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"hey, look at me. i'm making jam, been at it since 4 o'clock this morning," monica greeted rachel and ross as they entered the apartment. "where'd you get fruit at four in the morning?" ross furrowed his eyebrows at her. "went down to the docks. bet ya didn't know you could get it wholesale," monica smiled brightly as she stirred the cooking jam. "i didn't know there were docks," rachel added dumbfounded before chandler and joey entered greeting everyone. "awe, is it broken?" ross asked looking down at joey's arm sling. "hello hello," ella came in greeting her friends with a bright smile. she looked down to see joey's sling but, before she could ask about it he began answering ross' question. "no, i gotta wear this thing for a couple weeks." "did you tell the doctor you did it jumping up and down on your bed?" rachel crossed her arms across her chest. "no...i had a story all worked out but then chandler sold me out," joey rolled his eyes at the bing. "well, i'm sorry joe. i didn't think the doctor was gonna buy that it just fell out of the socket," chandler comically motioned. "what is this? fruit?" joey asked, causing the friends to look at him with genuine concern for a moment. "monica's making jam," rachel quickly explained. "whoa, jam! i love jam! hey, how come we never have jam at our place?" joey cheered and then turned to chandler with puppy dog eyes. "because the kids need new shoes," chandler joked back. "im going into business people. i'm sick and tired of being depressed about richard. i needed a plan, a plan to get over my man. what's the opposite of man? jam," monica gave the friends a beaming smile before joey opened the pot and attempted to sample the boiling jam. "oh joey don't! it's way too hot!" monica tried to stop him but he'd already burned himself and spit the jam back into the pot. "this will just be my batch," joey gave monica an awkward smile.
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later that day, ross and rachel found themselves in an empty apartment and decided to take advantage of the moment. that was, until chandler walked into the apartment and the two had to quickly pretend they were looking for something in the couch. "there it is." "oh, oh, that's what you're talking about." "hey," the couple greeted him after their bit. "so, ella and i's 'situationship' anniversary in a few days and i have no idea what the basically-ex-boyfriend etiquette is in this situation," chandler pulled a kitchen chair over to the couch where the pair sat. "you two are in the process of becoming best friends again right?" ross asked. "i think so, but you know i can never tell what girls are thinking," chandler almost hopelessly explained. "well...not to be a gossip, but, i can confirm that you guys mutually agree that you are becoming friends again," rachel carefully worded her response. "what do you know?" chandler raised a suspicious eyebrow at her. "okay, she is so happy you guys are friends again! i really don't see it but she loves having you around again. i think she might like you more than she likes amy," rachel giddily giggled as she spilled to the two. "well, that's good right?" "it's great! i think you should take her out this week," rachel happily suggested. "you think we're there already? we just got comfortable being alone in a room together again," chandler questioned the positive opportunity. "well it's not like you two have kissed, seen each other naked, or borderline dated already..." ross sarcastically trailed off, chandler responding with a glare.
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"okay, sperm donor number 03815, come on down! okay, he's 6'2, 170 pounds, and he describes himself as a male geena davis," monica read the paperwork in her hand. "you mean there's more than one of us," chandler joked making his way to the kitchen. "look, you can't do this mon. alright, if you do this, i'm-i'm gonna,' i'm gonna-" "you're gonna what?" "i'm gonna tell mom," ross whined at his sister. "honey, i'm sorry, but he's right. i love you, but you're crazy," rachel tried to let her down easy. "crazy," ross added on before ella naively walked into the apartment into the intense moment. "what?! why? why is this crazy? so this isn't the ideal way to something...." "oh, it's not the ideal way—" "lips moving, still talking. i mean it may not be ideal, but i'm so ready. no, i-i-i see the way ben looks at you. it makes me ache, you know?" monica defended herself before the room went silent. ella took the chance to yank chandler's arm over to where she was standing by the kitchen sink. "check it out! jam crackers!" joey broke the silence. "what the hell is going on?!" she whisper-yelled to chandler as the two stood away from the friends. chandler knew she'd been working a lot recently to keep up with rent so he quickly caught her up as monica listed out the qualities of the next possible sperm donor, that was until the group realized the contender was joey. "when did you go to a sperm bank?" rachel raised an eyebrow at the tribbiani. "well, right after i did that sex study down at nyu. hey, remember that sweater i gave you for your birthday?" joey turned around to chandler. "and that's how you bought it?" "no...that's what i was wearing when i donated. i'm kinda surprised there's any of my boys left," joey walked over to the friends in the living room leaving ella and chandler in the kitchen. "so what do you say, me and you at 'one fifth' tonight at 8," chandler softly spoke as the rest of the friends continued their banter. "are you sure thats the best idea right now?" ella furrowed her eyebrows. "i mean, why not? with everything we've already done its the least we could do," chandler smiled as he bluntly joked. "okay, one fifth tonight at 8," ella confirmed, failing to hide the huge smile she wanted to give him back.
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later that day, the girls collectively got ella ready at her apartment. "i love being in here! makes me feel like i'm on the titanic!" phoebe looked around at ella's developing ocean/beach theme in her apartment's decorations. "they painted it bright teal before selling it again, i didn't have many choices with the decor. oh–and again, thank you for helping me tonight," ella shouted from her room where she was finishing up her makeup. "we never got to do this when we were in high school and i refuse to miss it now!" rachel shouted from across the apartment as her and monica scrambled to find shoes for ella to wear. as the girls finally found the shoes and ella finished up there was a knock at the door. "heyyyyy..." rachel sillily opened the door to greet a dressed up chandler. "hey, wouldn't it be so funny if you guys left?" ella lead the three girls out the door, waving at chandler as they passed him on their way out. "hey," ella sweetly gave chandler the biggest smile. "hey," chandler returned a big smile. "lets save this for the restaurant!" ella ran to grab her keys and purse before heading out of the apartment. ✧ "at least when you lived with us we could just take a walk together, now i think it looks suspicious if i just go take a walk at 3am alone," chandler half-joked as the two sat in 'one fifth' eating their dinner. "yeah, joey's overnight visitors are the one thing i really don't miss about the apartment," ella gave the bing a thin lipped smile. "he really misses you." "oh, he's the only one?" "us aside, you brought balance to joey's masculine and well, my feminine energy," chandler hesitantly admitted. "i told you guys you could come over literally whenever you wanted," ella tried to defend herself. "yeah but we'll never be able to be—" chandler began but was cut off by their waiter. "oh, uh, sorry to interrupt. the older couple sitting over there sent over this wine. said you two reminded them of, well, younger them." "oh...thanks," the two awkwardly accepted the gift and waved at the couple across the restaurant. "you two aren't together are you?" their waiter kept a fake smile to not spoil the moment for the other couple. "yeah, not really," chandler returned a fake smile until the waiter paused for a moment before nervously running off. "chandler, i can't keep having the same conversation about how things have changed since i've moved out every time we're together. i know it was pretty sudden, and impulsive, and we weren't on the best terms when i moved out but, i moved out and right now i have no plans of moving back in," ella paused after realizing she was just pouring out her thoughts. "and thats completely understandable!" chandler enthusiastically agreed. "and before you tr–wait really? i didn't even get to the part where its really helping me be independent." "el, i miss you so much and i will always miss living with you but, i would never ask you to give up the only thing that has been fully yours because of that. enjoy your years of complete privacy and freedom because the second joey finds the love of his life and moves out, you're moving back in," chandler sweetly explained himself, ella taking a moment to process all of it. "okay, i can live with that," ella reached out for a handshake and the two sealed the deal.
❁ ⇔ 1640 words a/n: back from my hiatus B) !! and i swear i had the titanic joke written in here before that submarine went missing
