Encore
An Alternate Universe Mondler Fan fiction
Chapter 4:
The four friends watched as Chandler left the stage, not missing the many times he had looked their way, his expression unreadable. His demeanor had changed when he noticed them, quite obviously to the finely tuned senses of his friends. But to his credit, he had remained completely professional, not letting it noticeably affect his performance or his interaction with the crowd.
"Well, he definitely noticed us." Rachel commented after the surrounding people had made their way to the thousands trying to leave.
"Maybe we should just leave him be. He didn't seem to be very happy that we were here." Ross suggested.
"No! This may be my last chance to see him!" Joey exclaimed, "and he didn't seem like he was unhappy to see us, it was more neutral."
Phoebe looked between the other three. "I say, we go backstage and make use of these passes. If he truly doesn't want us there, we'll leave. We'll regret it if we don't try."
Joey nodded emphatically, his eyes shining. Without waiting to see if his friends were following, he made his way towards the gate where backstage passes were being checked.
Phoebe smiled at the other two, "I think Joey has decided for us."
They laughed under their breath as they followed Joey, meeting him at the gate. They flashed their backstage passes to the guard.
"Go on through, and have a good time. Just don't harass anybody." The guard replied amicably.
Joey didn't respond; he merely dashed forward, unable to wait to see his old friend. Shaking their heads, Ross, Phoebe, and Rachel walked forward, Ross turning to the guard as he passed.
"Sorry about him. He may be twenty-six, but he acts like a kid sometimes."
The guard smiled and nodded, showing his understanding before Ross jogged to catch up to Joey, Rachel, and Phoebe, the latter two of which had ran to catch up to their excited friend.
"Lets go find Chandler!" Joey exclaimed.
Chandler walked off the stage, sweat on his forehead and wetting his hair from the exertion of the concert under the scorching hot lights. His t-shirt was also dark in places from his sweat.
What had really drained him though, was seeing his friends. He hadn't been prepared to see them, sitting in the front row of all places. Sure, he had had an inkling of an expectation that they may show up, but he had deemed it unlikely. Then there they were, singing and yelling along with the rest of the crowd, looking up at him.
He shook his head as he made his way to his dressing room. He didn't bother to change, just made his way to a chair and plopped into it, grabbing the simple acoustic guitar beside it from its stand. He softly began to sing to himself, his soft troubled voice and the melodious plucking of the guitar floating through the chaos of the backstage hallways and the clamor of the staff.
Yesterday's gone and
Tomorrow's come way too fast
You were my first love
California, my last
Now I'm wide awake
Thinking of you with every breath I take
And I'm up at 4 A.M. Pacific Standard time
Trying to find the words to write a perfect rhyme
And it's such a crazy hour
But I just can't get you off my mind
Just can't get you off my mind
Maybe one more dream can end
Another trip down memory lane
It's too late to call
But is it too late to change my ways
Now I'm wide awake
Thinking of you with every breath I take
And I'm up at 4 A.M. Pacific Standard time
Trying to find the words to write a perfect rhyme
And it's such a crazy hour
But I just can't get you off my mind
And I'm up 4 A.M. Pacific Standard time
Don't know why it took so long to see that I was out of line
And it's such a crazy hour
But I just can't get you off my mind
I just can't get you off my mind
I just can't get you off my mind
Now I'm wide awake
Thinking of you
Thinking of you
And I'm up at 4 A.M. Pacific Standard time
Trying to find the words to write a perfect rhyme
And it's such a crazy hour
But I just can't get you off my mind
And I'm up at 4 A.M. Pacific Standard time
Don't know why it took so long to see that I was out of line
And it's such a crazy hour
But I just can't get you off my mind
Just can't get you off my mind
Yesterday's gone and
Tomorrow's come way too fast ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The four friends had split up, hoping to find Chandler faster that way. They all had their cell-phones with them, making it possible to contact each other when he was found. Joey had taken off towards where the instruments and sound equipment seemed to be being picked up. Ross made his way towards a group of people in conversation who looked fairly official, but casual at the same time. Phoebe was moving towards the right wing hoping to find the dressing rooms there.
It was Rachel, however, that was heading towards the wardrobe department area when she heard a soft voice and the accompaniment of acoustic guitar seeming to dance through the air. She was entranced and carefully made her way towards the source of the beautiful melody, dodging the people packing equipment and outfits up.
After weaving through countless people and carts, walking through winding hallways, she found the door to the room that was undoubtedly the source of the song. She peeked in and saw Chandler sitting there, strumming on the guitar and singing softly, looking slightly like the Chandler she had once knew.
She stood there, enraptured, ensnared in the beauty of the song and the thoughts it created. Finally, when he stopped singing, she managed to snap out of her trance moving a bit away from the door so she could call her friends without Chandler being in earshot.
She dialed Ross, Phoebe, and Joey, all in quick succession giving them directions to where she was and warning them to be quiet as they made their way down the hallways.
It wasn't long before the other three had joined Rachel in time to hear Chandler sigh and see him place the guitar on its stand, looking troubled, like the weight of the world rested on his shoulders.
Chandler heaved a sigh as he finished his song, carefully placing the beautiful acoustic guitar back on its stand. Feeling as though he couldn't manage to sit up he covered his face with his hands and fell backwards on the couch, letting out a small groan.
He quickly stood up, however, when he heard a knock at his dressing room door. He rubbed his face once more, before responding in a voice he hoped sounded more care-free than he felt, "Come in."
But when the door opened to reveal four faces that had once been his world, and still now haunted him, he froze. He couldn't get words to come, and he was sure he would fall if he tried to walk.
Joey was the first to bound forward, not taking in his former best-friend's 'deer in the headlights' state.
"Chandler!" Joey exclaimed happily, flinging his arms around his friend in a colossal bear hug.
Slightly taken aback, Chandler managed to wrap his arms around Joey as well, though a bit more tentatively.
When Joey showed no signs of letting go after a minute Phoebe gently pried him off Chandler, Joey looking slightly offended but still grinning ecstatically. An awkward silence settled over the group of reunited friends as they all struggled to find the words to say that they had all thought of over the past year.
Finally, unable to bear the silence, Chandler looked at his four friends.
"What are you guys doing here?" he asked, coming across slightly harsher than he intended, due to the turmoil their presence was causing him.
Ross smiled, shaking his head. "We came to see your show, great job by the way."
Joey shoved him aside, "We came to the show to see you. I found out you were playing here and we just had to come. We've missed you."
"You missed me?" Chandler echoed, somewhat incredulously. Upon his four friends' offended and slightly taken aback expressions, he quickly added, "Not that I didn't miss you guys, because, well, I missed you terribly, but, well, shouldn't you be yelling at me right about now?"
"Why would we be yelling at you?" Rachel asked, perplexed.
Chandler quickly looked down, studying his feet intently as they scuffed the floor. "Please, just forget I said that."
"No really, why would we be yelling?" Ross asked.
"Please don't make me say, it's not important anyways." Chandler said, his voice dropping considerably low.
Phoebe sighed, and looked at Chandler sympathetically. "Let it go guys. That answer can wait."
Chandler shot Phoebe a grateful look, surprised she wasn't pressing for details like Ross and Rachel were.
"So you're done with your tour, you get some time off, don't you?" Ross asked.
"Yeah, the tour's over and I've got around three months, give or take, until I need to start recording some music for my new album." Chandler responded.
"So how about you hang here for a little while? You could stay with Joey, his roommate just moved in with her boyfriend." Rachel suggested.
Chandler looked torn, and slightly skeptical, running his fingers through his hair; which was made much harder by it being short and covered in styling gel. "I don't really-"
"Pleeeaasse Chandler?" Joey begged, cutting him off and wearing his best puppy-dog face.
Chandler looked between his four friends, sighing heavily in defeat after a few moments of consternation. "Sure, why not."
AN/Disclaimer: Sorry it took so long, but I'm trying to make these chapters fairly long, and when I upload I haven't yet started the next chapter in most cases so, please bear with me.
I do not own Daughtry or Friends
The song used is
4:00AM by Daughtry