Roxie Bing | she's the one

(1.2) The One With The Sonogram At The End

"What you guys don't understand is that kissing is as important as any part for us." Monica explained.
All of us were sat on our usual seats at the coffee house.
"Yeah, right." Joey scoffed before seeing everyone's serious expressions. "You serious?"
I rolled my eyes at his disbelief.
"Oh, yeah." Phoebe agreed.
"Everything you need to know is in that first kiss." Rachel told them, and I nodded in agreement.
"I think for us kissing is sort of an opening act." My brother explained. "It's like the stand-up comedian you have to sit through before Pink Floyd comes out."
"Yeah, and it's not that we don't like the comedian. It's just that that's not why we bought the ticket." Ross piped up.
"Well, word of advice: bring back the comedian. Because otherwise next time, you'll find yourself at home sitting and listening to that album alone." I told them and Rachel high-fived me. 
I watched Joey's confused face. He leant in towards Ross and asked, "are we still talking about sex?"

The following morning I walked into Monica and Rachel's apartment.
I was greeted by Monica shoving me out of the way and frantically polishing the door handle that I'd just held to close the door behind me.
"Oh, hello." I said sarcastically.

She quickly rushed over to the couch and began fluffing a pillow.
"She already fluffed that pillow." Phoebe pointed out. "Mon, you already - but it's fine." Phoebe's sentence was interrupted by Monica's glare.
"I just don't want to give them any more ammunition than they already have." Monica told me.
"Wait, what's going on? Why are you so twirly?" I wondered.
"My parents are coming." Monica filled me in before continuing to fluff another pillow.
"You don't see Ross getting all twirly before they come." Joey told her.
Monica let out a bitter chuckle. "That's because as far as my parents are concerned, Ross can do no wrong."

Rachel came out of her bedroom looking anxious and flustered.
"Has anybody seen my engagement ring?" She asked.
"Yeah, it's beautiful." Phoebe smiled naively.

"Oh God." Rachel repeated over and over again in a frenzied voice.
She walked to the sofa and immediately turned over the pillows that Monica had fluffed in search of the missing engagement ring.
"Don't touch them." I warned, but she was already flipping them around and digging in the sofa to find then ring.

Rachel continued to search as she ranted about how much she was dreading return the ring to her ex-fiancée.
"Easy, Rach. We'll find it. Won't we?" Monica glared at the rest of us, making us jump up.

Everyone scuttled around for a few seconds in a half-hearted attempt to look for the missing engagement ring.
"I had it this morning. And I know I had when I was in the kitchen with..." Rachel trailed off as she got to the counter.
"Dinah?" Chandler piped up.
"Oh, don't be mad." Rachel pleaded as she stared into the lasagna dish Monica had prepared in anticipation of her parents' arrival.
"You didn't! I gave you one job!" Monica snapped.
She grabbed the lasagna dish and held it above her head, desperately trying to locate the missing ring.
"Uh, Monica... you know that's not how you look for an engagement ring in a lasagna." Chandler said, with a mischievous grin on his face.
Monica placed the lasagna dish down. "I just can't do it."
"Boys." Chandler looked at Joey, Phoebe and I. "We're going in."

The four of us rooted with our bare hands in the lasagna dish, ignoring the knock on the door.
Monica went to answer it.

But then something startled me. It was Ross' voice at the door and he said, "Carol's pregnant."
The whole room stopped still and then Phoebe jumped, "I found it!"
She was holding the engagement ring above head proudly, clearly not hearing what Ross had said.
Joey and I put our one clean hand each on her shoulder to 'shush' her.

"How do you fit into this whole thing?" I asked him.
"Carol and Susan have said they want to be involved, but if I'm not comfortable with it, I don't have to be. Basically it's totally up to me." He explained.
"She is so great. I miss her." Phoebe made another untimely comment and Joey and I 'shushed' her again.
"What does she mean by 'involved'?" Monica questioned.
"Yeah. I mean, presumably the biggest part of your job is done." My brother commented and I shoved him.

Ross started talking about how Carol and Susan want him to go down to a sonogram but I zoned out when I caught Joey's attention.
He held a fork out to me and nodded towards the lasagna.
I shrugged and took it and sat down with him at the table and we started digging in.
After a few seconds, the whole gang turned to look at us and we paused.
"This is still ruined, right?" Joey confirmed.

"Your folks are really that bad, huh?" Joey asked Monica and Ross.
We were all sat in the coffee house later that evening.
"Well, you see, these people are pros. They know what they're doing. They take their time. They get the job done." Ross explained and Joey and I chuckled.
Ross kissed Monica on the head before excusing himself to the bathroom.

"I bet our parents are worse." I muttered, glancing at Chandler.
"I don't know much about your parents." Rachel said. "What's the problem?"
"Our dad is a drag queen and our mum is an erotic novelist." Chandler didn't even open his eyes as he explained while he lay back on the counter.
Everyone was a bit silent at Chandler's revelation about that strange part of our life.

"All right, you guys, I've kind of got to clean up now." Rachel urged us to leave.
We all stood up slowly and tiredly.

Everyone headed back off to their apartments.
Chandler and Monica walked ahead of Joey and I as we walked up our buildings stairs,

"So, have you changed your mind about that date?" He asked me with a smile.
I shook my head. "No. I don't know why you're expecting me to."
He chuckled. "You will."
"She will what?" Chandler asked Joey as he turned the key to our apartment.
"She will nothing." I jumped in and wandered off to my room, smirking at Joey as I went.

***

All seven of us sat gathered around Monica's lounge area, while Ross showed us the sonogram of the baby proudly.

"Isn't that amazing?" He asked.
Joey and I shot each other a confused glance.
"What are we supposed to be seeing here?" Joey questioned him.
Ross pointed out what we were supposed to be seeing and then realised Monica had tears in her eyes.
"Are you welling up?" He asked.
"No."
"You're going to be an aunt."
"Oh, shut up." She shoved him and started to cry.
I smiled.

I started to overhear Rachel's phone conversation that was going on by the window.
Rachel had been extremely unhappy for the past few hours as she'd found out that the guy she'd left at the alter had left for their honeymoon with her best friend, which to me seemed like the typical scandalous Rachel's life drama.

Rachel spent the majority of the conversation telling her ex-best-friend how it was okay and she didn't mind.
I rolled my eyes thinking about how soft she was being considering the circumstances.
And then she finished the conversation with, "and when you end up having kids, I just hope they have his old hairline and your old nose." She slammed the phone down and grinned with pride.
"Okay, I know it was a cheap shot, but I feel so much better now." She beamed.
"I'm so proud of you." I smiled at her.