AN/ I never know what to say in AN but I hope y'all like it :)
Chandler has been dating Janice for a month now and he was starting to like her again. He started to remember why he dated her the first time. Janice was annoying, sure, but she was also a great listener. Janice was the kind of woman who wanted to know about his day and everything he was feeling. Chandler found himself opening up to her more and more every day about the little things. He was finally in a relationship where he didn't have the urge to run away.
Tonight he wanted to take her out on a nice date so he was sitting with her in Central Perk looking for a movie in the papers. "Well...it's official, there are no good movies."
"So let's go to a bad one. And make out" Janice laughed leaning into him more until their lips met.
Chandler smiled into the kiss inadvertently leaning against Monica.
Monica hated Janice. The past few weeks watching them as a couple was horrible for her. This thought of having a crush on Chandler wasn't going away, and watching him be such a good boyfriend wasn't helping. Now they were making out on top of her as if he was rubbing it in her face. She shifted uncomfortably "perhaps, you would like me to turn like this so that you can bunny bump against my back."
Her voice pulled Chandler out of his own world and he smiled at her apologetically. Chandler honestly felt guilty even though there was no real reason to. It felt like he was cheating on Monica, which was ridiculous since they weren't together. He made a note to himself to limit the display of affection around Monica when he noticed how uncomfortable she looked. "I'm sorry" he whispered to her while Joey and Phoebe talked.
"It's fine," Monica mumbled bitterly.
Chandler looked at her confused for a moment before suddenly Phoebe grabbed his head and started writing on his neck "Get the woman a pad! A pad! A pad!"
That night Chandler took Janice to a nice Italian restaurant since there were no movies worth seeing. They sat across from each other sipping at their wine as they talked about their days. Janice told him all about the divorce process with the mattress king. It was almost over according to her, which he was grateful for. He told her all about his day and spending it with Monica. Every time he said her name he would smile without even realizing it.
"How is she handling everything?" Janice asked him.
Chandler shrugged. "It's been a month. She's mostly over it. I mean I don't think she'll ever be over him completely because she was really falling for him. I hated seeing her hurting, so I'm glad she seems ready to move on now. She just deserves so much better" he sighed looking into his wine glass.
She watched her boyfriend swirl his wine around in his glass staring at it lost in thought. Janice's eyebrow raised "what kind of guy do you think she deserves then?"
"The kind of guy who spends his life making her happy. She deserves someone who respects her and values her. Any guy would be lucky to be with her. Monica is strong and she can handle herself, but she's more vulnerable than she lets on. She deserves a guy who can comfort her when she needs it and cheer her up." Chandler looked up at Janice who was staring at him as he ranted. He quickly chugged his glass of wine in a few silent seconds.
Janice crossed her arms, leaning against the table. "You've given that a lot of thought."
Chandler looked around for a waiter to refill his glass to avoid looking at her. "I suppose I have. She's my best friend. I just want her to be happy...I want the same for all of them. Well, except Joey because that's not what he wants. For him I wish a life of supermodels and sandwiches" Chandler chuckled nervously.
Janice laughed, taking his free hand into hers. "You're such a sweet man Chandler."
He just shrugged as his mind became preoccupied with thoughts of his best friend. How her dark hair fell on her shoulders perfectly. Her smile lit up every room she was in. Monica's perfect blue eyes crinkled slightly when she laughed. Chandler cleared his throat awkwardly looking down at the table. "Janice…" he said softly, reminding himself who he was with. Chandler looked up at her now expecting gaze and realized he said her name out loud. "Janice…" he said now trying to come up with something to say. "I-I'm happy you gave me another chance…" he smiled softly.
Janice smiled at him as the waiter placed their plates of food down in front of them. "I am too, hopefully, this time we can get somewhere" Janice laughed at her implications. She placed half of her chicken piccata on his plate and took his tomatoes.
Chandler watched her movements, loosening his tie. His chest tightened as he suddenly felt like he was suffocating. It hit him all at once that he was actually in a serious relationship with the woman sitting in front of him. Breathing more rapidly he drank some of his water and ended up chugging the glass down. Chandler nervously smoothed his tie-down with a slight smile, he took a deep breath to calm down and get through the rest of this dinner.
Chandler walked into Monica's apartment completely freaked out about last night. He spent all day avoiding Janice, unsure of how to continue their relationship. He's never gotten this far before. When Joey failed to answer the phone, he knew he'd have to see her tonight. Chandler told the group what had happened at dinner and they failed to understand how scared he felt.
"What's the problem?" Ross asked.
"Well, it was like we're this couple. And alarms went off in my head…' run for your life! Get out of the building!' Anxiety just completely took over" he tried explaining.
Monica smiled fondly at Chandler. It was endearing how much he cared. He cared about his relationship with Janice enough to get this far, but why was he scared? She never understood his fear of commitment when, from what she's witnessed, he was a perfect boyfriend. "Do you have to run away just because it's going somewhere?"
Chandler rolled his eyes at Monica's spot-on observation of men's horrible habits. "I know-" he turned, hitting her fake breasts from the diner. He stared. Even if it was only a few seconds, his imagination ran wild with images of what it would be like to see underneath her pink sweater. He shook his thoughts away temporarily as he focused on his problem at hand. "I know I have a bad habit of breaking it off when it gets serious but what if I say something stupid?" he looked around to the rest of his friends.
"You're such a guy" she shook her head in disbelief.
Chandler rolled his eyes ignoring her comment. He couldn't let Janice go; he had to make this work somehow. "Look what do I do? I wanna get past this, I don't wanna be afraid of this commitment stuff." He was desperate. Desperate to get over Monica. Desperate to make this work so he wouldn't die alone. Desperate to hold on to what little chance he had left. "Do we have any…" He turns to Monica, hitting her fake breast again. Chandler glanced down at them before looking at the guys. "Do we have any thoughts here?"
Joey sighed watching his friend continue in desperation "Chandler, you just have to face your fear. You're never gonna get past this if you let it take over. Be the most committed guy there ever was. Don't give in to the fear!".
"That made sense," Rachel nodded in agreement.
Chandler looked between everyone who were all mumbling in agreement. "Okay...Okay, I'll try that." He left the apartment now determined to be the most committed boyfriend he knew how to be. Chandler went to the store hoping to find something for her that would show that he's ready for more of a commitment. His eyes landed on a roll of contact paper. It was perfect. Something she could use in one of the drawers in his apartment. She could have her own space in his room and use it for whatever she wanted. After ten minutes of picking out the perfect design for her, he took it home and wrapped it as best he could. That night, he invited Janice over to dinner, making her favorite pasta dish. Chandler smiled proudly as he watched her open the gift he had bought for her earlier that day. He wasn't sure if he was just nervous or excited but either way, he didn't feel as scared to take this step in their relationship.
"Contact paper...I never really know what to say when your boyfriend gets you contact paper" Janice said, looking at the flower design contact paper.
Chandler smiled, feeling more confident. This commitment thing wasn't as hard as he thought. "Well, wait there's, there's more. See the contact paper is to go into your brand new drawer!" Chandler handed her his drawer with a proud smile. "See, the drawer goes in my dresser and you can have your own drawer in my room for when you stay over."
Janice looked at the drawer skeptically unsure of why he was doing this after he ignored her all day. "Oh, you didn't have to do this…"
"Yes, I did. I did because you're my girlfriend. And that's what girlfriends should get." Chandler felt a boost of confidence. She liked his gift, so she was in the same place he was. "We could even take a trip together."
"What kind of trip?" she asked, putting his gift aside.
"I don't know. Maybe a trip to meet your parents. Or we could take a trip with your parents" he smiled at his suggestion. "I mean that's what couples do right?"
Janice chuckled nervously watching him, "yeah I guess so. Are you okay Chandler?"
"I am. I am because We're going to be okay. I mean all my other relationships have failed because of my fear but you know what? You could tell me 'let's move in together and it wouldn't scare me. I was so scared of this pace, but now that I'm here? I'm not scared." He stepped towards her but stopped when he noticed her back away.
"Well, I am. I'm not even divorced yet Chandler and you want to move in together?"
"Uhm...I mean we don't have to"
"I-I have to go" Janice grabbed her purse and her coat.
"Wait, don't go. I said too much, I'm sorry. Please don't go, I'm hopeless and awkward and desperate for love!"
"I just can't do this right now. This is moving too fast Chandler. " Janice opened the door.
Chandler stepped toward her cautiously, "I'm sorry, don't go." he begged.
Janice shook her head, practically running down the steps away from apartment 19. Rachel, coming back from taking out the trash, saw Janice run down the steps. She looked at her neighbors' door curiously.
He put his hands on his temples as he felt the room spin. "Oh no no no…" he mumbled to himself. Everything was crumbling under his feet. His last chance of a relationship walked out the door. Chandler sat in his Barcalounger to sulk when Rachel walked in.
"What happened here?" Rachel looked at the drawer and contact paper in a disarray on the foosball table. She looked at Chandler in his chair who just left out a disappointed grunt. "Was it that bad?"
"She ran away from me," Chandler mumbled, playing with the hem of his shirt.
"Yeah, I saw," Rachel sat next to him on the arm of the chair. "Why did she run though?"
"I guess I scared her…I thought I was doing okay but I guess not."
"What happened Chandler?" she asked again. Rachel wrapped an arm around his shoulders and gently fixed his hair as he leaned against her and told her what happened. At the end of his story, all she could do is sigh, "I'm sorry Chandler."
"I mean this is just my luck, isn't it? I'm finally ready to go somewhere and...I scare her away. Maybe I just wasn't made to be in relationships" he chuckled sadly.
"No, don't do this. You'll be fine I promise. You just need to do some damage control alright?"
Chandler got out of the chair and started cleaning up everything from dinner trying to hide the creeping tears in his eyes. "I appreciate the help Rach, but I just want to be alone right now…"
Rachel walked over and took the plates from his hands putting them in the sink before facing him. "So you can sit here and wallow in self-pity? You still have a chance to fix this, it's not that bad. Just give her a little space right now. Be aloof. Then call her in a few days and let her know that you're willing to slow things down. It's good you want to commit, but you can't throw it all at her at once, it's overwhelming."
He ran his fingers through his hair pushing it back and making it stick up in different directions as relief washed over him. "So I'm not going to lose her?"
She chuckled at his naive nature "You're not going to lose her Chandler." Rachel gently smoothed his tie down "Although, I want to ask. What is it about Janice? I mean she's so…"
"Annoying?" Chandler supplied.
Rachel nodded with an awkward chuckle, "yeah. I'm sorry, it's just-"
"No." he interrupted. "Don't apologize, it's okay. I mean you're right. I can tell that you all hate her" he smirked slightly as he sat in his Barcalounger again. "You guys are not very good at hiding it," Chandler said before Rachel could say anything. "But I understand where you're coming from. Don't tell her I said this, but she is annoying. I'm still getting used to her quirks and everything about her. Janice is really sweet and she's pretty, plus she understands me more than anyone else except for Monica. Mon knows me better than I know myself" he chuckled softly playing with his tie.
"If you think Janice is annoying, why are you with her?" Rachel asked as she grabbed a water bottle from the fridge.
He shrugged casually "just because I think she can be annoying doesn't mean I don't like her. I like her a lot. I care about her a lot and I think she cares about me so I'm taking my chances. I don't think she's the one for me or anything, but I have to make this work." Chandler looked down at his tie as he continued to play with it absentmindedly. "I don't have a choice," he mumbled quietly.
Rachel tilted her head slightly as she watched him, "do you believe in soulmates Chandler?"
"Not exactly. But I've only been in love once and she doesn't love me back. It's kind of hard to believe in that fairy tale stuff when you can't be with them…" Chandler trailed off. He shifted in his chair uncomfortably and ran his fingers through his hair. "But hey, Romeo and Juliet were soulmates, and look how that turned out" he chuckled.
She raised an eyebrow as she listened to him. "Who do you love?" she asked.
"I'd like to be alone now. Thank you for your help. Act aloof right?" he confirmed as he got up pushing her to the door.
"Wait, if it's not Janice who is it?" Rachel asked, trying to resist.
"Goodnight Rach."Chandler pushed her gently out the door.
She stumbled slightly as he continued to push her out the door and closed it in her face. Rachel grumbled in frustration going back to her apartment.
Monica sat with Phoebe on the couch of apartment 20 when Rachel walked back in. "Taking the trash out doesn't take that long, did you get lost again?" Monica asked as she sipped her wine.
Rachel ignored her comment sitting in the chair next to them. "I saw Janice run out of the building like it was on fire. Apparently, Chandler scared her when talking about committing" she grabbed a magazine from the table.
"Did they break up?" Monica asked hopefully.
"Nope. I told him to just give her space for a little bit and slow things down. Honestly, I never thought I'd say that to Chandler" she laughed at the irony. "The weird thing is that he told me he sees how annoying she is. I don't understand why he's with her. Honestly, I don't see it working out."
"Oh, it definitely won't" Phoebe chimed in. "This is Chandler we're talking about here."
Rachel smiled leaning in "He told me he's been in love before, but she doesn't love him back. Who do you think it is? It can't be Janice because she's obviously in love with him."
"Rach, we shouldn't talk about this" Monica got up to put their glasses away.
Phoebe smirked slightly watching Monica's eagerness to change the topic. "Why not? Aren't you curious? Chandler can't fall in love. I mean it's Chandler."
Monica sighed, putting the glasses in the sink. Everyone continued to say his name as if it was something horrible. She never understood why people thought of him this way. Did she miss something? In her eyes Chandler was so caring and thoughtful, why did everyone think so low of him?
"Right? It's Chandler."
"What the fuck does that even mean?" Monica turned to them.
Phoebe and Rachel glanced at each other with a slight smile on both their faces. "You know, Chandler isn't the kind of guy you date. He's a great friend and everything, but he's not boyfriend material" Rachel explained.
Monica frowned slightly at her friends knowing she said the same thing a few weeks ago. But now she knew it wasn't true. She watched him with Janice and noticed how attentive he was. How romantic he was with her. She even started to wish it was her with him instead of Janice. "I think you guys underestimate him. Have you seen him with Janice?"
"They're really cute, but he doesn't love her. He just told me the woman he loves doesn't love him back."
"Why is he with her if he doesn't love her?" Phoebe asked as she ate the popcorn on the coffee table.
Rachel shrugged "all he said was, he doesn't think she's the one for him, but he has to make it work. I don't understand it either, I just want to know who he loves. I tried asking but he kicked me out."
"I don't think it's fair for either of them. He shouldn't be with her if he doesn't love her and it sounds like he's not going to love her so he should break up with her. Honestly, why does Chandler continue to torture himself with relationships that are doomed to fail" Monica ranted as she started to quickly wash the dishes. "He deserves better than this doesn't he? A girl who he loves and cares for rather than a girl he thinks he has to be with. He doesn't have to be with her, does he? He can find someone better. Seriously, what is he thinking? What woman wouldn't love him back?" Monica paused for a moment. She turned to her friends in the living room who just sat and stared at her. Quickly, she turned the water off and set the dishes down in the sink. "I have to talk to him." Monica dried her hands and left apartment 20 to knock on the door across the hall.
"What was that about?" Phoebe looked at Rachel who shrugged in response and continued to read her magazine.
"Rach, I said I want to be-" Chandler opened the door to be faced with Monica standing in front of him. "Monica...hi"
"Is this a bad time?"
"No, not at all. Please come in" Chandler stepped aside for her and watched her walk into the apartment. "Is there anything I can do for you?"
"Where's Joey?" She asked, looking around the empty apartment.
"Date...I kinda asked for the apartment so I could make Janice dinner" Chandler closed the door walking over to his chair again. "If you're looking for him you might have to wait till tomorrow" he smiled.
Monica nodded, "I actually wanted to talk to you." Staying by the kitchen counter looking around the guy's apartment as if she's never been there before. "I heard Janice ran away from you."
Chandler laughed softly at Rachel's bad habit of gossiping, swiveling in the chair back and forth. "Yeah, turns out I'm not good at the commitment stuff. I was going to call her, but Rachel said to be aloof."
"She also said that you don't love her."
He rolled his eyes pushing his hair back. "I didn't say that. I said I've only been in love once. I could fall for her later if she still wants me. After tonight though she'll probably never talk to me again."
Monica walked over to sit in the chair next to his. "Why are you not with the woman you love?" she asked. "You should follow your heart."
Chandler looked at her and smiled softly, the irony of hearing this from her almost made him laugh. "This isn't a Disney movie Monica. My heart isn't exactly something to listen to. She doesn't love me."
"How do you know that?"
"I just do. Besides, I'm with Janice and I care a lot about her. I'm not going to disrespect her by going after another woman. Honestly, do you think I'm that big of an asshole?"
Monica's eyes widened slightly, "I don't think that...but you might be an asshole for leading her on. I just don't think it's fair to either of you if you're in a relationship with Janice while you're in love with someone else."
"Well, I have no choice. The feelings are definitely not mutual so if I break up with Janice, I hurt her, I lose my friendship with the woman I do love and then I die here alone. I'd rather take my chances to be happy with Janice than ruin my only shot of being with someone."
"So you're saying it's Janice or no one?" she asked in disbelief.
Chandler looked down not wanting to answer. He knew it was completely ridiculous and he didn't want to listen to Monica tell him how stupid he was being. "Yes," he answered reluctantly.
Monica got up on her feet quickly hitting his arm. "Oh my God Chandler! That's the dumbest thing I've ever heard!"
"So what if it is? Janice wants to be with me and I'm happy being with her so what's the issue? Maybe I don't love her and maybe I never will, but right now I'm happy with her. You're suggesting I just throw that away for something that's never going to happen?" Chandler stood in front of her.
She took a step closer to him looking up into his eyes. "I don't understand how you can be so confident that it won't work between you and this woman. Have you told her how you feel?"
"No. I don't need to. I know how she feels about me" Chandler looked down at her lips. "It's just not going to happen," he mumbled softly.
Monica swallowed thickly at the tension growing between them. She glanced at his lips as she licked her own. She lightly put a hand on his chest, feeling the heat from his body on her skin from their close proximity. "C-can I ask who she is?"
"I mean, you can always ask but I'm not going to tell you" he tilted his head as he looked down at her with a teasing smile. Chandler noticed Monica move closer to him as she was about to respond before Joey walked in, his shirt wet on the front.
"Sorry man, the date didn't work out" Joey looked up to see Monica stepping away from his roommate.
"It's okay man, mine didn't work out either" he smiled half-heartedly.
Monica looked down at her feet for a second as she took a breath" Okay, well I'm going to go. Goodnight Chandler."
"Goodnight Monica" he responded watching her leave.
"Hey, Rachel?" Monica asked, slightly nervous as she sat at the kitchen table with her the next morning. "How- um. How can you tell if you have a crush?" she asked softly. It was a naive question. Monica has had crushes in the past, but never on a friend. She's never been more confused about her feelings before.
Rachel looked at her like she had grown a second head. "What?"
Monica sighed wanting to get this over with. "I think I have a crush on a guy, but he's my friend...what if I'm just confusing friendship with feelings? What if I tell him I have feelings, but it turns out it was just friendship feelings?"
"Who is it?" Rachel leaned forward, intrigued.
She rolled her eyes, unsurprised that's what she focused on. "A guy from work. Can you help? I mean I can't get this guy out of my head, he's so sweet, but again he's a friend. Plus he has a girlfriend-"
"A girlfriend? Mon, you shouldn't go after a guy in a relationship."
"I'm not! I'm just really confused...I need help."
Rachel gently took her hand and smiled at her almost sadly, "when did this start?"
"I think about a month ago, but the more I think about it I've always had a soft spot for him. He's just so funny, really smart, so sweet, incredibly cute and he just looks like such a great kisser you know? And-"
"Okay Mon," Rachel chuckled softly, cutting her off. "Just by that, I think you have your answer. I mean you don't think about kissing your friends. At least I don't. Do you think about Joey or Chandler this way? No, of course not. This guy seems special to you, but honey I don't think it's a good idea to do anything about it if he's in a relationship. I'm sorry."
Monica nervously played with her sweater sleeve. "No, you're right," she mumbled. "I'm not going to do anything, I just...I just need to get my thoughts together" she muttered.
Chandler walked into the apartment, phone in hand, "I called her" he announced.
Rachel turned to him, jaw dropped, "I thought we agreed to act aloof!"
"I know, I just couldn't help it" he sighed sitting at the table next to Monica, oblivious to her staring. "But she's not mad at me."
"Ugh, you're so lucky. I hope you know that if she was a man she'd be sleeping with someone else right now."
Chandler furrowed his eyebrows slightly confused before shrugging off that comment. "Anyway, everything is okay with Janice and she's coming over tonight" he smiled.
"Too much information Chandler" Rachel mumbled getting up to get more coffee.
He rolled his eyes "I made reservations for the Rainbow Room tonight. I want to treat her to something special as an extra apology."
"You're so sweet," Monica smiled, resting her chin on her palm propped up by her elbow.
"I honestly can't tell if that was supposed to be sarcasm...is it not a good idea?" He looked between Monica and Rachel.
Rachel waved off his concern as she sipped her coffee. "No, it's a cute idea, but this time try flowers instead of a drawer" she snickered.
Chandler glared at her, "I was just trying to give her space in my apartment and make her feel more welcome there when she stays over" he defended.
"I'm just teasing you, stop worrying so much" Rachel smiled behind her mug.
All six of the friends sat in the coffee house with Janice next to Chandler, who was sitting by Monica on the orange couch. Candler leaned into Monica as she whispered in his ear, something Janice couldn't hear. She always noticed how close they were and she couldn't help but wonder if something had ever happened between them. "Janice has a question, who of the six of you has slept with who of the six of you?" Janice looked around the group as they all protested her question. She giggled watching them "Okay okay okay…" she silenced them. "Have any of you ever...almost?" The group all eyed each other uncomfortably and Janice already had the answer to her question. "Now I'm going to need some stories here" she smiled at all of them.
"Oh! Monica, remember that time when I was moving in and you invited me over for some lemonade" Joey smirked at her.
"What?" Chandler looked at Monica attempting to hide his jealousy.
Monica shifted uncomfortably. "Look, Joey was moving in, I invited him over for lemonade and he took it the wrong way. He took off all his clothes and I'm surprised he's not more embarrassed by this" she rolled her eyes.
"Hey, you've seen it, I've got nothing to be embarrassed about" he winked.
The girls of the group groaned rolling their eyes at his crass comment.
"You almost slept with Joey?" Chandler asked her slightly annoyed that he was only finding out about this now.
Monica shook her head "no! I told him to put his clothes back on. He just got presumptuous, that's it. Besides, you have no room to talk" Monica let slip out from her.
Janice raised her eyebrow at her boyfriend, now even more curious about their history. "What does that mean?" she smiled.
Chandler panicked looking between his girlfriend and Monica. "N-nothing! It means nothing" he chuckled nervously.
Monica noticed his nervousness and looked at Janice as she started to tell the story. "I was upset that Phoebe moved out without telling me and I just got out of the shower. Chandler came into the apartment looking for beer and saw that I was upset-"
"Monica, you don't have to tell this story," he said desperately.
Janice hit his chest "come on I want to hear it!" She took Chandler's hand and squeezed it a little too tightly making him flinch.
Monica chuckled, seeing Janice practically crushing Chandler's hand."I was upset and I asked him if I'm hard to live with and if that's why I don't have a boyfriend. He said I should have a boyfriend and that I was one of his favorite people. He hugged me and we both kind of forgot that I was just in a towel" She could see the anger in Janice rising, but opted to finish the story anyway. "We ended up just looking into each other's eyes and he leaned in like he was going to kiss me until Joey came in looking for the beer" Monica looked at Joey.
"I cock-blocked you? Man, I'm sorry" Joey looked at Chandler sympathetically.
"You were going to kiss my sister!?" Ross looked at him offended.
Chandler swallowed thickly "Uhm well it was in the moment…" he mumbled nervously. He looked down at his hand in Janice's that was being squeezed so tightly now that it was turning white. He looked at Monica for help but ended up looking down at her lips as the memory came back to him.
Monica stared back at him, imagining what would've happened if he had kissed her that night. She looked down at his lips as her mind wondered. What it would be like to kiss him just once to see how it felt. Monica inadvertently leaned toward him just a little.
Janice looked at Chandler expecting him to finish his thought but saw Chandler and Monica staring at each other. She rolled her eyes and pulled on his hand as she stood. "We should go, we have reservations at the Rainbow Room."
Chandler stood with her, pulling Monica out of her thoughts, he awkwardly fixed his tie. "Right...see you guys later" he smiled nervously as Janice pulled him towards the door.
Janice pulled him out of the coffee house completely annoyed. She wasn't even sure at what, but she hated imagining Chandler with her. "I never knew you almost slept with Monica," she said trying not to sound angry.
"It was like four years ago. Besides, even if I did kiss her that night, she would've just pushed me away. She's not attracted to me that way" he practically laughed at the idea of it.
"Oh yeah well, the way she was just looking at you, it seems like she was wishing you had kissed her."
Chandler couldn't stop himself from perking up and looking back towards the coffee house. "Really?"
Janice glared and hit his chest "Chandler!"
His head jerked back to his girlfriend. "Right, I'm sorry." He stopped walking and pulling Janice close to him, holding her arms. "Janice, there's nothing you need to worry about okay? She doesn't feel anything towards me I promise."
"What about you?" She looked at him.
Chandler looked at her confused. "What?"
Janice rolled her eyes "you know what I mean! Do you have feelings for her? I mean you already tried kissing her only four years ago."
He shifted slightly unsure of what to say. What was he supposed to say? 'Yes, Janice! I'm in love with my best friend, but hey! Don't worry about it. It's fine.' He thought to himself. He sighed softly scratching the back of his neck, "no I don't" he lied. "I'm sorry, for not telling you about it, but nothing happened and it was a while ago, I didn't think it was important."
"The kiss isn't what I'm worried about Chandler. Like you said it didn't happen, but what did happen is you and her making googly eyes at each other in there."
He scoffed slightly in disbelief, "we did not make googly eyes. There was no googling!"
Janice started walking away from him, knowing he was following her. "Please, just be honest with me. I am not stupid Candler, I see you two looking at each other and cuddling on your orange couch. You're closer with her than any of your other friends."
"Are you jealous of Monica?" He asked, confused. "You're the one who's purposefully slowing down the process of your divorce by not turning in your paperwork."
"I am not jealous of Monica. And how can you even say that Chandler?"
"I've been waiting for the day where I can call you fully mine, I know when your paperwork and court dates are due. I thought we both wanted this. And now honestly, it seems like you're saving your ex because you think we're going to break up."
"Aren't we?" she crossed her arms.
Chandler stopped walking looking at her confused and hurt. "What?"
Janice turned to him again, already regretting her words. "Chandler, I didn't mean that it's just… we break up and then you call me in a few months and we break up again somehow. Why is this time different?"
He frowned, taking her hands. "Janice, I was an idiot in the past. I understand your hesitation, but I'm not going to break up with you. I'm going to need you to trust me on this. Now, I'm happy to support you in your divorce, you know I am, but you can't have both of us…I'm sorry, I know divorce is hard, it's just to make this work you can't exactly be married to him forever."
"You're right...I know you're right" Janice said softly wrapping her arms around him. "I trust you Chandler" she mumbled as she buried her face in his chest.
Chandler wrapped his arms around her and kissed the top of her head. "We're going to be okay right?" he asked her barely above a whisper.
Janice nodded with a slight smile, "yeah, we're going to be okay."
"Okay then, let's go get dinner because I'm starving" Chandler took her hand and walked with her to the restaurant.