𝐜𝐨𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐨𝐬𝐬 | 𝐜. 𝐛𝐢𝐧𝐠

1.3

"rachel, wake up!" monica yelled into a foghorn, causing her blonde friend to awaken. her eyes were barely open, her ears were ringing, and there was absolutely no light for monica to be visible in. "briar's stuff is gone, we fell asleep!"

and just like that, rachel green was up and out of her bed, searching for her lamp. "what time is it, what day is it?! i think your food put me into a coma, mon!"

"it's 7: 40..." monica informed. rachel paused, still unsure if it was the next day or not. her roommate pulled back her blackout curtain. "...in the morning."

"no, no, no!" rachel shouted, scrambling for their neighbors. they started with joey, half-expecting him to have her clothes in his bed, but instead found him half-naked, unconscious, and surrounded by empty pizza boxes. chandler's room, on the other hand, was empty. "get out here!" the blonde whispered loudly.

the white bathroom door swung open to reveal a freshly-shaven bing in his suit and tie for work. "ah, room service! glad you could make it," he humored. "you can start by explaining yourselves."

"oh god, oh god, oh god..." rachel panicked. "we were so tired from listening to ross go on and on and on— and then there was the argument about his lesbian lover— we were supposed to take nap shifts and one of us was supposed to come get briar, but we both fell asleep."

"my parents and ross? briar didn't even wanna be there! it was horrible—" monica started.

"no, she didn't want to be there. she wanted to see her two best friends since high school for the last time." chandler confronted. "face it, when's the next time you two are going to invite her over? when's the next time she can spend money on a plane ticket and drop everything to be here? she lives in a white picket fence house four hundred miles away from here with a guy that doesn't even love her."

"what did she say? was she mad? did she cry?" monica frowned. "should we call her? we should call her."

"she didn't say anything,"

"oh no."

"she just asked if you two had gone to bed, said she was going to take a nap, sent me away, and then she left 17 minutes later." he answered. "...not that joey and i were watching out the peephole or anything, because that'd make us peeping toms and we're more like jerry."

"chandler, what do we do? she probably hates us!" rachel was now moving back and forth and biting her nails anxiously.

"turn back time to about eleven hours ago." he grinned and grabbed his suitcase. the girls wore a rather unamused expression as he sauntered off to work. "just call her and explain... and talk about me. see what she says about me and tell me when i get off."

   it took three rings for briar to pick up. three. and with every one that went by, the girls winced.

   "briar?!" monica screamed into the phone. rachel smacked her arm lightly, telling her to calm down. "briar, we are so so sorry. we didn't mean to fall asleep, i promise! i even have left over spaghetti in the fridge for you."

   "yeah," rachel agreed, snagging the phone from monica's hand. "briar, i love you so so much. we would never, ever forget about you like that. i am so sorry!"

   "guys," briar laughed. she sat, crisscrossed and fully clothed in her guest room bathtub, with the home phone on her lap. "it's okay. i understand. i had an amazing time this weekend, regardless of how it ended. i missed you girls."

   "we missed you more, honey, and we wish you were still here," rachel awed. "when's the next time you're free? maybe you could come stay for a while!"