Chapter Two
Monica thanked the cab driver and paid him, leaving a small tip as she exited the taxi cab in front of Chez Dahlia, a higher end restaurant her parents always insisted on eating at. Must be nice, Monica thought, to have that kind of money. She, on the other hand, was unemployed. Her and her friends had never considered dining at such an establishment. They were quite content ordering pizza and having an after-dinner coffee at Central Perk. Then again, Monica was very different from her parents. Sometimes she wondered how she even related to them.
She gave herself a final check on wardrobe and settled on the fact that her mother wouldn't approve of anything she would wear to such an establishment, so she entered the restaurant, prepared for the worst.
Ross was right, she couldn't deny that. Her parents had always been less than thrilled with Monica and her way of living. Ross was the perfect child; he had a decent job, he had already been married once and he even had a son. Monica, on the other hand, was still living in a small apartment, unemployed and her boyfriend was currently not approved by her parents. Monica tried not to let it get to her for the most part, but unfortunately, there were times when she had to see her parents and hear all about her failures all over again.
A passing waitress inquired of Monica, and seemed surprised when Monica explained she was meeting her parents. Ugh, Monica thought. The fun begins.
The waitress led Monica further into the restaurant and Monica suddenly became very aware of the dress code, and even more aware of the fact that her dressy jeans and black blouse were not quite up to par. Monica took a breath. This won't last forever.
There they were, her mom and dad, dressed in their finest and waiting for their youngest and only daughter. Monica dutifully gave them both a hug and a kiss before she seated herself across from them. She only ordered a small ceasar salad and a water with lemon, since her parents had already gone ahead and ordered their own food.
"Monica, you really should eat more than just a salad." Mrs. Gheller chastized, glaring at Monica's salad like it was infested with house flies. Monica breathed out.
"Well mom, actually I'm content with just a salad. Not all of us make enough money to buy the filet mignon." She expressed, enjoying the salad that would probably equal the cost of a week's worth of coffees at Central Perk. She tried not to think about that.
"I'm surprised at your decision to wear jeans to Chez Dahlia's, sweetheart." Mrs. Gheller said, taking a moment away from her red wine to gaze judgmentally at Monica's attire. Monica sighed once again.
"I didn't realize it was such a formal dress code." She explained. "You could have warned me."
"Well with a name like Chez Dahlia, what did you expect?" Mr. Gheller asked. Monica only shrugged and went back to concentrating on her salad. Dear God, let this be over soon.
"So how are things, Monica?" Mrs. Gheller asked after a while. Monica felt a bit of a relief. Finally, something that wasn't a personal shot to her, or an insult, just an innocent question. Monica wiped a drop of dressing from the side of her mouth.
"Well, things are okay. You know, I'm still job hunting, putting resumes out to different restaurants and stuff but things are going to look up." She paused, unsure if she should bring up the next part, but decided to anyway. "Richard's doing great too."
That did it. Both Mr. and Mrs. Gheller cringed a little and shared a sideways glance. What had Monica been thinking? Of course, she should have expected this. The fact that Richard, her boyfriend, was the same age as her father, and worse, her father's best friend, well, it definitely made things awkward whenever Monica brought him up.
"Monica, please, I'm trying to enjoy lunch!" Mr. Gheller said, breathing out and dabbing his head with his napkin. Monica rolled her eyes.
"Look, I know you guys aren't happy with the fact that I'm dating Richard, but can't you just be happy for me? I really love him." She tried. Mrs. Gheller made a sound that Monica recognized as her mother's sound for disapproval. It came as no surprise; she knew both of her parents were adamently against Monica dating Richard. He was too old for her, they said. Monica felt as though she would never be able to please her parents. Her mother especially always complained that Monica wasn't getting any younger and should really consider a serious relationship, and now that she had found someone she had felt serious about, her mother disapproved. Monica sighed.
"Alright, look, why don't we just talk about something else then." She said, lifting her hands in defeat. What else could she do? She would never have their approval of Richard, even if she beat them with a stick into submission. "You guys wanted to talk to me about something."
The atmosphere completely changed. Mr. and Mrs. Gheller were both disgusted and against the idea of Richard, but now, as Monica instrumented the topic change, her parents shifted uncomfortably in their seats, and shared a significant glance that Monica couldn't quite read. She puckered her brow.
"What's up?" She asked again. Mrs. Gheller took in a breath and put down her fork, finished with her meal.
"Monica, do you remember your aunt Jodi?" She asked. Monica did.
"Yeah, dad, isn't that your younger sister who took up prostitution, was disowned from the family and took off when Ross and I were just kids?" She asked, trying to remember. She had, after all, only been eight at the time.
"Yeah that's her." Mr. Gheller said with a sigh. "Well, she called us yesterday."
This struck Monica. Her aunt Jodi, whom nobody had even talked about for almost twenty years, called? Why had she called, and even more alarming, why did Mr. and Mrs. Gheller feel the need to sit down with Monica privately to talk to her about it?
"What did she want?" Monica asked, placing her own fork down. Yeah, like she felt hungry now.
"Well, Monica, it turns out that your aunt Jodi hooked up with some guy several years ago and got pregnant." Mrs. Gheller explained. "She kept the baby."
Monica mulled this over in her mind for a few seconds before she realized what that would mean for her. For Ross.
"Wait, so are you saying that Ross and I have a cousin somewhere out there?" Monica asked. Man, she had always known her family was screwed up, but to hear about her prostitute aunt who had been disowned from her family, hooked up with some guy and had a baby that just happened to be a part of Monica's crazy family, well, that blew her away.
Mr. Gheller nodded.
"Yeah you do. Apparently, a teenage girl." He replied.
"So why did she call you? To tell you after over ten years that you have a neice, that I have a cousin? Why does she care so much to tell you something like that after all this time?" Monica wanted to know. She simply couldn't wrap her mind around this. It was too bizarre.
"No, actually, she called for a different reason," Mr. Gheller replied. "She called because she wants to dump her daughter on us. Jodi's...been having difficulties with her daughter; she told me she can't handle all the rebelliousness anymore. Apparently her daughter's been sneaking out at night, staying out late, running off, running away. Jodi can't take it anymore. She claims she's tried everything and gives up. She wants your mom and I to take her daughter in. She said that because you and Ross turned out so well, we must have done a good job parenting you. Jodi thinks it would be good for her daughter to have that."
Monica stared at her parents, completely bewildered. Was this actually happening? It sounded like something that only happened in those bizarre soap operas her mother used to watch. Not in her life. She cleared her throat and shook her head.
"Wow, that's, um..." What? She couldn't even find the right word. "I can't believe she would just ditch her own kid like that. She gets fed up with bad behaviour and just ships her off? That hardly seems like something a good parent would do." Monica shook her head. How would she have felt if her parents had done that with Monica in high school. She laughed to herself. It probably would have been a blessing in disguise, in my case. She thought, remembering her mother's constant criticism as a teenager.
"So are you guys considering it? I mean, are you actually going to take in Jodi's daughter and weed out the rebelliousness in her?" Monica asked, thinking it funny Jodi would pick her parents. Her parents. She couldn't see it happening.
But her parents didn't respond right away. In fact, they just looked at each other. Monica immediately felt uncomfortable as she tried to put the facts together. Her parents just found out about Jodi and her daughter, and now they were in a restaurant with Monica to talk to her. What was Monica's role in this and why wasn't Ross here? What made Monica so important? She swallowed hard.
"Actually dear, that's why we wanted to meet with you." Mrs. Gheller started. Monica felt her stomach knot. Oh this was not going to be good. And then it came.
"We thought it would be better if Jodi's daughter moved in with you." Mrs. Gheller said.
Monica simply stared at them, no doubt wide-eyed and her mouth open slightly. They couldn't be serious. They hadn't just said that, had they? When she didn't respond, Mr. Gheller continued.
"Look Monica, we aren't young anymore. We've already gone through the raising kids thing. We just don't feel as though we're at a place where we can do that right now." He explained.
"What, and you think I am?" Monica said a little too loudly. She ignored the looks of the people from the other tables. Mrs. Gheller sighed.
"Monica, you're unemployed right now, you have more time to deal with something like this." She added.
Monica was shell-shocked. This had come completely out of left field. How could they just spring this on her? Only half an hour ago, she was just Monica, and now, she was Monica who had a crazy aunt who got knocked up and had a daughter that she wanted to ship off to live with Monica. This was insane!
"Look, it's not like you'd have to support this kid or anything. Nobody expects you to take care of anything financially. Jodi's rich. I guess somewhere along the way, she won the lottery or something, made a big chunk of money. Everything would be taken care off, finances, anything you'd need." Mr. Gheller explained. Monica put up a hand, to stop her father from speaking. She didn't know how much more of this she could take. She felt suffocated with all this new information.
"Why can't Jodi just get her life together and learn how to be a good mom? Wouldn't that be better?" She asked. Mrs. Gheller looked her in the eye.
"How could she learn how to be a good mom, dear? She's never been a mom in the first place. Let's face it, from what Jodi tells us, it was the nanny that raised that girl. Now, her daughter's simply too old for a nanny and Jodi is scared. She doesn't know what to do, she never wanted children, and now, her own daughter is out of control. The only thing she knows how to do is send her away." She explained.
"Jodi said if we don't take her, she'll send her away to an all-girl's boarding school." Mr. Gheller added. "So Monica, this is your decision."
Monica felt her stomach stiffen and her hands shake. This is your decision.
Mr. Gheller offered a smile and Monica wanted to punch him. Why do they have to make this sound like a walk in the park?
