The Theory
Chapter VII
Maybe I didn't treat you
Quite as good as I should have
Maybe I didn't love you
Quite as often as I could have
Little things I should have said and done
I just never took the time
You were always on my mind
You were always on my mind(Always on My Mind, by Wayne Thompson/Mark James/Johnny Christopher)
They helped him pack—reluctantly. They knew that it was the best thing that they could do for him; to support his decision…to let him go. None of them wanted it, but they all knew he needed time, and they were willing to do anything to make his see how much they cared about him.
He sat in the center of the sea of cardboard—he never realized he had so much stuff! The others had retreated to Monica and Rachel's for pizza a few minutes earlier. He stayed behind, claiming he had to finish something, and that he'd be over soon. But the truth was, he didn't want to go over there, eat pizza, and pretend that everything was okay. He sighed, as he scanned the boxes that surrounded him—he was relieved to be alone for a moment. He knew they all wanted to help—that they all wanted to make sure he was going to be okay. Ross had helped him find a new apartment, and Rachel and Phoebe had helped him shop for new furniture (he'd insisted on leaving all of his other furniture with Joey). Monica kept cooking and freezing food for him—like he was totally incapable of caring for himself! He was, after all, only moving across town—and he was an adult, and fully capable of taking care of himself.
He'd been taking care of himself for years—as an only child of a nasty divorce, he'd had no other choice.
Chandler was pulled from his thoughts when the apartment door opened. He assumed it was Monica, coming over to coax him into eating with them.
It wasn't Monica; it was Joey.
"Hey," Joey said quietly.
"Hey," Chandler replied, then cocked his head to the side, "You guys outta pizza already?"
"I…wasn't hungry," Joey said, as he leaned up against the counter.
Chandler let out a snort-like laugh, then sobered when he saw that Joey wasn't kidding.
"Look, Chandler I know that you need time and stuff, but I—this is weird for me, ya know?"
"Joey, I know I'm just kind of ditching you, and I am sorry about that. Look, if you have any trouble paying bills, give me a call, okay?"
"I'm not worried about bills, or the rent…I just…I don't want to lose my roommate! Who am I gonna talk to late at night? Who's gonna watch Baywatch with me?"
"Joey—"
"No! I know you need time and space and stuff. But why do you have to move away? I mean, I can give you space, and I promise you won't always have to go to the coffee house with us…" Joey's voice was full of desperation.
"I can't Joe, it doesn't work like that—"
"But why not?"
"Because it can't, okay?" Chandler yelled, letting his agitation get the better of him, "I can't do this with you in the next room, and with Monica—" Chandler stopped abruptly and lowered his eyes, but it was too late—Joey caught on.
"What? What about Monica? This is bigger than just our friendship, isn't it? Do you still have a thing for her?"
Chandler looked up sharply, trying to hide the shock on his face. How did Joey know about his crush on Monica? Chandler shook his head, as he recalled the night several years ago, when he'd gotten drunk, and spilled his guts to Joey. Why had he done that?
Because, you idiot, you trusted him—and look where it got you.
"I don't have a thing for her—I" Chandler shook his head, and resumed packing, "It doesn't matter. I have my reasons, and you all promised to honor them."
"I just—I just wish you could let this go," Joey said quietly.
"I wish I could too, Joe—but you went too far. I'm sorry."
~One Year Later~
Chandler fumbled with his shopping bags and his keys, as he struggled to open his apartment door. He finally managed to get the door open, and he placed the bags on the kitchen table, before flipping on the lights.
"Holly?" Chandler called out, scanning the apartment as he pulled groceries out of the bags, "Holly, where are you?"
Holly emerged from the bedroom, and stretched lazily, before sauntering into the kitchen.
Chandler finished putting away his food, then pulled out a can opener.
"You hungry, baby?" Chandler asked sweetly, as he picked up the large dark gray cat and placed her on the counter. She watched intently, as Chandler opened her food.
Holly had been a gift from Chandler's mother. He'd called her, about a month after moving from Joey's place, and when Nora had found out that Chandler was now living alone, she brought Holly over to keep him company. Nora claimed that she had named the cat Holly because the cat was born on Christmas, but Chandler knew that Nora had always loved the name; Breakfast at Tiffany's was Nora's favorite all time movie, and she had, on more than one occasion, lamented that she had never had a little girl to name Holly. Chandler thanked his lucky stars that she hadn't named him Holly.
When Nora had first brought Holly over, Chandler wasn't very thrilled; he was never much of an animal person. But he soon grew very attached to Holly, and looked forward to seeing her when he came home at night. He felt he could rely on Holly, even when he couldn't rely on anyone else.
Chandler placed the food and the cat on the floor, then wandered into the living area, and saw the blinking light on his answering machine.
"Who called today, Holly?" Chandler asked aloud. He hit the button, and listened to the familiar beep.
"You have three new messages," said the machine in a robotic, yet friendly tone. Another beep, followed by;
"Hi Chandler, it's Ross. I uh, I wasn't sure if you remembered that Monica's birthday was coming up, or if you even wanted to come over, but…anyway, we're having a party for her next Friday, and it's a surprise sort of thing, but I know she'd love to have you there…we would all love to have you there. Anyway, give me call if you can make it…555-3642. See ya."
Beep.
"Hey Chandler, it's Phoebe. Um, I don't know if Ross had called you about Monica's birthday, but anyway it's coming up and…"
Chandler shook his head, and tuned out most of the rest of Phoebe's message. Of course he'd remembered Monica's birthday…he never forgot their birthdays. He looked over at his desk, and saw the neatly wrapped box sitting on top of a stack of bills. Yes, he'd remembered.
Chandler did not completely cut off contact with the others, but he rarely saw them anymore. He would show up for major holidays and birthdays, but the daily rituals—breakfast and dinner at Monica's, coffee at Central Perk, 'movie Wednesday'—he never attended them anymore. Funny thing was, those were the things he missed most.
It had been about three months since he'd seen the group, and about four since he'd seen Monica. She wasn't able to make it to the last get-together, (Joey's birthday) because of a work emergency. Chandler was really looking forward to catching up with Monica, although he tried to tell himself otherwise.
Beep.
"Chandler, it's your mother. Um, can you call me back when you get this? I'm afraid I have some bad news, sweetie."
~***~
"I'm telling you Ross, she is not going to like that," Rachel was standing in Ross' living room, looking at the hideous sweater he'd picked out for his sister.
"Well then you will just have to come with me, 'cause I can't do this!" Ross whined, tossing the sweater into the bag.
"Okay, okay, calm down, sweetie," Rachel wrapped her arms around Ross' neck and kissed him softly.
Ross and Rachel had resumed dating not long after Chandler had left. They both realized just how fragile relationships—particularly friendships—were, and they leaned a lot on each other for the first few months after Chandler's departure.
The phone rang, forcing Ross to break the kiss, and pull away from Rachel.
"Hello?" he said, his voice tinged with annoyance.
"Ross? It's Chandler."
"Oh, hey Chandler," Ross shot Rachel a look, and she moved closer to listen in on the conversation.
"Is this a bad time?" Chandler asked.
"No! No, not at all…what's up, man?"
"I…I got your message and…actually, Phoebe called me too, so could you just pass along a message to her, too? Uh, look, I…I won't be able to make it to Monica's party."
"What? Why?" Ross asked, shocked.
"I…uh—"
"Chandler, she's gonna be so disappointed," Rachel said softly, careful not to unnerve Chandler.
"I know…I'll try to call her. I want to come, I do, but—"
"Then come! She—we all really want to see you," Rachel said.
"I can't. I, uh, I have to fly to Las Vegas to see my Dad. Can you, um, can you tell her I'm sorry?"
"Try to give her a call, and tell her yourself," Ross said coldly, annoyed at Chandler's lame excuse for missing Monica's party.
"Ross!" Rachel hissed, then turned to the phone, "Chandler, we'll tell her, okay?"
"Thanks. I uh, I have to go. I'm sorry," Chandler hung up the phone.
"Ross, why were you so rude?" Rachel asked, as she hung up the receiver.
"He's obviously lying, Rach. Chandler hates his dad, he'd never go to Vegas to see him!"
"You don't know that," Rachel shook her head.
"Well, let's go tell Monica what he said—I'm sure she'll agree with me."
"I'll bet she won't," Rachel mumbled, as she followed Ross out the door.
~***~
"Look, if he doesn't want to come, he doesn't want to come, okay? I'm not going to make a big deal of it," Monica shrugged, her voice just barely hiding the disappointment she felt regarding Chandler's decision.
"But Vegas? Surely he knows that we know him better than that," Ross shook his head.
Monica's head shot up, and she grabbed her phone book off of the kitchen counter.
"What are you doing?" Ross looked at his sister, puzzled.
"Calling Nora. I'm sure she knows what's going on," Monica flipped through the phone book.
"Are you guys crazy?" Joey looked up from the food he had been consuming. The others looked at him in shock—they thought he had been too busy eating to pay attention to their conversation. "Chandler is finally starting to trust us again—things are relatively good between us—and now you're going to ruin it by checking up on him! If he says he's going to Vegas, then fine, he's going to Vegas!" Joey yelled, exasperated.
"You're right Joe," Monica said softly, then moved to pick up the phone, "But I want to go to Vegas for my birthday—it wouldn't hurt to catch up with an old friend would it?"
The mischievous twinkle in Monica's eye scared Joey—they were taking a huge risk, doing this to Chandler. Would he be happy to see him? Or would they ruin everything they had worked for the past year? Joey felt a flutter in his stomach, and dropped his fork, as he watched Monica dial Nora Bing's phone number. He watched her pace up and down the room, biting her nails.
Monica was doing something that could very well drive Chandler away for good—yet she was willing to take the chance. Joey wondered what could possibly be driving her to take such an enormous risk now. He watched her as she contemplated her actions, and a realization hit him—she was doing this for reasons no one could understand—reasons that scared Joey, and may soon destroy Chandler.
He prayed that his theory was wrong.
AN: Uh, this is taking longer to resolve than I thought it would—am I losing you all yet?
I'm sure you all got the Breakfast at Tiffany's reference, but just in case you didn't—Holly Golightly is the name of Audrey Hepburn's character in the film.