Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
❁
"why are you all standing here, staring at the door?" joey raised an eyebrow at phoebe, monica, chandler, and ella as they all stood around the purple door. "well, rachel finally realized how she really felt about ross and is meeting him at the airport. she'd ideally be having her big movie kiss as we speak," ella practically squealed with monica as the two girls cheered. "i thought they cancelled the trip?" joey popped an eyebrow back at the green. "we're not her lawyers tribbiani!" monica joked to stop the grilling. "sorry sorry," joey threw his hands up in surrender when rachel suddenly bursted through the door, looking as though she had just finished running a marathon. "airport, airport. ross, not alone, julie, arm around her. cramp, cramp," rachel attempted to explain the last hour to her friends while trying to catch her breath. "okay, i think she's trying to tell us something. quick, get the verbs," chandler jokingly turned to all of his friends. "you, you, you were the one who said he liked me," rachel breathlessly went in to hit chandler's chest. "you–you slowpokes!" rachel quickly changed her tone as ross and a mystery woman stepped into the apartment. julie and the gang continued to introduce themselves and talk about ross and julie's blooming relationship, rachel hating every second of it.
❁
ella laid soaking in her bath while crowded house's 'don't dream it's over' played over the radio and her glass of wine sat on the corner of the tub. suddenly, there was a light knock on the door. "can i come in?" chandler asked in a sing-songy voice. "of course," ella smiled brightly as the door slowly opened and chandler started unbuttoning his shirt. "please tell rachel that ross and julie getting together isn't my fault," chandler pleaded ella as he started removing his pants. "i'm sorry that she's acting like that but, she does kinda have a point," ella covered her eyes as chandler undressed. the two hadn't truly discussed 'what they were' since rachel's birthday, they just knew the situation made them a lot closer and they were just riding it out. "okay, maybe i strongly advocated for him to give up on any hope of dating rachel; but i cant even order a decaf without her yelling at me," chandler removed his boxers and started getting in the bath, ella softly giggling at the childishness of the situation. "rach can be so stubborn when she's falling for someone," ella uncovered and rolled her eyes as chandler settled into the bath. "luckily, you aren't the same way," chandler gave ella puppy dog eyes as he obliviously flirted, quickly catching himself overthinking if he'd overstepped a boundary. "you think you're cute, don't you?" ella squinted her eyes and crinkled her nose at the bing. chandler's anxiety calmed down as the green played along and he swiftly continued. "well you certainly do," chandler squinted his eyes and crinkled his nose back. ella lopsidedly smiled at chandler and then proceeded to dip her hands into the water and spread bubbles from the bath onto his cheeks. "can you two lovebirds get out of there?" joey pounded on the door, startling the two from the other side of the door. ella proceeded to pick her glass of wine up playfully ignoring the tribbiani. "screw you joey, let us be happy," ella swirled around her wine and smirked as she looked down at the moving liquid, taking just a few more sips. chandler swiftly took the glass out of her hand, placing it back on the side of the bath and suddenly jumped on top of ella and crashed his lips onto hers. joey heard the water splashing around and ella's giggles from the other side of the door and eventually just gave up.
❁
"hello? oh, hi. yeah, hold on a second. ross, it's julie, for you," joey tossed the phone to ross, all the friends but chandler hanging out in the apartment. "hi. anybody know a good tailor?" chandler walked into the apartment to see all of his friends sitting around. "need some clothes altered?" joey looked up at chandler. "no, no, i'm just looking for a man to draw on me with chalk," chandler sarcastically smiled back. the two boys went back and forth for a few seconds until rachel sadly came over to the dining table. "okay, okay, okay. how did this happen to me? how did this happen to me? a week ago, two weeks ago, i was fine. ross was just ross, just this guy. now he's ross, oh, this really great guy that i can't have," rachel frustratedly whined to her friends. "sweetie, i wanted you to have him too," monica pushed rachel's loose hair out of her face. "we all did," ella comfortingly placed her hand over rachel's. "i know you guys did. i'm just gonna deal with it, i'm just gonna deal with it. i gotta get out of here," rachel decided to leave after hearing ross make kissing noises at the phone as he passed the group. "okay, i don't care what you guys say, something's bothering her."
❁
"yo, paisan! can i talk to you for a sec? your tailor is a very bad man!" chandler bursted into the apartment yelling, interrupting rachel's pep talk from ella and joey. "what the hell happened?" ella stayed sat on the coffee table looking up at chandler. "frankie? what're you talking about?" joey furrowed his eyebrows and walked over to chandler in disbelief. "hey, what's goin' on?" ross pat chandler on the shoulder, chandler flinching at his touch. "joey's tailor...took advantage of me," chandler hesitantly admitted. "what?" "no way. i've been going to the guy for 12 years," joey rolled his eyes defending the tailor. "oh come on! he said he was going to do my inseam, and he ran his hand up my leg, and then, there was definite...cupping," chandler bit his lip explaining. "you sure you're not mixing the tailor up with ella?" joey raised an eyebrow as chandler and ella facepalmed and the rest of the group turned their heads to look at the embarrassed blonde. "no!" chandler yelled at joey as he took his hand off of his face. "that's how they do pants! first they go up one side, they move it over, then they go up the other side, they move it back, and then they do the rear. what? ross, ross, would you tell him? isn't that how they measure pants?" joey tried to persuade ross. "yes, yes it is. in prison! whats the matter with you?" ross scolded joey. "what? that's not? oh my god," realization finally hit joey.
❁
while ella folded laundry in her living room, she heard a nervous knock on her door. she dropped her shirt back into the basket and sped-walked to the door. ella opened the door to reveal a clearly upset rachel. rachel immediately rushed in to hug ella and cried into her sister's shoulder for about a minute. "he's in love. there's no way i can be with him now," rachel backed out of the hug to be face to face with ella as tears streamed down her cheeks. "rachel," ella started to wipe her sister's tears away. "you are beautiful, kind, strong, and any guy would be lucky to have you. ross is throwing away his best chance at happiness by dating julie," ella comforted her sister as her heart broke to see her like that. rachel's breathing slowly went back to normal as she started to calm down. "i love you," rachel finally looked up at her sister with a soft smile. "i love you too, and please don't let a guy make you cry like this. you guys are gonna happen, you'll happen," ella returned a soft smile and went in to hug rachel again. "well, i can't make any promises, but i'll try," rachel wiped her final tears away giving ella the smallest smile.
❁ ⇔ 1341 words a/n: its summer again so that means ill actually have some time to keep rewriting! this chapter still isn't the best but it has changed a lot. stay hydrated xoxo
