Believing a slander. Chapter 1
You have unconditional friends, you have projects so you need to find someone to make them come true and you think you've found it. But a damn lie can get in the way and destroy the lives of those who suffered the infamy and those who believed in it. Chandler, Joey, Monica and Phoebe will find themselves immersed in a whirlwind of truths and lies that they must elucidate.
For those who are interested in this story, I would like to clarify that in the first two chapters I have considered it convenient to place each of our friends, giving a general overview of the individual history they have gone through up to the present. From chapter 3 will begin the entanglements in which they will be involved will begin.
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 1
Chandler entered his Upper West Side apartment.
It was not the area of NY where he wanted to live, when he finished college he had rented an apartment in Greenwich Village, that neighborhood was more friendly to him, its streets, its shops without so many pretensions, he knew the neighbors in his building, and since the apartment had two bedrooms he had posted an ad, that's how he had met his great friend Joey, an appropriate partner for a writer, since he was an actor, not with much luck or talent, but he was an excellent person, a big boy without malice.
In that building Phoebe also lived with her grandmother. Phoebe was a beautiful young woman who had also suffered a complicated childhood, which even led her to live on the streets, until her grandmother rescued her. Phoebe loved music, so her grandmother helped her with guitar and composition classes and she was trying to make her way in pop music. Phoebe became good friends with Joey and Chandler, although she always teased the latter about his status as a rich kid.
Chandler had a fun, humorous, somewhat sarcastic personality, but it was difficult to know his depths, since he hid them very well behind his jokes, even in his novels, he already had two under his belt that he had written when he finished college, behind his humor you could see some of the loneliness, pain and fears, especially of love.
Love in a couple! A riddle about a feeling that he didn't know if it really existed or lasted, since he had never experienced it at home.
His childhood had been difficult, complex parents, married almost as teenagers by family order not for love, only for him to be born in a supposedly well-established home, his father hiding his true nature, since at that time he couldn't come out of the closet, and his mother a beautiful woman with a mischievous spirit who liked the attention of men. Obviously, that marriage had no future, and Chandler lived between fights, dubious parties and boyfriends on both sides, until the divorce came when he was 9 years old, and he ended up entering a boys' boarding school where he studied until he was 18.
His mother was also a writer, in the erotic genre and at the time of the divorce she was already successful with her books, so her profession, her travels and her boyfriends did not leave her much time for the little one or the teenage Chandler.
His father almost immediately after the divorce moved to Las Vegas with a partner with the idea of opening a nightclub, which over time became popular. His father tried to maintain a relationship with Chandler, he used to travel to the City to see him, even one summer a teenage Chandler traveled to Las Vegas to spend a few days with his father, but lately he had pushed him away.
Obviously this past had marked him, but deep inside his head and heart there was a dichotomy, on the one hand, he did not want committed love relationships, he was scared of a life as a couple like his parents, but on the other hand he was afraid of the loneliness he had suffered since childhood and wanted to achieve deep love, as he had seen happen for example with his uncle Thomas Bing who with his wife had a long and affectionate relationship.
These fears and desires had led him to have an intermittent love life, despite being extremely handsome, sexy, with his crystal blue eyes and a smile between sweet and mischievous, which made him very attractive to girls, he was shy when it came to conquest and his romances did not last too long, when they began to get more intense he escaped.
It was for all that that Joey's company as a roommate was fun for him, Joey was the opposite of Chandler, he didn't have family conflicts, hard-working parents who raised 8 children the best they could, but with love, close grandparents, they had probably had some conflicts, some slip-ups by their father, but they had been overcome, this made Joey a free man, a permanent conqueror, with a different girlfriend every day and many stories to tell. But at the same time he was a loyal, unconditional friend, and although he was somewhat adolescent when facing work, he had an interesting emotional intelligence.
Phoebe also turned out to be a great friend, who had fun provoking Chandler to go beyond his safe zones.
The friendship with both Joey and Phoebe endured and grew even stronger when Chandler moved to the Upper West Side three years ago.
Chandler's mother, Nora, died in a plane crash. This death was very hard for Chandler, since despite the lack of close and affectionate upbringing, he loved his mother, had accepted her as she was and respected her as a professional. In addition, she had supported him when he decided to start writing, introducing him to her editors, not only so that they would be interested in her son's works, but also so that he could get a job with them that would allow him to support his life and continue writing.
Due to his mother's death, he received a significant fortune, not only from the publication of the books, whose royalties continued to come in, but also because his mother had inherited her share of his grandfather Samuel's fortune. And among all this, Chandler also received the Upper West Side apartment. At first he thought about selling it, but then he decided to move, it was really more comfortable and he could have his desk. He offered to let Joey share it with him, but Joey preferred his apartment in the Village, and now he had a steady income from an afternoon soap opera in which he played one of the main roles and could afford it.
Chandler was not at all greedy when it came to fortune, he was careful with the money he earned and also generous when it came to helping Joey or Phoebe when they were going through bad times without work. Now he did not need to be so careful, but he did not know how to manage his inheritance, so he asked his uncle Tom for advice, who guided him to make the right investments.
From that moment on he was able to dedicate 24 hours a day to writing, and in addition to writing a couple more novels, he had written a play that he himself was able to produce in a small off-Broadway venue that was quite popular among the audiences of his generation.
That day, when he had just entered his Upper West Side apartment, he came from meeting with a couple of young Broadway theater producers who had seen the previous production, had read the new proposal and were interested in co-producing it with Chandler, but this time in a Broadway theater.
He would have to make some corrections and synchronize the times between acts, then they had to find a theater that was not too big or expensive, since it was their first production in this competitive area and Chandler was also a new author unknown to the general public, so they had to be careful. Once these previous issues were resolved, which they calculated would take approximately a couple of months or a little more, they would begin the auditions to choose the actors.
He had a clear idea in his mind of what the protagonist of the play should be like; for the role he needed a beautiful actress, but with character, with strength, with a bright and tender smile and when necessary a cold and intense look.
He was preparing coffee when Joey knocked on the door. "Hi buddy, how did the interview with the producers go?"
"Hi Joey, how strange to be here at this hour, you said you would look for me later. As for the interview, it went well, we worked on the script, I will make some corrections, we will have to find a theater appropriate to our budget and in a couple of months or so we will begin auditions."
"To your question about why I am here at this hour, today the recording was suspended, "Dr. Murray" fell on the stairs of his house and broke his ankle, he is undergoing surgery, so the production has to adapt the script to the absence of the character, then they will see how it continues. "I have vacation until Monday" Joey said
"What time is Phoebe's presentation?" Chandler asked
"At 8 pm, but she asked me to go a little earlier, she needs support, she's nervous"
"Yeah, sure, we'll give her some cuddles" Chandler said laughing and asked
"You're a little lost, what are you up to?"
"Last week at the recording I met an actress, she's actually making a small appearance in two episodes, she's very pretty, sexy as hell and funny, we started dating, you know, I like her a lot, a lot !" Joey said
"Wow dude, you're in love!" Chandler exclaimed
"Not in love, but excited yes… Katy is very seductive, I'll arrange something for you to meet her in the next few days"
"Ok, well finish the coffee and let's go meet Phoebe" Chandler suggested
Phoebe's performance was at a popular piano bar called "Crazy Village" with live performances and where they always brought in new singers. She was interviewed by the manager, he liked Phoebe's songs and they offered her to participate in a couple of shows. If the public likes it, they assured her that she would perform three times a week.
Joey and Chandler arrived at the bar with enough time to accompany Phoebe. Chandler started with his jokes, but Phoebe was not in the mood. She was nervous and scared. This was a good opportunity to become known.
"Chandler, can you stop being silly? I'm tense and you're bothering me."
"Okay, I'll shut up, but come here. I'll give you a massage. You know that my massages are calming," Chandler told her while Joey laughed.
Phoebe sat on a chair in her small dressing room and Chandler began to massage her neck and shoulders. He was really good at that.
"Instead of wasting time writing, you should work in a massage parlor," Phoebe told him.
And a laugh from the three of them broke the tension.
Chandler tried to distract her by telling her about the progress of the production of his work, and Joey, in addition to the setback in the recording, told her in great detail what his new girlfriend was like.
So the time came when Phoebe appeared on stage, she sang with her guitar four of the songs that she considered the best, receiving generous and sincere applause from the audience, her friends were proud of her, and the huge smile on Phoebe's face was priceless.
After the presentation they went to eat pizza, Joey's favorite food, they toasted with beer for Phoebe's success, they were remembering anecdotes from the last few years, when suddenly they heard an "OH MAY GOD!" said out loud and with the unforgettable voice of Janice. Chandler's face changed and turned red, and Joey's eyes widened in terror, the only one who smiled mockingly was Phoebe.
Janice …. Janice …. Chandler had dated her on and off during the time he lived at the Village
Janice was very interested in him, but Chandler felt undefined about what he wanted with her, they had good sex, but he had no romantic feelings for her, to top it off Janice was very insistent, she was almost a stalker and this overwhelmed Chandler so much that shortly after restarting the dates he decided to break up again, but these breakups were increasingly difficult and he only achieved it at the cost of some drama on Janice's part and her sentence that they would be together again, according to her "they were destined" a prediction that Chandler did not share or want, in reality it scared him and he swore not to go out with her again, until she reappeared in his life and without really knowing how or why they were back together.
Joey couldn't stand Janice, he didn't understand how his friend could go out with her, but Phoebe was amused by her, and even more amused by seeing Chandler overwhelmed by Janice's pursuit and uncomfortable when he had to inform her of the new breakup.
When he moved to the East West Side he lost sight of her, she hadn't appeared again for three years, and now, right now, he ran into her, he thought, "Damn, why the hell did we come to dinner at this Village pizzeria when there are so many in other areas of the city?"
Janice was elated with the meeting, she was with a friend who introduced them to everyone, and without stopping talking for a second she told them that she had gotten married, had a 6-month-old baby and was getting divorced, this last information she gave while staring at Chandler and giving him a huge smile.
Chandler desperately needed to find a way out of the situation, he had no intention of getting back with Janice, he was creative, quick-minded, he had to think clearly what to say to push her away for good.
It was then that Janice asked him, "So what happened to your life Chandler? I didn't see you around the Village anymore?"
"No, I moved to the Upper West Side," Chandler replied shortly.
"You have to give me the address, I have to see your new home. Did you guys move in together?" Janice asked, turning to Joey.
"No," Joey replied, clearly annoyed.
"That's weird, you're such good friends," Janice said.
"What happened is that I got married and moved in with my wife," said Chandler, before Joey's astonished look and Phoebe's mocking smile.
Janice was speechless for a moment, surprised, and then asked "And why isn't she here with you?" as if she suspected Chandler's story.
"Because Julian, one of our twins, has a cold, she didn't want to leave him with the babysitter or for me to miss Phoebe's presentation at the Bar…. She loves Phoebe very much, she is generous, beautiful and has character, she would kick the ass of the woman who dared to approach me, and I like that."
Joey looked at Chandler in amazement at the fable he had just invented, and Phoebe, who was easily tempted to laugh, suddenly stood up saying "I'm going to the bathroom" she needs to get away to be able to laugh at ease.
Janice was silent for a moment, she hadn't expected this news, "Well, I'm glad you're happy, I wish you the best. Maybe we'll see each other someday and I'll meet your wife."
"Yes, of course, she'll be delighted," Chandler replied.
Janice said goodbye and left the pizzeria. Chandler looked at Joey with a mocking smile, while Joey still had his face of astonishment. "Relax Joey, I hope I never see her again, otherwise I'll have to find a wife," and he laughed out loud.
Phoebe came back from the bathroom, tears still in her eyes from laughing, "Chandler you've obviously matured a lot, it was the best way to break up with her before you started, if you had done it years ago you would have saved yourself a lot of drama" Phoebe continued laughing
"I don't think so Phebe, besides being an insecure idiot at the time, this lie wouldn't have worked, she knew where I lived and where to find "my wife" now the timing was perfect"
The next day at home, while trying to concentrate on the corrections to the text of the play, he couldn't help but smile at the surprised faces of his friends, and the disappointed ones of Janice.