Author's Note: So, wow I haven't updated this in a few months. This always seems to happen, sorry everyone. I even debated whether I should continue this story, I guess I am. So, if anyone even remembers this story, let me know what you think! Thanks.
I tried my hardest to distract him with my exceptional sex moves, but of course that can only last so long and lets face it, even though Joey himself complimented my moves I'm really not that great in bed.
But the sex sure did a number on me and definitely had me distracted. It's not until we're calming down in the aftermath of it all that I remember the million magazines he just found under my bed and how embarrassed I am. I mean I would have rather he found my porn collection... anything, but the fact that I bought eight copies of a magazine which includes: his face on the cover, the first picture of us and some cheesy article about us being a couple. Like it was such an overly fan-girl thing to do. I hate that I did it and left them so easy to find.
I guess it only takes Joey a few more minutes before he remembers and gets back to teasing me.
"So I forgot to ask you, are you gonna cut out the cover of me and put it on your wall?" he asks calmly and I sink under the covers hiding my fire red cheeks.
"Hey, come on I'm kidding," he laughs and pulls the blanket down, off of me.
I glare up at him.
"I'm sorry I was too drunk to realize what I was doing," I say.
He looks at me confused.
"You were drunk?"
"Obviously, why else would I buy eight copies of that magazine. It's so lame," I profess.
He thinks about it for a moment.
"You were really drunk?" He asks honestly.
I look at him and frown.
"Nooo," I groan.
He bites his lip into a cute smile.
"I just got excited and I actually am the lamest person. I also gave copies to Monica and Rachel," I confess.
His smile grows bigger and he sinks down so his face is level with mine.
"You can break up with me now," I joke.
He keeps smiling at me and moves his lips right in front of mine.
"You're too cute to dump," he says and then kisses my lips.
"If that was true I would still be with my 7th grade girlfriend," I tell him and he laughs and kisses me again.
The next two weeks seem to just fly by. I'm so happy I can't help myself. It also helps that Joey and I spend most of our time in our apartments, ordering in or cooking and just being together. I don't even mind we barely go out. I just love being with him. And honestly I'm happy he hasn't invited me to anymore celebrity parties.
As the week is coming to an end I realize our one month anniversary is coming up. God, I've been dating an actor... a famous, hot actor for a month! It's still unreal to me.
I don't want to be cheesy and make a big deal out of one month, I know it's nothing really. I just figure it's a good excuse to go out, have a nice night and maybe do something a little special.
I'm at Joey's apartment Friday night and I bring up my idea.
We're lounging on his couch, watching tv.
"Hey, so I was thinking... tomorrow maybe we could go out, have a nice dinner, do something a little special?" I suggest.
He looks over at me.
"Sure, any special reason?" he asks and I don't want to say it's our one month mark. I don't want to look like a loser counting everyday when he probably has no idea.
"No reason, just want to see you all dressed up," I tell him.
He raises his eyebrows.
"I could dress up for you. What do you want me to put on?"
I laugh at this.
"Just a suit."
He smiles.
"Alright, I have a place in mind."
"Ok and I have something in mind for after," I say and he looks excitedly at me.
I snicker.
The next night I get dressed up and head over to Joey's apartment. He opens the door and again he looks so perfect and handsome in his suit I always want to forget about dinner and get him back in his bed. But of course we made a stupid reservation.
"Mhm I'm glad I told you suit attire," I look him up and down, not even hiding it like I used to... or how I used to attempt to hide it.
He enjoys my ogling and compliment.
"You're not too shabby yourself Mr. Bing," he says while taking my tie and straightening it.
Of course something on me needs fixing.
"God, why do we always have to make a reservation," I whine, sliding my hands down his chest, over his the ends of his suit jacket.
"Why can't you ever control yourself?" he smirks at me.
"Oh you're one to talk," I grin at him.
"Sorry you make me horny," he says.
Just hearing him say I turn him on is a turn on in itself.
"You can't say that to me. I really won't be able to make our reservation."
"Oh just think about baseball," he grins and then grabs his keys to walk out.
We get to the restaurant.
I'm caught off guard when I look up at the restaurant sign and realize it's the same restaurant we almost ate at for our first date.
I look at Joey.
"What's this?" I ask, wondering if he picked it for any reason.
"Well, we never did get to eat here. You never got to try the steak," he says.
I smile.
"Guess today's the day."
He smiles back at me and then opens the door for me.
We get seated immediately. I look around remembering how awful I was the first time we were here. How much anxiety I had over everything and how stupid I was for thinking Joey had no interest in me. And here we are on our one month anniversary, not that Joey even realizes.
Joey orders us some drinks.
After the waiter brings them over, Joey picks up his glass.
"I want to make a little toast," he says, surprising me again tonight.
"Okay," I reply and raise my glass.
"Chandler you can be a bit of a dork sometimes, but... you're a cute dork and... " he starts and I roll my eyes with a smile.
What a romantic speech Joe... I think to myself.
"And I'm glad you're my dork," he continues.
I smile genuinely now, I love that I'm his.
"Happy one month," he says and my eyes widen.
"You remember?" I whisper, completely shocked.
"Of course," he smiles and clinks his glass to mine and we both take a sip.
I start smiling too much and look down at the table cloth.
"What, too cheesy?" Joey asks me.
I shake my head no.
"I just have to stop being surprised by you, I have to wake up and realize how amazing you are," I admit so honestly to him.
"You make me feel amazing," he says.
The waiter comes over again to take out order.
We order the steaks.
"You know, it's funny my surprise for after this also has to do with our one month anniversary," I tell him after our order is in.
"Oh really, what is it?"
"You'll see," I tell him.
We enjoy our dinner and after we take a cab and I slip the driver the address so Joey still won't know where we are going.
We pull up and Joey sees the place. It's the bar where we first met, first slept together... in his car.
I pay the driver since Joey paid for dinner and hop out. Joey follows me, but doesn't look as thrilled as I do.
"See, where we first met!" I exclaim.
"Uh yeah I know... but uh it's just a noisy club you really want to go?" he asks.
I look at him funny.
"Why not? It could be fun, we'll drink, dance a bit and relive the memories," I push.
He still looks unsettled and I'm not sure what's going on.
"What, why don't you want to go?" I ask.
"No, I just... you know it's not very romantic," he says and I give him an even stranger look.
"Clearly you liked this place enough to come here a month ago... fine we can go somewhere else," I huff, annoyed that my surprise was a total fail.
"No, hey don't get upset. I just wasn't expecting to come here. We can go wherever you want," he says.
"Okay lets go," I say and walk to the front door. He sighs, I assume he was hoping I would have changed my mind. He follows me, but lags behind.
I still don't know what his problem is. I know he likes drinking, he likes clubs and parties. What could his deal be?
We walk in and he still looks uneasy with being here. I try to ignore it and attempt to order us drinks, forgetting I never was able to accomplish that last time.
Joey finally walks up to the bar next to me and the bartender runs over.
"Joey! How the hell are ya! I haven't seen you in a while!"
"Yeah I know," Joey responds.
"Where's Andrew? I'm not used to seeing you up here."
"Oh he's home," he answers nonchalantly.
"Well what can I getcha?" the bartender asks.
"Um two beers," Joey orders.
The bartender gets the beers faster than I've ever seen and Joey hands him his credit card, telling him to start a tab.
"I'm glad your back," the bartender beams and Joey just nods.
Just as we pick up our beers and are about to find some more open space two guys run up to Joey saying the same stuff the bartender just said.
They go on about how they haven't seen him and miss him and tell him to go to his booth. Joey shakes his head.
"Uh no I'm just gonna hang low tonight guys, thanks," he says and his hand starts lightly pushing me, hinting to walk away.
We do and I turn back to him when we are clear from the guys. Joey is looking around nervously.
"Alright just tell me what's going on," I demand.
"What? Nothing," he lies.
"Come on, you didn't want to come here and now you're avoiding everyone who talks to you. We can hang out with your friends, we can go back to your booth or table or whatever," I say, but he shakes his head no.
"No, we can't."
"Why?"
"Lets go to the bathroom," he tells me, probably so we're not screaming over the blasting music.
We get to the bathroom and he checks to make sure we're alone.
He looks at me and lets out a nervous sigh. Now I'm surprised by how nervous he actually seems. It starts to worry me.
"Alright what's going on, what's wrong?" I question him again.
"Look I used to come here a lot...clearly. But when I was single and I...acted very single..." he tries to explain.
"So you took home a lot of guys?" I try to understand.
He presses his lips together and lets out a shaky breath.
"Well and also... did a lot here."
"What?"
"I just, you know, did whatever I wanted, I was single and didn't care. I got a reputation and so all these guys don't just know me... they expect... things to happen, cause they always did."
I look at him, speechless.
"So what... you slept with all of them?" I ask uncomfortably.
He doesn't really answer but it's clear he's done one thing or another with probably every regular in here.
All my anxiety and some anger starts surfacing within me.
"Ok so now we can't come here? Are there other places we can't go, other places you have a sex posse?" I spit out in a shaky voice.
"Chandler I'm sorry, it was in the past. Now, I'm with you... it's why I didn't want to come back here."
"I just don't get... I mean, here in the club... with all of them?" I press.
"Not... at the same time," he hesitantly answers.
"Lets just go," I say.
Suddenly things are playing out quite similar to our first date. We walk down the street in silence just like we did a month ago when we were first here.
"Chandler stop," he says and pulls my arm to face him.
"Look I can't change what I did, but I'm serious about us, that's why I haven't gone back there," he tells me.
"I know... it's just..." I start.
He looks worried as he waits for the rest of my response.
"It's just hard accepting these parts of you. Especially for a guy like me. To think about how many guys... I just need some time to get over it," I tell him.
"Ok lets go back to my place and just chill out," he offers.
"No I'm gonna go home."
His face falls.
"Why? Can't we just get over it — together? Come on, we can watch a movie, just forget what happened," he tries again.
"No, I'll call you tomorrow," I tell him and walk off to catch a cab.
He doesn't follow me.
The next day I'm moping around my apartment when I hear a soft knock and look up to see Monica and Rachel slowly walking in.
They look worried and are holding a magazine.
"What's going on?" I ask.
They both turn and look at each other as if they are debating whether to tell me.
"You're freaking me out, what's going on?" I say, jumping up from the couch and walking over to them.
They gently hand me the magazine. I take it and turn it over to look at the cover.
I'm frozen, my heart nearly stops from seeing my worst nightmare on the cover.
It reads: "Joey Tribbiani: Back To His Wild Days?"
Then there is a picture of Joey with another guy in front of the club. The same club, the club where every guy was waiting for their regular nasty session with Joey at his booth or wherever the hell they do things.
The guy is kind of clinging onto Joey with one arm around him and the other hand tugging on his shirt. Joey's head is down and you can't see his expression fully.
I shakily turn to the page, still not saying a word.
The article talks about how the two were seen coming out the club being very handsy and sloppy. It mentions how Joey used to be seen at this club all the time and was usually walking out with a different hunk everything night. "Looks like Joey is back to his playboy ways!" - I read the last line.
Monica and Rachel come over and stroke my arm and my back.
"Maybe it's not what it looks like," Monica tries.
"Yeah it's just a dumb magazine," Rachel adds.
"The guy is all over him, if something wasn't happening he could have pushed the guy off or not walked out with him. I... just left, I left and he went back in? How could he do this? He knew I was upset and he goes back and finds another guy!" I start to completely fall apart.
"How could he do this?" I turn and ask the girls again.
They frown at me and hug me.
"We're sorry Chandler. He's a jerk," Monica says.
"Anyone who could hurt you like that is awful, what an asshole," Rachel adds.
I let them comfort me for a while and then tell them I need to be alone.
I can't process this betrayal, it's so low even for Joey. Not only did he stab me in the back not even two seconds after a fight, but in the place we fought over... in the club where everything happened, where he told me he was a different person, that he changed and cared about me.
I feel sick, horribly sick the rest of the day.
The clock turn to 9pm and I've been miserable all day. I ate half a container of ice cream. I've never felt so low.
The phone rings. I don't feel like talking to anyone or getting up.
But it rings again and I fear maybe it's one of my friends so I get up and answer.
"Hello."
"Hey Chandler?"
It's Joey, I recognize his voice instantly. I can't speak... I can't even breathe talking to him. I'm so disgusted, I'm so hurt.
"Chandler? Can we talk please?" he says.
"What do you want?" I spit out in a low voice.
"You never called, are you still mad?" he asks.
My mouth drops, how could he even ask that. I clench my hand into a fist from the rage I start feeling.
"Am I still mad?... HOW CAN YOU ASK THAT?! WHY DID YOU EVEN BOTHER CALLING ME?!" I explode.
"Chandler... you said you needed some time. I thought you would be ok I mean... I can't..." he nervously tries to answer.
"You stabbed me in the back, broke my heart, you found some other dumb perfect guy two seconds after I left!" I shout again.
There's silence.
I'm boiling inside.
"What are you talking about, there's no other guy. Chandler where did you hear this?"
"Um how about US WEEKLY — WHERE THERE'S A PICTURE OF YOU AND ANOTHER MAN!"
"What? Chandler no, I didn't cheat on you I swear!"
"Then why did you even go back in, how could you do this?"
"I went back in to close my tab! Chandler nothing happened! Look that guy walked out with me, but I didn't do anything — nothing happened."
I don't know how I can believe him. I just don't get why he let that guy near him, let someone take a photo of it happening.
And he has a past, it's wouldn't be hard for him to fall back into his old habits especially with a hundred different guys all over him.
"I just don't know if I can believe you," I tell him.
"Chandler, I am telling you the truth. I really care about you, I would never screw this up. Please, Chandler it just looks bad cause there's a dumb picture but I swear all I did was close my tab and walked right out."
"I don't know, I feel so hurt. How can I trust you?"
He doesn't answer right away.
"If you trust the tabloids over me then this is never going to work anyway," he spits back angrily and I wasn't prepared for this sudden anger.
"Well how am I supposed to know what the truth is?" I question him, raising my voice again.
"You're supposed to trust me and know it's just a dumb article, they lie all the time. Just forget it, there's gonna be a lot of articles and if this how you're gonna be than this can't work," he states.
I'm speechless, I never expected this.
Next thing I hear is a dial tone.
He hung up.
