More than Just Friends

Chapter Three

"Ok! Here is batch 23!"

Monica carefully placed the tray of freshly baked cookies on the already crowded table. Joey reached over and took one off the top, shoving it all in his mouth at once and swallowing a couple of seconds later.

"This one is good too!" he exclaimed, reaching for another one.

Monica frowned. "Joey, you think every batch is good. I should just stop asking for your opinion."

"What's different about these?" Phoebe asked as she took a cookie, as did everyone else.

"No orange peel, a little bit of nutmeg, and a pinch of cinnamon."

Monica looked on hopefully as everyone took a bite out of the cookie.

"Wow, these are really good Mon," Ross approved.

"Yeah, it's like heaven in a little cookie," added Rachel, taking another bite.

"It's good..." Phoebe starting, taking a moment to swallow as Monica looked on, "...but it's still not as good as my grandma's."

"Damn it!" she yelled, throwing her hands up, enraged. "Another failed batch!"

"Woah! Don't you blame the cookies!" Joey said, piling them all closer to him. "Don't worry little guys, you aren't failures to me," he whispered to the cookies before plopping one in his mouth. Everyone just rolled their eyes.

"Honey, don't you think you're getting a little too worked up over some cookies?" Chandler asked, concerned about his fiancée's stress.

"These aren't just some cookies!" she countered, startling him a bit. "These are the best cookies that have ever been created and Phoebe's stupid grandma had to die before I got the recipe!"

"You see what you've caused?" Phoebe yelled out, turning towards the ground. "What? Don't blame this on me! You were the one who was so secretive about it!"

Chandler just leaned forward and rubbed his temple. "What is going on?" he questioned rhetorically as Ross and Rachel nodded in agreement, just as confused as he was.

As an engagement gift, Phoebe had decided to give the newly engaged couple her grandmother's secret cookie recipe, as per Monica's request. Unluckily however, it was discovered that the recipe had been burned in Phoebe's house fire months ago and with the last cookie dissolving in Joey's stomach, Monica had no choice but to manually create the recipe through trial-and-error.

But what started as a harmless day of baking cookies has turned into complete and utter chaos. Monica had lost all her senses and was like mad woman, baking cookies left and right. Phoebe, in turn, had also lost it, yelling at the ground as if she was communicating with her deceased grandmother in hell. And right in the middle was Joey, lost in his own little cookie world, whispering little messages to the baked treats before shoving them into his mouth. All in all, things had gone completely south and the three friends who have kept their minds could only imagine how they ended up with people like these to call their friends.

"I need some air," Chandler exhaled, getting up and heading for the balcony.

Ross laughed under his breath and sat back in the chair, closing his eyes to rest a bit until Monica brought out the next batch of cookies. Rachel, meanwhile, just stared at him and smiled. Though everyone was around them, it felt like it was just them two in the room.

For them, things have really begun to fall into place with their newfound relationship. They've been successfully going at it for about two weeks now, and aside from little winks and flirtatious motions here and there, they were confident that their secret was safe from the others. But their relationship wasn't without its risks, and especially as time went on and they have begun to feel a lot more daring with what they did in public, they had to really be careful about what they did in front of their friends.