Just like the old days- part 2
"That sucks!" Monica moaned, after Chandler had stopped talking.
"I know it does, Honey…." Chandler sighed, "But Ross can't get time off nor can Joey…"
"But I want them to be here…" She continued to whine, "we haven't all been together in a year! They made us go to Emma first birthday, at least they could came to the twins'."
Somehow Chandler manage not to laugh, as he watched his wife sulking.
"They said sorry…."
She looked up at him and gave him a small smile before sighing deeply.
"At least Phoebe and Mike are coming…."
"Ah…." Chandler replied slowly.
"What?" She frowned at him, "What was the 'AH for?!"
"Umm…."
"Chandler!?" She demanded.
"Okay, but please…don't get upset."
"About what?!"
"Mike is taking Phoebe away for the week."
"WHAT!"
"You promised you wouldn't get upset!" Chandler jumped up.
"I'm not upset!" She told him, "I'm mad."
"DAMN!! Always make her promise not to get mad!! Why don't I ever remember that!?" He said to himself, hitting his forehead with his hand.
*~*~*
"So, why are we going to New York if Mon and Chandler taken the twins on vacation?" Rachel asked for the tenth time that day, as they sat on the plane heading towards America.
"Because I booked this tickets before I found out and they're not refundable," Ross explained again.
"Sooooooo?"
"Sooooooo, I'm not wasting all that money for nothing!"
"Cheap skate!" She muttered under her breath.
"What was that?" He glanced over at her.
"I said…ummm…Ice skate."
"Ice Skate?" He repeated, looking at her curiously.
"Yeah…" She said with fake cheerfulness "we can go ice skating!"
"Umm, okay…" He frowned, "but you do know we can do that in Paris, right?"
"Oh yeah…" She said, acting as if she had only just realised, "lets not go ice skating then!"
Ross looked at her confused as she started to play with Emma.
"Well, at least we'll get to see our parents…"
"Great…" Rachel replied, sarcastically.
"Oh come on, Rach…this'll be fun."
"Yeah, I guess," She sighed, "I just can't believe that they'll be away when it's the twins first birthday. They knew we'd be coming."
"Yeah but they've probably need the holiday, you know with the stress of moving and becoming parents!"
"But still! That was a year ago!" She moaned.
"I know…" Ross told her, "look, lets just concentrate on having a good time."
"Oh yeah! Two weeks in New York, when all our friends are not even there!" She replied sarcastically, causing him put his head in his hands with frustration. "I mean, how weird is that Mike decides to take Phoebe away the same week as Mon and Chandler go away and we come to New York?"
"Umm, strange coincidence, that one…" Ross said, with a small smile playing on his lips.
*~*~*
Phoebe hung up the phone and turned to face Mike, who was sat reading the paper.
"Did you talk to Chandler?" She asked, eyeing him suspiciously.
"Now, why would I talk to Chandler?" Mike said innocently.
"Because he's just told me to that him and Monica don't mind if we go away next week."
"He did? That's great!" Mike said with excitement.
"So, you never asked him to do that?"
"Would I?" Mike asked.
"Umm…." Was her reply as she thought about it, deciding best not to answer that question. "I just feel so bad. Monica was planning a big party for the twins."
"Look, they wouldn't have said we could go if they didn't mind."
"Yeah but they wanted to go away for Emma's birthday but we forced them to stay…" Phoebe told him, "and if I know Monica she would want so kinda of revenge for that!"
"Why would they say its okay for us to go then?" Mike asked, nervously, hoping Phoebe wasn't going to guess what they were up to.
"I dunno…" She said, sitting back, deep in thoughts, "I'm guess that it's because Ross and Rach couldn't come over and Joey's stuck at work. Chandler said, its just going to be the four of them."
"Yes that's it!" Mike agreed a little to quickly, "I mean, that's probably right…just the four of them, it'll be nice."
"I still feel bad!"
"I know but come on, we can have a good time can't we?" Mike asked.
"Oh course we can!" Phoebe grinned at him mischievously. "Where are we going?"
"I'm not telling you…"
"Fine! You don't have to tell me…" Phoebe crossed her arms across her chest.
"I don't?"
"No…you forgotten I'm psychic?" Phoebe told him.
"Oh yeah, right…" Mike smiled and looked back down to his paper.
"I've got it!" She exclaimed, excitedly.
"Oh yeah?" Mike asked, not looking up.
"We're going to London…"
"Nope…"
"Africa?"
"No…"
"Oh oh…we're going to L.A to see Joey?!"
"Afraid not…" Mike said, still looking down at his paper.
"Paris to see Ross and Rachel?"
"Nope.."
"Minsk?" She frowned.
Mike glared at her, as he thought about her ex-boyfriend.
"Really not going tell, huh?" She asked.
He shook his head and looked back down to what he was reading.
"Damn you, Mike Hannigan!"
*~*~*
"I'm hungry!" Joey moaned, to his new girlfriend Lucy, as they sat on the flight from L.A to New York.
"But you've just had dinner!" She looked at him, she was still amazed at the amount he could eat.
"I know but plane food is so small…" He whined, using his fingers exaggerate how small.
"You had mine too!"
"Yeah…" He smiled dreamily as he remember the meal he just ate.
"So, what are we going to do in New York then…"
"I dunno…" Joey told her and started to get upset, "there's nothing do! Everyone and everything I loved has gone! They've left me!!"
"Joey, your friends are going away for like a week…" She started to explain, "you've moved to L.A!"
"What's your point?" He asked curiously.
"Never mind…" She told him.
Joey sat bored for a few minutes, he hated flying. He started to jump up and down excitedly when was announced that they would be landing in 10 minutes.
"HAHA!!" He shouted, "I'm home, Baby!"
"I thought you said that there was nothing to do and you wanted to go back to L.A!" Lucy reminded him.
"What?!" Joey exclaimed, "are you kidding, I LOVE NEW YORK!!"
"It's a shame you're friend aren't going to be here…."
"Oh-huh…" Joey replied, not paying attention and was looking out the window, looking down as they flew across the city "HELLOO NEW YORK!!!!"
*~*~*
"Is that Chandler?" Rachel asked, pointing to someone stopped at the waiting gates.
Ross looked over and started to panic when he saw his friend.
"Nope, that's not Chandler!" He exclaimed, pushing her in the other direction.
"Ross! Wait! Stop!" She demanded, "I really do think that's Chandler!"
"No its not…I don't even think it's a man…." Ross told her, still pushing her, "come on, we gotta go this way….."
*~*~*
"So, where to now?" Lucy asked, as they walked around the air-port.
"We gotta look for Chandler…" Joey told her, his eyes searching the crowd of people in front of him.
"Chandler?" She repeated. "I thought he'd gone on vacation."
"No, he's coming to pick us up and drop us at the hotel then he's going on vacation!" He explained, getting annoyed that he hadn't located his best friend yet.
"Oh right, is Monica coming?"
"No…" Joey started to explain before he felt someone tap him on the shoulder. He spun around to be face a grinning Chandler.
"Hey, Joe!"
"CHANDLER!!!!" He screamed, gripping him into a bear hug.
"Whoa…easy Joe…" Chandler said laughing, "you trying to kill me!?"
"I'm Soooooooo happy to see you!!" Joey told him, not loosening his grip but instead picked him up and swung him around.
"Yeah, I'm happy to see you too!" Chandler told him.
"Yeah?"
"Yeah…" Chandler told me, "now, put me down, people are starting to stare!"
"Oh yeah, sorry…" Joey put him down and looked around embarrassed.
Chandler shook his head but couldn't keep a smile of his face, 'some things never change' he told himself.
"Oh, hey…you must be Lucy…" Chandler said, noticing her for the first time. "I've heard a lot about you…"
"All good things I hope…" She smiled warmly at him.
"Cause baby…" Joey said, putting his arm around her, "but I haven't gone into too much detail….I'll tell you, man...She does this thing…."
"Ahh…Ahhh..Stop there Joe…I don't wanna know…" Chandler interrupted him, putting his hands to his ears. Whilst Lucy went slightly red and hit Joey playfully.
"What?" Joey asked confused.
Chandler looks upwards, shaking his head, with a 'kill me now' look on his face before looking back to Lucy.
"I'm telling you, anyone who can put up with him for as long as you have, has my respect!" He told her.
Joey still had a confused look on his face.
"What you talking about, man…" He asked, "you lived with me for years, so you deserver respect to!"
Both Chandler and Lucy looked at him with amazement.
"I see what you mean…" Lucy replied.
Joey was still thinking about what was being said and Chandler watched him, expectedly.
Joey stopped frowning with confusion and glared at them, "HEY!"
"There it is…" Chandler said, once he's friend had worked it out.
"Its such a shame that you're going on vacation…" Lucy said, as they head towards the exit, "it would have been nice to meet you all and get to know you…"
"Yeah, tell me about it!" Joey said, sighing dramatically and then shrugging, "but what can you do??"
Chandler looked heavenwards again, as Joey made everything so obvious.