New Friends, New Family, New Forever

The Thumb: Part 1

Sarah's POV:

Rachel and I are somewhat new to the group, so we've become fast friends with each other. It's not hard being accepted into this group when your'e the jokester's twin sister. Plus, I seemed to immediately get along with Monica, Phoebe, and Joey. Though, from what I've heard about him, he might've been a little more interested in the fact that I'm a fairly good-looking member of the opposite sex. On a separate note, Phoebe walks into the cafe from a date she had earlier this evening.

Ross: "How'd it go?"

Phoebe: "Um, not so good. He walked me to the subway and said, 'We should do this again'."

We all let out a collective groan of sympathy, while Rachel dons a confused look.

Rachel: "What? He said, 'We should do it again.' That's good, right?"

Monica: "Uh, no. Loosely translated, 'We should do this again' means 'You will never see me naked'."

Rachel: "Since when?"

Joey: "Since always. It's like dating language. Y'know, like 'It's not you' means 'It is you'."

Chandler: "Or 'You're such a nice guy' means 'I'm gonna be dating leather-wearing alcoholics and complaining about them to you'."

Phoebe: "Yeah. Or 'I think we should see other people' means 'Ha-ha, I already am."

Me: "Not always."

Rachel: "Thank you. See?"

Me: "Sometimes it means 'I'm cheating on you with my secretary'. Or maybe I'm just that unlucky."

Chandler pats my shoulder in sympathy. Those weren't Henry's exact words, but they might as well have been.

Rachel: "And everybody knows this?"

Joey: "Yeah, cushions the blow."

Chandler: "Yeah, it's like when you're a kid, and your parents put your dog to sleep, and they tell you it went off to live on some farm."

Ross: "That's funny, because our parents actually did send our dog off to live on a farm."

We all turn to Ross as Monica places a hand on his arm.

Monica: "Um, Ross."

Ross: "What? Hello? The Millners' farm in Connecticut? They had this unbelievable farm. They had horses, and rabbits that he could chase and it was-Oh my God, Chi Chi!"

{Time skip}

The next day, Chandler and I are helping Joey rehearse for his upcoming audition. There are no female roles in this scene, but I get handed a few good lines.

Me: "So, how does it feel knowing you're about to die?"

Joey: "Warden, in 5 minutes my pain will be over. But you'll have to live with the knowledge that you sent an honest man to die."

Me: "Wow, that was really good."

Joey: "Really?"

Me: "Yeah! Chandler, you're up."

Chandler: "Ok. So, what do you want from me, Damone, huh?"

Joey: "I just wanna go to my cell. 'Cause in my cell, I can smoke."

Chandler: "Smoke away."

Joey takes out a pack of cigarettes and a lighter. He fumbles and drops the lighter, but then he lights a cigarette, takes a drag, and coughs.

Chandler: "I think this is why Damone smokes in his cell alone."

Joey: "What?"

Chandler: "Relax your hand. Let your wrist go."

Joey lets his hand go limp.

Chandler: "Not so much. Now, try taking a puff."

Joey attempts a puff, but slightly winces.

Chandler: "Alright, give it to me."

Me: "Absolutely not!"

Joey: "She's right. I am not giving you a cigarette."

Chandler: "It's fine, it's fine. Look, do you wanna get this part, or not?"

Joey turns to me for confirmation, and I nod in relent. Joey hands Chandler a cigarette, who keeps all of his focus on said cigarette.

Chandler: "Don't think of it as a cigarette. Think of it as the thing that's been missing from your hand. When you're holding it, you feel right. You feel complete."

Me: "Y'miss it?"

Chandler: "Nah, not so much."

I scoff in disbelief, and Joey sends me a smirk."

Chandler: "Alright, now we smoke.-*takes a puff*-Oh, my God."

Joey: "Chandler, give me that."

Chandler runs as Joey gives chase through the kitchen.

Chandler: "No, no, you've got your options. You can smoke it like this."

Me: "Chandler!"

Chandler: "Or you can hold it in your mouth and smoke it like this."

Joey: "Chandler, give me the cigarette."

Finally, Chandler hands Joey the cigarette.

Joey: "Thank you. Ok, how's this?"

Joey takes a puff and doesn't cough this time.

Chandler: "That's not bad. All right, now when you're finished it's really cool if you flick it. Just not in here."

Maybe we can all save ourselves a relapse of what he put us, and himself, through the last time he quit smoking.

TO BE CONTINUED