Stay Gold

seventeen

chapter seventeen ~ the one with a student romance
Heather's POV

Once again, we were all having coffee in Central Perk, our happy place, where we would always meet up and have fun. Chandler, Monica and Phoebe were on the couch and I was sat with Joey on the stools, he had just taken our orders and now we were relaxing whilst he had a five-minute break. Things had seemed calmer than they had in a while and I was just enjoying this peaceful time with my friends and my husband; still not completely used to saying it out loud. Everyone had told me that marriage would be hard but so far, we had been doing pretty well. Maybe it was because we were still believed to be in the honeymoon phase of our relationship where we hadn't faced any real challenges yet but I was sure that no matter what happened, we would get through it. I was leaning my head on Joey's shoulder and our fingers were intertwined as we both enjoyed some silence for a moment but our peaceful moment was disrupted when Rachel entered the Coffee House and sat down in the armchair.

"Hey, do you guys know any cute guys?" She questioned, flattening her clothes from where she had jumped into the seat.

"Well of course I do, my good friend Joey over here." Chandler points over to us before waiting for Joey to say something nice back to him; of course, he's forgotten just how clueless his best friend was and looked quite stupid.

"Oh, I'm sorry." Joey suddenly got the hint, not taking it in the right way though and tapping his best friend's arm, he smiled. "Thank you, Chandler."

"Anyway, there's this big charity ball this weekend and Ralph Lauren bought a table, so I kind of have to go." Rachel brought the conversation back to her own dilemma and the fact that she needed to find a date to accompany her to the event.

Monica nodded, seeming interested in what she was talking about. "What's the charity?"

"I don't know. Something, either trees or disease...Ralph mumbles a lot."

"Does Ralph mumble when you're not paying attention?" Monica questioned and we realised that he mumbled just because Rachel couldn't be bothered to listen to what he was saying.

"Yeah, it's weird." She clasped her hands together, going back to her dilemma once again. "But the thing is, I need to find a date."

Phoebe asked the main question, when looking for a particular kind of date. "Well, what kind of guy are you looking for?"

"Someone that has his own tux, or the ability to rent a tux."

"So, he has to be a male who has at least $50." Chandler finalised, as Rachel nodded in agreement.

Joey winced at the financial side and I patted his shoulder. "Oh, so close."

Ross entered the Coffee House with a shorter, and slightly younger looking blonde trailing behind him. This caught my attention as I readjusted my position on the stool and stopped leaning on Joey. He seemed to notice that I had moved and wasn't very happy about it, so he scooted his stool closer and wrapped one of his arms around my shoulder, pulling me closer to his body. "Hey, everybody!" Ross waved, before gesturing to the girl beside him. "This is Elizabeth."

"I'm the student." She whispered, smiling at each of us.

"Oh, isn't she cute?" Chandler cooed before noticing the glare that Monica was sending his way and he instantly changed his answer. "No."

Phoebe shook her head, moving on the couch so that she could see both of them properly. "You know, this is probably none of my business but weren't you guys supposed to not be seen in public together?"

"Oh, we're not together."

Ross agreed with his date, slowly reducing the distance between them. "No, we're just two people who happened to have run into each other, here at the Coffee House."

"Oh, sly." Phoebe fake laughs in their direction which amuses the rest of us.

"I really wanted to meet you guys, but I have to run." Elizabeth explains to us. "I'll see you later?"

"Okay, bye!" We all wave back to her, noticing how sweet she was, even if her relationship with Ross was a little bit strange.

"Bye Ross." She bumps into her boyfriend to kiss him. "Oops, I didn't mean to run into you like that, sir." They both keep up the acting, even if it is really bad as Ross smiles at her. "Oh, that is quite alright, ma'am."

Once Elizabeth had left the Coffee House, it was time for Chandler to start messing with Ross. "So, why is she leaving? Is it a school night, and she has a lot of homework to do?"

"Yes, her molecular epidemiology paper is due tomorrow." Ross replied, with a frown on his face.

This stopped my brother from joking as he slid down in his seat. "Oh, tell her good luck with that."

"Anyone else, huh? Bring them on." Ross sneers, perched on the edge of the couch.

"Oh!" Rachel got excited when she thought of one. "When's her birthday?"

"I don't know, Rachel, why?" He waited for the punchline.

"Well, you know, it's just been so long since I've been to Chuck E. Cheese." Rachel giggled.

"I like Elizabeth." Monica grinned, breaking the laughter with her own confession.

Ross nodded, glad that his sister approved. "Well, thanks."

"In fact, I like her so much that you tell her I want my cookies early this year."

"Come on guys, give him a break." Joey said sternly. "Ross, seriously, how's it going with her?"

"Well, it's actually been great." Ross admitted, glad to talk about his girlfriend. "She's twenty, so she's not looking for anything too serious which is perfect for me right now."

"Well, that is great and seriously, she seems very nice." Monica smiled at her brother.

"Thanks. I know you guys like to give me a hard time and all, but it really means a lot to me that you like her-"

"Okay, I got a good one." Phoebe started laughing at her own joke, interrupting the nice things that Ross was going to say. "What is she, like, twelve?"

a/n: we have builders in our garden & my mum is in work today so i'm praying that they don't knock the door 🥺 even though i'm an adult, i still hate opening the door to people & these builders in particular are making us really uncomfortable 🥴 -lizzie ⭐️

date published: 21/01/21