Anything for Love
Chapter 16: The One Where Joey and Phoebe Break Up
When Phoebe got out of the bathroom, she grabbed her purse and began to leave. She noticed Summer was nowhere to be found, and Phoebe figured she had high-tailed it out of there, knowing that Phoebe would have kicked her ass if she hadn't. If she didn't still feel slightly nauseous, she would have highly considered kicking Joey's ass instead. But as it was, she just wanted to get the heck back to New York and start throwing Joey's stuff in to trash bags. She'd seen enough.
Joey quickly blocked the front door. "Phoebe, it's not what it looked like, I swear!"
Phoebe laughed. "I know you're pretty stupid, Joey, but I'm sure even you can figure out a better excuse than that old cliché!"
Joey instantly looked hurt. "You said you'd never call me that again."
"And you said you would never cheat one me, but you did, so now we're even!" Phoebe said defiantly.
"I didn't cheat on you! If you would just let me explain!" Joey said; frustration setting in.
"Why? So you can lie to me and make yourself sound like the victim?" Phoebe asked. "Let me guess. She hit on you and not the other way around. She kissed you and forced you down onto the bed and demanded you kiss her back or she'd stab you with her nail file!" Phoebe was just making up the most insane excuse she could think of, but she wouldn't put it past Joey to come up with a lie that stupid.
"That's insane!" Joey said.
"Yeah, well, not as insane as I was for thinking I could change a womanizer into a faithful husband!" Phoebe snapped.
"For the last time, Phoebs, I didn't cheat on you!" Joey snapped.
"Don't ever call me that again! Only friends may call me Phoebs, and you have just clearly showed me that you are no friend of mine!"
"You're being ridiculous!" Joey snapped. He was annoyed that she wouldn't even listen to him.
"Well then by all means, I'll leave, if you think I'm so ridiculous!" Phoebe said. She turned to leave again, but Joey held the door closed. "Not until you listen to what I have to say."
Phoebe sighed. "Fine. Say it, then let me leave. I never want to see you again after this." She plopped herself down onto the couch with crossed arms. She would listen, but it wouldn't change anything, she knew. "I can't believe you did this to me after Mike did it!"
Joey said down next to her. "For the last time. I did not cheat on you." He enunciated each worked slowly as if he were talking to a two-year-old.
Phoebe, still with crossed arms, looked away. "Yeah, whatever. Just get this lame explanation over with so I can leave. I'd like to catch the next plane out."
Joey sighed, and began to explain. "I'm going to tell you something that you have to swear not to share with anybody."
"This ought to be rich," Phoebe said with a bitter laugh, refusing to look at him.
"Promise me!" he snapped.
"Whatever," Phoebe said. "I promise," she said in a mocking tone.
"Summer Anderson isn't interested in me in the slightest. She's not even in to men!" Joey revealed. "She's a lesbian."
Phoebe looked at him and rolled her eyes. "Yeah, right!"
"I'm serious! She even has a girlfriend named Jenna. Jenna's parents are very religious and they are keeping it a secret from Jenna's parents. Summer doesn't even want the world to know she's gay. She values her privacy and finds it nobody's business," Joey explained.
"Then why was she in your bed? Why were you kissing?" Phoebe asked, practically shouting at him. She was so angry she wanted to scratch his face off!
"We have a love scene in the movie, and she feels awkward. She's been gay her whole life and has never been with a man before. She's never had any attraction to men to even have dated one. It's always been women for her. She came to me a few weeks back and told me how nervous she was to do a love scene with me. It's hard enough for her that I am a man, let alone someone she doesn't even know all that well. She's also upset that the press has gotten wind that she might be gay. So, she figured that if we hang out together off set and make it look like we're a couple, then the press will be thrown off the trail," Joey explained.
"That still doesn't explain why you were kissing her on your bed! And in those pictures in the magazine!" Phoebe snapped.
"The magazine was for show. What you saw tonight was just rehearsing. She figured that maybe if we rehearsed without so many people watching us, she could learn to be less tense when we filmed it. She wanted to get used to me in a comfortable setting," Joey replied.
Phoebe snorted. "Yeah! I bet she did!" Her arms were still crossed over her chest.
"I'm telling you, it's the truth!" Joey picked up the phone on the stand beside him. "Here. Call her room. Room 527. Ask her to explain. She'll tell you the same thing. We didn't know you'd be barging in on us tonight. We had no time to make up any story together."
Phoebe ignored the phone. "You could have already made that story up together just in case you got caught."
"Damn it Phoebs, you gotta believe me, I would never cheat on you! Never!" Joey pleaded with her. He set the phone back on the hook.
"You're a womanizer, Joey. You always have been. I don't believe for a second that you never did anything with a woman as sexy as Summer. Anyway, even if what you were saying is true, you should have warned me ahead of time of what you were doing."
"First off, whether you believe it or not, Summer and I have never done anything together that you're implying! Second off, I knew you'd freak out like you are now over nothing if I told you. I didn't want to worry you!" Joey told her.
"It's not over nothing! The private investigator I hired said you were cozy with her all week and she stayed the night one night! Which, by the way, I found out she lives in LA, so there is no reason for her to be staying in this hotel unless you two were screwing around!" Phoebe accused.
"Wait. You hired a private investigator to follow me around?" Joey asked.
Phoebe nodded. "And it's a damn good thing I did!"
"For the last time, Phoebe, I am not cheating on you!" Now Joey's voice was the one that was raised. "I can't believe you distrust me so much that you hired a private investigator to follow me around!"
Phoebe shrugged. "Well, you're the one who ran off to Los Angeles to be in this stupid movie! You never come back to New York to see me anymore, and you never even have time to talk to me. I was going to ask you about Summer, but you could never talk for long. I needed to find out the truth somehow!"
Joey's expression and tone grew cold. "You only found out the truth from me. That private investigator knows nothing! And excuse me for wanting to make a life for us! You had the option to come and see me too, and you never did until now when you want to falsely accuse me of something! And for your information, Summer's house is being renovated, so she is staying in this hotel while her house is being renovated. And for the record, there is like ten more cast members who are staying in this hotel because they don't live in LA. Did you honestly think she and I were the only ones?"
"I have a business I just couldn't up and leave! I need to make money too, you know! At least I called you. You rarely called me anymore. And why was she coming home from your apartment one morning?" Phoebe asked.
Joey sighed. "She slept on the bed the night before and I slept on the couch. Her Aunt, whom she is very close to, was in a serious car wreck in Seattle. She was distraught over it that night, and I didn't think she should be alone."
"Is her aunt going to be okay?" Phoebe asked, feeling a little sheepish now.
Joey nodded. "Yes. She'll need physical therapy for a good portion of the year, but she's expected to have a full recovery."
"I still don't know what to believe," Phoebe said quietly.
Joey shrugged. "I would think you'd believe your fiancé. You've known me for many years, Phoebs. You should believe me when I tell you that's the truth."
"For all the years I've known you, you've been a womanizer. What else am I supposed to think?" Phoebe asked.
"You were supposed to know you can trust me, and believe me when I tell you you're the only woman for me. Ever since December when we first kissed, I knew I needed to look no further for a woman. I thought you believed that, Phoebe. I thought you believed I changed." Joey was more sad than angry now.
"I thought I did," Phoebe said quietly.
Joey raised an eyebrow. "And now?"
Phoebe shrugged. "I don't know," she said in practically a whisper. "I mean, for all I know, even the aunt can be a made up story."
Joey stood up then. "Then I guess there's nothing more to say to each other. As much as I want to marry you, Phoebs, I can't marry someone who doesn't trust me, and probably never will."
Phoebe stared at him blankly, and then nodded. She grabbed her purse and headed for the door.
"It's getting late. You can sleep on the bed and I'll sleep on the couch if you want," Joey said to her.
Phoebe pictured him kissing Summer on the bed as he had earlier in the evening. "There's nothing I would like less," she said forlornly, looking at him sadly. "Goodbye, Joey."
"Goodbye, Phoebe," Joey said, trying not to cry.
Phoebe left then, and quickly rushed out of the hotel. She would not let him see her cry.
Joey locked the door behind her, then went to the fridge and pulled out the vodka. It was the only way he knew how to forget her…even if only for the night.
Days passed and Phoebe was still upset. She ended up canceling a couple days of work because she just didn't have it in her to give massages in her state of mind. She told Monica and Rachel she didn't want to talk about it, and they let her have her privacy.
However, after the second full day of sulking, they showed up at her door around nine with a bottle of wine and a pint of chocolate cookie dough ice cream. She let them in and they both gave her a hug.
"I said I wanted to be alone," Phoebe grumbled.
"Well, we're not going to let you be! That will only make you feel worse," Monica said, helping herself to three bowls and spoons while Rachel got the wine glasses out.
They then practically dragged her to the bedroom where they all sat on the bed and had their snack.
"Don't spill anything on the bedspread. It's not that old, and it wasn't cheap!" Phoebe said.
"You don't gotta tell me that!" Monica said.
Rachel smiled sheepishly. "I'll be careful."
"Should you even be drinking wine?" Phoebe asked Rachel.
Rachel rolled her eyes. "Relax! Mine is grape juice from your fridge that I had brought over when watching Prince Harry for you."
"You never really explained to us what happened. Feel like talking about it?" Monica said gently as she rubbed Phoebe's leg from over the blankets in a comforting way.
Phoebe sighed, and told them everything from her walking in on Joey and Summer making out in his bed, to the tale Joey told her.
"Do you think he's telling the truth?" Monica asked her.
Phoebe shrugged. "I don't know. He sounded truthful, but it all seems too convenient."
"Joey has been a womanizer all his life. This is precisely the reason why I didn't want you two getting married so soon! Dating is one thing, but marriage is a whole other ball game," Monica said. "I have half a mind to fly over there myself and clock him in that pretty face of his for what he did to you."
"Now, now, let's not get violent!" Rachel scolded. "How do we know he's not telling the truth? I mean, he loves you, Phoebe. I mean, really loves you. Even before you two started dating, he always treated you with nothing but love and respect. Did he not?"
Phoebe shrugged. "I suppose he did."
"And do you really think he is smart enough to make that story up? I mean, I know it sounds far-fetched, but still… Could Joey really make a story like that up?" Rachel asked.
Phoebe thought about it. "It doesn't seem like something he would or could make up," she admitted.
"Well, maybe Summer came up with it ahead of time and coached him!" Monica said, playing the devil's advocate. She just wanted to make sure they looked at this from all angles before coming to any conclusions.
"Please! Do you think Joey could ever remember a long, drawn out story like that?" Rachel asked, shooting Monica a disbelieving look.
Monica shook her head. "Definitely not."
"Anyway, they didn't know Phoebe would be showing up," Rachel reminded her.
Monica nodded. "True. Still, Joey is Joey, and I don't think he is the type of man who can ever settle down with just one woman, whether it be Phoebe or someone else."
"Can we please just not talk about Joey anymore?" Phoebe asked. "I just want to forget him even if just for the rest of the night."
"Sure, Honey," Rachel said gently rubbing her shoulder. "Would you like any more ice cream?"
Phoebe nodded. "Yes, please."
Rachel was one who couldn't eat when upset, but Phoebe and Monica were both eaters when they were upset.
"I'll help. I want some more too," Monica said, quickly getting up and following Rachel to the kitchen.
"I still think Joey's telling the truth. I hope they don't end things for good over this," Rachel said as they refilled all three ice cream bowls.
"I think they already did," Monica said with a shrug.
"Well, I'm not counting them out just yet!" Rachel insisted. "I know I had doubts about them in the past, but now I don't know. They seemed to have made each other very happy."
Monica shrugged. "Well, they aren't happy now, are they?"
Rachel rolled her eyes. Monica could be such a cynic at times.
She vowed then to do whatever it took to get Phoebe and Joey back together. She knew it would make them both happy. And if anything, ruffling Monica's feathers was always fun to do.
They finished fixing the ice cream, and after they fixed their ice creams, they refiled their glasses with their beverages of choice, and then spend most of the night watching old I Love Lucy reruns, though, to Rachel's dismay, Phoebe didn't laugh as much as she usually did at the show.
Rachel sighed. Yes, she thought, I definitely have to get them back together. She didn't know how she'd do it yet, but she was sure she'd think of something.
The night Phoebe had left him, it had taken everything Joey had in him to stop himself from drinking more than he should. If he hadn't had to work the next morning, he would have drank until he blacked out. However, he had an important movie to film, and could not afford to come to work drunk or hungover, no matter what his situation. Still, no matter how cheery he tried to be, he couldn't shake the sadness. He forgot his lines a couple of times, and he zoned out at other times.
"Cut! Joey, what is the problem today? Is something wrong?" the director asked.
"I'm sorry! My fiancé and I are having problems," Joey muttered. Actually, he didn't think she was even his fiancé anymore.
"I'm sorry to hear that, Joey, but you know the rules. Leave the problems outside the studio," the director said gently.
Joey nodded and apologized. "It won't happen again. I promise."
He was able to get through the rest of the day without a problem, though, in the next couple of days, every time had a scene with Summer, he kept seeing Phoebe watching them, and it unnerved him.
He shook her from his thoughts and concentrated on the scene.
"I'm sorry I caused such problems. Do you want me to talk to her?" Summer asked him once they had wrapped for the day.
Joey shook his head. "That's sweet of you, but no thanks. I think that would just upset her more."
"Well, I'm sure she'll come around. My girlfriend actually surprised me by telling her parents about us last night. They don't like it, but at least they didn't disown her. They told her they still love her even if they don't agree with her lifestyle choices," Summer said with a smile.
Joey managed to smile back. "Well, good! I'm happy for you. At least one of us is doing well in the romance department."
Summer placed a hand over his shoulder, and Joey almost winced. He wondered if Phoebe's private detective was hiding somewhere ready to take a shot and call it an intimate moment.
Summer pulled her hand away as if sensing his discomfort. "Don't worry. Jenna has given me the courage to maybe come out publically. I'm thinking about it. If I do, then Phoebe will know for sure you weren't lying."
This time, Joey put his hand on her shoulder. "Summer, you shouldn't have to come out for her to know that."
That night, after the girls left, Phoebe tried taking her mind off of Joey by reading a book. However, she just found herself taking ten minutes to read one page. Her mind kept going back to him anyway.
She fed Prince Harry, and then got back into bed and flipped on the television. She saw the movie Carrie was just starting, and she started to watch it. It fit her mood perfectly.
After having finished his dinner, Prince Harry jumped up onto the bed. He purred, and cuddled up next to Phoebe.
Phoebe stroked his head. "At least someone is loyal to me," she mumbled to him.
After Carrie, she flipped to another station, and a cheesy romance movie was on. Romance was the very last genera she was in the mood for, but for some reason unknown to her, she watched it anyway. Ironically enough, it was about a woman whose boyfriend had cheated on her, and she ditched him and found love with her best friend instead.
Phoebe flipped the television off once the movie had ended. "Joey was my best friend and look how that turned out!" she said to Prince Harry. She sighed. She supposed it had been wrong of her to get that private investigator. She had never thought she would be one of those women who would do such a thing, but she had been desperate.
Joey really had seemed sincere when he told her he wasn't cheating. His story sounded far-fetched, but as Rachel had said, Joey wasn't really smart enough to come up with that excuse. Was he? Or, was he really smart enough to remember it if Summer had come up with it? And how would either of them know they needed that excuse? They didn't know Phoebe was going to show up. Then again, after the tabloids came out, they might have known to prepare for her finding out.
Phoebe got out of bed to go to the bathroom and brush her teeth. She then got back into bed next to Prince Harry and sighed. She looked at the phone. She reached out to it. Maybe she should call Joey and talk to him now that she had time to calm down…
She was so close to calling him, but then the image of him and Summer making out on his bed was almost enough to make her throw up again. She turned off the light and laid down. She cuddled close to the still purring Prince Harry and closed her eyes. No. She wasn't ready to talk to Joey again, and she didn't know if she would be any time soon. She still didn't know if she could trust him. And as Joey had said, in so many words, what good was a relationship if there was no trust?
She went to sleep, hoping not to dream of Joey.
Joey grabbed some room service in his room, and then sat in bed eating while watching TV. Though, he wasn't paying much attention to what was playing. He kept thinking about Phoebe. He couldn't believe she hadn't trusted him. She was the one person he had in his corner that trusted him and didn't just think of him as a womanizer. That is until now. He would bet almost anything that Rachel and Monica had poisoned her mind against him.
He sighed, and set his food on the floor. For the first time in as long as he could remember, he wasn't very hungry. He was too sick over Phoebe to eat.
He took out the pictures of her out that he kept in his wallet, the special ones she had made for him. As he looked at her in all her naked or half naked glory, he couldn't help but wonder how on earth she would think he would pick Summer over her. Sure Summer was beautiful and had a great body, but he just didn't see her in that way. He knew he was probably the only male on the planet that thought so, but he didn't like huge boobs on women. There was such a thing as being too big. Sure he liked to talk the talk, but when it came down to it, he liked an evenly proportioned woman, and Phoebe was that kind of woman. Anyway, Summer didn't know him like Phoebe did. Summer didn't laugh at his lame Jokes like Phoebe did. Summer didn't make him laugh like Phoebe did. Summer didn't make his heart race like Phoebe did. Heck, even just hearing Phoebe's name made his heart race. He didn't ever get that feeling when Summer's name was mentioned.
"Maybe I should have made more of an effort to call her or be here when she called me," he muttered to the empty room.
He rand his hand over another picture he had of Phoebe. This wasn't one of the nudes she sent, but one he had taken of her. She was smiling at him and her smile took his breath away so much he had had to save it forever in a photograph.
He looked at the phone and almost grabbed it to call Phoebe and beg for her forgiveness. But then his pride got in the way. Why should he apologize? The fact remained that she didn't fully trust him. He knew things looked bad, but she should have kept trying to get ahold of him until she did. Then she should have listened to him and they could have talked things out between them. She should have believed him when he told her that there was absolutely nothing going on between him and Summer. Instead, she had hired a private detective, and believed what the detective had seen even though he hadn't had the whole story. It really hurt him that she was so willing to believe a detective she probably never even met, over him, whom she was not only engaged to, but had known for years.
Joey got ready for bed and turned off the lights, and then got into bed to watch a horror movie marathon that was on. It was early for him to head to bed, but he wasn't in the mood for anything else other than lying there and watching mindless movies. He couldn't call Phoebe. There was no use torturing himself. The fact was that she didn't trust him, and if she didn't trust him, their relationship was a dead end. As much as it hurt him to admit, and oh did it hurt him, it was no use torturing himself by trying to remedy something that obviously couldn't be fixed.