Chapter 2

After the gang had left and Rachel had retreated to her bedroom for the night, Monica sat at the kitchen table, sipping a cup of hot tea and reviewing the evening's events. She felt she had handled herself well during dinner and while they watched a video, so she was surprised, actually shocked, when Chandler had offered to help her wash the dishes.

"But it's one of your favorite movies," she had said.

"That's okay," he had responded with a shrug. "I can hear it and then I'll enjoy the rest of it after the kitchen is clean."

And so she had let Chandler help her clean up after dinner. She couldn't help but to note how well they worked together. He had made his usual wise-cracking remarks, and surprisingly, that had given her a certain measure of comfort. It was nice to know not everything had changed.

When the dishes had been dried and put away, she'd told him to go into the living room and join the others. He'd started to leave and then stopped. He'd forced her to look at him and told her he'd needed to say something to her. She'd held her breath as she searched his clear blue eyes, afraid he somehow knew about her secret eating binges. For some reason she couldn't quite understand, she was worried that he would find out more than anyone else, even Rachel, her roommate.

"I know you're going through a rough time," he'd begun, and his softly spoken words had made her stiffen even more as she'd waited for the rest of his sentence. "So, if you need someone to talk to, I'll listen. You know I'm not good at giving advice, but I'll listen if you just need to vent."

She'd smiled and nodded, grateful for his offer. "Thank you," she'd said sincerely. "I appreciate that and I may take you up on it. Someday."

Chandler had returned her smile and nod and had given her upper arm a gentle squeeze before he'd found a seat in the living room and had tried to lose himself in the movie.

Monica had remained distant from the rest of them for the remainder of the night, although she'd served the chocolate cream pie she had baked that afternoon.

Now, as she took another sip of her tea, the leftover pie in the refrigerator called out to her. She had been so good while the others had been there. She hadn't tasted so much as a crumb while she was serving it, but now, it was all she could think about.

She told herself to go to bed and forget about the pie, but her willpower failed her and she found herself with a fork, ready to dig into the delicious and tempting dessert. After eating three big bites, she threw down her fork in disgust. What was she doing? The pants she had on were already snug. She'd forced herself to workout more the past two weeks than she had in the last six months, just to try to atone for all the overeating she had been doing.

She looked at the pie, which was considerable less than it had been, and was about to get rid of it when she thought about Chandler. Maybe she did need to talk. She certainly couldn't go on like this. She would take the remaining dessert to Joey, which would give her a chance to talk to Chandler. She hoped.

A few minutes later, Chandler answered the soft knock on the door and was surprised to see Monica standing there, holding a forlorn-looking pie in her hands.

"I know it's late," she said in a rush, "but can I come in?"

"Of course."

She walked in and stood near the counter, after having placed the pie tin on the counter.

"I brought this for you and Joey," she began, feeling rather uneasy and not sure whatshe hoped to accomplishnow that she had made the trek across the hall.

"Thanks," Chandler said, picking up the pie and placing it in the fridge.

"It got a little messy," she said.

Chandler shrugged. "Joey won't mind."

Monica smiled. That was certainly true.

Chandler couldn't help but to notice that a big portion of the pie was missing, at least from the last time he had seen it, but he chose not to say anything to his friend. At least she had brought it to him. Maybe that was a good sign.

"Can I get you something to drink?" he asked.

Monica hesitated. "It's late," she said. "I guess I should be going."

"It's not that late," Chandler pointed out, not ready for her to leave.

"Where's Joey?"

"In his room, preparing for an audition tomorrow."

Monica nodded.

A few awkward moments passed before Monica spoke.

"What you said tonight," she started, not really sure how much she wanted to reveal, "I, well, I want you to know it really meant a lot to me."

"I meant what I said," Chandler assured her.

Monica nodded and tucked a strand of dark hair behind her ear.

"It's just that...I guess you noticed there wasn't much left of the pie."

"It crossed my mind when I saw it," he admitted.

"Since I broke up with Richard, I've been indulging way more than I should. That pie is a perfect example. I want to stop, and yet, I don't. It's crazy, I know, but you can relate, right?"

"With trying to give up smoking, yeah, I can."

"That's what I mean. It'll get easier, right? I won't always want to eat everything in sight, right? Please, Chandler. Tell me I won't."

He saw the stricken look on her face and the threat of tears in her crystal blue eyes and wanted nothing more than to take her in his arms and comfort her. But he knew he couldn't do that. He was her friend. Nothing more. Besides, she was still hurting from her breakup. He wouldn't do that to her. But he did want her to know that things would get better.

"The cravings will ease," he answered. "At least, they did for me. For the most part. And you have already been through this. You know what you need to do. Don't let Richard or anyone cause you to backslide, Mon. You've come too far and you've had your eating under control for a lot of years."

"Or maybe I've just had everyone, including myself, fooled all this time."

Chandler shook his head. "Nah, I don't believe that. You'll get through this. I promise you will."

Monica gazed at her friend who wore a very reassuring smile. "How can you promise me that?" she asked, half serious, half teasing. "You of the bad advice crowd."

"You're right," he said. "I broke my own promise not to give you advice, and now I'm promising you that you'll get through this. Run, Monica. Run away from me as fast as you can."

She knew he was only half-mocking and that he felt some truth in what he was saying, but the last thing she wanted to do was to run away from him.

"I think I'll take my chances," she told him.

"Really?" he had to ask.

"Yes," she said, realizing with a smile that she was enjoying their lighthearted, somewhat teasing conversation very much.

He smiled warmly, happy he could make her forget her troubles, if only for a few minutes. "Then, just know that I'll be here whenever you need me. Bad advice and all. Okay?"

"I hope you won't get tired of me. I may be around a lot."

That sounded fine with Chandler, but instead of voicing his pleasure at her anticipated visits, he changed his mind and decided to hold out his arms to offer her a friendly hug. That wouldn't upset anything, right? They were just two friends, sharing an enjoyable hug. She sighed contentedly in the safety of his strong arms as she tried to let go of some of the stress she had been feeling.

With the two of them lost in their own thoughts, neither one saw Joey when he opened his bedroom door. He wanted to get something to drink, but he stopped in his tracks when he saw Monica and Chandler in a very close embrace. He retreated, unnoticed, to his room and silently closed the door, determined to find out what, if anything, was going on with two of his best friends.

Because from where he stood, nothing good could come out of this. Even he knew Monica still loved Richard. First thing in the morning, he vowed, he would remind his best friend of that very fact.