More than Just Friends

Chapter 18

Two days later, the door to a very familiar house swung open as a man and a woman walked out and into the streets. They both appeared to be in their early thirties, with the woman almost a head taller than the man, though he was far bulkier than she was.

"Ok, remember Joey, you can't let Ross or Rachel see us," Phoebe warned. "If they do then this whole plan is ruined."

Joey shuffled his feet. "Yeah, I know, but we haven't seen or talked to them in days! They're our friends Pheebs, can't we just go over and say a quick 'hi' or something?"

"No! If they realize that we never actually left New York then they won't talk to each other."

"Ok fine." He stuffed his hands into his pocket. "Then can we at least go grab a coffee at the coffee house?"

"What? No way. That's way too risky."

"Oh come on Pheebs, don't you miss Central Perk too?" Joey pestered. "Look, we can go and get a coffee, and if we see either Ross or Rachel around we'll leave."

"I don't know..."

"I know you want to..." he persisted.

Phoebe thought for a second longer before finally giving in. "Oh alright fine. But if we see them we leave right away. No ifs or buts."

"Yes ma'am!" he exclaimed cheerfully, leading the way towards the coffee shop.

Sometime later, Phoebe and Joey were sitting near the window with a cup of coffee in their hands. They were being cautious; haven bribed Gunther with a nice ten dollar bill to not say a word about them as they kept watch out the window.

"See? Isn't this nice Pheebs?" Joey asked.

"Yeah, I guess you were right." She took a sip of her coffee. "Hey, maybe we can-"

"Wait, isn't that Rachel?" he suddenly cut-in, pointing somewhere down the street.

Phoebe immediately spun around and sure enough, across the street they could see Rachel walking along with her head down and her hands stuffed into the pockets of her jacket.

"Do you think we should leave now?" Joey asked, putting his mug down.

"No, I think it's alright. It doesn't look like she's coming in."

The pair continued to watch Rachel walk along the street, noticing her stop at a newspaper stand, scanning through the titles before letting out a sigh and continuing on her walk.

"Does she look sad to you?"

"Yeah, a little bit," Joey nodded. "Where's Ross?"

Phoebe all of a sudden realised that too. "Hey wait, you're right. Where is Ross? It's late in the afternoon. We always hang out at around this time."

"Pheebs, I don't think your plan is working," Joey commented, straining to see out the window at where Rachel had gone. "I don't think they're talking to each other."

Phoebe snapped her fingers in frustration. "Damn... ok I know what to do to really give them a push. Do you still have your apartment key on you?"

Joey reached into his pocket and pulled it out. "Yeah, why?"

"And how much money do you have?" she added.

"Let's see..." he reached into his other pocket and pulled out a crumbled up twenty. "... Just this twenty I took from Chandler before he left, but I don't see how any of this is supposed to help."

She smiled. "Well, with my amazing looks, persuasive talking, and a nice twenty dollar bribe, I think we might be able to convince a certain superintendent to change the lock on your door..."