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"i talked to jill and amy, neither of them can come," monica informed the group as they (mostly she) planned ella's birthday party. "okay, uhm so, i still have to invite dillon and emma and shannon cooper," monica read down the rest of the guest list. "woah, woah, woah, uh, no shannon cooper," joey immediately objected. "why not her?" phoebe furrowed her eyebrows at him. "cause she uh, she steals stuff," joey nervously made up. "or maybe she doesn't steal stuff and joey just slept with her and never called her back," chandler revealed the more awful truth. suddenly ella and rachel entered through the central perk doors clearly upset. "hi honey, how did it go?" ross quickly asked rachel, ella frustratedly going over to sit with chandler. "it was the graduation from hell," rachel scoffed as she tied her apron around her waist. "you know, my cousin went to hell on a football scholarship," chandler tried to lighten the mood but, all he got was a slight nudge from ella. "today was supposed to be full of joy. jill finally graduated from college after no one thought she would. really shows what a girl from long island would do for a celiac," ella prepared the friends for the story of disaster. "so what happened?" "our parents happened. all they had to do was sit in the same stadium, smile proudly, and not talk about the divorce. but no, they got into a huge fight in the middle of the commencement address. bishop tutu actually had to stop and shush them. but you know what, you know what the good news is? i get to serve coffee for the next 8 hours," rachel sarcastically smiled to the group as she made her way behind the counter. ella soon got up to go to the restroom leaving the five friends alone once again. "okay, so i guess we don't invite their parents," phoebe quickly added. "well, how bout just their mom?" monica cringed in her seat. "why their mom?" chandler raised an eyebrow at mon. "cause i already invited her," monica clenched her teeth. "ooh, ooh, did you ask stacy roth?" phoebe thought aloud. "oh no, can't invite her. she also steals..."
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"awe, that was such a good time," ella gave rachel a warm smile as the two stood in the apartment building's hallway. "happy birthday ellie," rachel playfully teased going in for a hug. "no one but dad calls me that," ella seriously told her pulling out of the hug before rachel swiftly opened the door behind her revealing the surprise party waiting for them. "surprise!" her mom and (most of) her friends jumped up and celebrated. "oh my god, monica! and mom! oh my–just thank you," ella looked around the room, hugging anyone that came up to her. "happy birthday sweetie," mrs. green kissed the top of ella's forehead. "what a surprise!" ella smiled brightly as she turned back to hug rachel. "really?" rachel hugged her lovingly. "no i knew," ella mumbled, still keeping a smile on her face. "of course you did," rachel kept a fake smile as they pulled apart. "okay, everybody, there's food and drinks on the table. go across the hall," monica pushed the sisters out the door. "what?" "yeah, what?" "right now, go to your apartment, just go," monica finally fully pushed them out and closed the door in their face. the two confusedly walked over to the other apartment. as soon as rachel opened the door, another 'surprise!' was yelled at the two. "happy birthday ellie!" dr. green immediately hugged ella. "daddy!" ella nervously hugged him back. the two pulled away and all ella could do was silently 'oh no' through her teeth so only rachel could hear. ✧ "both? both of them are here?!" ella freaked out to her friends. "well, we could count again," chandler tried to lighten the mood but all it did was make ella more anxious. "i cant believe this is happening," was all ella could push out while her mind was racing. "you know what, this is ridiculous, okay. this is your birthday, this is your party. i say we just put 'em all together and if they can't deal with it, who cares," ross tried to pitch a solution. "i do!" both green sisters nervously let out. "that's who!" ross tried to backtrack. "are you gonna be okay?" chandler put his hand on ella's cheek in attempts to calm her. "no, but i'll figure it out. plus i'll get double parties and double the cakes," ella started calming down. "well, actually just one birthday flan," chandler broke the news to her. "what?" ella confusedly squinted him. "it's a traditional mexican custard dessert–look talk to monica, she's on the food committee," chandler walked away into the party.
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ella then spent the rest of her birthday going from apartment to apartment with rachel to occupy their parents. "i'll meet you in there, i need a break," ella made her way to the hallway step and rachel walked into the boy's apartment. chandler then walked out the apartment into the hallway, spotting ella. "i saw you didn't come to distract your dad with rachel. how you holdin' up there, tiger? oh, sorry, when my parents were getting divorced i got a lot of tigers. got a lot of champs, chiefs, sports, i even got a governor," chandler tried his best to comfort her. "this is how it's gonna be, isn't it? my dad on one side, my mom other other. all our holidays, gatherings, just everything. how did you get through this?" ella looked to chandler, her eyes getting glossier by the second. "well, i relied on a carefully regimented program of denial and, and wetting the bed," chandler was really trying his best to be helpful, but ella just wasn't her usual self that would just giggle and play along. "i just listened to them bitch about each other for hours and all i could think about was the fourth of july." "because it reminded you of the way our forefathers used to bitch at each other?" chandler genuinely asked, confused as to how any of it correlated. "it's a thing that we would go out on our dad's boat and watch the fireworks every year. everyone had their own parts. mom hated it because the air would make her hair all big. jill would be throwing up on the side. amy–would just be amy. and then rachel and i would usually just talk the entire time, of course making dad yell at us for not helping him out–but then when we did he would scream at us for doing it wrong. but when the fireworks would start, everyone would just shut up. and it was always so cold, yet no one ever thought to bring another blanket. and now it's just..." ella poured out until she just let the tears run down her face. "i know," chandler softly went in for a hug and comforted her, her grabbing tightly onto him. after a few minutes of ella practically weeping, she finally pulled it together enough to make out words. "thanks for listening to me and i'm sorry for putting this on you–" ella began to ramble before chandler cut her off. "hey, hey. i'm not going anywhere. your problems are my problems too," chandler went back in to hug her ten times tighter. "your mom wants to say goodbye," monica poked her head out the door to the two. "okay," ella wiped her tears and tucked her hair away from her face. "happy birthday sweetie," mrs. green gave ella one last hug and kiss on the cheek. after a bunch of almost running-into-each-others between the greens, joey finally took it upon himself to kiss mrs. green so dr. green could peacefully say his goodbyes. "well, okay, you take care," joey nonchalantly pulled out of the kiss, mrs. green still in a haze. "oh, you kids. well, this is the best party i've been to in years," mrs. green blushed and caressed joey's cheek. "thank you," monica loudly and matter-of-factly yelled out.
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"okay everybody, it's time for flan," monica happily placed candles in the spanish dessert. "yup, get ready for the gelatinous fun," chandler sarcastically cheered. "kinda looks like that stuff you get when you get a bad infection," joey carefully poked the cake. "okay that's enough," monica tried to cut the negativity about her dish short. "okay ella, make a special flan wish," phoebe positively smiled at her. "okay i got it," ella blew out the candles but, a volleyball came in hurling towards them, ruining the cake. "wow those almost never come true."
❁ ⇔ 1500ish words a/n: a few things about this chapter: i'm trying something out with the parenthesis to make the 'narrator' a little more human or in-tune with the tone of the show, i know the 'jill just graduating' portion of the chapter messes up the fact that ella is the youngest but i couldn't be bothered to change it, and im hoping to push out at least one or two more chapters before i go back to school :)
