Chapter 12: Developments Across the Hall
"Chandler, have you got time to talk?" said Joey. He seemed unusually serious.
"Why, sure, Joe," said Chandler, surprised that Joey felt he had to ask. "Kathy's not coming round until later. She's rehearsing a new play." He smiled affectionately.
Joey smiled also. "How's that going? You've been dating her since before Monica and Rachel got married. It must be the longest relationship you've ever been in."
Chandler grinned. "You're right, and it's the best one. It's going great. You know, sometimes I feel she may really be the one for me. But I'm not sure how she'd feel about getting married – or how I'd feel, except that it makes me nervous thinking about it, though not as nervous as you might think. But since she seems perfectly happy with the way things are, I'd be a fool to push to change them. Anyway, this talk was supposed to be about you, so what did you want to say? Want my help in choosing between Sita and Mary?"
Joey flashed a grin. "Hell no, man! Look what happened the last time, when you tried to help Ross choose between Rachel and Julie. Anyway, that could never come up. For one thing, they seem joined at the hip, and for another," – his face seemed to cloud slightly – "they're great girls, but they're definitely in it for the fun. They have made quite clear to me that they don't want to be serious. And you know what? I'm beginning to feel, I'd like to be serious. That crush I had on Janice … it's left me dissatisfied with the just-for-fun kind of relationship. When I see Monica and Rachel together, or Janice and Emily, or you and Kathy, or now Ross and Julie, I get kinda jealous." He spoke the word quite emotionally.
"Well, some might say, that's poetic justice, Joe, for all the girls you dumped who hoped to get serious with you in the past," said Chandler, unable to resist this dig.
"Yeah, yeah, yeah," said Joey, but he barely smiled. "Anyway, that's not the only thing. There's my career. Okay, I'm doing all right now, with the Days Of Our Lives work, but it's not really stretching me as an actor, you know. I sometimes feel, I ought to head for LA and try my luck."
"Stretching you as an actor?" repeated Chandler derisively. "You mean, you're not getting any nearer being a STAR." He held up his fingers to make quotation marks. "But, Joe, you can't be thinking of leaving us. Why, the chick and the duck would be heartbroken." Chandler tried to make this jokey, but he seemed to be feeling an actual physical pain in his midriff at the thought that Joey might actually be serious.
Joey gave a perfunctory smile. "I mean it, Chandler. I love you guys, but hanging around in New York is beginning to feel … limiting. LA has possibilities. I might even meet up with Kate again."
A suspicion rose in Chandler's mind. "These aren't really all your own ideas, are they, Joe?" he said a bit sharply. "It's those girls who are pushing them on you."
"We've talked," Joey acknowledged. "They're smart cookies, you know, a helluva lot smarter than me. They saw that I wasn't wholly satisfied with my life, and got me to talk about it, and showed me why. But if I hadn't been feeling like this, they'd have had nothing to work with."
Chandler walked rather stiffly to one of the Barca Loungers and sat down. His stomach felt strangely hollow. "I … I can't imagine life without you here, Joe," he stammered.
"It's not like I'd stay there without ever coming back," said Joey. "And you could come visit." A thought seemed to strike him. "Hey, you could move out there with me!" He seemed quite excited at the thought.
"Oh yeah, and do what for a living?" Chandler said sarcastically. "And what about our friends? What about Kathy? What about the child that Monica is carrying, that I fathered?"
This series of objections made Joey look uneasy, but he set his jaw in a way that suggested he was not ready to drop the idea. "Monica and Rachel are going to raise the child; you don't have to be there. Kathy could come with you; I'm sure she could find work, and why couldn't you? Doesn't your company have any branches in California? Hell, with your way with words you could even become a scriptwriter, I bet." His responses were quick, as if he had them all ready, and Chandler realised that Joey was revealing thoughts that he must have been having for some time.
Joey started to pace around, his face beginning to show the mental turmoil that he must have been going through while thinking his way to these arguments. Suddenly he turned to face Chandler. "Let's face it," he said, almost angrily. "It's just not the same any more. Things started changing, when first Ross married Emily, and then Monica and Rachel got together." His expression softened and his gaze became distant, as if calling up memories of the past. "It used to be so great before."
Great for you, perhaps, Chandler thought, but not really for anyone else. Monica went from no job to a demeaning one to one where the staff were antagonistic. Ross and Rachel could neither work out their differences nor let each other go. I agonised over loving Kathy when she was Joey's girlfriend, then when I got her I lost her over something really stupid. Phoebe lost her job, and had family problems. At least she never seemed to care whether she had someone or not, but the rest of us did, and most of the time we had no one, and were going nowhere fast. Oh yes, great times. But he did not want to put Joey down by pointing all this out.
"Things can't stay the same for ever, Joe," he said. "We changed … and now you want to," he finished lamely, only then realising that he was undercutting his own position. How could he oppose Joey's wish to make a change in his life?
As they looked at each other, uncertain what to say next, the door buzzer went. Chandler answered it.
"Hi, it's me," said Kathy cheerfully. "I got out early."
"Come on up, sweetheart." He pressed the release. "Kathy's here," he told Joey. "Maybe we should all discuss this together."
"If she'd be willing to move to LA, would you consider it?" said Joey, looking at him pleadingly. "We could even rent some place together – that would be so great."
Chandler got up, to go to the door. "If she's willing, I might consider it," he conceded rather reluctantly. Then he opened the door, to wait for Kathy. When she appeared, she looked curiously excited.
"Honey, I have some news," she said.
Chandler thought he perceived an air of slight apprehension about her. "Oh my God, you're not pregnant, are you?" he said in alarm.
She laughed. "No, of course not! Haven't we been making quite sure that couldn't happen? No, it's … something else. I think you'd better be sitting down for this."
"Is it something Joey can hear?" Chandler asked as he accompanied her into the room. "And do you want a drink?"
"Yes, sure, to both," she said. "A beer, if you've got it."
"We always have beer," said Joey proudly.
"That's because you snitch it from across the way half the time," said Kathy, grinning. She accepted a beer, took a pull, and then looked at Chandler seriously.
"No point in dragging this out," she said. "I have an offer of a film part – not a starring role, but a good solid part, the heroine's best friend that she confides in, that kind of thing – but it's in LA. I'd really like to take it – it could move my career along a lot, and the money's good – but it will mean my being away for months, though I can fly back to see you when I've got some cash saved up." She looked at him, definitely apprehensive now. "What do you say?"
Chandler looked at Joey. "You know nothing of this?"
Joey was looking very taken aback. "No, truly, Chandler, it's the first I've heard of it. I'm pleased for you, Kathy. I was just saying to Chandler – "
"No, Joey," Chandler interrupted, "keep that to yourself for now. I need to think about this."
He sat in his Barca Lounger, not looking at either of them, brooding. Kathy looked at him in slight puzzlement, and then at Joey enquiringly, but Joey just shrugged.
Chandler was mulling over what Joey had said, in the light of this new situation. The corporation that employed him was only too likely to have a subsidiary or branch of some kind in California, if not in or near LA itself. And if he was there, he could indeed try his hand at writing, a secret ambition of his that had faded with the necessity of earning a living. In that respect, New York had been limiting for him too, and he didn't even enjoy his job much, just the money and perks that it brought him. And when it came right down to it, the company of his other friends could hardly compensate for the long-term absence of Joey and Kathy.
"Okay," he said, looking at Joey first and banging his fists together decisively, "let's give it a shot." He turned to Kathy. "Joey wants to move to LA and try to break into the movies. He was suggesting that we go with him. Now that you want to go too … what good reason do I have to stay behind?"
"Hey, great, man!" said Joey, beaming all over his face and leaning over to pat him on the shoulder, as Kathy jumped up, crying "Oh Chandler!" and ran over to embrace him.
"It would be so great to have you there with me," she said. "But … what will you do?"
"I'll see if I can get a transfer to some other branch of the corporation," he said, "and if not … I'll look for work there. I've got a fair bit put away. It could keep me going for months, and Joey too, if he doesn't eat too much."
"Wow!" said Kathy. "So we'll all go? This is moving fast. But" – her face clouded – "what about all our friends? And Monica's carrying your child."
"She doesn't need me," said Chandler just a trifle bitterly. "We can come back around the time that it should be born, if she wants me to."
The more he thought about it, the more this seemed a good idea. He could get away, finally, from the faces that had haunted his dreams in the past, and still sometimes reappeared – Monica and Janice. For all that he loved Kathy, it had not always been easy to see Monica so loving with Rachel. Nor, once she had had her 'makeover', had it been easy to see Janice around at all. He still cringed internally at the memory of his abortive attempt to start something with her again, and now that she was with Emily, it was like having to watch Monica and Rachel together all over again. A clean break would enable him to concentrate on Kathy without distraction.
"It will be sad to say goodbye to them all," said Kathy, "but you're right, we can come back and visit. Hey, wouldn't it be great if we became big movie stars and could have our own jets, even?" She was speaking to Joey, half in earnest.
"Yeah!" said Joey enthusiastically. "Say, maybe we could even be in a movie together."
"I'm not sure that would be a good idea," said Kathy, looking sidelong at Chandler. "You might find that hard to take, mightn't you, honey?"
"Mm … maybe," said Chandler. "I certainly couldn't see the movie, or the rehearsals, if you had to pretend to be in love. But if you were just characters in it together, I don't see a problem. How soon do you have to go?"
"There's no great rush," Kathy said. "They won't start shooting for a while. But I have to say yes or no to the offer by six tomorrow."
"Then say yes," said Chandler firmly. "The more I think about this, the more I can see what a good thing it could be for all of us. But there is one thing …" He looked at Joey. "It will save a lot of money if we give up the apartment and sell off our stuff."
"Oh man!" said Joey, suddenly looking very down. "I … never thought that far. And what would we do with the chick and the duck?"
"You could take them with you," Kathy suggested, "or maybe Phoebe would look after them for you."
Joey nodded, but the downside of what they were planning to do seemed to have been brought home to him by Chandler's comment.
"Maybe we shouldn't go, after all," he said, looking despondent. "I'm not so sure, now, that I want to leave what we have here."
"Oh no!" said Chandler rather fiercely. "You're not doing that to me, not after all this build-up. Kathy has the best reason of us all to go, and she wants to, and I don't want to stop her, in fact I want to go too, so I can be with her. I don't want us to be separated." He smiled across at her, and was very pleased by her look of happiness at his words. "So it's either come with us, or stay here on your own, Joey. Now what's it gonna be?"
"Wait a minute," said Kathy. "I just thought of something. You can't just up and leave Days Of Our Lives, Joey. If you did that to them, just walked out, you'd be blacklisted all over – you'd never work again.They have to write you out. And if I were you I'd ask to be written out temporarily – say you're on secondment to some other hospital, or on a long holiday, or something. Then, if LA doesn't work out, you can come back to the show, but if it does, they can kill you off again off-stage."
"Oh man!" said Joey, looking very impressed. "More stuff I never thought of. You're right, I couldn't go just like that. But, you know, what you say makes me easier about the whole idea somehow. Okay, as you said, Chandler, let's do it!"
"Drink a toast to it," said Chandler, holding out his bottle, and they ceremoniously clinked bottles and swigged.
"Now we've decided, we should tell our beautiful neighbours," he said when they lowered their bottles. "We have to get them used to the idea."
Beer bottles still in hand, they went and knocked on Monica and Rachel's door, a precaution they preferred to take these days, since they did not particularly wish to come upon Monica and Rachel making out, as they had done once. Monica was undoubtedly feeling the surge in horniness that pregnant women often felt in their second trimester. Called in, they found Monica, Rachel and Phoebe chatting over cups of coffee.
"We have news," said Chandler portentously. "Some day in the not too distant future, Kathy will be going to LA for a film, and I shall go with her – "
"And I," said Joey, "will go too, as soon as I can get a break from Days Of Our Lives, and see if I can't find some more interesting work there."
The three women looked at them in utter shock, mouths open. Phoebe was the first to react.
"You mean you're all going to leave us?" she wailed. "What about the chick and the duck?"
"We could take them with us," said Joey, "or maybe you'd like to look after them."
"You mean – you won't be there any more?" said Rachel, suddenly sounding on the verge of tears. "There'll be strangers there?"
"Well, it would be too expensive to keep the apartment on," Chandler began, uneasy at making Rachel, and Monica too, he could see, patently upset, when suddenly Phoebe broke in.
"I know," she cried eagerly. "It would be a lot easier for me to look after the chick and the duck if I just moved into your apartment, and maybe it would be better for them, too, to stay in a place they know. But if they mope we'll have to send them on. Of course, if I do that, you'll have to help out with the rent. I can probably find someone who'd be happy to sublet my apartment."
"Oh, that would be so great, if you were living opposite us!" said Rachel, clapping her hands together in a way she had when she was excited about something. "Couldn't you find someone to share with you, even?"
"It's a great idea, if you'd do it, Pheebs," said Chandler. "I can provide some money towards the rent for a couple of months, at least. But it might be best to keep one of the bedrooms free, so that if one of us comes back we have a place to stay."
"Yeah, and this way, we don't even have to sell our stuff," said Joey enthusiastically.
Suddenly they all seemed to be coming round to the idea, and Monica asked Kathy eagerly about the film that she was going to be in.
Chandler felt a distinct sense of let-down. Yes, they had seemed upset, but only for a very short time. Then Phoebe came up with the idea of moving in, and Monica and Rachel became all happy and excited. He felt it would have been more appropriate if they'd made more fuss, even begged him and Joey to stay. After all, it was like the end of an era.
He felt eyes on him, and looked up to see Rachel regarding him rather seriously. She beckoned him close.
"We're going to miss you, Chandler," she said quietly, "very much. Don't think we don't feel it. We're getting excited about Phoebe as a way of hiding the pain, don't you see?" There were, he realised, tears in her eyes. She blinked them away. "But it's p-probably the right d-decision," she continued, her voice a little shaky. "You have to grow, and maybe you won't here – and anyway, you want to be with Kathy." She smiled. "I think that says something good about your relationship."
"I'd like to think so," he said, smiling.
"You'll be back to see Mon's baby?" she said, looking anxious. "I think she'd want you there, though you don't have to be with her. I'm gonna do that."
"I promise," he said solemnly. "I'll try to get Joey there too."
"And Kathy," said Rachel. "After all, she was in on this."
"I'll do my best," he said. "You know, we'll miss you guys too."
She nodded. "Anyway, you're not going right this minute, are you?"
"Not for a while," said Chandler. "The way I get it, they're still putting the cast together. So you have time to get sick of having us around."
"We could never do that, for all that we get mad at you sometimes," said Rachel. "But, come to think of it, we haven't done that for a while. The times, they are a-changin'," she sang, not entirely in tune.
"They certainly are," Chandler agreed. "Look at all these new relationships. Who would have thought, when we got into all that stuff about switching apartments, and then there was the excitement over Ross getting married, that we'd be where we are today?"
Rachel nodded. "We've come a long way, baby," she sang again.
"But we've still got a long way to go," Chandler added.