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Monica is pouring some coffee into a customer's cup. It's horrible, she wants to be a chef, but what is she doing here? That is by no means what she wants to do for a living. It's just not fair: She has this dream to be a chef at a prestigious restaurant since she's been a little girl. Other people don't even know what they want to do and get these great jobs. And she's here, dancing on the counter with this stupid blonde wig.
Sometimes, when she's standing behind the bar, she pictures herself as a chef in a huge kitchen, where everyone listens to her. And when she's serving another weirdly named dish, she imagines how her satisfied customers called for her and she comes out of the kitchen just to hear them praise the chef. But then again, she tries to get some plates and bumps against the counter with her big, fake boobs and she's right back where she started her dream journey. At the Moondance Diner, doing a job she hates.
"Hey, lady," she hears a voice behind her and turns around. At the bar sits a man, most likely her age, and winks.
"Yes? What can I get you?" Monica begins to smile, because he's a customer and her creed number one is to always be friendly when there are customers around. Except this customer is called Chandler, Monica thinks and smiles. He is always hanging around here, laughing at her misery and he totally deserves being yelled at. Monica's look goes to the booth, where he is normally sitting with some of her friends. Today the booth is empty. He has to work late probably.
"Excuse me? Do you even hear me?"
Monica jumps and smiles at her customer again. "Sorry?"
"I asked for something!"
"Okay, what can I get you?" Monica is still smiling. She has to be careful though. Sometimes, during her boring work, she gets too carried away.
"A date"
"Okay, just a min… Wait, what?"
"A date. With you."
"Sorry, that's not on our menu."
"I know, and that's sad. 'cause you are beautiful."
Monica blushes, even though she doesn't want to. She observes her customer closely. He doesn't look back. His dark hair is a bit curly. He's well-built and well-dressed as well. Not the worst catch, Monica thinks, then shakes her head. No, he's a customer. She could never go out with a customer of hers.
"Listen, I'm not the same person you see here. This," she points at her fake hair, "is a wig. And this," she squeezes her fake boobs, "fake, too. And above all, you're the customer and I'm the waitress."
"Okay, then I stop coming here," the guy gives her an almost irresistible smile. "If I'm not coming again, I'm not your customer anymore."
Monica shakes her head, smiling slightly. "No, it's not gonna happen, I'm sorry."
His smile vanishes. Monica feels a bit sorry, but she also doesn't want to get his hopes up. He's indeed a customer, but she also doesn't feel anything looking in his eyes. If she's about to find the right guy, she wants to feel it the minute she meets him.
"Alright," the guy shrugs. "I'm Pete, by the way. I'm still planning on coming here often and it would be nice to talk to someone. Even if it's the girl who rejected me."
Monica sighs. During her long, boring shifts she might want to talk to someone sometimes. It might be quite nice to have someone to talk to. "I'm Monica."
"Great, nice to meet you, Monica. So, was it always your dream to work here?"
Monica snorts.
"So, no?"
"Definitely not!"
After a long day of work Chandler enters apartment 20. All of his friends except for Ross are there, sitting around the coffee table, but no one is saying a word.
"Hey, am I in a silent movie or what?", Chandler says loudly.
"Shush!" Rachel only turns around to silent Chandler, then she turns back.
He sinks down on the couch next to Monica. "What's going on?", he whispers in her ear and immediately gets angry looks from Rachel and Joey.
Monica turns to him and whispers back. "Phoebe is trying to read our minds!"
Chandler watches Phoebe, who looks intently at Rachel, then at Joey. This can't be true? Has everyone gone mad? Slowly he looks at Monica again. She is still looking at him, smiles and rolls her eyes. Chandler smiles, too. At least he can count on her. He always can.
The look on Phoebe's face relaxes.
"So, Phoebe," Chandler chuckles. "Any luck?"
Phoebe shakes her head. "Nuh-uh. I guess you guys don't even think!"
"Hey," yells Rachel. "Maybe Joey doesn't, but I do."
Joey just laughs, probably not even understanding that Rachel just insulted him.
"So, why did you think you can read those guys' mind?" Chandler's really interested. He likes the weird way Phoebe's mind works. Sometimes, at least.
"Well, I had this customer today and he told me, he hasn't got any money. So I wanted to throw him out, but then he offered me something I couldn't say no to. He offered to teach me to read people's mind. And I – of course – said yes. I mean, come on, reading people's mind? That's so much better than money!"
"And obviously it worked!" Chandler exclaims, just as excited as Phoebe, but only playing to be.
"Yeah, I know, it didn't work well with these guys, but, come on, of course I have to practice first."
"So, Pheebs," Monica clears her throat. "You gave this guy a massage and he didn't pay you? And that's okay for you?"
Phoebe shrugs. "Of course. He showed me how to read people's mind!" She repeats like they haven't heard that already.
"Oh, I'm so happy I'm not the only one who has a job that sucks," Monica sighs.
"I love my job," Phoebe states.
"But you don't even get paid sometimes!" Monica can't quite understand why Phoebe loves a job she doesn't even get paid for.
"Money doesn't matter that much. For me it's more important to have a job that's fun. And I have a job that's fun."
Chandler thinks about this. And comes to the conclusion that Phoebe is kind of right. He thinks about his own job and of course about Monica's. It is important to have a job that's fun. But sometimes it's not that easy.
"And anyway, soon I'm able to read all of your minds!" Phoebe jumps up from the carpet she is sitting on and claps her hands.
"That's gonna be awesome!" Joey joins her.
"Oh," Rachel yells. "Could you teach me how to do it, too?"
Chandler sees Monica rolling her eyes once again. He nudges her shoulder with his. "Hey," he whispers for only her to hear. "I know what you are thinking right now!"
Monica looks at him and raises an eyebrow.
"You ask yourself how you ended up with these crazy people being your friends!"
Monica giggles, then nods her head. "You know me too well," she sighs and leans her head against his shoulders.
Closing his eyes Chandler enjoys the moment and Monica sitting so close. That's normal for them, they even did that before he realized what he felt for her. But now it's different to him. He enjoys these cuddles more. Because he doesn't know when they will stop.
