September 21, 2014
Tomorrow, much of the TV loving world would be divided between remembering the 10'th anniversary of the Lost pilot, and the 20'th anniversary of the Friends pilot. With a sprinkling of 15'th anniversary West Wing pilot memories buried within.
I for one was buried in Friends memories that day. And in two of the friends the previous night. But we'll get to that. We need a lot of setup first - much like a pilot, really.
Let's start by establishing that I was six years old when the Friends pilot premiered. Let's further explain that 20 years later, I was serving people in an LA coffee shop. And no, it wasn't Friends based - despite how both Jennifer Aniston and Courteney Cox drank there. That's the important thing since that's how I knew them.
Sometimes I served them separately, other times they came together. It was less frequently together during a stretch in the first half of 2014. According to the tabloids, they were feuding while in the midst of their separate engagements - and from what they later told me, it wasn't that far from the truth. Yet by June, I started seeing them come in together again.
Even as Jennifer's wedding neared and Courteney's engagement started that summer, they kept going to my shop just by themselves. It happened again on the afternoon of September 21, 2014 - right before Friends anniversary day, if your short term memory works.
I overheard them saying that since Courteney had an interview on Jimmy Kimmel on anniversary night, they would celebrate it tonight at Jennifer's house, without their fiancés or Courteney's daughter around. Or rather, they told me that to my face.
After they asked me what tomorrow was, and they needed to tell me it was Friends anniversary day. And after I said I hadn't seen much of the show, or the pilot, despite seeing them so often.
It's not like I didn't know every little detail, big event or running gag anyway. It was one of the shows big enough that you don't actually have to watch to know everything about. I was in the middle of explaining that when Jennifer and Courteney shared a look, and then suggested I should see the pilot anyway.
At Jennifer's house. With them. In the same room.
I was on autopilot for the next few hours after that. Somehow, I still followed the directions I got to the house, and got there at the time they instructed - when no one else would be there and no one would see me coming.
I should have suspected what else was coming right then. But we'll get to that too. There's still some more pilot-y exposition to get through.
Let's fast forward to after I looked around the house, got myself to comfortably sit in between Jennifer and Courteney, and watched the pilot on the Season 1 DVD. It was after a few easy laughs about how they looked and acted back then - though not easy enough to include a Rachel hairstyle joke - that I brought up just how young I was when this first aired.
"So back then I was about five times older than you. Now it's just less than half," Courteney did the math. "I feel younger after all."
"I was just four times older back then, so there you go," Jennifer pointed out. "Ah, things really were simpler then, though. Even in those first few years. The work, the laughs, the days when no one had Twitter, TMZ or iClouds..." She then did a kind of sitcom-y pause, as if waiting for some bigger punchline.
"And the threeways," Courteney delivered. It was more of a sucker punch than a punchline, really.
"Right, right," Jennifer agreed, as if I wasn't even listening. "Boy, we all know there were times we really needed those! All the times we really needed to get our minds off things. And onto different cocks. And people attached who were too grateful to blab about it."
"But then again, the pre-TMZ days really limited their options," Courteney went on. She looked at me once in a while, yet it was still hard to believe they were really talking to me. As if this was such a casual thing to talk about, like they would in thousands of interviews.
"We slowed down when our love lives and Twitter stock took off. And when we...had a rough patch or two," Courteney admitted. "But now we got past it at just the right time."
"She's right. We're both getting married soon, and we made it through 20 years of friendship. And the tabloid and sex stuff to go with it," Jennifer said. "If ever there was a time to be nostalgic for those old days...and recapture them one more time before we try settling down again...this is the best night possible."
"Hold on," I accidentally said out loud. But I was too busy putting the pieces together to take note. All this scandalous talk, inviting me over when no one else was around, making sure I arrived when everyone was long gone...the very premise of inviting a near stranger to a movie star/TV icon's home with her TV icon best friend...
"Oh," I let out. I knew I should have done better than that. But to buy time, I asked, "Why me? Luck of being on the right shift?"
"That, fitting and filling out the criteria, the novelty of someone who's still barely watched our show. A mix of that," Courteney answered somewhat.
"I watch Cougar Town, though," I informed Courteney. "Does that count for or against me?" I wondered. I hoped her laughter was a good sign. Wait, so now I was hoping for...
"You were already ahead, don't worry," Jennifer assured. "I mean, if this was 15 years ago, you'd be a dime a dozen. But after all these years, all the wear and tear...to still get guys just like you interested, who don't even know us best from Friends...that's a confidence builder to recapture old times with if there ever was one."
"And...what makes you think I'm interested like that?" I found myself asking. I barely had time to take this in or think this over, so her answer stood to be helpful.
"You're still here, aren't you?" Jennifer noted. "It's getting obvious how much you want to be here," she went on, her eyes gazing down at me. I looked down at myself and saw the proof growing underneath my pants.
"Well...it still might not be for the right reasons," I babbled. Perhaps this was a poor attempt to be playful, even if it sounded like I was trying to talk her out of it. "With your offer, I could be like this no matter who you guys are. Or what age you are. Or what I know you from."
Jennifer just smiled, which shut up all my objections, serious or not. Since she wasn't talking and I had shut up, I just looked at her. The way she looked at me, and the way she sat next to me in her white shirt and tight blue jeans was...cute, pretty and sexy all at the same time. It made sense.
