𝐡𝐨𝐰 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐝𝐨𝐢𝐧' ━ F.R.I.E.N.D.S. [Joey Tribbiani]

21; The One With The Poker (pt.4)

Everyone but Rachel was seated around the table at Ross's apartment, the low yellow lights providing a good amount of illumination. Lisa was thankful for that as she had pulled an all nighter with George, sampling new sounds. What she wasn't thankful for, was for The Lion Sleeps Tonight playing in the background, just for Marcel, who was the only one enjoying it.

Lisa rolled her eyes and rumbled in annoyance, "Ross, could we please, please, please listen to anything else?"

The boy set his lips in a straight line as he looked from the miserable faces of his friends to the joyful one of Marcel. His tail was slightly swaying with the music and it made Ross feel guilty as he nodded. "All right." He stood up nervously, wiping his hands on his jeans and walking towards the CD player and shutting it off, emitting a sigh of relief from Lisa. George patted her head, and pushed her hair back. She smiled at him, but when she looked ahead, she found Marcel staring at his owner in betrayal before running to the bedroom and slamming the door shut.

Ross gulped. "I'm gonna pay for that tonight." 

As he made his way towards the table, there was a knock on the door and he opened it, letting Rachel in. Her eyes were glimmering with excitement as she took off her coat and hung it. "Hi!"

Everyone greeted her, and she giddily walked towards the table, where Ross was now taking a seat. She clapped her hands, grinning. "Guys! Guess what, guess what, guess what, guess what!"

Chandler frowned, cocking his head. "Um, okay...the...the fifth dentist caved and now they're all recommending Trident?"

"No."

"Did they finally find out how many licks it takes to get to the center of a Tootsie Pop?" Lisa asked her, smiling.

Rachel rolled her eyes at the siblings who were snickering now. "Noooo... the interview! She loved me! She absolutely loved me. We talked for like two and a half hours, we have the same taste in clothes, and—oh, I went to camp with her cousin... And, oh, the job is perfect. I can do this." She placed a hand over her heart as she sat down, still smiling and her face red from happiness. "I can do this well!"

"That's great! That's wonderful!" Everyone chorused.

"Oh, God, oh, and then she told the funniest story..."

Monica quickly intervened. "Okay, great. You'll tell us and we'll laugh. Let's play poker."

Joey cleared his throat and sat up straight. "All right now listen, you guys, we talked about it, and if you don't want to play, we completely understand."

Chandler nodded in agreement. "Oh, yes, yes, we could play some other game...like, uh, I don't know...Pictionary?"

As he said that, all the guys except George (who didn't know of the incident) ducked under the table. Monica gave them a sickeningly sweet smile. "Ha, ha, very funny, very funny. But I think we'd like to give poker another try. Shall we, ladies?"

They agreed, smiles on their faces. Ross turned to Rachel, who had the cards in hand. "Uh, Rach, do you want me to shuffle those?"

Rachel shook her head. "No, no, that's okay. Y'know, I think I'm gonna give it a go." She let out a sigh. "Alright..." She shuffled the cards expertly, earning looks of amazement from the guys. She tried to hide her smirk as the game began.

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"So, Pheebs owes $7.50, Monica, you owe $10, Lisa, you owe $6 and Rachel, you owe fifteen big ones," Ross rose his brows, smirking triumphantly at the dark blonde haired girl, who frowned in annoyance at the boys.

Joey scoffed a laugh. "But hey, thanks for teachin' us Cross-Eyed Mary. You guys, we gotta play that at our regular game."

"All right, here's my $7.50," Phoebe placed her money on the table, Lisa doing the same with an irritated look on her face. Phoebe then added, "But I think you should know that this money is cursed."

Joey's hand faltered from grabbing the money, raising a brow. "What?"

Phoebe smirked. "Oh, I cursed it. So now bad things will happen to he who spends it."

Chandler shrugged, grabbing the money regardless. "That's alright, I'll take it. Bad things happen to me anyway. This way I can break 'em up with a movie."

Ross smiled cockily. "Well, that just leaves the big Green poker machine, who owes fifteen..."

"Mmm-hmmm," Rachel hummed, handing over the money. "Oh, so typical. Ooo, I'm a man. Ooo, I have a penis. Ooo, I have to win money to exert my power over women."

Monica shook her head, handing the money as well. "You know what? This is not over. We will play you again, and we will win, and you will lose, and you will beg, and we will laugh, and we will take every last dime you have, and you will hate yourselves forever."

Rachel looked to the dark haired girl. "Hmm. Kinda stepped on my point there, Mon."

"She didn't exactly make a point," Lisa mumbled tiredly. "Or maybe I just blacked out for a second there."

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