Chapter 16
Someone like you
Disclaimer: I don't own anything to do with friends.
~*~
By 1am the party, which had been dubbed the party of the year, was in full swing. Students from all over campus loitered around the Vanderbilt building, while Chandler stood quietly within someone's dorm room, by the large bay window, watching a group of people he recognised from around school. One of whom had clearly had too much to drink, and was now bringing up the vast multitude of alcohol he had consumed onto the grass opposite.
Chandler gave a little chuckle and looked down momentarily at the bottle of Budweiser in his left hand, and sat it down on the bedside table, half full. He knew he had had enough for the one evening, even if his initial plan was to get rolling drunk and drown his sorrows, he now wanted to keep his senses about him. If this party was going to be anything like last years catastrophe then he wanted to be fully sober and on red alert for what the end of the night would bring.
"Chandler? Whatcha looking at?" Joey stood directly behind his friend and followed his gaze out of the window and down onto the now empty grass verge.
"Oh nothing really. I was just off in a world of my own," He turned around briefly to make eye contact and give Joey a painted on smile, before turning back to the solace of the world outside.
"You were thinking about Phoebe weren't you?"
Chandler laughed and gave a single expulsion of air.
"How'd you get to know me so well so quickly?" Chandler now turned his full attentions to Joey and stared at him intently, awaiting his answer.
"I don't. But I know what its like to miss a loved one. You never for one minute let them leave your mind. There's never a time when I stop wondering about Tina."
"Who the fuck is Tina!" Monica stood in the doorway with her arms crossed around her, a look of shocked anger on her face at what she had just heard.
"Monica! It's not what you think! Tina. Well, Tina is my," Before he could get a chance to find the right words to say Monica had stormed off at great speed in tears along the crowded, noisy hallway.
"MON! WAIT!" Joey ran towards the door to give chase, but stopped himself and turned back to Chandler.
"What the hell am I going to tell her?" Joey looked panicked and his voice was full of desperation as he ran his hands through his immaculately gelled hair in frustration.
"Tell her the truth Joe. Don't lie to her, because the truth will come out sooner or later, it always does and it would be better is she hears it from you"
"You're right, but what if she doesn't understand?"
"She loves you man, of course she's gonna understand. Trust me, Mon doesn't have a mean bone in her body, if anything she will be supportive when she finds out. Now go and catch her, before she sleeps with some college stud in a drunken rage." Joey could tell my Chandlers mischievous smile that he was only kidding, but the idea of losing Monica, all because of a stupid misunderstanding terrified him to his soul.
"Thanks man, talk to you soon," With that Joey rushed off out of the room in hot pursuit of his girlfriend, bashing right into Rachel on the way past.
"Hey, where's the fire!" Rachel rubbed her arm that had been knocked by his huge bulk, as she watched him ignore her and carry on at speed down the hall.
"What got into him?"
"Woman trouble. But don't ask, it's a long story!"
Rachel rolled her eyes knowingly, understanding fully what he meant. She had been in many a same situation where her man was concerned, and it always seemed to be parties like this one that kick started the rows.
Chandler looked over Rachel's head. First to the right of her, then to the left and back again, like he was searching for something or someone.
"No Jason?" Chandler looked mockingly shocked that Jason wasn't at least two steps behind her, as usual.
Rachel shook her head and glanced down at her feet disappointedly.
"I haven't seen him all night. The last time I saw him he said he would be right back, and that was," She looked down at her watch. "Nearly 4 hours ago." She gave a shrug, trying to brush of the fact she was feeling dejected. But Chandler had known her too long to realise how she was really feeling. He had seen the same miserable look on her face too many times and it was always Jason and his antics that were behind it.
"Don't let that Jerk spoil your night, he's not worth it," Chandler wrapped his arm comfortingly around her shoulder and yanked her in towards him in a desperate attempt to cheer her up. He was feeling miserable himself, but he couldn't bear to see his friends hurting too.
"I know you two aren't exactly on speaking terms right now, but he's not a jerk Chandler. He doesn't mean what he says and does half of the time!"
Chandler recoiled away from her, amazed at her sudden jumping to his defence.
"Why the hell do you always defend that asshole Rach? All that guy ever does is upset you, and you just sit there and put up with all the bullshit that he throws at you."
"What!" Rachel was now equally as stunned as her friend gave her a tongue- lashing. She couldn't believe Chandler had the nerve to speak to her in such a way.
He could see she was not in the slightest bit amused, but as far as he was concerned she was totally deserving of his harsh words. It was about time someone told Rachel "I'm too gullible and spoiled to believe my friends" Greene exactly what she needed to hear. Others for too long had shied away from it, but she had to know the truth, and if he was the one to tell her then so be it. He no longer cared if it would effectively ruin the friendship they had built up, it was well past that stage now.
"You heard me! Or did you choose to ignore that as well? Jason is a no good waster, who continually rips the hearts out of anyone who gets close to him, especially you! But you're too blind to see it! Rachel don't you see how much of a low life he is! He's cheated on you more times than I care to remember!" Once he let the last word slip out of his mouth he wished he could suck it back in, but he knew it was too late for that. No more words, or any amount of back tracking could repair the damage he had no caused, and he hated himself for it.
"Jason has never cheated on me!" Rachel managed to scream back through her tears.
"Oh Rachel wake up and smell the coffee! Where do you think he's been for the last 4 hours? Down in the library studying? I don't think so, do you?"
"I'm going to find him, and prove to you just how wrong you are" Rachel ran off in the same direction her best friend had gone just minutes before her, determination and frustration bubbling in her like a geyser.
She sniffed back the tears that blinded her view as her legs carried her down the hallway. She told her herself over and over that Chandlers words had been fuelled from spite, but at the back of her mind she knew he would never lie to her, even in jealousy. But at the same time she couldn't allow herself to believe it was true.
~*~
"Monica, wait up! MONICA!" Joey was just inches behind her, but she kept running with all her might through the buildings front door and out onto the campus grounds.
"MONICA I CAN EXPLAIN!"
"I don't want to hear it Joey! I can't believe a word you say anymore. We're FINISHED! You've lied to me! And what was that all abut earlier, telling me I was the woman you had waited your whole life on, was that all lies too?"
"No, I swear it wasn't Mon. I would never lie to you. I respect and love you too much, and there's no way in the world I would ever cheat on you and risk losing everything I have with you."
Monica slowed down, sat herself down on the stonewall surround and tried to get her breath back and her head around what he was telling her. How could she believe his words were true when she had just heard him tell Chandler of all people that he loved another woman?
"You can't tell me that you love two women at the same time, you either love me, or this Tina bitch." Thinking her name was bad enough, but saying it out loud made her feel physically sick.
Just when she thought she had found the man she would spend the rest of her life with, it had all fallen apart. She had known it was too good to be true.
"I don't love Tina the way I love you!"
"So you do love her then?" Her voice cracked as she broke down into sobs. This was too much for her to take. He was actually admitting to having another woman in hi life besides her. She had tried to be strong, but this news pushed her over the edge.
"You're not understanding me!" Joey fought to find the courage to explain, but he was finding it harder than he expected.
"How can I understand when you won't explain to me what's going on!"
You could have heard a pin drop as they sat in silence. The only noise to be heard was the sound of sobs coming from a distraught Monica.
"Tina is my sister Monica. That's why I love her." He hung his head, knowing that he had a lot more explaining to do.
"The reason I didn't tell you about her sooner is because she's been missing for nearly a year now, and it's hard for me to talk about. I miss her so much, and I just wish I could find her and protect her from what's happening to her out on the streets. We think she's working as a hooker," He couldn't ay another word, but he didn't need to. Monica had heard enough.
Monica held back the remainder of her tears and turned her head to look at her crying boyfriend. She had never seen him once break away from his cool, exterior. But now here he was, breaking his heart, and all because of a secret that for so long had been eating him alive.
"Shh," She wrapped her arms around him, and planted a kiss on his wet cheek.
"It's all gonna be ok," She held him tightly, and for the first time he really believed everything would be ok, for he had his soul mate by his side.
~~*~~
"Mikey, have you seen Jason?" Rachel had tired herself out by running in and out of every room she passed, asking the same question over and over in desperate hope someone had seen her boyfriend, but so far she had had no success.
Most people had given her strange looks, others point blank ignored her, and the ones that did answer never gave her the response she was looking for.
"Rach, babe, come and have a drink! You look too sober!" It was true. She was sober. But that was all thanks to Chandler's verbal battering, which had brought her back to earth with a bang, taking away the giddy feeling the alcohol had induced.
"I can't, I have to go find Jason." Her face was a look of anxiety, but no one seemed to notice, or care in the slightest.
"You'll be lucky!" Someone she didn't know who was standing with Mikey and his friends added, sending them all into fits of drunken laughter
"Yeah, try Cynthia Lewis' room" The group of guys erupted back into childish giggles and Rachel shot off like a Piston, a rage building in her like a storm ready to do damage.
She knew Cynthia, but only because of the reputation she had of stealing people's boyfriends. It was common knowledge that by the end of her first year she had slept with half of the guys at NYU. But what she didn't know was if Jason was truly stupid enough to get involved with a slut like her.
She got outside of the room she was sure belonged to Cynthia, but her lack of courage for confrontation held her back from breaking down the door and bursting into the room to see what was on the other side.
Twice she turned away, and twice she turned back, each time and extra rush of emotion pushing her forward.
She placed the palms of her hands against the wooden door, lightly at first and took a deep inhalation of Oxygen as though the extra air would help her through what she was about to do.
She was just about to start putting extra pressure into her hands, when she heard her voice being called from the right.
"Rachel, hi! What you up to?" Ross bounded towards her as though he couldn't have been happier to see her, a grin on his face like a Cheshire cat.
"Not now Ross!" He was more than used to her rejection of his advances, but this time something about her stern tone of voice disturbed him.
"You ok? You look shaken"
She spun around sharply to face him, anger in her eyes.
"Which part of not now did you not understand! Can't you see im not in the mood for company!" She watched his eyes drift away from hers as something over her head caught his attention.
The look of astonishment growing on his face told her what he had seen was not good, so much so she was afraid to turn around and look for herself, but somehow she managed it.
As she turned the 180 degrees, a stunned looking Jason, minus his shirt, greeted her. And behind him an equally naked Cynthia stood, looking smugly down her nose at Rachel as though it was her that was in the wrong.
Rachel's jaw practically hit the floor, even although this was what she had expected to be confronted with, there had still been a tiny part of her brain that wouldn't allow her to register it.
"Rachel, this isn't how it looks. Cynthia had a problem with her plumbing and we both got soaked trying to fix it. We didn't have sex, I swear!" The more he protested the guiltier he looked, and the less she believed him. She wasn't even sure she wanted to believe him anymore.
She began to back away, her gaze transfixed on the sight in front of her as she slid further and further away. She wasn't even aware of Ross' presence any longer.
"Don't leave like this baby! We need to talk this out." Jason dropped the clothing he had been holding in his arms and grabbed a hold of Rachel's wrists, tying in vain to pull her back to him, but the harder her pulled the harder she dug her heels into the carpet, fighting to free herself from his powerful clutches.
"Let go of me!" The harder she squirmed the stronger his grasp became.
"You're hurting me Jason, please." Rachel could feel the tears beginning to descend her face as she felt his fingers dig agonisingly into her bones, and the pain of it shoot up her arms like she were receiving an electric shock.
"You have to listen to me Rachel" Jason again ignored her request to remove his hands and began to tighten his grip, moving them further up his arms as he tied to get a better hold of her and yank her closer.
Rachel's body contorted in agony as his hands crushed her, leaving red welts all along her pale skin.
"She said let go!" Ross grabbed hold of Jason's left arm and tried to remove it from further hurting the woman he loved, but his strength was even too powerful for him to apprehend.
"Don't get involved Ross, or you'll end up getting hurt." Jason threw him a look of warning, and returned his possessed looking eyes to his girlfriend. But Ross was in no way ready to give up the fight to protect Rachel from harm, even if he did take Jason's threat seriously, he would rather it was him in danger than her.
"Take your hands of her now, asshole!" Ross threw his fists at Jason's chest, with enough force that sent him flying back into the arms of Cynthia.
With her arms free, Rachel dived behind a raging Ross; terrified Jason would make another grab for her once he got back on his feet.
"Did you just hit me?" Jason's eyes flared in anger.
"You deserved it, now back off!" Now that the adrenaline has stopped rushing around his body Ross was a little apprehensive, and feeling less brave than before.
He moved his hands around his back and let them rest gently in Rachel's hips, trying his best to protect her, but his attention was so focused on her he didn't see Jason's fist fly towards his face.
He stumbled back and paused for a second of recollection before he raised his own arm and retaliated, twice as hard. Jason had really done it this time.
A crowd had begun to gather in a circle around them as the commotion began to heat up. Someone at the front launched into a chorus of "FIGHT!" repeating it over, stirring up with rest of the revellers who joined in on the chanting. The noise brought more people running from their rooms and into the hallway to watch the one time friends rolling around the ground, fists flying, and the thuds of the punches echoed around them.
No one tried to move in and break it up; instead they huddled closer to catch a better glimpse of the action. Only Rachel made an attempt to get amongst them, but things had grown so intense she couldn't get close enough, at least not without getting herself hurt in the cross fire. All she could do was stand and observe two people she cared about try to kill each other, and it was all over her.
She couldn't bear to watch, this was too terrible to comprehend.
~*~
Chandler watched as the room he was still stood in began to clear all of a sudden, and he listen curiously to the loud chanting of "Fight!" resonating around the 4 walls. But he didn't follow.
Instead he remained where he was, quite contented, by the window. His stare was transfixed, as it had been for the last hour. He was desperately attempting to revaluate his life. All around him, his friends were vanishing further and further away from his reach and he had never felt so alone as he did right now. But still he couldn't help but wonder if it was himself that was pushing them away.
His teary eyes fell from there gaze in the sky, and let them fall back down onto the once empty grass verge, that he had been unconsciously studying, memorising its every delicate detail. But now something was different.
He blinked a few times, closing his eyes and reopening them to make sure what he was seeing wasn't just a figment of his imagination. He pressed his nose against the glass windowpane, and kept it there until the condensation that had built up from his close breathing barred his view.
He was almost certain it was his mind playing tricks on him, but he had to be 100% certain.
He pushed himself away from the glass and sprinted down the hall, which had seen its fair share of action tonight, and hurtled down the buildings steps at record speed.
Phoebe was outside, and she was walking into the dark distance. He had to reach her before she disappeared.
But would his legs carry him there in enough time?
~*~
Let me know what you think :o) Xxxx
Someone like you
Disclaimer: I don't own anything to do with friends.
~*~
By 1am the party, which had been dubbed the party of the year, was in full swing. Students from all over campus loitered around the Vanderbilt building, while Chandler stood quietly within someone's dorm room, by the large bay window, watching a group of people he recognised from around school. One of whom had clearly had too much to drink, and was now bringing up the vast multitude of alcohol he had consumed onto the grass opposite.
Chandler gave a little chuckle and looked down momentarily at the bottle of Budweiser in his left hand, and sat it down on the bedside table, half full. He knew he had had enough for the one evening, even if his initial plan was to get rolling drunk and drown his sorrows, he now wanted to keep his senses about him. If this party was going to be anything like last years catastrophe then he wanted to be fully sober and on red alert for what the end of the night would bring.
"Chandler? Whatcha looking at?" Joey stood directly behind his friend and followed his gaze out of the window and down onto the now empty grass verge.
"Oh nothing really. I was just off in a world of my own," He turned around briefly to make eye contact and give Joey a painted on smile, before turning back to the solace of the world outside.
"You were thinking about Phoebe weren't you?"
Chandler laughed and gave a single expulsion of air.
"How'd you get to know me so well so quickly?" Chandler now turned his full attentions to Joey and stared at him intently, awaiting his answer.
"I don't. But I know what its like to miss a loved one. You never for one minute let them leave your mind. There's never a time when I stop wondering about Tina."
"Who the fuck is Tina!" Monica stood in the doorway with her arms crossed around her, a look of shocked anger on her face at what she had just heard.
"Monica! It's not what you think! Tina. Well, Tina is my," Before he could get a chance to find the right words to say Monica had stormed off at great speed in tears along the crowded, noisy hallway.
"MON! WAIT!" Joey ran towards the door to give chase, but stopped himself and turned back to Chandler.
"What the hell am I going to tell her?" Joey looked panicked and his voice was full of desperation as he ran his hands through his immaculately gelled hair in frustration.
"Tell her the truth Joe. Don't lie to her, because the truth will come out sooner or later, it always does and it would be better is she hears it from you"
"You're right, but what if she doesn't understand?"
"She loves you man, of course she's gonna understand. Trust me, Mon doesn't have a mean bone in her body, if anything she will be supportive when she finds out. Now go and catch her, before she sleeps with some college stud in a drunken rage." Joey could tell my Chandlers mischievous smile that he was only kidding, but the idea of losing Monica, all because of a stupid misunderstanding terrified him to his soul.
"Thanks man, talk to you soon," With that Joey rushed off out of the room in hot pursuit of his girlfriend, bashing right into Rachel on the way past.
"Hey, where's the fire!" Rachel rubbed her arm that had been knocked by his huge bulk, as she watched him ignore her and carry on at speed down the hall.
"What got into him?"
"Woman trouble. But don't ask, it's a long story!"
Rachel rolled her eyes knowingly, understanding fully what he meant. She had been in many a same situation where her man was concerned, and it always seemed to be parties like this one that kick started the rows.
Chandler looked over Rachel's head. First to the right of her, then to the left and back again, like he was searching for something or someone.
"No Jason?" Chandler looked mockingly shocked that Jason wasn't at least two steps behind her, as usual.
Rachel shook her head and glanced down at her feet disappointedly.
"I haven't seen him all night. The last time I saw him he said he would be right back, and that was," She looked down at her watch. "Nearly 4 hours ago." She gave a shrug, trying to brush of the fact she was feeling dejected. But Chandler had known her too long to realise how she was really feeling. He had seen the same miserable look on her face too many times and it was always Jason and his antics that were behind it.
"Don't let that Jerk spoil your night, he's not worth it," Chandler wrapped his arm comfortingly around her shoulder and yanked her in towards him in a desperate attempt to cheer her up. He was feeling miserable himself, but he couldn't bear to see his friends hurting too.
"I know you two aren't exactly on speaking terms right now, but he's not a jerk Chandler. He doesn't mean what he says and does half of the time!"
Chandler recoiled away from her, amazed at her sudden jumping to his defence.
"Why the hell do you always defend that asshole Rach? All that guy ever does is upset you, and you just sit there and put up with all the bullshit that he throws at you."
"What!" Rachel was now equally as stunned as her friend gave her a tongue- lashing. She couldn't believe Chandler had the nerve to speak to her in such a way.
He could see she was not in the slightest bit amused, but as far as he was concerned she was totally deserving of his harsh words. It was about time someone told Rachel "I'm too gullible and spoiled to believe my friends" Greene exactly what she needed to hear. Others for too long had shied away from it, but she had to know the truth, and if he was the one to tell her then so be it. He no longer cared if it would effectively ruin the friendship they had built up, it was well past that stage now.
"You heard me! Or did you choose to ignore that as well? Jason is a no good waster, who continually rips the hearts out of anyone who gets close to him, especially you! But you're too blind to see it! Rachel don't you see how much of a low life he is! He's cheated on you more times than I care to remember!" Once he let the last word slip out of his mouth he wished he could suck it back in, but he knew it was too late for that. No more words, or any amount of back tracking could repair the damage he had no caused, and he hated himself for it.
"Jason has never cheated on me!" Rachel managed to scream back through her tears.
"Oh Rachel wake up and smell the coffee! Where do you think he's been for the last 4 hours? Down in the library studying? I don't think so, do you?"
"I'm going to find him, and prove to you just how wrong you are" Rachel ran off in the same direction her best friend had gone just minutes before her, determination and frustration bubbling in her like a geyser.
She sniffed back the tears that blinded her view as her legs carried her down the hallway. She told her herself over and over that Chandlers words had been fuelled from spite, but at the back of her mind she knew he would never lie to her, even in jealousy. But at the same time she couldn't allow herself to believe it was true.
~*~
"Monica, wait up! MONICA!" Joey was just inches behind her, but she kept running with all her might through the buildings front door and out onto the campus grounds.
"MONICA I CAN EXPLAIN!"
"I don't want to hear it Joey! I can't believe a word you say anymore. We're FINISHED! You've lied to me! And what was that all abut earlier, telling me I was the woman you had waited your whole life on, was that all lies too?"
"No, I swear it wasn't Mon. I would never lie to you. I respect and love you too much, and there's no way in the world I would ever cheat on you and risk losing everything I have with you."
Monica slowed down, sat herself down on the stonewall surround and tried to get her breath back and her head around what he was telling her. How could she believe his words were true when she had just heard him tell Chandler of all people that he loved another woman?
"You can't tell me that you love two women at the same time, you either love me, or this Tina bitch." Thinking her name was bad enough, but saying it out loud made her feel physically sick.
Just when she thought she had found the man she would spend the rest of her life with, it had all fallen apart. She had known it was too good to be true.
"I don't love Tina the way I love you!"
"So you do love her then?" Her voice cracked as she broke down into sobs. This was too much for her to take. He was actually admitting to having another woman in hi life besides her. She had tried to be strong, but this news pushed her over the edge.
"You're not understanding me!" Joey fought to find the courage to explain, but he was finding it harder than he expected.
"How can I understand when you won't explain to me what's going on!"
You could have heard a pin drop as they sat in silence. The only noise to be heard was the sound of sobs coming from a distraught Monica.
"Tina is my sister Monica. That's why I love her." He hung his head, knowing that he had a lot more explaining to do.
"The reason I didn't tell you about her sooner is because she's been missing for nearly a year now, and it's hard for me to talk about. I miss her so much, and I just wish I could find her and protect her from what's happening to her out on the streets. We think she's working as a hooker," He couldn't ay another word, but he didn't need to. Monica had heard enough.
Monica held back the remainder of her tears and turned her head to look at her crying boyfriend. She had never seen him once break away from his cool, exterior. But now here he was, breaking his heart, and all because of a secret that for so long had been eating him alive.
"Shh," She wrapped her arms around him, and planted a kiss on his wet cheek.
"It's all gonna be ok," She held him tightly, and for the first time he really believed everything would be ok, for he had his soul mate by his side.
~~*~~
"Mikey, have you seen Jason?" Rachel had tired herself out by running in and out of every room she passed, asking the same question over and over in desperate hope someone had seen her boyfriend, but so far she had had no success.
Most people had given her strange looks, others point blank ignored her, and the ones that did answer never gave her the response she was looking for.
"Rach, babe, come and have a drink! You look too sober!" It was true. She was sober. But that was all thanks to Chandler's verbal battering, which had brought her back to earth with a bang, taking away the giddy feeling the alcohol had induced.
"I can't, I have to go find Jason." Her face was a look of anxiety, but no one seemed to notice, or care in the slightest.
"You'll be lucky!" Someone she didn't know who was standing with Mikey and his friends added, sending them all into fits of drunken laughter
"Yeah, try Cynthia Lewis' room" The group of guys erupted back into childish giggles and Rachel shot off like a Piston, a rage building in her like a storm ready to do damage.
She knew Cynthia, but only because of the reputation she had of stealing people's boyfriends. It was common knowledge that by the end of her first year she had slept with half of the guys at NYU. But what she didn't know was if Jason was truly stupid enough to get involved with a slut like her.
She got outside of the room she was sure belonged to Cynthia, but her lack of courage for confrontation held her back from breaking down the door and bursting into the room to see what was on the other side.
Twice she turned away, and twice she turned back, each time and extra rush of emotion pushing her forward.
She placed the palms of her hands against the wooden door, lightly at first and took a deep inhalation of Oxygen as though the extra air would help her through what she was about to do.
She was just about to start putting extra pressure into her hands, when she heard her voice being called from the right.
"Rachel, hi! What you up to?" Ross bounded towards her as though he couldn't have been happier to see her, a grin on his face like a Cheshire cat.
"Not now Ross!" He was more than used to her rejection of his advances, but this time something about her stern tone of voice disturbed him.
"You ok? You look shaken"
She spun around sharply to face him, anger in her eyes.
"Which part of not now did you not understand! Can't you see im not in the mood for company!" She watched his eyes drift away from hers as something over her head caught his attention.
The look of astonishment growing on his face told her what he had seen was not good, so much so she was afraid to turn around and look for herself, but somehow she managed it.
As she turned the 180 degrees, a stunned looking Jason, minus his shirt, greeted her. And behind him an equally naked Cynthia stood, looking smugly down her nose at Rachel as though it was her that was in the wrong.
Rachel's jaw practically hit the floor, even although this was what she had expected to be confronted with, there had still been a tiny part of her brain that wouldn't allow her to register it.
"Rachel, this isn't how it looks. Cynthia had a problem with her plumbing and we both got soaked trying to fix it. We didn't have sex, I swear!" The more he protested the guiltier he looked, and the less she believed him. She wasn't even sure she wanted to believe him anymore.
She began to back away, her gaze transfixed on the sight in front of her as she slid further and further away. She wasn't even aware of Ross' presence any longer.
"Don't leave like this baby! We need to talk this out." Jason dropped the clothing he had been holding in his arms and grabbed a hold of Rachel's wrists, tying in vain to pull her back to him, but the harder her pulled the harder she dug her heels into the carpet, fighting to free herself from his powerful clutches.
"Let go of me!" The harder she squirmed the stronger his grasp became.
"You're hurting me Jason, please." Rachel could feel the tears beginning to descend her face as she felt his fingers dig agonisingly into her bones, and the pain of it shoot up her arms like she were receiving an electric shock.
"You have to listen to me Rachel" Jason again ignored her request to remove his hands and began to tighten his grip, moving them further up his arms as he tied to get a better hold of her and yank her closer.
Rachel's body contorted in agony as his hands crushed her, leaving red welts all along her pale skin.
"She said let go!" Ross grabbed hold of Jason's left arm and tried to remove it from further hurting the woman he loved, but his strength was even too powerful for him to apprehend.
"Don't get involved Ross, or you'll end up getting hurt." Jason threw him a look of warning, and returned his possessed looking eyes to his girlfriend. But Ross was in no way ready to give up the fight to protect Rachel from harm, even if he did take Jason's threat seriously, he would rather it was him in danger than her.
"Take your hands of her now, asshole!" Ross threw his fists at Jason's chest, with enough force that sent him flying back into the arms of Cynthia.
With her arms free, Rachel dived behind a raging Ross; terrified Jason would make another grab for her once he got back on his feet.
"Did you just hit me?" Jason's eyes flared in anger.
"You deserved it, now back off!" Now that the adrenaline has stopped rushing around his body Ross was a little apprehensive, and feeling less brave than before.
He moved his hands around his back and let them rest gently in Rachel's hips, trying his best to protect her, but his attention was so focused on her he didn't see Jason's fist fly towards his face.
He stumbled back and paused for a second of recollection before he raised his own arm and retaliated, twice as hard. Jason had really done it this time.
A crowd had begun to gather in a circle around them as the commotion began to heat up. Someone at the front launched into a chorus of "FIGHT!" repeating it over, stirring up with rest of the revellers who joined in on the chanting. The noise brought more people running from their rooms and into the hallway to watch the one time friends rolling around the ground, fists flying, and the thuds of the punches echoed around them.
No one tried to move in and break it up; instead they huddled closer to catch a better glimpse of the action. Only Rachel made an attempt to get amongst them, but things had grown so intense she couldn't get close enough, at least not without getting herself hurt in the cross fire. All she could do was stand and observe two people she cared about try to kill each other, and it was all over her.
She couldn't bear to watch, this was too terrible to comprehend.
~*~
Chandler watched as the room he was still stood in began to clear all of a sudden, and he listen curiously to the loud chanting of "Fight!" resonating around the 4 walls. But he didn't follow.
Instead he remained where he was, quite contented, by the window. His stare was transfixed, as it had been for the last hour. He was desperately attempting to revaluate his life. All around him, his friends were vanishing further and further away from his reach and he had never felt so alone as he did right now. But still he couldn't help but wonder if it was himself that was pushing them away.
His teary eyes fell from there gaze in the sky, and let them fall back down onto the once empty grass verge, that he had been unconsciously studying, memorising its every delicate detail. But now something was different.
He blinked a few times, closing his eyes and reopening them to make sure what he was seeing wasn't just a figment of his imagination. He pressed his nose against the glass windowpane, and kept it there until the condensation that had built up from his close breathing barred his view.
He was almost certain it was his mind playing tricks on him, but he had to be 100% certain.
He pushed himself away from the glass and sprinted down the hall, which had seen its fair share of action tonight, and hurtled down the buildings steps at record speed.
Phoebe was outside, and she was walking into the dark distance. He had to reach her before she disappeared.
But would his legs carry him there in enough time?
~*~
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