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The One With George Stephanopoulos
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Samantha idly watched her friends as they conversed. She didn't feel like engaging in their conversation, as she was having a bit of a rough day. It was hard to tell, but behind her stoic demeanor Samantha was tired and worn out.
Rachel walked up behind her, and handed her a questionable coffee cup. Samantha looked at it for a second before giving in and taking it from her.
"Okay, okay. If I were omnipotent for a day, I would want, um, world peace, no more hunger, good things for the rain-forest," Samantha's attention was diverted to Phoebe. "And bigger boobs!"
"Well see, you took mine," Ross joked, turning to Chandler. "Chandler, what about you?"
"Uh, if I were omnipotent for a day, I'd make myself omnipotent forever," Chandler answered with a smirk. Samantha scoffed, rolling her eyes.
Rachel reacted in the same way, "See, there's always one guy." She began to walk over to the counter. "If I had a wish, I'd wish for three more wishes," she contorted her voice, mocking Chandler.
Monica was laughing quietly in the corner. She was curious as to what Samantha's answer would be. "What about you Sam?"
"Oh well, I don't know, I guess the first thing I would do is change my family," Samantha mumbled, playing with her cup of coffee. Everyone looked at her solemnly. But it wasn't like they didn't have their own family problems either. It was just that Samantha tended to express her concern in anger or hatred. So, rarely did any of her friends see her down in the dumps. "Oh hey look it's Joey!" She tried switching the topic by pointing out the man who had just walked in.
"Hey Joey." "Hi." "Hey, buddy."
Joey walked over behind Samantha, placing his arms around her shoulders. Something was off about her today. He just couldn't place what it was.
"Hey, Joey, what would you do if you were omnipotent?"
"Probably kill myself!" He stated with a blank expression. Upon hearing his answer Samantha spit out the sip of coffee she had just taken.
"Excuse me?"
"Hey, if Little Joey's dead, then I got no reason to live!"
"Joey, uh- omnipotent," Ross tried to clarify, only making the situation worse.
"You are?" Joey asked, concerned. "Ross, I'm sorry"
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A little while later Samantha, Chandler, and Joey had left deciding to go eat lunch. As they were making their way back to Central Perk, the two boys got into an argument about how many steps it would take to go from their apartment to the coffee house.
So, as Joey and Chandler walked down the street counting steps, Samantha followed closely behind.
As they made it to the coffee house Samantha couldn't help but laugh, because Joey had been right. "Ninety-five, ninety-six, ninety-seven," he finished counting. "See, I told you! Less than a hundred steps from our place to here."
"You got waaaay too much free time."
"Hey! Here's the birthday boy!" Joey called out to Ross. "Ross, check it out: hockey tickets, Rangers-Penguins, tonight at the Garden, and we're taking you."
"Happy birthday, pal!"
"We love you, man," Joey leaned over and kissed Ross on the cheek.
"Funny, my birthday was seven months ago."
"So?"
"So, I'm guessing you had an extra ticket and couldn't decide which one of you got to bring a date?" Ross stated the truth.
"Well, aren't we Mr. 'The glass is half empty,'"Chandler joked.
"Oh my God," Ross came to a sudden realization, picking up the hockey ticket. "Oh- is today the twentieth, October twentieth?"
"Oh, I was hoping you wouldn't remember," Monica answered him, seeming to know something the others didn't.
"What's wrong with the twentieth?" Joey asked the question they were all wondering.
"Eleven days before Halloween," Chandler began, trying to figure it out. "All the good costumes are gone?"
"It's true they are," Samantha confirmed.
"Today's the day Carol and I first, consummated our physical relationship," Ross answered. Joey turned to look at Samantha confused by Ross's words.
"Sex Joey," she clarified. He slowly nodded, implying that he understood.
"You know what, I-I'd better pass on the game," Ross gave Joey back the ticket. "I think I'm just gonna go home and think about my ex-wife and her lesbian lover."
"The hell with hockey, let's all do that!" Joey jumped up excited at the idea. Samantha smacked him upside the head, sending a disapproving look his way.
"C'mon, Ross! You, me, Joey, ice, guys' night out, c'mon, whaddya say, big guy," Chandler chased after Ross as he walked away. "Huh? Huh? Huh?" Chandler began to fake punching Ross in the stomach. Everyone else watched on in slight amusement.
"What are you doing?"
Stopping Chandler answered, "I have no idea."
"C'mon, Ross!"
"Alright, alright, maybe it'll take my mind off it," Ross finally agreed. "Do you promise to buy me a big thumb finger?"
"You got it."
Within the next few seconds Rachel ran in excitedly, holding an envelope. She was waving it around in the air, and had a huge smile on her face.
"Look look look look look, my first pay check!"She made her way over to her friends, showing off her achievement. "Look at the window, there's my name! Hi, me!"
"Wow Rach! That's so exciting!" Samantha expressed her pride for the girl.
"I remember the day I got my first pay check," Phoebe began to reminisce. "There was a cave in in one of the mines, and eight people were killed."
"Wow, you worked in a mine?"
"I worked in a Dairy Queen, why?"
"No reason," Samantha hummed whilst discreetly shaking her head at Monica. There was no point in asking the girl any further questions. Monica nodded in agreement.
"God, isn't this exciting? I earned this. I wiped tables for it, I steamed milk for it, and it was totally—" Rachel paused for a second to open the letter. "—not worth it. Who's FICA? Why's he getting all my money? I mean, what- Chandler, look at that."
Everyone's face fell upon hearing Rachel's reaction. Chandler took the letter from her hand and examined it.
"Oh, this is not that bad," he said, passing the letter to Joey.
"Oh, you're fine, yeah, for a first job," Joey read the letter passing it to Ross.
"You can totally, totally live on this," Ross barely even glanced at it, instead handing it to Phoebe and Samantha.
"I agree!" Samantha exclaimed. "This is- this is good."
"Yeah, yeah."
Everyone paused for a second.
"Oh, by the way, great service tonight," Ross spoke up, handing Rachel a couple of bucks.
"Oh! Yeah!" Following Ross's lead, everyone else did the same. Rachel walked away disappointed, and Samantha looked after her sadly.
"Hockey!" The three boys went to leave, but they were blocked by three women carrying multiple shopping bags. Everyone in the coffee shop seemed to stare at them upon their arrival. Even the boys stood shell-shocked for a moment before proceeding out the door. "Hockey! Hockey."
One of the girls, who seemed to be a few months pregnant, looked around the coffee shop for someone. "Rachel?"
"Oh god, not these bitches," Samantha groaned upon realizing who they were.
"Sammy baby, is that you?" The pregnant one, Leslie, gasped upon seeing the other girl. Samantha made a small grunting noise before turning towards her.
"I always hated that name," she whispered to Phoebe who was sat next to her. The blonde snorted and mouthed a 'good luck'.
Samantha wasn't super close with Rachel's friends, in fact she hated them. But she was forced to like them since they were close with Rachel.
"Oh my God!" Rachel screamed from behind the counter. Which then prompted the others to start screaming as well. They all went in for a big hug, and Samantha stayed at least 5 feet away, a fake smile plastered on her face.
"I cannot do this right now. Please save me," Samantha whispered to Monica and Phoebe before slowly dragging herself towards Rachel.
"What are you guys doing here?" Rachel questioned frantically.
"Yeah," Samantha began. "What are you doing here."
"Well, we were in the city shopping, and your mom said you work here," the girl named Kiki answered. "And it's true!" She spoke to Rachel as if she were a baby, which caused Samantha to practically blow smoke from her nose.
"Look at you in the apron," Joanne commented on Rachel's attire. "You look like you're in a play."
"Look at you, you are so big I can't believe it!" Rachel ignored the comment, instead she observed Leslie's baby bump.
"I know. I know! I'm a duplex."
"Like the toy?" Samantha asked with a mixture of confusion and sarcasm. She had never been one for pregnancy and children in general.
"No," Leslie responded harshly, giving Samantha a dirty look.
"So what's going on with you?" Rachel asked Joanne.
"Well, guess who my dad's making partner in his firm?" She pointed to herself causing everyone to scream again. Samantha looked back at Monica and Phoebe in terror. It was like something from a horror flick.
"And while we're on the subject of news," Kiki pounced on the chance to show off her new engagement ring. The girls screamed once again, prompting Samantha to cover her ears. 'It's just a stupid ring' she thought to herself.
From the couch, Phoebe turned to Monica, "Look, look, I have elbows!" The two girls screamed mockingly. Samantha visibly snorted, as Rachel and her friends looked on disapprovingly.
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Later Samantha was forced to squeeze into a booth with Rachel as they listened to Leslie, Kiki, and Joanne droned on about their lives.
"So c'mon, you guys, tell me all the dirt!" Rachel egged her friends on.
"Well, the biggest news is still you dumping Barry at the altar!" Kiki spoke with a fake cheery voice that drove Samantha nuts. "And don't even get me started on what they're saying about you Sammy baby."
"Oh trust me, I won't," Samantha answered through gritted teeth, wishing she was anywhere else. Even the depths of hell sounded better than the situation she was in.
"Alright. Let's talk reality for a second," Joanne started.
"Okay."
"When are you coming home?"
"What?" Rachel was taken back by the question. "Guys, I'm not."
"C'mon, this is us," Joanne laughed, not believing the girl.
"I'm not!" Rachel repeated a bit more aggressive. "This is what I'm doing now. I've got this job-"
"Waitressing?" Kiki interrupted her. "I mean I can understand why Sammy baby would have a job waitressing. But you?"
"Stop calling me that," Samantha interrupted. By this point she was over this. These girls acted as if she were some barbarian for actually having a job and relying on herself. "And I'm not a waitress."
"I'm not just waitressing," Rachel began trying to convince them she had an amazing job. "I'm I, um I write the specials on the specials board, and, uh and I, uh I take the uh dead flowers out of the vase. Oh, and, um, sometimes Artelle lets me put the little chocolate blobbies on the cookies."
"Well. Your mom didn't tell us about the blobbies," Leslie answered using her fake voice again.
That was when Samantha had enough. "No she didn't!" She stood up abruptly, startling the other girls. "So you better get your head out of your ass and congratulate your friend with that screaming shit, or you can leave."
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Author's Note
Thanks for reading. I hope you enjoyed.
This is not edited.
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