Hey, thanks for the all reviews! Love them and keep them coming…
Tilutation- I know everyone hurts Chandler, but its fun:D
LilMondlerLuver- Sorry but there will be no Mondler :P
A Darker World- A new Life
"Okay, what's going on?" Ross asked, after Chandler had left.
"What? Nothing…" Monica insisted.
"Doesn't sound like nothing!" He stated. "Why is Chandler working in a bar!"
"Its more of a nightclub…" Joey cut in backing away when he received glares from Monica and Rachel.
"Look, if he's in some kind of trouble…"
"No, he's not!" Rachel claimed, sighing when Ross and Phoebe looked at her in disbelief. "He just needs the money…"
"Rach!" Monica hissed.
"Money?" Phoebe frowned slightly. "Since when does Chandler need money?"
"If he needed money why didn't he come to us?" Ross questioned.
"Maybe he didn't want to…" Monica rolled her eyes.
"And why did he buy all this stuff if he couldn't afford it…" Her brother continued.
"Well, I actually bought it…" Joey admitted quietly.
"You?" Ross looked at him. "Shouldn't it be you with a second job then?"
"Ross, don't make a big deal out of this okay..." Monica said, not wanting her brother to find out she had messed up. "Chandler knew the guy who owns the club…"
"Oh…. Well, if you're sure he's not in trouble…" He said slowly.
"He'd tell you if he was, wouldn't he?" Rachel replied.
"Yeah, I guess so…"
XxXxX
Chandler stared up at the neon sign that hung above the club door, Liquids spelt out in bright green and blue lights. He took a deep breath before stepping towards the door, glancing around to see no one was there yet. He slowly made his way down the steps that lead into the club and as soon as he appeared, he could feel all eyes on him. The bar staff stopped cleaning glasses and the DJ and his band paused the music that they were playing to test the sound system to stare at him.
"Chandler!" Danny entered the main room, a huge grin on his face, knowing he had won. "I'm so glad you could make it."
"Yeah, okay whatever…" He muttered.
"I thought I'd start you off easy tonight… bar worker…" He stated. "Jake will show you around…"
"Hey, man, what's up…." The guy Danny had indicated to spoke.
Chandler looked at him, guessing that he was only at 18. He sighed and managed to give the kid a small smile. "Hey."
"I'll introduce you to everyone…" Jake moved him behind the bar towards him, eager to impress the boss by looking after the 'new boy.'
"Great…" Chandler replied, sarcastically but Jake either ignored it or didn't notice.
"Right, I'm normally always behind the bar with Mickey and Steve…" Jake pointed to the other two guys behind the bar.
"Hey…" Mickey answered, barely pausing from his work; not at all fussed about the newcomer.
Chandler glanced at Steve and saw him staring at him.
"What's up with him?" He asked Jake.
"Dropped on his head when he was a baby?" Jake suggested with a shrugged, causing Chandler to smile. "He doesn't really like anyone…"
"Right, okay…good to know…" Chandler replied, following him away from the bar.
"Ever worked in a bar before?" Jake questioned.
"A bit…my Dad owns some in Vegas…use to work during the summer there…"
"Oh right, cool…" He nodded. "Everyone calls me Jay by the way."
"How long have you been here?" Chandler inquired.
"About a year…just after I finished school…"
"Oh, so everything is legal here then…" Chandler quipped sarcastically.
Jay stopped and looked at him. "You're not one of those guys with morals, are you? If you are, say so now 'cos I don't wanna hang out with someone would stitch me up to the cops…"
"Calm down, kid…I know the deal here…" Chandler rolled his eyes.
"I ain't no kid!"
"Alright…" Chandler held up his hands defensively.
"So, I have to call you Chandler?"
"Well, it is my name…"
"Not a very good name…"
"Hey!"
"Oh come on, isn't there something else I can call you?"
"Are you like this with everyone or is just the new people?"
"Hey, I'm just trying to look out for you man…"
"By taking the piss out of my name?" He raised an eyebrow.
"You said you knew the deal here…"
"Yeah, so?"
"Well, then you'd know that not all the people are nice…" Jay sighed when Chandler still seemed not to get it. "They're going to laugh at your name!"
"Oh….so what?" He shrugged and carried on walking.
"You're one of these people who don't care what people think, aren't you…." Jay stated, jogging slightly to catch him up.
Chandler let out a small laugh. "Normally I would…"
"What's different now?"
"You ask a lot questions, you know that?" Chandler sighed. "I'm just not to thrill about working here…I'm gonna keep my head down and get on with it so I can quit as soon as…"
"Why are you here then?"
"You don't wanna know…"
"Fine…" He shrugged, dropping it. "So, what's your last name…is it any better then your first?"
"Not really…it's Bing…"
"Bing?" Jay laughed. "Chandler Bing…. Your parents hate you or something?"
"Oh shut up!"
Jay grinned at him as they continued to walk through the back rooms before he paused at a door, knocking once and entering without waiting for a response.
"Hey, man…this is the new guy, Ba-da…" Jay said, causing Chandler to look at him. "No? Okay then…"
"Jay, man are you ever going to grow up…" The guy rolled his eyes at the younger man.
"Probably one day…" He shrugged. "Anyway, this is Chandler…"
"How you doing?" Chandler held out his hand.
"Wow, Danny actually hired a guy with manners…I'm Andy, head of security…"
"Nice to meet you…" Chandler shook hands with him.
"Do I know you?" Andy looked at him, curiously.
"Don't think so…." Chandler replied.
"Well, anyway we need to come up with a new name for you…" Jay said again. "How about C?"
"Uh, how about no…"
"Oh, C.B…"
"C.B?" Andy questioned.
"Chandler Bing…" Jay explained. "C.B doesn't sound right anyway…"
"Bing?" Andy repeated quietly, neither of the other two heard him as he tried to remember where he heard that name before.
"Look, I don't care if people don't like my name!" Chandler insisted. "People have been making jokes about it all my life…"
"Aww, come on…don't you want a cool nickname!"
"You can tell he's still a kid, can't you?" Andy said to Chandler.
"I'm not a kid!" Jay snapped.
"How about L.C?" Andy suggested.
"What?" Chandler slowly turned to look at him.
"Where'd that come from?" Jay looked at him.
"L.C…Little Chandler…That's what you used to call you, right?"
"Ho…how did you know that?" Chandler questioned.
"Ryan…. He used to talk about you all the time…took me awhile to realise who you were…"
"You knew Ryan?" Chandler wasn't sure how to respond.
"Yeah, he's a good guy…"
"Who's Ryan?" Jay asked but was ignored.
"You been working here a long time then?"
"Yeah, so if you get any trouble from any of the others let me know…" Andy told him.
"Uh, thanks…" Chandler nodded and turned to look at Jake. "We'd better get on, haven't we?"
"Yeah, I guess…."
Jay introduced Chandler to the rest of the people who were working there, most of them were young and gave the new guy a friendly welcome but there were some of them who didn't seem to take a liking to him. He wasn't really bothered, all he wanted to do was to get on and pay back Danny what he owed.
He shrugged behind the bar at first, the place was so busy, everyone demanding drinks at the same time but after a while he got into it. The club didn't close until gone 3am and Chandler had to stay and help clear the place up.
"Not bad for your first night…" Jay commented, before glancing at the other barman. "Right, Steve?"
"He did okay…" He muttered before carrying a crate of empty bottles away.
Jay rolled his eyes. "That guy is all work and no play…would it kill him to smile once and awhile."
"Now, now…didn't your mother ever tell you not to talk about people behind their backs?" Chandler replied.
Jay stood up straight and looked at him before shrugging. "Nah…."
Chandler looked at him and laughed. He might only be a kid but Chandler already liked, at least he made one friend out of this whole nightmare. Chandler continued to clean up while he disappeared somewhere.
"Hi…."
Chandler looked up and was faced with a woman, watching him. His mouth slowly fell open as he looked at her. She was quite young, around his age but didn't seem like the girls that had been in the club that night. She wore an expensive looking red dress that showed off her amazing figure. Her beautiful auburn hair flowed past her shoulders with soft curls at the ends and she had the most gorgeous brown eyes that had ever since. A small smile tugged at her lips as he shrugged to form words.
"Uh…Hi..uh..Hey…" He stuttered.
"Hey, man the boss said we can go now…" Jay appeared again, stopping when he saw who was there. "Oh, hey…He's in his office."
"Thanks, Jay…" She flashed him a smile.
"This is the new guy by the way…" Jay told her. "L.C or Chandler…"
"Chandler…" She turned to him again and held out her hand. "I'm Danielle… nice to meet you…."
"You too…" He managed to utter as he shook her hand.
"You might wanna clean that table again…." Jay said to him causing him to break the stare that followed Danielle as she walked off.
"What?"
"It's got all your drool on it!"
"Oh shut up!"
"No seriously, don't try anything okay…. She's the boss' girl…"
"Not like I could get a girl like her anyway…" He rolled his eyes. "So, we leaving or what?"
"Yeah, let go…" Jay nodded as they headed towards the exit. "So, L.C…you working tomorrow night?"
Chandler rolled his eyes at the nickname. Jay had introduced him as L.C to everyone so now that's what they all called him. Which he wasn't to pleased about, it was something Ryan and Nick use to call him to annoy him because they knew how much he hated when his family used to call him 'Little Chandler.'
"Yeah, I think so…" Chandler started, not paying attention where he was going and ended up walking into someone. "Oh sorry…."
His voice trailed off when he saw who it was. Two of them stared at him; neither of them knew what to say. Jay looked from one to the other, curiously.
"Uh, everything okay?" He asked, but still no one spoke. "Nick, this is the new guy L.C… and this is Nick…. He runs a few clubs and bars for Mr Ingram…"
Chandler shook his head slightly and broke the look. "I've gotta go…"
"Chandler…" Nick reached out to grab his arm but he just shook him off and walked away.
XxXxX
Instead of going straight home, Chandler walked around the dark city, deep in thoughts. He wondered how he was going to get out of this mess, wondered if he'd ever be able to. He walked around Central Park for a while before stopping and sitting on a bench. He thought about everything that had happened that night and everyone he had met. He got on really well with Jay and Andy; Jay was like the little brother he never had. He sighed and ran his hands over his face, what was Nick still doing working for Ingram? He thought back to when he was 10 years old, 4 years after Ryan's death when Nick told him that he was leaving. Chandler had relied on Nick a lot over those 4 years…his parents began arguing more, acting as if he wasn't there both of them blaming each other for Ryan's death when secretly they blamed themselves. Nick had told him that he had to leave, get as far away from Ingram as he could because he didn't want to end up like Ryan…and Chandler didn't want him to end up like Ryan so he understood. When he lost his brother, his best friend Chandler started seeing the world in a different light. He learnt that anything to do with drugs was bad; he got that drilled into him…. Not by his parents but my Nick…. Nick was the only one that cared about him. Now he finds out that not only did he lie to him about leaving to get away from Ingram but he also he was leaving in New York and didn't even try to look him up. Maybe he didn't care about him that much after all…. Maybe he had always been his best friend's annoying little brother, like his parents had always told him. They use to tell him to stop bothering Nick, to stop hanging around him and when Chandler would say that he didn't mind they would just reply by saying he was doing it out of guilt for Ryan's death. He never understood at the time, he could never see why Nick would do that but know he could…. He never left…. He never changed…. he just used it as an excuse to get rid of him…
He suddenly realised that the morning sun was rising, he looked at his watch to see 3 and a half hours had past. He leant back against the wood and silently watched it…deciding it was a symbol…. A new day for a new life…. A life he didn't want.
TBC
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