~Thanks for reviewing! And could you possibly do it again if it's not too much trouble? Thanks a billion. Here's the next part and a little more of the song…I swear eventually I'll use it all! I hope you enjoy!
Disclaimer: Um….I have like two dollars in my bank account. I own them? Right. That's a good one. Not mine.
When I get this feeling
It's hard for me to come back down
When I get this feeling
It's hard for me to come back down
It was just lying there. So innocently. Bright green. Rachel couldn't stand bright green, and neither could Monica. It couldn't be theirs. Phoebe's? But why would Phoebe's bra be in Monica and Rachel's apartment? It was perplexing to say the least.
Chandler wandered over and picked it up. Maybe they were all doing their laundry together and something of Phoebe's got mixed up in Monica's basket. That was the only explanation that he could come up with. Rachel came out into the living room rubbing her eyes.
"Chandler? How is she?"
"She's okay," he said still thinking about the green bra.
"Whose bra is that?"
"I found it over by the front door. It's not yours?"
"No."
"Or Monica's?"
"No."
"Could it be Phoebe's?"
"Why would it be Phoebe's?" Rachel asked and Chandler explained his theory and she shook her head. "I don't think so."
"Then whose it is?" Chandler asked. Rachel shrugged. She looked just as puzzled as he was. There was a knock at the door, and Rachel walked over to answer it and was slightly disappointed that it was Richard.
"Hey, is Monica awake?" He asked stepping inside with flowers in his hand. Chandler didn't realize that he was still holding the bra in his hand. He pointed with it to her bedroom door.
"No, she's still sleeping," he replied. And she would stay that way, he added silently. Richard wasn't going to waltz in there with his flowers and wake her up. Then he noticed something. He noticed Richard's face change.
Because he noticed something.
The green bra.
And Chandler caught him. It was fleeting, but it was there. A look of panic washed over his features.
"Oh…okay. Could you give her these?" While he tried to retain eye contact with Chandler, his eyes kept flitting back down to Chandler's hand. Something that did not go unnoticed by either Chandler or Rachel. Rachel took the flowers off him and he hurried out of the apartment probably thinking on how to do damage control.
"It's his?" Rachel exclaimed when he walked out.
"You noticed too?"
"Uh-huh!"
"That means one of two things," Chandler said. "He's either a cross-dresser or he's cheating on her." He was cheating on her? Chandler would kill him. And he'd probably have to get in line.
"In our apartment? He cheated on her in our apartment? What do we tell her? What do we say?"
"We can't say anything," Chandler decided. "We don't know anything for sure. We can't tell her anything until we know it for absolute certain." How would he break that to her? He knew that he didn't want to be the one, but he also knew that he should be. If anyone would tell her, it should be him. It would be him. Because despite the fact that he had no real proof, he knew for sure that Richard was cheating. He could feel it. The bra wasn't Phoebe's. It was whoever Richard had had in the apartment that day. Bastard.
"You're right," Rachel nodded. "But how do we find out for sure?" Chandler shrugged. He had no idea. He had no idea what to do at all. Most of all, he didn't know how to fix it for Monica, to make it better for her. Over all, he just wanted to make things better for her. Make everything okay.
"I don't think we can," Chandler finally said softly. "I think we'll have to wait. Just wait."
"But we can't just wait! Because what if she finds out in some terrible way? That's not fair to her! We could have prevented her from that."
"Prevented who from what?" Monica's voice interrupted Rachel and they both turned guiltily and looked at her.
"Um..." Rachel racked her brain for a good explanation.
"Phoebe…" Chandler jumped in. "Prevent her from writing any more stupid songs." It was a terrible save. But Monica just nodded and bought it completely.
"Honey you should be in bed," Rachel said crossing the room and putting her hand on Monica's back.
"I'm getting restless," Monica shrugged. "I thought I would come out here and lie on the couch and watch some television."
"That's a great idea," Chandler decided and Monica nodded and got comfortable on the couch as Rachel went through the list of movies they had for one that Monica would want to see. Chandler, however, had other things on his mind.
"What?" Monica could see it in his face. She could read him like a book.
"Oh nothing, I'm going to go take a shower and maybe run down and get some coffee, want some?"
"No, I'm good," Monica answered and Rachel shook her head. She caught Chandler's eye and knew exactly what he was thinking.
He wasn't going to get coffee.
He wasn't going to shower, although he looked as if he needed to take a long, hot shower.
He was going over to Richard's apartment.
He was going to try to make things better for her.
I could be
That everything you need
I know this could be
That free fall back to me
Monica was at home later that day and her head was pounding. Chandler and Rachel had stayed with her in the hospital and had taken her back home. Both were acting as if she would fall apart at any moment.
Maybe they were right.
Maybe she would.
Richard had tried to call. He said that he wanted to make sure that she was okay. Phoebe had called him back, they had figured that she was the least likely to go crazy on him. Although she did tell him that the plagues of Egypt were now on him, for the most part t hey had been right.
Now Monica was alone, finally. Her eyes were red, and despite the fact that she had slept all night in the hospital, she was exhausted. Completely exhausted and completely unable to fall asleep. She was tired of crying. She was tired of wondering why Richard had done what he had done.
Why hadn't she been good enough?
What would have happened if she wouldn't have come home that day? What would she know? What wouldn't she know?
How
long had he been cheating on her?
Who was she?
Her mind reeled and she felt like throwing up. Nauseated, she rose to her feet and ran to the bathroom where she did throw up. Several times. Chandler, who was sitting on the couch, heard her make a run for it, and knocked on the bathroom door.
"You okay?" He asked.
"Yeah," she replied as she laid down, placing her head against the cool tiled bathroom floor. Was she okay?
Not really. If he wanted the truth. The truth was not really. In fact, she was far from okay. He tried the knob and found the door open and stepped inside. Squatting down, he ran a hand over her face.
"I'm so sorry Mon."
"Why? Did you cheat on me too?" It was supposed to be a joke, her attempt to show him that she was okay. But neither laughed.
"Mon."
"It's okay." She sat up and ignored her head spinning. "Really. I'm fine. Or at least I will be. Don't worry about it." Right. Like that was going to convince him.
"Monica, I know that it sucks now, I know okay? But it will get better. I promise you that it will get better." A single tear curved a path down her cheek and she looked up at him and met his eye.
"Don't make promises that you can't keep," she told him. Groaning, she climbed to her feet. He reached out and took her hand and helped her to her feet.
"But I will keep it," he said softly.
"Right." And she knew that he would try certainly, she knew that as her best friend he would do everything that he could in order to make life better for her. But she knew that it wasn't up to him.
"Why don't you go back to bed?" He suggested.
"I'm not tired," she shrugged. "I keep trying to sleep and I can't." Making her way over to the couch, she sat down and pulled the blanket on top of her. "Would you like to watch a movie though?"
"Sure honey," he said taking a seat next to her and making sure that the blanket was tucked around her.
"Oh," she said laughing a little. It was good to hear her laugh. "Neither of us turned on the movie. I'll get it."
"No, I'll get it," Chandler said and they both stood up at the same time and both tumbled back onto the couch laughing. She was slightly on top of him, and as she struggled to sit upright, she ended up inches away from his face. Without thinking, he leaned in and placed a kiss on her lips. Then realizing what he had done, he quickly pulled away.
"Oh God, Mon, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to….I wasn't…" Chandler began to babble. She placed a finger on his lips.
"Don't apologize," she said and leaned forward and kissed him again.
Maybe it was the fact that she was desperate to stick it Richard.
Or the fact that she was still sick.
But she had a feeling it was the way that Chandler looked at her.
The way he made her laugh.
The way that he was kissing her and the way that it made her feel.
And that terrified her.
But that didn't stop her from kissing him again.
This isn't about the things I've done
Where I've been
Or what I've won
Stand on your corner a thousand times
Lose what I got
Keep what I find
It's about you
It's about you
Okay kids, please, please review and tell me what you think! If you review, I might be motivated to get the next chapter up faster….what do you think? Please review. Thanks!
