What if...

Chapter 13

AN: just felt like posting early again 🥰

David saw Jen and Courteney walk back onto the set and when they joined the 4 of them, Jen announced:

"Guys, we need to celebrate what happened today, I think...."

He realized she shot Courteney a warning look as she let out a snorting laugh, before she continued:

"I wanna invite you all for drinks at my place tonight!"

Everybody cheered at the prospect of a small party between the 6 of them, but David questioningly raised an eyebrow at her. She mouthed the word "later" at him.

They rehearsed a few more scenes for one of the last episodes of that season, then the director called it a day. Walking to the dressing rooms he was next to her and gave her a questioning look. Then she whispered at him.

"Courteney knows. And Matt heard us today..."

Wow! That was a shocker.

"WHAT?", he asked, trying to keep it down.

"He was looking for you, then he heard us laugh and was about to open the door when he felt it moved... and then he heard...", she put her hands infront of her face to hide her embarrassment.

"So you want to make it official tonight, at least with them?"

"Yeah, I think it's about time! Oh my god, how embarrassing!", she laughed now.

"Hey, it's Matt, he has probably been there a million times...", he joked, before he asked her:

"Want me to come with you for the shopping? We can drive separately and meet there, and then drive to your place?"

"Sounds like a plan."

They went to a nearby liquor store and stopped by at a deli to buy some fancy snacks. Then they drove to Jen's house and arranged everything, both taking a very quick shower while the other kept working. David was happy he had already stocked up on some clothes at her place because he had to admit it was a bit of a funny feeling walking around in those "sex clothes", especially now that he knew that two of the others knew what happened today.

Soon after, first Lisa arrived, then Matt and Courteney and Matthew, as per usual, was the last.

"Could you BE any later?", Jen said when she greeted him with a hug.

They all sat down in the living room, poured some drinks and all gave a toast to Jen's recent success. Jen was standing next to him, hand on the backrest behind his head. He had always made it clear that it was her call to make on when to make this official, so he for now went along with the rest of the group. Then, after their toast, Jen cleared her throat.

"Also... there is something else that you guys did not know about yet... but due to recent events..."

He could see a broad grin appear in Courteney's face, same with Matt. In his case, accompanied with a Joey style approving nod of the head. Lisa and Matthew looked slightly confused. When he looked up at Jen, she met his gaze, a smile on her face, before walking around his chair to sit down on his lap and circling her arms around his neck. They looked at each other with a broad smile before their lips met for a brief kiss.

"WHAT THE FUCK?!?!", Lisa shouted, "Are you kidding? This is great... when, I mean, how... wow so many questions..."

When he looked at Matthew, his confusion  disappeared and a wide grin appeared on his face. He did not say anything though, since Lisa was still talking, now to Courteney.

"How come you aren't freaking out, too?"

Before either him or Jen could start to explain, Courteney opened her mouth:

"I actually have been suspicions a while. And then when David left the set earlier during our break, I spotted this one...", she pointed to Jen, "...hiding behind a light post. And they snuk off together. And then Matt..."

Now an excited Matt interrupted Courteney: "When I went after him to look for Schwimmer I heard the two of them laugh in Jen's dressing room. Then I wanted to go in and say hi and then..."

Now it was his turn to interrupt Matt:

"Jen had just told me how the casting went and we were excited..."

"THEY WERE BANGING AGAINST THE DOOR!!!", Matt blurted over David talking.

Matt and Courteney started to laugh, while Matthew's and Lisa's faces showed a mix of shock, disbelief and amusement at this revelation. He felt his own face getting hot as he blushed, and Jen simply hid her face in the crook of his neck.

"Okay, okay... can we all calm down now. Yes, we MAY have gotten  a little too excited... but let's not get carried away by that. The important news is..."

"That you two are together, and happy and I think I can speak for all of us that we kind of saw that coming!", Courteney said.

"THANK YOU!", was all he had to say to their friend, happy she helped them out.

"So, how did it come to this?", Lisa asked, "I mean of course we all have kind of seen that there was something brewing in the past few years.  But I honestly gave up hope on that a while ago..."

David pulled Jen closer to him and landed his head on her shoulder, before he began to explain:

"You know, it was quite early on when Jimmy pulled us both to the side separately, he obviously saw it coming as well, and told us that hookups between co-stars rarely end well and that the resulting awkwardness could really disturb the chemistry on a show like this, and that, if we wanted this show to be a long-term success, we better stay away from it. So he basically told us, that, if we wanted a long-term job, the other is off-limits. And then last summer, while I was doing this movie, I missed Jen like crazy. And I realized: this is not a crush, I am madly in love with this woman. And who was Jimmy fucking Burrows to deny us a chance at love? And what would the producers do if it came to this: fire one of us at this point? I didn't think so! So I decided to just go for it. Try to win her over..."

Jen gave him a peck on the lips, to stop him from talking, so that she could tell the rest.

"Took him a while though, because I was still trapped in that conversation with Jimmy, worrying about my career in a weird way... but you know, I just love this idiot so much that I caved at some point. Around the time of the breakup episode. I still thought it would be better to keep it on the down-low for a while, but with you guys, it was clear that we would share at some point."

"I totally get where you are coming from. Of course we won't tell anybody.", Matthew chimed in for the first time. He seemed genuinely happy for them, just like the rest, and wasn't in a mood to make jokes.

"I'm so happy for you guys!!!!", Matt said as he got up to hug the couple on the chair, the rest following suit so that all of them ended up in a pile rather than a huddle. They all wished the new couple well, then returned to their seats and joked around as a group like they always had. The only difference was now that David did not longer exchange secret glances with Jen, but instead, had wrapped her up tightly in his arms.