The One With The Fake Dating

First Date

Joey's POV

At first, it didn't look like Joey was going to need Chandler's help too much after all. Turns out, it's not that hard to pretend to be gay. Aside from a close call with the actor who played his wife (he almost asked her out in front of everyone, it's not his fault she's so hot), no one had really thought twice about Joey's sexuality. It's not like anyone had much time to talk about their personal lives while they were rehearsing their lines or being fitted for costumes.

And even if the topic of relationships did come up, Joey would just talk about his amazing "boyfriend" Chandler. Joey's acting abilities payed off here. With the way Joey talked about him, everyone was convinced Chandler was this perfect boyfriend who Joey was completely in love with. There were even a few moments were Joey almost convinced HIMSELF he was in love with Chandler (which he decided to blame on his great acting and tried not to think about). 

But Joey should have known things were going a bit too perfectly. It was a regular Friday when his plan faced its first real test. They had just finished up rehearsals for the day and Joey was getting ready to go home when he was approached by Jessica, the actor who was playing his wife. 

"Hey Joey, great job today."

"Thanks Jessica, you were great too," Joey replied with a smile. 

"Me and some of the others are going to meet up for drinks later tonight, you interested in coming?"

"Yeah, sure!" 

"Cool, we're meeting at Harry's bar at 9, see you there!" She started walking away but stopped to add one more thing.

"Oh, and it's couples night at Harry's so everyone's bringing dates, you should bring your boyfriend!"

Joey winced internally. He knew the cast was going to have to meet his "boyfriend" eventually, but he was hoping to put it off for as long as possible. He really hoped Chandler wasn't busy tonight.

"Sounds good, see you there!" 

***

Joey was starting to get worried. He was waiting inside the bar for Chandler, who had agreed to meet him there at 9. But it was 9:35 and he still hadn't arrived. The rest of the cast all had their dates with them, so Joey was the only person left alone, which drew some attention to him from another actor. Joey's understudy, to be more specific. Joey usually tried not to be rude to other actors, but this guy made it really tough. He resented Joey for getting the part he wanted, and he didn't really try to hide it. Tyler also happened to be the one person who refused to believe Joey was into guys, which is why Joey became even more nervous when Tyler approached him, drink in hand. Joey tried to play it cool. 

"Hey Tyler, what's up?"

"Drop the act, Tribbiani," Tyler responded coldly. "I know your 'boyfriend' isn't coming." He added air-quotes around the word boyfriend. Joey didn't really understand what it meant when people did that with their hands, but he wasn't going to let this guy think he was smarter for using them. 

"My 'boyfriend' is totally coming," Joey replied, using air-quotes around boyfriend as well. "He's just running a little late."

"Yeah, right. You wanna know how I know you're lying? Because I found an interview you did when you were on "Days of Our Lives", and you were described as flirting with pretty much every female co-star you had," Tyler finished with a smug smile. Shit. Joey had completely forgotten about that interview, he was so screwed. He tried to come up with some last-minute excuse to save his cover, and luckily for him he was able to remember a term Phoebe had explained to him after she had used it in one of her songs.