Phoebe frowned slightly. "You don't leave lipstick marks on the phone."
"Oh. Must've been you then." She let the words sink in for a second before turning her attention to Ross, who was sitting on the couch reading a magazine. "Hey. You coming?"
Ross had been looking at Phoebe but shifted his attention to Monica. "Coming? Where?"
"We're supposed to meet Chandler and Joey in Central Park, remember?"
"Oh, that's today? Let me finish this article. Five minutes." He looked back down at his magazine.
Monica's eyes shifted to the coffee table. "Ross. Feet on the floor or come over no more."
Ross shot her a look that she was totally not in the mood for. With a surly air he withdrew his feet.
Monica nodded in satisfaction before turning to Phoebe. "Care to join us?"
"No." Phoebe's voice was tending towards flat, indicating her own level of irritation. "I'm going to go visit my grandmother later."
"Oh, okay." Strange; Phoebe usually jumped at the chance to spend time with Joey. Monica wondered, not for the first time, why Phoebe didn't make a more overt move towards Joey. One thing Phoebe was not lacking was aggressiveness towards men she found attractive. Maybe she had reasons similar to what Joey had told Chandler about why he wasn't going after Phoebe.
Monica was on the verge of asking when she remembered Ross was here. This was not a conversation to be held in front of any of the guys. Monica moved towards the bathroom to quickly freshen up, along the way trying to think of the last time she'd had a real heart-to-heart with Phoebe. It had been too long, it seemed. She'd have to rectify that.
Ross was up and waiting and when Monica got out. He and Phoebe had their mouths firmly shut, which led Monica to believe they'd been talking about her. Fighting down an urge to make a sarcastic comment, she merely gestured Ross towards the door. They put on their coats and braved the January weather.
Which actually wasn't so bad, Monica decided. It was cold but not windy, for a change. Perhaps she could get through Central Park without freezing her face off.
Ross strode beside her, his longer stride perfectly matching her faster pace. "So, what's Joey doing in Central Park?"
"Trying out for a play. Some children's thing.
"Oh, that's nice. Which part?"
"I think he was trying out for... uh, what's the old guy's name in Pinocchio?"
"Geppetto."
"That's it."
"He's a little young to be playing that part, isn't he?"
"What, you never heard of makeup?" Monica abruptly stopped.
Momentum carried Ross two steps ahead before he could stop. "What is it?"
Monica was reading something written in very fine print on a plate glass window. Her mouth moved silently as she tried to puzzle out the legalese.
Ross came up beside her. "What?"
"I think... I think they're closing the bar."
"They're what?" Ross peered at what she was reading.
"This is a building permit. Looks like they're remodeling the whole thing and reopening it under a different name." She pointed.
Ross followed her finger and shook his head. "What a stupid name."
"Yeah. Sounds like a coffee shop."
"Oh great. It's not like the city doesn't already have ten thousand of those things already." Ross sighed. "Well, it's not like we went here a lot anyway."
"Yeah." Still, it had been close and convenient for those times she'd felt like swigging beer and shooting pool. "We still have a couple of weeks before they begin, it looks like. I may go back one more time for auld lang syne."
"I won't," Ross said firmly. "I hate the yuppinization of everything around here."
Monica looked up at Ross with amusement as they resumed their trek. "But... you're a yuppie."
"Am not!" Ross paused for a moment. "Okay, I am a little, in the broadest sense of the term. But don't forget, I was in a college band."
"Ah yes, the least-heard college band in all of New York."
"It wasn't how many that heard us, it was how much those who did appreciated-"
"Yes, yes. You should take pride in how counter-culture you and Chandler were."
"Thank you."
Monica smiled. "Because trust me, no one else ever did."
Ross grunted, half in irritation, half in amusement. "Okay, it perhaps wasn't the babe magnet Chandler and I were hoping for. But it got me Carol."
"You met Carol in one of your classes, not at one of your band gigs. In fact, I think I had to beg you not to take her to one of those until like the tenth date at least."
"Good thing I didn't listen to you."
"Which date did it end up being?"
"Um... the seventh."
Monica chuckled. "You sure showed me."
"Well... truly, I think she enjoyed it because I enjoyed it. We were, we were really in sync back in those days, we loved everything about each other."
Hmm. Monica tried to think back to her relationships, wondering if she'd ever felt that way about anyone. Even at her most infatuated with Kip, she'd still found things about him that annoyed her. Either she was more discerning than Ross was, or she had yet to fall as deeply in love as Ross and Carol had. Or had been, anyway.
They entered the park. The theater that Joey's audition was being held in was on the far side of the park; the plan was to meet at the zoo. Monica was already scanning the crowd as they approached, Central Park bustling with weekend people even in January.
Her eyes fell on Chandler and she brightened immediately. "There they are."
Ross saw and waved. As they approached, it was quite obvious that Joey was very happy. Monica felt her smile widening as they came within hearing distance. "Did it go well?"
"It went awesome!" Joey was positively gushing. "They really liked me, they kept talking and whispering. The assistant director, she said they have one more audition tomorrow, but unless they see something really special, I'm in!"
"That's terrific." Ross grinned. "A real part in a real play, right in Central Park."
Joey nodded enthusiastically. "And even outdoors once the weather warms up. Which is good, because I'd hate to wear those shorts in this weather."
Shorts? As fast as Monica could remember, Geppetto didn't wear shorts. Did he? "Remind me, which part was it?"
Joey thrust his chest out. "The lead, of course."
"Pinocchio?"
"That's the one. Pinocchio, starring Joey Tribbiani."
"Sounds great," Ross said before Monica could voice an objection. "Will your name be on the marquee?"
"Er... I don't think so." Joey frowned, thinking. "The marquee they have now for Snow White doesn't list any actors. But it'll be all over the program."
By now Monica had managed to swallow her opinions. Sure, Joey was way too big and tall to play a boy puppet. But he had a child's enthusiasm, and that would go over quite well with the kids who saw the play. Monica looked at Chandler. "What do you think? Did he blow away the competition?"
"I don't know, I wasn't there. They didn't let me watch, so I had to hang around the park."
Monica found herself focusing more and more on Chandler. There was something about the way he talked... short, without his normal liveliness. And come to think of it, even if she had some tact and discretion about criticizing Joey's potential new part, Chandler usually showed no such restraint. "What's wrong?" she found herself asking.
Joey grunted and lightly slapped the side of Chandler's head. "Idiot got himself bitten."
"Bitten?" Monica found her eyes roving over every visible part of Chandler, which in this weather wasn't much. "Where? How? By what?"
Gritting his teeth, Chandler gingerly pulled off one glowed. His fingers were free and clear, but the whole rest of his hand was covered with several layers of white gauze.
Monica took a quick step forward and grabbed Chandler's hand in both of hers, studying it minutely. "Oh my God. Does it hurt?"
"Only when you do that," Chandler murmured.
Monica eased the pressure of her grip but still held on. "How'd this happen?"
Chandler sighed. "I swear, I thought it was a petting zoo."
"They were cleaning out the peacock cage in the tropical exhibit," Joey clarified. "One of the zookeepers left the door open, and Chandler decided to wander right in."
"They looked friendly. Until the one decided I was offering my hand as a tasty appetizer." Chandler winced. "I'm never watching NBC again."
"It's not bad," Joey said. "They stitched it up right there at the zoo, gave him some antibiotics. He'll be fine in a week or two."
"Not bad!" Monica leaned down a little, studying what she could see of Chandler's hand, looking for streaks of purple or red that might indicate an infection. "He could get rabies, the thing could fester, he might-"
"I'm fine." Chandler firmly extracted his hand from her grip. Surprised, Monica looked up at him. He stared her right in the eyes as he said, "What's important is that Joey got a great part in a great play. What I did when I tried to play Doctor Doolittle isn't worth talking about."
Seeing the intensity in Chandler's eyes, understanding dawned in Monica. Chandler wanted the focus to be completely on Joey. Getting this part was very important to Joey, who by his own admission had been struggling mightily as an actor. Chandler was going to do everything he could to make certain his misadventure didn't steal Joey's thunder.
Ross seemed to pick up on this too. "I can't get over how great this is, Joey. Now you have to show us your audition. I want to see the stunning performance that won them over."
"Sure!" The happiness returned full force in Joey. He took a step back and screwed up his face, showing some deep, unspecified emotion. "Romeo, Romeo..."
Monica kept her eyes on Chandler's face a moment longer as he put his glove back on. The man continued to astound her, showing surprising moments of maturity and understanding amidst all his silliness. Joey probably had no idea how lucky he was to have Chandler as a roommate.
And, Monica said to herself, perhaps she didn't quite realize how lucky she was to have Chandler as a neighbor.
Monica turned her attention to Joey as he continued his prepared speech, and basked in his undiluted joy.
(to be continued)