"Somebody kiss me. It's midnight!"
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"Guys. There's somebody I'd like you to meet." Ross stepped into Monica's apartment...with a monkey on his back. Rachel, Phoebe, and I awed at the little monkey.
"Wait. Wait. What is that?" Monica stuttered out while pointing at the monkey.
"His name is Marcel. Want to say hi?" He asked her.
"No, I don't." She quickly took a couple of steps back, moving over to stand behind me.
"Oh, he is precious. Where did you get him?" Rachel asked him.
"My friend, Bethel, rescued him from some lab." He explained.
"That is so cruel." Phoebe scoffed and shook her head. "Why would a parent name their child Bethel?" She inquired.
"Hey, that monkey's got a Ross on his ass." Chandler walked out of the bathroom.
"Ross, is he going to be living with you in you apartment??" Monica kept her hands on my shoulders, practically using me as a human shield.
"Yeah. It's been kind of quiet since Carol left, so..." He trailed off and shrugged his shoulders.
"Why don't you get a roommate?" Monica suggested quite logically.
"I think you reach a certain age when having a roommate is kind of pathe—" He stopped talking when he noticed us giving him looks since two–thirds of us were roommates. "Uh...I'm sorry. That's 'pathet', which is Sanskrit for 'really cool way to live'." He corrected before walking away. A little later, we were at Central Perk.
"Guys, I'm doing all new material tonight." Phoebe was tuning her guitar. "I have twelve new songs about my mother's suicide and one about a snowman."
"Might want to open with the snowman." Chandler suggested to her. Then, Joey walked into the coffee shop, wiping snow off of his coat. He sat down next to me on the couch and wrapped his arm around my shoulders.
"So, how'd it go?" Ross asked as he brought me closer into him. His face was cold from the snow.
"Oh, I didn't get it." He shook his head sadly.
"How could you not get it?" Ross scoffed slightly. "You were Santa last year."
"I don't know. Some fat guy's sleeping with the store manager." He shrugged his shoulders. "The guy's not even jolly. It's all political."
"What are you going to be then?" I wiped the bit of snow on his hair.
"I'm going to be one of his helpers, but it's just such a slap in the face, you know?" He explained.
"Do you guys know what you're doing for New Year's?" Rachel came over to us and asked, making the others groan. "Geez! What–What is wrong with New Year's?"
"Nothing for Suparna. She's got Matt." Chandler stuck his tongue out at me. "She doesn't have to face the pressures of this holiday—the desperate scramble to find anything with lips just so you can have somebody to kiss when the ball drops!" He explained to her. "Man, I'm talking loud." He looked back at the rest of us.
"For your information, I'm not with Matt anymore, or whatever we were. So I'm with you guys on the whole 'no date for New Year's Eve' thing." I replied.
"Hold on, what happened? You guys were so cute together." Rachel pet my hair gently.
"Tell that to the girl he was with last night. She called me to let me know that I had been replaced." I explained. "It's fine. I'm fine." I waved them off.
"Oh, honey." Monica, Phoebe, and Rachel were immediately there for my comfort.
"Guys are really horrible. I mean, who could just go through girls so easily?" I let out a sigh.
"It's just that I am sick of being the victim to this Dick Clark holiday. And now that my little sister got hurt by some stupid guy, I say this year, no dates. We make a pact—just the seven of us. Dinner." Chandler suggested. We agreed with him. "You know, I was hoping for a little more enthusiasm." He asked us. Then, we cheered to make him happy. Soon, it was time for Phoebe to go up on stage.
"Okay, hi. Ladies and gentlemen, back by popular demand, Miss Phoebe Buffay." Rachel introduced her before getting off the stage.
"Thanks. Hi." She sat down on the stool. "Um...I want to start with a song that means a lot to me this time of year." She started to sing a song about a snowman, but it took a rough turn.
Thirty minutes later, we had gone through multiple songs about her mother's death. I was practically sleeping on Joey, but he didn't seem to mind.
"Excuse me. Excuse me. Yeah. Noisy boys." She motioned towards two guys. "Is there something you would like to share with the entire group?" She asked them like a teacher to a student.
"No, no, that's okay." One of the guys shook his head.
"Well, come on. If it's important enough to discuss about while I'm playing, then I assume it's important enough for everyone else to hear." She practically scolded them.
"That guy's going home with a note." Chandler whispered to us.
"I was...I was just saying..." The other guy cleared his throat twice.
"Could you speak up please?" Phoebe spoke into the mike closely, making the guy jump.
"Sorry, I was..." The guy stood up in slight confidence. "I was just saying to my friend how you were the most beautiful woman that I'd ever seen in my life, and then he said...he said he though Daryl Hannah was the most beautiful woman that he'd ever seen in his life, and I said, 'Yeah, I liked her in Splash a lot, but not so much in Wall Street'." The guy was rambling. "Then that–that–that's when you started yelling at us." The guy sat back down.
"Okay. We're going to take a short break now." Phoebe blurted before heading over to the guy.
"That guy's going home with way more than a not." Joey corrected Chandler earlier statement. A week later, we were setting up the Christmas tree and hanging ornaments.
"Here, Marcel. Sit here." Ross instructed the monkey, only for Marcel to climb on my shoulders, not that I minded, of course.
"It's fine. He doesn't bother me." I scratched Marcel's chin before he jumped off my back and towards Ross. "Pheebs, I can't believe he hasn't kiss you yet. God, Matt had already named both of my bo...boots. Yeah, boots." I nodded my head. "Screw that jerk." I sat down and muttered to myself, wrapping a blanket around me. Rachel reached over and rubbed my knee comfortingly.
"David's, like, you know, a scientist guy. He's very methodical." Phoebe replied.
"I think it's romantic." Monica responded.
"Me, too. Ugh! Did you ever see An Officer and a Gentleman?" Phoebe sat down next to me and leaned her head against the back of the couch. We all nodded our heads. "Well, he's kind of like the guy I went to see that with." She answered. "Except...Except he's gentler and smarter and sweeter. I just...I just want to be with him all the time, you know? Day and night...and night and day...and special occasions." She added quickly.
"Oh, I see where this is going. You're going to ask him to New Year's. You're going to break the pact." Chandler pointed an accusing finger at her. "She's going to break the pact."
"No, no, no, no, no." She stood up. "Yeah, could I just...?" She looked at us, making us gasp.
"Yeah. 'Cause I already asked Janice." Chandler confessed.
"Come on, this was a pact. This was your pact." Ross groaned.
"I snapped, okay? I couldn't handle the pressure." He spat out.
"But Janice, that–that was, like, the worst breakup in history." Monica replied.
"I'm not saying it was a good idea. I'm saying I snapped." He flailed his arms around.
"Hey. Hi. Sorry I'm late." Joey came into the apartment, practically frozen. He took off his coat and came over to behind me. I took off the blanket around me and handed it to him. It was then I noticed the elf costume.
"Too many jokes." Chandler closed his eyes and scrunched up his face. "Must mock Joey."
"Nice shoes, huh?" Joey jiggled them, making the jingle bells ring.
"Ah! You're killing me!" Chandler plugged his ears and walked into the kitchen. Suddenly, we heard a loud ruckus. We turned around to see that Marcel had knocked over all of Monica's pans.
"Ross! He's playing with my spatulas again!" She yelled at him and walked over to him.
"It's not like he's going to hurt them, right?" He replied with a question.
"Do you always have to bring him here?" She asked him.
"Look, I didn't want to leave him alone eat home, alright? We had our first fight this morning." He looked down at his hands. "I think it has to do with my working late. I said some things that I didn't mean, and...he threw some feces."
"You know, if you're going to work late, I can check in on him for you." Chandler offered.
"That would be great. Okay. But if you do, make sure it seems like you're there to see him, okay? And you're not, like, doing it as a favor to me." Ross lowered his voice.
"Okay. But if he asks, I'm not going to lie." Chandler answered, making Ross glare at him. A couple of days later at my apartment, Joey was eating my ice cream while I was making some hot chocolate for us.
"Did you know that my own brother—who started this stupid pact—asked Janice to be his date for New Year's?" I shook my head while popping a couple of mini marshmallows into my mouth.
"Really?" He asked me, stealing a couple of marshmallows.
"Yeah. So is Phoebe, but she and David are cute, so I can't blame her. But I just can't believe it. I thought we made this pact so we wouldn't have to find dates." I groaned and handed him one of the hot chocolate mugs.
"Maybe you and I can go. It doesn't have to be a date, but we could go as friends and kiss as friends when the ball drops." Joey suggested.
"Okay. Technically, we wouldn't be breaking the pact since we're bringing each other, and we won't be alone. It's a not–a–date date, Tribbiani." And we clinked our mugs. After our drinks, he and I headed downstairs to see the rest of the gang.
"So on our no–date evening, three of you now are going to have dates." We heard Ross say.
"Make that five of us. Joey and I are going together, so we're technically not bringing dates." We sat down at the small table.
"Six." Rachel raised her hand as she sat down Ross let out a groan. "Sorry, we have a hot Italian guy at our apartment named Paolo." She shrugged her shoulders.
"We're just going as friends." Joey wrapped his arm around my waist.
"There better not be anything else going on." Chandler pointed his finger at me and Joey.
"Okay, so I'm going to be the only one, standing there alone when the ball drops?" Ross asked.
"Come inn, we'll have a big party, and no one will know who's with who." Rachel tried to reassure him, but it didn't work.
"This is so not what I need right now." He leaned back into the arm chair.
"What's the matter?" Monica furrowed her brows in confusion and concern.
"It's Marcel." He leaned his head against his hand. "He keeps shutting me out, you know? He's walking around all the time, dragging his hands."
"That's so weird. I had such a blast with him the other night." Chandler sat down next to Monica.
"Really?" Ross inquired.
"Yeah. We played. We watched TV. That juggling thing is amazing" My brother replied.
"What, uh...what juggling thing?" Ross was getting a little upset.
"With the balled–up socks. I figured you taught him that." Chandler answered. When Ross shook his head, Chandler's eyes widened. "You know, it wasn't that big of a deal. It was just balled–up socks...and a melon." He quickly added.
David's friend, Max, let Phoebe know to tell David that they're going to Minsk because they got a grant for three years. Also, they would be leaving on New Year's Day. We all looked at Phoebe while she stared blankly at her lap.
The next night, I showed up late to a party that was literally next door. I walked into the apartment, and everyone glanced at me. I really felt like a spotlight was on me.
"Suparna?" Joey stood in front of me and looked me up and down, but not in a jerk way. "You look...beautiful." His jaw was practically on the floor.
"Aw, thanks, Joey. But are you sure it's not too much? I feel...out of place. Everyone keeps looking and staring at me." He linked our arms and pulled me away from the door.
"Don't worry about it. They're just jealous that I got the prettiest woman in here." He smiled at me as we joined our friends.
Rachel came in a little later, looking completely beat up. I grabbed her some ice so she could ice down her black eye and busted lip. She told us how this woman tackled her for a stupid taxi cab, and that the Italian guy, Paolo, headed off to Rome. Monica and I helped Rachel clean up and get dressed for the party, but I noticed Joey flirting with another woman while her kids watched. Monica's date, Fun Bobby, came all depressed, only to tell us about how his grandfather passed away, and that the funeral was the next day. Phoebe ended up breaking up with David so that he could go to Minsk for the project. The whole night was a train wreck, except I got to see Joey actually showing his compassionate and caring side by tucking the kids in on the couch. The seven of us stood in the kitchen while the other guests watched Dick Clark.
"Looks like that no–date pact thing worked." I grumbled, glaring slightly at Joey. He just gave me an apologetic look, but it wouldn't make me happy again.
"Everybody looks so happy. I hate that!" Phoebe crossed her arms over her chest.
"Not everybody's happy. Hey, Bobby." Monica smiled at Bobby, who only broke down again.
"Happy New Year!" Everyone yelled before kissing their dates.
"You know, I'll just throw this out there. There are four girls and three guys, so let's just kiss each other, and one of the guys can kiss two girls." Chandler suggested.
"Well, I can't kiss anyone tonight." Phoebe sat down at the dining table.
"I think I'm just going to go back to my apartment." I shook my head.
"I can't kiss anyone." Rachel said, pointing to her lip.
"So I'm kissing everyone?" Monica asked. "Except my brother." She quickly added.
"Great. Perfect. So now, everyone's getting kissed except for me." He groaned.
"Alright, somebody kiss me." Chandler looked at us. "Somebody kiss me. It's midnight!" He continued to complain, so Joey planted one right on him. Thankfully, Ross took a picture. I headed back to my apartment and changed into a sweatshirt and pajama pants. Joey decided to let himself in.
"Hey." He walked in and closed the door behind him.
"I didn't say you could come in." I looked back down at my lap as he sat down next to me.
"Well, you've always let me." He replied. "I'm sorry about talking to the other girl, but you know how I am." He brought me into his side.
"Yeah, I do. That's why I should have seen it coming. I already fell for it when Matt hooked up with the other girl in Rome." I answered.
"There's something I should have done at midnight." And he pecked me on the lips. We felt sparks and fireworks with that second our lips touched. I could tell he felt it, too, but I decided to just ignore it.
"Joey, that was very sweet of you. Thank you." I smiled up at him. "I have some leftover Mexican food. Want some?" I stood up.
"Sounds great." He smiled at me kindly.