Things Change, People Change
After a "long" time, here is part 3. Please read and review. Email me with feedback.
Chapter 3: Asking For A Second Chance
Chandler entered Monica and Rachel's apartment and saw Monica sitting on the couch, dressed more elegant than someone would be if they were staying at home. He walked over to the couch and sat down next to her.
"Hey" He said.
"Hi" She replied back.
"Why are you so dressed up?"
"Oh... I was going on a date"
He tried to hide his disappointment "Oh... At what time is he supposed to arrive?"
"Was..."
"What?" He asked confused.
"At what time WAS he supposed to arrive... We were going on a double date with Rachel, Frank (Rachel's date), Frank's friend and I, but Frank's friend couldn't come and Frank forgot to call us, so I got dressed and all and when he got here and saw me all dressed up he remembered and apologized"
"What a jerk"
"I know, he should have called before!" Monica said frustrated. She was too mad to worry about Chandler being there, after one week and even more of having him around all the time, she got used to it, not that she liked it, she still tried to avoid him as much as possible, but his company didn't make much of a difference to her anymore.
"No, the jerk was Frank's friend, look what he is missing" He said and smiled.
"Oh, please!" She said and let out a fake laugh.
"I'm serious, he could have spent a great night with a sexy, beautiful, funny AND smart woman, and he lost that chance, now how dumb is he?"
"Same pig as always" She muttered.
"What?"
"Oh, nothing, I didn't say anything"
He sighed. 'She must be upset...' He said to himself and gave her a small smile "Look, one date less won't change the history, just relax, if you didn't go on that date it was just not meant to be..." He said. 'Not meant to be? Meant to be or not meant to be does not exist anyway' He thought. But well, he was just trying to be a friend.
"Right..." She said, not even listening to him, she focused on the TV.
"Are you even listening to a word of what I'm saying?"
Again, she didn't pay much attention to him "Of course I am..."
"Ok... where is everyone else?"
She looked at him "Well, as I told you Rachel is out on a date, Phoebe has some weird classes and Ross had to stay at the museum... some bone got lost or something like that... And Joey... I don't know where he is, but it wouldn't surprise me if you told me he is out on a date"
Chandler laughed "Indeed, he is on a date"
"Not surprised" She turned her attention back to the TV.
"So..." Chandler said, trying to think of something to talk about.
"You don't have to fill the awkward silence, I'm much entertained watching this movie"
"Hey, look, I know you are upset about..."
"I'm not upset about it, I'm used to it"
"What do you mean?"
"Well, it's always the same old story, I go out with a guy and..." She paused.
"And?..." He said, trying to encourage her to continue.
"And I don't know why the hell I'm telling you this, not that you are going to understand or anything"
"What makes you believe I won't understand?"
"You didn't understand 8 years ago, why would you now?"
He thought he knew what she meant, but wanted to make sure "What do you mean?"
"Are you stupid or what? If you don't know what I'm talking about then..."
"But..."
"But but but, I don't care what you say Chandler... I don't give a damn, just go!"
"Monica, it has..."
"Monica nothing, now would you do me a favor and would you please leave my apartment?"
"If you..."
She cut him off again "Just leave" He didn't move "NOW!" She yelled, now she was angry. How could he not know what she was talking about? But, of course it meant nothing to him, he didn't feel anything, he doesn't care about the rest.
Chandler got up "Fine, but if you would..."
Monica didn't want to hear anything coming from him and it took him ages to leave, so she stood up, turned off the TV and went into her bedroom, slamming the door behind her.
Chandler sighed, turned around and left to his apartment.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Days later Monica started to act strange towards Chandler again. She was really furious after that night where they had talked and he hadn't known what she was talking about. She didn't expect him to care, but at least to remember, even though it didn't affect him, it did affect her, at least he would care a little bit about the rest, but that was too much to ask.
About a week later, Monica had been avoiding Chandler, and the gang couldn't help but notice, one day Joey and Rachel were hanging at Phoebe's apartment, discussing different topics, until Chandler and Monica's "friendship" came up.
"I don't know what's wrong with Monica" Joey said.
"Me neither, but maybe it's Chandler" Phoebe replied.
"I don't think so, according to what he told me the other day, he likes her..."
"Maybe he has a crush on her and doesn't want it to get bigger"
"I don't think Chandler is the one avoiding her, really" Joey said.
Rachel was quiet, she knew the reason of Monica's behavior but she didn't know if she should tell Joey and Phoebe...
"What do you think it is?" Phoebe asked, turning to face Rachel.
"I have no idea..." She said, trying to make them believe what she was saying.
"I know you know exactly what's going on, Rach"
Rachel looked at her "How do you know?"
Phoebe smiled proudly "Ha! I didn't know, but now I do... now tell us what's going on"
Joey laughed "Tricky one, Pheebs"
"I know" Phoebe said and smiled.
"Well... um..." Rachel paused, then sighed "Well, I don't know if I should tell you this... but well, years ago Monica and Chandler met at thanksgiving thanks to Ross and well... they dated"
"Oh, really? That's cool!" Phoebe said, excited.
"Chandler dated Monica? Chandler... my roommate Chandler?" Joey asked, surprised.
"Yeah, but that's not it... Ross never found out and one night they headed to Monica's house, because her parents were gone and Ross was with Carol, Chandler was a little drunk and they went into Monica's room..."
Joey nodded to prove he knew what she meant.
"... They started kissing" Rachel continued "and things got a little heat up... so... Monica stopped him, she was a virgin by then and she wasn't sure if she wanted to do it just yet... Chandler got all mad and said he was tired of waiting, blah blah blah and he broke up with her"
"Just because she wanted to wait?" Phoebe asked, surprised.
"Yup"
"What a jerk!"
"I know" Rachel said and nodded "So, anyway, Chandler was Monica's first boyfriend and she really liked him... we could say she loved him... so it affected her a lot and she thought every guy was like him, it took her a long time to go out with a guy again"
"Now I understand the behavior, how can someone be so mean?"
"Come on, guys, it has been 8 years, he has changed!" Joey said, trying to defend his friend.
"Well, he doesn't seem that mean anymore" Phoebe said "And he doesn't get any chicks to dump anyway"
"I know" Rachel agreed "But at least *I* have to be supportive, I know it was a hard time for Mon and even if Chandler changed, I don't know if she'll be able to forgive him, so I have to support her..."
"Maybe you can try and make her see that Chandler is a good guy now..."
"I don't know if that will work, Pheebs"
"You can try..."
"But what if it doesn't work and she thinks I'm supporting him and not her?"
"You'll never know... Just try, and if she thinks that, she will forgive you, Rach..." Phoebe insisted.
"Ok, I'll do my best"
Joey smiled "Great"
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
As time passed by Chandler realized that what had happened the other day had made Monica more distance towards him. Whenever he entered her apartment or they met, she would give him a look that said 'I hate you' and then she would try to get away of the place as fast as possible, and if it was her apartment, she would just try to avoid him and be as far from him as the apartment would let.
He knew he had to talk to her sooner or later. Not that he hadn't tried before, but he didn't put much effort, now he was going to make her talk even if she didn't want to.
One night the whole gang was gathered at Monica's apartment having dinner. When everyone had finished and after they talked for a while each one left to their apartment, except for Chandler.
While Monica was washing the plates, Chandler walked over to Rachel.
"Hey, Rach?"
"Yeah?"
"Do you think you could leave us alone for a second? I need to talk to Monica"
Rachel smiled "Yeah, sure"
"And it's kind of private, could you... watch the door in case anyone comes?"
Rachel laughed "Sure, just let me now when you are done"
"Ok, thanks"
"No problem" Rachel walked towards the door, smiled at Monica and then left.
Chandler waited a few minutes until Monica had finished cleaning the kitchen. When she finished she put the towel away and headed towards her bedroom.
"Mon..." Chandler started "We need to talk"
She stopped and turned around "About what?"
"About why you have been avoiding me lately"
"Me? Avoiding you?" She let out a sarcastic laugh "When?"
"Oh, please, it's more than obvious, would you just talk instead of hiding everything and avoiding?"
"I don't need to talk about anything to anyone"
"Right, then stop avoiding me"
"I am not avoiding you" She replied calmly.
"God, if it wasn't obvious maybe I would believe you, but you don't talk to me, you don't look at me and you leave the room as fast as you can when I'm there"
"Yeah, well, I have my reasons"
"I bet you do, but it would be better if you shared them!"
"Why do you care anyway?! We haven't talk in a very long time, let's keep things that way"
"No! Monica, you don't understand, we can't keep it that way, we see each other everyday, we eat on the same table everyday, we can't not talk to each other"
"It's working just fine for me"
"Well, not for me"
"Well, why should I care of what works or not for you? You didn't care about me years ago!" She said, angrily.
"I knew it was about that!"
"Oh, what a genius!" She said sarcastically "We should give you a price for being the smartest man alive!" She looked at him "How could it NOT be about that?! Do you even remember what happened?!"
"Of course I do..."
"Do you know how I felt the next 6 months or more?!"
He was quiet for a while
"No..." He finally replied.
"Well, I felt awful, I loved you Chandler, you were my first boy friend and I cared a LOT about you because you were also my friend and you go and break up with me just because I didn't want to have sex with you!"
"I know it..."
"No, you don't know! I was so scared of getting into another relationship, I thought everyone was as stupid as you are!"
Chandler looked at her and sighed "I'm sorry"
"Now it's too late to be sorry... You know I spent 2 whole days next to the phone waiting for a call from you saying it was a mistake, that you were sorry, but you never did, you just disappeared and I had to heard it from Ross, you couldn't even say so yourself!"
"Look, I was a jerk back then, and I am really sorry, I regretted breaking up with you, but I thought my reason was a good one"
"Well, I have to tell you it wasn't"
"I know it wasn't, now I do! And that's why I am talking here to you, if I didn't care about your friendship or what I think it may be I would be home sleeping by now, but I care about it and I want to make things better"
"Too late"
"It can't be too late, Monica"
"It is, Chandler, time passed by"
"But how can you not forgive me for this?"
"Because you hurt me, and I don't want to have a friend who would do that" She replied bitterly.
"But that was me 8 years ago! You can't compare that Chandler to this Chandler, I've changed!"
"I can't be sure about that"
"Well you won't be sure until you let me prove it to you, Monica, please understand, I am not the same Chandler I was 8 years ago, things change, people change! And *I* changed"
Monica sighed "You finished?"
"Yeah..." He replied softly.
"Then please get out of my apartment"
"Monica..."
"GET OUT!" She yelled.
Now he was angry, why wouldn't she just listen? "Monica, just listen to what I am saying! I am not asking you to forgive me right away or in a day, all I am asking is for you to give me a second chance, to demonstrate you that I've changed!"
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
At the same time Rachel was out side in the hall, sitting on the step, watching to see that no one entered her apartment. She could hear them yelling sometimes and she wondered if Monica would ever forgive him.
Without Rachel noticing, Ross passed next to her and opened the door to Rachel and Monica's apartment.
"Ross, don't!" Rachel said, trying to stop him, but it was too late.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Monica sighed "Don't you get it?! I don't want to see if you changed or not! I don't care anymore, just like you didn't care when..." Just then the door opened, but they were so concentrated in their fight that none of them noticed "... you wanted to have sex with me!"
Ross looked at Chandler and Monica, surprised "What did I just hear?"
Rachel follow "Nothing Ross, they are just rehearsing for a play..."
Monica laughed "No we are not... I'm tired of saving your ass, Chandler, it's time for your former best friend to know the truth"
"Monica, it's not necessary" Chandler said.
"Oh, it is, he has the right to know what you did to me"
Ross turned red, he didn't even know what they were talking about, but it seemed pretty serious and it had something to do with Chandler and Monica, what could it be?
"What's going on?" Ross asked.
Rachel took a deep breath at the same time as Chandler did. Chandler turned to see Monica and awaited her to start the explanation, this was going to be a long night, even longer than he had thought...
To Be Continue...
That's all for part 3, please email me with suggestions, comments, anything, that's the only way I can improve.
Go to Part VI (not available yet)