He knocks softly once on the front door and waits.
A few seconds roll by and its cause enough to wonder if she even heard him. He lifts his hand to knock again but then he hears it. A distant "It's open!" makes its way through the house and down to him. He wastes little time in letting himself in with a twist of the door knob and the slightest of pushes.
The hallway is bright, moonlight streaming in through the glass windows and open curtains of the front room.
"Monica?" he calls out.
"In here!"
He follows the voice and the steady beat of music spilling from a radio, and finds her in the kitchen. It's no surprise really, given the errand she'd sent him on via text, at midnight, where else would she be?
She's got her back to him when he enters the room, head bobbing along to a song he doesn't recognise and cracking eggs with a forceful smack against the counter. His lips twitch at the sight. At the rate she's going, he figures she'll need double the number, since he's pretty sure fifty percent of the egg whites have missed the bowl and are instead now dribbling off the side of the counter, puddling on the floor.
"So I got what you asked for," he interrupts, making his presence known. He lifts up the grocery bags in his hands, and waits for her to turn around.
"Hey!" Monica smiles at him as she spins on the spot, soft curls bouncing around her head as she does. She's decked out in a white apron with little cherries printed all over it, her hair's half tied around her neck, most of it loose, and there's a light dusting of flour on her cheek. She's lovely, and quite possibly the cutest thing he's ever seen, but he's not sure she'd appreciate the sentiment. So he settles for a "Hi" in retort, a smile of his own and leaves the bags still hovering mid air.
"Oh, you can just set them down over there," she points with the wooden spoon.
He does as she asks, as she in turn moves towards the small island in the centre, bowl wedged in the crook of her arm, the other hand stirring the mixture with the spoon.
"What are you doing?" he asks, as he comes around and stands next to her, lower back leaning against the counter.
She looks up at him through a curtain of hair falling across her face and he can literally see the word "Seriously?" written all over it.
"Okay, yes," he says, waving his hand in front of him, "Baking, but what I meant was why?"
"Because," she answers, dropping the bowl onto the counter, " My job's a joke, I'm still single and baking cookies is relaxing"
He knows something is wrong, and his biggest fear was the fact that him kissing her was the cause of this, "At midnight?"
"Yeah" She turned around, the reason she was baking at this ungodly hour was because of Chandler, and here he is the first person to rush to a store at midnight to bring her necessities. "Hey, you're out grocery shopping for me, I messaged everyone- i didn't think anyone would be awake"
"Couldn't sleep either," he shrugged. "Mon, Listen about tonight-
"I'm getting a bit tired" She yawned, facing him now. "Can we talk tomorrow"
"Yeah" He stood up. "Sure"
~.~
The next morning, Monica's head was pounding as all the events of last night flooded back. She groaned when she realized that the kitchen must have been a mess from last night, and the food residue overnight was still there. 'Great'
"Monica!" Joey greeted when she walked out, all dressed. "We thought you died, the kitchen's a mess"
Her smile was lined with annoyance, "Well here I am, alive!"
"Ross left two minutes ago and Chandler never came over for breakfast" Rachel added that last part with caution and Monica gave her a reticent look. "Phoebe ran out saying she was late for a meeting-which was odd because she doesn't work at like an office"
Monica zoned out the rest of the conversation, as she started cleaning, keeping her mind busy trying not to stray to last night or anything that would cause her to slam her head against a wall.
"Bye" Rachel's voice brought Monica out of whatever reverie she was in, Joey had shortly left after breakfast and she prepared herself for the barricade of questions Rachel would throw her way. "What happened?!"
She sighed, getting up and inspecting her work satisfied as the kitchen looked perfectly clean again, "Nothing" she brushed past the blonde.
"Aha!" Rachel followed her to the couch. " That's how I know something did happen. Saying Nothing is international code for 'something did happen'."
Monica rolled her eyes, "We had a really good time,we danced and talked and then he kissed me to prove something to Janice-
"What" Rachel cut her off, her face lined with what seemed to be excitement.
"I know and then to make it worse, I was baking at midnight since i was drunk and mad over something I couldn't control and I sent a text to everyone of you guys to bring more sugar but for my luck-Chandler was the one who went and well imagine the rest I guess"
"That explains that text" she pulled on the lining of the couch. "Oh honey, It's not that bad."
"I know" She smiled. "I've got to go to Moondance"
"Alright, I've got a day off at work so Phoebe and I might go shopping" Rachel stood up with Monica, as they both walked to her room. "Join us if you can, and Mon talk to Chandler"
"I'll try" She bid her blonde friend goodbye, not really knowing which part of Rachel's plea she answered.
~.~
Chandler Bing was going insane, which was, which is ironic, because actually, he's the healthiest he's been in his entire life.
So that's why he is where he is, walking down the road on the way home with his half-conscious colleague.
"You know I hate it when you do that," Matt snarks, brushing his hand off his arm while almost toppling over himself. "Throw in a rainbow and sparkles, why don't you."
"It's for your own good." Chandler responds tiredly, he lost a bet which was the cause of this.
Matt flips his head, trying to focus his eyes, the world spinning, barely able to make out the image of his friend.
"Chan... you're an idiot," he slurs.
"Oh yeah? What have I done now?" He turns around and raises his left eyebrow in response.
"It's not what you've done, it's what you're not doing.
Now, I know I'll never have a girlfriend, and I admit I can be a little selfish, but I don't expect you to join me in celibacy out of pity." He tries standing straighter. " If you like some girl- go for it and you know who"
"I don't like anyone at the moment" Chandler brushes off Matt's accusations of him liking Monica, who he once met at a party.
"Fine," he stated as they walked up the stairs to his apartment. "I'll ask out the dark haired beauty"
Chandler shrugged nonchalantly, "Go ahead"
Matt flipped his head, before falling, and Chandler didn't catch his wasted friend.
~.~
The next few weeks went by and no one seemed to notice that Chandler and Monica barely talked anymore. Of course when they were all together they both would joke around with the group but the once closeness that they had shared had drawn thin into what seemed strained.
"Mon!" Phoebe yelled and Monica rushed into the living from her room.
"What?!" She rushed over to the ditzy blonde who shrugged.
"Could you pass the remote?" Phoebe asked with a grin and Monica huffed annoyed. "Sorry for interrupting your private time with cleaning supplies"
"I was re-organizing my closet" Monica enunciated shaking her head, and sat next to her as Phoebe patted the floor next to her motioning her to sit down.
"You know Chandler" Phoebe started and Monica diverted her gaze to her lap. "He's been acting odd recently. He barely comes over now"
"What do you mean, we all hung out together yesterday" Monica answered, her gaze still fixed on her lap as she picked on the rug.
"I know, but normally he's always here first watching a game or something" Phoebe said thoughtfully. "But now he comes last. Almost if something is possessing him to come late, like someone doesn't want him to be here"
"Phoebe, He's Chandler. We all love him" Monica looked up. "Who doesn't want him to be here" she laughed nervously and Phoebe studied her for a moment.
"I think someone's haunting him!" She cried. "Oh god Monica, this is huge!" She widened her eyes and waved her hands around.
"Pheebs" Monica held back a laugh. "I'm certain that he's not possessed"
"How would you know?" Phoebe asked her, widening her eyes again. "unless you already knew and was trying to keep it a secret so I wouldn't know"
Monica nodded, "I promise you, I would let you know first if I thought one of us was possessed"
Phoebe nodded gravely before smiling, "I've gotta to help Chandler. I need some flowers from an old woman's grave and a silk cloth"
"You go find that" Monica yelled after her phoebe who ran out, before falling into better than she had all day. She looked out the window,
"Ew Ugly naked guy is lifting weights" She said aloud to herself before trying to shake the image away from her head.
~.~
A/N: this is probably the weirdest ending ever. I know the scene at the beginning seemed odd but i wanted to show how they dealed with last nights events without it being similar to how other author's portray the aftermath of mondlers hookups, but of course there just has to be an awkward phase ;) we're finally going to have some more mondler interactions in the next chapter and a bit more of the character Matt. please review!
Thank you for all the reviews, they are so sweet and keep me motivated!