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It had been three days since Joey had told Veronica that he had feelings for her. And since then, the two hadn't talked. They hadn't even been in the same room together. After Joey blurted out that he liked her, he rushed off without giving her a chance to say anything. And since then, in fear of rejection, he did everything he could to never be alone with her.
"Hey!" Joey greeted as he joined the friends outside of Central Perk.
The friends were headed to Montauk for the weekend so Phoebe could chase an old friend of her mother's. They were going to stay at a beach house one of her massage clients let her borrow.
"Oh good, you brought food!" Monica smiled when she saw the paper bag Joey was carrying.
Joey's brows furrowed and he pulled out a pair of boxers. "No, it's just my luggage."
"Joey," Veronica called softly, hoping to finally corner him, "Can we-"
Before she could finish and before he could run away, Phoebe cut them off by honking the taxi as she pulled up in front of the coffee house.
Veronica sighed in annoyance as she watched Joey rush to clamber into the taxi to get away from her. She gave Chandler a small, thankful smile when he wrapped a comforting arm around her as he grabbed her bags for her. Joey glared at the two and crossed his arms with a huff.
"Ronnie, you know we're only going for a weekend right?" Chandler panted as he tried to force all her bags into the trunk, "We're not moving there forever!"
She rolled her eyes. "It's not that hard, you just don't know what you're doing."
"Well, sorry I didn't brush up my Tetris skills," He huffed sarcastically as he gave up.
Veronica pushed past him and looked at the overflowing trunk. She glanced over at the rest of the friends and smiled when she noticed all of them, except Chandler, were too busy to pay them any attention. She grunted as she pulled one of the suitcases out, which turned out to Ross' if the huge neon letters he stuck onto it were anything to go by.
"What are you doing?" Chandler's brows furrowed as he tilted his head to the side.
"Like Ross really needs all this stuff," She shrugged nonchalantly as she dumped his bag onto the side-walk and smiled when all her bags now fit snugly into the trunk, "Besides, I bet this is mostly just hair gel, so he should be thanking me for this really."
Chandler stared at her in shock as his head snapped from the bag she'd casually rolled away from them back to her. "W-what are you doing?! You can't just- he'll know and- it'll get stolen!"
"Relax," She waved him off flippantly, "I've seen Ross' style or lack thereof actually. Trust me no one is going to steal his stuff. Anyway, Gunther is going to look after it, aren't you," She smiled at Gunther, who just so happened to be cleaning one of the outdoor tables.
Gunther stared at her for a moment before he shrugged. "Okay, Rachel's pretty friend."
"See," Veronica grinned and pulled Chandler back to the rest of the friends.
"Wait a minute, I know that hat!" He quickly joined in on making fun of Rachel's comically large sun hat, "I was taken aboard that hat! They did experiments on me! I can't have children!"
Monica burst out laughing and managed to ask. "Seriously, where did you get the hat?"
"Ross gave it to me," Rachel glared at them as she nodded her head to her ex-boyfriend.
"Yeah, I think she looks good," Ross nodded as he smiled at her.
"See, told you," Veronica whispered to Chandler, "Zero sense of style."
"Now, excuse me, my fashion-impaired friends, I am here to tell you that hats are back."
"And this time, they've ganged up to form one giant, super hat," Phoebe laughed at Rachel.
"Nothing about that hat is 'back' except that it should definitely go back to whatever factory rejected warehouse it came from," Veronica grimaced as she poked the floppy hat rim.
"Aw, she is so cute when she's angry," Ross chuckled as he watched Rachel fondly.
"Pft, Ronnie's always cute. She can't do anything without being cute..." Joey trailed off as he pursed his lips irritatedly, "Stupid cute."
"...I was talking about Rachel," Ross pointed out slowly.
Joey's eyes widened and he opened and closed his mouth, trying to think of something to say. "Can we stop at Delmar's Deli & Grill! I wanna get a sandwich for the road."
"Fine," Monica huffed, knowing he would whine until she said yes anyway, "But no unscheduled stops after that."
"Yes!" Joey cheered as Phoebe started driving to his favorite sandwich shop.
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"What's got you down, sunshine?" Phoebe frowned at Veronica, "Did they not have the dead animal carcass you like in your sandwich?"
Veronica, Joey, and Chandler had been sent into Delmar's with a list and time limit from Monica. Veronica had made sure the two got the order right before she decided to wait outside with the rest of the friends.
"No," She grumbled as she pursed her lips, "We got everything that we needed. Oh and Joey almost got something that wasn't on the list. A whore."
"What?!" Phoebe's brows furrowed.
"Well, we were paying for our stuff and the cashier just started flirting with him," Veronica scoffed heatedly as she crossed her arms.
"Oh, my God," Phoebe gasped dramatically, "A woman flirting with a single man? We must alert the church elders!"
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"Go, go, go!" Ross rushed the friends as they scrambled to get to the beach house in the pouring rain.
"Oh yeah, now everybody wants to be under the hat!" Rachel scoffed as Monica and Joey huddled into her to hide under her hat.
Chandler and Veronica were stumbling together as he held one of her many suitcases above them for cover.
"Oy!" Rachel gasped in disdain when they finally stepped into the beach house, only to find the flooring completely covered in sand.
"What's with all this sand?" Monica complained as the friends looked around in shock.
Phoebe frowned. "Oh, yeah, Bob said there might be flood damage."
"Yeah, either that or he has a really big cat," Ross sighed.
Veronica laughed. "Wow, that was actually funny Ross. Good one."
Ross grinned at her, obviously shocked. "Wow, thanks, Ronnie."
Once the friends got settled, Phoebe rushed off to find Phoebe Abbott. The rest of the friends quickly found themselves bored out of their minds. Ross was 'sunbathing' on a lawn chair, Rachel and Monica were painting each other's nails, Chandler and Veronica were laughing up a storm as they built a sandcastle together, and Joey was glaring at them with a pout.
Joey frowned deeply as he watched Veronica and Chandler talk and laugh as they built their castle. He knew Chandler was with Kathy now and that he would never do anything with Veronica now that he knew Joey had feelings for her but it didn't stop his jealousy. And the current state of his relationship with Veronica really didn't help. But that part was his own fault.
"Hey, y'know what a really good rainy day game is?" Joey called, desperate to get Chandler and Veronica into a group activity to ease his jealousy.
"What?" Monica raised a brow.
"I mean naked game," He corrected quickly, "Strip poker, we should totally play strip poker."
"No, no!" The friends huffed in annoyance.
"Come on!" Joey begged, "When you go away, you have to play, it's like a law!"
Before they could say anything else, Phoebe threw the door open. "Hey! So, how are we doing?"
"Bored and bored!" Chandler huffed as their sandcastle crumbled for the third time.
"Hey, you know what naked card game is never boring?" Joey grinned excitedly.
"No!" The friends, except for Phoebe, shouted irritatedly.
"So what's Phoebe like?" Monica asked excitedly.
Phoebe paused and gave her a weird look. "I'm kind, caring, and sweet. What's Monica like?"
Monica pursed her lips. "No, the other Phoebe, the one you went to go see."
"Oh, I think she knows where my Dad is," Phoebe sighed and frowned, "She was acting, she was pretending like she hasn't heard from him in years."
"Well, why would she lie to you?" Veronica shrugged with furrowed brows.
"I don't know, but we're having dinner tomorrow night, so I figured, she's gonna tell me then," Phoebe had an excited glint in her eyes, "Y'know maybe she just wanted to give him time to, buy me presents, I don't know! So, you're all bored?"
"Yes!" The friends groaned helplessly.
"All right, I'm gonna close my eyes and point to someone and whoever I point has to come up with something fun for us to do, and we have to do it," Phoebe suggested.
And that was how the friends ended up playing strip poker or 'Strip Happy Days' to be exact.
"Strip Happy Days Game?" Monica scoffed with furrowed brows.
"Yeah, well, I couldn't find any cards, so it was either this or Strip Bag of Old Knitting Stuff," Joey defended with a shrug.
"Okay," Ross read his action card, "Fonzy gives you two thumbs up, collect two cool points."
"Ooh, ooh," Phoebe clapped excitedly, "Remember, if you get five cool points, you get to make somebody take off one item of clothing. It hasn't happened yet, but we're all very excited."
"Okay, come on!" Ross called as he got ready to roll again, "Daddy needs a new pair of electromagnetic microscopes for the Prehistoric Forensics Department! 'Take Pinky Tuscadero up to Inspiration Point, collect three cool points.' Yeah! Which gives me five, and let's see who is gonna lose their clothes. Um, I think I pick our strip poker sponsor Mr. Joey Tribianni."
"Woo-hoo!" The friends cheered suggestively as they laughed at the look on Joey's face.
"All right, relax," He rolled his eyes, "It's just a shoe."
Several rounds later, Joey only managed to get three cool points and was down to his boxers.
"Okay, your band is playing at Arnold's, collect three cool points," Rachel read out with a grin, "Which means, I have five, and that means I get Joey's boxers!"
"Fine. Gang up on me!" He huffed and narrowed his eyes, "I got you all right where I want you."
"Come on, take 'em off!" Phoebe called as the rest of the friends laughed.
"Actually, y'know it's kinda cold, so how about I keep my boxers on, and give you all a peek at the good stuff?" Joey suggested with a shrug.
"All right, I'm gonna make more margaritas!" Rachel sang as she dumped what was left of the jug into Ross' cup.
"Whoa, hey! What are you doing? Trying to get me drunk?" He laughed.
Rachel smiled at him and shrugged before she sang. "I'm just making margaritas."
"I think I'll help her out," Monica called and pulled Veronica with her.
"I didn't volunteer to help!" She complained with a whine, "Why am I not sitting?!"
Joey found himself watching her with a fond smile before he forced himself to snap out of it.
"What is going on here?" Monica snapped in a hushed whisper.
Rachel's brows furrowed. "What?"
"You painting his toenails?" Monica reminded her sharply, "The margarita thing just now?"
Rachel rolled her eyes and waved her off. "Oh, come on!"
Monica narrowed her eyes at her. "Chasing him all around the room?"
Veronica reluctantly nodded. "She's right Rachel. You two have been all over each other today."
"Guys, please?" She scoffed and gave them an unimpressed look.
"He is so flirting with you too," Veronica pointed out, "Which is ew but y'know if you're into that, then good for you because he's totally into you."
Rachel paused as a smile broke out onto her face, "He is, isn't he? I don't know, I don't know, I mean maybe it's just being here at the beach together or, I don't know. But it's like something..."
Before she could finish, the door flew open and Bonnie strutted in. "Hey!"
Ross' eyes widened in shock as his head snapped to Rachel before he turned to her. "Hi, Bonnie!"
"What are you doing here?" Veronica was the only one ballsy enough to ask so bluntly.
"My boss let me off early, so I took the train," She shrugged with a laugh as she wrapped her arms around Ross.
Ross nodded tightly as he forced a strained smile. "Oh."
"What are you guys doing?!" Bonnie asked excitedly as she bounced around inside.
"Man, she's loud," Veronica grimaced as she rubbed her ear.
"We're playing Strip Happy Days Game!" Joey grumbled as he crossed his arms over his bare chest, clearly a sore loser.
"Cool!" Bonnie grinned as she ripped her sweater off, "I'll catch up!"
Veronica found herself glaring at Bonnie when she noticed the way Joey was staring at her.
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"You've been real quiet, Ronnie," Phoebe frowned worriedly, "Are you okay? You love hearing yourself talk."
"No one plans a murder out loud, Pheebs," She grumbled, glaring at Bonnie.
Her brows furrowed and she grimaced. "You're jealous of Bonnie? But you can't stand Ross."
Veronica tore her eyes away from Bonnie and stared at Phoebe in disbelief. "I'm not jealous because of Ross!" She scoffed before she crossed her arms childishly, "Look at how stupid Joey is staring at stupid Bonnie. Stupid Ross."
"What does Ross have to do with anything?" She tilted her head to the side.
"Stupid Ross is dating stupid Bonnie and that's why stupid Bonnie is here," She complained.
Phoebe sat next to her and wrapped a comforting arm around her. "Ronnie... do you like Joey?"
"No!" She scoffed and shook her head decidedly before she faltered, "...Maybe, I don't know."
"Wanna talk about it?" Phoebe asked as she rubbed her head comfortingly.
Veronica sighed deeply and took a moment before she finally spoke. "Joey told me he liked me a few days ago."
"What?!" Phoebe yelped, her eyes wide in shock.
"I know!" Veronica matched her tone before she gave her a pointed look, "Don't interrupt me."
"Sorry," She smiled sheepishly and nodded for her to continue, "So, what did you say?"
"Nothing-"
"Veronica!" She gasped and hit her shoulder lightly, "Not again."
"I said don't interrupt!" Veronica whined, "You know I bruise easy!"
"Sorry, sorry," Phoebe sighed, "But this is big!"
"Hmph," Veronica breathed out childishly as she pursed her lips before she continued, "He ran off before I could say anything and he's been avoiding me ever since. And now all he does is stare at stupid Bonnie."
"Well, what would you have said?" Phoebe asked quietly.
Veronica froze, in all the times she'd tried to corner Joey to get him to talk to her, she'd never thought of what she actually wanted to say to him. So, she shrugged weakly with a frown. Before they could say anything else, Joey walked down the stairs. He froze when he saw the sad look on Veronica's face, watching her with worried eyes before he rushed outside.
"Oh, my God! Oh, my God!" Veronica clutched Phoebe's arm, "Did you see that?! We made eye contact just now!"
"Eye contact?" Phoebe gasped in fake shock, "I hope you were using protection."
Veronica rolled her eyes and huffed. "That's the most interaction we've had in three days!"
"So, you do like him?" Phoebe giggled excitedly.
"I-I think so," Veronica nodded slowly, "I mean, ever since he told me he liked me, all I can think about is him. And every time I think about him, I think about how cute and sweet he is."
It seemed like she was viewing him in a new light ever since he'd told her he had feelings for him. Veronica found herself reevaluating everything about Joey over the last three days.
And she'd found that something had changed drastically between them.
She hadn't realized it before but she liked Joey Tribbiani.
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Veronica's talk with Phoebe had left her reeling. She hadn't realized that she liked Joey until that very moment as she was talking to Phoebe. So, she finally knew what to say to him now. She just needed to find the courage –or wine– to do so.
As she was pacing by the door, trying to force herself to go talk to Joey she heard the boys talking outside.
"So let me get this straight. If you go with Bonnie tonight, you're doing the smart, healthy thing and moving on," She heard Joey say.
"Yeah," Ross sighed.
"Right, and you go with Rachel, Bonnie's free tonight?" She could hear the smile in Joey's voice.
Veronica's jaw dropped and her hands curled into fists so tight, her knuckles had gone white.
"What does that bald bitch have that I don't?!" She hissed to herself.
Rachel, in a jealous rage, had managed to convince Bonnie to shave her head again. Rachel and Veronica had even helped her do it.
She stomped out onto the deck and faltered when she only found Ross. Chandler and Joey had gone for a walk to leave Ross to ponder over the choice he had to make.
"What's up, buttercup?" Veronica sighed heavily as she sat down next to Ross.
"Nothing," He droned in a typical Ross-like fashion.
"I heard about you guys talking," She informed him, "So if you want to talk about it with someone who's not an idiot, I'm all ears."
Ross paused as he rubbed the back of his neck anxiously. "...Rachel and I kissed."
Veronica's eyes widened in shock but she didn't say anything.
"I don't know what to do," Ross breathed out helplessly, "I mean Bonnie's really fun and she's cool and I'm finally getting over Rachel. I'm finally feeling sane again. And now if I go up there, and I kiss her –God I wanna kiss her– and it doesn't work out, right? Do I really wanna put myself through that again?"
Veronica frowned at Ross' obvious distress, she wrapped a comforting arm around him and rubbed his arm. Sure, she'd never been the closest to Ross but he was still her friend. She didn't want him or Rachel to get hurt. And they were going through kind of the same thing.
"Ross, sweetie, you gotta decide if it's worth it. But whether or not you decide to try again with Rachel, you gotta break it off with Bonnie. I mean you kissed another girl which isn't as bad as sleeping with someone else," She just had to throw a subtle jab in there, "But it's still bad. And you obviously still have feelings for Rachel. It's not fair to Bonnie."
"Yeah, yeah, you're right," He nodded slowly.
"Look, you need to think about whether or not Rachel is worth it to you. If you're really willing to give your all for a second chance with her. But you can't keep being in this weird middle lane thing with her. You guys are either friends or your more but you can't be a weird mix of both. You need to talk to her about all of this, no matter what you're going to do."
Ross nodded as her words sunk in. "But what if we try again and it doesn't work out?"
"Hey, it'll all work out. Have a little faith, and if that doesn't work, have a lot of mimosas. I'll be your drinking buddy," She smiled warmly at the laugh she'd managed to get out of him.
Ross smiled at her warmly. "Thanks, Ronnie."
She nodded with a smile and watched him walk inside confidently.
She bit her lip and took a deep breath before she decided to take her own advice.
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"V-Veronica?" Joey's eyes widened, "What are you doing in my room?"
After her talk with Ross, Veronica had marched her way upstairs and into Joey's room. She was glad he finally came back because she'd been in the middle of talking herself into just leaving.
She quickly stood up from his bed and grabbed his hand before he could rush out of the room. "Joey, stop, please. Can we please talk about this?"
Joey's gaze was fixed on their intertwined hands but he didn't say anything.
"Joey, are you seriously still not going to talk to me?!" Veronica huffed as she threw her hands up in exasperation.
"What is there to talk about?" He shrugged nonchalantly, still not meeting her gaze.
"There's a lot to talk about," She snapped before her voice softened, "You never even gave me a chance to talk. You've been avoiding me like last season's Chanel."
"Yeah, to say what?" He scoffed as he crossed his arms almost protectively, "Look, I know I'm no Max or Chandler. I didn't need to hear you say it. Look, Ronnie, I just need some time to get over this-"
"I don't want you to get over it," She cut him off frantically.
Joey froze, his gaze snapping to her finally. "W-what?"
Veronica smiled warmly as she took a step closer to him, her arms slowing circling around his neck. "I don't want you to get over me," She whispered before she pressed her lips to his.
Joey's eyes widened before his arms quickly snaked around her waist and he deepened the kiss.
"So, does this mean..." Joey trailed off as he stared into her eyes fondly.
Veronica giggled as she pressed her forehead against his coyly. "Ask me."
Joey's brows furrowed in confusion. "What?"
"Ask me to be your girlfriend," Veronica demanded softly as she pressed a chaste kiss to his lips.
Joey broke out into a grin as he tightened his arms around. "Veronica, will you be my girlfriend?"
"Hm," She paused as she pretended to think about it before she let out a shrieking giggle when he nuzzled into her neck and gave her a teasing nip, "Okay, okay, fine! Yes."
He pulled back slightly to look at her as he smiled warmly before he cupped her face affectionately and pulled her into another kiss. Veronica's hands quickly moved from around his neck, tangling in his hair and she tugged softly as the kiss deepened.
Soon enough, the sweet kiss turned heated and their clothes began falling to the ground.
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𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐍𝐞𝐱𝐭 𝐌𝐨𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠
"Is that a hickey?!" Rachel gasped at the red marks littering Joey's neck.
The friends all stared at Joey in shock, breakfast forgotten.
Joey's eyes widened as his face went red. "No, it's, uh, a mosquito bite."
"Hey guys," Veronica smiled brightly as she joined the friends cheerfully.
"Hey mosquito," Chandler smirked.
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〚𝐀𝐔𝐓𝐇𝐎𝐑'𝐒 𝐍𝐎𝐓𝐄〛
They're finally together! I'm sorry this chapter took a little longer than usual but I hope it was worth it. Please let me know what you though, I really hope you guys liked it. I'm really happy with the little moment Veronica and Ross had because they aren't close but they are still friends. What do you guys think is going to happen in season 4?
Please don't forget to vote and comment!
Have a great day and stay safe ♥♥