SF Chapter 109: Girls' Night II
Rachel said, a little exasperated, "Jack gave up a cow. I gave up an orthodontist. Okay, I know I didn't love him, but-"
Phoebe interrupted her. "Oh, Jack did love the cow."
"But see, it was a plan, you know?" Rachel ignored her friend's comment. "It was clear. Everything was figured out, and now everything's just kind of like…"
"Flupie?" Phoebe offered.
"Yeah."
Monica returned to the conversation, trying to help her friend.
"You're not the only one. We don't know where we're going either most of the times. You've gotta figure that, at some point, it's all going to come together…"
"…and it's just going to be 'unflupie'," she finished.
Phoebe snorted. "Yeah, like that's a word."
"Okay, but Monica, what if it doesn't come together?" Rachel continued, still frustrated. "What if we don't get magic beans? I mean, what if all we've got are… beans?"
Monica was left speechless. "Um, Dani," she said, asking for help.
"You make a nice and delicious bean stew," he joked. That only made the two women roll their eyes.
But then he decided to give a serious answer. "Okay, Rach. Here's the real thing."
"'It was a plan' or 'everything was figured out'... I don't think so. To me, it was a path to being really frustrated."
He went on, "You said you didn't love him. Even with love, marriage is already hard. Without it, it's like you're trying to live a life from decades ago."
"My guess is that, if you had gone through with it, at some point you would've asked yourself, 'What the hell am I doing with my whole life?' The same question you're asking now, but married, unhappy, older and even more trapped."
"And for what exactly?" he asked rhetorically. "So society or your friends can tell you that you're living the perfect, well-planned life?"
"I think it's dumb to make the most important decisions of your life based on other people's opinions instead of your own. And it was pretty clear what you really wanted when you decided to give all of that up."
Rachel and Monica stared at him with their mouths open.
"Monica, how come your younger, overconfident, menace of a cousin suddenly turns into Dr. Phil?" Rachel asked her friend.
"I don't know..."
"But... I still feel lost," Rachel remarked.
"That's because you are," he agreed without hesitation. "Like I told you last time, you're 24. Why are you in such a hurry?"
"There's a quote from a book that I like: take as long as you need to decide what you want from life, and once you decide, don't back down for any reason..."
He finished, "so yeah, the script reading job was mostly because you were a spoiled, useless rich girl. Now go figure out whether you actually want to stay in that field, or go prepare for something you'd truly like."
She gasped. "I was not useless!"
"Well, Rach..." Monica muttered, giving her a judgmental look.
Dani took her hand. "And Rach, if you ever decide you want to go back to that loveless, rich, 'planned life,' I can find you some suitors," he said, giving a thumbs-up.
"You're hot and beautiful. I can find some rich middle-aged guy willing to put up with you."
She deadpanned at him, but then gave him a hug and a kiss on his cheek. "Thanks, Dani."
"Now that the serious conversation is over," Dani said, striking a pose, "let's get to the fun part. We're at a slumber party, a girls' night! We should all get in our underwear and start a pillow fight!"
Now Monica and Rachel were both stone-faced.
"Woo, let's do that!" Phoebe said excitedly.
"Pheebs!" Monica immediately scolded her, then put her cousin in a headlock. "Dani, go back to being that respectful young cousin."
"Ouch, Mon! You're turning into sis," he complained.
Then his cellphone rang, and he picked it up.
"Hi, Mischa. Already missing me?"
After hearing her answer, he replied, "I'm at a girls' night."
"With Lexi?" Mischa asked on the other end of the line.
"No, she ditched me for her friends. But mine is pretty great too. Three incredibly gorgeous girls," he replied.
"Good for you," Mischa said a little dryly. "Anyway, I called to see if you'll be back next week. There's this nice restaurant someone told me about."
"I will. Sounds like a plan."
"Great. I'll tell Lexi too. I'll leave you to your girls' night. Kisses," she said before hanging up.
"Wow, another girl friend?" Rachel mocked.
"Yep. I'm suffering from too much success," Dani remarked, placing a hand on his forehead as if he were exhausted.
"See?" He held up his other phone. "I even had to buy a second one, since the old one is flooded with messages from girls."
"Ha, funny," Rachel said, making a face. "So many girls wanting you, but there's one right here," she gestured to herself, "who wants to kick you out right now!"
"Huh?" he gasped, offended. "Just so you know, if I'm out, I'm leaving with Mr. Krabs and Larry!"
"What?"
"I bought a giant crab and a lobster."
"Wait, there's lobster and a giant crab?" Rachel asked, widening her eyes.
"Dani, don't give them SpongeBob names," Phoebe scolded him.
"Really?" Monica turned to her. "Out of everything, that's the only part you thought was wrong, Phoebe?"
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The quartet were eating and drinking at the table.
"Oh, this is so good," Rachel muttered, putting another piece of lobster into her mouth.
"Okay, your turn, Rach," Monica said, getting her attention. They were playing a game where they had to ask each other something personal.
"Dani," the blonde asked, looking at him, "how many girls have you been with?"
He shook his head. "I'm a gentleman. I don't say how many, or who I've kissed or slept with. Absolute rule!"
Then his cellphone buzzed again with a new message.
"Okay, then how many girls are you flirting with?" she asked, since that wasn't even his second message. He had gotten a few others throughout the night.
"My most direct contact is with five girls," he remarked.
[Dani commentary]
Daniel held up his phone. "The girls I usually talk to, besides Lexi and Mischa, are Penny, Sam, and sometimes Lindsay Ellingson."
"Oh, I forgot to send her this," he remembered, typing to Lindsay, 'doo-doo-doo,' their inside joke.
"Every now and then, Vivian sends me a provocative message. She even sent a very provocative picture to my email. That little vixen."
And he finished, "Oh, I talk to Amanda Seyfried too. But since she's doing one of my movies, I treat her like a dude."
[Commentary ends]
Dani kept talking to Rach. "But the number of girls I flirt with is unknown, since sometimes I do it involuntarily."
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