OH! DARLING | joey tribbiani

four

"95, 96, 97. See, I told you," Joey turned to Chandler as they walked through the doors of Central Perk, Quinn following behind them and laughing to herself about the two boys. "Less than a hundred steps from our place to here."

"You got way too much free time," Chandler told his roommate, patting him on the arm before the trio joined Ross, Phoebe and Monica at their usual spot.

"Heyyy, there's the birthday boy!" Joey greeted his friend, jumping over the couch and settling next to him. "Ross, check it out. Hockey tickets, Rangers Penguins tonight at the Garden and we're taking you."

"Happy birthday pal!" Chandler added.

"We love you man," Joey kissed his cheek.

Ross chuckled, holding the tickets in his hand. "That's funny, my birthday was seven months ago."

"So?"

"So, I'm guessing you had an extra ticket and Quinn couldn't go, huh?"

"Well, aren't we Mister The-glass-is-half-empty?" Chandler said, their scheme uncovered.

"Colin is coming back from the bookseller conference today and is spending the night with me," Quinn admitted, smiling to herself at the thought of seeing her boyfriend again after four days spent apart. "But I told them they should've gotten you a ticket in the first place so we could've gotten to the game the four of us together," she added, pointing an accusing finger to Joey and Chandler.

"Oh my God, oh... Is today the 20th, October 20th?" Ross asked as he looked at the tickets, his mood getting even more depressed.

"I was hoping you wouldn't remember," Monica told him with pity.

"What's wrong with the 20th?" Joey looked at the brunette, clueless of what was going on. To be fair, Quinn was as oblivious as him.

"Eleven days before Halloween... all the good costumes are gone?" Chandler guessed.

Ross sighed and admitted to his friends. "Today's the day Carol and I first... consummated our... physical relationship. With sex." He added the last part for Joey, who nodded in understanding.

"You know what? I'd better pass on the game," Ross said after a moment of silence where his friends digested the news and he threw the tickets back to Joey. "I think I'm just gonna go home and think about my ex-wife and her lesbian lover."

"To hell with hockey, let's all do that!" Joey  got up and he and Chandler followed after their friend who was making his way towards the door.

"Come on Ross!" Chandler caught up with him. "You, me, Joey, ice, guys night out. Come on! What do you say, big guy? Huh? Huh? Huh?"

Ross looked at his friend who was faking throwing punches to his stomach. "What are you doing?"

"I have no idea," Chandler admitted.

"Come on Ross," Joey whined.

Quinn turned around from where she was sitting on the couch and folded her arms over the backrest before addressing her friend. "You know they won't stop until you say yes."

"Alright, alright. Maybe it will take my mind off it," Ross finally agreed. "You promise to buy me a big foam finger?" He asked the boys.

"You got it!"

"Alright."

At this moment, Rachel came running out of the back store with an envelope in her hand. "Look, look, look, look! My first paycheck!" She happily sang.

Her friends cheered her on and the boys came to stand behind the couch. Joey rested his hands on Quinn's shoulders and gave her a gentle squeeze. The redhead turned her head to look at who was behind her and gave a friendly smile at Joey.