I'm assuming that Ross and Chandler began college in August or September of 1987, because of the Thanksgiving flashbacks from that year and the next. The guys would presumably be 18 at that time. I shall alter those incidents slightly because I was always annoyed by the continuity error about Ross and Chandler being in a band together, when in episode 407, no one was aware of Ross's secret keyboard sound.

As for Ross's inexperience with women, we must remember that Chandler was shocked to hear that Carol was Ross's first lover (104), and he had no idea about Ross making out with his high school librarian Mrs. Alden (809). As for the cleaning lady in college, that clearly contradicts the whole story about Carol being his first, so let's ignore that. Assume that Ross lied about his experience, so that Chandler thinks that Ross is not a virgin anymore.


On his first day at college, Chandler met Ross Geller, his dorm roommate. Chandler had never had to share a room before, let alone with a stranger, so he had to learn patience and compromise.

Ross could be quite boring when he talked about science, and his noisy air purifier got on Chandler's nerves. On the other hand, the roommates did have some things in common, because they enjoyed The Lord of the Rings, along with their other friend Mike Ganderson. Mike was even known as Gandalf, the party wizard, due to his amazing ability to conjure up exciting adventures wherever he went.

Sometimes Ross and Chandler also bonded about their awkwardness with women. Chandler had lost his virginity with a girl in his last year in high school, but he seldom kept any girlfriends for long. It was probably due to his inability to trust anyone, and his tendency to keep people at a distance with his sarcastic jokes.

Ross apparently also had little luck with women, probably due to his terrible flirting skills. He also seemed to be carrying a torch for some girl named Rachel Green. Ross often moped about her and mentioned that she was best friends with his younger sister Monica.

As Thanksgiving approached, Chandler heard that his mother would be abroad that week, and he received an invitation from his father in Vegas, so that he wouldn't be alone on the day that he most hated. Chandler declined, however, and luckily he found an excuse to join Ross for Thanksgiving instead.

Ross had learned from his folks that Rachel's family would be out of town, so she would be spending the holiday with the Gellers. Possibly she'd bring her boyfriend Chip Matthews along, and that made Ross depressed. So Chandler conveniently offered to keep Ross company, and to try out their new fake IDs at a bar.

But when they arrived for Thanksgiving, Rachel didn't bring Chip, because apparently they had suddenly broken up. Mr. and Mrs. Geller seemed not to like Chandler at all, while Monica seemed to be almost too friendly to him. Chandler did his best to be polite, but she really reminded him of his camp girlfriend Julie, and he did not find her attractive.

Then Ross overheard Rachel saying that she would now date mature men instead of high school boys, and he tried to impress her all through dinner.

As they washed the dishes after dinner, Ross told Chandler, "I'm thinking about asking Rachel out tonight."

"Right on! Oh, but ask her out for Friday, okay? 'Cause we're gonna test out our fake IDs tonight, right, Clifford Alvarez?"

"Oh yeah, I didn't forget, Roland Chang. But listen, maybe we should go to the bar later this weekend instead, so I can take Rachel out tonight. I've been working on her all night, and I'm sure she'll go for it if I offer her a shoulder to cry on. But if I wait, she might decide to go join her family skiing in Vail, so I gotta make my move now."

Chandler complained, "Dude, don't do that to me!"

Ross assured him, "It's cool, you can stay here. My parents won't mind."

"No, it's not that. I just don't want to be stuck here all night with your fat sister."

"Hey!" Ross stuck up for Monica.

"Sorry," Chandler said, but still pouted as he continued drying the dishes.

In any case, Ross's plans failed because Rachel got back together with Chip and left.

Chandler made up with Ross and told him that he shouldn't mope about Rachel any more. She was cute, but not that pretty, considering her big nose, and she was clearly not that mature. He could do better than some flighty high school cheerleader. Ross protested against Chandler's insult because he found nothing really wrong with a Jewish nose, but he did appreciate Chandler's sentiment of support. They went out to a bar after all.

Back at college, Ross and Chandler often went to concerts together because they liked the same bands like Wham! and Flock of Seagulls. Chandler wanted to start a band too, but Ross didn't want to play his keyboard for an audience and refused to even let Chandler hear him play.

"Come on, man! Your 'sound' can't be that weird or geeky. I only know how to play the clarinet, remember? But we can buy guitars and fake it until we get better."

"No, I can't play my songs. They're too personal."

"They're not about Rachel, are they?"

Ross only shrugged, while Chandler rolled his eyes and sighed.

Ross even saw Rachel again in May when he came home in time for the high school prom and Rachel once again arrived without Chip. But Ross still couldn't swoop in before Chip showed up. However, Rachel did catch Chip cheating on her that night and dumped him, but Ross decided not to pursue her since he could not be sure that Rachel wouldn't go back to her boyfriend again. In any case, Rachel continued to ignore Ross most of the summer while she got a nose job and helped Monica lose weight.

By his sophomore year, Ross started dating Carol Willick, and he seemed to finally be over his crush on Rachel. Then Chandler came home with Ross for Thanksgiving again, and was shocked to see how much weight Monica had lost. Rachel was there too, visiting because she did not go to the same college as Monica.

Chandler tried to talk with Monica in the kitchen, but he suddenly lost his toe in a freak knife accident, and he miserably spent the night in the hospital. This confirmed for him that Thanksgiving was the worst holiday ever, and he decided to spend the day alone from now on. He would lie to friends and say that he was spending it with his family, but instead he would spend it alone eating Funyuns and grilled cheese sandwiches. At least then, nobody could call him "Sir Limps-a-lot."

When Chandler graduated college in 1991, he still had no idea what career he really wanted; he was too chicken to be a comedian, because even if he could tell funny jokes among friends, he could never take the rejection if an audience booed him. So Chandler took a boring data processing job that he hated, but he rationalized to himself that it was only temporary. He just needed to be able to afford an apartment so he wouldn't have to depend on either his mother or his father anymore.

Meanwhile Ross married Carol and began graduate school so that he could become a paleontologist. He seemed really happy, and Chandler sometimes envied Ross, because he still had no steady girlfriend himself. Chandler was at least grateful to get a new roommate who didn't have an annoying air purifier. He and Kip lived across the hall from Monica and Phoebe, a very weird girl who played guitar and gave massages. Monica was now a chef, and she apparently no longer heard from her former friend Rachel.

Phoebe eventually moved out because she could not take Monica's controlling behavior, but Monica managed to get by, since her apartment actually belonged to her grandmother.

Sometimes Chandler would commiserate with Monica whenever they had bad luck dating, but by now Chandler was so used to seeing Monica as Ross's sister, that he did not try to ask her out. After all, things had been very disastrous when he'd dated Joey's sister back in high school, and he did not want to repeat any of that. Instead it was Kip who began dating Monica.


One night in 1993, Chandler got a phone call from his mom, who was getting married again and wanted to invite Chandler to the wedding in Europe. He reluctantly congratulated her, but claimed that he didn't have enough vacation time to make the trip.

Even when he hung up, Chandler still felt annoyed and didn't want to hang around his apartment in case Annie tried to call him and talk him into going to the wedding. So Chandler got up and went out to catch a movie.

There was no movie that he wanted to see, though, so he kept walking. Eventually he passed by a theatre advertising a play version of Pinocchio. Chandler shrugged and thought it might be fun to kill the time. He could pretend that he had a normal childhood like everybody else, not an emotionally scarring one.

But as he sat down and looked at the cast list, he recognized one name: Joey Tribbiani. It couldn't be. Surely not. But then again, the last that Chandler had heard, Joey was an actor in Manhattan. But no, Joey wouldn't be acting in a kids' play, would he? He'd be trying to get parts in movies. But maybe he hadn't had his big break yet. Chandler couldn't decide, and then the lights went down.

When the play began, it was indeed Joey, dancing out and singing, "Once I was a wooden boy..." He looked much more grown up than he had in high school, so it was odd for Joey to be starring in a play as a young boy, wooden or not.

Chandler was so stunned that he sat through the whole play. It was pretty bad, including the laughable special effects to make Pinocchio's nose grow. When it was over, the lights came up, and Joey finally spotted Chandler when he stood up to leave.

"Chandler?" Joey looked shocked and hurried from the stage as the audience scattered. "I mean, whoa. It's been ten years."

"Yeah." Chandler smiled awkwardly and fidgeted. Now he didn't know what to say.

Joey looked down at his juvenile costume and looked embarrassed. He took Chandler aside, near the stage, and admitted, "It's harder than I thought to be an actor."

Chandler shrugged it off. "It doesn't matter. As long as you're happy." He imagined that Joey was probably happy with Vinnie. Everybody was happier than he was, because they were in couples.

"Well, it was nice of you to come," Joey said. "Thanks. Hey, um, let me go change, and I'll buy you some coffee, huh?"

Chandler blinked in surprise. "Wouldn't that make Vinnie jealous?"

"Vinnie? No, uh, actually, we broke up."

"Oh. I'm sorry."

"It's okay. It was a while back. I thought maybe you would have heard about it already from Annie, but I guess not."

"No, I-I don't keep in touch with her and my mom much."

"Oh, that's too bad." Joey looked at him with the old concern that he had shown back when in high school.

Chandler tried not to remember what it felt like to hug Joey. "I do know that my mom's getting married again."

"Oh, good for her. So, wait here, Chandler, and I'll be right back."

"No, Joe, don't--" Chandler tried to protest, but Joey had already left to change his clothes. Chandler wanted to leave, but he felt it would be rude to do so. Besides, he didn't have anywhere else to go tonight. Well, coffee wouldn't hurt, would it?