A/N- a huge thank you to everyone for reading and reviewing. All are very appreciated :o)
Chandler eyed the payphone by the door of the strip club. Should he call her at work? No, that would look desperate and needy. Whilst both desperate and needy were specialties of his, he didn't want to emphasize those particular qualities to her right now; not when she was making this kinda decision. No, he didn't want her to think that if she dated him he'd be constantly calling and harassing her. If he was going to phone her he needed a good reason…
A huge smile lit up his face. Monica was on the lunch shift, she'd be finished by 7. He could show her what a date with Chandler Bing would be like; this could be the perfect opportunity. He could take her somewhere fancy and spoil her rotten. He'd be a perfect gentleman but tipsy enough to be willing to dance with her. He'd love the chance to dance with her, to hold her close. Maybe they'd even share a few more kisses…
Decided, he raced over to the unoccupied phone and dialed her work number from memory. He was getting excited, over-excited about the prospect of going on a date with her. Images of the two of them filled his head. It could be fun and romantic and possibly the best night of his life. This could really work in his favor; if she had fun on one date with him, she'd hopefully be able to imagine going on more dates with him…
It was simply perfect.
"Hello?"
"Hey Mon," he smiled glad she'd answered and glad she couldn't see the goofy grin on his face.
"Hey everything alright? You still at the strip club?"
"Yeah, Joey hasn't quite had his fill yet," Chandler admitted, still grinning. "I was just ringing to see if you fancied dinner tonight? There's this new restaurant on-"
"Oh," he could sense her tone in that one word. He swallowed, his grin fast disappearing. "I, uh, can't do tonight and I'm not sure-"
"That's ok," he cut in quickly, his heart sinking. Why had he let himself get so over-excited and caught in the moment? That wasn't him. He didn't usually do well at optimism and right now he wished he hadn't made an exception for this.
"We've already got a girly night planned and…"
"Got it," he swallowed, his eyes squeezing shut as he tried to keep his voice steady as disappointment rushed through him, "no worries."
"I just-"
"Don't worry," he said quickly; he didn't want to hear her rejection. What had changed since this morning? Had she spent the last few hours thinking? Had he got in there too late? "I understand," he lied.
"It's not that-"
"I've gotta go," he said quickly, praying that she couldn't hear the pain in his voice, "someone wants the phone. Have a good shift."
He heard her saying his name as he clicked the receiver down quietly and rested his forehead against it for a moment. He shouldn't have allowed himself to get his hopes up. He'd known all along that it was unlikely she'd go for him. He shouldn't have been getting excited over imaginary dates; he should have been building the walls up and strengthening his heart for her likely rejection.
Idiot.
He walked to the bar and ordered a round of beers. Slowly, he headed back to his friends and silently offered them a drink each.
"That's more like it," Joey exclaimed happily accepting his offering. "I thought it was 'too early to drink'."
"I've changed my mind," he muttered, taking a long swig, closing his eyes as he savored the cool liquid.
Joey and Ross exchanged a worried look.
"You ok?" Ross hesitantly asked.
"No," Chandler sighed.
"What happened?" Joey probed, he'd only gone to the bar.
"I thought I'd phone her, the woman," he clarified, "and now I feel like crap and wished I hadn't bothered."
"What happened?"
"I asked if she wanted to go on a date tonight…thought I should try and fight for her, show her that we'd be perfect for each other and have a good time…"
"She turned you down?" Ross guessed.
"Yep," he scoffed, drinking more, "I can't believe I misread the situation so much," he berated himself.
He knew she hadn't promised anything and he'd been the one to promise to give her time, but he'd really thought that one date could have been amazing. That if she gave him just one chance to prove himself he could show her how amazing 'they' could be.
"You didn't," Joey insisted, "after what happened this morning I can't believe she doesn't like you. You must have just misunderstood?"
Chandler scoffed and shrugged as Ross' pager went off. Ross glanced at it not recognizing the number so ignored it, "What happened this morning?" he asked intrigued.
"We kissed," Chandler sighed, "well, she asked if she could kiss me and I wasn't going to say no. It was amazing; the best first kiss in the history of kisses..." he trailed off remembering how her lips had felt against his. He prayed that wasn't the last time he'd ever taste them but feared it might be.
Ross' pager beeped impatiently again.
"I know she's still deciding," Chandler admitted, "and I totally respect that, it's a big decision, but she must have felt something in those kisses. They were incredible-"
"Kisses? Plural?" Ross asked.
"Oh yeah," he wore a ghost of a smile as he remembered this morning.
The pager went off again and Ross sighed, "sorry, man, I better…" he gestured in the vague direction of the payphone.
"No worries," Chandler dismissed, "we'll still both be here, the man dumped this morning and the man waiting to be dumped next."
"Hey!" Joey protested as Ross left them to it, "I wasn't dumped."
Chandler just raised an eyebrow at him.
"Ok, fine," he said, "I was but don't say it so loudly, ok?"
"Really? I thought you might go with the sympathy card, lots of woman dig that."
Joey just stared at him, "pity sex? Really?"
"It's still sex," Chandler protested weakly.
"Joey Tribbiani doesn't need pity sex," he continued, "I can get regular sex just fine. I can also get some pretty irregular sex too, if ya know what I mean. One time this chick wanted to-"
"Please just stop talking," Chandler begged, extremely thankful as Ross rejoined them.
"Everything ok?" Joey asked Ross.
"Yeh," he answered sounding confused, "it was actually a message for Chandler."
Chandler jerked in surprise looking over at him, "huh?"
"Yup, my sister wants me to tell you you're a doofus," at Chandler's blank stare, Ross sighed and continued. "She didn't mean it how it sounded, she's sorry she's busy tonight but could do tomorrow lunch but she wants to catch up with you after the girls have left, so stay up…"
Ross watched as his friend's face transformed into a large smile, "really?" he asked hopefully.
"Uh huh," he promised, clearing his throat slightly. "Not, uh, that it wasn't a really hard code to crack but…Monica? Since when?"
"She wants to go out tomorrow?" Chandler asked ignoring Ross' questions, "she actually said that?"
"That and a few other choice words for hanging up on her," he muttered.
"You hung up on her?" Joey questioned, whacking his chest, "Dude, you're trying to win her over!"
"I know," he shrugged, absently rubbing his chest where Joey had punched him, "I didn't mean to and that's not important. She wants to have a lunch date tomorrow. She wants to see me tonight."
"Wow," Ross commented, taking in the complete change in his friend's demeanor, "you really do like her don't you? I can't believe I didn't see this coming."
"I kinda had to hide it," Chandler confessed, still looking incredibly happy, "and until yesterday I'd done quite well. Then bang, I let something slip in front of Rachel and now 5 out of the 6 of us know," he knew that was a little unfair, probably a lot unfair – Rachel hadn't actually told anyone. It was just a coincidence this time…nothing ever stayed secret around that girl.
"You hid it well," Ross agreed, "both of you. So Monica's actually deciding this weekend if she wants a relationship with you? This is nuts"
"I know," Chandler grinned, "it's all pretty surreal to be honest. I've wanted this for such a long time and the fact it may actually happen. It is crazy...but it may not happen, its lots for her to think about…lots for me to think about. I think I'm gonna head off."
"What?!" Joey protested. "There's naked women here, Chandler, why would you wanna go anywhere else?"
"The last few days have been quite 'heavy'," he justified, "and I didn't get much sleep last night...nothing like that," he hastened to reassure Ross. "I just need some time to chill."
"Chill here!" Joey argued to which he shook his head.
Reaching into his pocket Chandler pulled out his wallet and grabbed a couple of $50s before handing them over to his suddenly smiling friend.
"Here, change these up and go nuts ok?" He glanced at Ross who nodded slightly, "I'll see you guys later."
"See ya."
Chandler welcomed the fresh air that hit him as he exited the club. It had felt wrong to be bored when surrounded by so many half-naked women; something he knew he'd never be able to confess to Joey. He just had one woman on his mind, and what an amazing woman she was. He was so pleased that she'd paged Ross; that she had known his insecurities would cause him to immediately jump to the wrong conclusion. It was a good job she knew him as well as he knew her.
He started the short walk home, thoughts of Mon running through his mind. He was going on a date with her tomorrow. She wanted to go on a date with him. That had to mean something.
Where could he take her? A friendly café, a fancy restaurant or something in-between? There were so many options in Manhattan but he knew he had to get this just right. She knew him and he wasn't trying to impress her like strangers on a first date. He just wanted to show her how much fun they could have together. How right they'd be together.
It wasn't long before he'd reached the coffee house and the skies started to cloud over. It would rain soon and he'd managed to escape it and stay dry. Amazed by even this amount of luck he headed to the apartment entrance when he heard his name.
"Chandler!"
He froze and slowly turned to face Kathy.
A far as luck was concerned – he'd rather had got wet.
TBC...