What's it Like to Live: Chapter 12: Fatalistic

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Monica was too furious with Chandler to stay in his apartment. She had left about an hour ago, and was still wandering the streets of Los Angeles. She needed time to think, but the city had too many distractions. Sure New York had a lot of distractions too, but after living there for years, you learn to live with it. One thing she could never live with was the "new" Chandler. He never seemed to listen anymore, anything she or anybody else told him would go in one ear and out the other. He also had developed a very short temper. If you looked at him funny, he would be all over you.

After another ten minutes of walking she looked up at a neon sign above her. Recognizing it as her hotel, she walked inside and over to the elevator. Once she got to the seventh floor, she stepped out and headed down the hallway to her room. She was just about to open the door when she hear the voices of Phoebe and Rachel across the hallway. She knocked on the door and after a few seconds, Phoebe opened it.

"Hey. Are you just getting back now? It's like six in the morning."

"Yea. I waited for Chandler to get back and then I just walked around."

"Oh." Phoebe nodded.

"What are you guys doing up this early?" Monica peered around Phoebe at Rachel who was now watching tv.

"We couldn't sleep, we were worried about you."

"Well I'm fine. But I think I'm just going to head off to bed. Wake me up if you guys go anywhere for lunch."

"Ok." Phoebe smiled, closing the door and walking back over to Rachel.

"That was Monica, she just got back now."

Rachel flipped off the tv and laid back on her bed.

"What do you think's going to happen?" She asked.

"What do you mean?" Phoebe laid down on her bed and looked up at the ceiling.

"Between all of us. I mean, Chandler's well...you know. Joey won't talk to us because he's too upset with him. Ross just doesn't do much. Monica's obsessing over Chandler, and we're kind of caught in the middle of it all." She said, sitting up on her elbows.

"I don't know Rach, that's one question that I just can't answer. And I don't want to say 'I'm sure everything will be okay' because...what if it's not? What do we do?"

"Well, I'll tell you what I'm going to do. I'm going to salvage as much sleep as possible." She said as she reached over to shut the light on the night stand off.

Phoebe just laughed and pulled her covers over her.

"Night Rach."

"Night Phoebe."

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Chandler laid face up on his bed, staring at a spider as it made it's way across his ceiling. Monica had left over an hour ago, and after the words that they shared, he wondered if he would ever see her again. The sound of a soft knock on his front door drifted into his room and brought him away from his thoughts. He got up off the bed and walked out of his room and to the front door. He had packed a suitcase right after he had made the phone call, only packing a few shirts and three pairs of pants, stuffing some boxers off to the side. It was the first time in five years that he didn't have to hide drugs in the suitcase walls and in between shirt tags.

He peered through the peep hole before opening the door, receiving a welcomed hug.

"It's good to see you Lewis." He said to the man in front of him. He was a few inches shorter than Chandler but had the same build. His long, dark blonde hair flowed down past his eyebrows and into his eyes, prompting him to brush it away every few minutes.

Lewis had been his friend for many years, but he never even thought of touching drugs. He was Chandler's safe friend, if he were ever to need anything or if something went wrong, Lewis would do anything possible to get him out of it. Once he first found out about Chandler drug addictions, he had sat him down and, pushing all of his anger aside, told him that when he was ready, he would be there to help him.

"It's been too long, way too long." Lewis smiled before taking a few steps into the apartment and shutting the door behind him. "So, are you ready to go?"

"Yea, just let me get my bag." Chandler started off towards his room while Lewis gazed around the place.

"Wow, this place looks so different since the last time I saw it."

Chandler turned around, continuing to walk backwards. "Oh, yea, I fixed it up about a year after I bought it. Looks pretty nice, huh?"

Lewis just nodded and took a seat on the couch, waiting for Chandler to return.

A few minutes later, Chandler walked out of his room, suitcase in hand, a smile on his face. "Let's get this over with."

Lewis stood up and opened the door for him, grabbing the keys that sat on the table by the door before following him out.

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They arrived at their destination about a half an hour later. As Chandler stepped out of the car, he looked over at the sign by the entrance of the small parking lot.

"The Beverly Rehabilitation Clinic." He whispered to himself. This was where it was all going to change, he was going to turn his life around for the better.

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After Lewis had checked him in, he headed back to his own apartment for a bite to eat and a quick shower.

After showering and eating, he noticed it was already quarter to noon. He picked up the phone and dialed Chandler's apartment number, knowing he wouldn't be there, but hoping that his friends would. After a few rings, a man's voice came over the line.

"Hello?"

"Hi, this is Chandler's friend Lewis."

"Oh, well Chandler's not here right now, I actually don't know where he is."

"It's ok, are all of you over there?"

"What do you mean?" Ross asked, clearly confused as to what was going on.

"His friends from New York."

"Oh yea, we're here. What's going on, where's Chandler?"

"I'll tell you once I get there, I should be over in a few minutes."

With that, Lewis hung up, leaving Ross filled with unanswered questions.

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"Who was that?" Joey asked, walking over to Ross and sitting down on the couch.

Ross looked questioningly at the phone before hanging it up.

"That was Chandler's friend Lewis. He said that he knows where Chandler is and that he'll be over in a few minutes." Ross said, almost recapping the story for not only Joey, but for himself too.

"Ok." Joey nodded, seemingly ok with everything that was going on.

Ross told everybody else about the phone call and now they all sat around, chatting about random things, waiting for Lewis to arrive. A knock on the door prompted Ross to get off the couch and walk to the door.

He glanced through the peep hole, but after realizing that it did him no good because he had no idea what Lewis looked like, he opened the door.

"Hi, I'm Lewis. I'm guessing you're Ross?" He stepped forward and stuck his hand out.

"Yea, that's me." Ross shook his hand opened the door for Lewis to come in while he proceeded to introduce everybody else.

"So, where is Chandler?" Monica asked, standing up next to Ross.

"Well, early this morning, after you left I'm guessing." He stopped and motioned towards Monica. "He called me and said that he was ready. I had been waiting years for this phone call and immediately knew what it meant." He continued with a huge grin on his face, already letting everybody know that the news he carried was good.

"So I came over here, picked him up, and took him to the clinic." He stopped at the collective gasp from the group.

"He did it?" Monica asked in a small voice, sitting down on the couch, overwhelmed with joy.

"Yes." Lewis answered. "I guess the argument he had with you finally showed him that he needed to change, that he was hurting the people that he loved most by doing something that wasn't even worth it."

"Well, what clinic is he at?" Joey asked.

"He told me that he didn't want you guys to know, and that he doesn't want you to visit him. He just wants to know that you guys are behind him all the way, but that he doesn't expect you guys to just welcome him back into your lives. He just wants to know that you guys are there for him."

"Oh, we are. You bet we are." Rachel smiled.

T B C

Yea that was kinda short too, sorry. I'm thinking that I might be done with just 1 or 2 more chapters! Yay! I'm leaving for a "vacation" if you could call it that, on Friday and I won't be back for a week, so sorry, no update next week. Please Review!!!!!