The One Where Emma Turns 18

3

I snapped a few pictures of Katie posing by the window while Joey stared on disapprovingly. She did look gorgeous though, and she was a complete show-stealer.

"I've found it." Dad came in with the video tape and spent five minutes attempting to link it up to the television before it eventually worked.

"Now Emma, I want to apologise for the unenthused attitude Monica and I had about your first birthday." Chandler said.
"Huh?" I asked, confused.
"You'll see. Just don't take it personally." He smirked.

Joey came up on the screen straight away, looking much younger.
"Hey Joey. Say something to Emma on her eighteenth birthday." My dad's voice sounded from behind the camera.
"Eighteen, huh?" Joey had said with a flirtatious look on his face.
"Joey!" I snapped.
"Hey, your dad shut the camera off, but I said it was for your future hot friends!" He justified.
"You're unbelievable." I rolled my eyes, but Katie was laughing.

Next up was my grandparents Jack and Judy who told a dreadfully embarrassing story of my father and the clip ended with my dad looking at the camera and saying in an unimpressed voice, "there's something you didn't know about your dad."
"And something I didn't need to know, either." I commented and everyone laughed.

The next clip was Joey, reading from a book called 'I'll love you forever'.
I smirked as we watched because his 'dramatic reading' made me realise just how much Katie took after his dad in the drama department.
"That was actually nice, Joe." I smiled.
My mum took a deep breath. "It still makes me emotional seventeen years on, you know?"
"It touched me." Monica said as well.
"Oh, please!" Phoebe scoffed. "He made it up on the spot! He forgot a present so he grabbed a random book and read it there and then!" She completely outed him.
"What?" My mum gasped.
Joey shrugged. "Yeah, that's kind of true."
Everyone laughed.

The next bit of the video was Phoebe singing a short bit of a song that made virtually no sense as she strummed the guitar.
Everyone chuckled to themselves when it was over.
"Hey, I still think it's better than Joey's 'reading'." She rolled her eyes.
"Oh, I think it was great, Pheebs." Erica supported her.

The next clip was of my grandparents Jack and Judy again.
"Hello Emma. Happy eighteen birthday." My grandma smiled from behind the screen.
"Right now that seems so far away. Seventeen years!" My grandfather spoke.
"You'll be all grown up by then, and we'll be - well, your grandfather and I might not be here."
"That's true. This message could be coming to you from beyond the grave, Emma."
"After all, my parents died very young." My grandmother said.
"And my cholesterol is off the charts!" My grandfather added.
And then my father had slammed the video camera shut.
We all had a nostalgic laugh.
"It's a shame they're not here." Erica smiled with an emotional look in her eyes.
"It is, isn't it?" Monica said, and her eyes filled with tears.
"Oh, mum." Erica and Jack stood up and headed over and cuddled her.
"They'd have been so proud of you now." She told the twins.
"And they'd have loved to be here for your birthday." My dad told me.

Next, Monica and Chandler came onto the screen.
"Remember kid, don't take it personally." Chandler reminded me.
"Hi Emma, it's the year twenty-twenty. Are you still enjoying your nap?"  Chandler asked in an unimpressed voice.
"We're Aunt Monica and Uncle Chandler, by the way. You may not recognise us because we haven't spoke to your parents in seventeen years." Monica had spoke.
"We used to be married. But then we missed a weekend away together, and things kind of unraveled. Because of you." Chandler finished their video clip was a sarcastic, "happy birthday."
"What was your problem?" I questioned, with a hint of amusement in my voice.
"We were supposed to be going away, but your parents insisted on keeping us at your 'party' until you woke up from your - what felt like a year long - nap." Chandler explained.
"But don't think we're too bad." Monica ordered. "Phoebe left for a massage client and Joey left for an audition as well."
I rolled my eyes. "At least you have all managed to keep your schedules free for my eighteenth."
"What are you talking about? I'm only here for those hot eighteen year old friends I was talking about earlier." Joey joked and my mum and I both threw cushions at him.

The video ended with a short clip of my parents attempting to wish me a happy birthday but being interrupted by loud shouting in the background.
"What was going on there?" Jack asked.
"Uh... racing Emma's toy animals, I think." Joey answered.

We all demolished the rest of Monica's birthday cake once the video has finished.
Erica and Jack messed around with my sewing machine, Katie had me set up my new professional camera for her to pose in front of, and Chandler and Joey played on the Xbox.

"Hey, sweetie." My mum got my attention. "We're all going to head to the restaurant in about an hour. Will Aaron be here by then?"
"Yeah. He will be."