1; the one with the engagement phobia.
"Okay. I just want to say I love you guys so much", Monica started with her toast. The whole group was sitting at the living room of her and Chandler's apartment, celebrating their engagement.
Monica was happier than ever. Just minutes before she was screaming outside in the balcony, announcing to the world she was getting married. Ross was also very excited to hear the news of her sister and best friend getting married, arriving to the apartment as soon as they called him, claiming to have very important news.
"Thank you for being here on my special night- our special night", she quickly corrected herself after Chandler cleared his throat, faking a smile. "I mean, it wouldn't even be my night...our night, if you all weren't here to celebrate with me. Us. Damn it!".
"No, it's okay", Chandler says. "I want this to be your night, too. To Monica!".
"Oh, come on. Stop it", Monica chuckles, realizing all of them were ready to make the toast. "Okay, to Monica!".
"To Monica!", they all exclaimed after her.
"So, have you thought about a band for the wedding? Cause I'm kind of musical", Phoebe commented shortly after the toast, hinting they should consider her.
"Pheebs, honey, she just got engaged a couple of hours ago. I doubt she's even had time to think about–".
"Speaking of chiming in, remember the time you burned down my apartment?", she snapped back, earning a look from Rachel.
"You're on your own", Rach mutters shortly after, turning back to look at Monica, deciding to give up.
"I still can't believe you guys are getting married", Alycia commented, earning a smile from both of her friends. "I couldn't be any more excited and happy for you two!".
"Y-Yeah. Marriage is great", Joey added shortly after. "And...you know, it's also great the beautiful relationship you both have! I mean, even before the engagement you two clearly loved each other so much".
"Oh, but a ring makes it so much better", Rachel commented jokingly, smiling a the couple.
"Hey, you burned Phoebe's apartment!", Joey snapped back, earning a confused look from everyone in the room. Rachel sat back on her seat, not really liking the fact she was being called out twice about that incident.
"You know what we should do? We should all get dressed up and go to have champagne at the Plaza", Monica suggested to change the subject, all of them quickly agreeing.
"I can't stay too long. I got to get up early for a commercial audition tomorrow and I gotta look good", Joey says as him and Alycia are heading to the door to get changed. "I'm supposed to be playing a 19-year-old".
Alycia immediately turned to look at her friends, not surprised to see them looking at Joey with very confused expressions, not believing he was actually serious.
Joey turned back to look at them, noticing the way everyone was staring at him. "What?".
"So when you said get up early, did you mean 1986?", Chandler asked sarcastically.
"You guys think I don't look 19?".
The friends saw Alycia putting both thumbs up behind Joey's back so he wouldn't notice. They already had this conversation and he had almost a two-hour mental breakdown for having to deal with the fact he's over thirty now. It wasn't pretty and she wanted to avoid having that conversation again.
"Oh! I thought you said ninety", Phoebe says after noticing Alycia's gestures. All the others agreed with her, following the lie as Alycia was expecting them to. She smiled at them as a way say thanks, dragging Joey out of the apartment before anything else could happen.
☀️
"Hey, you look amazing!", Alycia heard Chandler complimenting her as she's walking out of the bathroom. She noticed he was sitting on the couch playing video games.
"Thanks", she quickly replied, fixing her hair a little. "Is Joey still getting ready?".
As soon as she asked that, they both saw Joey walking out of the bedroom wearing the most horrible outfit ever. Chandler and Alycia stared at him in disbelief, waiting for any sort of explanation as to why he's dressed like that.
"Sup", he says, walking up to Chandler. "Sup, dude".
"Take whatever you want, just please don't hurt me", replied his friend sarcastically.
"Joey, honey...why?", Alycia asked, eyeing him up and down.
"Come on! Am I nineteen or what?", he says, actually believing he did a good job imitating one.
"Yes. On a scale from one to ten– ten being the dumbest a person can look, you are definitely nineteen", Chandler replied. "Please, go back in there and get changed because everyone is ready and please, oh please, keep my underwear!", he added, pointing at the one Joey was wearing.
Joey did as told, walking back inside the bedroom to get changed. Chandler looked visibly uncomfortable, taking a few setps closer to the now closed door.
"Joe?".
"Yeah?".
Chandler turned to give Alycia a quick look and she noticed he was very uncomfortable, hesitating a little before asking. "You've had a lot of sex, right?".
Joey quickly opened the door, frowning. "Why?".
"Well, uh...I–I was unable to...I mean, I really wanted to, but I couldn't...there–there was an incident".
Alycia snorted, not expecting that at all. She started laughing but soon shut up after noticing Chandler's desperate and embarrassed face. Poor thing. She tried her best to keep it together, looking somewhere else, avoiding his stare.
"It's not funny, okay? It was horrible", he said, trying to defend himself.
Joey chuckles lightly, patting his arm. "Hey. Don't worry about that, man. That happens!".
"It has happened to you?".
"Yeah. Once".
Alycia chuckles again, earning a look from Joey this time. Chandler also turned to look at her, but she didn't say anything about their conversation, walking back to the bathroom because she couldn't hold her laughter any longer.
☀️
Chandler, Joey and Alycia walked inside the apartment where the rest of the friends were chatting, everyone already dresses to go to celebrate.
"It was a one time thing, okay? I doesn't even matter", they heard Ross saying as they're walking towards the couch.
"Oh my God!", Joey started. "I cannot believe you guys are talking about this. The problems in the bedroom are between the man and the woman!", he exclaimed, pointing at Chandler and Monica as he talked. "Chandler is doing the best he can!".
Chandler freaked out, turning to look at his friend. "I don't think that's what they were talking about, Joe!", he exclaimed, visibly embarrassed.
"What a great night", Phoebe commented. "Chandler can't do it, these guys kissed–".
"What?", Joey, Chandler and Alycia asked at the same time, not believing what Phoebe just said. Monica scoffed, rolling her eyes.
"This is huge!", Joey said.
"No. It's really not huge", Rachel quickly argued.
"And people thinking it's huge has led Monica to believe that we are stealing her thunder, which we are not", added Ross
"Well, we're still talking about it, aren't we?", Monica snapped, standing up from the couch.
"That, and Chandler's problem", said Phoebe, not really making the situation any better.
"You know what? I don't feel like going to the Plaza anymore".
Everyone watched as Monica started heading towards her bedroom despite them trying to get her to change her mind. Rachel followed her, feeling terrible for ruining this for her. That was the last thing she even wanted. "What? Come on, Monica. We really didn't–".
"No, I don't want to talk about it– especially with you", she snapped at her friend right before walking inside her room, locking the door behind her.
☀️
"Guess night out is officially cancelled", Alycia commented. Her, Joey and Phoebe have been sitting on Monica's couch for minutes now. Rachel left shortly after Monica locked herself in her room, very upset for the fight. Ross followed her and Chandler stayed with Monica.
"It's better for Chandler anyway", Phoebe added. "Clearly he had enough champagne", she jokes.
"Hey, I guess engagement and marriage is not always as happy as it sounds, huh?", Joey commented.
Alycia gave him a questioning look, not understanding why he seems to be so hung up on that, remembering he was saying something similar about engagements earlier. It felt like he was trying to hint at something, and she didn't like that.
"Pheebs, could you give us a minute?", she eventually said, turning to look at her friend.
"Oh, sure! I need to start practicing the song I'll play at the wedding, anyway", she replied, standing up from the couch to walk towards her room, closing the door behind her.
"I feel like you've been trying to tell me something, Joe", Alycia started, smiling at him. She could tell he looked troubled and just wanted to let him know she wasn't upset about it. "You can talk to me. There's no need to be dropping subtle messages here and there".
Joey tried to come up with something to say, but eventually decided to confess what troubled him so much. "I'm sorry. I didn't know how to talk to you about it".
She nodded, letting him know she understands. "It's okay".
"It's just– I saw how you were acting about Chandler and Monica getting engaged and I kind of freaked out a little. And then you said that about being stuck in a relationship feeling insecure because the other person might not want to build a future together and...and I–".
"Oh, Joey", she started, understanding where he was getting. "You thought I was talking about us?".
"You weren't?", he dared to ask, visibly scared to know the answer.
She smiled again, shaking her head. "Of course not. I'm happy with what we have right now".
He looked relieved, feeling a lot better about the whole marriage situation. "That's good to hear. You know I love you and I want to be with you, but marriage is–".
"Is not happening for us just yet", she finished for him. "And I'm perfectly comfortable with that". Alycia stood up from the couch to walk towards the armchair to sit on his lap, wrapping her arms around his neck. "I don't need a breath-taking ring or a fairytale wedding to remind me how much this worths. I just need you, and that's all that matters to me".
Joey smiled, wondering how he ever got so lucky. "I love you".
"And I love you", she replied shortly after, leaning in to kiss him.