The lottery

I hope you like the story, and that you tell me your opinions, through them I know if I'm on the right path.

Remember English is not my native language, I hope the translation is correct, check it, but sometimes I miss some incorrect personal pronouns for the phrase, sorry.

I reiterate, I do not own the characters of Friends I only rely on them for the pure pleasure of writing stories without any economic interest, and Monica and Chandler they inspire me.

Chapter 5

Going back, when Rachel and Monica arrived in Paris they stayed in a hotel while looking for an apartment to rent, they finally found one in the Latin quarter, the rent was high since it had a beautiful view of the Seine and Notre Dame, but they could afford it.

The first days, before starting their respective activities, they dedicated to getting to know every corner of Paris, and Rachel in particular, to buying clothes, shoes, handbags, she fell in love with everything.

Monica had not yet fully assumed the amount of money she had earned, so she remained more frugal in her spending.

Then each one began their activity.

Monica was delighted with the course, not only because she had chosen a French and Italian cooking course, whose classes were taught in the morning, but also in the afternoon she was taking a restaurant management course, which was extremely important for her next venture.

She was determined to learn, therefore, social life did not interest her, she had a couple of English classmates, but most of them were French, and neither of them were very friendly, to make matters worse she kept missing her brother, to Ben, and especially to Phoebe and Chandler.

Monica was initially worried about Phoebe since she was pregnant with triplets and she was left alone, but she was reassured when Chandler told her that her mother, Phoebe, was accompanying her.

Although Monica and Chandler had agreed that when she was in Paris they would call each other once a week, she was never able to adapt to the plan, she felt the need to talk to him more often until finally it was daily. So they were both up to date with each other's news, and she was very happy when she found out how well he was doing. He had done well in his stand-up debut and felt sad not to have been present, but when she returned to the City he would not miss any performance.

Rachel also enjoyed the internship, she was learning a lot, especially about design, which was the subject that interested her most. She had classmates from many countries, she made friends with several of them, and less than a month had passed since the start of the internship when she had already a couple of dates, and now she had started a date with Alexander, a very nice young Belgian man.

Now that Rachel had an affair, Monica was generally alone on the weekends and went out for walks in Paris. It was mid-April, spring was beginning to show itself in the trees and flowers.

On Sunday morning she was about to have lunch when the phone rang. On the other side she heard Ross's voice, he was euphoric, at first she didn't understand what he was saying, until he calmed down a little and told her that in a month he was marrying Emily in London, and since Paris was close, they couldn't not go, Monica would be one of the bridesmaids.

Monica dropped the croissant from her hand... and she was silent, "Mon, are you there?" Ross asked.

"Yes, of course, you just surprised me, when are you getting married?

"Saturday, May 23, but Emily told me that you will have to arrive a couple of days before to try on the dress. Emily told me that you should send her one of your dresses to her house, so they can see the size, then they will adjust what it wants be necessary."

"Ross, did you have everything thought out when you decided?" Monica asked, stunned.

"Yesterday afternoon"

"And Chandler and Phoebe already know…" Monica asked again.

"Of course, they were the first last night, we told them, they were also surprised at first, but then they were happy, Chandler is going to be my groomsmen, and I'm going to call Joey in a while to come and be my other groomsmen. The only sad thing is that Phoebe can't travel because she is so far pregnant."

"Brother, the wedding expenses…"

"Last night I broke the news to Dad and Mom, they are happy and obviously they will take care of half of the wedding party, Emily's parents will take care of the other half"

"Ross, let me give you the wedding trip, please,"

"Emily and I are thinking of going to Athens for a week…" Ross said.

"Well, you're going for two weeks, it's my gift, first a week in Athens and then another in Santorini, they say the place is special for newlyweds, super romantic."

"Emily will be happy, yes, I accept your gift" … "Mon I have a thousand things to do, I will call you during the week, but later Emily will call you to give you the address to send your dress"

"Perfect, and give Emily a kiss for me, tell her I'm happy for both of you."

When they cut off she sat there for a long time she couldn't even believe what Ross had told her, and she decided to talk to Chandler.

"Hello Chandler, I just talked to Ross, it's true what he told me, that he's getting married on May 23, or he's on drugs."

"God, he's not on drugs, although it seems that way because of the hasty decisions he makes, yesterday he came to us with the news, I was with the two Phoebe's and the three of us were speechless. But your brother seems happy, before Emily arrived on Friday, he had already told me that he wanted to ask her to live together, which seemed a bit rushed to me, but in a few hours they went from living together to getting married..."

"Yes, I'm still speechless," Monica said softly.

"Well, the best thing about all this is that we will see each other in London in a month, so the wait for you to come back will be shorter."

"Yes, you're right, I miss our conversations, in London we'll get even," Monica said, laughing.

"Well, we'll talk tomorrow, take care of yourself," Chandler told him.

"If you also take care of yourself"

When Rachel arrived, she was a little serious, her date had not been good, "Alexander is an idiot who is only interested in having fun, American boys are not so selfish, well, some are, but in general they are more generous, "I don't plan to go out again."

Monica told her, "come sit down, I have news from the City."

"Today at noon called Ross to tell me that on May 23 he is marrying Emily in London."

"What?" Rachel opened her eyes and mouth, her stomach began to hurt, the blood drained from her face, "Are you sure… how long have he known her?"

"Since the weekend before we traveled," Monica answered.

"Just over two months! And as I know, she was in London working during the week."

"Yes, that's right, we're invited, well I'm the bridesmaid, and Chandler and Joey are the groomsmen."

Rachel felt totally dismayed, Ross was getting married, and she didn't understand why it hurt her so much, they had broken up a while ago and they were both on very different pages...

There was only a week left when Rachel decided that she would not go to the wedding, she was not going to feel comfortable, Monica could not convince her otherwise.

When Ross found out that Rachel would not be attending his wedding, he felt sad, but Emily was happy. She didn't want any ex's at her wedding, especially not the one who had been so important to her fiance.

On May 18 from the City, Ross, Chandler, Jack, Judy and Joey who had arrived from LA the day before flew to London early in the morning.

Ross had to finalize some details of the wedding with Emily.

Meanwhile, Joey and Chandler stayed at the hotel and took advantage of that afternoon to see something of London. -

The next day at 11 in the morning Chandler went to pick up Monica at Pancras station, since she was coming by train from Paris.

As soon as they saw each other they hugged, Chandler finally saw his best friend again, beautiful as always. And Monica felt her comforting embrace again.

Monica stayed at the same hotel, and fortunately she didn't run into her mother.

That afternoon Monica went with Emily to the bridesmaid dress fitting. Monica would wear a beautiful red dress that fit her perfectly. It just had to raise the hem a little.

Meanwhile Joey and Chandler toured the city again, first in a tourist bus and then walking, but this time they argued because Joey wanted to film everything while Chandler was bothered, finally Chandler returned to the Hotel and Joey continued his tour.

Friday arrived, that night was the rehearsal dinner and Monica would surely meet Judy, who made her a little nervous since the argument they had not spoken or seen each other again, nor had Judy gone to the airport when she left for Paris.

Meanwhile in Paris, Rachel was upset, somewhere between depressed and anxious. When she returned from her internship she received a call from Phoebe.

"Hello, how are you, Monica told me that you didn't want to go to the wedding, why?

"Hello Phoebe, I'm fine and to your question, I felt it would be awkward, we had an important relationship and I thought it was not appropriate"

"But Rachel, that's supposed to be in the past, you guys aren't on the same page, you're good friends now, why would it be awkward?"

"I don't know, since I found out about the marriage I'm upset, I know it's stupid…"

"Rachel, it's not stupid, if you feel like this, be upset, evidently you're still in love with him."

"What are you saying, I'm not in love with Ross! It's just that a marriage decided so quickly, so surprisingly, didn't give me time to feel happy for my friend..." Rachel said in a dull voice.

"You didn't have time to feel happy for your friend or you didn't have time to accept that he's marrying someone else while you're still in love with him…" Phoebe stated.

"You say I'm in love with him? …OH GOD, I'm in love with him!"

"Obviously, otherwise you wouldn't feel that way, besides we all suspected it" Phoebe replied.

"Everyone, Ross too? Rachel asked.

"No, not him, it's precisely because he doesn't know that he was so quick to move on with that silly English girl," Phoebe assured.

"Oh god, because no one told me, not even Monica," Rachel exclaimed.

"Well, we had all suspected it, and we thought you knew, Chandler makes jokes, Monica cleans, we all know those things, they know it, we don't need to tell them"

"And now what do I do?" said Rachel, almost muttering.

"Nothing Rachel, you can't do anything now, it's too late, you lost your chance."

"I'm not so sure... until he says 'I do', I have a chance."

"Rachel, you're crazy, it's too late, what can you do?"

"I'm going to London, tomorrow on the first train I'll go to Paris and tell him I love him," Rachel said.

"For God's sake, don't do that, he's going to marry Emily, he loves her, you can ruin his wedding," Phoebe said worriedly.

"See, if he really loves her, I won't ruin anything, he'll just know how I feel, people like to be told they love them" Rachel concluded and cut off the communication.

While this was happening in Paris, with Rachel clearly determined to do something in London, the rehearsal dinner was taking place.

As expected, Judy couldn't stop bothering Monica. "Ross told me that you gave him the wedding trip, it doesn't seem like much, we spent more, although it will be the only wedding we will have to pay for, I don't think there will be another one in the family."

These comments from Judy, added to the dispute between her parents and Emily's parents regarding the wedding expenses, a dispute that Ross tried in vain to calm down, were making Monica more and more depressed and she decided to brighten her life with some alcohol.

For his part, the stand-up that Chandler had prepared for his participation in the congratulatory speeches to his friend was a tremendous failure, clearly the English did not appreciate the American's ironic sense of humor.

Halfway through dinner, Monica was already a little drunk, and Chandler, depressed and embarrassed by his failure, they were sitting together telling their sorrows, when a guy, obviously drunk, came up to congratulate them, believing that Monica was Ross's mother.

This episode ended up driving Monica into a complete depression, which she tried to subside by having another drink while Chandler tried to lift her spirits.

"Mon, the guy was drunk, full of alcohol like a bucket, forget it"

"Who will marry me if I pretends to be Ross's mother?"

"Mon, please forget the silly comment, who wouldn't want you if you are the most beautiful woman in this entire place, of all places, of all of London."

Monica smiled, "You say that because you are my best friend…"

"No, it's the honest truth, I had already told you a long time ago that you are the most beautiful woman I have ever met in real life," Chandler told her with a tender smile.

"Look, let's go to the hotel, you need to rest for tomorrow, I'll go with you," Chandler said, taking her arm.

Chandler walked Monica to her room, she opened the door, and when he was going to give her a goodnight hug Monica jumped on him and kissed him passionately.

Chandler pulled away. "Mon, we don't do this."

"Because no, we are two best friends, I just want my best friend to make me feel better, if I really am as beautiful as he says"

"Are you sure?"

"One crazy night won't ruin our friendship," Monica told him with a seductive smile.

"OK, if you're really sure... very sure, I'm going to my room to get condoms," Chandler said, already excited. In reality he had often fantasized about his sexy best friend, although he tried to stop those fantasies, but now he couldn't believe that it was about to make them come true.

Chandler ran out hoping that Monica wouldn't regret it, but when he came back he found her in the bed, waiting for him naked.

He took off his clothes in two seconds.

"Wow, you're fast," said Monica.

"It's lucky that you appreciate speed."