Spring Day

ten

"What's going on?" I asked softly, sitting on one of the spare chairs and pulling it closer to where Joey was slumped.

"I don't want to talk about it."

"Look, I know reading that review was hard but it was only one opinion. You've got to ignore it and just keep going, keep pushing through until something good happens that will replace all of the bad things."

He shook his head. "You weren't there Heather, it was more than one opinion, there were loads of them. And they all hated me. I can't do this anymore, I feel humiliated."

"No, don't feel that way." I said sternly, placing my hand on his arm and forcing him to look at me. "Don't think of this change as a bad one, think of it as a chance to explore other options. What is another occupation that you want to try?"

"When I was little, I wanted to be a veterinarian but then I found out you have to put your hands into cows and stuff."

My face scrunched up at the thought, knowing that he didn't have the right attitude to having a job like that. "Okay, is there anything less gross that you would want to do?"

"I don't know, I just always thought that I would be this great actor and make my parents proud, you know. Now, I just feel like a failure."

"Don't feel like that because you haven't let them down, do you know why? Because you haven't given up yet. If acting is your passion and it's your dream then you can't dismiss it after one bad review. You need to stand up for yourself and get back out there, prove to them that you are good enough to be an actor."

He was about to reply to me, opening his mouth when the door opened and Ross interrupted our little moment because he also seemed to be having a bad day. "Hi."

"Hey, are you okay?" Phoebe asked, picking up on the negative mood that he was in.

"Yeah, just a tough day at work. A Stegosaurus fell over and trapped a kid. Wait, I know this jacket! This is Fun Bobby's jacket! Where is he? He's here, isn't he?"

Monica smirked, eyeing up the jacket on the back of one of the chairs. "Maybe."

"Don't toy with me."

Fun Bobby, who I met last New Year's, came out of the bedroom and was very excited to see Ross; I didn't really know him that well but for some reason everyone liked him. "Geller!"

"Fun Bobby!"

"Hey, woah, have you been working out."

"Not at all." Ross grinned, after having his arms felt by the other man, looking at us much happier than he was when he first came into the apartment. "I love this guy. I was so psyched to hear you're back with my sister."

"You and me both."

"Hey, so, what did I miss? Come on."

"We were just trying to make Joey feel better." Phoebe explained, turning back so that we were all looking at Joey, who was once again looking quite upset about everything.

"Do you need me to pick you up?"

Joey shook his head as he stood up out of his chair. "No, I'm alright, man, really."

"Nah, I'm picking you up!"

"No, seriously, you don't need to..." He couldn't finish his sentence because Fun Bobby had picked him up and tossed him for a moment before putting him back on the ground. "Alright, it still works."

"Okay, now before I go, does anybody else need to be picked up?" Everyone puts their hands up except Chandler. "I'm still going to go. See you!"

We all waved until he had shut the door behind him and Phoebe was the one to announce how much she loved the man. "Fun Bobby is so great!"

"Oh, isn't he?" Monica gushed, obviously very happy about being with him again. "You know, I really think this time it may work with him. He just makes me feel so good and I've been feeling so lousy the last couple of months; no job, no boyfriend. At least my cup is half full."

"Half full of love." Phoebe winked at me, making me laugh.

"And for our two-week anniversary, he's going to take me to his cousin's cabin for the weekend."

"Cabin of love."

Rachel started picking up the empty bottles to take out of the apartment and was shocked at how many she was taking. "We went through a lot of wine tonight, you guys."

"I only had two glasses." Monica replied.

Joey's eyebrows furrowed. "I just had a glass."

"Two." Phoebe said.

"I had one glass." Rachel looked towards me as I shrugged at her, it wasn't me who drunk all of the wine because I only had one glass since I arrived.

"Same."

"I had about a mugful in this lovely, 'I got boned at the Museum of Natural History' mug." Chandler said, holding up the mug that we all fondly loved.

"Okay, so that's, what, two bottles and yet somehow we went through five?"

"So, what?" Monica questioned, knowing that we were all thinking about Fun Bobby and how he was the only other person to have drunk tonight; therefore, he was the person who had drunk the rest of the bottles. "So, he drank a lot tonight."

"Yeah, but now that I think about it, I don't think I've ever seen Fun Bobby without a drink in his hand." Ross admitted as we all tried to remember if we had ever seen Fun Bobby without an alcoholic drink in his hand.

Phoebe moved out of her chair and stepped over to the refrigerator, taking out a soda to drink instead of more alcohol. "Yeah and oh, did you notice how he always starts his stories with, 'okay I was so wasted.' Or, 'I was so bombed.'"

"Monica, have you ever been with him when he wasn't drinking?"

"Well, we just happen to go to a lot of places where you might drink. I mean, how do you go to a wine tasting without having a drink? Or to a club? Or to the...zoo?" She stuttered, knowing that he had a problem with drinking and because she was now dating him, it was going to be her job to help him sort it out.

a/n: i don't usually post on the weekend but i've finished season three & i'm starting to plan season four 🥳 -lizzie ⭐️

date published: 21/11/20