soulmates. ― chandler bing

― 24 | DIRECTLY IN THE EYE

I OPENED THE DOOR very slowly. A bit too slowly maybe. What am I even doing here? I wouldn't dare peeking around the corner to look if he was already standing there. So I just took a step out in the hallway with closed eyes. As the door closed behind me, my left eye opened a millimeter. As if. The hallway is empty. Where is the hell he? I couldn't hear a thing. It was so silent, and I was so stressed. What should I do? Should I just wait here, or should I knock? Like he doesn't know, that I know, so it would be weird if I was waiting here, right? But what if he figures that I know, as soon as he sees me?

          If I knock, he wouldn't know that I know, that we know. So I went for the knock, but just one second before my hand would have touched his door, it got pulled open strictly. There he was, glassy, shocked eyes staring down at me. His mouth was already opened, but not a single word left it. After a few seconds, that felt like hours, he said, "I thought you were–" I lowered my look, "I know." Chandler shook his head slowly, in disbelief. "Y–you know?"

Crap.

          I nodded unsure. "I am so so sorry, she won't come. Ross called, she hasn't left her room in thirty minutes." I sighed. As I looked at him again, I noticed that his eyes weren't quite fixed at me. He was staring at the bottom of the door behind me. "I don't understand, w–why are you here?" His arm wandered up the door frame, so he was awkwardly leaning against it. If he hadn't moved, I wouldn't have noticed how close we had been. Only a few centimetres parted us.

          Since I planned to knock, I was closer to the door than I would have been. But he didn't made any attempt to move, so we just kept on staring at each other. I cleared my throat. He asked me something, right? "I am here because, uh, well, Joey sent me. Ross got Mon those tickets for The Chew, but she doesn't like it and gave them to Joey. Joey can't go because b–because, well he can't." When I mentioned my sister, he shivered. "S–so he gave the tickets to me, but mentioned you love The Chew. so I wanted to ask if you would like to go to see the show with me?"

          Too much information, too fast. Why can't I talk in a normal speed? "Excuse me?", he whispered. I exhaled loudly, "I got two tickets for The Chew, would you like to come?" I was staring at the floor, not noticing that his look has jumped to me. This was a bad idea. I really shouldn't have gone out here. How was this a good idea? He heart was just broken, he won't go to a cooking show with her sister. "Sure–", he looked at me with no expression on his face. "Pardon?" I must misheard him, he would never say– "Sure, I'd like to accompany you to The Chew."

          He smiled. It was the first time I had seen him smiling this day. My mind couldn't realize it for another ten seconds. Then I awkwardly started smiling, reaching in my pocket to hand him his ticket. "Here you go–", I smiled weakly. I cannot just assume everything is okay. I should ask him, though, shouldn't I. It blows my cover, but whatever. "Are you okay?" I tried to look him in the eye but ended up staring past him in his apartment. He sighed loudly before he managed to answer, "Not really–" He shrugged with his shoulders, looking at me directly.

           He needs a hug. I want to hug him. "So what are you planning to do about this situation?", I awkwardly moved my hands around. They ended up on my hips which was insanely weird. "Ignoring every attempt of talking to her, eating the sadness away and watching a lot of Baywatch and The Chew." He sighed. "Anything else?", I raised own eyebrow. He raised both of his eyebrows, which meant something like, "Wasn't that enough already?"

          "I'm sorry, I shouldn't talk to you like that, like I know how you feel or how planned on handling the situation–", I took a step backwards and turned around. I should go. He has the ticket, everything is fine. Well it's not. Just before a awkward goodbye could leave my mouth, he had taken my hand, "Wait!" I looked at him, this time directly in the eye.

❝YEAH?❞

          He swallowed, "Thanks." It was more of a whisper. "Thank you for caring, and trying to help. I appreciate that. And thank you for taking me to The Chew." I smiled at him, "I am trying my best!" He stillt hadn't let go if my hand. "Since you asked so nicely, I think there is one more thing I should think about." I nodded and he chuckled about himself. "I should try not falling in love with one of my friends, shouldn't I–" Was that a joke, or did he really just say that.

          My smile dropped, just for a second. He can't be serious. He cannot be serious. I chuckled and tried ignore my thoughts, "Yeah, that would probably be a good start!" He smiled bride once again before he let go of my hand. Not even awkwardly, just like the moment was over. "I guess I'll see you tomorrow!", he took a step backwards and waved me with the ticket. "Y–yeah!" No, no, no, no. I just turned my back at him when he closed his door.

          "For god's sake–", I sighed. Before I could even think about opening the door to our apartment, it was pulled open. "Come on in!" Rachel took my left arm and pulled me inside. They were eavesdropping. Definitely. "Maybe we heard one or two things through the door.. so what's your plan?", she mentioned incidentally. Told you. "My plan? What for?" I was confused, didn't they hear the part where he said he won't fall for any of us.

          Rachel's eyes got bigger and she threw her hands in the air, "To make him fall in love with you, obviously. He said, he should try not to. But when he gets to know you better, he will fall in love with you if he wants to or not." Joey took a step closer to us and continued, "Yeah, we can't choose who we are falling in love with, you know." He took Rachel's hand and grinned at her.