TOW Misunderstandings Suck - 1

Well guys, I'm back, and this time with another fanfic series (but a shorter series than my last one!) on an idea I got a couple days ago. I decided to change the format of these and not write them in script style, but instead like a story. And just to warn you, I don't know how long these will be. I'm very sure each one will probably end up being shorter than my others, because I'm going to just end each story whenever I feel there's a good stopping point so that you're in suspense or intrigued for the next part that I'll put up. :) Now, at some point in this story I will have some flashbacks to 2003. I don't know when they'll be exactly because I'm not really writing off of something I already have written, I'm typing as I go along. Finally, without further ado...

~~~

February, 2011...On a plane from Texas to Chicago...

Chandler approached his seat, squeezing his way past the other passengers that were trying to store their belongings in the overhead compartments. As he spotted his seat, he saw that he had a person sitting next to him, and wasn't too happy about that. All he wanted to do at the moment was to get home, not make forced small talk to a stranger. Then the woman sitting next to him turned away from the window so he could see her face, and Chandler stopped in his tracks, stunned. He couldn't believe who it was; he hadn't seen her for years.

He continued walking, and stopped again when he reached his seat. Not knowing what to say, he cleared his throat to get her attention. She whipped her head towards him, and her jaw dropped once she recognized him. "Chandler." She stated it, and he couldn't decide if she was happy at all to see him. They hadn't parted on good terms. Awful terms, actually.

"Hi," he said.

Then she realized. "Oh, this is your seat?"

He nodded. "Looks like it. I'm sure I can switch though."

"Oh no," she said. "That's not necessary. I'm sure we can manage to be civil for a couple hours anyway."

He wanted to go right up to the nearest flight attendant and get his seat changed immediately, but decided she was right. They were both adults, and hopefully more mature than the last time they'd seen each other. He decided he could just ignore her the whole way there, and sat down.

~~~

Forty minutes later, they were in the air flying over the Texas/Oklahoma border. Neither one had said another word to the other, and you could cut the tension with a butter knife.

Chandler was leaning back in his seat, trying to figure out just how to deal with the situation. He glanced over at her and saw her staring at her hands. She looked over at him when she noticed him watching her, and she had an expression on her face that was a mix between anger and nervousness.

"So, I see you two are still..." she said, motioning towards his wedding ring with a now-expressionless face.

He nodded. "Yeah. Yeah. Ten years this spring."

"Huh." She suddenly got a furious look on her face, and turned to look out the window so he wouldn't see it. She knew they wouldn't get along, but decided there wasn't any need to make the situation any worse than it already was. She just wanted to make it to Chicago, and then to New York, with her sanity.

Chandler noticed that however, and turned away from her as well. He realized just how angry he was. It'd been a long time since he'd seen her; in fact it was eight years ago at her wedding. The truth was, he'd never planned on seeing her again, much less having to talk to her, and now that he was, some of the things that had been said came rushing back to him. It was so hard to think about. They'd all lost so much because of it. He didn't think any of them totally understood it, or knew exactly why it had happened, even though it had broken their little group up.

~~~

Chandler awoke suddenly as he noticed his ears were popping. The pilot was talking on the intercom, apologizing for some delay in the landing. Thick snow? He looked out the window, and sure enough all he could see was white. He turned to look around the plane, trying to get orientated again, and remembered everything once he saw who was sitting next to him. He sighed, knowing that they'd have to say something to each other soon before they parted ways, because they couldn't just walk off without saying anything else to each other.

She knew it too. As the plane touched the runway, she finally spoke. "Well, I can't say I enjoyed this flight, but I guess it could've been worse. You know, you could've had some awful B.O., or been awake for most of the time."

Chandler forced a small smile at her. "That's true." The plane finally taxied to a stop, and the passengers on the plane began to stand up. "Ah, well, it's on to New York for you then?"

"Yes," she replied, somewhat relieved about how he'd worded that. Hopefully he wouldn't be on the plane to New York with her. "You staying here?"

"Yeah, we uh, live here." He looked once more at her, then quickly stood up and gathered his things. He wanted to get far ahead of her as fast as possible, and he could tell by the way that she remained in her seat that that was fine with her. He paused, and mumbled a "goodbye" at her before hurrying off down the aisle.

~~~

When he entered the airport, he was surprised to see his wife standing near the gate. She smiled as soon as she saw him, and he grinned back at her.

"Hey baby, how was your flight?" she asked, wrapping her arms around him.

He laughed. "You'll see in a moment. But I'm dying to know what I have to be thankful for that had you pick me up from the airport."

"Just look outside, silly. I knew you'd never be able to get a cab in this weather. It took me 40 minutes to drive here myself," she replied. "Now, you looked pretty stressed a minute ago. What did you mean when you said 'You'll see in a moment'"?

"Well, let's just say I knew the person I was stuck sitting next to. Made the flight quite tense."

She was confused. "Well, who was it?" Just then they saw the woman enter the airport, and she saw them watching her. He felt his wife stiffen in his arms. "Oh, my God," she said, surprised to see her.

~~~

End Part One...

Ha ha! I debated whether or not to reveal who the women are in this fic, or whether I should save it for the next, and decided upon the latter. :) It looks like this was a pretty short story, so I'll try to make the rest longer. Let me know how I did with this, it's different than how I usually write!