December 31, 1992 part 2

After a dinner of pizza and wine where Chandler was pleasantly surprised at how light the mood was, they took a cab to a junkyard. Chandler had wanted to see where Phoebe had lived. He had wanted to know how this girl had gone from being completely homeless to sharing an apartment with Monica. When they arrived, Phoebe pushed open a chain link fence and walked in. There were several burnt out cars littering the lot and of course, a lot of trash. It seemed dirty and unsanitary.

"You really lived here?" Chandler asked.

Phoebe nodded as she walked towards a burnt out Buick. Chandler and Monica exchanged a look and followed her. Phoebe sat in the car, Monica and Chandler sat with her. He just kept taking in the darkness and cold of the space. It was December. He could not imagine spending the night here, calling this place home.

"Wow," Chandler said.

"See, there's no phone here Chandler. I couldn't have called you," Phoebe grinned.

Chandler let out a laugh and thought immediately of that night, wishing so badly he could go back. It dawned on him that this is where she came back to after that movie. He had gone back to the dorm he shared with Tyler and his other friends, pissed about the girl who had rejected him. He had spent the remainder of his night watching movies with his friends while she came back here.

"What?" Monica asked.

"Chandler," Phoebe said giving him a look. He knew she wanted him to tell the story.

"Alright...I've never told you this, Mon...but when I was fifteen, my buddies and I drove from Scarsdale to the city to see Hot Dog: The Movie at this theater that never checked ID. In line on the day that I saw the movie was a very attractive blonde girl named, Phoebe. I paid for her ticket, we saw the movie...I asked for her number and-"

"And I had no phone number to give him," Phoebe finished, motioning out to the rest of the yard.

"Oh my G-d...that's amazing," Monica said.

"It was an awful movie, but he was a lot of fun...the rest of night sucked though," Phoebe said.

"Why? You missed me?" Chandler asked, grinning.

"I actually did but...when I got back here after the movie, it was my Sweet Sixteen and a couple of my friends had a party and...it's very hard to have an invite list when you live in a junkyard and one of the guests was an escaped convict who tried to kill me until a friend shot him. The knife missed me by about a quarter of inch," Phoebe said.

Monica and Chandler both stared at her, stunned. Chandler felt his heart drop to his stomach. She had almost died that night. He felt this overwhelming sense of guilt. He had been so angry. He had called her names, been mean and she had come back here and almost died. He fell silent, not wanting to say more because he just felt he would end up in tears.

"Phoebe," Monica said.

"I survived," Phoebe said.

"How? How did you survive this?" Monica asked.

"I had to. Now do you see why I don't care if the towels are in the right place or all the dishes are clean?" Phoebe asked.

"I see...although, heads up...I probably won't stop caring about that. Sorry," Monica said.

"That's okay. I know," Phoebe said.

"Chandler's been trying to get me to not care about a little messiness for the past four years. Nothing works," Monica said.

Chandler's attention turned back to the two girls when he heard his name. He was a little confused by Monica's statement. Past four years?

"Is that why you cut off his toe?" Phoebe asked.

"No," Monica said.

"Why did you cut off my toe?" Chandler said, noticing Monica becoming very uncomfortable by the mention of that Thanksgiving. It truly had been a horrible night although he did always wonder why. He did think he had that right, but Monica would never tell him.

"I-I...you...you were wearing wicker shoes. I hate wicker shoes," Monica tried.

"You're never gonna tell me the real reason?" Chandler asked. That made him a little upset. He had a feeling something had happened, he had said or done something...but he wanted answers.

"Never. It was Rachel's fault," Monica said, looking at Chandler, giving him that pleading look he knew all too well. She wanted to change the subject.

"Always. Pheebs...tell her what you did to Rachel," Chandler said, thinking that might be a better story.

"No...nooooo. That's...no," Phoebe said.

"What did you do?" Monica asked.

"Do you still talk to this girl?" Phoebe asked.

"Oh, G-d no. I hate that girl. She's horrible...she really hurt me," Monica said.

"What if she comes back into our lives and-" Phoebe said.

"No. I guarantee you, I will never speak to her again," Monica said.

"Alright, but if by some chance you do...you can not tell her this. Neither one of you," Phoebe said as she launched into a story about how when she was sixteen she had gone to Long Island and stole a lot of clothes from Rachel's aunt's store. Chandler kept looking at Monica. She looked stunned by all this. Chandler was kind of enjoying the Rachel bashing although he wasn't quite listening to the conversation. Chandler no longer wanted to be in this junkyard. Being here was becoming way too overwhelming, listening to Monica and Phoebe talk was depressing him. It was still New Years Eve. He wanted to enjoy it, somewhat and not take trips down memory lane and share depressing stories. There would be time for that later.

"Alright, ladies...enough," Chandler said, jumping up. "It is New Years Eve...we're going to have a good time. Mon, we're gonna get you trashed and Pheebs...well, I gave up trying to get you drunk months ago."

Phoebe and Monica both stood up and walked over to him as the three began to walk out of the junkyard.

"I can't get drunk," Phoebe smiled.

"I know," Chandler said.

"You can't get drunk?" Monica asked.

"I've never seen tolerance like this in my life and I grew up around alcoholics," Chandler said and secretly praying that Monica wouldn't finish his sentence with. 'and you are one'...but she didn't. Instead, she gave them both a mysterious smile as if she were thinking about something .

"Maybe you haven't been drinking the right stuff?" Monica asked.

"I drink a lot," Phoebe said.

"I know where we're going next. Come on," Monica said as she grabbed Phoebe and Chandler's hands and pulled them out of the junkyard. Phoebe and Chandler exchanged nervous looks.

"Where's she taking us?" Phoebe asked.

"I don't know...Mon, if you take us to clean crap, I swear to G-d, I will kill you."

"Come on," Monica said.

Phoebe and Chandler followed Monica out of the junkyard. Monica hailed a cab and gave the driver directions. Chandler was definitely intrigued. It did dawn on him that in the years he had known Monica, he had never really been clubbing with her, in her world. There had been that Halloween party she had years ago but usually, he'd be drinking and she'd join him. He had never really seen Monica on her turf or with her friends in her life. She'd always been in his world. It made him a little sad that he knew so little about how Monica lived her life socially when she wasn't with him and now he was going to find out.

About fifteen, twenty minutes later, Chandler and Phoebe were sitting in a dimly lit club. The floor was packed with people dancing around to the loud dance music pulsating through the club. It reminded Chandler of when the club would get packed at his house in Scarsdale. When his mom would have those parties and they would be dancing all night.

"Here you go," Monica said, holding three drinks in her hands. Chandler raised an eyebrow as he helped Monica with the drinks, handing one to Phoebe.

"What did you bring us?" Chandler asked.

"Slow Death," Monica said.

"Is that a suggestion?" Chandler asked and given his relationship with Monica over the years, it wouldn't shock him. Chandler motioned for Phoebe to drink first. She picked it up, drank and immediately began hacking.

"Crap, Monica. What the hell is this?" Phoebe asked.

Monica grinned as she looked at Chandler who was staring at Phoebe and then back at Monica.

"Go ahead, Bing. Try it."

Chandler picked up his glass, drank. His throat started to burn immediately as he began coughing. He had never drank anything like this before. He looked at Monica who was slowly sipping her drink.

"It really was a suggestion. What is in this?" Chandler asked.

"Everclear, Jagermeister, Rum, Southern Comfort and Schnapps," Monica said. "Probably should have told you two that it was a sipping kind of drink."

"How did you know about this?" Chandler asked.

"I know things...I came here on my twenty first birthday and the bartender made me a drink...this. That was a fun birthday," Monica said.

Chandler looked at her. He remembered asking about her twenty first birthday and her not telling him anything about it. He had always been curious.

"Why wasn't I invited?" Chandler asked.

"Because I didn't want you there," Monica said giving him an innocent smile as she took a sip of her drink. Chandler's mouth dropped open as Phoebe began laughing.

"I am hurt. I am actually hurt," Chandler said and he was a little bit. He would have enjoyed getting Monica drunk, but it was another sign that she really did have a life completely separate from him.

"You didn't invite me to your twenty first birthday," Monica said.

"You weren't twenty one yet," Chandler said, happily reliving that birthday in his mind.

"I heard about that party. Ross told me you ended up half naked at the top of the Statue of Liberty screaming, 'Welcome to New York bitches,'" Monica said.

"Yeah, that was a good night," Chandler mused as he took a sip of his drink.

"Which half of you was naked?" Phoebe asked.

"That's private...I'm keeping that between me, Ross and the boatload of tourists I flashed," Chandler grinned, "I wanted to show them my Statue of Liberty."

"Oh no," Phoebe said, "wait, so Mon...onto your twenty first birthday...if it was here and you drank this, what did you do?"

"Yeah...you didn't even invite Ross, did you?" Chandler asked.

"Nope," Monica said.

"What did you do?" Chandler asked, getting curious.

"Okay, but you can't tell Ross or anyone," Monica said.

"No, whatever we do or say tonight stays between the three of us...forever," Phoebe said.

Phoebe lifted up her glass and the other two followed suit. The three clicked their glasses together and drank, slowly.

"Alright, I only invited friends from culinary school because I didn't want anything I did to get back to my parents or anyone...which is why I did not invite Ross or you," Monica began, motioning to Chandler, "well, we came here and I got very, very drunk and danced on top of that bar...and..the dance became topless."

"Oh my G-d. You stripped," Phoebe said.

"Only my top...I took it off and just danced," Monica said, her face turning bright red.

"Monica Geller...you drink up," Chandler said, although he was joking, inside he actually began to feel angry about that story. All those times when she got on his case about his drinking and she had danced topless on a bar. It just seemed a little hypocritical.

"I'm so sorry I called you an uptight psycho the other day. I want you to be drunk forever," Phoebe said, hugging Monica who was laughing as well. Chandler sat quietly. It did actually upset him. If she could dance topless in a bar, what else had she done?

Throughout the night, the three continued to dance and enjoy themselves. Chandler tried to put his feelings about what Monica had admitted to doing out of his mind as they continued to drink and dance. The fact that he did have both Phoebe and Monica constantly grinding up against him did help a little.

They left the club around eleven thirty, all three holding each other up as they made their way to Times Square to watch the ball drop. Phoebe had wanted Chandler and Monica to meet her friends and when they reached them, Phoebe could barely contain her joy. They hugged and Phoebe introduced Sue Ellen, Marjorie, Lowell and some other strange guy who seemed very interested in talking to his hand. She seemed s o happy to see them and after introductions were exchanged, Phoebe turned to catch up with her old friends, not paying much attention to Chandler and Monica. Monica grabbed tightly onto Chandler's arm when she looked at him. Phoebe was talking with her friends, not paying much attention to them.

"Are you gonna kiss me when the ball drops?" Monica asked.

"Yep...but...you know, you can never get on me about my drinking again. Hypocrite."

"I'm not-I'm...you're...kiss me when the ball drops."

"I will, but you are a hypocrite."

"If you were there, I wouldn't have been able to get drunk because I'd be watching you," Monica said.

"I don't by that."

"Chandler...let's not talk about this. The ball is gonna drop. I wanna kiss my Harry."

Chandler smiled as the ball began to drop. Monica did love him, he knew that much but he was pretty sure once she sobered up, they'd be back to friends again.

".I love you, Sally," Chandler said.

"I love you, too," Monica grinned, placing her arms on his shoulders and when the time came, they kissed. They were both drunk, of course, and the kiss was very deep and when he was done, he also kissed Phoebe. 1993 was starting off quite nicely.

Several hours later, the three of them were sitting together on the roof of their apartment building watching the sun coming up as they sat together drinking coffee and staring off. Chandler was loving sitting in between Phoebe and Monica. It had been an incredible night.

"I lied," Monica said, her voice barely above a whisper. Chandler and Phoebe looked at her. "I lied about dancing topless at that club on my twenty first birthday. I did go to that club and I did drink...but I didn't go that crazy. I just...I felt left out. It's why Kip and I had been fighting. I felt like I was losing friends and Phoebe, you seem so cool and Kip kept saying that we had each other but I wanted my friends and when I heard you two were going to have fun on New Years, I wanted to join you. Kip didn't and I said I was gonna go anyway and we fought and then broke up."

"Mon," Chandler said as he put his arm around her and gave her a kiss. "You can't lose me."

Chandler began to feel guilty all over again. He hated that he called her a hypocrite, of course she would never have danced topless at a club. He hated that he had actually believed her and not called that out as just so out of character.

"I'm sorry, Monica...I don't want you thinking I'm stealing Chandler," Phoebe said.

"No, you don't have to apologize...I made that topless dancing story up because you two seem to have so much fun together and I know you guys think I'm uptight and controlling and stuff and I just wanted to...fit in, I guess," Monica said.

That made sense to Chandler. Phoebe and Monica kept talking as Chandler let Monica's words sink in. She had wanted to fit in, so had he. His whole life was about fitting in. Maybe he and Monica were more alike than he thought. He was happy though that both girls were there.

"Hmmm, this was a good night," Chandler said as placed an arm around Phoebe and an arm around Monica. The two girls gently fell onto him as they all fell silent when Monica looked up at him again. Her eyes filled with tears again. She looked so fragile in that moment. He gave her another kiss as she rested on his shoulder again.

It was later that day when he was in his room when Monica appeared in his bedroom and shut the door behind her. She was still upset as she walked towards him and sat on his bed, staring at him.

"You did leave me. When you graduated NYU, you left and isolated yourself in your house. If I hadn't invited you to dinner or gone to find you before Ross' wedding...would I have ever seen you again?"

"Monica."

"No, no...don't...no...so don't you dare tell me you will never leave me. You did and I do love you Chandler. I do...but I can't...you left me."

Monica had tears streaming down her face as Chandler sat up, alarmed. He gently cupped her face in his hands and kissed her. She smiled at him as he wiped away her tears.

"I'm sorry. I really am. I'm mad that I didn't get invited to your twenty first birthday, I would have liked to have bought you your first legal drink...but I'm sorry that you think I don't care. I'm sorry that I left...and I'm sorry about Kip. But I'm here because of you and I'm staying because of you. You make me better than I ever thought I could be."

"I'm not even that upset about Kip. I'm upset I might have hurt you," Monica said.

Chandler smiled as he kissed her again. She smiled at him as she took a deep breath. 1993 was going to be different. He was going to be happy this year. That was his promise. When they finished kissing, Chandler got up off the bed and reached for Monica's hand, gently pulling her off the bed. They walked towards Chandler's pile of movies and grabbed When Harry Met Sally from the pile. They walked out of his bedroom and out of the apartment into apartment 20. Monica sat on the couch while Chandler got the movie ready. He pressed play and sat next to Monica as she cuddled next to him. Phoebe soon joined them. 1993 was going to be a good year, Chandler felt. It would definitely be a good one.