Listen To Your Heart - Chapter One
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"Monica? Ross? You guys will never guess who I ran into today!" Rachel squealed excitedly as she entered the apartment that she shared with Monica. She dumped her armload of designer-label shopping bags and packages onto the kitchen table and turned to face the living room, where Monica and her brother were sitting, watching TV.
"Are you gonna tell us? Or are we gonna have to guess?" Ross asked in a very unenthused voice. Recently, Ross hadn't had much of a sense of humour and had been unusually distant from his friends, immersing himself into paleontology, barely acknowledging Rachel or Monica's presence in his life. Ever since he and Rachel had split up a few months prior, Ross had found it hard to be around her without yearning. They were slowly re-building their friendship, but sometimes things between them were still strained.
Monica however, seemed vaguely interested in hearing what Rachel had to say, "Do we know him or her?"
"Yeah, it's a him and yeah, you know him. Both of you've met him, actually. Y'know Ross's college roommate? Chandler Bing? I bumped into him in Bloomingdale's. He was picking up some gift for his mother," Rachel drawled animatedly, not noticing the scowl that had formed on Monica's face at the mention of Chandler's name.
"Chandler? Chandler Bing?" Monica scoffed, openly displaying her dislike of him, "That jerk. My God, he was such an idiot. Do you remember that stupid haircut of his? I think–"
"Monica," Rachel cut her off, with surprising sternness, "He's really grown up since college. Today he was very sweet and polite to me. And he's really grown into his looks! He's actually quite attractive." Ross' jealous glare bore into Rachel's skull, but she continued talking, taking no notice, "He recognized me – I wouldn't have known it was him, if he hadn't called out my name. He also said he works for some big office company. Y'know he's even got–"
"Yeah, yeah, enough about Mr. Big Shot Bing. I don't care!" Monica interrupted Rachel under her breath, but loud enough for her to hear. Rachel rolled her eyes at Monica's behaviour. She was being so childish; Rachel expected this sort of behaviour from Ross, who was known to be a complainer, but not from her mature roommate.
Ignoring his sister, Ross pursued the conversation. He seemed more interested in participating now that he knew who they were talking about, "Chandler Bing? I don't think I've seen him in - God! It must be over five years! Since not too long after college grad. We kind of lost touch; I was getting my doctorate and he moved to LA…" He paused as if reminiscing. "What'd you guys have to talk about? You barely knew him! Or did you?" Ross eyed her suspiciously, as if he thought she and Chandler may have been conducting a years-long affair. Rachel rolled her eyes at Ross's now typical jealous behaviour.
"Ross!" Rachel snipped, "I just told you, I didn't even recognize him! He recognized me! Probably because you kept that awful picture of me on your nightstand, all through college!"
"What!" Ross questioned, looking alarmed, "How did you know about that!" Catching the guilty half-smile on his sister's face, he glared at her, "Monica!"
"I'm sorry, okay! I didn't know it was a big secret. Besides she's my best friend! I tell her stuff!" Monica shrugged, looking decidedly apologetic.
Opting to accept that and move on, Ross continued his previous line of questioning, "So what did you and Chandler talk about, Rach?"
Rachel shrugged, "Aah, Nothing much, y'know small talk. He invited me to dinner tonight at six – small place on Bleeker. Said his friend really recommended it. Italian, I think it was? Anyway, he asked me to invite you two along when I mentioned we were still in contact."
"Great!" Ross seemed genuinely happy upon receiving the invite, "I know I can make it. You said six, right?"
"Yeah. Oh, and dress up, the place is semi-formal."
"Okay," Ross responded cheerfully, causing both his sister and ex-girlfriend to look at him strangely. Ross actually seemed genuinely happy.
"So he invited me?" Monica asked, deciding to re-join the conversation, "Are you sure I'm not too fat for him to squeeze into a booth with me?" She asked mockingly.
"Jeez, what's with you Mon? You're acting more sorry for yourself than Ross today." Ross sat on the couch and shrugged, accepting Rachel's accusation, not looking offended in the least. Monica, however, turned pink.
"Nothing," Monica stated defensively, turning her head away from Rachel and pretending to stare at the TV, hoping Rachel would take the incentive and leave her alone.
Ignoring Monica's hints, Rachel continued, "What do you have against Chandler? I never told him you lost the weight, by the way; I thought you might like to surprise him."
"Nothing, alright? Nothing. I'm sure he is a perfectly charming guy, whom I am also sure would love to go out with you! Not me! Not stupid, ugly, fat Monica. See, it has nothing to do with me? Okay? And you never told him I was skinny? So he thinks he's inviting a 'big-fat-whale-sized-cow Monica' to dinner?" Monica grimaced as she said this, looking as if she had swallowed a lemon.
Rachel found herself getting irritated with Monica's sarcasm, "What? I don't want to go out with him! He's just a friend who invited us to dinner. He's bringing his roommate for God's sake, it's nothing romantic!"
By now the argument between his sister and friend had won out Ross's attention over the program he had been watching.
"Correction! He asked you out to dinner, not Ross or I. He clearly only asked us as an afterthought, because you mentioned you still hung out with us. I guess I just don't suit his tastes or something," Monica huffed, irritably.
"Stop being so stupid!" Rachel returned, furiously, "He asked me to invite you and Ross. Clearly he wants to see you or he wouldn't have asked! He seemed genuinely excited about seeing you guys, too!"
"He asked us after he asked you," Monica muttered, petulantly.
"What's the difference? We'll all be there," Rachel suggested, reasonably. "Do you not want to see Chandler or something? You hate him?"
Monica glared at her roommate. "No."
"Yes you do, don't you lie to me Monica E. Geller. C'mon, tell me why you hate him so much?" Rachel goaded.
"I don't hate him. I just don't like him." Monica mumbled, glaring at the floor, refusing to meet Rachel's eyes.
"Uh huh. Yeah, sure, because that's not the same thing at all!"
Monica rolled her eyes. "Whatever."
"So?" Rachel asked, the fire in her eyes clearly showing she would not rest until she had her answer.
"So what?" Monica asked, pretending not to know what was being asked of her.
"Don't play stupid with me, Monica." Rachel said, sitting down next to her roommate, "Why don't you like Chandler?"
"Because I said so!" Monica snapped, turning away.
"That's not a valid answer!"
"Fine," Monica relented, obviously displeased.
Rachel looked more than a little eager at the thought of partaking in some juicy gossip. "So?"
"He called me fat," Monica revealed huffily, making it clear she was not happy about having to answer.
Rachel laughed. "That's it? He called you fat? When?"
"In senior year," Monica explained, "After Thanksgiving dinner, when he and Ross were washing the dishes."
"That's eight years ago Mon!"
"So?"
"You're being ridiculous," Rachel suggested, "Holding a grudge for eight years over something so insignificant! Look, it was awful he called you fat, but honey, you kind of were. He shouldn't have said it, but he was a stupid, shallow teenager. You're going to come to dinner with Ross and I and talk to him. End of story."
"But – I – No – I – don't want to," Monica stuttered, not used to the dominating attitude Rachel was currently wielding. Rachel was usually the laid back one, who let things go however Monica wanted them to.
Rachel took a deep breath, knowing she was about to tread in dangerous territory, "Monica," she said in what she hoped was a sympathetic tone, "It's okay, I know you're scared – frightened – petrified – whatever, of rejection," She smiled inwardly, knowing by the furious look on Monica's face that she was reacting exactly as Rachel had hoped she would; Monica hated anyone insinuating she was intimidated by anyone or anything, "But that shouldn't stop you from coming to dinner with us. I'm sure Chandler will be perfectly friendly, but of course, if you are too scared to come… you can always–"
"Fine! I'll come, but I'm not happy about it and I'm not talking to him. Ever," Monica interrupted, childishly. Rachel folded her arms triumphantly, knowing she had won the little game she was playing with her roommate. Ross smirked at their antics and returned to watching the documentary on sea turtle mating patterns he had flipped on before the fight broke out, pleased that neither of the girls was noticing – or criticizing, as they usually did – his choice of the discovery channel. Both women were far too embroiled in their own thoughts to care.
Monica looked upward and exhaled loudly, blowing several strands of her raven-coloured hair out of her face angrily. Losing at anything, even an insignificant argument was not something Monica would ever be proud of, but she could let that go – just this once. Besides she really did want to show off her new figure to Chandler and prove she wasn't the fat girl he accused her of being. And maybe, even a teeny, tiny part of her wanted to see what he looked like, too.
Out of the corner of her eye, Monica caught sight of Rachel smirking, a triumphant glint in usually calm blue eyes. Monica scowled, scooting down the couch, so she was seated as far away from Rachel as possible.
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There is far too little Mondler left in this fandom, so I've decided to do my part and contribute! This is an old story of mine, once posted under another penname, with the title of 'Matchmaker,' if it seems familiar to anyone. With the help of a good friend (you know who you are!) I've decided to completely rework this and repost it. I've already got several chapters written, but I love to see reviews and hear your comments and opinions :) They'll definitely make the chapters come faster, too.