:Being ill for the past week has left me behind in updating this fanfic! Hope I haven't been keeping you impatient souls waiting…
It's Easter holidays now and I should be glad for all this freedom, but I'm finding there isn't enough to do! I'm finding myself wanting to be with my classmates messing around in a stuffy computer room! Lol went out today with some friends so that made the time go faster for a while anyway.
Butterfly Kisses…*sob*…why why why why why? I'm devastated…lol…How can something so sad be so good?
Thank you for the reviews so far, and keep them coming!
Love and White LiesChapter 3 – The truth is hard to tell
Monica watched Chandler sleeping beside her, his chest rising and falling. She grinned at the little smile playing around on his lips, realising that he must be dreaming. She couldn't believe what had happened the night before. The connection the two of them had was unbelievable and it was the perfect end to a perfect night.
Monica glanced at the clock on her bedside table and her eyes widened at the time. It was 10am. They had missed breakfast. She felt a hand touch her shoulder and she turned around, smiling at Chandler.
"Morning." She said softly.
Chandler smiled back at her and sat up. He kissed her softly on the lips. "Morning," he said back, wrapping his arms around her and kissing her shoulder.
"Are we crazy or what?" Monica asked, giggling softly. "We barely know each other and look at the position we're in."
"A little late to be talking about that now!" Chandler commented wryly, smiling suggestively.
Monica giggled again, "I know, last night was…"
"Amazing?" Chandler finished for her, "I swear, I think the guests were going to start knocking the door if we had carried on for much longer!"
Monica widened her eyes. "We couldn't have been that loud." She blushed deeply at the grin forming on Chandler's lips, "Or maybe we were."
The pair jumped at the phone ringing and Monica reached over to answer it. "Hello!" she greeted perkily.
"Um…hi," a confused sounding male voice greeted her, "The receptionist passed me on to this line because my friend Chandler should be staying there…"
"Oh he is!" Monica replied, embarrassed. She passed the phone to Chandler. "It's for you," she told him.
Chandler smirked slightly. "As this is my hotel room, that would make sense." He quipped. "Hi, who is it?" he enquired into the receiver.
"Hey dude, it's Joey!" the voice replied.
"Oh hey Joe!" Chandler exclaimed.
"You didn't call to say you arrived so I was just checking up on you…and who's the chick?!"
Chandler laughed and glanced at Monica, "It's a long story," he explained.
"You hooked up!" Joey shouted in realisation.
"Well…yeah you could say that."
"Dude…" Joey paused and laughed into the receiver, causing Chandler frown.
"Well don't sound so surprised or anything!" Chandler told him sarcastically. Monica looked at him questioningly and then rolled her eyes, realising that Chandler and his friend were probably talking about her. She pulled herself out of the bed and stood up. She giggled at Chandler's reaction to her just standing in her underwear.
"No, no you're not going anywhere!" Chandler said to her, grinning.
"What?" Joey asked in confusion.
"Not you." Chandler said into the receiver. Monica laughed and started to get dressed.
"Where are you going?" Chandler whined.
"I'm not going anywhere!" Joey exclaimed.
"Joey, I'm going to call you back," Chandler told him, "Remember to feed the chick and the duck!" he added, hanging up.
"Remember to feed the what?" Monica asked in disbelief.
"Oh yeah I didn't tell you about that did I?" Chandler asked sheepishly. He got out of bed and stood in front of her, just wearing his boxer shorts. "You're not going now are you?" he asked.
Monica smiled at the look of disappointment spreading across Chandler's face and nodded. "I need to get back to my hotel room and change." She replied, wrapping her arms around his shoulders.
Chandler kissed her passionately, "I guess you need to do that." He admitted as they finished their embrace.
"And we did say no strings attached," Monica reminded him, immediately regretting saying it.
"Um…yeah…I guess we did." Chandler said quietly, stepping back. They stood quietly for a moment, not wanting to look at each other in the eye.
"Can I see you again?" Chandler suddenly burst out. Monica looked at him and smiled in relief.
"Yes, ok, I would really like that." She said softly.
"Meet outside this hotel in half an hour?" Chandler suggested. "Of course you don't have to, after all we did say no strings attached so…" he stopped when Monica brushed a finger across his lips.
"I'll maybe see you in half an hour," she told him, smiling. "No strings attached."
"Of course," Chandler agreed, grinning at her.
They both knew that they would be outside those doors in half an hour.
******
Meanwhile, back in New York…"Oh my god Pheebs, why hasn't she called?!" Ross exclaimed worriedly. He paced around the apartment making Phoebe groan.
"Stop pacing like that!" she ordered, "You're making me feel ill. Monica is probably having too much fun to call."
"But she promised she would!!" Ross shouted, "Anything could have happened to her!"
"Look, Ross, just go home!" Phoebe ordered, "It's 2.15am! I want to get some sleep."
"Oh fine," Ross grumbled, opening the door to leave, "I don't know how you can sleep at a time like this…" he slammed the door behind him.
Phoebe rolled her eyes and sighed. She knew all this constant worry about Monica was for nothing but there was no use telling Ross that. He was just too overprotective of his sister to be told anything otherwise.
The phone rang and she jumped in surprise. "At this hour?" she exclaimed, going to answer it.
"Oh my god Pheebs!" a familiar voice screamed down the phone.
Phoebe smiled, recognising the voice to be Monica's. That would make sense it being her calling at this hour. It was about 10.15am in Rome right then.
"Hey Mon!" Phoebe greeted, "How are you?"
"I am having the best time Pheebs!" Monica exclaimed, "And oh my god I did something crazy last night!"
Phoebe's eyebrows shot up in surprise. In all the years that she had known Monica, Phoebe had never known her friend to do anything crazy and impulsive. "What did you do?" she asked curiously.
"Well…I kind of met a guy." Monica replied airily.
"And?" Phoebe encouraged, grinning.
"Well we met on the plane over here and then we met up again last night and well…" there was a pause over the phone and Phoebe gasped in realisation.
"Oh my god Mon!" she shrieked, "Did you sleep with him?"
"Oh yes." Monica said mischievously.
"But…wow…ok Mon you don't usually do that!" Phoebe cried, sitting down on the couch in shock.
"I know but oh my god Pheebs he is so sweet and caring and…and…amazing and oh my god so cute!"
Phoebe grinned at her friend's enthusiasm, wondering how many times Monica could say the words 'oh my god' in a single conversation.
"What's his name?" she asked, "What does he look like?"
"His name is Chandler and he's quite tall, wavy dark hair and the most gorgeous blue eyes that I have ever seen. He lives in New York…"
"He lives here?!" Phoebe shouted, "Why haven't I ever seen him? You lucky…" she stopped herself from swearing at her friend.
Monica laughed, "I know but that isn't the end of it!" she said.
"What else?" Phoebe asked curiously.
"He's a hospital orderly!" Monica announced.
"A what?" Phoebe's mouth dropped open shock. "You spend your entire life savings to go half way across the world to be with a orderly?"
"Yeah, I know, crazy huh?" Monica said, giggling. "But Pheebs, if you could meet him…"
"Sleeping with an orderly," Phoebe mused, "He must give one hell of a good night!"
"Yeah, thing is, he thinks I'm a business woman who owns her restaurant." Monica added.
"He what?!"
******
"She thinks you're an orderly?!" Rachel shrieked over the phone. She sat up in her bed in shock.
"Yeah," Chandler replied, sounding sheepish.
"And she still slept with you?" Rachel asked incredulously.
"Yes…what is that supposed to mean?" Chandler demanded.
"Well…if you had told her the truth that you were a doctor working in the ER at the hospital she wouldn't have needed persuading to go out with you." Rachel explained, smirking. "But an orderly…that's not common."
"That's exactly why I didn't tell her." Chandler explained, "It means she likes me for myself and not for my job."
"Wow, I can't believe she still wants to see you thinking that you're just a hospital orderly," Rachel mused, "You must be good."
"What can I say? I'm a pro." Chandler told her, laughing.
"You do realise you've got to tell her the truth, right?" Rachel told him worriedly, "You can't keep living a lie."
"Sure…sure."
"I mean it Chandler!" Rachel said, sitting up straighter, "You can't let her keep thinking that you're a poor hospital orderly who can barely afford to keep the rent! I mean, come on, you own a Audi TT for crying out loud!"
"Yeah but…but the truth is hard to tell." Chandler confessed, "I don't want to lose her… I think I'm falling in love with her."
Rachel closed her eyes and groaned.
*****
Monica looked at her watch. It read 10.32am. Chandler was going to think she stood him up.
"Listen, Pheebs, I've got to go now." Monica told her, "I'm meeting Chandler."
"Ok, but tell him you're a police officer soon, ok?" she heard Phoebe instruct, "You haven't been a businesswoman for a couple of years now."
"But…but what if he's angry that I lied?" Monica asked worriedly, "What if he doesn't want to see me anymore?"
"Then he's not worth worrying over," Phoebe told her, "He would have just been after your money, the pig!"
"Don't call Chandler a pig!" Monica cried.
Phoebe laughed, "I'm sure he isn't." she replied, "I'm sure he won't care what you do for a living. Just talk to him. From what you've told me, he seems like a pretty nice guy."
"Yes, he is." Monica said wistfully, "I just don't want to lose him."
A few minutes later, Monica walked to Chandler's hotel and saw him standing outside the doors. He broke into a smile when he saw her, causing Monica to feel guilty for lying.
"Hey you," he said softly, flashing a sweet smile at her. He leaned in to kiss her.
Monica kissed him back, then, remembering Phoebe's instructions, pulled away and eyed him seriously. "Chandler, there's something I've got to tell you."
"What?" Chandler asked, concern spreading across his face.
"Well, remember when I told you that I was a business woman…" Monica started to explain. A loud scream came from behind them and she turned around in fright.
"Stop that thief!" A woman with a police officer's uniform on yelled from across the street. A man with a large clock in his hands ran straight into Monica's path and, using her instincts, she grabbed him and pushed him to the ground.
"What the hell! Mon!" Chandler yelled, pulling Monica away protectively. The female police officer came running up and handcuffed the criminal's wrists together. In a string of Italian words she yelled at the criminal and led him away to a nearby car, shoving him inside. She walked back up to Monica and Chandler and smiled.
"Thank for catching thief!" she said in broken English. She glanced at Monica and shook her hand. "That man is dangerous, needed to be caught."
"Glad to be of help!" Chandler said sarcastically, "Maybe next time you could just poke his eyes out."
The police officer narrowed her eyes, "You don't approve of tough methods of catching thief?" she asked.
"Not from a woman I don't," Chandler replied, "It's all a big game to you, the big attitude that comes from a female police officer, hate them…hate them."
Monica groaned inwardly.
The police officer shook her head, "I don't understand," she said in confusion, "My English is not good…repeat?"
"Never mind!" Monica interrupted. She pulled at Chandler's arm and dragged him away.
"Monica, I can't believe you risked your life to get that man!" Chandler exclaimed, "You scared the hell out of me. How did you dare do that?" he smiled in amazement.
"Oh…well…good reflexes." Monica shrugged. She looked at him in confusion. "Why do you hate female police officers?" she asked.
"I don't hate them," Chandler replied, sighing, "I just think they have a big attitude problem, that's all. One once pulled me over for speeding and yelled at me. I was only just over the limit."
"Haven't you ever thought that not all female cops are like that? Monica asked quietly.
Chandler shrugged, "Never met one who was nice," he said, smiling. "Anyway, what was it you wanted to tell me? Something about your job?"
"Oh it doesn't matter!" Monica said airily, "It was nothing important."
She took Chandler's hand and they walked away together down the street.
How was she going to tell Chandler the truth now?
End of chapter 3:I probably got the time zones between New York and Rome completely wrong. Lol: