Spring Day

twenty

chapter one hundred and eight ~ the one with joey's big break
Heather's POV

Now that the excitement of the engagement had died down, things went back to normal and even though there was occasional wedding talk, we managed to move the conversation swiftly along. Both Joey and I agreed that we didn't want to rush anything, and now that we were engaged, we wanted to enjoy this time together without stressing about a wedding. The girls wanted to talk about everything, but the truth was that I didn't want this massive over the top wedding that they wanted. All I wanted was my dream dress which was hanging up in my apartment, my groom and a group of my closest friends there. That was all that mattered, I didn't even care if the afterparty was in Central Perk, that would make things fitting as that was where most of our stories began. The thought of having to stress over a massive wedding that would last one day, wasn't what I wanted and moreover, we didn't have the kind of money to afford something like that either.

We were sat around the table in Monica and Rachel's apartment, glad that the hairless cat had been gotten rid of because I hated the thing and couldn't understand why Rachel had paid $1000 for the giant rat. Phoebe, Monica and Chandler were sat around the table as I helped myself to some orange juice which was in the refrigerator and Ross was grabbing his jacket so that he could leave. Things felt more comfortable now that the excitement of the engagement had worn off; although I could see how nervous Chandler had become, worried that Monica was expecting him to propose soon even though we knew that she wouldn't want to rush him into anything like that. "Alright, I gotta go." Ross informed us. "I'm taking Ben to the park."

I pouted, looking up at him with the best sad eyes I could muster. "Without me?"

"Heather, you spend too much time with him." Ross groaned, making me realise that I probably did spend too much time with his son. "Let me have one afternoon with my son, please?"

"Fine."

Phoebe called after him as he manoeuvred around the table. "Oh, give him a kiss for me."

"Okay, bye!" As soon as he was out of the door, Phoebe seemed to relax and turned to face everyone.

"I am so sorry you got caught in the middle of that." She sighed, checking that we were all okay. "I didn't mean to be so out there but I am furious with him."

"Wow, uh, calm down?" Chandler asked, as the rest of us were just as confused as he was.

"I'm trying but, man, that guy can push my buttons."

Monica tried not to laugh but it was hard when Phoebe was being so random with her conversations, for some reason she now hated Ross. "Why are you so mad at him?"

"Look, I don't want to talk about it, okay?"

"It just seems like-"

"You want to be on my list too?" Phoebe interrupted her with a threatening glare which made me and Chandler lean backwards, worried that we might end up on her bad side by accident. "Keep talking."

I frowned, trying to avoid eye-contact with Phoebe. "This list sounds terrifying."

"Don't worry, I would never put you on it."

This confession caused Monica to glare at us. "But you would put me on it?"

"I would put all of you on it, except Heather and Joey. Has anyone seen my list by the way?"

"No Phoebe, what does it look like?" Chandler asked, as we all waited for the description.

"It's a piece of paper and it says Ross on it."

"Hi." Joey comes into the apartment. "I just got off the phone with Estelle, and guess what?" He was talking in a sad voice which made me wonder what had happened, then his face lit up. "I got the lead in a movie!"

Everyone jumped out of their seats. "Congratulations!"

"That's amazing!" I jumped into his arms, wrapping myself around him and kissing his cheek; as I couldn't kiss him anywhere else when my brother was in the room, otherwise he would start telling everyone embarrassing stories from when we were little.

Chandler began the interrogation. "What's the movie about?"

"Oh, it's called, Shutter Speed. It's really cool. I meet this girl on the Subway and we fall in love in, like, a day, right? And then, she disappears but I find out where she lives and when I get there this old lady answers the door. I ask, where's Betsy? And she says, Betsy's been dead for ten years."

"Oh chilling." Phoebe whispered, but the rest of us stayed quiet because my fiancé had basically just ruined the whole plot of the movie.

"And the best part is we're filming in the desert outside of Vegas." Joey pointed to my brother. "You know what that means, buddy?"

Chandler seemed more than excited at the pointing. "I know what that means, baby!"

"Road trip! We can rent a car. I just have to be there by Tuesday."

"Wait, my grandmother's dead." Phoebe interrupted the excitement.

My brother's face faltered as he sat back onto his chair. "Well, we can talk about that too."

"No, no, her cab. She probably won't be using it; you could drive it to Las Vegas."

"Alright!" Joey punched the air, before resting his arm around my shoulders. "Thanks, Phoebe!"

"Woah, what are we going to do about my job?"

"Oh, uh, not go."

"Alright! Great! Road trip, baby!" Chandler jumps around for a second before relaxing in his seat again, because he didn't want to upset Monica, who was watching him carefully. "Wow, things really seem to be looking up for you, Joe."

"Yeah, I get the lead in a movie and I found this great new sandwich place across the street-"

"I was actually referring to your recent engagement to my sister." He retorted, but the whole thing didn't bother me because I was just happy for my fiancé and glared at my brother for ruining the moment. Chandler raised his eyebrows at me, surrendering. "You're the one marrying him, not me."

a/n: only two chapters left of this book 🥺 i'll let u know when the chapters of the next book are published but i'm really excited about the next few seasons that i've planned out so far ☺️
also, just a quick thank u so much for your support ❤️ -lizzie ⭐️

date published: 11/01/21