Wednesday, April 28, 1999 - 5:37 P.M.
"Mom, no, okay? I can't go. I told you, I did it to make her happy, and I'm sorry, but I can't…"
"Chandler, it's so important to her! She's asked me at least 50 times if you and your wife would be here and I promised her."
"Why didn't you ask me first?" Chandler asked, frustrated. He sighed and put the phone between his shoulder and ear, flipping through his keys to find the one to unlock his door.
"Because, sweetie, I thought you were still dating that Kathy woman, and I just thought she would come with you."
Chandler rolled his eyes as he put his briefcase down and threw his keys on the counter in his apartment. He sat down at the counter and leaned his head on his hand, his fingers rubbing his forehead as he tried to get his cheating ex-girlfriend out of his head yet again. "Well, we're not together anymore."
"You have to come," Nora pleaded on the phone, "please, son, she loves you."
"Mom, I don't know if I can…"
"We've combined my next book announcement party and Nanna's birthday, so there will be lots of people, and lots of alcohol, so she'll barely notice you anyway, I'm sure."
"So why do I even have to come?"
"I've got to go, sweetie, I'll see you and whoever you bring on tomorrow afternoon, okay? Let me know your flight information."
"No, I didn't say I would…"
"Chandler, you have to come, I'm sorry. It's not an option. If you don't show up, it'll break her heart and I know you don't want to do that. Ask one of your friends, figure something out. I love you."
The call ended and Chandler pulled the cell phone from his ear, shaking his head as he flipped it closed.
Joey walked into their apartment moments later, "hey," he said, throwing his book bag on the couch, "What's with the face?"
Chandler rubbed his forehead, "I just got off the phone with my mother."
"Is she writing another book?" Joey asked. He opened the fridge and grabbed two beers out of it, handing one to Chandler, who nodded his thanks.
"Yeah, but that's not what the conversation was about." Joey lifted his eyebrows and took a sip of his beer, waiting on his roommate to continue. "She um, she wants me to go to my Nanna's 95th birthday party this weekend."
"I thought you liked your Nanna?"
Chandler nodded at him, "I do, very much. She was there for me when my parents divorced," he replied.
"So, what's the problem?"
Chandler winced, cleared his throat, and took a deep breath, "Well um, a couple of years ago she got sick and was in the hospital. While I was visiting her, she asked me if was going to ever get married and I kind of told her I was."
"Why did you do that?" Joey asked, perplexed.
"Because she always wanted me to get married," Chandler told him, "and we didn't think she was going to make it, you know, much longer. I didn't want her to die thinking that I was alone."
"Okay, so, go to the party and just tell her that your wife couldn't come."
Chandler shook his head, "No, my mom promised her we would be there. I don't want to disappoint Nanna."
Joey sighed, "We'll just go out and see if we can find you someone to go with you."
He chuckled, stood from the barstool, and walked over to the Italian, "You think we can go out, find a woman, ask her to travel across the country with me, and pretend to be my wife?"
Joey shrugged his shoulder, "Sounds easy enough to me."
Chandler shook his head and rolled his eyes at his friend, "No."
"Then what are you going to do?" Joey asked.
"I guess I could ask one of the girls," Chandler replied. He didn't know why Monica crossed his mind, but he thought she would be a perfect fake wife.
Well, he guessed he did know why she was the first one to cross his mind.
She was the one that held him together, held them all together. And while yes, he loved all of them dearly, Monica was his favorite lately. She was there for him late at night when he needed someone to talk to after him and Kathy broke up, and even made him food in the middle of the night. She was his shoulder to cry on, and he desperately needed that.
He found himself thinking about her, a lot, and he thought they would be good together. God knows she got on his nerves sometimes, and he knew he got on hers too, but she was an amazing woman and she'd make some lucky bastard a happy man.
This thing he had for her, these feelings, though, he just chalked up to a small crush. Not a big crush, a small one. He just liked her. A lot.
"Chandler, did you hear me?" Joey asked, waving a hand at him.
He snapped out of thinking how big the crush he had on Monica was to look at him. "No, what did you say?"
Joey lifted his eyebrows but didn't say anything about the daydreaming Chandler was doing, "Phoebe would be your best bet."
Chandler nodded, agreeing with him. Phoebe probably would agree to do it first, even before Monica, and he didn't think Rachel would even consider it.
"I'm gonna go talk to them," he said, peeking down at his watch.
"Sorry, I can't," Rachel said right away, shaking her head, "I have plans with my new boyfriend Joshua."
Chandler rolled his eyes a little. Predictable. He smiled at her and nodded, "I understand, thanks anyway." He swallowed and looked over at his guitar-playing friend, "What about you, Pheebs?"
Phoebe winced, "I'll have to cancel plans with my grandmother," she said, "we were supposed to go to the renaissance fair and she's excited about it." She paused, "but if you need me to, I'll cancel with her. I'll help you out."
Chandler held up his hand, shaking his head, "No, don't do that. Go to the fair."
"You sure?" Phoebe asked.
"Yeah, I'm sure. I'll have to figure something out."
Rachel pointed at him, "I don't think Monica is doing anything, ask her, and I think she's off this weekend."
Chandler's heart rate sped up a little over the mention of his small, not big, definitely not big, crush, "Oh yeah?"
"Yeah, she's at work but she'll be home in about an hour." Rachel said.
"Or you can call Janice," Phoebe suggested.
Both women in the room laughed, but Chandler didn't. The thought of asking Janice to pretend to be his anything made his skin crawl.
About an hour later, Chandler sat next to Monica at her kitchen table. His eyes looked into hers, silently pleading with her to say yes, to do him this giant favor.
She crinkled up her nose, and God, she was adorable when she did that, "I'm sorry. I just don't think I can do it."
He smiled a little at her, "You can," he promised, "it's just in front of my grandmother, and she'll love you."
She shook her head again, "I don't think so."
He sighed, "It's a free trip," he tried, "my grandmother has a beautiful house in Colorado, so it's practically a vacation. Fresh air, snow, skiing, peace and quiet…"
She pressed her lips together and squeezed his arm, "I just don't want to."
He nodded, smiled at her, and tried to ignore his slightly broken heart. "Okay. I understand. Thanks anyway." He stood from the table and pushed his chair back under it. "I guess I'll head out with Joey."
She looked puzzled, "And do what?"
He smirked at her, "Try to find a wife."
Monica chuckled, stood from her kitchen table too, and patted him on the shoulder, "I wish it was that easy," she said, then squeezed his shoulder, "good luck with that."
"It's either that, or I'll have to ask Janice," Chandler smiled at her, "but that's my very last resort."
He smiled again at Monica's horrified expression, "You would really ask Janice?" she asked, genuinely surprised at that.
He shrugged a shoulder, "If I have to," then gave her a small wave, "beggars can't be choosers, right?" He squeezed her hand as he passed her, "Thanks anyway, I'll see you later."
Monica watched as the door closed behind him, then turned and started towards her bedroom, a feeling of guilt taking over her whole mood.
"Hey Mon," Rachel said as she emerged from her bedroom.
"Hey," Monica replied, crossing her arms.
"Did you talk to Chandler?" She asked.
"Yeah, he just left."
"So when do you guys fly out?"
Monica looked up at her, "Oh, I don't know," she said, "I told him I didn't want to do it."
Rachel looked surprised by that, "Really?" She said and crossed her arms.
Monica shrugged her shoulder, "well, yeah. I just don't think I would be comfortable pretending to be someone's wife, and I'm not really good at lying."
Rachel furrowed her eyebrows together, "It's Chandler," she said simply, "it's not like he's a stranger. You know everything about him."
Monica turned her head, "I just don't want to do it," she said, "I'm not good at pretending to be something I'm not."
Rachel lifted her eyebrows and sat down on the couch, "Wow. I thought you would do it for him."
"You told him no too!" Monica said, "Don't try and make me feel like the bad friend when you and Phoebe both told him no," she added sharply. She walked a few more steps towards her room.
Rachel sighed, stood from the couch, and caught Monica's arm just before she went into her bedroom, "Honey, no, I'm sorry. I didn't intend to make you feel like 'the bad friend'. I'm just really shocked you told him no. I meant that you usually would do anything for him, just like he does for you. Everybody knows you are his favorite."
Monica sighed and opened her mouth to argue that she was not his favorite, but stopped when Rachel continued, "and Phoebe and I already had plans this weekend, that's why we told him no. Phoebe was going to cancel plans with her grandmother so she could be there for him."
"I know you had plans," Monica said softly, her attitude towards Rachel softening just a bit, "but I just don't want to."
Rachel nodded, "Okay. I understand."
Monica sighed, walked into her room, and shut the door.
As she sat on her bed, she couldn't get Rachel's words out of her mind. Her roommate was right, Chandler would do anything for her, for any of them. He was the friend she could always count on.
So it wasn't right of her to turn him down, just because she didn't believe she could pretend to be his wife.
She fell back on the bed, looking up at her ceiling.
Wednesday, April 28, 1999- 8:43 P.M.
Chandler stood at the mirror in his bathroom, trying to make his hair behave.
He sighed and rolled up the sleeves of his button-up shirt. He looked decent, he guessed. If he had to ask a strange woman to be his wife for a weekend, he needed to look better than usual.
He heard the apartment door open and then he heard Monica ask Joey where he was. He poked his head out of the bathroom door, "I'm in here," he said.
Monica walked over to him, "so um, I can't stop thinking about you."
Chandler stopped fiddling with his hair and looked at her. 'I can't stop thinking about you either', he thought wryly. He decided that she probably didn't mean it in the same way, "You what?"
She sighed and put both of her hands on her forehead, "Look, I couldn't stop thinking that if I needed you to pretend to be my husband, or really if I asked you to help me out with anything, you would do it. I know you would. I don't want to be the kind of person who tells you no when you need help. I'll do it."
"Monica, you don't have to," he said, his hands on his hips, his head tilted. "If you're not comfortable with…"
"You have to have somebody, right?" She interrupted him, holding up her hands to stop him from speaking.
He swallowed the lump in his throat, "Yeah, I need someone," he said softly.
"Okay," she said, her decision already made, "book me a ticket."
He smiled, let out a sigh of relief, and pulled her into his arms for a hug, "Thank you," he said, holding her against him tightly, "you're the best."
She pulled back from him and grinned, "Well, I know that," she said proudly, "I am always the best."
He had a hard time disagreeing with her.
Joey walked out of his bedroom and rubbed his hands together excitedly, "you ready?"
Chandler let Monica go and shook his head, "uh, well, we don't have to go now," he nudged Monica's shoulder with his own, "Mon is going to go with me."
The look of crushed disappointment on Joey's face made both of them smile, "so we don't get to go out and find women?"
Chandler chuckled, "Nope. I'd rather take Monica anyway," he nudged her with his elbow and his heartbeat sped up again when she looked at him, "you are way better than some strange woman that I don't even know," he added.
Joey sat down in the recliner with a huff, "I wanted to go wife shopping."
Chandler and Monica looked at each other and laughed.
Thursday, April 29, 1999 - 1:34 P.M.
Chandler descended the stairs behind Monica, carrying his bag on his left shoulder and her bag on his right shoulder. She opened the cab's trunk for him, then climbed into the backseat. He did too, then handed her the plane ticket.
"Thank you," she said, inspecting it.
"Yeah, oh, and here," he said, then dug in his pocket. He finally pulled out a box, handing it over to her.
"What's this?" She asked.
He smiled gently at her, "Your wedding band set," he said simply, "my wedding ring is in there too."
She chuckled a little as she opened the box and looked at the sparkling ring with a matching wedding band, "You're going all out with this, aren't you?"
She removed the men's silver band from the box, placing it in his hand. He nodded, putting the band on the 4th finger of his left hand, "Nanna will notice the details. She doesn't hear well, but she's got good eyes."
He watched her as she slid the beautiful ring and band onto her finger, "This is beautiful, but you didn't buy a real ring for me to wear for the weekend, did you?"
He gulped, shook his head, and scratched the back of it, "Uh, no. It's um...it's one I bought before."
She cut her eyes at him, "You were engaged?"
He shook his head again, "No, no. I uh, thought I wanted to marry someone. But of course, it didn't work out."
"Who was it?" Monica asked, completely flummoxed and speechless.
He sighed, looked towards the front for a second, then met her eyes again, "You didn't know her."
"Well, clearly, because I don't know anything about her," Monica said. She watched as he shifted in his seat, suddenly very uncomfortable. "Chandler," she said, furrowing her eyebrows at him, "what's wrong? Are you okay?"
He sighed, taking a deep breath, "Yeah, yeah. I just uh, I don't talk about her much."
"Well, why not?"
He didn't want to tell her, which was weird to him, because he usually told her everything. But he didn't want to tell her about the relationship that had him drinking too much for months and gave him a phobia about being in a committed relationship ever again.
She was, however, doing him this giant favor, so how could he not give her anything she wanted?
Chandler sighed again, "It was right after college, her name was Dana. I uh, I loved her. I thought we would be together for the rest of our lives," he shrugged a shoulder, "guess she didn't."
"What happened?"
"Well, of course, she cheated on me," he said pointedly, then chuckled dryly, "isn't that what always happens to me? I'm the guy who gets cheated on. Dana, Janice, Kathy…"
She looked away from him for a long, speechless moment. She tried to think back to all the years she'd known him to see if she could remember him mentioning this woman one single time. She came up empty.
Ross never mentioned her either, come to think of it.
So, she concluded that the breakup with this woman was bad enough for Chandler to ask Ross never to mention her again. To anyone.
Monica looked back at him, "Anyway," he continued, "I didn't ask her to marry me. The rings have been in my underwear drawer ever since."
"I can't believe I didn't know about this," she said softly.
He shrugged a shoulder, "I don't uh," he let out a sigh, "I don't talk about her, ever. And until I got those rings out, I didn't think about her either."
Monica noticed the sad, complacent look that came over his face. She wanted to make him feel better, so she placed a hand on his knee and shook his leg, "Hey, listen, if those women cheated on you, Chandler, then if you ask me, it's their loss."
He smiled a little at her, but then shook his head, "Aren't you a little biased because you're my friend and not theirs?"
"Well, yeah, I probably am. But I know you, and you are a great guy. The right woman would be lucky to have you."
The cab made the right turn, heading into the airport. He smiled at her and squeezed her arm, "Thank you, Mon. That means a lot to me."
She smiled at him, "Why don't you ever talk about Dana?"
He shrugged his shoulder, "I just try to forget about her. I drank too much, laid out of work for several weeks, until I finally, literally, got whacked in the head by my grandmother and mom. They made me clean up, find a new apartment, and get another job."
"That's when you moved into 19," Monica said as if she had just figured the whole thing out.
He smiled and nodded at her, "And found out that my college roommate's sister lived in 20."
"Twenty-four dollars and fifty cents," the cab driver said, breaking the staring contest that was going on in the backseat.
Chandler nodded at him and pulled out his wallet, "Hey, I just wanted to say again how much I appreciate this," he handed the cab driver twenty-five dollars.
Monica nodded at him, "It's no problem. I just hope I can pull it off for you."
"You'll do fine," he replied, then watched as Monica opened the door and stepped out of the cab. Chandler joined her at the trunk and pulled both of their bags out of it, shaking his head at her when she reached for hers, "I've got them," he said sweetly.
Monica smiled to herself when he turned to shut the cab's trunk, tapping on it to let the driver know he had everything, and he was free to go.
"Ready? Chandler asked her, and she lifted her eyebrows and nodded at him, "Let's go." He began walking toward the airport's doors and she let out a sigh and followed him.
Thanks for the love, everyone! Stay tuned, good stuff coming. :)