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"Everybody!"
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"Huh? So what do you think?" Joey was showing us around his new apartment. "Casa de Joey. I decorated it myself." He was really proud of the...interesting decor.
"Wow, Joey. This is, uh..." Monica trailed off, not knowing what she was looking at.
"Art." He nodded his head, finishing for her.
"Art it is." She repeated and tried not to sound rude or hurt his feelings.
"Check this out." We looked over to see Ross kneeling by the table. "Is it a coffee table? Is it a...a panther? There's no need to decide."
"Nice pillow." Rachel felt up a fluffy pillow. "So, now, tell me. Is this genuine muppet skin?" She glanced back at him.
"Hey, excellent...excellent water–table thing." Phoebe pointed to whatever was in the back.
"Thanks. Yeah, I love this. But you know what? It makes me want to pee." Joey replied.
"Yeah, well, me, too." Phoebe pointed at herself. "I think that's the challenge."
"Hey, how come, uh...Chandler didn't come?" He stuffed his hands into his pockets. The rest of us kind of just looked at each other.
"Well, uh, it's 'cause he had a thing with...with–with the thing." Ross stuttered out.
"Right." Joey nodded his head. "I got–I got it." It didn't take a genius to realize he got a little upset by his ex–roommate not showing up.
"So why don't you show us the rest of your casa?" I changed the topic. Of course, I had already seen the apartment since we...tried out his new bed.
"Oh...Oh! The best part! Come on! We followed him into the bathroom. "Eh?" He smiled proudly and motioned towards the toilet.
"Hey. Nice toilet." Rachel pointed down at it.
"No, no, no. Behind it." He pointed at the phone attached to the wall.
"Woah, you have a phone in here?" Ross exclaimed in shock and surprise.
"That's right. I have a phone...in here." He winked at us.
"Joey, promise me one thing." Monica held up one finger. "Never call me from that phone." She smiled at him kindly. The rest of us nodded our heads in agreement. That afternoon, Rachel, Ross, Chandler, Monica, and I were sitting together at Central Perk.
"Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God." Phoebe walked into the coffee shop. "You are not going to believe this. I have just been discovered."
"Now, wait a minute." Chandler glanced back at us before looking at her. "I claimed you in the name of France four years ago." He joked. Phoebe laughed in a strained tone.
"Anyway. Now, promise me you won't freak out and say how great this is until I'm done, okay?" She instructed us.
"Okay." We nodded our heads in agreement.
"I just met with this producer of this, like, teeny record company who said that I have a very fresh, off–beat sound, and she wants to do a demo of 'Smelly Cat'." We all clapped and cheered for her. "Okay, I told you not to do that yet. Okay...and she wants to make a video." We started to cheer again. "I'm not done yet, okay? God. Okay, if that goes well, they may even want to make an album." We all waited for her to finish. "I'm done now." She added, letting us congratulate her for the amazing news. The next day, Joey showed up at Central Perk.
"But I thought you always wanted to live by yourself." I leaned against his shoulder. He kept a hand on my thigh.
"I did." He shrugged his shoulders. "I thought it'd be great. I figured I'd have time alone with my thoughts, but, you know, it turns out, I don't have as many thoughts as you'd think."
"Why don't you talk to Chandler about moving back, Joey?" Monica suggested.
"You really think he'd take me?" He looked over at her. "I mean, we had a pretty good talk last night, but when I moved out, I hurt him bad."
"I know my brother, honey. I promise you he would definitely take you back." I rubbed his chest and kissed his jawline.
"Can I please tell the others about you two?" Monica whined desperately.
"Monica, no." The two of us shook our heads. The next day, we were in Monica's apartment.
"I can't believe he has a new roommate already. Who is this guy?" Monica spoke up.
"Uh, Eddie something. He just met him." Ross handed me the bowl of hummus.
"It'll never last." Rachel scoffed. "He's just a rebound roommate." She put a chip into her mouth.
"Hey!" Phoebe came into the apartment all happily. "Ooh, check it out. Check it out." She ran into the living room. "It's 'Smelly Cat'. The video!" She squealed in excitement. "Now, okay, I haven't seen it yet, so if you don't like it, well, so what? None of you ever made a video." She put the tape in and joined me on the arm chair. As soon as the singing started, we knew it wasn't Phoebe's voice on the tape.
"Oh my God." I covered my mouth with my hand.
"I know." She gasped. "I sound amazing. I–I've never heard myself sing before. I mean, except in my own head. This is so cool!" She cheered. "Now I can hear what you hear."
"Pretty different, huh?" Rachel replied very slowly.
"I am sorry, but I am incredibly talented." She fanned herself. The next morning, I found Joey in my kitchen making...eggs and toast.
"Joey, honey, what are you doing here?" I rubbed my eyes.
"Good morning, sunshine. I just thought it would be nice for you to wake up to some breakfast." He smiled back at me.
"Something's wrong. Whatever it is, don't worry about it." I rubbed his back from behind.
"Chandler has a new roommate. Your brother's eating this new guy's eggs and juice." Joey grumbled while flipping the pancake.
"You're always going to be his roommate." I got on my toes and kissed his shoulder. "Did you talk to him about moving back in?" I asked.
"No. I couldn't get it out of me. I just...I feel bad for even moving out in the first place. He's my best friend." He let out a shaky sigh.
"Joey, you have to grow. You thought that moving to another apartment would be better, but you learned that's not the way you want to go." I wrapped my arms around his waist. "I told you in the coffee shop, and I'm telling you hear again. Chandler would take you back in a heartbeat.
"God, I love you so much. You're too good for me." He leaned against the counter. "Why are you still with me?"
"Because I love you, too. Love's a two–way street, you know?" I chuckled a little. "You know, you never showed me your tattoos." He rolled up the sleeve on his right arm and showed me his right ring finger.
"How did you know what hand and finger I got it on?" He said, referring to the angel tattoo.
"That's what I believed you would do. And that's where I wanted to put it." I sighed. Later the next day, we were in Central Perk where Phoebe was performing 'Smelly Cat'.
"Everybody!" She chanted. We continued to sing. She called out everyone's names except for Ross and Rachel.
