it. I mean it's a gossip tabloid. They writes shits and people just believe it whether it's true or false."

"I just don't know what to do anymore. I'm this close to forgive him, but now. Mon, I don't think I can ever forgive him. He hurts Rachel. She was so upset and it breaks my heart seeing her like that."

"I know. I'm so sorry about everything Ross. But we'll be there for you every step of the way. Don't hesitate to call us if you need any help. Anything. Okay?"

"Okay, thank you so much. I gotta go, I'll try to call my friend."

"Okay, take care."

Ross then made a call to some of his legal friends and asked for an advice. But apparently, there's nothing much they can do to make it better, only two things to be exact. The first thing they can do is wait until it calm down, until people finally forget about it and stop talking about it. The second thing is for Joey to make a clarification, but that will not make the gossip disappears magically. People will still talking about it and paparazzi are going to tail him for stories. After thinking about it thoroughly, Ross decided to give Joey a call.

"Hello, Ross? Look I'm so sorry for what happened."

"Save it Joe. Did you call your agency? Did they come up with an idea?"

"Actually I did, right after I left your place. They said they will make a clarification tomorrow morning to clear up the rumors."

"That's good. But Joey, please don't come to New York, especially to Monica's and ours anytime soon. It will make everything worse. You got tailed by paparazzi."

"I did?"

"Joey.. You're famous now. Of course you did. Maybe that's why they got Rachel's name on the first place. Just don't go near our houses, can you do that?"

"About that... I.. I might've mentioned Rachel's name to this fellow actor of mine when we were drinking. That day was the day we all went to the movie screening and we had that argument. I'm sorry, I was stressed out that day. I don't know that this could be a problem."

"YOU DID WHAT?"

"I mentioned her name, Ross."

"You know what? Let's deal with that later. One at a time."

"Okay, I'll do everything in my power to make things go away as soon as I can. I'm so sorry. Is Rachel okay?"

"She clearly doesn't need this right now with the pregnancy and everything. But I'm trying my best to cheer her up. I gotta go. Call me when the agency release the clarification. Okay?"

"Okay. Thank you and I'm really sorry."

...

Later that night, around 2 AM Ross couldn't sleep as he kept thinking about Rachel and the article. He was laying down in their bed staring at the ceiling when suddenly Rachel tapped his shoulder.

"Hi.. How are you feeling?" He asked

"A little better. What time is it?"

"Around 2 AM I guess. Why?"

"You haven't slept since?"

"Yeah, I couldn't sleep." He explained

"You should stop frowning, you will get wrinkles." She teased him

"Alright..." He giggled

"Ross.. come closer." She said as she tapped the bed next to her, telling Ross to come closer to her.

Ross then put her head around his arms and they cuddled.

"This feels good." She said as she placed her head into his chest and wrapped her arms around his waist.

"Yeah it is." He said as he began to gently stroke her hair.

"Ross?"

"Hmm?"

"What about the article?"

"You know what? Let's worry about that tomorrow. Let's just sleep for now." He said as he pulled their blanket over and slept.