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It was 7pm on December 31st, a thin layer of snow was covering the streets of New York City. Hundreds of people were walking down the streets to try and find the last ingredients they needed for the perfect new year’s eve dinner. Monica Geller wasn’t one of them. She had been planning this dinner for weeks, and it was almost ready. Almost all of the cooking was done, she had spent the afternoon cleaning the apartment with the help of her girlfriend Rachel, who, to be completely honest, had done more cheering than cleaning, but it was fine for Monica, she liked cleaning, and she liked seeing Rachel doing her cheerleader routine.
In less than an hour Ross, Joey, Chandler, Phoebe and Mike were gonna be in the apartment. As usual, they were gonna celebrate the new year together. It had become their tradition.
As she was putting the cake in the oven, she told Rachel “We should probably start getting ready!”
All she got in return was a small “yeah, sure” from her girlfriend, who was laying on the couch, looking at the TV that wasn’t even on. Monica frowned.
“Rach’? You okay?” she asked.
“It’s stupid don’t worry” Rachel said, without turning around.
Monica knew her too well, she walked up to the couch, moving Rachel’s legs to sit next to her “I’m sure it’s not, tell me”. She looked at her with so much love in her gaze that Rachel couldn’t resist and immediately opened up.
“I just- I really wanted to kiss you at midnight tonight, I know it’s cliché but that’s the only way I wanna start this new year. I know that we don’t want to tell everyone yet, but I just want to kiss you”. She buried her head in her hands.
Monica’s heart broke. Rachel was on the verge of crying. She hated that whole situation. They didn’t tell everyone because they knew her ass of a brother would freak out and it would ruin the whole group dynamic. They had been dating for more than eight months, but they were tired of all thoses secrets, secret dates, secret kisses, secret hand holdings, so many thing that they would want to do without worrying about what a homophobic cis white male would have to say about it.
They weren’t ready to tell everyone. But it didn’t mean they weren’t going to kiss at midnight. That was what Rachel wanted, and that was what Monica was going to give her.
“Don’t worry babe, I’m gonna find a way, okay?”
“Okay”. Rachel smiled softly, looking at her girlfriend “You know I love you, right?”
“Yeah...yeah I do” said Monica as she leaned over the couch to kiss her. “Now we gotta get ready, they are gonna start coming soon”. Monica gently slapped her girlfriend’s thigh as she got up.
When they heard the first knock on the door, Rachel was just finishing putting her makeup on and Monica was already setting the table. “Can you get it?” shouted Rachel from the bathroom.
Monica opened the door, it was Chandler and Joey. “Wow Mon’, you look hot” said Joey with a wink. He stopped for a second and said “How you doin’?”.
“Thanks Joey” she said, moving away from the door to let them in. Just two minutes later, Ross was there, followed by Phoebe and her husband Mike.
They all got rid of their coats and sat down in the living room. Everyone had a glass of champagne.
“I’m not really good at making toasts, but I really want to make one”. To everyone’s surprise, Mike had gotten up and was raising his glass in the air. “I’m really glad I met you all, and especially this amazing woman” he said, looking at his wife with nothing but love “You’re all such great friends, and I could not think of a better way to celebrate this new year. So thank you for welcoming me in this amazing group. Here’s to a beautiful new year”.
Everyone rose their glasses before taking a sip. Time went fast, they hadn't even eaten yet and before they realized it, it was almost midnight.
“Turn on the TV, turn on the TV” shouted Phoebe.
Mike obeyed while the rest of the group was confused. He explained to them “Her psychic told her that watching the countdown on TV would be good luck, and she thinks it will help her get pregnant”.
To anyone else, it would be nonsense, but they knew Phoebe well enough to understand it meant a lot to her. Phoebe was sitting on Mike’s lap, next to them were sitting Ross and Chandler.
Joey was by the kitchen, eating a sandwich Monica had prepared him.
Monica and Rachel were behind the couch, and as the countdown started “TEN ! NINE ! ”, the brunette went to the light switch “EIGHT ! SEVEN ! SIX!” and turned off the light. Everyone was so captivated by the TV that they didn’t even realize they were in the dark. “FIVE ! FOUR !”. Monica came back next to Rachel and stroked her lower back. It was dark, but she knew Rachel was smiling. She whispered in her ear “Three...two...one” and as everyone cheered, Monica turned her head to softly put her lips on Rachel’s, kissing her gently. But they were so taken by their kiss that they didn’t see the light had turned back on. They froze. “Everyone’s looking at us, right?” whispered Rachel “Yeah, I’m pretty sure” “You think it’s time to tell them?” “Do we have a choice?”
They both smiled awkwardly and opened their eyes. The first thing Monica was Joey, eating his sandwich next to the light switch. She sent him a piercing look.
“What? I couldn’t see my sandwich”.
“Wait for it…” said Chandler, smiling sarcastically. A few seconds later, Joey’s jaw dropped and his respiration stopped “There it is” laughed Chandler.
“Oh! Oh! Hey! My psychic told me that too!” shouted Phoebe, pointing at the two women, with a wide smile. “I’m definitely gonna get pregnant”.