When they got home that evening, Ross and Emily were at first a little shy with each other. Ross was feeling that way because he had exposed his fears so openly, fears that he had half buried from himself. But maybe he'd given himself away before. When Emily said,
'I had no idea you felt that way,' Ross said,
'You must have known a bit. When you got up in the night and I asked you to come back to bed.'
'Well that was bed. I didn't think you meant anything else. You seemed to be managing quite well without me.'
'No I wasn't,' Ross said, 'I was miserable, but I'd given up, because I thought you meant it.'
'I don't know what I meant,' Emily said. 'It was all so horrible.'
'The bad times are over, for both of us,' Ross said.
But not completely, because Ross knew that Joey was avoiding him – or avoiding Emily. It amounted to much the same thing since he was able to go to Central Perk less often than Emily. He was pleased that Emily did go, and he privately thanked the others for making her feel welcome. Joey was the only exception, and when he asked Emily whether she'd seen him, a shadow crossed her face and she said,
'Not much.'
'Does he talk to you? Ask how you are?' Ross persisted.
'No. He doesn't say anything to me. Except hello and goodbye.' Ross frowned.
'Why didn't you say anything?'
'What can I say?'
'Well, that Joey is treating you like this! Being unfriendly, and mean and…'
'What good would that do?' Emily asked. 'If he doesn't like me, then you can't make him like me.'
'Why shouldn't he like you? You never had a quarrel or anything? Nothing happened at – ' He had been going to say The Wedding, but only one disastrous thing had happened at the wedding. Emily shook her head.
'I don't know of anything in particular. He's just very different to the way he was before. Don't fuss.'
'I want all my friends to be together with me on this,' Ross said, 'That was the point. That was why I insisted that you had to accept us all – and now he's behaving like this. He's got to accept you.' Emily looked uncomfortable.
'Why don't you talk to him?' she asked. 'There might be a completely innocent explanation. Or if there's a problem, he might tell you. I – I don't think he'd tell me.'
Ross turned up at Joey and Chandler's apartment unannounced, hoping to catch Joey there. He didn't, but instead found Chandler, who looked surprised to see him.
'Hey Chan,' Ross said, laughing, partly from relief that he didn't have to have it out with Joey, just yet. 'It's just me.' Chandler said,
'Oh Ross, what brings you here?'
'I just thought I'd drop by – I don't get the chance to do it, living so far away.' Sheesh, anyone would think Chandler didn't want him there. He sat down on the couch and looked around the room. 'You guys been tidying up round here. It looks a lot better.'
'Oh,' Chandler said, still standing up, looking nervous. 'We just decided to, er you, know, tidy up.' There was something that suggested that Chandler had just thrown his clothes on. His shirt buttons were not properly done up, and his hair was sticking up on end. And of course he wanted him to leave.
'Hey,' Ross said in a low voice with a sly look on his face. Just tidied up! No way, he knew what Chandler had been doing. 'I'm interrupting something right?'
'No!' Chandler exclaimed loudly, 'No, absolutely not.' That seemed to put paid to the idea that he had someone stashed in his bedroom then.
'Have you been asleep?' Ross asked with a frown.
'Er, yes, jet lag. Terrible.'
'Jet lag? Come on, we got back from London ages ago,' Ross laughed.
'Well,' Chandler said, 'Well, isn't that the darndest thing, it just comes and it goes, without warning. Travel overseas can have just the oddest effects, you know.'
'Yeah,' Ross said, 'Sometimes it give you amnesia.' Feeling more secure, he was starting to feel that he could joke a bit about his mix up with the names. Everything was okay. Almost okay.
'So,' Chandler said, sitting down, making an odd kicking motion as he did so, almost as if he was moving a shoe, possibly a woman's, under the couch. 'What brings you by?'
'It's about Joey.'
'Joey? Oh Joey,' Chandler said.
'Yeah, your room mate. I've noticed that Joey doesn't seem to want to have anything to do with me and Emily and I'm wondering what to do about it.' Chandler looked uncomfortable.
'Oh you've noticed,' he said.
'I suppose everyone knows. What's up with him?'
'He doesn't trust Emily.'
'What?'
'He thinks she's faking being nice.'
'That's just ridiculous!'
'Hey, it's Joey who thinks that, not me,' Chandler said. 'I'm just telling you what I know.'
'I hope you put him right,' Ross said severely.
'Of course. We all did, but he just think we're fools for believing in her.'
'Oh, and what's her grand plan supposed to be?' Ross said sarcastically, but he was angry too, too angry to notice Chandler's sudden expression of anxiety. 'She just waiting to invite everyone to dinner and poison them, like a - a - poisoner?'
'I don't know,' Chandler said. 'It's kind of got lost. I think the idea is that she's going to poison you against all of us.'
'That's ridiculous!' Ross exploded. 'Absolutely ridiculous! Where is Joey? I'm going to have it out with him right here and now. I'll teach him to spread lies about my wife.' Ross had sprung up.
'Wait, Ross!' Chandler exclaimed.
'You can't defend him,' Ross fumed, 'It's indefensible.' And then finally, he noticed. 'Hey, you've been looking kind of jumpy. Is someone else here?'
'Here?' squeaked Chandler, 'Who else could be here?'
'You tell me,' Ross said, thinking he'd worked it out. 'I bet you thought, old Ross wouldn't pick up on it hey? Ross gets a little worked up sometimes and he won't see the obvious. He won't figure it out.' Chandler backed off as Ross worked up his temper.
'Ross - '
'Ha!' yelled Ross, slamming open the door to Joey's room. 'I know you're hiding, Joey!' The noise he made completely hid the noise of Monica emerging from Chandler's room and hiding behind the couch. She got there just in time, as Ross turned back to the room with the announcement,
'He's not there.' His eyes narrowed, and Chandler wondered if he had noticed something behind the couch, but then Ross headed for Chandler's room. Chandler, more relaxed followed him in.
'Hey man, I'm not gay, Joey wouldn't be there, especially when I was having a nap,' Chandler said, while Monica quickly headed for Joey's room. Ross made a noise of dissatisfaction, and they trooped out to the couch again. Chandler was glad that Monica was so fussy about her things. She was not the type to leave tell tale signs of herself in his room.
Ross sat on the couch, dispirited.
'How can Joey be doing this? What did Emily ever do to him?'
'He was just upset over the whole Rachel thing.'
'But that's over now, she's doing her best, you can see she's doing her best.'
'If she's faking, she's doing a great job,' Chandler said.
'She is not faking,' Ross said, severely. 'She's doing the best she can to show her good faith. What more can she do? She's tried to be nice to him, so far as he's given her the chance, and he's just ignored her.'
'I know,' Chandler said, realising he had been a bit tactless with the faking remark. Emily had paid a few more visits to Central Perk and to Monica's apartment than necessary to keep up an illusion. And if it came to faking it, hadn't they all been faking it a bit at the beginning? 'It's partly that Joey doesn't like change. Don't get mad at him. I'll try and talk to him, tell him what kind of trouble he's causing. He'll come round, and in the meantime, he's the one who's missing out.'
'We all miss out,' Ross said, 'If he won't be our friend.'