The One Where Emma Turns 18

2

"Hey Pheebs!" Mum greeted her.
"Hey, Rach. And hey, birthday girl!" Phoebe smiled, pinching my nose.
"Pheebs, she's eighteen today, not eight." Dad scolded.
"I know but... I still see you as a little girl, Emma. It's crazy. It does not feel like eighteen years ago that we brought you home from the hospital as this cute little newborn..." Phoebe reminisced. "And then your mum woke you up and you cried for the whole day and drove me to the brink of insanity."
My mum laughed. "Do you remember that? I really should've followed your advice, shouldn't I?"
Phoebe nodded. "I did tell you."

"Here's your present." Mike handed me a wrapped present in a bag.
Phoebe clapped and jumped up and down slightly on the spot. "Ooh, you'll love it. I'm so excited."
I tore open the paper.
"A sewing machine!" I gasped, happily.
"Yeah! I remembered you saying that you were trying out upcycling vintage clothes and stuff, and I thought you'd like it."
"Like it? I love it!" I yelled and hugged Phoebe.
"Wow. You'll really be on your fashion designing path with that." My mum commented.

"What have you two been up to today?" Chandler asked Phoebe and Mike who were tucking into the birthday cake that Monica had made.
"Not a lot. We've got a new foster child moving in next week so we're just equipping the house a bit again." Mike told us.
"Oh, that's cool. Age? Gender?" Monica asked.
"Seven, I think." Mike said.
"And he's a boy. Originally from Africa." Phoebe raised her eyebrows in an impresses way and took another bite of cake.
"That's so exciting. I can't believe you just look after these vulnerable children and make their lives a bit better. It's really noble." Erica said in a serious way and Phoebe seemed to take it as a huge compliment.

"Knock, knock!" We heard Joey's voice as the door opened.
He burst in and lifted me up into a hug.
"Hey Joe!" I smiled, suffocated slightly in his arms.
Katie was behind him.
"Here's your present." She said in her charming voice and passed me a gift bag.
I looked inside and pulled out a sketchbook and professional looking pencils.
"Wow." I smiled.
"You can focus on your sketch designs more now. The pencils are supposed to be really good." Joey explained.
"I love it, Joe. And Katie. Thanks." I gave them both a hug.

"You've been spoiled today, haven't you?" My mum smiled at me, proud.
"Yeah, I have. I'm really happy."
"And with all of this stuff, you really are going to be an amazing fashion designer like your mum. I'm so proud of you both." Monica beamed at us both and we hugged her.
"Emma!" Katie called to get my attention. "When you're finished with your mushy conversation, can you teach me how to get as many Instagram followers as you have?"
"No!" Joey piped up from the other side of the room where he was speaking to Chandler. "No Instagram yet."
"But - Emma has it!" She cried.
"Well, ask me again in six years then." Joey ordered, and then ignored all her pleads.

"Em, your phone is ringing." Jack told me and I picked it up.
"It's the triplets!" I announced, and everyone slowly gathered around as I answered.
"Hey." Leslie, Chandler and Frank Jr we're suddenly on my screen and waving.
"Hi." I smiled.
"Hey." Everyone else chorused, trying to be visible on the screen.
"Happy birthday Emma!" Chandler yelled.
"Yeah, happy birthday Em." Frank Jr smiled.
We spoke for a few minutes. They asked me what I'd got and I told them.
"We better go anyway." Leslie said in her serious voice.
"Okay, cool."
"Wait, wait!" Chandler halted me before I could hang up. "Phoebe, are you still up for bringing us out drinking at the weekend?"
Phoebe leant over me to respond. "Definitely. I'll call you."
"Fantastic. See you soon." Chandler beamed.
I hung up.
Phoebe was still beaming. "I love being the cool, fun aunt."
"We did tell you you would be." Monica smiled at her happiness.

The whole gang of us sat around Monica's extravagant birthday cake, digging into it.
"Emma? Can you take some pictures of me doing some model poses?" Katie asked.
I smiled at how much of a diva she was, even at twelve. "Of course, after cake though."
"I've finished mine." She pointed out.
"Here, have some of mine." Joey suggested, pushing his plate over.

"I can't believe you're eighteen, Emma." Chandler mused. "It doesn't feel like long ago at all that it was your first birthday and I'd taught you to say your first word."
My mum chuckled to herself. "Do you guys remember the penis cake?"
The older gang laughed and all of the younger lot of us gasped. "Penis cake? For my first birthday?" I questioned.
"Your mum flipped." Phoebe laughed.
"But remember, Ross made it into a bunny." Monica said.
"Yeah. I did pretty well with it too." My dad remembered in admiration of his work.
"I can't believe that." I said.
Every one of the stories they'd told me made me think that they had such good times when they were younger.

"Hey, does anyone remember the unsuccessful video tape I tried to make on Emma's first birthday?" Dad asked.
"Yeah. I remember not wanting to make it." Chandler said.
"I wonder where it is. Do you have it?" My dad asked my mum.
"I think I might actually. I'll try and find it."