The One With The Bathroom Door
By: Jana~
Chapter Four
*****~*****
--Joey entered Central Perk to see all his friends sitting around the centerpiece of the bustling coffeehouse… a ratty, ugly orange couch. He approached them, briefly looking over his shoulder to make sure Chandler wasn’t right behind him before he spoke…
"Guys, listen, I think I was wrong about Chandler…"
"What?" everyone asked in turn as the gave him their undivided attention… all of them surprised by his comment…
"Yeah, ummm… I think I misunderstood or something. I don’t think he's in love with Monica…"
Rachel's eyes narrowed… "How could you misunderstand something like that?"
"He never used the words…" Joey explained… "I just assumed…"
"Lovely… " Monica mumbled…
"What did he do that had you assuming?" Phoebe asked evenly…
Joey winced before replying… "I'd rather not say…"
Various 'why not's followed from everyone, way too curious by this point to let it drop…
"It's embarrassing…" was his response…
"For who?" Monica asked curiously…
"Well, for Chandler…" he stated with a 'proof-of-point' hand gesture… "And, well, me…" he admitted sheepishly…
"You?" Ross asked… "Why you?"
"Well, when I first moved in, I kinda thought about making a move on Monica, but Chandler got really weird about it. So, I just assumed…"
"So, all this 'love talk' has been cause Chandler acted weird back in 93?" Monica's irritation was showing through…
Joey cringed at her tone of voice… "Kinda. Yeah…"
She exhaled sharply… "I don’t believe this!"
"Neither do I…" Phoebe added with a note of seriousness, giving Joey a look of disbelief…
"Neither do I!" Ross exclaimed angrily… "That means my best friend felt up my sister for no good reason! Now I'm gonna kill him!"
It was then that Chandler sauntered into the coffeehouse, trying to appear as though his life wasn't muddled… "Hello children."
Immediately, Ross stood and challenged him… "You're not in love with her, but you kissed her?!"
Chandler looked to Monica first, who had so many expressions on her face it was hard to read her, then he glanced at the others before his eyes fell on Joey.
Joey squinted, an apologetic look on his face, and Chandler just knew his best friend had opened his mouth and caused more trouble…
"Ross, look, it's not as simple as that…"
Ross ignored Chandler's comment… "I'm gonna kick your ass."
"Fine." Chandler tossed his hands in resignation… "Ya'know what? I deserve it. I do. I've crossed lines and… and I've just made a huge mess of things. And I'm sorry. But, look, before you kill me, could I just talk to Monica alone for a minute?"
Ross was about to answer 'no', but Monica stood and approached, so he stepped aside, allowing Chandler and Monica to walk away for some privacy…
"Look, I'm really sorry." Chandler apologized to Monica… "I should get my ass kicked for groping you… and for all the crap I put you through… and everyone through…" he sighed as he raked his hand through his hair… "I just want you to know that I would never purposefully hurt you…"
"I know that."
"And I know what I did was stupid, but I didn’t do it cause I don’t respect you or something. It was just… a momentary weakness…"
"I know that too."
"So, are we gonna be ok? I mean, I really value our friendship…"
She smiled… "We're gonna be fine. And, let me give you a tip… when Ross hits you, act like it hurts and double over. He'll stop immediately and chances are, you'll barely feel it…" she leaned in to whisper… "He's strong, but a lousy hitter."
Chandler grinned and nodded… "Thanks for the pointer…"
Monica's face turned serious again… "Can I just ask one thing?"
"Sure."
"Did you really get all upset when Joey first moved in and was making moves on me?"
"Yes."
"Was it because at some point… any point… was it cause you were in love with me?"
"That's two questions…" he replied with a smile… "I only agreed to one question."
"So, then, you're not going to answer it…"
"Correct." He gave her a hug, then kissed her cheek… "I'm gonna go get my ass-whooping over with now…"
--"Just to clarify here…" Chandler asked Ross… "Are we still gonna be friends after this ass-whooping?"
"Yeah. Of course. But, I'm her big brother…" he explained… "I gotta do this."
Chandler forced himself not to smile… "I understand. Fire when ready."
Ross hesitated, never having thought Chandler would be on the receiving end of the 'brotherly ass kicking'. He fisted his hand and steadied himself with a hand on Chandler's shoulder before punching his best friend in the stomach.
--Monica had been right, it barely hurt. Didn’t even knock the wind out of him… he'd definitely been on the receiving end of worse. Still, he didn’t want Ross hitting him again, so he groaned loudly and doubled over…
Gunther approached quickly as the patrons of Central Perk all began watching the scene unfold…
"You guys can't fight in here…" Gunther informed with authority… "You'll have to take it outside."
"S'ok…" Chandler grunted… "We're done." He clutched at his stomach as he headed for the door… "I'm just gonna go lie down now…"
Everyone in the establishment watched Chandler waddle out, then everyone looked at Ross…
"What?" he asked defensively… "I took it easy on him!" When everyone continued to look at him, he waved them away with a scoffing sigh and walked out the door.
*****
--The following week saw everything getting back to normal for the most part. The awkwardness between Chandler and Monica was minimal, and Ross and Chandler mended their friendship quite easily. Joey, after several attempts at 'making it up to Chandler', stopped throwing the foosball games and went right back to borrowing Chandler's clothes without asking.
--Chandler entered Monica and Rachel's apartment to find Monica was the only one there… her hair swept up and looking disheveled… a sign she hadn't been up for long…
"Hey." He greeted her with a head-nod…
She smiled and nodded back… "Hey."
"Where is everybody?"
She shrugged… "Rachel is still sleeping…"
"Same with Joey…"
There was a slight tension between them they both could sense…
"You hungry? I could make you breakfast…" she offered… pointing at and heading for the kitchen…
"Nah…" he waved dismissively… "Not really hungry…"
She chuckled slightly… "Then why did you come over?"
Chandler wasn't as bad as Joey as far as raiding her food supplies was concerned, but he definitely did his share. She sometimes wondered how often she'd see either of them if they didn't wander over in search of food…
He smiled, then his expression faded into something more serious… "To give you something."
She arched an eyebrow… "Really? What?"
Out of nervousness, he hesitated before handing it over… "Here." He gave her a piece of paper he produced from his pocket…
"What is this?" She started to unfold it, but he held up his hand to stop her…
"I would rather not be here when you read it…"
She looked at him quizzically… "Alright."
"Ok…" he said to the floor… "I'm gonna go now…"
He only looked at her briefly before he walked out the door.
She watched him leave, then looked down at the note. Slowly, she opened it and began to read…
TO BE CONTINUED
Thanks for reading!