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"Hey, you went to bed early", Monica pointed out when she sees Alycia walking down the stairs and taking a seat by the table.
"Yeah, I was pretty tired".
She obviously lied.
When Alycia and Joey got back from the beach, she inmediately went up to her bedroom and stayed there all night, not wanting to see his face. She was extremely uncomfortable because of their kiss, and couldn't dare to be around him afterwards.
"So, what did I miss?", Alycia asked just to change the subject a little, afraid Monica might figure things out. It was obviously impossible, but she wasn't thinking straight.
"Well, Phoebe followed your advice and it turned out that the woman was inside the house", Monica started. "They talked and Phoebe found out the older Phoebe is her real mom".
"Oh my God", Alycia freaks out. "How's is she?".
"I guess she's better now", she shrugged. "I talked to her a little and then I left so she could get some sleep".
Alycia sighed, "Poor Pheebs".
"Hey, we're going to the beach now if you want to join", Chandler walked down the stairs with Joey following after him.
Alycia and Joey exchanged a look for just a few seconds before both looked away.
"I'll pass, but thanks", Alycia shakes her head. "I'm gonna check on Phoebe".
☀
"Hey, what if we make that trip an anual thing?", Ross suggested when they were back in New York.
"No!", Joey, Monica and Chandler shouted inmediately after.
"What the hell happened out there?", Alycia asked the three of them. She has to admit that she's glad for whatever it is because it can totally make her forget about her kiss with Joey.
"We took a walk, nothing happened", Monica lied. "I came back with nothing all over me".
"C'mon, what happened?", Ross tried this time.
Joey sighed. "Alright".
"No, we promised not to tell!", Monica freaked out.
"They'll never understand!", Chandler quickly added, freaking out as much as Monica.
"But we have to say something, it's eating me alive!", he argued. The three turned to look at the other four friends as they were waiting for answers. Joey hesitated at first before speaking, "I kissed Alycia!".
"What?", everyone, including Monica and Chandler, exclaimed.
"Thanks for the heads up, jerk", Alycia said from the couch.
"You two kissed?", Phoebe asked in disbelief.
"It wasn't like that!", Alycia argued. "And by the way, that's not even what they were gonna say! Monica and Chandler had no idea about it, so they're still hiding something".
"But you two kissing is such a big deal. Let's keep talking about it!", Chandler suggested, vissibly nervous.
"Guys, what really happened?", Rachel crossed her arms, demanding an answer from them.
"Fine. Monica got stunk by a jellyfish", Joey finally said.
"Alright!", Monica shouts before starting to slowly walk around the living room. "I got stunk...bad. I couldn't stand up or walk".
"We were scared and alone", Chandler continued. "But then Joey remembered something from the Discovery Channel".
"Oh, I saw that", Ross said. "About the jellyfish and how if you– ew! You peed on youself?"
"Ew!", Rachel, Alycia and Phoebe said in unison.
"You don't know! I thought I was gonna pass out from the pain", Monica quickly said to defend herself. "Anyway, I tried but I- I couldn't...bent that way, so...".
"Ew!", the girls and Ross turned to look at Joey after Monica gave him a look, indicating what actually happened.
"That's right, I step up! She's my friend and she needed help. If I had to, I'd pee on any of you", he pauses for a few seconds. "But I- I couldn't", Joey started talking again. "I wanted to help but there was too much pressure so I...I turned to Chandler".
Chandler screamed, the sound being muffled due to his hands covering his face.
"Joey kept screaming at me! Sometimes late at night I can still hear the screaming".
Joey chuckled. "That's because sometimes I do it through my wall to freak you out".
☀️
"Hey", Alycia said in a soft voice.
"Can I come in?".
She moves aside so Joey could enter her apartment. After many and many questions about the kiss from Monica, Rachel and Phoebe, Alycia thought she could rest a little bit and get her mind off of the subject for a while, totally not expecting him to visit.
Joey sat on her couch while she stood there with her arms crossed, not knowing what to do or say. Things were starting to get really awkward between them and she hated that. She hates being like this with Joey.
"I came here to talk", Joey started. "Look, you're one of my best friends and I can't lose you- especially over something that stupid".
"You're one of my best friends too. Oh, Joey, I'd love if we can forget about all of that and just be friends. It didn't mean a thing to me, I don't want our relationship to be awkward and distant".
"Of course it won't", he stood up to stand right in front of her. "It didn't mean anything. Totally forgotten".
Alycia smiled up at him before giving him a hug, glad that things were back to normal and got to clear the situation.
"I'm meeting Chandler to get some coffee so I'll see you later, okay?".
"Yeah, sure", Alycia nodded, pulling away from their hug.
Joey smiled at her one more time before leaving the apartment. He felt heartbroken for having to hide his feelings for her in order to mantain their friendship, but at least he's happy to still have her in his life and everything's back to normal.
They're nothing but friends, and maybe it's time for him to finally admit that.
