"So what's going on? Richard looked awful!"
The look on Ross's face made it clear that his brother-in-law's behavior had given him serious cause for alarm.
Chandler glanced anxiously towards Monica. He was convinced that she was already precariously on the edge of some sort of emotional collapse, unsettled as she understandably was by Richard's revelations, and he had no idea how she was going to handle being quizzed by her brother right now.
"Richard and I are over. I've left him and we're going to get divorced".
Her tone was pragmatic but her eyes looked more weary than Chandler thought he had ever seen them before. He knew that attempting physical closeness in front of Ross was somewhat risky, but he took a seat at her side and looped an arm around her anyway, his need to soothe her anguish far outweighing any desire he might have to placate Ross.
She looked up at him with a grave but grateful glance and brought her hand to meet his at her shoulder, clasping his fingers and giving them a brief appreciative squeeze.
Chandler actually need not have worried. Ross completely disregarded his gesture of comfort; his long-held belief that his sister and his best friend would never dream of straying beyond an entirely platonic relationship was so utterly secure that he failed to draw any connection whatsoever between the tale of Monica's broken marriage and her current physical proximity to Chandler. In fact, he remained so entirely focused on his sister that he ignored Chandler completely, coming to crouch in front of Monica and placing a hand on each of her knees, his voice gentle and his deep brown eyes oozing brotherly concern.
"Oh my God, what happened?"
Monica's eyes flickered guiltily towards Chandler and she swallowed hard before informing her brother matter-of-factly,
"I fell in love with somebody else. I've been having an affair".
Ross could do nothing but stare back at her, completely gobsmacked, his mouth dropping open and his eyebrows launching into his hairline. Monica felt his fingers tighten their grip on her knees ever so slightly, and if she'd had to guess she would have said that he was trying to prevent himself from toppling backwards in shock.
"That's not the whole story though", Chandler intervened defensively, keen to plead mitigating circumstances on Monica's behalf, "Wait until you hear what that bastard did before you start to feel sorry for him".
"What he did doesn't make me blameless, Chandler. It doesn't make me feel any better about being dishonest. I still had an affair", Monica immediately dismissed his exoneration with a tut and a shake of her head, her eyes somber and her voice somewhat brittle.
"Pftt! Well it certainly makes me feel better about it! That man doesn't deserve any sympathy, Mon! Not after what he's done! And especially not from you!" Chandler retorted, red-cheeked and obstinate.
"It's not about sympathy- " Monica began to argue back, but Ross was frowning at Chandler now, a shadow of disbelieving realization creeping over his face.
"What do you have to feel better about?" He interrupted slowly, his wary eyes locked on his best friend, continuing to scrutinize his face even when verbally addressing his sister.
"Monica, who have you been having an affair with?"
Ross sounded almost afraid to hear her reply, and Chandler writhed uncomfortably beneath the weight of his intense stare, suddenly feeling a little panicked by how incredibly close the three of them were huddled and readying himself to react quickly to what he guessed might be a volatile response.
Monica cleared her throat and moistened her lips before tilting her chin skyward in an effort to appear more confident than she felt.
"I've been having an affair with Chandler. We're in a relationship" she confirmed tersely.
Ross's eyes moved between the couple as if he was hoping that one or other of them might drop the punchline to what must surely be some kind of obscure joke, but when words failed to materialize and their eyes revealed nothing but fearful apprehension, he stood up and stumbled slowly towards the kitchen, dragging his palm across his face.
"Oh my God... What the hell are you thinking?" he muttered under his breath.
It was unclear to whom this question was directed: Monica assumed he was addressing them both, but Chandler suspected he was mainly querying Monica's soundness of mind.
"We're not just messing around, Ross" she told him, her voice quiet but authoritative as she took Chandler's hand securely in her own, "This is serious, alright? We're in love and we want to be together."
Ross expelled a baffled huff of air from his lungs as shook his dumbfounded head at her.
"I just can't believe this. An affair? You two? My best friend and my sister?"
He took another lengthy pause before informing Monica, somewhat indignantly, "Richard asked me about this, you know? Months ago! He asked me outright if there was something going on between you two, and I told him he was crazy".
"Well he is fucking crazy! You have no idea!" Chandler fumed, jumping angrily to his feet, unable to restrain himself in the face of hearing Ross express even the merest hint of empathy for Richard, "It's a shame none of us thought to ask him outright if he'd had a secret vasectomy! That might have saved everybody a whole lot of pain!"
"What?" Ross spluttered in horror, after taking a few seconds to absorb Chandler's words.
"Yeah! That's right!" Chandler was all ready to plunge into a furious tirade, but when he saw Monica's face he was immediately subdued and bit down hard on the inside of his cheeks. Her eyes were begging him to stop, wide, warning, and welling with tears.
"I can't talk about this right now," she declared in a distressed whisper.
Chandler sank back down next to her, stroking her hair and pressing a firm apologetic kiss against her temple as Ross looked on completely aghast.
"I'm sorry Ross, but I don't have the energy for this. I'm going to lie down," Monica's voice cracked with emotion as she stood up and bolted towards the bedroom, fixing her mournful gaze to the ground as she went.
"Monica!" Ross objected, his eyes demanding answers, "This is huge! Is that all you've got to say?"
"There's not really anything else to say, Ross!" she cried heatedly, her hands flailing wildly as she spoke. "To sum up: Richard and I are over, and yes, apparently he neglected to tell me that he'd had a vasectomy in the seventies. Then he had an unsuccessful reversal, that he also failed to mention, despite having just asked me to marry him. Chandler and I are in love, and we're living together; Richard knows that; Joey knows that too; and now you know. That's it! The secrets are all out, so you can think whatever you like, and you can tell whoever you want, I really don't care anymore! I just want it all to be over!"
She pushed the bedroom door open and watched as Tilly scuttled sheepishly past her feet. She stepped through the doorway herself but hesitated before pulling it closed, dubious as to whether it was fair or appropriate to leave Chandler to deal with Ross alone.
"Are you OK?" her tired, watery eyes landed on Chandler. He could sense her concern but it was obvious that she was seeking his permission to leave, and she looked and sounded so utterly desperate that he could do nothing but give it.
"Go lie down," he instructed gently, watching worriedly as the door closed behind her, knowing that she would most likely collapse in a weeping pile on the bed in a matter of seconds, but also knowing that was probably exactly what she needed to do, given the shock she'd just had.
When he turned towards Ross he could see that he was still just about as blindsided as his sister, so Chandler got in quick.
"Look man, it's been a really long day" he excused, "Mon just found out about the vasectomy, and I don't think she's processed it yet."
Ross was examining him with a dark detachment that teetered on the edge of betrayal, his confused eyes seeming to see a total stranger where they had expected to find their best friend.
It was a magnified version of the disappointment he had seen on Joey's face when he had uncovered their lies earlier that week, and the hurt it caused Chandler was amplified too.
He looked down shamefully at his hands as they wrung anxiously in his lap.
"I'm so sorry we kept this from you, Ross" he told him, his voice soft and genuine, "And I know you must be worried about what this means for Monica, but what she said before is true, OK? This isn't just some reckless fling. It's real. We love each other, and we're going to be together, and I'm going to do everything I can to help her get through all of this. I swear I will. I just want to make her happy. That's all I want."
Ross's response might have been wordless but Chandler was heartened when he thought he saw something that looked like a glimmer of grudging belief concealed within his friend's mute gaze.
After a prolonged awkward silence, Ross flopped down onto the sofa next to him and gave a loud sigh.
"I can't believe he had a vasectomy and didn't tell her about it. I mean, that's sick right? How could he do that to her? I honestly wanna kill him."
Ross's threat sounded just as idle as it was: He looked so painfully stunned and bewildered that there was no way he posed a hint of a threat to anybody.
Chandler could not help but feel a little relieved that as Ross continued to mentally pick his way through the wreckage of his sister's marriage, he seemed to have arrived at the conclusion that Richard's deception was sufficiently despicable to render Chandler's role the lesser of two evils by far.
"I know." Chandler shook his head in angry agreement, "I can't believe he just sat there, and let her hope for a baby for all of those months without saying a word. He's a piece of shit. And you should have heard him just now! He actually thought she was going to just let it all go and get back with him. I swear the guy's insane!"
Ross took a long inhale.
"And what about this? How long have you been having an affair with my sister?"
It sounded like the words were getting lodged in his throat.
"I don't know", Chandler told him honestly, finding it impossible to pinpoint the precise moment his relationship with Monica had altered irrevocably.
"That night she stayed over when she got drunk at Timothy's party... she kind of ...kissed me then... but nothing happened."
Ross shook his head, unable to believe just how long this situation appeared to have been brewing.
"Then I suppose we kind of... fully gave in to it... the night we all went to Joey's play",
Ross was not appeased by his friend's attempt at euphemistic language and he visibly flinched, but Chandler staunchly soldiered on.
"We really just started to get closer after her accident, and I suppose that's when things began to change between us," he mused softly, "I swear I never set out to... seduce her, or ruin her marriage or anything. You know I've always cared about her, and I was just worried about her and wanted to be there for her... but I dunno... eventually we just... well, we couldn't stay away from one another."
Chandler heard Ross's lungs deflate and he shifted uneasily.
"And I don't mean that in a... sexual way" he tried to offer further explanation, then immediately wished he hadn't. "At least, not just in a sexual way-"
"Dude! Please!" Ross protested with a grimace.
"Sorry. What I'm trying to say is, the reason I couldn't stay away from her is because, well, I love her more than I've ever loved anybody else my whole life. I'd do anything for her."
They stared ahead in a dense fog of contemplative silence that was eventually broken by Ross.
"And you guys are actually going to live together?" he still looked utterly dazed, but he cast an appraising eye around the room, "I had wondered why it looked so tidy in here."
Chandler dared a small rueful chuckle before Ross continued to speak.
"But seriously, you, Monica and Joey all living together in this place? I mean, is that really gonna work?"
"Well, it's a little cramped," Chandler recognized, before assuring him stoically, "But we'll be fine. Joey's totally cool with it: In fact, he's already trying to train Tilly to open cupboards so she can fetch him bags of potato chips."
He was relieved to hear a small snort of amusement from Ross.
"I guess eventually we'll have to figure something out that'll work better long term, but to be honest...right now I'm kind of just enjoying being around her all the time. It doesn't matter where we live".
His stomach flipped a little bit as he made this shy admission, not having acknowledged before just how much joy their recently enforced living arrangements were actually bringing him. After so many weeks of surviving on whatever meager scraps of closeness he could find with her, then being forced to watch in agony as she returned to Richard's bed every night, finally having Monica here with him 24/7 felt like paradise to Chandler, no matter how confined their living space.
Ross gave another shake of his head, but his disbelief was no longer tainted with cynicism, just pure astonishment.
He regarded Chandler ruminatively, before telling him gruffly, "Listen, I'm gonna go, and give you guys some space. Monica seemed pretty upset before; you should go see her."
As he stood up and walked towards the door he added, "Tell her that if she needs more storage space she can use the closet in Ben's room, his clothes are tiny, so it's practically empty'.
A warm wave of gratitude caused Chandler's brow to furrow as he smiled, a little overwhelmed by what felt like a simple but important gesture of acceptance.
"Thanks man. I appreciate that."
As their eyes met, a tentative wisp of dark humor tugged at the very corner of Ross's lips as he added, "And you can also tell her that if she needs five minutes away from you two idiots, my door's always open".
"I will".
It was only when Ross actually left that Chandler realized how much tension he had been holding in his body and he felt his entire being slacken, unbelievably relieved that one of the conversations he had been dreading most of all had been navigated with what he cautiously dared to hope was a degree of success.
His lungs released a huge exhalation of pent-up breath as he entered the bedroom, finding Monica huddled into a tight fetal ball on top of the bed sheets, with Tilly curled into an anxious-eyed apostrophe at her feet.
He flopped onto the bed and spooned his body around Monica's tense form, and felt the dog shifting around in a bid to accommodate him, her chin coming to rest on his ankle.
The irregular heave of Monica's ribcage told him that she had indeed been crying, so he spoke not a word, just held her tight and brought his lips to the soft tendrils of hair that had escaped her ponytail at the nape of her neck.
"I'm sorry", she eventually whispered, "I don't even know why I'm so upset. I mean, I was leaving Richard anyway. And I betrayed him too; it's not like I can claim any kind of moral high ground. I just can't believe he kept something so important from me that whole time".
"Don't be sorry. You have every right to feel upset." Chandler assured her in a soft murmur.
The room fell silent but for the sound of their breathing and the occasional shuffle from the fidgeting dog, until Monica began to speak, her voice no more than a hesitant whisper.
"Trying to get pregnant was just such a rollercoaster, you know?" she confided, "Mapping out my ovulation calendar; taking all the right vitamins; eating all the right foods; it felt like it took over my whole life. In fact, it was almost like leading a double life; like I had this secret obsession that meant nothing to anybody else, but it felt like it was my whole world. I think that's kind of why I isolated myself and drifted away from you guys a little back then..."
The idea of her being so lonely, when they had all just blithely assumed she was off enjoying her new life as Mrs Richard Burke, brought a bitter lump of emotion to Chandler's throat.
"And then every month, I tried so hard not to let myself feel hopeful; but I just couldn't help it... I'd start to imagine what it would be like to tell everybody that I was having a baby, what it would feel like to be pregnant, and how exciting it would be to start buying tiny little clothes...I can't even tell you how devastating and painful it was to have it all snatched away, month after month. I just felt so out of control. And so alone."
He pulled her even closer and nuzzled his face into her hair as she gave a loud sniff.
"And Richard knew all of that better than anybody, and he didn't say anything," she whimpered, "How could he not say anything, Chandler?"
Chandler wanted to rant and rage; he wanted to tell her exactly what he thought of that cowardly piece of scum; to make sure that she knew what a waste of skin he was; and that he wasn't fit to speak her name.
But instead he just lay there, still and solid, and told her,
"I'm so sorry, Mon".
Because that was true too.
Pet ownership had never been something Chandler had particularly aspired to, but the following morning, as the air chilled his cheeks and he watched the sun begin to spill over the tops of the buildings that lined Grove Street, he had to admit there was something quite satisfying about being outdoors so early; and as someone who tended towards enjoying the warmth of his bed for as long as humanly possible in the mornings, he knew he never would have got up and out without an incentive.
As he and Tilly hit the streets for their morning stroll, it felt like they were playing their own small part in the city's transition from night to day. The relative quiet was gradually consumed by increasing activity: The dog walking community vying for sidewalk space with the lean-limbed joggers in track shoes, and the harried commuters striding out with a newspaper tucked beneath their arm and a paper cup of coffee warming their hands.
Chandler was amazed to find that he had even turned into one of those people who gave a conspiratorial nod and a small smile of affinity to other spaniel owners, as if their mutual choice of dog gave them all automatic membership to some secret society.
Unlike him, Monica was not usually one for idling in bed, even on her days off, so when he bundled Tilly through the front door and unclipped her leash, Chandler was surprised to find the apartment just as still and hushed as when they had departed for their walk.
He occupied the dog with a handful of biscuits before slipping quietly into the bedroom and sitting down next to Monica's quiet, curled up form.
The dip and creak of the mattress was enough to cause her to stir, and as he placed a gentle palm on her hip, she stretched out lazily, her eyes drifting open to become immediately glassy and glum.
Her awakening was disenchanted to say the least, revealing not so much as a shred of excitement for the day ahead, and Chandler was inwardly saddened not to receive one of the usual languid, soft-eyed smiles he had become accustomed to, and loved so much.
She did, however, reach out her arms to encourage him into a lethargic hug, giving a small affectionate hum as she buried her face against his cool skin and inhaled the fresh scent of outdoors that lingered in his hair.
"Did you already take Tilly out?" she guessed.
"Uh huh. It's just past 8:00. Did you say you're going to the restaurant early today?"
He tucked some mussed up strands of hair behind her ears as she flopped back into the pillows with a long silent yawn.
"I don't think I can face it", she muttered dully, "I think I'm gonna call in sick".
Chandler could not help but raise his eyebrows, and Monica could not fail to notice.
"I'm done with that place!" she informed him with a warning, grumpy snap, rolling onto her side and propping herself up on her elbow, "And anyway, I'm speaking to Nancy about that new restaurant later, so hopefully it won't be long until I can finally tell them where they can stick their stupid job".
"Well, I'm sure that'll earn you a glowing reference.." Chandler wryly remarked, his eyes gentle but sage.
Monica was more irritated by the unsolicited career advice than by the sarcasm, and her eyebrows arched incredulously as an amused scoff escaped from her sleep-parched lips.
"Uhhh no offense Sweetie, but it'll be a cold day in hell when I take a lecture from you about skipping work!"
Her retort was accompanied by a playful but pointed jab of a finger that landed right in his side. Despite his outraged yelp, Chandler could concede that her point was a reasonable one and he smirked as he bent down to kiss her forehead.
"Yeah alright. Fair enough," he chuckled, "I'm going to head off in just a moment, OK? Tilly has peed, pooped and been fed. So there's only Joey for you to worry about".
He felt buoyed by her small smile and he kissed her again, his lips lingering against hers this time, then he gave her a fond pat on the rear before heading for the door.
"Bye then, you big slacker" he teased, his eyes becoming softer and serious when he added "I hope you get a good rest, and I hope your talk with Nancy goes well."
When he reached the door he paused and hesitantly turned, she was already sinking deeper into the comfort of the bed, her expression not far from dismal.
"It's all gonna be OK, Mon. Everything's gonna get better, I promise it will. I love you, you know?"
She met his eyes with doleful tenderness, her voice muffled by the blankets that were drawn up around her chin.
"I love you too."
The way Joey looked at him when he clicked the bedroom door gently closed and joined him in the living room told Chandler that the mounting anxiety that was beginning to plague him must have been painted plainly on his face.
The Italian was relaxing on his lounger, his robe flapping open across his widely spread legs in a manner that felt perilous enough to cause Chandler to wince.
"What's the matter?"
"Nothing" Chandler muttered, keeping his eyes averted from his roommate's unabashed physical display and heading for the counter to gather his wallet and keys.
"Is Mon alright?" Joey persisted, standing up and following him towards the kitchen, thankfully tightening the belt of his robe as he went.
Chandler gave a slightly stiff shrug as he admitted, "Not really. She's pretty down."
"And you're worried that she's having regrets?" Joey nodded, scrunching up his nose in knowing sympathy.
Chandler felt an unpleasant spasm harden the muscles in his back, and he fixed his friend with an incredulous glare.
"Well, I've been trying really hard not to worry about that, but now I am. So thanks!"
Joey unsuccessfully tried to stifle a small eye roll, "I'm not saying that I think she's having regrets. I just know what you're like, that's all".
Chandler cast a nervous glance over his shoulder towards the bedroom before slumping anxiously on the edge of a stool and confessing in a whisper, "I don't know, Joe. It's all the stuff Richard was saying to her yesterday, OK? Making out like I'm some big kid who won't be able to offer her all the things he's ready to offer her. I guess I'm just worried that on some level, she might believe him."
"What?" Joey asked wearily, his tone immediately dismissive and his face a picture of unconcealed doubt. "I really don't think she's gonna be believing anything Richard has to say anymore. Or accepting anything he has to offer".
"I'm not saying that she wants to get back with Richard, but think about it, Joey. If things had turned out the way Monica had wanted them too, she'd be a mom by now. She's gone from being married, and trying for a baby, living in some big, fancy, grown-up apartment, to being back here on Bedford Street, shacked up with me, you and Huggsy. How is that not going to feel like a huge step backwards for her? And she's not exactly the kind of person who copes well with moving backwards, is she?" Chandler hissed.
He could feel himself becoming gripped by mania as his mind let go of the worrisome thoughts it had been desperately attempting to suppress, even from himself.
His fingers scraped frustrated furrows of self-loathing through his hair; he had really thought he had successfully shaken off Richard's blatant attempts to undermine him yesterday, but now it appeared that the man had officially gotten under his skin.
"She was with a guy she didn't really love, who was lying to her the whole time she was married to him. You missed out that part." Joey pointed out wisely as he topped up his glass of juice.
"I know that!" Chandler snapped before giving a long tense sigh, "But she still wants all of that stuff doesn't she? Marriage and babies and everything. I'm just worried that he might have made her believe that she's not going to get that with me."
"You guys haven't talked about that stuff?" Joey looked genuinely surprised.
"No" Chandler admitted, "We only got together in the last couple of months! I guess it felt a little soon to be talking about babies and marriage."
Joey nodded thoughtfully.
"Yeah, but it's pretty obvious to me that you're both already seeing this as a long term thing: She left her husband for you, man: that's a pretty big commitment. And you wanted her to do that. And you asked her to move in here..."
"Exactly! I mean, things are already moving really fast, right? I just don't want us to go so fast that we mess it up! I want to get it right. I have to get it right. It feels irresponsible to start thinking about babies in such a new relationship... but Mon's been ready for that for such a long time...I don't want to disappoint her..."
"So you don't want to go too fast.. but you do want all of that stuff further down the line?.."
"Well, yeah of course I do! I love her! I never felt like this about anybody before".
A small fond smile crept across Joey's lips as he watched his best friend's eyes become unprecedentedly soft and syrupy.
"So just talk to her about it! She's still married to Richard! She's probably not expecting a proposal and babies next month! But it might help if you both know for sure that you're headed in the same direction eventually. Especially, since she just found out that her last relationship was a total sham; she might appreciate a little honesty and security. "
Chandler chewed his lip pensively.
"And look, the fact that Mon's feeling low probably isn't even about you, Chandler. She's bound to be stressed out: She's got a divorce to think about; she's having to come clean to everybody about the affair; she's had the whole shock of the vasectomy thing; she's worried about her job. That's a lot!"
"Yeah, you're right. You're totally right. I should just talk to Monica about it. Talking about it doesn't mean we have to do it all right away... right?",
"Right", Joey nodded with certainty and folded his arms across his chest.
Chandler sighed gratefully and took a hard swallow, before firing his friend a rueful look of thanks, "Since when were you such a relationship guru?"
"Ahhh, I'm not just a pretty face, my friend", Joey gave him an encouraging pat on the back as he made his way towards the bathroom, "I'll see ya later. You guys'll be fine. Just talk to her. And try not to be all... "Chandler" about it.".
Chandler had every intention of implementing Joey's advice, and instigating a frank discussion about the future, but it was a very different Monica that bounced excitedly into the apartment that evening, and he could barely get a word in edgeways.
"Oh my God, I had the best meeting with Nancy!" She slammed her purse down on the counter with triumphant flourish.
Her fervor was such that she was unable to finish her sentence before smacking her lips so firmly against his, that the word "Nancy" was squashed directly into his mouth. She pulled away just as briskly and launched right back into her story without taking so much as a breath.
"This new restaurant sounds incredible, Chandler!" She grabbed both of his hands and sparkles danced like fireworks in her eyes "You know Stephen Rossignol? That chef off TV? Well, last year, he opened a restaurant in Los Angeles: It's high end, fine dining, but it's also a social enterprise: The kitchen is run by experienced, professional chefs and they help to train up and mentor disadvantaged young people who want to get into the business. The one in LA has been really successful, so now he's opening one in New York too! And Nancy said she personally recommended me, his people liked my resume, and they're really keen to meet me! I mean, it's not definite yet, but she thinks I'm a shoo-in! How cool is that? Me! Working for Stephen Rossignol!"
Chandler hadn't realized how much he had missed seeing the sweet dimples that formed in her cheeks when she was this exuberant, and he knew that the grin he could feel spreading across his own face was every bit as toothsome as hers.
"That's so exciting! You'll be so good at that!"
"I know!" she threw her arms around his neck and gave a little squeal of joy.
She let out a sigh that relaxed every muscle in her coiled spring of a body and he felt her melt blissfully against his chest. "God I needed this, Chandler. After the last few days, this is exactly the boost we needed, you know? I feel like this is a sign that everything is finally going to fall into place for us".
"Yeah it will" he softly agreed, his heart swelling to painful proportions as he hugged her hard.
She leaned back and took his face in her hands, "Thank you for being so supportive these past few weeks, you've been incredible. I don't know how I would have gotten through it all without you. I love you so much. You do know that, right?"
She wrapped her arms around his waist and squeezed him so tight he felt a slight crunching sensation in his ribs, "You and me? We have the brightest future ahead of us. I just know it".
He knew this was the perfect segue into that nerve-wracking conversation he had been intending to have, but suddenly he did not feel all that nervous anymore, and actually, he was so carried away in the joy of the moment that he could not stop himself from capturing her lips in a spine-tingling kiss and combing passionate fingers through her hair.
"Well, you two certainly look a lot happier today!"
They could hear the wide grin on Joey's face even before they broke their increasingly fiery kiss and turned towards the door.
Ross was there too, and Monica and Chandler were so used to leaping apart whenever they sensed his presence, that they automatically tensed and startled, their eyes round and their arms dropping slowly to their sides.
Ross was equally unused to witnessing such intimate affection between the pair, and he instinctively averted his gaze for a moment, before allowing his mildly curious eyes to gradually venture back towards them.
"I had a meeting about a new job!"
Monica's verve was such that she was able to brush off the inkling of awkwardness without too much trouble, and Chandler stood back and listened fondly as she relayed her good news to the two men with an animated beam, jigging from foot to foot as she spoke.
He was not particularly surprised by Joey's suggestion that the four of them ought to celebrate this potential new job offer with pizza and beer; it being Joey's answer to pretty much everything; but perhaps a little more so by Ross's unflinching agreement to join them.
The wide-eyed glance Monica cast in Chandler's direction told him that she was similarly taken-aback by her brother's unhesitating readiness to socialize with them in a way that felt astonishingly normal and accepting.
When her eyes caught Chandler's they held on tight, and the two of them shared a heart-bursting smile of excited contentment that felt, in that moment, like the tentative beginnings of happy ever after.