"Phoebe, would you calm down?!" Chandler said, exasperated. "It's just a…a motorcycle boat."
"I can't, I can't," she said, jumping up and down as she looked out over the waters of Montauk then back at him again. "I'm too excited!"
Chandler just rolled his eyes, casting a sideways glance at Monica as she looked expectantly at the two men who were momentarily going to give them all an overview on the "dos and don'ts" of wave runner safety. He sighed and squinted his eyes out toward the ocean.
Somewhere out there was a jellyfish he'd like to run over, he thought wryly.
Monica had barely talked to him since they all came back to the sand-filled house from the beach, her covered in his, well…eww.
Chandler briefly shivered and shook his head, thinking how ironic it was that that exact scenario had to play out just as they were starting to get past his insistence on asking her out. What had started as an off-the-cuff, yet somewhat sincere offer had turned into a quest for him. Over the last few days it had become a bit of an obsession, he had to admit. Then the news of Bonnie's departure and Ross and Rachel's reconciliation had taken center stage and some of his obsession had begun to filter into outright teasing instead.
Then he had to go and pee on her, just when things were starting to get back to normal between them.
He glanced at Joey, who had his arms crossed as he nodded along with the instructors, then at the newly reconciled lovebirds, Ross's arm slung low over Rachel's hips. Yes, when Phoebe had decided to stay another day and salvage what had been a trying beach vacation at best by doing "something fun" Chandler knew Ross and Rachel would, quite literally, be attached at the hip the whole time.
"…and that's the kill switch," the instructor droned on. "It will kill the engine and shut the whole thing off."
When the instructors finished up their spiel, it was time to pick partners for each two-person ride. Ross and Rachel were a given, and when Phoebe declared she wanted to drive both Monica and Chandler backed away, leaving Joey to endure Phoebe's driving skills.
That left him and Monica.
Monica fell in step with Chandler as they started toward the little boat that would take them out to the wave runners, which were on a small, floating barge away from the big sail boats and tourist cruise liners docked in the harbor area. She glanced at him as he extended his hand, with a little grin, as he helped her into the vessel after everyone else settled in. She grinned back at him, trying to push the memories of the day before far away from her brain.
"So, which one of us is going to drive?" he asked as they pulled away from the dock.
"I am" she said, without a second thought.
"Oh, OK," he said, flippantly but a little put-off, "I guess that's settled."
"What?" she asked in wide-eyed innocence. "You didn't think I'd let you drive, did you?"
"Suppose not," he said. "What was I thinking?"
Monica sighed and crossed her arms best she could over her yellow-standard issue lifejacket, which they were all wearing. She squeezed her eyes shut as the waves bounced her and everyone else in their little transport as it made its way to the wave runners.
"OK, look, I should, I guess, thank you for yesterday," she finally said, glancing up at him. "You didn't have to do that."
"Do what?" he said, relaxing as he slipped easily back into teasing her.
"Chandler," she exhaled. "For, you know, doing what you did to…to…"
"Relieve your pain…" he said, gleam in his eye.
"…by relieving yourself…" she deadpanned. She watched his wind-whipped face light up as her hand clasped over her mouth, trying to keep herself from laughing. It was too late though, as Chandler broke into a big smile followed by chuckle that started deep in his chest. Monica giggled as their boat slowed down on its approach.
Chandler looked up over her head, watching one of the instructors toss a rope over to another worker on the small barge.
"We're good?" he asked as he glanced back at her, for the first time feeling excited about their little excursion.
"Of course," she said, with a smile. "Just cool it with the dating stuff, OK?"
He nodded.
"I was just playing with ya, ya know?" he said, giving her shoulder a little shove before they slowly stood up.
"I know," she said, with a little nod. "Um, do you wanna drive?"
Chandler stepped up on the deck and shook his head.
"Nah, go ahead," he said, then added with a wink, "I'll just hold onto you. Tight."
Monica smirked at him, knowing he was joking, but just in case…
"On second thought," she said after a moment. "You drive. I'll hang onto the seat handles."
Chandler nodded. "'K," he said, "whatever floats your wave runner."
Monica rolled her eyes and followed him to their ride.
###
The day was crystal clear, much better than the previous mix of sun and clouds from the days before, without any rain in sight. True to her word, Monica held onto the seat handles and let Chandler drive the wave runner, moderately fast and slow, turning here and there. For once she just enjoyed the ride.
"Whoo," she heard Chandler yell excitedly into the wind and Monica smiled to herself. She lifted her face to the sun as Chandler sped up just a little bit more. Then he sped up a little more and her eyes flew open behind her sunglasses.
"What are you doing?" she yelled at him over the motor, the wind and waves.
"Ah, Joey wants to race," he said, cocking his head to gesture toward he and Phoebe's wave runner. "I'm just humoring him."
Ross and Rachel had taken off in another direction, but their other friends had stayed close to them. Monica's eyes started to sparkle and her competitive spirit started to stir.
"Where to?"
"What?!"
"Where do they want to race to?" she hollered.
"I think that buoy," he yelled back over the splashing water, his words ebbing and flowing behind him as he nodded forward. Monica looked over at Joey, who was waving ahead frantically as Phoebe revved and smiled.
"Let's go!" Monica yelled, smile on her face.
"Eh…I don't know…" Chandler replied loudly, his eyes scanning the semi-crowded ocean around him. Monica wrapped her arms low around his waist, under his lifejacket and hooked her hands together tight his abdomen. Then she nudged her lifejacket into the back of his.
"Well, if you put it like that…" he smirked then revved the wave runner and took off, taking Phoebe and Joey enough by surprise that they had to race to catch up. He felt Monica's arms instinctively tighten around him as they rapidly bounced through the water, leaving rainbows of arching ocean in their wake, both of them smiling into the wind.
"They're gaining," Monica yelled against Chandler's ear. "Go faster!"
Absentmindedly Chandler caught the sight of a speedboat flying by off to his left, something telling him that it was going to cause trouble, but quickly forgot it as Monica kept repeating "Go! Go faster! Go!" into his ear. He dropped the handle down hard and took off. In the next second the wave runner jumped into the air and Chandler pulled the kill switch as Monica screamed and flew off into the water.
###
Monica bounced up in her lifejacket, gasping for air and treading water with shaking arms and legs. She blinked a few times to get her bearings. The wave runner, remarkably right-side-up, was floating not five yards from her, looking perfectly calm and serene in the wake the speedboat had left behind.
"Chandler?!" Monica yelled toward the vehicle. She whipped her head from left to right, then did a 360, screaming his name.
"Chandler! Chandler!"
Once she reached the wave runner Monica swam around to the other side, sure she would find him there. Her heart was pounding and fear had begun to grow inside her when she found he wasn't.
"Oh God, oh God," she whispered hoarsely under her breath. Then she screamed again as tears stung her eyes. "Chandler!"
She heard a banging coming from under the wave runner and a second later she saw his hand grab the side of the stepping platform as he pulled himself out from under, barely.
"Oh my God, oh my God!" she said, swimming to him. His bright blue eyes were wide and unfocused, his face as white a sheet as he took shallow breaths, wincing and coughing with every inhale.
"Chandler!" Monica said in overwhelming relief as she grabbed onto the top of his life preserver, tears and seawater running out of her eyes and down her cheeks. "Are you OK?! Chandler!"
He gave her a weak nod, then began violently coughing again, spitting out seawater as he took in raspy gasps of air. His eyes were bloodshot from coughing so forcefully and tears were running down his face, too.
Just then Phoebe and Joey called out.
"Mon!" Joey called. "Are you guys OK?"
"Yes," she yelled back, her eyes never leaving Chandler's face, which color was finally starting to creep back into. "Yes, I think so." Chandler just nodded, his coughing having subsided and his breathing beginning to steady out.
"We'll go get some help," Phoebe hollered. Monica waved to them and they took off toward the wave running platform.
"Chandler?" she said, softly now as the waves calmed around them, running her hands over his face. "Are you hurt? Can you breathe?"
"Yeah," he eked out. "Now I can."
Monica wasn't so sure as he closed his eyes and attempted a deep breath, pain etched in every corner of his face.
"Augh…" he grunted in a shaky exhale.
"What?!" she asked, a worried expression planted firmly in her features as she pulled him and his lifejacket closer to her. His hand was still on the wave runner.
"What is it? What hurts?"
He shook his head.
"Nothing, I," he started, winced a little, then continued. "Just got the wind knocked out of me, Mon. That's all."
"Oh," she said, relief running through her. "You sure you're OK?"
"Yeah," he finally looked at her and smiled a little. "Yeah. I'm OK."
"You scared me to death!" she said, shaking his lifejacket then wiping tears from her eyes. "Don't ever do that again!"
"Hey!" he said. "I can't help it if I got trapped under this thing after you wanted to go faster!"
He pushed the wave runner with his hand and it started to float away before they both reached and grabbed onto it again.
"You were driving," she shot back.
"You said 'go faster, go faster' so I went faster!" he said. Monica studied him for a moment as they bobbed in the ocean, other watercraft going back and forth around them.
"What do you think happened?" she asked.
"Think we got caught in the wake of that speedboat," he said, now taking deep breaths with just minor wincing. "We hit it just right, or wrong, and flipped."
"You hit the kill switch?"
"Yeah," he said. "Kinda saw it coming."
"Then why did you go faster?" she asked. He looked at her, confused.
"You wanted to win, so I sped up," he said, matter-of-factly. "Looking back on it…"
Suddenly her lips were on his, cold and wet initially. He was so surprised he didn't even close his eyes until her mouth started to move against his and everything started to warm up between them. Needing to breathe, again, he reluctantly pulled back just a touch.
"I just got my breath back," he whispered with a smirk, searching her dilated eyes. "What the hell was that for?"
She smiled.
"In the last three days you have offered to be my boyfriend, even if you were joking," she said, her eyes traveling over his face. "Gotten rid of my pain, even if your method was unconventional and now you almost got yourself killed because I wanted to win some stupid race. If that doesn't earn you a kiss I don't know what does!"
Chandler grinned and gingerly pulled her and her mouth back to him. Monica marveled at how soft and warm his lips felt against hers, making her toes curl under the water.
"Does it earn a date?" he asked softly as they pulled away again, his head beginning to spin a little.
"I thought you said you were joking," Monica whispered, breathless.
"I was," he said, kissing her gently once again. "I'm not now."
Monica's smile widened and she nodded as he beamed back at her in the water.
"And here I thought I'd have to wait for a nuclear holocaust," he said with his lopsided grin as his palm cupped her wet cheek. "Think of the money I'll save on canned goods!"
Monica groaned but her smile widened and she leaned in to kiss him again.
NOTE: Wish I had another beach day! Alas, we head back to the landlocked Midwest tomorrow :( Hope you enjoyed this! Oh, and I haven't abandoned my "twins" - I promise! :)