Chapter 14:
Another non-date A week later…Monica, Phoebe and Rachel were in the Central Perk, they were sited in the orange couch with the twins and Emma. Phoebe looked at the babies and she felt that she couldn't wait for her baby to be born. She touched her big pregnant bally… her due date was in two months and a half.
Monica interrupted Phoebe's thoughts by saying a very familiar phrase:
Monica- there is nothing to tell!
Phoebe rolled her eyes and Rachel looked at Monica as if her best friend was crazy.
Rachel- Come on! You are going out with Joey! There must be something very wrong with you!
Monica hit playfully Rachel's arm.
Monica- I'm so not going out with Joey! Is not a date!
Phoebe- then… what is it?
Monica- is something that may seem like a date to the untrained eye… but is actually a friend going to a party with another friend…
The whole cast of "Days of our lives" was having a huge party to celebrate the end of a very successful season and Joey ask Monica to go with him.
Rachel- if is not a date… how come I'm not invited to that party?
Monica- Come on Rachel! We all know that if Joey invited you to that party you would annoy the hell out of all the cute actors…
Rachel pretended to be very shocked.
Rachel- I beg your pardon! Are saying that I have an obsession for soup opera's actors?
Monica- yes, that's exactly what I'm saying
Rachel suddenly felt really offended… and Phoebe pretended to be shocked…Phoebe- Monica! How dare you to say something so obvious that we all know?
Rachel gave Phoebe a killer look then she looked at Monica.
Rachel- anyway… the fact is that Joey only invited you to that party.
Monica- it doesn't matter… is not a date!
Monica could say that words as many times as she wanted, but repeating that didn't make it the truth. And Monica knew it. Maybe it wasn't officially a date, but it seemed like a date and it definitely felt like a date.
Monica remembered the day Rachel joined the gang… she had swore that she didn't have a "real date" with "Paul, the wine guy"… however she slept with Paul… she remembered vividly what Joey said when he discovered that Monica had sex with her non-date: "That wasn't a real date. Then… what the hell do you do on a real date?"… Now, Monica was swearing that she didn't have a real date with Joey… Rachel abruptly interrupted her thoughts.
Rachel- what are you going to wear?
Monica- I don't know… I guess I need to buy a new dress…
Phoebe and Rachel looked at her maliciously.
Rachel- you are going to buy a new dress because you want impress Joey!
Monica- hey! You buy new dresses all the time! Does it means that you want to impress boys all the time?
Rachel- of course!
Monica rolled her eyes and Phoebe finally spoke.
Phoebe- Leave her alone, Rachel. Dating Joey is the healthiest thing Monica has done since Chandler came out the closet …
Monica- but I'm not dating Joey! He never "asked me out" formally… he just said: "I have a party on Saturday night… do you want to come?"… that's what you say to a friend… not to a potential date. He probably just took pity on my… since I practically don't go out anymore. He is just being a good friend… he is just being supportive.
Now, it was Phoebe's turn to roll her eyes… Monica was so afraid of being hurt again that she couldn't even admit having a date with Joey. And Joey probably was denying having a date with Monica as well. Both of them were so scared of their own feelings that they hided behind the phrase "we are just friends".
That same afternoon…
Rachel was getting ready to go shopping with Monica and Phoebe. Ross had got back from Harvard and now he was going to pick up Emma so Rachel could go shopping.
Rachel finished getting her and Emma ready and Ross knocked the door… Rachel let him in.
Ross- hi Rachel…
Rachel avoided making eye contact very uncomfortable.
Rachel- hi… how was Boston?
Ross- It was fine… Rach… listen I'm so sorry for everything that happened to you.
Then she finally looked at him… she had hated him for taking Emma away from her, but now she couldn't hate him anymore… she knew deep down that he had done the right thing, and that he was probably the nicest guy alive.
Rachel- thanks… Emma is ready to go with you... I would offer you a cup of coffee, but the last time I did that… well… it didn't went well.
Ross- I know... hey… I'm really sorry Rachel… I want you to know that since you broke up with Dennis I will give you Emma back…
Rachel- that was the deal. Wasn't it? I don't see Dennis again and you give me my baby back. Ross- is OUR baby, Rach...
Rachel- ok Ross... I really don't have time… I must meet the girls… Could you just go?
Ross- sure... but before I leave I want to ask you a question
Rachel- What?
Ross- how could you forgive Dennis so many times for what he did but you could never forgive me for cheating on you?
Rachel- well Ross... you never apologize sincerely… you were never really sorry…
Ross started getting really mad… what Rachel said was the stupidest thing he had ever heard.
Ross- Are you kidding me? I said I was sorry like a million times.
Rachel- yes… and all those times your apologies were something like this: "I'm sorry, but we were on a break"… "I'm sorry… but I thought you were sleeping with Mark"… "I'm sorry… but I did it because I was out of my mind… I was really drunk".
Ross- all those things are true Rachel… I WAS drunk… and I really didn't know what I was doing…
Rachel- The thing is that a really apology doesn't include a "but"… don't you see that? You always refused to admit that what you did was wrong… you always found and excuse for what you did…
Ross- now you are finding and excuse! You are saying that you didn't forgive me because you didn't like my apology…. But I think that you never loved me enough to forgive me… you didn't forgive Dennis all the time because he apologized correctly… you forgave him because you loved him more than you ever loved me.
Rachel took two steps back… like if Ross had just slapped her. She looked at him in disbelieve.
Rachel- how can you say that? How can you even think that?
Ross- well… you didn't have problems to forgive Dennis… but you couldn't forgive me, and now you are making up a lame excuse saying that my apology wasn't sincere enough…
Rachel- but Ross, you did a terrible thing to me…
Rachel's eyes were fill with tears, and so were Ross's… he remembered what he did to Rachel and he felt so guilty that he could barely breathe.
Ross- nice try, but Dennis did a terrible thing to you too.
Rachel knew that Dennis did something even more terrible than Ross. But somehow… Ross made her feel so much worse.
Rachel- yes… but Ross… I really loved you… I trusted you completely… so when you betrayed me it hurt so much more… you broke my heart… so… that is why I couldn't forgive you… not because I didn't love you as much as Dennis… is because I loved you so much more…
Ross looked at her astonished.
Ross- Rachel… I'm sorry honey
He approached to a crying Rachel and tried to kiss her… but she pulled him away. Rachel- now that you have the answer you were looking for you can leave…Ross left with Emma and Rachel cried her eyes out for like an hour. After that she decided that she had cried enough… She decided to meet the girls in the shopping because that would cheer her up. Shopping with her friend would keep her mind away from her recent argument with Ross.
An hour later…
Rachel, Phoebe and Monica were in the shopping mall. Monica was trying on some dresses for the party. Monica came out of the dressing room wearing a gorgeous strapless dress, it was red and long and it suited her perfectly.
Monica- so… How do I look?
Suddenly a very familiar voice answered…Chandler- you look beautiful, Mon
The three girls startled noticing Chandler there… Phoebe greeted him friendly.
Phoebe- hi Chandler… how are you?
Chandler- I'm fine… what are you doing here?
Monica muttered a lame excuse and hided inside the dressing room. While Rachel, who was still mad at Chandler for everything decided to say the only thing that could really hurt him.
Rachel- Monica is buying a dress because she has a date with Joey…Chandler felt shocked and very confused… he couldn't believe that Joey asked Monica out… "She must be talking about a different Joey", he thought.
Chandler- you mean… Monica is dating JOEY? Our Joey? The Joey who was my best friend for ten years?
Rachel- (smiling) exactly…
At that moment Monica came out the dressing room wearing her regular clothes… And Chandler looked at her very disappointed.
Chandler- are you really going out with him?
Monica noticed Chandler used the word "him" with the same despise Monica had when she talked about Andrew. " Is Chandler jealous? Is that even possible?" thought a very confused Monica "Maybe now that he is gay he wants Joey". But she dismissed that thought immediately… it was too creepy thinking about Chandler and Joey together.
Monica- is not exactly a date… but yes, Chandler, technically I'm going out with Joey…Chandler- I guess I shouldn't be so surprised… deep down I've always known that you preferred be with him… for the last five years you were just settling for Robin because in London you couldn't get Batman…
There was no doubt about that now… Chandler was jealous… but why? He was the one who left Monica to be with Andrew… "What kind of game is he playing?", thought Monica even more confused. She remembered what Chandler said… "it's not working with Andrew… we are breaking up…" Was that the truth? Was Chandler regretting leaving, Monica? Did he want her back? Suddenly, Monica had her answer… out of nowhere, Andrew showed up with some shirts.
Andrew- honey… you must try this shirts on… they are gorgeous… (noticing the girls) oh… hello
Phoebe- hello Andy…
This time, Monica looked at Chandler feeling disappointed.
Monica- you told me you were breaking up…
Chandler- we were… but we decided to give our relationship a second shoot…
Monica- you do that!
Monica said that very angrily… her face was as red as the dress she was going to buy. After saying that she took the dress and walked away… when she paid for the dress she hated Chandler like she never hated him before. She thought that it was what she needed… to hate Chandler so she could definitely stop loving him.To be continued….
I hope you liked this chapter… thanks for the reviews…. Keep it up…. The more reviews I get the more I will update….
Please… can anyone tell me how do I get those "beta readers" people always talk about? Because I have not idea where to get one…
To Rachelgreengeller: I'm glad to see we are both fans of Sex And the City! Then you will LOVE this story when you are closer to the end…. (keep reading and you will find out why I'm saying this)
To Friendsqueen216: yes… I think the writers gave a few hints for Joey and Monica… and they gave even more hints for me to suspect that Joey had a crush on Monica but he didn't do anything because of Chandler… all those hints inspired me to write this story… but I can't say if it's going to end JAM or MONDLER…