Following the New York Fashion Week, Quinn was busier than ever at the office. She had at least two photoshoots to do per day and she spent a lot of time working late at night to have her pictures developed in time for the meetings about the next magazine issue in the morning. Thankfully she was getting paid really good for all the extra work she was doing, but it meant that she barely had enough time to say hi to her friends when she'd stop at Central Perk to grab a cup of coffee to-go before going back to the office.
Eventually, the frenzy at work died down and she finally got to go home before 6pm for the first time in two weeks. After dropping her stuff at her apartment and getting changed in a pair of grey sweatpants and her tight fitted black tshirt of the Knicks, she made her way to Chandler's apartment. It felt like forever since she last talked to him and she wanted to know if his living situation with Eddie had gotten worse.
"Hey Chandler, how's it– Hey Joey!" She exclaimed in surprise when she saw the two boys sitting on their Barcaloungers.
"Quinn!" They both ran to entrap the redhead in a hug, so very happy to have her back.
"Why's Joey's stuff here?" Quinn asked, voice muffled in said man's chest.
"I moved back!" He happily informed her as Chandler nodded his head with a beaming smile.
"You did? Oh, that's so great!" She squealed, wrapping her arms around their necks and bringing them to her level as they hugged again. A warm feeling took over her body, she was so glad to have Joey living close by again. "So Eddie's gone?" She turned to Chandler for confirmation after they let go of each other.
"Eddie's gone," Chandler reassured her and Quinn let out a sigh of relief.
"Oh thank God, that guy freaked me out."
"You don't need to worry about him anymore darling because Joey's back!" The actor cockily exclaimed, causing her to laugh and snuggle in his side, her arms wrapping around his torso.
"Back to the way things were, just how I like it," Quinn said as Joey brought his arm around her and held her close, depositing a kiss on the top of her head.
Their conversation was interrupted by the sound of the phone ringing and Chandler answered. Monica was on the line asking them if they wanted leftovers from her and Richard's dinner.
"What did they eat?" Quinn told him to ask her.
"Chicken and potatoes," he relied the information their friend told him.
"I'm on my way," Quinn said and walked across the hall to the girls' apartment, Joey and Chandler following close behind.
"All right, I've got a leg, three breasts and a wing," Monica informed them as she set placemats on the table for them.
"Well how do you find clothes that fit?" Chandler asked her and Monica just stared at him, deciding not to answer his lame joke.
"I'll have the leg please Mon," Quinn told her friend with a smile as she placed her napkin on her lap. Force of habit.
"Hey Monica, we got a question," Joey spoke up once he was ready to eat.
"Alright, for the zillionth time, yes I see other women in the shower at the gym and no, I don't look," the brunette annoyedly answered as she set down their plates and utensils.
"Not that one, we're trying to figure out who to bring to the Knicks game tonight, we have an extra ticket." Joey told her.
Quinn perked up. "There's a Knicks game tonight?"
"Yeah, you're coming right?" Joey turned to her to focus on their conversation while Chandler explained the boys' dilemma to Monica.
"Of course I am!" Quinn beamed. She had been so busy with work in the last weeks that she didn't even have time to keep up with her favourite sports team, so going to a Knicks game with her best friends was exactly what she needed.
"Good, I know you've been busy with work and we didn't get to ask you if you wanted to come but I knew you'd want to," Joey said, his hand reaching over to squeeze her thigh right above her knee.
"You know me so well," Quinn sent him a teasing smirk before they refocused on the conversation between their two other friends where Chandler was imitating their friend Dan who's always poking them on their shoulders.
"Okay!" Monica grabbed his hand to make him stop. "Hey, why don't you ask Richard?" She suggested when she noticed her boyfriend coming back inside from his smoke on the balcony.
"Okay," Joey nodded his head. "Hey Richard, if you had an extra ticket to the Knicks game and you had to choose between a friend who smelled and one who bruises you, who would you pick?"
"Wow, well being a huge Knicks fan myself I think you should take someone who's a huge Knicks fan," Richard answered.
"Okay," Chandler took in his advice before turning to Joey. "That's Eric."
Richard nodded his head before going back outside to finish his cigar. "Glad to be of help."
"You dimwits, they both meant that we should take Richard to the game," Quinn chastised her friends.
"Meh..."
"I don't know..."
Joey and Chandler uncomfortably shrugged their shoulders.
"Come on! He keeps his fingers to himself and he's always minty fresh," Monica argued.
"Richard's really nice and everything, it's just that we don't know him really well," Chandler defended himself, scratching his ear nervously. "And plus, he's, you know, old..."
Monica raised her eyebrows, affronted.
"...Older than some people," Chandler quickly continued his sentence when he saw the look on the brunette's face. "But uh, younger than some buildings."
Quinn kicked his shin under the table, causing Chandler to crouch down as he rubbed the spot where she hit him.
"So he's a little older, big deal!" Monica said. "I mean, he's important to me. You know, if you ask him, he might take you in his Jag."
"I get shotgun because I wasn't against Richard coming with us," Quinn stated, smug smile on her face as she saw Chandler and Joey pout at the fact they would have to sit in the backseat.
"But how do we tell him without making it seem like we just want a ride in the cool car?" Joey whispered to the others at the table.
"Why don't you let me do the talking since I wasn't opposed to him tagging along to begin with?" Quinn told them and the boys shook their heads in agreement.
The redhead stood up and walked over to the balcony, peering her head out of the window to talk to the older man. "Hey Richard, wanna come to the game with us?" She offered him, pointing her head in the direction of Chandler and Joey.
"What did you girls do to convince them?" Richard asked her.
"Well, Mon may have mentioned that you could drive us there with your Jag but I'm riding shotgun," Quinn answered.
Richard chuckled as he let out a puff of smoke. "Yeah, I'll come with you to the game."
"Good! It'll be fun," the redhead said before going back to the kitchen to eat a home cooked meal à la Monica for the first time in weeks.
__________
After the game, Chandler, Joey and Quinn excitedly walked in Central Perk where the girls were hanging out and greeted them.
"Where is he? Where's Richard? Did you ditch him?" Monica frantically asked the boys when she noticed her boyfriend wasn't with them.
"Yeah, right after we stole his lunch money and gave him a wedgie," Joey sarcastically answered. "What's the matter with you? He's parking the car." He told her, taking a seat next to her on the arm of the couch.
"Come on Mon, did you really think I'd let them ditch him?" Quinn queried, wrapping her left arm around Joey's neck as she leaned against him while he snaked his arm around her hips, his hand slipping in the pocket of her black Adidas tracksuit pants she had changed into before going to the game.
"You're right," Monica admitted to the redhead. "So, did you guys have fun?"
Chandler, who was focused on Joey's not so discreet move, snapped his head back up and joined in the conversation. "Your boyfriend is so cool."
"Really?"
"Yeah, he let us drive his Jaguar. Joey for twelve blocks, me for fifteen," he told her with the same excitement a child would to his mother.
"Wow, he must like you the best," Rachel joked from where she sat on the green armchair.
"Quinn, you didn't wanna drive his Jag?" Monica asked her friend.
"Honey I don't drive in Montreal, never mind in New York," the redhead said. "I only got my license if there's an emergency and I'm the only person available to drive."
"Fair enough."
"Oh!" Joey turned his head towards Chandler. "What about that thing he did when he tipped the guy who showed us to our seats?" He unwrapped his arm from around Quinn to take his wallet out of his pocket to demonstrate to the girls as he explained. "You never even saw the money. It was like this: Hey Chandler, thanks for showing us to our seats." He shook his roommate's hand, discreetly passing him a dollar bill.
"You're welcome. Hey Joey, thanks for parking the car," Chandler passed him the money back.
"No problem. Hey Chandler..."
"Sweetie, I think they get it," Quinn told Joey, patting his shoulders and he nodded his head in understanding.
Before they could start a new conversation, Richard walked in the coffee house, joining the group.
"There's the man!" Chandler exclaimed.
"Hey!" Joey stood up and shook Richard's hand, passing him the dollar bill he still held.
"Hey, you're getting better," the older man encouraged him. "I'm gonna keep this by the way," he said and put the money in his pocket as he walked around the couch to go sit next to Monica.
Joey took back his seat on the arm of the couch and wrapped his arm around Quinn's hips again, bringing her even closer to him than she was before. He slipped his hand back in her pocket but this time he absentmindedly ran his fingers up and down her thigh in the space of the pocket. Quinn was thankful for the layer of clothing between their skins that prevented his touch from tickling her, being more able to focus on whatever her friends were talking about.
__________
Quinn was sitting horizontally on the armchair in Monica's living room, eating a bowl of cereal while Carol and Susan handed off Ben and his stuff to Ross and Monica before leaving for a weekend holiday just the two of them. The redhead was paying no attention to the conversation the four were having, her eyes instead focusing on Joey in the kitchen who looked at himself in the reflection of a spatula, one of Richard's cigars held in his mouth.
The Geller siblings thought their friend looked rather funny as he made faces to himself through the reflection but to Quinn, the sight before her was involuntarily doing things to her and she enjoyed it.
"Joey, do you know we can see you from here?" Monica asked him.
The actor removed the cigar from his mouth, much to Quinn's dismay, before retorting back. "How come Richard looks so much cooler with one of these than me?"
"Well, for starters, you may wanna light it and lose the spatula," Ross pointed out.
"I think it's cute, you trying to be more like Richard," Monica said, joining him in the kitchen.
"I think it's hot," Quinn mumbled to herself before putting a spoonful of cereal in her mouth. Ross, who heard her, turned his head in her direction, a look of semi disgust on his face, but was ignored as the redhead kept staring at her best friend.
"Not like him per se, just not unlike him," Joey defended himself, playing around the words.
Chandler joined them in the apartment, sporting a (baby) moustache in the same style as Richard. Monica's eyes widened in shock at what stood in front of her.
"Look, it's the artist formally known as Chandler," Ross said, also shocked by his best friend's new look.
"I'm just trying something here, you know?" Chandler explained.
"So Joey, why didn't you grow a moustache?" Monica asked him.
"Oh, we flipped for it. I got the cigar, he got the moustache." Joey told her.
Quinn groaned to herself, throwing her head back as she thought Joey should've gotten the moustache instead. She always loved his rugged sexiness whenever he let his stubble grow a little.
"We figured if we both grew 'em we'd look like dorks," Joey finished explaining.
"Yeah, you really side-stepped that land mine," Ross commented.
"Listen, we got to go, I promised Richard we'd meet him downstairs," Chandler told Joey.
"Oh right," the actor said as the two walked to the front door. "Quinn, you coming?"
The ginger came back down to Earth at the sound of her name. "Wait for me!" She scrambled out of the armchair, drinking the leftover milk of her cereal in a hurry before leaving the empty bowl in the sink.
"You're meeting Richard?" Monica asked them.
"We're going to a Rangers game," Joey explained.
"Against Montreal," Quinn added with an excited smile, waving her hand in front of her red, white and blue hockey jersey she wore.
"Didn't he tell you?" Chandler asked the brunette.
"He told me he was going out with the guys, I just didn't know that you were the guys," Monica said.
"You hear that? We're the guys!" Chandler exclaimed.
"And I'm one of the guys!" Quinn cheered to herself, making Joey look at her with a fond smile.
"With that moustache, doesn't Chandler remind you of Aunt Sylvia?" Monica asked her brother.
"Thank you!" Ross exclaimed in relief.
Quinn laughed at her friend as she started making her way out while Joey patted his shoulder in comfort.
"Are you gonna keep that cigar unlit in your mouth the whole time?" Chandler asked his roommate as the trio walked down the stairs.
"I'm waiting for the right moment to smoke it," Joey replied.
"Fair enough."
"I think you look hot with a cigar in your mouth," Quinn nonchalantly remarked.
"Oh yeah?" Joey smirked even though Quinn couldn't see him since she was walking in front of him.
"Yeah, but I would've preferred that you grow the moustache instead of Chandler."
"How come?"
"I love your stubble."
"Oh yeah?" Joey repeated, his smirk growing more smug.
"Can you please keep the flirting for when I'm not stuck between you two?" Chandler interjected.
"Sorry Mom," Quinn quipped back as Joey chuckled at her comment.
__________
The girls were gathered at Monica and Rachel's for one of their famous girls' night which was much needed for Quinn since she had to miss the previous two because of work. The group of four had planned to watch a bunch of feel good movies for Phoebe who had spent the week watching all the movies her mother kept the sad endings hidden away from her.
As Back to the Future played on the television, Rachel explained how her and Ross told each other 'I love you' for the first time after she found out he had basically planned their entire future together already.
"So Quinn, any progress between you and Joey?" The waitress wiggled her eyebrows at her redheaded friend once she was done talking about her couple.
Quinn had briefly told Monica and Phoebe of her discovery about her feelings for Joey after her office party she attended with Rachel and now her three friends felt like they were sitting on the edge of their seats as they waited for her and Joey to admit their feelings for each other.
"Not really, we haven't been able to be alone just the two of us since the night of the office party when he told me Drake Ramoray had been killed off," Quinn said as she rubbed her right shin with her hand over her flannel pyjama pants. "Though he did kiss me in the back of Richard's Jaguar when Chandler was driving," she blushed as she remembered the way his lips felt on her mouth and the skin of her neck as well as the thrill of kissing in secret when in close proximity to others.
The girls "ooh"-ed at her, making Quinn blush even more.
"So do you know what you're gonna tell him?" Phoebe asked her, taking a sip of red wine.
The redhead nodded her head. "I'm gonna tell him I have feelings for him."
Her three friends squealed in excitement, the moment they all had been waiting for was finally about to happen.
"Does that mean that you two will finally be together?" Monica questioned.
"Maybe?" Quinn shrugged, uncertain. "I mean, I'll have to talk about it with him but I'd like to at least go on one date before deciding to become a couple."
The three girls shrieked again, enveloping the ginger in a hug. Quinn laughed, basking in the love and joy she received from her friends.
__________
Quinn found herself sat in the back of Phoebe's grandmother's cab with Joey and Rachel, all with pillows in hand thanks to Joey's insistence. The three friends had offered to come with Phoebe who was traveling to her dad's house and support her through it.
After about an hour long car drive where she fell asleep on Joey's shoulder, the redhead was woken up by her best friend just in time to raise up her pillow before she could hit her head on the taxi security screen in front of her as Phoebe suddenly hit the breaks.
"See? Didn't I tell you these pillows would be a good idea?" Joey turned his head from left to right as he spoke to the girls sitting on each side of him.
"Oh God, here we go," Phoebe said as she killed the engine of the car. She turned around in her seat to face her friends. "For the first time in my life I'm gonna say 'hi, birth father'."
"We love you Pheebs."
"We're here for you."
"Good luck."
They encouraged her in unison. Phoebe thanked them and exited the car.
"Hey Rach, you want some sandwich?" Joey asked the waitress on his left, pulling out a sandwich from the pocket of his coat.
"Oh, what is in that?" Rachel complained when the foul smell hit her nose.
"Olive loaf and ham spread, no mayo," he answered her.
"No, no, 'cause mayo would make it gross," Rachel said, Joey not picking up on her sarcasm. "Why don't you share it with Quinn?" She asked, jutting her chin towards the girl in question.
"Oh no, Quinn hates olives," Joey replied and took a bite of his sandwich.
Quinn wasn't listening to their conversation, resting her head on her arms that she leant outside of the window instead as she observed Phoebe approach her father's house. All was going well until a small dog ran out of nowhere and started pulling on the blonde's pants. "Phoebe, run back here!" She called out to her friend.
"No, doggie! No, please!" Phoebe cried out. "I do so want to love all animals. Please, no!" She continued struggling with the dog who held very strongly on her clothes. "God! Get the hell off my leg, you yippity piece of crap!"
When the pet finally let go, Phoebe didn't waste a second and dashed right back in the cab. The dog started jumping at the passenger seat window all the while continuing to bark at Phoebe. Joey had pulled Quinn away from the door she was leaning on and had her sit on his lap while he rolled the window halfway up, not chancing having the dog jump in the backseat and attack the redhead.
"Okay. We have a problem," Phoebe pointed out as she breathed hard, leaning as far away from the door as possible.
"Why don't you just reach out and take his trampoline?" Joey asked, still holding Quinn firmly in his arms.
"Okay here, I know what we can do," Rachel said and snatched the sandwich Joey managed to still clutch in his hand before leaning over her friends and throwing it out of the window, much to the actor's dismay. "Okay, doggie! Get the sandwich!" She ordered the dog but instead the animal was now jumping at their window and all three of them leaned away from it.
After a moment, the dog stopped jumping and approached the sandwich, only to walk away from it.
"Okay Joey, the dog will lick himself but he will not touch your sandwich. What does that tell you?" Rachel pointed out as the trio observed the animal out of the window.
"If he's not gonna eat it, I will," Joey said, lifting Quinn from his lap to move her in the middle seat so he could get out of the car.
"Are you crazy?" Phoebe cried out.
"Pheebs, he's just a little dog," he chuckled, only to turn around and end up face to face with the dog leaning halfway through the window, barking at them.
The gang jumped in fright as the trio in the backseat tried shuffling away from the animal but at this point there was not much space left.
"But in my experience, the little dogs are the more aggressive ones," Quinn argued Joey's point.
As they waited for the coast to clear up so Phoebe could go meet her father, Quinn fell back asleep, this time with her head laying on a pillow in Joey's lap as he gently carded his fingers through her curls. When she woke up from her nap, it had gotten dark outside and the car was still parked in front of Frank Buffay's house.
"Hey Pheebs, I think you're good to go," Joey told the blonde while Quinn rubbed the sleep away from her eyes.
"Yeah, I don't know," Phoebe said.
"What's the matter?" Rachel asked her.
"I just think that this was a really bad sign," Phoebe explained. "You know, the beast at the threshold."
The three friends sitting in the back nodded their heads in understanding.
"It's just, I have no family left, you know. Except for my grandmother but let's face it, she's not gonna be around forever, despite what she says. And I have a sister who I've barely spoken to since we like shared a womb, you know? This is my real father and I just want things to be like just right."
"Yeah Phoebe, I completely understand," Rachel said.
"Yeah, whatever you need," Joey added.
"You tried and that's what matters," Quinn reassured her.
Phoebe smiled at them gratefully.
"Hey, you wanna go home?" Joey suggested.
"'Kay thanks, sorry again," Phoebe turned in her seat to start the car.
"No need to apologize Pheebs," the redhead said.
When she pulled the car out of its parking spot, a thud was felt and a small whimper could be heard, making the three girls gasp in shock while Joey reluctantly looked out of the window.
"Uh, I'm guessing the threshold's clear now," he said, earning a slap of Quinn's hand against his arm.
__________
As the gang made their way to the 50s themed diner where Monica now worked, Phoebe told her friends about what happened when she brought the dog back to her father's house after accidentally running over it.
"I might not have met my father but I now have a younger brother who wants to keep in touch," the blonde finished her story and the five others expressed their joy for her.
"I hope your little brother isn't a little shit like mine is," Quinn said as they neared the restaurant. "Don't get me wrong, I love him and would protect him of every possible harm in the world but God he can be a real pain in my ass when he wants to."
"Yeah, little sisters are the same," Ross agreed with the redhead, thankful Monica wasn't around to hear him and retaliate.
Once they made it to the diner, they were assigned a booth, Chandler, Rachel and Ross on one side and Joey, Quinn and Phoebe on the other. Joey had his arm wrapped around Quinn's shoulders, keeping her close to him.
"Oh my God, look at her," Rachel said as they all watched their friend with a blonde wig and ginormous fake breasts.
"Hi Monica!" Chandler taunted her, making her look up and gasp in shock that the gang had showed up.
"Hey, nice boobs!" Phoebe teased her while the brunette tried to shoo them away.
"Guys, check this out," Chandler said, pulling out a quarter and inserting it in the table jukebox.
The intro to YMCA started playing through the restaurants and the employees climbed up on the counter to dance, Monica reluctantly joining them and lip syncing to the song.
"Oh this is everything!" Quinn exclaimed in a chuckle while the rest of her friends laughed.
Chandler dropped what seemed like ten dollars worth of quarters on the table and they all grabbed a few coins, wanting to each have their fun.
"I hope they have a routine for Stayin Alive," Quinn said while Monica continued her dance, rolling her eyes in annoyance when she noticed the coins on her friends' table.
reposting this chapter because i reread it and there was too many careless mistakes and typos (i was watching the new season of drive to survive while writing the last parts of the chapter and read it before posting so i was half paying attention lol)
thanks also for all the love and support for this fic it makes me so happy to see you guys enjoy it as much as i enjoy writing it!!