Chandler poked his head around the apartment door. Monica was there,on her own,cleaning the kitchen. Chandler happened to know the kitchen was already clean,because he had been forced to help clean it the day before...but whatever. it was Monica,after all, they were talking about.
"Heyyyy"
no ,because monica was usually happiest when she was cleaning...or tidying,or organising or doing something else which gave her the chance to release the pyscho-control-freak side of her personality just a little bit more than normal...
Chandler tried again. "Hey,mon"
tense. "what do you want?"
"uhm...nothing?"
slightly deflated,chandler sunk onto the couch and flicked idly through a magazine,wondering what was up. oh just girl stuff.
"jesus!"
chandler looked ,agitated,slammed a cuboard door shut and then kicked it in frustration. "why is nothing where I left it yesterday! why can I not leave anything around here for more than five seconds without somebody moving it?"
"wow-chill,mon,its not that-"
"yes it is!" monica almost shrieked it,and chandler moved back,hands up in a peace gesture.
"okay...okay...just calm down for a second,alright? you seem kind of...stressed."
monica glared at him but backed down at least and chandler continued.
"you want me to go get rachel for you? or pheebs? they might be able to....help" monica nearly said yes,but then chandler half-rolled his eyes to himelf and added in an undertone "go get over your girl problems together,and stop freaking out at me..."
"What?" monica flared up again "why dont you just put eveything under girl problems,chandler,i mean,its obviously nothing important if its something we're feeling! god you are so insensitive...do you ever wonder why I don't tell you when somethings up? huh? because I know you'll just trivialise it,and make me feel worse,and then think you've done something right" monica paused for breath and chandler saw tears welling up in her eyes "when everythings a thousand times worse...because you know you can't even rely on your friends..."
with a sob,monica turned and fled from the room,her door slamming behind her.
chandler rose slowly from the couch. he felt shell shocked,and decided to go for the relative safety of Central Perk,and the some much needed caffeine.
he found ross and joey at their usual table,coffees before them,both wearing equally shaken at ross's face,chandler could make out the exact mixture of guilt,surprise and confusion he felt himself and wonderd what had brouht it hadn't had monica yelling at him too,had had to admit it was kind of scary.
"hey ross"
ross looked up dazedly. "hey"
"uh ross...is monica okay,do you know? she semed kind of..." chandler searched for the right word "...stressed,when I just saw you if anythings bothering her?"
ross looked at him as if to plainly say "why are you even asking me?"
"why are you asking me? rachel would probably know-i mean,theyre best don't you go ask rachel?"
"yeah,i guess" chandler shrugged. "anyone know when shes gonna be back from wherever?"
"nah" joey shook his head. "sorry,,couldn't you ask pheebs? she might know something."
"hey,yeah!" just then ross jumped in
"no do not,i repeat,do not ask pheobe!"
"huh?" joey looked confused. "why not? have they had a fightor something?"
"no" ross scowled at his expresso "but they probably will do been totally weird lately" he caught their looks "i mean weird for phoebe. I was just talking about this reasearch in england I heard about when phoebe starts yelling about the whole animal rights thing...i know thats normal for her,but she was actually yelling,i mean,really I asked if she wanted me to get rachel or monica..."
chandler nodded "and then what did she do?"
ross sighed heavily "then she yells some more,starts to cry and runs out."he paused "i think she went....actually,i have no idea where she went..."
"wow....dont want to sound weird,but thats exactly what monica did..."chandler shook his head "although thats kind of more normal for monica...well I guess the only one not acting weird is rachel...."
"uhhhmm" joey cleared his throat "well actually...i think rachel is acting weird...kind of didnt want to say anything cos shes your sister,man....but when I started telling her about this reeeeally cute girl I met last wednesday night,she started saying I treated women like objects and stuff....she seemed really mad"
"oh" ross slumped back in his chair and gulped some coffee. "then I guess rachel has got whatever monica and phoebe have got going on too....whatever that is" he finished ominously.
chandler was almost looked crestfallen.
"what is it,joe?" chandler asked.
joey looked up from the table "welll...i guess..."
"what?" ross questioned impatiently.
"i guess I hoped..." joey looked slightly abashed "...id hoped it was cos she was jealous..."
*
two hours later,rachel and phoebe edged nervously into the apartment,to find ross,joey and chandler sitting in a row on the couch with monica,who looked very the silent communiques of best friends,rachel tried to ask monica what was going on,but monicas puzzled face told her she had no idea what was happening either.
"heyyy!" phoebe was the only one who was able to act normal.
"can you come sit down?" ross used his reasonant,calm tone,and the girls quickly squashed in beside monica,their apprehension did the guys look so ominous?
chandler was next. "we've decided we need to talk to you about something...."
omigod....all three girls minds went into overdrive,and all started apologising at once,their voces tumbling together,although they could just about tell them apart....
"Ross,im sorry I broke that stupid-"rachel caught herself "i mean,that interesting....thing from the museum....i promise ill replace it...and im sorry I laughed about it with monica and pheebs after,im really sorry,i wasn't trying to be mean,it was just...."
"yeah,im sorry too" monica broke in "i really am...and I promise ill never rearrange your apartment again if you dont like it...or yours,chandler..." chandler jerked his head up "....its just that..."monica squirmed slightly in her seat "....they really,really.....needed it...."
"and im sorry I helped her!" phoebe interupted "ill never give monica my key again,i promise....i promise ill stop throwing away the meat in your freezers,guys,even though it makes me feel sick....and im sooo sorry I forgot your birthday,ross!"she finished.
the guys sat, recoverderd first. "what....what the hell" he finally managed "stay out of my apartment from now on,alright?" he and chandler nodded emphatically. "we never even knew about this stuff!" chandler put to monica "how could you do that,mon? ive been without everything I need for a week...i couldn't find it!"
now the girls looked confused confused...and now more than a little scared. "so uh" rachel said finally "that wasn't what you wanted to talk about?"
"no!" said ross,surprised. "what we wanted to talk about" broke in chandler "was what is up with the three of you minute you're happy because bloomingdales is having a looking at you,rach"he added sternly. "or" he continued "because you're .or"he looked at phoebe "because you gave some of your lunch to a squirrel you think you knew in a past life..." now everybody was looking at phoebe,who looked straight back in wide eyed innocence.
"what?" she defended herself "i totally did-and he was all on his own...."she glared at them all "we were kindred spirits cos we both got victimized by our so called friends..."
"oh yeah,sorry pheebs" joey qickly apologised. "yeah,sorry" everyone added. phoebe smiled acceptance happily.
"but back to the subject" ross looked at them all "like chandler said,one minute you're fine,the next you flip out on us...thats not like you,and frankly" he looked to joey and chandler either side of him "frankly,we're finding it kind of..."he paused "scary....so can you please all stop it?"
the guys nodded as one.
rachel glanced at her friends either side of her. "so...what do you want us to do?"
joey raised his eyebrows "jeeez,all we wnt is for you to stop freaking out! is that so hard?"
the girls considerd. "well" monica said slowly "actually,it kind of is...."
the guys looked surprised. they had never even considerd this.
"yeah" put in rachel,coming to monicas aid "i mean,when you put it like that,it sounds all easy....i know i've been really up tight lately...but sometimes you guys can be really insensitive!"
phoebe nodded "yeah,its just like rachel said,sometimes you guys just make it impossible for me...and all of us...not to freak out!"
"you just lump it all under girl trouble,whatever that is" added monica "and think it doesn't really matter...and it does..."she finished brokenly.
the guys looked slightly nodded.
"'re sorry,and we didn't want to hurt your feelings..."
"yeah,we promise we'll try to stop....whats the word...trivialising your....problems" agreed ross.
"yeah,sorry pheebs,mon,rach" joey looked at each girl in turn and waited a few seconds before bursting out "but if we're gonna do this,then you've gotta do something for us!"
"sure,joe,what?" said pheobe, and monica leaned in to hear.
"wellll...do you know why you're all....tense recently?" joey asked.
"well..."speaking for them all,rachel thought about it "actually....i kind of don't know...."
"uh-hummm,me too!" exclaimed phoebe "i know ive been feeling all....tense and annoyed and stressed recently..."
"i know I have too" put in monica. chandler glared at him. "....but when I try to figure out what it is....i guess its just little thing....but I wish I knew what it was!" she ended nodded sympathetically.
"hold on..."ross interupted "so none of you have any idea whats really up with you?"
"what do you mean really?" asked phoebe.
"well,obviously its something more than just the little stuff" explained ross "if it was just little things,you'd be able to just brush it off and move on...no its something deeper...something you cant admit to even yourselves" he finished mystically.
"omigod!" phoebe nearly lept from her chair and wrung her hands excitedly "this totally all makes sense!"
"i hope it does to at least one of us cos I am totally lost" said rachel in an undertone to monica,and they both collapsed into giggles.
phoebe was exasperated "you guys! look ive hear of this! its repressed memory!" now everybody looked confused. "things you need to fix in your life-things unfinished-sometimes the stress of keeping the, locked up comes out in other forms ....like stress! and eating raw cookie dough!" phoebe beamed around at them all,and rachel blushed.
"right,so you've all got some repressed...memory...thing....that you need to sort out" joey sumarized "so....what do we do?"
"wellll" began ross slowly "i dont know...but I think you should get together....and try to fix stuff between the three of you,it might not fix everything but" he looked around "maybe it would..."
"yeah" agreed chandler "and itll go better if us guys arent here to...make anything worse...so count us out..."
the guys nodded.
"let me get this straight" began monica "you want us to have a....a girls night in thing....to talk about our problems....because you think it'll solve all our problems...?"
"well,not all your problems..." started ross but joey cut him off "yeah pretty much"
"we-elll..." monica considerd,then shrugged "."
"mon!" rachel exclaimed
"what?" monica defended herself "it's a good idea" phoebe beamed "come on,rach,it cant do any harm...please,it'll be fun!"
"well..okay,fine" rachel finally gave in.
"yay!" phoebe looked so happy,rachel smiled in spite of herself.
"so" put in chandler "a night of emotional discovery....at monicas...tonight"
"tonight?"
"yes tonight" said chandler firmly "i think its important....to us all"
"wow...a night of emotional discovery...almost humbling" candler played the proffessor "so what are you going to be doing instead?" asked phoebe interestedly .
"probably sitting in chandlers car eating packets of mustard at a movie drive in...."joey stopped when he saw thwe others looking at him in surprise "what?"
Might write more, but only if you like it. I got the idea for this ages ago. If you have any ideas fo their secrets, just email, kay? :) Or ill just use my oignal ideas....