A/N: Sorry for the longer than expected delay in getting up this chapter. I do always end up with these extra-long chapters though, so I hope that at least sort of makes up for it. I can also totally guarantee that Chapter 5 will be up by next weekend because I have a pretty easy week, schoolwork wise. (This past week was a paper and two exams, among other things, so I literally could do absolutely nothing but school stuff until Friday.)
As always, thank you so incredibly much for your lovely reviews, and for all the favorites and follows. This chapter is probably my favorite I've written for this story so far (except for maybe the first one), so I really hope you guys like it.
Disclaimer: I don't own Friends, but some dialogue is taken from "TOW the Lesbian Wedding" and "TO After the Superbowl."
Monica was just finishing cleaning up breakfast dishes as Ross and Rachel sipped coffee at the kitchen table when Phoebe and Chandler returned from the coffee house. Phoebe was carrying a shopping bag that she hadn't had when she left, and her expression was one of mild confusion and disbelief. Even with the odd look on Phoebe's face, Monica's eyes were drawn to Chandler. There was confusion evident in his face too, but, more than that, her friend seemed really freaked out. He was staring at the ground, his eyes wide, though he clearly wasn't paying attention to anything in front of him. His mouth was slightly open as he walked mechanically into the apartment. He seemed to be breathing in little short bursts like he had almost forgotten how. Monica had seen Chandler freak out time and time again about relationships or his family or something stupid Joey had done, but she wasn't sure that she had ever seen Chandler look quite this bad, except for maybe the Thanksgiving when she had accidentally cut off part of his toe. But Monica was pretty sure that that had been a once in a lifetime kind of thing.
Monica instantly grew worried herself. Something awful must have happened down at the coffee house.
Ross spoke for the group that had remained in the kitchen. "What's up, guys?"
Chandler continued to stare out in front of him, apparently not registering Ross's words.
Phoebe spoke instead. "Well, we ran into some people at the coffee house." She stopped there as though she didn't need to elaborate.
Monica, Rachel, and Ross all continued to stare at her until she continued.
"Well first we saw Russ."
Rachel shifted her gaze downward sheepishly, clearly trying to avoid Ross's eyes as she sunk back in her seat.
"And he was just sad that Rachel dumped him," Phoebe went on. "But then someone else came in. Oh!" she interrupted herself as though suddenly remembering something. "This is for you." She held out the shopping bag to Ross.
Ross gave her a confused look as he took the bag and opened it. "Hey," he said slowly, "this is my stuff. Where'd this come from?" He pulled out a shirt. "I haven't seen this in weeks! I thought I left it at…" He trailed off, realization dawning on his face. "At Julie's," he finished quietly. "You guys saw Julie."
Phoebe nodded.
Monica's mouth fell open in realization. They saw Julie! she thought to herself. So that's why Chandler's being so weird. The last time we saw her was the whole Betty and Neil thing! I bet Julie asked him about us. At this thought, Monica again grew confused. Why would Chandler be freaking out this much because of that? It's not like that was real or anything…
Monica pulled herself from her thoughts as Phoebe continued with her story. "Yeah, we saw Julie. We talked for a little bit, asked her how she was. She asked about…um… how things are." Phoebe glanced sideways at Chandler, and Monica was certain that Julie had pressed Chandler for information about he and Monica's "relationship."
Phoebe continued. "But then she saw Russ, and it was this weird love-at-first-sight thing. The two of them went off to get juice together." Phoebe shuddered, evidently feeling very weird about the situation she had witnessed.
Ross squirmed in his seat, averting his eyes from Rachel as she did the same to him.
No one spoke for a few moments as everyone processed Phoebe's story.
Then the apartment door opened and a freshly showered Joey walked in, still grinning.
"Joey!" Phoebe seized the opportunity, "tell us more about the audition and the part you got!"
"Sure!" Joey said enthusiastically, apparently oblivious to the awkward situation he had just walked into.
Phoebe gestured for Joey to come into the living room, and she took a seat on the sofa, Joey sitting down next to her.
"Yeah, I want to hear all about it," Rachel said, standing up and walking to sit on Joey's other side.
Ross got up too, nodding, and took a seat in the chair, as far away from Rachel as he could manage.
Chandler stayed frozen near the door, so Monica approached him cautiously.
"Hey," she said softly from beside him.
He jumped slightly, finally meeting her eyes. He looked pretty close to terrified.
Monica hated seeing him look like that. "Are you okay?"
Chandler shrugged, still not speaking.
"Did Julie ask about... you know… 'us'?" Monica put air quotes around "us."
Chandler exhaled and then nodded slowly. "Nice of Ross to not let her in on the fact that that wasn't real." He said finally, the tiniest hint of normal Chandler humor coming to the surface.
Monica let herself smile at Chandler's comment. "Yeah, I figured she asked when Phoebe said you guys saw her. What did you say?" Monica tried not to sound too eager, but she really wanted to know how her friend had described their "relationship."
Chandler shook his head. "I was too flustered to say anything, but Phoebe made some stuff up though. Something about how we're "couple of the year" and how I always worry about you and want the best for you." Chandler's eyes fell to his feet.
Monica decided to set aside the Chandler worrying about her and wanting the best for her comments because she knew they were completely true, and she wasn't completely sure what to do with that information, but she could giver her input on the rest of what he had said. "'Couple of the year'? I guess we could be."
Chandler looked up at her, startled, his eyes wide.
Monica rushed to clarify. "I mean, if our competition is Ross and Rachel. I think we're doing better than they are at this point."
Chandler seemed to let out a breath, and he smiled weakly. The fear was less prominent in his eyes, but he still seemed to be confused and deep in thought.
"We should go hear about Joey's part," Monica said after a slightly awkward pause.
Chandler nodded, and they separated, walking on opposite sides of the sofa so Monica could sit next to Ross in the chair and Chandler could take a seat on the floor across the coffee table from the Joey, Phoebe, and Rachel.
Joey was explaining something about casting, but Monica wasn't listening. She couldn't figure out why Chandler was so freaked out by Julie wondering about their fictional relationship. It was totally normal for Chandler not to be able to make up some lie on the spot, but for him to be worried and upset about it fifteen minutes later was very weird. Clearly there was something else bothering him.
As she thought about it though, she realized that Chandler had been acting a little oddly the past couple weeks too. He had been kind of cold toward Fun Bobby, which was very uncharacteristic of Chandler, who usually loved hanging out with Monica's now-ex-boyfriend.
Was he jealous? Monica almost laughed out loud at the idea, but she did smile to herself at the thought of Chandler jealous because of her. She wasn't quite sure why she was so pleased by that idea, but, nevertheless, she was.
Monica realized with a start that she was far more upset by Chandler's odd behavior than she had been by Fun Bobby dumping her earlier that morning. Well that shows who I care about more, Monica said to herself, unsurprised. She liked Bobby, and they did always have a lot of fun together, but he had never been a guy she could ever be in a real relationship with.
Not like Chandler. He was the greatest friend she could ever ask for, and they really were the "couple of the year" as Phoebe had said. Only, of course, they weren't actually a couple… but what if they were... For what felt like the millionth time in the past month and a half, Monica replayed Julie's words from the coffee house in her mind about how she and Chandler made sense together, and then she replayed that perfect kiss. I could get used to that.
Monica shook herself from her thoughts. She didn't like Chandler, and he didn't like her. He was only acting weird because he had seen Julie, and in a few hours things would go back to normal.
And they did, for the most part. Every so often, Monica would catch Chandler, out of the corner of her eye, staring at her with that confused expression on his face. She still wasn't quite sure what to make of it. A couple times she had been able to watch him for long enough to see him shake his head and turn his gaze down to his feet. It seemed to Monica like he was arguing with himself about something, with the side arguing "no" winning.
Catering Carol and Susan's wedding eventually completely took Monica's mind off Chandler. She was just glad her friend was willing to help her with all the preparations, not that he had any choice; Monica had basically forced the entire group to help out.
Chandler had come up to her after everything was finally done and everyone was getting ready to go to the wedding though, and he had given her a high five and a hug. "Great job, Mon," he'd said. "I don't think anyone but you could have ever pulled that off."
Monica had been left grinning to herself in the kitchen.
That night, after the food had been eaten and the venue cleaned up, the gang sat around the apartment, Ross holding Ben in his lap since Ben was staying with him for the next week while Carol and Susan went on their honeymoon.
"Okay," Monica said conversationally, "which one of us do you think is gonna be the first one to get married?"
"Well, Mon," Ross said from beside her, "I was married."
"Yeah, me too," Phoebe interjected, "technically."
"I had a wedding," added Rachel.
"Alright," Monica said defensively, "just trying to start an interesting discussion." With every wedding Monica went to, all she wanted was to get married herself. Maybe someday, she thought, dreamily.
"Oh, I got one," Joey said after a moment. "Which one of us do you think will be the last to get married?"
Monica watched as Ross, Joey, Phoebe, and Rachel all turned to Chandler in one motion. Monica glanced at him too, just to see his reaction. He looked affronted.
"Isn't Ben in this too?" Chandler said, sitting up and pointing at the baby in Ross's lap.
"Oh yeah," Rachel, Joey, Phoebe, and Ross asserted, nodding. "Absolutely!"
Chandler repeated their comments in a mocking tone as he sunk back in his chair, a sad look on his face.
Monica glanced at him, and he met her eyes. She offered him a small smile and then rolled her eyes, inclining her head at the rest of the group to let him know that she thought they were wrong about him being the last to get married.
Chandler raised his eyebrows at her, as though expecting her to agree with the rest of the group, and then he returned her smile.
She finally dropped his gaze, thinking. Chandler was one of the kindest and most caring guys she had ever met. He was funny and sweet, and he could always make her happy when she was feeling bad. There was no way such a great guy like that would be the last one of them to get married. As soon as he found the perfect girl, that would be it. He had his commitment issues and all that, but Monica knew Chandler well enough to know that he would be able to work through them if he had a real reason.
Whatever girl he ends up with is going to be so lucky, Monica thought to herself, suddenly feeling sad. She realized that she really didn't want to think about Chandler finding another girl. That's weird… Monica shook her head and turned to her nephew beside her. Chandler really needed to stay out of her head.
Life went on. Joey met a stalker who thought he was actually Dr. Drake Ramoray from Days of Our Lives. Phoebe got a job playing songs for kids at the library, but was quickly fired for singing about topics deemed inappropriate for children, even though all the kids loved her. And Ross discovered that his old monkey Marcel was in show business and was filming a movie in the city.
After Ross and Marcel were reunited, the entire gang was invited back to the set the following day to see Marcel and watch some of the filming.
While Ross hung around with Marcel's trainer, Joey and Phoebe went off to try to get Joey a part in the movie, and Monica and Rachel started walking around seeing if they could find anyone famous.
Monica noticed that Chandler, who had wandered off making sarcastic comments at various actors, had started talking with an attractive red haired woman. Monica felt the slightest twinge of something that might have been jealousy, but before she could think about what it meant, someone else caught her eye. It was Jean-Claude Van Damme. THE Jean-Claude Van Damme! Monica couldn't keep herself from freaking out as she pulled Rachel into an alleyway.
Rachel encouraged her to go talk to him, but Monica refused, so Rachel went instead.
Monica watched anxiously from her alley, hoping Rachel wasn't saying anything too embarrassing about her, but, out of the corner of her eye, Monica saw Chandler sitting on the edge of the sidewalk with the same red haired woman as before. Monica turned slightly to see them better, and she noticed that the woman kept laughing and touching Chandler's arm, clearly interested in him. Monica's eyes narrowed. She did not like the way that woman was looking at her friend.
Approaching footsteps took Monica's attention away from Chandler and the other woman. Rachel had come back after her conversation with the actor.
"So what'd he say?" Monica asked her friend excitedly.
Rachel scoffed, almost laughing. "What a jerk! I kept talking about you, and he kept asking me out!"
"Oh," Monica said, glancing over at the actor.
"Well, naturally," Rachel continued, "I said no."
Monica deflated, still staring at Van Damme. "Well, thanks anyway."
Rachel kept going, looking at the ground. "He just kept asking and asking and asking and asking and asking…" she trailed off.
"Rachel," Monica said seriously, "if you want to go out with him, you can. I mean, he sounds like a big jerk to me, but if that's what you want to do-"
Rachel interrupted, turning back to Van Damme. "JEAN-CLAUDE SHE SAID YES, I'LL SEE YOU TONIGHT!" She gave him a thumbs up before turning back to Monica. "Thank you!" She strolled away, leaving Monica staring, openmouthed, after her.
Rachel had no right to do that to her! It would have been one thing if she just came out and asked if it would be okay, but to be so sneaky about it like that! Monica was really annoyed with her friend.
As she followed Rachel's path back to the rest of the gang, Monica saw Chandler grinning excitedly at nothing.
"Chandler!" Monica called over to her friend, wanting someone to complain to about Rachel.
Chandler's grin was still plastered on his face as he raced over to her. "You'll never believe this, Mon. Did you see that girl I was talking to?"
Apparently Monica was going to hear about Chandler's conversation with that red haired woman. That's exactly what I want to know about, Monica thought to herself. Another one of my friends has a date, and of course this time it's Chandler. Monica tried not to look too bitter as she nodded at her friend that she had seen the woman.
Chandler continued. "Well, apparently, we were in 4th grade together, and during the play I lifted up her skirt, and everyone saw her underwear."
Monica raised her eyebrows at him. That had not been what she was expecting.
Chandler laughed slightly to himself. "But anyway, she was totally into me, and we've got a date tonight! Then she basically said she wanted to sleep with me! Could this BE any better?"
Monica smiled weakly at her friend. "Yeah, that's great, Chandler."
Her friend, who was always the first one to realize that she was upset or that something was bothering her, didn't seem to notice her complete lack of enthusiasm for his news. He was off in his happy little "I have a date with a pretty girl" world.
Monica felt insignificant. First Rachel didn't seem to care about her feelings, and now Chandler. And he was supposed to be the one person she could always rely on.
She and Chandler met up with the rest of the group again, and they all walked back to the coffee house together. Chandler and Rachel were both still practically skipping, Joey was running through schemes to get him a part in the movie, and Ross was going on and on about how great it had been to see Marcel.
Phoebe, however, seemed to notice that Monica was upset, glancing at her searchingly several times on their trip back.
By the time they reached the coffee house, Monica had had enough of excited Rachel and Chandler, so she told the rest of the gang that she was heading back to the apartment. As she expected, Phoebe immediately said she would join her.
As they reached the top of the stairs and Monica unlocked the door, Phoebe asked her what was wrong.
Monica explained to Phoebe about Rachel and Jean-Claude Van Damme as her friend nodded along sympathetically from the kitchen table.
"And then Chandler had to go get a date with some girl," Monica said finally under her breath.
"There it is!" Phoebe said, definitively, sitting back in her chair. "I knew this was about Chandler!"
Monica narrowed her eyes at her friend. "This is not about Chandler. This is about Rachel being a bad friend!" Monica dropped her gaze to the floor. "It's just that normally I complain to Chandler about this stuff, but he was too excited about that girl to even notice that I was upset."
Phoebe smirked at her. "You're jealous, Monica. You're used to Chandler paying attention to you all the time, and now you're jealous that you're not the one he's interested in."
Monica stared down at her friend. "What? I'm not jealous! I'm just annoyed that my friend doesn't seem to care that I'm upset."
Phoebe laughed dryly. "Oh, Monica. That's not why you care. Joey didn't notice you were upset, and neither did your brother, but you don't have a problem with either of them. This is all because it's Chandler, and you care about him more than anyone else. Admit it."
Monica opened her mouth to refute Phoebe's statement, but then she stopped. Phoebe had a point. Monica didn't expect Joey or even Ross to try to make her feel better, but she did expect that from Chandler. She knew that she would do anything to help Chandler, and she had really thought that he would do the same for her. And what about how he had been staring at her with that weird expression on his face for weeks now? Monica was pretty sure that that wouldn't be happening anymore, since Chandler had met this great girl who apparently already wanted to sleep with him.
Monica sighed. "Okay, maybe I do."
Phoebe grinned hugely at her. "Well this is progress!"
Monica didn't see it like that. She looked down at the floor gloomily.
Phoebe's expression fell too, and she stood up to put her arm around Monica's shoulders. "Oh, come on, Mon. It'll be fine. It's just one date for both of them. I'm sure this will all be over in a day or two and you'll have your normal Rachel and Chandler back."
Monica sighed again. "Well, I hope you're right."
The next day, the whole group was forced to listen to Rachel go on and on about her date with Van Damme from the night before. Well Monica felt forced; the rest of the group was actually interested.
"Does anybody need anything?" Rachel asked, finally getting up from the couch where she had been sitting to tell Phoebe, Joey, and Monica all about her wonderful night.
"I'll have an espresso," Monica replied. "Oh, actually, I'll get it. If I ask you to, you'll probably end up drinking it yourself." Just because Phoebe had tried to get her to let it all go didn't mean that Monica couldn't still be bitter about her situation.
A minute later, Chandler burst through the coffee house doors, sounding just as excited as he had the day before, if not more so. "Hey! Stick a fork in me," he said, holding his hand out to Monica for a high five as he passed by her. "I am done."
After an exchange between Phoebe and Chandler in which Chandler tried to explain the expression, he finally elaborated on his statement. "I've met the perfect woman."
The grin that had appeared on Monica's face at Chandler and Phoebe's conversation fell off instantly. Apparently Chandler's date had been a success. Great.
Joey, Ross, and Rachel pressed Chandler for more information, Monica staying silent and Phoebe shooting her a look as though to make sure she was okay.
Chandler continued. "Okay, so we're sitting on her couch, we're fooling around," he looked over at Monica and directed the rest of his words specifically to her, "and then she turns to me and says 'did you ever want to do it in an elevator'?"
Monica forced her face into some terrible attempt at a smile. Why did he have to look at me to say that? she thought, trying to keep her face from giving her emotions away. I mean we've always been really excited for each other about stuff like this, but I thought that things were different or something with us now. I guess I was wrong.
Monica barely registered that Chandler was still talking about how he didn't know if he wanted to do it on elevator as she quietly excused herself to go to the bathroom.
She stared at herself in the mirror for a moment. She had no reason to be upset with Chandler; he hadn't done anything. He was allowed to go have elevator sex with his "perfect woman" if he wanted to, and he had every right to brag about it to the rest of the group. Monica just wasn't sure that she could deal with it. Just because that girl wants to have sex in an elevator doesn't make her perfect, Monica said to herself bitterly. Chandler's just being stupid and shallow. This can't actually go anywhere. Monica took a deep breath. "I can deal with this," she said out loud quietly as she exhaled. "No big deal."
Monica's day just went downhill from there. She found out that Chandler and his "perfect woman" were going out again that night, this time with Joey and the movie's assistant director. Monica was so upset about everything with Chandler that she dealt with it by being even more annoyed with Rachel than she had been before. Rachel was going out with Van Damme again later that night too, and Monica was just sick of all of it. Phoebe tried to mediate things between them, but their fight turned physical pretty quickly, Phoebe eventually having to separate them by grabbing one of Monica's ears with one hand and one of Rachel's with the other.
Rachel finally agreed to call Jean-Claude and tell him that Monica was going out with him that night instead of Rachel. Monica was still upset, but this could at least sort of make up for what had happened.
An hour later, Monica found herself back at the film set holding hands with Jean-Claude Van Damme himself. As they walked along the closed-off street, Monica asked him why he had agreed to go out with her, and she discovered that Rachel had told the actor that Monica wanted to have a threesome with him and Drew Barrymore.
Monica let Van Damme walk off as she turned and made her way as fast as possible back to the apartment to find Rachel. Going out with Van Damme when Rachel knew Monica liked him was one thing, but telling him that Monica wanted to have a threesome was another thing entirely. Monica was absolutely livid.
Her fight with Rachel when she got home was worse than the one they had had earlier. By the end of it, Monica had pulled a string out of Rachel's favorite sweater, and Rachel had dumped a jar of spaghetti sauce in Monica's purse, unwittingly ruining a pair of Rachel's own gloves as well as the bag.
Phoebe finally made them see reason, and they both apologized. Monica knew that regardless of how annoyed she had been at Rachel, the person she was really upset with was Chandler. And the worst part was that she didn't even have that legitimate of a reason for being angry with him.
After making sure that everything was going to be okay, Phoebe left to head home, and Monica and Rachel sat down together on the sofa to try to fix Rachel's sweater. It wasn't quite as nice as before, but, by the time they had finished, only Monica's perfectionist eyes could tell that something had happened to it.
Rachel had thanked her friend and had given her a hug before going into her room.
Monica checked the kitchen to make sure everything was neat and clean, and then decided to take the trash out. She picked up the full garbage bag and left the apartment just as someone else was coming up the stairs.
A head appeared at the top of the stairwell, and then a body, covered by what looked like the door to a bathroom stall. It was Chandler.
Monica stared at him, a huge grin growing on her face as she began to laugh. "Hey Chandler, uh, what happened?"
Chandler froze as he reached their floor, covering himself with the door warily as he stared back at her. "Um… it's a long story."
Monica raised her eyebrows at him, still laughing. "Well, I've got time. You want to go get changed out of that stall door?" she joked.
He looked down at what was covering him. "Yeah, that's probably a good idea."
Monica shook her head as Chandler started to move past her. "I've got to go take this trash out, but I'll be in there in a minute. You are not getting away without telling me about this."
Chandler sighed resignedly. "I guess I'd rather you heard it from me than from Ross and Joey." He stopped at the door and then turned his head back to Monica sheepishly. "Can I use your spare key? I don't have mine on me."
"Pretty sure you don't have much of anything on you," Monica said quietly as she dropped her trash bag and opened the door to the apartment to grab her key to Chandler and Joey's apartment from the table.
She could hear Chandler laughing softly behind her, apparently having heard her comment.
When she handed him the key he seemed to be in slightly better spirits than before, offering her the ghost of a smile in thanks as he unlocked the door.
A grin stayed on Monica's face as she threw the trash bag down the garbage chute and hurried back to Chandler's apartment. This was probably going to be the highlight of her otherwise pretty bad day.
She let herself in and sat down at one of the chairs in his living room to wait for Chandler to get changed.
After a couple minutes, Chandler reappeared from his room, now fully clothed, his head hanging down and a sad expression on his face.
Monica immediately stood up and took two steps to meet him. "Oh, Chandler," she said softly as she threw her arms around her friend. "Seriously, what happened?"
Chandler wrapped his arms around her and hugged her tightly. "I'm so stupid, Mon. That's what happened."
"Come on, let's sit down." Monica pulled Chandler into a chair as she took the one opposite him, not letting go of her friend's hands.
"You were having dinner with that girl and Joey right?" Monica said hesitantly.
Chandler nodded, still staring at the floor. "Yeah, Susie. My 'perfect woman.' That's a laugh."
The corners of Monica's mouth rose involuntarily at Chandler's words, but she tried to keep sounding sympathetic and concerned. "Did she do something to you?"
Chandler finally met Monica's eyes. "Did she do something to me? Did you see what I was wearing when I came in here?"
Monica raised her eyebrows at him, confused. "She made you walk home wearing nothing but a bathroom stall door?"
Chandler sighed. "Do you remember how I told you that I lifted up her skirt in the fourth grade and everyone saw her underwear?"
Monica nodded.
"Well, this was payback." Chandler gave Monica the smallest of half-smiles.
Monica narrowed her eyes. "She took your clothes and made you walk home in your underwear because of something you did in the fourth grade?"
Chandler took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "Not exactly my underwear…"
Monica's mouth fell open in realization. "No," she breathed.
Chandler nodded. "Yes. She stole my clothes and left me in a bathroom stall wearing only my socks and her underwear."
Monica couldn't help herself. She burst out laughing.
"Hey! That's not funny!" Chandler said, insulted, sitting back from her, taking his hands out of hers.
Monica wiped the tears out of her eyes as she tried to calm herself down. "Oh, oh yes it is," she said finally, a huge smile on her face as she shook her head at her friend.
Chandler looked hurt, so Monica relented.
"Chandler, come on," she said, taking his hands again. She was pleased when he didn't pull away from her. "If it wasn't you this had happened to, you know you'd think it was funny."
Chandler finally shook his head and offered a small smile. "Yeah, I guess you're right." He squeezed her hand lightly before his eyes grew cloudy again. "I just feel so stupid, you know? She was just using me the whole time, and I was so excited about her! But that doesn't even matter. If I'd thought about it for half a second I would have realized that, even if she was serious with all that stuff, that's not 'the perfect woman' for me." Chandler sighed, looking down at his feet. "I don't want to be 'Chandler: the last one of us to get married;' I want to actually have a meaningful relationship with someone. Someone who I know and trust and care about more than anything. Someone who feels the same way about me." He paused for a moment before finishing quietly. "Someone who I can't keep my mind off of." Chandler glanced sideways at Monica.
Monica's breath caught in her throat. Was he talking about her? Does Chandler… like me? Monica thought, her eyes still locked with Chandlers. And do I… do I maybe like him too?
Chandler lifted up his head, his eyes never leaving Monica's.
Monica was pretty sure she had lost all ability to breathe or even think as she stared at her friend.
He leaned in toward her, and Monica shifted forward ever so slightly in her seat.
The front door opened, and Monica and Chandler flew back from each other, Monica sliding her hands out of Chandler's.
It was Joey with the assistant director in tow.
"Hey guys," Joey said, totally unaware of what he had just interrupted. "Glad you got some clothes on there, Chandler."
Chandler gave him a weak smile and a nod.
"Oh!" Joey said, his eyes moving to Monica. "Monica, this is Cathy," he gestured to woman beside him. "She's assistant to the director for the movie."
"Hi," Monica said, her voice sounding odd. She turned back to Chandler, who was again staring at the ground. "I should probably head back." She stood up.
"Oh, oh yeah," Chandler said, standing too.
The pair passed Joey and Cathy and made their way into the hall, Monica saying a quick goodnight to Joey and a "nice to meet you" to Cathy.
"Um," Chandler started as they stood together in the space between their front doors, clearly unsure of what exactly to say. "Um, well, uh, thanks for trying to make me feel better."
Monica nodded in response. "Yeah, right, no problem. Anytime."
There was a pause as they looked at each other.
"Night, Monica," Chandler said finally.
"Night, Chandler," Monica replied softly.
They each stepped back into their respective apartments and let their doors close.
Immediately, Monica collapsed against hers, breathing heavily. She had almost kissed Chandler again. If Joey hadn't walked in, it would have happened, and Monica was pretty sure she would have been okay with that.
What's going on? Monica thought helplessly as she slid down the door to sit on the floor, wrapping her arms around her knees. "I am not falling for Chandler. I'm not. I'm not." Monica whispered the statement over and over to herself like a mantra, but, somehow, she felt less and less convinced every time she said the words. Monica now understood the fear that Chandler had had in his eyes when he had come back from the coffee house a few weeks before. She was pretty terrified of whatever this was herself.
A/N: Thanks so much for reading! Reviews are the best!