A Tale of Several Suitcases

Emily and Ross

Emily was busy packing. Ross had already done his packing and he sat on the bed, watching her select things to go in. It was one of the pleasures of life, lying around and watching her do things.

'Your bikini,' he prompted.

'Will it be warm enough for swimming?' Emily asked doubtfully. With the weather the way it was in New York, she had trouble believing in a warmer somewhere else, even though she realised that it was Florida they were going to. She took it out and held it up.

'Who said anything about swimming?' he asked.

'Well I suppose the water might be cold, but would it be warm enough to lie around on the beach?' Emily asked.

'Who said anything about lying around on the beach?' Ross teased. She stared at him briefly.

'Are you going to just sit there and make suggestive comments while I pack?' she asked.

'I can do more than that,' he said.

'I know,' she said.

'Why don't you try it on? See if it fits?'

'Ross!' Emily said exasperated, 'I'm trying to pack.' He smiled wickedly.

'It might be too small. You know.'

'I know what you're trying to do,' she said as she continued packing, 'You want me to get all outraged at the fact that you suggested that I might have put on weight, so I'll go over there and pinch your love handles –'

'I don't have love handles!'

'And then you'll grab my hands, and then before I know it we'll be rolling around on the bed.'

'And the problem with that is?'

'I won't get anything done!' she exclaimed, 'This has taken me half an hour already.' She packed a few more things in silence and then she got on the bed with him and kissed him.

'What did I do to deserve this?'

'Get born,' she said. 'But particularly for arranging this trip. It means so much to me that you want to make this day special, just for the two of us.' She wrapped her arms around him and he said,

'I love you Emily.'

'I love you Ross.' They kissed again and then she leaned with her head against his chest. 'Nobody knows?'

'No-one,' he confirmed. 'It will be just us, and everyone else will be here.'

'Mmm. You're wonderful,' she said. He decided he wanted to get more comfortable, but as he moved, he knocked her suitcase off the bed, upending it and tipping out everything. She sat up straight.

'Oh,' she said. Ross pulled her back, and after a brief struggle between duty and pleasure, she – and he – were saying 'oh' for other reasons.

Monica and Chandler

Monica had already packed her suitcases. She was wondering what else she should take, and whether she'd prepared enough. Going climbing in the Rockies was an interesting and original way to spend Valentine's day, and she'd been really surprised when Chandler suggested it. She'd asked him whether he was sure it wouldn't be too much for them. She knew that those sorts of trips were really arduous and she wasn't sure that she had the stamina required, and she wasn't so sure that he did either.

'We'll be fine,' Chandler said. 'We'll just take some gentle walks, enjoy the mountain air, go for a swim…'

'A swim?' Monica stared. 'Are you crazy? I'm not swimming in any mountain streams in the middle of winter.' Or at any other time, she added to herself, unless of course she was really really drunk and it was really really dark and it was really really hot. Which February in the Rockies would not be.

'Oh, of course not, joke,' Chandler grinned. Monica gave him a puzzled look. She didn't think all of Chandler's jokes were funny, but they sort of made sense – a snappy one liner in response to something someone else had said, or, if he'd constructed the joke whole, there would be something followed by a punchline. You always knew it was a punchline, whether it was good or not, although it usually was.

'I bet no-one else is doing anything like this,' Chandler said.

'No,' Monica said.

'You haven't told Rachel have you?'

'Why are you suddenly being so mean to Rachel?' Monica asked.

'I'm not, I just want it to be special to us,' Chandler argued.

'So special that it has to be a total secret?' Monica asked.

'Well, yes.' Monica shrugged.

'I just don't think Rachel would be that interested anyway,' Monica said, 'She said she already had plans.'

'Oh good.'

'I don't like the way you said that, Chandler, as though she's always hanging around us.'

'I just want some special time alone with you,' Chandler said.

'I know that, and Rachel's not going to want to hang round with us. She knows it's our special day.' He wasn't worried about Rachel, or Phoebe, or even Joey – it was Monica who made the overtures, more often than not. She was happy, which was a good thing, but she wanted to make sure she was sharing it. 'Now, let's get you packed,' she said. Chandler was suddenly grateful that he hadn't made a start – how would he be able to explain the beach wear and no hiking boots that he would have packed. He would deal with the problem of packing the right things for both of them, later.

Rachel and Phoebe

Rachel and Phoebe were headed towards the airport terminal, each of them wishing that they hadn't packed so much. When Rachel had been packing her own bag, she'd been certain that all sorts of things might happen in Florida. She wasn't going there to meet a man, definitely not, but at the same time, there were night clubs, there were beaches, there were shopping malls, and all of these places required thought as to what outfit to wear. Plus she had to have back up clothes instead.

Phoebe had not packed many clothes, but she was bringing her guitar, and her painting things, which made her luggage bulky and awkward.

'I might paint on the beach,' she said.

'You'd better paint on the beach, after the trouble you're going to bring those things.'

'I just hope I get inspired.'

'How could you not be inspired? You could paint a sunset. You could do all the effects of sun on the water.'

'You can't paint sunsets on the water in Florida,' Phoebe said.

'Why not?' Rachel asked, wondering if it was something that had been banned or that you needed a licence for.

'Because the sun sets in the west, but the ocean's over to the east. There was this film once that they shot on the east coast, and they wanted a sunset, so they filmed a sunrise and ran the tape back.'

'That was clever,' Rachel said, feeling a bit stupid.

'Yes, but there was a seagull in the picture, so when they ran the tape back, it was flying backwards.'

'Oh,' Rachel said. 'What film was this?'

'I can't remember, but it doesn't matter because I could do a sun rise instead,' Phoebe said. This sounded more promising than anything Phoebe had said for weeks, so Rachel smiled and said,

'Yes, Phoebe, paint a sunrise.'

AN: If anyone knows the name of this film could they include it in a review please?