An hour later everyone was sitting around the coffee table in Emma and Erica's apartment, discussing the recent revolution.
When Emma and Erica first decided to get an apartment in the city after Erica graduated from law school the previous spring they'd been shocked to discover that the apartment their mothers had shared when Rachel first moved to the city and where Erica's parents lived before moving to Westchester, was not available to rent, they could afford it.
Soon after they got settled it was discovered Joey's old apartment was also vacant, so Jack quickly moved in.
Ben lived in the apartment above his sister and cousin, and Sophie lived in a studio a few blocks away, but they always seemed to end up at Emma and Erica's.
The once purple walls were now a soft blue, with a white leather couch, pale green cloth chairs on either side and a dark wood coffee table in front of a TV inside a matching entertainment center.
"So Jack's new roommate is Joey's son, and he doesn't know ?" Ben asks for the third time.
"Of all the gin joints right," Emma says coming over from the kitchen and sitting down on the couch with a beer.
"How does he not know, I mean Joey's face is everywhere," Erica says picking up the People magazine from the coffee table, the one with Joey's face on the cover.
Joey At Home, some photographer went to Joey's house in Connecticut and took a bunch of pictures of him with his wife Alex, and their three daughters, Zooey, Lola, and Tilly.
"If only half of the stories we've heard about how he used to be are true, he must have five or six kids he doesn't know about," Sophie says from her spot in the chair across from the window.
"What are we going to do? Should we tell Luke that we know who his father is first or do we tell Uncle Joey that he has a son ?" Erica asks carefully putting the magazine back onto the pile on the coffee table.
"Whatever we decide it's going to be an awkward conversation, Joey will think we're playing a joke on him, and who knows how Luke will react," Jack says before taking another sip of his beer.
"Maybe we should just tip off the paparazzi, let them figure out how to tell them," Sophie says eating some pretzels from the bowl on the coffee table.
"Okay, let's not do that. Anybody else ?" Emma asks as Sophie looks disappointed.
"I say we put Joey and Luke in a room together, if they figure it out fine if not, then maybe they weren't supposed to," Ben says taking his phone out of his pocket.
"That could work, but how do we get them together without letting them know what we're doing ?" Erica asks taking a sip of her wine.
"Way ahead of you, I'm texting Joey that a reporter from Star Magazine was looking for him at his old apartment and that she'll be back here tomorrow at two," Ben explains as he sends the text to his gullible uncle.
"So now all we have to do is get Luke there at the same time," Emma says setting her beer back onto the coffee table.
"I have his number so I'll just call him and say that he can move in tomorrow, and when Joey gets there, they'll talk, figure it out, everybody wins," Jack says drinking some more of his beer.
"They don't win if Luke is perfectly happy not knowing who his father is," Sophie says eating two more pretzels.
"She's right," Emma says after a second.
"So we may just end up hijacking their lives for no reason at all," Jack says thinking over what he and his friends are trying to do.
They're all quiet for a second until Emma looks over to the window and see's something, "Hey look Ugly Naked Guy just got a unicycle".
They all jump up and run over to the window.
"Oh, yeah," Ben says looking over Erica's head to get a better look.
"He's getting on the unicycle, he's standing up, he's standing up, he's..," Sophie says as the Ugly Naked Guy falls back onto his coffee table.
"Ohh," They all say together.
"He's going to need a new coffee table," Jack says as they all go back to their seats.
"And a new unicycle," Sophie says sitting back down in her chair.
"And a new TV," Erica says pouring herself another glass of wine in the kitchen.
"And a new back," Ben says as his phone dines.
"Is that Uncle Joey ?" Erica asks coming back into the living room and sits next to Emma on the couch.
"Yeah," Ben says reading.
"What did he say ?" Jack asks taking Ben's phone from him.
"He'll be there, and is she hot," Ben says taking his phone back from Jack.
"Alright we got Joey, now all we need is Luke," Emma says crossing her legs under her.
"I'll go call him," Jack says going into the hallway with his cellphone.
"So if this completely blows up in our faces, we're going to need someone to blame,"Emma says taking a sip of her beer.
"I vote we blame George Bush," Sophie says getting excited.
"Former US president George Bush ?" Ben asks as Sophie smiles even more.
"The first or the second one, Soph," Erica asks treading lightly like they often do around her.
"The second one, duh," Sophie says eating more pretzels.
"Why would we blame a former president for this going horribly wrong ?" Ben asks sitting down on the arm of the couch.
"That's what my Mom always says to do," Sophie says picking up her wine.
"Why would she tell you to blame a dead US president ?" Emma asks as Ben looks at her funny.
"He's not dead Em," Ben says looking down at her.
"Yes he is, he died a few years ago, he was assassinated in Dallas," Emma says sure of herself.
"That was JFK, and that was before both of our parents were born," Ben says as Emma gives him a funny look.
"Are you sure ?" Emma asks a little surprised.
"I teach US history if I'm wrong I've been using the wrong textbook and have been poisoning the minds of teenagers for six years," Ben says standing up going to get another beer.
As Ben sits back down on the couch, Jack comes back into the apartment.
"Hey, how'd it go ?" Erica asks turning in her seat to look at her brother.
"He'll be here at two," Jack says sitting down in the last available chair.
"Okay so someone is going to need to be here when this goes down, I have a class until three thirty, so I can't," Ben says drinking his beer.
"I'm in court tomorrow," Erica says turning back around in her seat.
"I'm free, but I'm anchoring the six o'clock news, so I may need to leave early," Emma says setting her beer on the end table.
"I can come, business is slow so I can basically leave whenever I want," Sophie says laying her arms on her legs.
"And I have to be there because it's my apartment and it would be weird if I wasn't," Jack says laying his feet onto the coffee table.
"Okay enough of that," Erica says swatting at Jack's feet until he moves them back down to the floor.
"We've already established I'm my mother, no use denying it," Erica says as everyone looks at her.
"What do you think will happen if everything works out and Luke actually wants to hang out with us ?" Ben asks after a moment.
"Then we'll have our Joey, and our group will be complete," Sophie says sipping more of her wine.
"So we're turning into our parents when they were our age," Erica says sitting back onto the couch.
"We're not exactly like them," Jack says as everyone agrees, and Emma looks to the window.
"He's on it again," Emma exclaims as they once again run to the window.