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Veronica shuffled out of her room in her breakup sweats and breathed a sigh of relief when she found the apartment was empty. She was not in the mood to deal with anyone, especially not when she knew the topic of conversation would exclusively be about what happened in Vegas.
Veronica didn't roll a hard eight that night.
Instead, she and Joey broke up.
She just couldn't get over him ignoring her and lying to her for all those weeks. Everyone except for Rachel thought she'd overreacted but none of them would ever say it out loud because they liked having their head attached to their body.
Only Rachel knew what was going on through Veronica's head when she broke up with Joey and that's why she understood. She knew Veronica was just trying to jump ship before the iceberg was even in sight because she did not want to go down with a sinking ship again.
Veronica had a very serious but very tumultuous relationship with her ex-boyfriend, Jack. He'd ruined love for her because for years she automatically associated the feeling with pain and heartbreak. He'd lied to her so much that Veronica was sure even he didn't know where the lies ended and the truth began.
And for a while, it was a beautiful lie. So beautiful that Veronica wanted so badly to believe it that she forced herself to even when she knew she shouldn't. But all those lies culminated in what Rachel dubbed The Incident – Jack cheating on Veronica.
So, when she found out that Joey had been lying to her for weeks on end? She couldn't help but think of Jack and all the pain that came with him. So, she broke up with Joey for two reasons. One, because she had sworn to herself that lying (the big lies not the small ones like when she lied about cookie dough causing performance issues so Joey would stop eating it and she'd have it all to herself) was a dealbreaker for her.
And two because she didn't ever want to compare Joey to Jack. She knew he wasn't a scumbag like her ex but she also knew that she wouldn't be able to stop the thoughts, no matter how wrong they were. And that wasn't fair to Joey.
"Cooking Chardonnay?" Veronica read the label on the wine bottle and scoffed, "You don't tell me how to use you," She snarled at the bottle before taking a long swig.
She frowned down at the bottle when she went to take another sip only to find it was empty. It seemed that while she wouldn't let the bottle tell her what to do, Monica definitely did.
Veronica pursed her lips and went on the hunt for another source of alcohol. "Rubbing alcohol? You don't tell me how to use you either!" She yelled angrily at the bottle as if it was the reason she was feeling so down.
Thankfully before she could try to take a drink of the rubbing alcohol, the door to the apartment flew open.
"Veronica? I brought your favorite; two pizzas!" Chandler called excitedly before he frowned when he noticed her and the bottle of wine on the table, "Why are you still drinking? It's 10 in the morning!"
"Yeah but I know what it will feel like when I stop," She shrugged, "So I'm just going to stay a little drunk... forever."
"Eat," Chandler demanded sharply as he set the pizza box down in front of her.
Veronica frowned down at the pizza and sniffled as she felt a fresh wave of tears come on.
Chandler's eyes widened and he rushed to crouch down by her and rubbed her arms comfortingly. "Oh, no, no, no. Please don't cry. I'm sorry I snapped at you, okay? I'm just worried about you-"
"You got me the Joey and Veronica special!" She wailed before she turned to him and dropped her face into his shoulder, "Pizza with extra everything."
Chandler gulped nervously as he rubbed her back slowly. He had never seen Veronica cry, in fact, he was convinced she just cycled through three emotions; happy, flirty, or angry. He didn't know what to do when someone was crying, especially not Veronica. Before this, he would have sworn on anything that the only thing that would ever make her cry was Chanel closing down forever.
Chandler opened his mouth but nothing came out, he didn't know what to say or do. And he hated that because Veronica always made him feel better when he was down. He hated that he couldn't do the same for her when she seldom needed it.
"Do you think I ruined everything?" The heavy question hung in the air, "Did I make a mistake?"
"I'm not great with advice. Can I interest you in a sarcastic comment?" He smiled sheepishly, internally cursing himself for the words that tumbled out of his mouth before he could think.
But, thankfully it seemed his usual sarcastic self was just what she needed because she let out a watery chuckle.
"I'm sorry I'm so bad at this," He sighed with a grimace.
"Don't ever change, Chandler," She said softly as she leaned into him.
That made him smile. And boosted his confidence. So he did the only thing he knew he did well and he cracked jokes until she was red in the face from laughing instead of crying.
But all good things came to an end at some point and they were back to talking about the breakup.
"Joey thinks we're only broken up in Vegas," Veronica admitted with a sigh as her eyebrows pinched in frustration.
Chandler didn't have to say anything because the confusion was clear on his face.
"What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas," She said simply, imitating Joey's voice.
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The friends were cycling their time between Joey and Veronica. And this time around they were much better at it, having learned from the Ross and Rachel breakup. But Veronica thought it was just because both she and Joey weren't big babies like Ross.
Chandler, weirdly enough, had taken over the cathartic breakdown and talking out the breakup. Everyone had been shocked about that but he followed up by telling them he'd also taken her to a male strip club which was more in line for him.
Rachel took Veronica on a girl's day spa trip and shopping spree. And before that, she'd caught up with all their mutual friends to compile a list of gossip to tell Veronica about during their girl's day.
Monica took over the food. The apartment had become an industrial kitchen with the way she'd been pumping out desserts and Veronica's favorite foods.
"Wait a minute," Veronica paused right as she brought the brownie to her lips, "Is this fat-free, sugar-free, and artificially sweetened?"
"No, but I used an 8-inch pan instead of a 10," Monica supplied as she took out ice cream from the freezer.
She stared at the brownie and shrugged, taking a big bite. "... Close enough."
"You should stick to a food chef because you are not cut out to be a pastry chef. These brownies don't make me paranoid," Veronica joked slyly.
The friends all thought that Ross had the worst idea to make Veronica feel better. He'd taken her to the museum. They were all sure he was going to come back missing a limb or with severe bodily harm at the least.
But it turned out that there was an exhibit that was being demolished to make way for a new one. So, Ross handed Veronica a sledgehammer and told her to go wild. She ended up doing such a good job that the demolition crew got sent back. Ross was shocked that a woman so small and lazy could have that much energy and strength.
Finally, it was Phoebe's turn with Veronica and they were going to get tattoos. And this time, Phoebe actually got a tattoo because Veronica made her go first, having learned from last time.
So, they left the tattoo parlor with matching friendship tattoos and Veronica got two more.
"Wow, three tattoos..." Ross breathed out, his face pinched in silent judgment, "Those are pretty permanent you know."
"Wow, three divorces..." Veronica copied him snarkily, "Those are pretty damn permanent Ross!"
Ross let out a dramatic gasp and pouted before glaring at her. "Sorry, you couldn't come to the wedding," He snapped, knowing she had a fight with Rachel about missing her wedding even if it was just a drunken mistake.
Veronica smiled evilly and shrugged. "It's okay. I'll go to the next one."
"Yeah, she's back," Chandler nodded proudly.
"Okay, get dressed," Veronica demanded as she turned to the girls, "We're going out. But it doesn't really matter what you wear, because everyone's gonna be looking at me," She paused as she gave Monica a onceover, "But don't wear that."
"Whoa, Veronica," She scoffed, "After everything you've been through with Joey, you come here and insult me?" Monica's anger vanished into happiness as she hugged her, "You're all better!"
"Well, I am not gonna sit around moping," She said decidedly, "I'm gonna do what every woman does when they hit rock bottom."
"You're going to have sex with Ross?" Chandler laughed.
"No. I'm going to go out and meet some boys, and crush their hearts one by one," She smirked before she turned on her heel and marched to her room to get ready.
"I really didn't think Ross was going to be the one to fix her," Phoebe admitted with a frown.
"I thought he would just make everything worse," Monica agreed.
"I thought he'd be the reason she became a murderer," Rachel shrugged.
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〚𝐀𝐔𝐓𝐇𝐎𝐑'𝐒 𝐍𝐎𝐓𝐄〛
I started writing this chapter a while back, on the day Matthew Perry died actually and then I just couldn't continue. I just hope he's at peace now.
I had a lot of ideas for this chapter but sadly it ended up becoming a filler chapter just to get the ball rolling on consistent updates again. I hope you guys still liked it anyway!
What do you guys think Veronica's tattoos are?
Also side note, I know their breakup was kind of rushed and out of nowhere but I had a whole backstory planned for that which kind of didn't happen. So... Oops, sorry!
Please don't forget to vote and comment!
Merry (late) Christmas and Happy (early) New Year ♥♥