After his rather long shower, Chandler nervously dried himself and tied on his robe. As he emerged from the bathroom, he saw Joey in the living room, finishing off a jar of jam, while Monica was cleaning in the kitchen. Rachel, as usual, wasn't helping. She just sat on the couch complaining about how she hadn't made any progress with Joshua and now she was expected to socialize with Ross and Emily.

"I thought you were gonna be happy for him," Monica responded from the kitchen.

"But he's ahead of me, Mon! Ross is ahead of me in this whole 'moving on and finding someone new' thing. I can't fall behind him. I mean, this--this is just like when you said that you couldn't go to Richard when you don't have a boyfriend."

Monica sighed and shrugged, "I guess so. Ugh, I even had to get a new eye doctor after dating both Richard and his son Timothy." She shuddered at the memory.

Chandler would normally have interjected a snide comment right then, but he still felt so unsettled by his shower that he just silently headed toward his bedroom.

However, Joey saw him pass by and commented, "Hey, I hope you didn't use up all the hot water."

Chandler paused and pulled the bathrobe tighter around him. "Sorry, um, there--there was a lot of flour to rinse off."

Joey shrugged and put down his empty jar on a table. "Hmm, maybe we should have saved time by showering together."

At that remark, Chandler blushed deeply, and Joey laughed. Monica and Rachel also giggled and exchanged glances.

"Just kidding!" Joey wiped his mouth and then headed to the bathroom.

Chandler continued to his bedroom and quickly dressed, wishing that Janice was here to reassure him. When he came out again, Monica was finishing up in the kitchen.

"There! Good as new. Now nobody walk on this floor for a while, until it's dry."

"Okay."

"Yeah, Mon."

Gathering up her cleaning supplies, Monica went to return them to the other apartment and change for dinner. If only she still lived over here, though.

Chandler sat down and listened to Rachel talk about how confident and happy she was going to be tonight. "I'll show him how moved on I am!"

Then Joey came out of the bathroom in his robe, still drying his hair with a towel. "Hey, did I get out all the flour yet?" He stood near them and bent his head forward for them to inspect.

Rachel looked at his hair, but Chandler found himself very aware of how close Joey stood, and how naked he was underneath his bathrobe. Chandler even wondered how securely it was tied.

Rachel said, "Yeah, it's all clean now."

"Cool. I guess I didn't get as much flour on me as you did, huh?" He patted Chandler's shoulder, unintentionally startling him.

Chandler stammered, "Y-y-you better go get dressed now, Joe."

"Yeah, I'll be right back." So Joey turned and went into his bedroom.

Chandler found himself staring at the closed door and not really paying attention to what Rachel was saying.

"Chandler! What's wrong with you?"

"Nothing! I-I, um--" Then he suddenly remembered what he had wanted to say the whole time that she was whining at the strip club last week. He had gone through a painful breakup just days before, but she was being self-absorbed as usual. So Chandler told her, "I think you should stop obsessing about Ross and Emily. It's your own fault that you're 'behind him', anyway. Just go and ask out that Josh guy, like you should have done two weeks ago. Stop waiting around for him to ask you!"

Rachel was shocked by this. "His name is Joshua! And I already tried to ask him out, but he misunderstood me with those basketball tickets."

"So ask him out again!"

"No, I'll mess it up. Like when I pretended that I found a customer's wallet, or afterward when Joshua really left his wallet behind at the store, but I still couldn't ask him out over the phone. Besides, I don't wanna look desperate!"

"I've got news for you, Rachel! You *are* desperate."

She gasped and covered her mouth. "Chandler!"

"I mean, you spend two weeks obsessing about him and gossiping with Monica about how you touch his wrist and feel his pulse, and it's pathetic. It's just as pathetic as all the times that I used to obsess about women's flaws and make excuses to not call them back. It's just as pathetic as when I was all freaking out about committing to Janice and could have scared her away for good. You called me a loser back then, so I'm not gonna coddle you now, Rachel. Just stop whining and grow up!"

Rachel was speechless.

Chandler sat back and felt immensely better to get that off his chest.

Rachel thought over Chandler's words and tried to decide whether she should listen to him, or just cry, like she had when Mr. Treeger recently had harsh words for her.

Then Monica returned from the other apartment, and Rachel finally broke down and cried, going over to her roommate for a hug.

"What's wrong?" Monica asked.

Rachel explained it to her in high-pitched, squeaky words.

Just then, Joey emerged from his room and saw Rachel and Monica talking together. Joey sat down on the couch next to Chandler and leaned near, touching his knee as he murmured, "You were a little hard on her."

Chandler gulped and tried to think despite Joey's nearness. He could only manage to shrug.

Joey continued, "I mean, I did hear what you said from my room, and maybe she did need to hear some of that, but you gotta know that Rachel cries really easily."

Chandler nodded, but couldn't form the words "I'm sorry." Everything choked in his throat.

"Then again," Joey said in his ear, "the last time that I stuck up for Rachel, Mr. Treeger almost kicked them out of the apartment and I had to learn ballroom dancing, so maybe I shouldn't let it bother me so much."

Once Monica heard the whole story, she patted Rachel's arm comfortingly and said, "Chandler, can you apologize please? At least for losing your temper with her?"

He nodded and stood up, coming toward them to get away from Joey. "Yeah, um, I'm sorry." As his brain started to work again, he added, "I should have been nicer, Rach. I mean, you're going through a hard time. You and Ross were really in love once, and I remember how bad it was when he was dating Julie, and Bonnie."

"I-I don't love Ross anymore!" Rachel said, trying to be firm and indignant. "This is not like Julie and Bonnie. I want Joshua now, not Ross. So--so, I'm gonna be happy for him tonight, and I'm not gonna whine and mope. And, and tomorrow, I'm gonna go ask out Joshua! You'll see!" With that, she held her head high and returned to the other apartment so that she could go fix her makeup.

Monica was surprised, but she shrugged and followed after Rachel.

Joey smiled and stood up too. "Hey, maybe you did it!" He laughed and lightly punched Chandler's shoulder. "Maybe she's gonna move on."

Chandler shrugged and answered nervously, "Maybe."

Joey hugged him briefly, then sat down on his recliner and turned on the TV again. Chandler sat down too and tried to relax. If only Janice were here, and not busy potty training Ruthie at home! The guys made small talk about TV and how good the bread smelled now.

By the time that the girls returned, it was time to leave for Ross's place, so they all got their coats and left together.

Rachel seemed in a better mood now, and evidently had no hard feelings against Chandler.

Joey said as they went downstairs, "Let's not stay at dinner too long, 'cause I can't wait to taste our new bread when it's done."

Rachel said, jokingly rather than spitefully, "You guys owe me some of that loaf, because you yelled at me."

"All right," Joey answered for them. "We'll give you and Monica half, but I'm not sharing any of the jam!"

They all laughed and hurried to meet Phoebe at Ross's apartment.

[The next chapter will feature Ross and Emily being happy. Rachel will be more mature now, and some further business will be settled before the weekend threesome between Chandler, Janice, and Phoebe.]