Mondler: Familiar Faces Trilogy 1 Chapter 33, a friends fanfic

A/N: Hey guys, this is just me reminding you guys for the reviews and suggestions for any improvements I could make to keep coming and to read all the chapters leading up to this one and the other books. Please also keep in mind that strong themes of bereavement and mental health issues will feature from now on for quite a while across all three books, and so if you are sensitive towards that topic, I ask you to keep that in mind before continuing to read on with the trilogy. Thank you so much for your continued support, and I hope you have a good day whenever and wherever you're reading this!

Also side note, a song that I think sums up perfectly what Monica is desperate to say to Chandler in her current state of mind is 'Make This Go On Forever' by Snow Patrol. I recommend giving it a listen either before you read this chapter or during!

Chapter 33 – Chandler

"and I don't know where to look

my words just break and melt

please just save me from this darkness"

- Gary Lightbody

"Have a good day at school," I told Erica as she left the kitchen through the door. "And thank you for the coffee – I really appreciate it!"

"You're welcome, Dad," Erica said, as she closed the kitchen door behind her.

I got up from the table to go and pick up my phone, which had been on charge for the evening, and sat back down at the table after switching off the plug socket. I tapped the home button to see if there was any notifications on my lockscreen and felt my heart leap when I saw that Monica had sent me a text message. Maybe, just maybe, we could already sort out the shit that had gone down last time we saw each other.

My heart dropped right down into my stomach again when I saw that, in fact, all she had sent me was an iMessage link to a song on Spotify apparently called 'Make This Go On Forever' by Snow Patrol. Though I was confused by the lack of context behind this message, I thought there was no harm in listening to it, as knowing Monica, there was probably some kind of hidden message that she wanted me to get from it.

The first line of the song 'Please don't turn this into something it's not' started playing and immediately I found myself rolling my eyes over just how typical it would be of Monica to do this kind of thing and slight amusement over how I was right about her intentions. I had to credit her for how sneaky, albeit manipulative that it was of her to do this.

Nevertheless, by the time the chorus hit, there was a very definite lump in my throat and not long after, I noticed that I'd been subconsciously blinking furiously as if something was in my eye. Once the song had finished, I thought again about how what Monica had done had been so well planned and well thought and it started to seriously anger me because it was so clear as day she wanted to admit she was right and that I was the one who blew our original argument out of proportion. Well yeah, maybe I did take things one step too far, but she didn't have to just fuck off and leave me with our kids over that.

In the end, I just put my phone back on the table and left it there whilst I walked down the corridor from the hallway into the living room. I found Joey and I's old copy of one of the seasons of Baywatch and slotted it into the DVD player on the stand under the TV screen. I grabbed the remote, switched the TV and the DVD player on and then loaded up the film. I sat back, relieved to let Baywatch distract me from the nightmare that my life had become.

Half an hour into the film, I got up from the couch, realising that I'd forgotten to get any kind of drink in my resentment towards Monica's behaviour, and so I went back through the corridor into the kitchen. In the fridge, there was still my stash of beer hidden in the corner, so I selected one can and then shut the fridge door. On my way out of the room, the lit up lockscreen of my phone caught my eye and I thought that I may as well check it, in case it was Ross or the kids or someone. Instead, the notification told me that a number, which I recognised as Phoebe's, had left a voicemail.

Though it was unexpected to have received a call from Phoebe and there was an almost definite chance that Monica set her up to calling as a follow up from the song that I'd received earlier, I decided to give them both the benefit of the doubt and listen to it. Sure enough, it was essentially Phoebe saying that was told by Monica to say that I hope I got her message and if I want to reach out to her, I can, but it's on me to solve this situation now.

It look all the self-restraint that I had in me not to send a voicemail back calling Monica a manipulative, calculating son of a bitch, which was reasonably close to my thoughts about her at this given moment. Instead, I simply put my phone down and left the kitchen with plans to continue watching Baywatch until the twins got back home from school.