TOW Everything is Different
Part Two: The Meeting
AN: Well I was so bored last night that I actually decided to continue with this fic. Not too much happens…it's still setting the scene and introducing all of the major players. If everyone wants me to continue, I will make the next chapter longer. Hope you like it J
"Damn it," Chandler muttered to himself as he looked at his watch for what seemed like the twentieth time in the past five minutes. He was supposed to have been at his 3:00 meeting fifteen minutes ago. "Is there another way to get there? A street that maybe everyone in New York isn't driving on?" He asked the cabbie as he looked at the mass of traffic surrounding them.
The driver replied only by honking his horn then shouting a few obscenities out the window at some other drivers. Chandler glanced at the meter and pulled a wad of money out of his pocket. After grabbing a ten-dollar bill, he handed it to the cabbie and made a quick dash out of the cab. He'd decided he would just have to run the rest of the way and hopefully the woman he was supposed to be meeting with would still be there - what was her name again? Melanie? Monique? At this point it didn't really matter - he just hoped she would still be waiting. He'd been procrastinating on hiring a caterer for this party for too long now and he couldn't put it off anymore. He turned the corner and was glad to see B&B right in front of him. He stopped outside of the entrance and tried to compose himself while catching his breath.
"Uh oh," he sighed when he turned to knob to enter, but the door wouldn't open....obviously locked. He shielded the glare of the sun away as he put his hand up to the glass door to try and make out if anyone was still inside. He knocked a few times and waited...no response. Well, he was late...but hell, it was New York...everyone was late now and then. As he turned to head back, he heard a woman's voice call out to him.
"Chandler...Chandler Bing?"
He turned and smiled. "Yes, that's me. Really sorry I'm late...I ran into some traffic and then I...well ran here." He laughed out loud at his attempt at a joke. The woman, on the other hand, was not amused. She actually seemed really annoyed.
"Yes, you are late. I was just about to leave. But now, since you're here, I guess we can still have our meeting." She promptly turned on her heel and headed back into the building.
Chandler rolled his eyes and followed, although he wasn't really sure why. There were numerous places he could hire to do this party. He certainly didn't have to deal with this moody, uptight, and obviously punctual woman.
He followed her into the office and she indicated for him to take the seat across from her. He glanced around, noticing the walls filled with pictures of what were probably photos of events that she had helped cater. Her office was immaculate...she definitely did not like for anything to be out of place - no loose papers lying around on her desk..everything very neatly organized. As he continued to look around, his eye caught a glimpse of a framed photo on her desk of her and an older man - Chandler guessed her husband.
"So..Chandler. Phoebe told me you want us to help you throw a party for your wife."
"Yes, it's going to be her 30th birthday. So I want to do something really cool."
"Something cool..." the woman muttered to herself, as she jotted something down onto her notepad. She looked back up at Chandler. "Any particular theme you have in mind for this 'cool' party?"
Chandler laughed nervously. The tone in her voice was starting to make him really uncomfortable. "No, I thought that was your job."
"Well I always like to start off by asking my clients...that is if you decide to hire us...if they have any suggestions. I mean, no one knows your wife better than you."
"She likes cats."
"She likes cats? So you want a cat-themed party?" She laughed.
"Hey!" Chandler defended himself. "I'm not good at this stuff. That's why I'm here." He stood up and grabbed his brief case. "I didn't come here to get made fun of, Ms.....whatever your name is. There are plenty of places to choose from in the yellow pages! So you can have a nice day." He angrily turned to leave.
"Wait!" She called after him. He stopped, his back still to her. "I'm sorry. I'm just having a really bad day. And then when you were late, it just ruined my entire schedule. And I'm very anal about my schedule."
"I never would have known." Chandler scoffed, as he turned to face her again, having calmed down some.
"I'm really sorry. I shouldn't have been so rude to you. Really. I'm sorry."
"Okay. I don't know why I'm going to stay, but I will." He followed her back into the office and reclaimed the chair he'd been sitting in previously.
"My name is Monica, by the way. Monica Burke."
"Yeah, Phoebe told me on the phone. I was just in such a hurry to get here that I totally blanked out on what she'd said."
"So, let's start over." Monica smiled. "You're throwing a 30th birthday party for your wife. And she likes cats."
"Hey now! Let's not go there." Chandler laughed, then turned serious. "My wife has very expensive taste. So something elegant. Really great food. Classical music."
"And you said you weren't good at this. That sounds really nice. Phoebe and I will love catering this party!"
"Great!"
"So what's the date? We'll need at least a month to plan."
Chandler grimaced. "Umm..."
"What is it? Is there a problem?" Monica asked, concerned.
"It's actually in two weeks."
"TWO WEEKS?" Monica exclaimed. She stood up and started frantically pacing around the office. "I don't know if we can do it! I mean...I think we can. But wow...two weeks. It's going to take a lot of work. I mean we're really short-staffed right now. We had two other girls who were working with us but they just went back to college."
"I could help." Chandler offered. Monica stopped dead in her tracks and starred at him.
"Are you serious?"
"Well, yeah..I mean..I don't know a lot about this sort of thing. But I can take some time off work and help with anything you need."
Monica thought for a moment. "Well, I guess we could try it out. Who knows, maybe we can actually pull this off!"
"Great!" Chandler stood up. "Okay, so should I stop by tomorrow? Or just wait to hear from you."
"Well, I will start working on a list tonight of what I think we will need to order. And you should think of anything that...what is your wife's name?"
"Rachel."
"Okay, anything that Rachel would like, you let me know. We'll meet tomorrow and figure out all of the logistics. So does noon work for you?"
"Yep. Noon is fine for me."
"Great. So noon it is. And not 12:30, right? Noon."
Chandler nodded. "See you then." They shook hands and as he turned, looked back once more. Monica was already going through a filing cabinet and eagerly grabbing different files....her very organized office quickly becoming a disaster area.
He smiled to himself as he walked to the subway. It was going to be very interesting working with Monica Burke.
That's it! Please review…let me know what you'd like to see happen. Thank you for reading.