Chapter Two

Chandler, who had been hoping, if anything, that he would get some answers out of his expedition in to Monica's apartment, felt even more confused. He entered his apartment, head a-buzz.

"Hey, dude," Joey exited his room and looked at the extremely pale Chandler. "What's up?"

"Nothing! Nope! Nothing wrong with me! How 'bout you?" he said very quickly, and Joey narrowed his eyes.

"I know what this is about…"

"You do?" Chandler whimpered.

"This is about that crush you have on Monica…" he said. Chandler exhaled. Yes, that would be his cover.

"You caught me! I like Monica! Whoo – I'm glad that's out in the open. I'm going to bed. 'Night!" Chandler went to his room.

Joey watched him leave, and was left feeling as if there was something his friend didn't tell him.

888

"Hey, Rach!" Monica entered, bags of groceries in her hands.

"Hi, Monica! Let me help you!" Rachel ran over from her spot on the couch, and took the bags out of Monica's hands.

"Thanks, Rachel, but-" Monica began, as Rachel was setting each item up on a shelf.

"It's ok, Mon, I've got it covered…" Rachel smiled.

"Honey, don't think I don't appreciate the help, 'cuz I do, I mean, I could've used it while I was carrying all those bags up the stairs…"

"Mon?" Rachel reminded her trailing-off friend.

"What? Oh yeah, you're messing up my system…" Monica went over and began putting the items back up. "Now," Monica joined her friend at the dining table when she finished. "Tell me what's up with you?"

"Nothing…" Rachel fiddled with her fingers.

"Really? Nothing? That's why you wanted to help me put away the groceries?"

"Why can't a roommate help out her fellow roommate?" Rachel screeched, and hopped out of her seat. "I mean, is that a crime?"

"No, sweetie… I'm sorry…" Monica stated. "I guess you just seem to be acting weird…"

"Why would you say that? That's really hurtful…" Rachel scrunched up her nose, tears forcing themselves out of her eyes.

"Are you ok?"

"Of course I'm ok…"

"It's Ross, isn't it?" Monica said. Rachel looked at her. Part of her yearned to yell, 'NO! No, it's not Ross, though I wish it was…' Instead, Rachel just walked off to her room without a word. She left her bedroom a few minutes later, dressed casually, and waltzed out of the apartment, not even sparing a glance at Monica.

888

Rachel was sitting in the coffeehouse, lost in thought. She was glad that Monica hadn't followed her, though she wished someone was here that she could talk to.

"Rach?" Joey asked. Rachel jumped in surprise.

"Hey, Joey! Hi…" she muttered.

"Man, have you talked to Chandler lately? He's really wound-up about this Monica thing…" Joey said nonchalantly as he sat down. Rachel's eyes widened in horror.

"Oh yeah," Joey shook his head. "If only we could get Monica to ask him out…"

"Yeah…" Rachel said, as convincingly as she could, considering there was a huge amount of jealousy burning in the pit of her stomach. Since when did she care who Chandler went out with? Right. Since they'd kissed.

"You knew they liked each other, right?" Joey continued, oblivious to Rachel's inner-battles.

"Well… Chandler told me," she said. Joey smiled.

"Really? That means he's facing it. This is cool… Now if we could only get Monica to agree that she likes him, too…"

"Why should we do that?" Rachel screeched.

"Didn't I just tell you?" Joey asked bemusedly.

"Look, Joey, here's the deal," said Rachel. She cleared her throat. "The deal is, well, um . . . okay. Here's the deal –"

"What's the deal?"

"Joey, we can't just mess around with their love lives! I mean, we'd be like the worst matchmakers ever. Ever!" she emphasized."We'd try to, you know, set them up on a blind date, and they'd go to the wrong restaurant . . . or – or, like, you'd end up liking Monica, because you were working in close quarters . . . or . . . liking Chandler . . ." At Joey's horrified expression, she continued. "Listen, it'll blow up, it will. It will! And it'll be entirely our fault! We'd be like homosexual, blind-date-arranging, idiotic matchmakers!"

Joey stared at her. "Do you want a muffin or something? Because this is a really weird way of asking me for stuff."

"I'm not asking you for anything!" Rachel told him, still hysterically. "I'm just suggesting – suggesting – that we . . . just . . . not do it. Please."

"Ok," Joey looked at Rachel as if she was carrying a very contagious disease. "But I still think that they're totally meant to be…"

"Well, then, what is meant to happen, will…" Rachel shrugged and continued sipping her coffee.

For now, she could at least get the mental pictures of Monica and Chandler, out together, out of her head.

888

"You've got to tell her how you feel." Phoebe said, and Ross sighed.

"It'd be no use. No use at all. She still thinks I cheated on her!" Ross said angrily.

"Well…" Began Phoebe.

"WE WERE ON A BREAK!"

"Ok!" Phoebe threw her hands up into the air. "You guys were on a break."

"I miss her so much…"

"I know…" Phoebe sighed, and stood up from Ross's couch. "I guess I'd better get going…"

"Why?"

"Oh," blushed Phoebe. "I've got, um, plans. Planny-plan plans."

If Ross noticed anything strange, he didn't say anything. "Goodnight Pheebs," He smiled.

"Goodnight, Ross."

With the slam of the door, Ross knew he was once again, alone, and wondered about Rachel. He wondered if she was thinking about him, the way he was thinking about her.

888

"Chandler?" Rachel knocked on his door. If he was alive, he sure didn't show it. "Chandler? I'm coming in. I told Joey to keep Monica down at the coffeehouse… I think he thinks I'm trying to convince you to ask her out…" Rachel said. It had been really awkward for Rachel, seeing Monica after knowing what she'd done with Chandler… mostly because, deep down, Rachel knew that Monica liked Chandler, too.

"Enter." Chandler said, and Rachel pushed open both halves of the door, shutting them both behind her.

"Hi." She smiled.

"Hi," He said, sitting up. There was no light on in the room, and Rachel could only see Chandler's outline from the moonlight pouring in from outside. She went and sat on his bed. There were several moments of silence, before either of them felt obligated to speak.

"Look, I…"

"What we did was…"

"You first," Chandler chuckled, and Rachel's pulse quickened as she thought of how sexy his laugh was.

"I… like you. Which is weird. For me. Because I didn't know that I could like you in the likin' you way, and now that I'm here, and thinking about it, I'm realizing all the stuff that hadn't come to mind before, and… it's like being blind for a really long time… and then starting to see." Rachel stopped, and threw her head in to hands. "It should be easier than this."

"Now you know how I feel whenever I'm around someone I like…" Chandler joked, and Rachel sighed. How did she not realize how amazing he was before?

"Do you like me?" Rachel whispered. She could hear Chandler moving, and could tell that he was scooting closer to her. Finally, she felt him next to her, and he reached out and wrapped his hand in her own.

"Yeah. All those years… I mean, Monica was…she still is… I would give anything…" He stopped, and Rachel looked at his outline. He pursed his lips. Rachel felt a sudden urge to kiss them again. "I'm having a hard time, too." He said.

"This is sudden. This is fast." Rachel whispered, knowing that Chandler could hear her perfectly.

"It's like suddenly getting hit by a bullet… or something less dramatic." He said, and Rachel laughed. Before she'd even caught any air, Chandler was kissing her. This time, neither of them stopped…

TBC

MWHAHAHA…. Take it, Lauren, baby!