9; the one where Joey is in love.
"Hey, you know what's wrong with Joey?", Alycia asks when she sat down with Chandler and Monica at the coffee house.
It wasn't weird to find them hugging or kissing now that Ross knows about them too. It was chaotic at first but Ross soon understood they were really in love, not just sleeping together. They could finally be a couple now that everyone knows.
"Where do you want me to start?", Chandler jokes.
Monica pats his leg slightly, noticing Alycia was serious. "What happened?".
"Well, first he acted all weird this morning and barely wanted to talk to me, and now he cancelled on me. We were gonna meet here to have breakfast together", she explained.
"Really?", Monica looked worried, sitting up. "You guys had a fight or something?".
"Nothing. We were fine".
"Then you should talk to him", Monica replied. "He hasn't mention anything to either of us".
"Yeah, he looked fine this morning", Chandler shrugged.
Alycia sighed. "Guess I'm gonna talk to him once I see him".
"Let us know how it goes", Monica finished, taking her hand and giving it a tiny squeeze before letting go. "You want to stay here with us?".
"Don't wanna ruin the romance", she joked.
"No, stay", Chandler insisted this time. "We can have breakfast together".
☀
After being with Monica and Chandler at the coffee house, they went back to the apartment. The couple went to Monica's and Alycia went to talk to Joey. She knew he had nothing to do today, so he's going to be in his apartment.
Alycia knocked on the door twice before stepping back and wait for him to open the door. She was so nervous and confused, having cero ideas of what could be happening to hin
"Hey, you have a moment?".
Joey looked at Alycia for a few second before nodding and allowing her to step inside the apartment. She hated feeling like he was mad at her, especially when she didn't know what she might have done wrong.
"What's up?", he asked. She could tell he was acting a little weird around her.
"I wonder that too", she replied. "You avoided me this morning and then you cancelled on me over the phone".
"Oh, I just...I had to do a thing with Chandler and...".
"Chandler is with Monica in their apartment", Alycia cuts him off. "We have been at Central Perk all morning". She crossed her arms, looking at him. Alycia was really hurt, knowing he was lying to her. "What did I do to you?".
Joey sighed. He hates making her feel like she did something wrong when it's the total opposite. "Nothing, I swear it's not your fault".
"Can you tell me at least what's wrong with you?", she tried. "I want to help".
"I...I don't...".
Joey was out of words. How could he tell her about the dream he had last night about the two of then, and how he said those three little words he would've never thought of saying to someone?
Joey is terrified about the way he feels around her. How he can't take his eyes off of her, how he would like to spend every second of the day with her. It's been a while, but he's finally starting to realize it.
He is completely in love with her.
But he can't say it. It would ruin everything. If she doesn't feel the same, it might even destroy their friendship. He can't lose her. Ever.
"You know what? It's fine. You don't have to tell me if you don't want to", she quickly said after Joey's inability to speak. "Whatever it is, I'm really sorry. You can talk to me when you're ready, I guess".
And with that, she left the apartment.
It's not like Joey doesn't want to tell her what is going on, it's just that he can't. He's scared of the idea of being in love with one of his best friends. In fact, he has never been in love before (or at least, he has never felt this way in his entire life), and he doesn't know how to handle his emotions towards her.
☀
"And then I just walked out", Alycia finished telling the story.
Chandler handed her another tissue while she kept crying next to him. He didn't know what to do, especially knowing she was there crying because of Joey. He just never saw it coming.
And she knows there's nothing to cry about, but she was just feeling like shit. It felt almost as if he didn't trust her, and even when this looked like a small argument, she felt as if it was so much more than that.
Her feelings towards Joey made the whole situation worse. Alycia just felt everything a little deeper when it comes to him.
Maybe he wanted to break up but don't know how to? Is he scared of how this would affect the group? Are they gonna end up like Rachel and Ross? All this questions kept repesting over and over in her head and all the possible answers were killing her. The worst part about this whole situation is not knowing what exactly is happening.
"Here's your tea", Monica said while sitting down next to her on the couch.
"I don't know what to do", Chandler mutters to Monica. "I don't know how to deal with crying people", he insisted. "I'm too emotionally unstable to handle stuff like this".
Monica gave him a look as Chandler kept trying to comfort his friend, patting her back in a very awkward manner.
"Go find more tissues", Monica allowed him to go. "Honey, things will get better. You two are not only a perfect couple, but really good friend. I'm sure whatever it is, he's going to tell you eventually".
"Maybe he wants to break up with me but doesn't know how to", Alycia said, more calmed than before.
"Oh, no", Chandler said when he's back with the tissues, hurriedly sitting next to her. "No, he's always telling me how much he likes you. Trust me, he's not gonna do that".
"Then what is is?", she asked. "He doesn't want to talk to me, cancelled on me and don't want to tell me what's going on. He even said something very similar to that 'it's not you, it's me' kind of speech".
Monica sighed, exchanging a look with Chandler. Neither of them knew exactly what to do or say to make her feel better.
"Guys, craziest thing happened with that police badge I found the other day...Oh no, why the crying?", Phoebe entered the apartment.
"Honey, what the hell happened?", Rachel rushed over Alycia.
"Oh, great", Alycia mutters. "All this pressure is going to make me cry even more!".
"Tissues. Pass me the tissues!", Chandler exclaims after Alycia started crying again.
"Is she on her period?", Ross asked after he closed the door behind his two other friends.
"Ross, that's not a very nice question to ask right now", Rachel quickly said. "But she probably is".
"Is she okay?", Phoebe asked this time, sitting next to Alycia.
"Yeah, she's just...", Monica started. "Why are you crying?", she asked.
"I don't like seeing people cry", Phoebe replied, hugging Alycia.
"Oh, no, Pheebs", Rachel says, holding back her impulses to cry. "One I can handle, but not two!".
"Can everyone please stop crying?", Chandler freaked out.
"I still don't get what's going on", Ross insisted.
"Alycia got fired from work", Chandler replied after a few seconds.
"She told us just a few minutes before you guys showed up", Monica added.
Both girls gave him a questioning look but decided not to say anything else about it. Alycia was deep down glad that neither of them mentioned Joey. She didn't want things to end with everyone thinking he was the bad guy or something like that. It would be really sad if they have to put their friends on another difficult and awkward situation like what happened after Ross and Rachel broke up.
"Oh, no. That sucks", Ross walked closer to the whole group.
"We'll help you get a new one", Rachel tried to cheer her up, still visibly wanting to cry.
Alycia hears the front door being opened and she didn't need to turn around to know who it was. She felt so pathetic crying over a little fight but she just couldn't help it. She didn't want to lose him for nothing in the world and she was afraid her friendship might end because they decided to try being in a relationship.
"Al, we need to talk".
"Joey, I don't think...", Monica started.
"No, I have to, okay?", he cuts her off. "I'm here because I need to tell her that I love her!".
Everyone turned around to look at him in shock after what he said, not expecting that sudden revelation.
"Sorry for not saying it sooner", Joey continued. "I'm so stupid I...I thought that would, you know, I don't know if you felt the same and I didn't want to ruin what we have".
"Yeah, you are stupid", Chandler commented.
Alycia sighed, a small smile forming on her face. "Chandler, shut up".
"I was so scared of the way I feel about you. You're the first girl to ever make me feel like this...and the only one I really don't want to lose. Ever", Joey continued. "I realized that I shouldn't be scared because...because you make me happy and I love being so happy. And I love you".
Ross, Phoebe and Rachel were finally realizing what was actually going on. Monica was tearing up a little and Chandler had the biggest smile on his face. He was deep down the happiest.
Alycia walked up to Joey, wrapping her arms around his neck, hugging him. She felt so incredibly happy at that very moment.
"I love you so much, Joey", she replied when she pulled away from their hug, looking into his eyes.
He pulls her closer again, this time for to kiss her. The rest of the friends watched the scene with smile on their faces, happy for their relationship too.
"Oh, so this wasn't about her job!", Phoebe said after a few seconds.