Chapter 3 - Nipping it in the Bud
Disclaimer: I do not own Friends sadly.
Turned out, Rachel got to work even later than her usual time. Well, what was she expecting with the New York traffic anyway. She just got to the office, her day just starting actually and yet she already feels exhausted. She knows it was because of that cab ride she shared with Chandler. Chandler slept all the way to their offices while she stayed awake trying to shake off her system the strange, weird reaction she's having with Chandler. It's crazy and she needs to nip it in the bud.
She needs to talk to Monica stat. Once her curiosity over what's the real score between those two and how it happened is satisfied, then she's sure everything will go back to normal. This odd fascination with Chandler that she's feeling will go away and he will be back to being just her annoying friend Chandler. Annoying but cute and sweet.
"Nipping it in the bud. Nipping it in the bud. Nipping it in the bud..." Rachel muttered to herself like a mantra. Shaking her head again. She's giving herself a headache with how many times she had shaken her head since she woke up this morning!
Because she came in to work very late she was not able to go to Central Perk for lunch until the following day. When she got there, Chandler was just leaving. They greeted each other hey and he stopped her asking if she has a tennis racket he can borrow. There's a relatively safe distance between them but Rachel still feels like she's standing too close so she stepped backward a little more. "bud nipped " she whispered to herself.
"Did you say something Rach? " Chandler asked her.
"Umm no, I mean, tennis racket? I have but Joey borrowed it and never gave it back to me." Rachel quickly answered.
"Yeah, good luck getting it back then." Chandler said with a guilty, goofy smile and then hurriedly left.
What? What did Joey do to her racket? And, has Chandler always been that cute? Rachel yelled at herself in her mind after that thought. That was not nipping it in the bud!
She stopped her internal berating of herself when she saw Monica sit on the couch from the counter. She sat beside her and asked her what's going on with her in the pretense of catching up. Monica just gave her some mundane answer about how work's okay and stuff. Not the answer that she wants so Rachel blurted out that they should talk about relationships in order to steer their conversation to the way she wants it to go but she did not think it through obviously because she didn't have an answer when Monica threw the question back at her. Well, she didn't really have anything to tell because she hasn't been in a relationship since, like, before Ross' wedding. And since she didn't share anything, neither did Monica.
So yeah that was a waste of her lunch time.
The following night, Rachel tried a different approach. She admitted to Monica that back in highschool she made out with James Farell, a boy that Monica used to like. She acted like she was so relieved that she finally got it off her chest then told Monica that it's now her turn to do the same.
Another epic fail because Monica just looked at her like she's crazy and simply didn't care. It made Rachel so frustrated that she went ahead and told Monica that she knows about her and Chandler. There, she got the reaction she was waiting for. Monica looked surprised. Rachel told her how she found out when she overheard them on the phone, complete with voice impersonation. Ending it where Monica called Chandler "Mr. Big".
Rachel thought that this is it. Monica doesn't have any choice but to tell her the truth now. Monica was so surprised that it even made her stand up from the chair she was sitting on obviously flabbergasted. She won't be able to come up with excuses anymore. She can't lie to her now. But, to Rachel's disbelief, Monica still lied to her! At first she tried to make it out like she's making up stories then it was that she was actually calling Chandler Mr. Bigot and not Mr. Big. Mr. Bigot because Chandler apparently tells the most racist joke. Unbelievable!
The night after that, Rachel is laying on her bed trying to get some sleep. It has been a long day and she's tired. She's feeling a little bit emotional. Maybe because she felt so touched earlier when she overheard Monica telling Chandler that she felt bad not telling Rachel about them. Right before that she was actually going to confront Monica and Chandler after she found out that Monica lied to her again when Joey came in to their apartment and asked her if he can read his comic book there because Chandler and Monica is over at their place and it was kinda hard for him to concentrate. An hour before that Monica just called her telling her not to wait up because she will be working late. What a lying sack of shit!
Rachel had enough of Monica lying to her so she stormed out and walked across the hall to Chandler's bedroom. She was about to open the door when she overheard Monica say to Chandler that she felt bad because Rachel is her best friend and ever since high school she's the one she tells everything to and that she miss that so much now.
Awww, Monica is her best friend too. So she then decided that she will let it go for now. She will just patiently wait until Monica (and Chandler too, she guess) is ready to tell.
Rachel yawned. She closed her eyes and really tried to go to sleep this time but as she closed her eyes the image of Chandler and Monica lying together on Chandler's bed popped into her head together with Monica's giddy voice saying "he's the best sex I ever had". It's making her unable to help herself from thinking and picturing what Chandler possibly does that makes him that - the best that Monica ever had. It's taking her whole strength not to picture herself in place of Monica. It's making her feel things that Chandler should never, ever make her feel.
Rachel opened her eyes and closed them again real hard in an attempt to make the images in her head go away. No! She can, should, and would not think of that way - EVER! She is Monica's best friend. Monica is her best friend. No, no, no, no!
With her eyes closed, Rachel found herself uttering a prayer for help to stop whatever it is that she's feeling for Chandler and for sleep to come however fitful it may be.