Right Here Waiting
Joey/Chandler (Friends)
Everything was quiet.
In fact it was too quiet. It was weird not to have Joey around anymore. It had surprised Chandler, when his best friend had decided to move out. At first, Chandler really hadn't believed it. It had been hard to even imagine it happening.
After talking to Ross about Joey's new apartment, he had been sure. Joey wasn't coming back. He would have to move on and forget about it all. Sure, they could still see each other and yeah, they would still be best friends.
But it would never be the same.
Chandler hid his face in his arms. He felt entirely cold, as he sat there on the floor in the corner of their living room.
His living room. There was no their anymore. There was just his and Joey's. It felt strange not to share so many things.
The fact that Chandler let Eddie move in was really a hope for being able to move on. He really wanted to tell himself that it was okay not to have Joey around anymore. And really, Eddie had been a fine roommate, before he had started to act weird and creepy. Chandler had begun longing for Joey again, comparing the two entirely different guys.
Eddie was nothing like Joey, even though Chandler had tried to tell himself so. God, he had been so stupid and naïve. He really wanted to move on, but he just couldn't.
How could he? How could he just ignore the fact that he had been used to live with the most amazing guy ever?
Kicking Eddie out hadn't been easy. Chandler assumed the guy had some serious issues. But finally he had succeeded, and Eddie had left the building. Chandler really didn't know how much longer the guy was going to stay away.
He kept thinking about Joey. He remembered the day where Joey had met Eddie. He remembered what Joey had said.
"Is this guy great or what?" Eddie had chuckled, amazed by Chandler's sense of humor.
Joey had eyed Chandler with sad eyes, though smiling softly.
"Yeah. Yeah, he is." Joey had left the apartment in the same moment.
Had that meant anything? Had Joey meant something by those words? Sometimes, Joey was hard to see through.
Chandler wiped some tears away. He really missed Joey. He had never missed a person this much before.
How he had been so stupid to actually believe that anyone could ever replace Joey was unbelievable. Of course no-one could. There were no other Joeys out there.
Just as Chandler hid his face once again, he found himself immediately looking back up, when there was a knock on the door.
"Chandler? Chandler!"
He recognized the voice as Monica's. She kept knocking.
"Please, open the door."
"Leave me alone!" Chandler yelled back.
"We're worried about you! Please, talk to us."
"I don't wanna talk to anyone!" He really didn't want their pity. "Just leave me alone..." As his voice faded, he felt even more tears falling down his cheeks. How pathetic.
He could hear some mumbling coming from the other side of the door. And after a brief moment, the mumbling disappeared. Everything was quiet again.
"Seriously, guys, why would you think I could make this situation any better?" Joey asked in the hallway.
"Because he's your friend," Monica said, nodding like it was an apparent fact.
"He's your friend, too!"
"Yeah, but we didn't use to share an apartment with him," Rachel said.
Joey sighed and eyed the door to the apartment he used to live in. Memories filled his head.
"I'm not even sure if he'll talk to me," he said lowly, suddenly feeling very insecure.
The two girls looked straight at him, without words telling him to do something. And a little hesitatingly, he moved to the door. He placed his hand on it and leaned his head closer.
"Chandler? It's Joey! Are you there, buddy?"
He listened closely. Suddenly, Chandler's voice was there.
"What do you want?"
"I wanna talk to you!" Joey yelled through the door. He suddenly found himself trembling slightly. He didn't have to do much to do the math. "I'm worried about you!"
Chandler didn't answer, so Joey tried again.
"Will you let me in?"
He sensed some moving inside the apartment, but the door wasn't unlocked straight away.
"Are you alone?" Chandler's voice asked, this time closer to the door, Joey could tell.
Joey immediately turned to the others, who were standing close to their own door, and waved them away. They obeyed and left the hallway. Joey quickly returned to his task.
"I am."
Almost in the same moment, he heard the door being unlocked. When Chandler didn't open the door, Joey decided to open it himself. He pulled the handle and entered.
He found Chandler standing in the centre of the room with his back towards him, his arms crossed and his head bent. He almost looked like a kid, who was afraid to be punished by a parent.
"Hey," Joey greeted simply, while shutting the door.
Chandler didn't answer, and this made Joey very concerned. He moved forward.
"Chandler?" Just as he touched his friend's shoulder, he felt how he flinched. But Joey didn't let this scare him and placed his hands on Chandler's shoulder and back. "Hey, it's just me. Are you alright?" He kept his voice down and calm.
Chandler shook his head and moved away from Joey. He just couldn't show that he had been crying. Even though, Joey probably knew already. He wiped his eyes, just when Joey spoke again.
"Where's Eddie?"
Taking a deep breath, Chandler finally turned around.
"I kicked him out," he said, before looking at Joey.
When Joey saw Chandler's red-rimmed eyes, something made him swallow heavily. He had never seen Chandler crying. Not in a situation like this. And he couldn't believe that Eddie had been kicked out.
"Why?" he asked, not moving. "I thought it went well."
"Yeah, well... it didn't." Chandler spoke with an ironic tone.
"What happened?" Joey asked while moving closer to his friend.
Chandler sniffled. He was so busted. Now he had to make his confession. He had to tell Joey how he really felt about this whole situation.
"He..." Chandler had to cover his mouth, feeling the tears welling up.
Placing his hands on his friend's shoulders, Joey sought Chandler's eyes.
"What?" he asked. "What did he do?"
Chandler shook his head again, removing his hand from his mouth.
"He didn't do anything. It's just that... He's not you."
Joey frowned.
"What do you mean he's not me?"
"It was stupid to have him living here. I just... I didn't feel like being alone." Chandler looked into Joey's eyes, waiting for some kind of reaction.
Looking into Chandler's eyes, Joey really saw how much in pain his friend was. It hurt to see him like this.
"Chandler, what... What are you trying to say?" He let go of Chandler's shoulders.
"I want you to move back in."
"Chandler-"
"The fact is that things are really not the same when you're not around," Chandler said with a pleading voice, now grabbing Joey's shoulders.
"I thought you were fine with things as they were," Joey said, feeling a little confused.
"I'm not. I'm totally not fine, Joe... I didn't think you would ever come back. You had worked out everything."
"Uh, duh, I was feeling like crap!" Joey said, being sure that Chandler could see that he was being serious. "I was afraid that you wouldn't ever let me move back in."
"What?" Chandler actually chuckled at Joey's words. "Of course I would! Why not?"
"Well..." Joey looked down. "When Eddie moved in I assumed you had kind of... forgotten about me. I thought you were doing just fine without me."
"Don't be stupid," Chandler said, shaking his head. "It's been hell without you, man."
Joey looked back up, fixing his eyes with Chandler's and smiling.
"Really?"
"Yeah." The word came out low, as Chandler smiled.
They looked into each other's eyes for a brief moment, before Joey spoke.
"So... Can you forgive me and let me move back in?"
Chandler's face shined with happiness, when he started grinning. This caused Joey to grin as well, and soon, they were both laughing.
"Let's hug it out, buddy," Joey chuckled and pulled Chandler into a tight hug.
As his eyes filled with tears of pure joy, Chandler couldn't stop grinning.
Joey was finally back where he belonged. And he would never let go of him again.
Side 7 af 7