OH! DARLING | joey tribbiani

twenty three

"That commercial always makes me so sad," Ross said, referring to the Monkeyshine beer commercial that just finished playing on the television.

"Yeah, but then the guy opens his beer and those girls run at him, so everything seems to work out okay," Joey reassured him.

"Joey sweetie, that's not why," Quinn giggled at him as she played with his hair from where she sat on the arm of the armchair Joey was sitting on.

"I meant, because the monkey in it reminds me of Marcel," Ross clarified.

"I can see that," Phoebe agreed with him, making her way to the living room with a big bowl of chips in hand. "'Cause they both have those big, brown eyes and, you know, the little pouty chin."

"And the fact that they're both monkeys," Monica pointed out in an obvious way.

"Sometimes I wonder if I did the right thing, you know, giving him away," Ross revealed.

"Well Ross, you had to," Rachel said, her eyes never leaving the magazine she was reading. "I mean, he was humping everything in sight. I have a Malibu Barbie who will no longer be wearing white to her wedding."

"Not to mention, monkeys are not meant to be domestic animals living in small, New York City apartments," Quinn reminded Ross.

"Yeah," he agreed wistfully. "Remember when, sometimes, he'd borrow your hat and-and when you got it back there'd be little monkey raisins in it?"

"Well sure, when he did it, it was funny. When I did it to my boss' hat... all of a sudden, I had this big "attitude problem"," Chandler joked.

"I sure don't miss the monkey poop," Quinn commented, focusing on the way her fingers threaded through Joey's hair.

__________

Quinn was hanging at Central Perk with her friends after a tiring day at work, Phoebe was alternating between massaging her scalp and braiding her long hair, when Joey walked in all excited.

"Hey! Hey! Check it out, guess what I got!"

"Rhythm?" Chandler asked, earning a glare from his roommate.

"No, my first fan mail."

"Aw that's nice," Quinn said as Monica grabbed the letter out of his hands.

"Dear Dr. Ramoray, know that I love you and would do anything to have you. Your not-so-secret admirer, Erika Ford," Monica read out. "Oh wait. PS, enclosed please find fourteen of my eyelashes."

Quinn's face scrunched up in distaste.

"You know, in crazy world, that means you're married," Rachel joked.

"This wasn't addressed to Days Of Our Lives, this came to your apartment," Monica informed him. "There's no stamp on it, this woman was in our building."

"Oh my God. I got my very own stalker!" Joey cried in joy.

"Not something to be proud of Joe," Quinn told him.

Ross walked in then, greeting his friends as he joined them.

"Oh, where are you off to, Traveling Jake?" Phoebe asked after noticing the big bag Ross was carrying with him.

"Well, there's this palaeontology conference in LA so I figured I'd go and then drive down to the zoo and surprise Marcel," he explained.

"You know, I think he will be surprised..." Chandler started saying, "until he realises he's a monkey and uh, you know, is incapable of that emotion."

"Oh! Phoebe, that really cute guy is here again," Rachel subtly informed her friend upon seeing a new customer walk in the coffee house.

"Oh? Oh, okay. So everyone pretend like I'm telling you a story, okay? And it's really funny, so everyone just laugh. Now!" Phoebe ordered them and they all started laughing as the man approached the group. The blonde greeted him as she got up to get ready for her set and her friends spied on their conversation as the man, named Rob, asked her to sing for children in the city's libraries.