Chapter 5: Phoebe

Monica & the Cheap Wedding Dress

Phoebe loved Monica very much, she really did. The woman was devoted and reliable; Phoebe knew she would always be there for her, no matter what, and it was amazing how since the very beginning she felt like she could rely on Monica. The time spent living with her almost ruined everything though – that was the moment Phoebe was almost going crazy with the controlling thing. She had lived on the streets, but it came to a point where she missed having no home because having a home where you couldn't breathe properly seemed like a nightmare. When she left the apartment, she even considered cutting her friend out of her life, but thank all the good gods, she came to her senses and since then the friendship moved on to being one of the most precious things in Phoebe's life.

She admired how strong-willed Monica was, sure, but sometimes it was too much. Seeing everything from a close but also kind of faraway point of view made things bearable, fun even. That day, for example, had been so much fun! Fighting crazy girls over discount was an unusual activity in her life, but it demanded energy and courage (which obviously Rachel lacked, Phoebe chuckled at the memory) so it was fun, like a girls' night in the wild or something.

Monica looked so happy, her tiny body resting on her couch, legs on the coffee table, eyes glued to The Dress. It was one hell of a dress, Phoebe would agree. Everything was okay until the phone rang and that Megan girl they met before tried to force Monica to give the dress back at the threat of booking The Swing Kings on Chandler and Monica's wedding day. That was a clever plan, Phoebe admitted silently, obviously.

"Does that mean Carcass is available?" Phoebe hopped a little, Monica probably didn't think much of this, but what Phoebe secretly meant was "Oh, poor Chandler, no The Swing Kings for you, you gotta settle for the metal band." Of course Monica would never in a million years return The Dress. She had been basically planning the wedding all by herself; Chandler didn't even have a word on anything. Why would she give up the dreamy dress over some stupid swing band Chandler got to know because of a freaking commercial?

Ahead of everything, Phoebe suggested talking him out of it, Monica answering with "How?" signaling that they would indeed come up with a plan for that.

"Okay, we've got to make Chandler give up the band." Monica announced after telling Rachel what just happened when she came back from the bathroom, and Phoebe almost smirked at her face, almost said of course we do in the smuggest tone ever, but her friend was already stressed out over the phone call, so she thought better of it.

"What if we say swing music sucks?" Phoebe suggested, Monica and Rachel expressing confusion in their eyes. Ugh, her friends could be so slow sometimes. "Chandler is always self-conscious about everything, you guys! If we tell him it's lame having a swing band on your wedding, maybe he'll give that up."

The other two girls were finally following "Oooh, that's a good idea!" Rachel was excited even though Monica looked uncertain. Phoebe blamed on the winning streak having to be tamed because some random girl had the nerve to challenge her.

"Okay, so when he comes back, we'll just pretend to be having a conversation and you guys say those things. I've already told him I liked the swing band idea, so if I say something right now he might think it's weird."

"Deal."

"Well, it's just… while Monica and I were dancing to them it was…" He turned to her, "the first time I knew that… you were the woman I wanted to dance all my dances with." Oh no, Phoebe thought. So there is a deep motivation for the random swing band. Phoebe felt really bad for Chandler, being absolutely sure that he would have to say goodbye to that. She observed as Monica seemed at a loss for words, torn between smiling widely over that sweet confession and just calling the whole thing stupid so that she wouldn't need to fight for her dress.

"Oh, crap" was all that came out from Monica's mouth. If they were in a cartoon, a thousand question marks would float around Chandler's head because of that reaction. "This is really sweet, honey." She finally smiled at him two seconds later, and he smiled back. They could be so disgusting sometimes, your room is right there!, Phoebe almost screamed. "I'm gonna book the Swing Kings, okay?" Phoebe was surprised. What was Monica going to do? Would she physically force the Megan girl to stop with the craziness?

The following day, Phoebe entered apartment 20 at usual time to find Monica getting ready to leave, with a big bag in her hands.

"Hi, Monica! Are you going out now?"

"Yes, I'm returning the dress now. Hey, do you want to come with me when I pick another one?" What? Was she really going to return the dress? Phoebe was almost scared by the possibility of this person standing in front of her being some sort of alien who had devoured her friend and replaced her. Oblivious to Phoebe's reaction, Monica continued, giggling mischievously and pointing to the bag "You know, she'll have the dress, but there's a little rip on the side."

Phoebe was still standing there.

"Phoebe? Are you okay?"

"Yes!" She quickly recovered her usual demeanor "Yeah, I'm fine! I was just thinking that The Swing Kings will be back, which means Carcass will be unavailable again, ugh, bummer."

Monica looked at her oddly, but in that oddly way she used to look at Phoebe almost every day. She could see her friend not really getting the comment but trying to shrug it off as one more Phoebe thing, and the blond woman would rather have Monica think that than noticing what she was really thinking.

All Phoebe had in mind was wow, Monica really loves Chandler, doesn't she? She had all the final words on the wedding, but it's not like Chandler had any strong opinions about anything, really. The only thing that mattered to Chandler was important enough to make Monica give up her dream wedding dress. It was unbelievable.

"So, are you coming with me?" Monica's voice almost startled her out.

"What? You want me to help you kick that Megan girl's ass?"

"No!" Monica laughed, as if that idea actually appealed to her. "As much as I would love to, I don't want to risk not having The Swing Kings available. I meant are you coming with me when I pick a new dress?"

"Oh, yeah, sure! I'll go with you."

"Okay, great!" Monica headed for the door, and Phoebe followed her out, maybe she would stop by at Joey's. "See you later, Phoebe!"

"See you, Monica."

She watched her friend leave, standing in the hall between the two apartments. All annoying habits aside, that woman is great, Chandler's very lucky, Phoebe concluded, as she headed towards apartment 19.