F•R•I•E•N•D•S - 2nd generation

The One With the Bet

"No, you can't." Emma said.
"Yes, I can." Jack said.
"C'mon, since we got in here you've already flirted with five different woman. You can't stay a day without doing it."
"Oh, yes I can, mama. You are the one who can't spend a day with baggy pants, an old sweater and sneakers. Always so worried about what you're wearing."
"I totally could spend a day wearing only your baggy clothes."
"No, you couldn't."
"Yes, I could."
"Let's make a bet, then." Jack said.
"Okay. You can't flirt with anyone the whole entire day."
"And you have to let me pick your clothes."
"Deal. If I win, I want Mr. Frog-froggy!"
"No, you wouldn't."
"Yes, I would and I just did."
"What is Mr. Frog-froggy?" Scott asked.
"When we were kids, we went to this theme park and Uncle Ross offered to pay a round for us to play in one of the games. It was one of those that you have the water gun and your puppet has to reach the top first. Emma was winning. But then..." Emma interrupted Erica.
"Jack got jealous and pushed my arm, so I missed the target and he won!"
"No, I didn't, I just won it! Fair and square."
"Oh, yeah. Like if anyone ever believed that."
"On this game, he got a stuffed frog. Mr. Frog-froggy. Emma says that it should be hers."
"It should! It's my prize!"
"Ok, if you wanna play low." Jack said. "If I win you can't have sex for a year."
"Noooooo!"
"Yessss!"
"Four months."
"Deal."
Emma stared at him for a second.
"Deal."
They shook hands.
"Uhhh that'll be good." Alison said.
"Gimme your clothes. And stop starring at the blond on the corner."
"Hey, you said flirting. Not staring."
"I need your clothes."
"Come, we'll get you some at my house."
They left the Starbucks.
"Bet fifty bucks that neither of them will do it." James said.
"Sorry, not in." Erica said.
"Yeah, I play to win, not to lose." Alison said.
"Sorry, buddy, I might be stupid but I'm not a rock." Scott finalized.
**
Emma got in her apartment.
"Hey. Cute outfit." Scott said when she got in. "Into boyfriend style too much, though."
"So funny, Scott."
"Hey, Ems."
"Hi, James. Don't you guys think it's weird to hang out at my house when I'm not in it?"
"Uh, no." They answered together looking at the TV.
"So, Ems, I was wondering..." James said getting up. "Would you be up to..."
Someone knocked at the door.
"Oh, just a sec, honey."
Emma opened the door.
"Hey." David said smiling. "Wanna go grab a bite for lunch?"
"Not wearing this."
"I can wait. I don't mind."
"Oh, I can't change. I made a bet."
"Oh." He said smiling. "On that case, I could just order Chinese and we eat it in my apartment."
"Let me see, I love Chinese, no one around, we can do lots of these." She said kissing him. "Yeah, I'm in."
"Let's go, then."
"Oh, wait. What were you saying, James?"
"Nothing, nothing. It can wait."
"Ok, bye you, guys."
"Bye."
They left the apartment. James sat back in the couch by Scott.
"Quick question: how long will we pretend that nothing is happening in here?"
"What do you mean?"
"You like Emma."
"No, I don't. Why is everyone assuming this?"
"Ha! Saying that it's obvious is being nice about it." James stared at him. "Okay, Jack might have told me. Why don't you ask her out? You are you. You look like the kinda Of guy that is not scared of these stuff."
"I know. It's just... I guess it's kinda late now. She's seeing that David guy."
"Yeah. Uh! Uh!"
"What?"
"Fast and Furious five. That's a good movie."
The phone rang. James got it.
"Hello? Hum... she's not here. Can I take a message?... this is him, actually. What?... sure I can. At lunch... oh, give me a second... ok, you can say it. Ok. Ok. I'll be there. Thanks."
"What was that?" Scott asked when James hung up.
"It was my lawyer. He wants to see me tomorrow at lunch. He said it was something important."
"Why did he call Emma and Erica?"
"They're my emergency contact. The only people that I know the number to be honest."
"What about your parents? And me?"
"Uh, Scott, you're always here. And about my parents, we were best friends in college for four years, did you ever meet my parents?"
"Well... no."
"Yeah, it's because I don't have them."
"What? Really? How didn't I know that?"
"Because it never came up. My mom died when I was sixteen and my dad left us when I was five. Never came back."
"I'm sorry, man."
"Don't be. I'm fine. The lawyer said it was something about my dad."
"Uh, that seems big."
"Yeah. It does."
"You know, if you need anything, I'm here."
"Thanks, man."
**
"Are you, ok?" Erica asked while paying the restaurant's check.
"Yeah..." Jack said smiling weirdly.
"Are you sure?"
"No. I'm not ok. This is harder than I thought."
"Not flirting?"
"Yes. Not flirting. There are so many beautiful woman out here. Why cannot I flirt with them?"
"Because you made a bet."
"Yeah. I made a bet. A stupid bet! Look, I am 25 years old. I'm probably half way through life."
"Oh, yeah. Of course."
"I need to enjoy it the most. Can't lose time."
"You'll lose the bet."
"I need to contain myself. Let's go sweet innocent little sister, let's leave this sinners place."
"You know that we're twins."
"But mom said I came out first. So I'm the oldest."
"For a few minutes."
"Still the oldest."
"Ok, I'm not gonna argue this."
"Oh my god, woman, never learned anything from our family? You need to be a little more competitive."
She rolled her eyes.
**
"Uhh, Ali! Ali! You won't believe!" Erica said getting into the apartment.
"Jack got a real job?" She asked smiling.
"Hey! Personal trainer is a respectful job."
"Oh, sure. Sure."
"This really cute guy asked for my phone number at the restaurant."
"Yay. That's great."
"Great for you, that wasn't tortured with the vision of Erica trying to flirt with someone."
"Hey! It wasn't that bad."
"Talk for yourself, sister."
"C'mon, Jack, cut it out."
"Oh, I will cut my intestines out."
"He asked for my phone number. That's what matters."
"No, what matters is the call after that. If he'll make it or not."
"He will. You know what? You're just sad because you can't flirt today."
"If you'd like to believe so. I gotta eat."
He went on the fridge's direction.
"So, before you guys got here, I was watching this super cool movie where the main character's mom and brothers are brutally murdered by the same killer that leaves him with a deficiency when he's just a baby and he lives off with his dad. Then, one day, he's kidnapped and has to pass through a bunch of stuff to finally meet up with his dad again." Alison said.
"That sounds like a good movie. What is it called?" Jack asked looking at Alison.
"Finding Nemo."
"Oh, hey you, guys." Emma said getting back to the apartment. "Any pretty girls on your lunch, Jack?"
"Any public places in yours, Emma?"
"Em, Em! I may have gotten a date."
"Oh, honey, that's great. Now, between us, did Jack flirt with anyone?"
"No. But he's dying."
"Great."
Emma went up to Jack. He turned to her with an open ketchup bottle and splashed on her hoodie.
"What...?"
"Oh, I'm sorry, Em."
"It's ok, I'll just get another one of your hoodies."
"Uh, sorry, but no."
"What do you mean?"
"I choose your clothes. You have to keep these."
"But they're dirty."
"I know... does this bother you?"
"Oh, no. Not really. David doesn't care. And well he's the one who I'm kissing. The one who I'm f-l-i-r-t-i-n-g with."
"You're a monster."
"I know." Emma said smiling.
"It's almost five and I won't go out again. There's no one to flirt in here."
"Hey." Alison said.
"How..." Jack started smiling but then he stoped smiling and continued. "is the weather?"
"Oh, well, it's cold."
"Thank you, Ali."
"No problem." She answered smiling and turned back to the TV.
"What do you mean you're not going out anymore?" Emma asked.
"I'm only going out when you go out."
"I'm not going out."
"Then, I'm not too."
"You're getting better at this."
"I know. I know." He said smiling.
"This way, I'm going down to Starbucks. Erica, come with me so my horrible clothes don't seem so horrible. Are you coming, Jack?"
"Yes." He said making a sad face.
"I'm gonna finish this movie." Alison said.
They left the apartment.
**
"Oh, Jack, I think that the brunette over there has an eye on you."
"Uhh..." he said looking at her. He got back together and looked at Emma. "Maybe, but have a look at her boots."
"Uhh..."
"Is it midnight already?" Jack asked looking at Erica.
"It's five in the afternoon." She answered. "Just how it was five seconds ago."
"I can't take this." He said sliding down his seat.
"Then, give up!" Emma said.
"No! I can't lose Mr. Frog-froggy for you!"
"Why not?"
"Give up you!"
"No! I can't lose four months of sex for you!"
"Why... I see your point. But I'm not losing."
"Neither am I."
"Fine."
"Fine!"
"This will be a long afternoon." Erica said.
**
"Hey... oh, hi, Ali. Where's everyone?" James asked when he got in and Scott came right behind him.
"They went to Starbucks." She said.
"My lawyer called earlier about my dad."
"Your dad? Are you ok?"
"Yeah, I'm fine."
"Wait, she knew about your dad?" Scott asked.
"Yeah."
"Yeah, he told me. Very sad."
"We know her for only a week. I was your best friend during four years. How did she know this and I didn't?"
"I just have different conversations with her. Oh, yeah. How's your stepdad number two, Ali?"
"He's good. He's good. He just re-married with this Lebanese girl."
"You have a stepdad? Since when?"
"Since I was three. I've had like seven different stepdads."
"Why don't you guys talk about your families with me?"
"I guess you never gave to us a moment to say anything." Alison said.
"What? Nooo. I always give moments. I'm giving one right now, see? Tell me about your families." Scott said sitting on the couch by Alison.
"Ok, so my dad lives in Oklahoma and he has another daughter, Melanie. She's twelve, I think. My mom, she has me and my other sister Fiona with her first husband, my dad. Then, with Bob, her second husband, she has the twins Klaus and Kyle. With her third husband, Henry, she has Gabriel. And with her fourth husband, Wallace, she has Helen. With her three last husbands, Dylan, Arthur, and Julian, she doesn't have children, probably because she's too old."
"Wow! That's a huge ass family. How do the holidays work out at your house?"
"We don't do holidays."
"What? Why?"
"Because husband number one and four are catholic, husband number two and five are Jewish, husband number three is atheist, husband six is Hindu and husband number seven is Buddhist. So my mom just abolished holidays in our house since we were born."
"Where do you go on Christmas, then?" Scott asked surprised.
"Work. Sometimes. Animals don't have time to get sick and no one wants to help them on Christmas."
"Anyways," James started. "I think I'm gonna go to the coffee house. Do you guys wanna come?"
"Sure." Alison said.
They left the apartment.
**
"Hey, guys." Alison said sitting between Erica and Emma.
"Hi, honey." Emma answered.
"You're still into that bet thing?" James asked sitting on Emma's other side.
"Yes." Emma and Jack answered fast.
"Lasting longer than I expected. Anyways, I'm gonna go grab a cup of coffee. You, guys, want anything?"
"I'm good, thanks."
"Yeah."
James got up and went on the balcony's direction.
"I want a cup of coffee, please."
"Oh, hi, honey." James heard Emma saying. He turned around.
David arrived at the coffee house. Emma got up and kissed him. James stared at them for a second.
"Do I know you?"
James turned and saw the red-headed girl. The girl whose apartment was in front of Emma's. Megan.
"No, I don't think so." He answered smiling and turning to face her. "But I'd like for you to."
She smiled back at him.
"You know, my apartment is right across the street. What do you think of me getting to know you over there?"
"I'd love that."
They left the coffee house.
**
"Hey, guys, where did James go?" Emma asked.
"Hum, I didn't see him leaving. He went to the balcony and never came back." Scott said.
"I can't take this anymore!" Jack screamed and got up going on the brunette's direction. "Nice boobs. I mean boots! Boots! I mean boots!"
The girl looked disgusted at him. He went back to where the others were.
"Uhh, hello Mr. Frog-froggy." Emma said smiling.
"Congratulations, you won. And it wasn't even a good flirt."
"Too bad."
"Em, what is that?" Erica asked.
"What?"
"It's that cute purple top that I asked you the other day!"
"No, it's not! Where?"
"Yes, it is. Under your hoodie." Erica pulled Emma's hoodie a little bit up and everyone was able to see the top under it.
"Ok! Ok! Yeah, I'm wearing the top! But no one can see it so I'm not breaking the bet."
"Actually," Jack said. "the bet was that I was gonna pick what you had to wear. And I don't remember picking this. You lost!"
"But you lost first!"
"You had the top longer!"
"But you lost the bet too!"
"In this case, we both lost!"
"Let's just forget about Mr. Frog-froggy and the four months and call it even?"
"Deal!"
"Deal!"
They both got up and left the Starbucks.
**
"Hey, guys." James said.
"Where have you been?" Scott asked.
"You know," he answered smiling. "around."
"Cut it out, James. Tell us." Erica said.
"You guys remember Megan, right?"
"Megan?" Erica and Alison asked confused.
"The porn star!" Scott said.
"Yeah, that one. So I met her at the balcony."
"And..."
"I was in her apartment."
"Score!" Scott almost screamed. He and James high-fived. "How is it? With a porn star, is it better?"
"Well, let's just say that she has a lot of experience."
"Are you seeing her again?" Alison asked.
"No." James said laughing. "It was just a one time thing. Not ready for a relationship right now."
"Hum."
"Hey, everyone. I'm back." Emma said sitting between James and Alison. She was wearing her own clothes this time.
"Hi, Ems." James said.
"Ohh, I'm so tired. And only by thinking that tomorrow is Monday I'm dying." Emma said laying her head on James' shoulder.
James stared at her for a moment.
"Yeah, me too, Ems." He said still looking at her.
"Maybe it's not that you're not ready for a relationship." Scott said and everyone looked at him. "Maybe it's just that she's not the right person for you to have one."