Disclaimer: I don't own these Characters. They belong to Bright/Kauffman/Crane and WB. I'm purely using them for non-profit entertainment. And I'm sure the name of Tyler Durden belongs to 20th Century Fox, although I'm not using the character, just the name J
The One Where They're Crusin'
By DivineMissKiwi
"You know, I don't even know your last name, Tyler," Monica said, breaking her gaze through the tiny window of the plane.
"It's Durden" he replied with a smile.
"Well, its nice to meet you, Tyler Durden," Monica said sarcastically, as they shook hands. "I cant believe I got on a plane to the other side of the country with a guy who's last name I didn't even know," she said in disbelief of herself. She turned to look at Tyler, who was still smiling at her. That friendly smile didn't ever seem to leave his face, she thought.
"Wont your work people be just a little pissed when you don't show up to work?" she asked, remembering what he had said when he first came over to her apartment.
"Oh, that's right. Nah, its all good babe, I only said that cause otherwise I would have gone on and on, and I probably would have lost my nerve and never asked you out."
"Oh, OK." Monica was a little disappointed that he had lied to her, but it was no biggy. As she listened to the Pilot announce the time and weather in Los Angeles, she couldn't help get a little freaked out about what she was doing. She realised there would be a lot of questions awaiting her when she got home. Phoebe and Rachel would want to know everything about what was going on, and then there was Chandler. She couldn't believe she had just taken off on him. She could hit herself for how cold she had been to him today. She had been so selfish. Sure, she had woken up and had huge regrets about what had happened. And she'd had conflicting thoughts on those regrets. Her head was spinning from indecision. But she had to right to walk out on him, let alone with a guy she barely knew.
"Monica?" Tyler's voice snapped her out of her thoughts. "Please return your seat to the upright position," he said, mocking the person on the PA, which Monica laughed at.
"I hate landings, too many disaster movies I guess," she told him. Taking her hand from the armrest, he held it in his, which made Monica feel a little better. His skin felt rough against hers, a contrast to Chandler's soft hands, she thought.
As the pair got to the baggage claim, Monica felt uncomfortable as Tyler kept a hold on her hand. Unlike with Chandler, she felt awkward being close to him, even if it were only holding hands. She tried to convince herself she would feel better once she got to know him, something she thought was true, but deep down, subconsciously, she knew she wouldn't.
"Room 3111, this is us," Tyler stated. "Oh, thank god!" Monica said happily. She was dying to go to the bathroom, and the fact that it took them hours to even find a hotel in the first place, let alone ages to find their room wasn't helping. As soon as Tyler opened the door she ran in past him, and closed the bathroom door behind her. "
"Sorry 'bout that," she said when she finally came out of the bathroom.
"S'ok," Tyler said, not breaking his stare out the window. "Check this out, there's a pool right by our room," he said, pointing out the window, where Monica joined him.
"Y'know, I haven't thanked you for bringing me out here, it's really nice of you. I can't remember the last time I came out to LA."
"No problem, babe, but you did pay for your ticket, so it wasn't just me." he said, hugging her around the waist. "I come out here when ever I can, I'm an part-time actor, and there are more gigs out here, so…"
"You're an actor too?" Monica asked, curious about this new side of Tyler.
"Yeah, part-time pretty much means I'm not that good, but I try," he said with his familiar smile. "I don't come down here to Anaheim much, but Disneyland is always fun, so why not?"
"Huh, my brother, Ross, he's one to know. Him and his ex-wife got kicked outta there for having sex on the Small World ride," Monica told him with a laugh.
"Hahaha, sounds interesting!" he said, mischief in his voice.
"Hmmm, I think we should get to know each other a little better first! You wanna go get a late dinner?" Monica asked, sitting down and flicking through the yellow pages that were next to the phone.
"How 'bout we eat in? We can order a few drinks, it'll be a lot more personal." Tyler could see uncertainty on Monica's face, so he added, "Plus, I really couldn't be bothered getting changed and everything." Monica was still unsure, but she really didn't feel like changing either.
"All right, we'll stay here."
"You what?!" Rachel screamed, but Chandler couldn't talk over his tears. "I…. I can't believe this! Its so … I wasn't expecting you to say that, that's for sure!"
"Are you sure Chandler? You're really in love with Monica?!" Phoebe asked. Chandler looked up at her from where he was sitting on the floor, between the two apartments, and tried to regain his composure enough to answer. "I've never been so sure of anything." The girls decided to take Chandler back into Monica and Rachel's apartment, where he could explain himself.
"Basically, last Friday I made her dinner, and fell in love with her. And that's the whole story. There was no double date last night, I took Monica out for dinner because she couldn't decide if she felt the same way, and after she'd had a few drinks, we went to a hotel, we're we came this close to making love….." Chandler paused before he continued, catching his breath. "But a fire broke out in the building, that's where I got his" he said, pointing to the cut on his forehead. "We slept last night at another hotel, but Monica woke up this morning, and was so distant towards me, she barely said two words to me…"
"Wait a minute," Rachel cut in. "If there was no double date, who the hell was that guy she went to LA with?!"
"That's the paramedic from last night," Chandler explained. "He treated me, and Monica talked to him when she was looking for me. He doesn't work with me, and that was the only time either of us had met him before this afternoon," Chandler finished, before breaking down again.
"I can't believe this, Monica wouldn't do something like that!" Phoebe exclaimed, "Its just not a Monica thing, there's gotta be something behind it, and it could only be you, Chandler."
"You think?"
"Definitely! She's probably just trying to get away, clear her mind."
"What if she really likes this guy?"
"Well…" Rachel started, releasing a truthful answer would hurt him, "there's nothing much you can do about it, I guess."
"Ahh, that's where you're wrong Rachel Greene," Phoebe corrected Rachel. "If its love, there's plenty you can do," she said with a smirk, Rachel as confused as Chandler was.
"What do you mean?" he asked, curious about what she was thinking, before Phoebe explained her plan.
"Awww, geez Mon, that's…. that's too bad," Tyler said half-heartedly, as a drunk Monica lay beside him on the bed and rattled off all her problems with Chandler to an uninterested, and also drunk Tyler. "Listen Mon, you're just going to have to forget about this guy, yeah?" he said, faking that he cared. "Its obvious to me that you don't see him as more than a friend, and he has no right to force you into anything."
"Yeah, I suppose he doesn't." Monica said, sadly. Tyler reached over and touched her cheek, running his thumb down her jawbone. Monica felt herself quiver when she felt his rough hands on her once again. As much as she knew she should, she didn't resist when Tyler lay closer to her and kissed her with unexpected force. Within seconds she felt his weight pinning her to the bed as his hands began to explore her body. Her attempts to get out from under him proved futile. As she began to enjoy his touch, the last rational thoughts of what was going on left her mind.
Monica let out a grumpy moan as she heard the phone ring. Turning over in the bed, she half-opened her eyes and saw that it was 9.33am. No need to get up, she thought. She'd let the message service at the front desk get the phone. She turned over again, and went back to sleep.
Despite her efforts to ignore it, the light coming through the crack in the curtains had finally gotten to her. Monica once again glanced at the clock. 10.52am. After staring at the clock until it read 10.54, she finally realised that she really should get up. Slowly sitting up, she stretched her arms out and yawned. Looking around the messy room, she tried, and failed, to remember the night before. She remembered Tyler, dinner, drinking… and then she remembered. There was no way she had slept with Tyler, was there? She tried to think that was the truth, but the empty condom wrappers on the floor told her otherwise. As her aching head sunk into her hands in disbelief, she suddenly realised something was missing. Tyler. Where was he? She quickly stood up and walked over to the bathroom as fast as she could – her body wouldn't let her run yet. Opening the door, her heart sunk when she saw nothing. Hunting around the main room further, she noticed that none of his belongings were there.
"Are there any messages for me?" Monica asked desperately when she reached the front desk. "Room 3111 please."
"Ahhhh," the clerk said as he check through a small stack of paper, "yes, Miss Durden, there is one phone message for you. Mr Durden called this morning, but there was no answer, so a message was taken for you."
"Thank you," Monica said as she took the piece of paper from the clerk. Over his shoulder, she could see another clerk, standing by the phones, looking at her with a worried look on his face. She began to read the message.
'I've decided I don't have the heart to just leave you, so here's the deal. I've got auditions in LA County all day, and I couldn't afford a single ticket, so I used you to get a couple discount. I can honestly tell you I wasn't expecting the whole sex thing, but it was a nice touch. Anyway, have a nice life babe, Tyler'
Monica stared in shock at the note. Her mind was about to explode. Once again, she had been burned because she didn't know whether to follow her heart or her mind. In this case, she had followed neither, just plain old lust. And this time it had left her alone in LA. She looked up from the note to find the clerk from the phones standing behind the counter she was at.
"Sounds like a jerk to me," he said. He must have been the guy who took the message, Monica thought.
"I wish you could have told me that yesterday," she said. Trying to get her mind on track, she asked for the airline tickets they had left in the safe deposit box. The clerk quickly returned with it, and handed it to Monica. She pulled the key out of her pocket, and opened the box. When she looked inside, part of her wasn't surprised to find it empty. She took a deep breath, and closed the box again.
"When's check-out time?" she asked the clerk with a sigh.
"It's midday, but…" he checked the computer, "you have the room till tomorrow, ma'am."
"I do?"
"You sure do."
Monica felt her stomach rumble. "Where's the closest place I can find food?" she asked.
"Coco's, that Kareoke (AN: I'm sure my spelling is way off there, sorry!) bar right over there," he pointed out the window and across the street. Monica wasn't too keen on going to a bar, let alone a Kareoke one, in the middle of the day, but for now, it will have to do.
It had been a while since she had been to a Kareoke bar. She could only remember going to one once, with Chandler, about a year ago. It had taken a while, but she finally got the nerve to sing one song with him. She couldn't remember the words, or even the name, but she was sure if she heard it again, she'd know it.
As she heard the start of happy hour announced, Monica figured it must be 8pm. She was grateful for that thought, because it was one of few she had had that day that didn't involve Chandler. She had been sitting in her bar stool all day, which was depressing enough, but the few bar tenders that had come and gone throughout the day were nice enough to entertain her enough, and even occasionally give her advice on Chandler, even though she had only had one drink. She had given up on making a decision on him, at least for now. She knew she needed to see him again, and talk things through, before she did anything. She had already booked a flight home for the next morning, making sure it wasn't the one her and Tyler were booked on before.
As the evening wore on, more and more people became brave enough to go up to the stage and have a go at singing, and for most it was no more than having a go, which gave her a good laugh at times. She figured all the real talent was up closer to Hollywood or something. Every time she laughed, she remember a joke Chandler had told, or something he had done to make her laugh. He always knew how to make her laugh, and he always knew when to hold back when it wasn't appropriate. She missed him. A lot. By now it had been more than a day since she'd seen him, and even longer since she'd talked to him. As she thought about how much she needed… no, wanted to see him, she felt her heart literally aching inside her chest, as if she couldn't heal it until she was with him again. She closed her eyes and she could almost feel the soft touch of his lips against hers, as he told her he loved her, and she told him she loved him.
"Baby, lets cruise…" Monica heard a voice break through the murmur of the crowd, before it applauded after that one line. Finally, somebody that can sing! Monica thought to herself. As the music continued, the voice repeated the line.
"Baby, lets cruise…." That's odd, Monica thought. Although she didn't remember the words, she could vaguely remember that that's not how the song went.
"Baby, lets cruise…." The voice repeated again. Monica felt the urge to yell out that's not how it went, but she instead just looked towards the male that was standing on the stage. When her eyes met those of the singer, he motioned for her to join him on the stage. Without resisting, she began to walk towards him, never breaking eye contact. When she reached him, he repeated the line again.
"Baby, lets cruise"
"Away from here" she sang with him, not needing to follow the words on the screen, as she remembered the one song she had sung at a bar before. When she finished the line, the audience cheered for her, which made her smile.
(AN: parts in italics are parts sung by Monica, parts in bold are sung by both of them)
"Don't be confused"
"The way is clear"
"And if you want it you got it forever
This is not a one night stand,
babyLet the music take your mind
Just release and you will find
You're gonna fly away
Glad your going my way
I love it when we're cruising together
Music is played for love
Grooving and made for love
I love it when we're crusin' together"
As they finished the first part of the song and waited for the second part, the man leaned into Monica.
"I love you, Monica" Chandler whispered into her ear.
"I love you too Chandler," Monica whispered back.
"Baby tonight"
"Belongs to us"
"Everythings alright
Do what you must"
"And inch by inch we get closer and closer
To every little part of each other, oh baby
So, let the music take your mind
Just release and you will find,
You're gonna fly away
Glad your going my way
I love it when we're cruising together
Music is played for love
Grooving and made for love
I love it when we're crusin' together"
"Cruise with me baby"
"Baby lets cruise"
"Lets flow
Lets glide"
"Let's open up"
"And go inside"
"And if you want it you got it forever
I could just stay here beside you and love you baby
Let the music take your mind
Just release and you will find
You're gonna fly away
Glad your going my way
I love it when we're cruising together
Music is played for love
Grooving and made for love
I love it when we're crusin' together"
By the end of the song, Chandler and Monica were sharing a microphone, and singing with their bodies held together, swaying with the music, their happiness plain to see. With each lyric, they felt their problems melt away. As they reached the end of the song, Monica decided it was her turn to show Chandler how she felt, so she put the microphone aside and kissed him passionately, not caring who was watching.
Part eight (possibly the last part L ) in a few days J ….. and if anybody wants to know, the song I used there is called "Crusin'", and its sung by Huey Lewis and Gweneth Paltrow in the movie Duets.