A Player's First Love (F.R.I.E.N.D.S/ Joey Tribbiani Fanfic)

Broken Home

This must be serious... Chandler looked at me and smiled softly. I shoved my hands in my pockets and said," Buddy, you can tell me anything." Chandler looked up at me and smiled, "Yeah I know."

Chandler casually walked to the kitchen and I followed. I sat on the bar stool opposite of where Chandler was standing. He looked down and breathed, as if thinking about what he was gonna say. "As you know, Chelsea is very quiet." I nodded thoughtfully. "What you see now is pretty bad from your perspective yeah?" I looked down suddenly feeling guilty, "Well it's...not..bad..its just not..." Chandler placed his hand on my shoulder as if saying "It's okay."

I smiled and shut my mouth. "Well she used to be a lot worse." Chandler continued. "You could ask 'How was your day?' and she would become overwhelmed with anxiety. She had panic attacks a lot when we were younger." I've never met anybody with anxiety like that before. I wonder how it started. "To the kids at school she was a freak because she didn't talk to anyone and kept to herself. But they didn't see what happened at home that was the cause of this."

Chandler had told us a lot about his...moms and how the situation messed him up, but he's so talkative we can never get him to shut up. "Anyways because of what happened she just...I don't know for whatever reason it affected her harder than it did me. And when my dad left it really hit her hard.And it certainly didn't help when kids at school started tormenting her." Chandler had been kind of avoiding eye contact with me by looking at his hands while saying all this, but he suddenly looked up at me.

"They would follow her home and call her these awful names..." Chandler looked down,frustrated. "She came home most nights in tears, and since I was the only thing that was permanent to her, she'd often come to me." He kinda laughed under his breathe, "More often than not she would just barge in my room bawling her eyes out without explanation. So I guess that's why we're so close..."

I remember my sisters coming home heartbroken as well and comforting them. I also remember wanting to kill the perosn that made them cry. I smiled and patted his shoulder understandingly. He smiled back.

Believe it or not I myself was bullied growing up as well. None of my friends know, not even my parents.

The Next Morning

I opened my eyes to see Chandler in bed. My eyes widened and I jumped and almost screamed before reality hit me and I remembered. Chandler's twin sister is staying in Chandler's room. I laid back down on my pillow and sighed as I ran my fingers through my hair. Should I get up or not? I looked at the door and noticed a light coming from under it. Is she up already? I looked at my alarm clock next to my bed. 7:30.

I sighed and decided I should get up and keep her company. I quietly crawled out of bed and walked to the door. I took extra care to open and close the door quietly so I wouldn't wake Chandler up.

I squinted as I entered the bright living room. I noticed Chelsea was sitting on the couch reading a book. She hadn't noticed me yet. She had her hair up in a messy bun and was wearing black framed glasses. She was still in her pjs, light pink plaid pj pants and a matching tank top. Can't she make any effort?

I rolled my eyes and walked farther into the room. She finally noticed me,"Morning" I said smiling tiredly. "Hi" she said quietly. I walked to our bathroom and looked at myself in the mirror. Oh. My. God.

I had a serious case of bed head. This might be the worse I've ever looked. I attempted to fix my hair somewhat but since I was without any product I was pretty unsuccessful.

I walked out of the bathroom and made my way to the kitchen. "You hungry?" I offered. She looked up from her book and nodded. "You like pancakes?" I asked her politely. "Yeah" she said.

As I started preparing the batter, I noticed she was kind of fidgeting and her eyebrows were furrowed as if she was trying to decide something.

She stood up from the couch and walked slowly to the kitchen, sitting on the bar stool. There was a bit of an awkward silence as she didn't say anything.

"So you and Chandler are pretty close huh?" I asked trying to start a conversation. She nodded and said "Yeah." But that was it. Okay so "yes or no" questions are off the table. Uhh... "Oh so you grew up in New Hampshire right?" I asked she nodded. "Right so uh...obviously it couldn't have taken you 6 hours to fly from there to New York so I'm assuming you live somewhere else now?" I asked casually. She nodded and smiled softly," Yes, I live in California." Wow I didn't peg her for a California girl. "Which part?" I asked continuing the conversation. "San Diego." She answered smiling bigger. "Oh yeah I've heard it's nice there!" I exclaimed. She was smiling and I thought I was finally getting through this awkwardness, but then her smile slowly left her face and looked down at her hands all nervous-like again, "It is." was all that managed to come out.

     The next hour was hell. I tried starting a conversation but and sometimes her face would light up again and I would think,"Finally." but like she had before, her smile would slowly fade away and look back down at her hands.

     Finally Chandler stumbled out of my room and made his way to the bathroom. "Hey Chandler!" I called happily out to him. This was the most excited I've ever been to see Chandler. He walked over to the couch where we were sitting and stood by Chelsea, towering over her. He smiled at her and she returned the smile as her bent down and softly kissed her hair. She looked back down at her hands again and Chandler took the opportunity to try to communicate with me. He gestured from me to her as if to ask, "How's it going?" I replied by holding my hand up in a gun to my temple and sticking my tongue out in a "dead" way.

Chandler glared and said,"I'm gonna get some breakfast." and as her passed by me he roughly shoved my shoulder

4:00pm

     We had all spent most of the day at Monica and Rachel's apartment talking and laughing. Chelsea was of course still shy around everyone and mostly clung to Chandler. But I noticed that when Chandler left with Pheobe to go get lunch, she had stayed close to my side instead.

Now we were all sat in the living room. Chelsea was sitting in between Chandler and Ross on the couch and I was squeezed in next to Ross. Pheobe was sitting in the armchair and Rachel and Monica were sitting on the floor.

     "Oh my god you guys I just got the best idea!" Rachel exclaimed. We had been discussing what to do for dinner tonight.  We all looked at her waiting for her to continue. "To celebrate Chelsea's arrival..." She said happily smiling at Chelsea who smiled nervously back,     "let's all get all dressed up and go out to eat somewhere nice!" Everyone looked at each other and nodded. "That's sounds like a great idea!" Ross said happily.

     "EEEEE I'm so excited!" Monica said squealing. "Oh quick quick boys leave we have to get ready!" She said motioning for the guys to leave. "You guys I really think it's fine if we stay." Chandler whined. He was worried about leaving Chelsea alone with the girls. Of course they wouldn't be mean or hurt her in any way, but he was probably concerned about leaving her since he was the only person here she was comfortable around.

"Out!" Monica said shoving Chandler. She pushed him all the way out the and whispered ," She'll be fine" she smiled as she left us in the hall and walked back in the apartment. "I hope she's okay..." Chandler said worried. Ross comfortingly patted his shoulder, "Don't worry about it Chandler, they'll take good care of her." he said smiling.

It's so weird for us to see Chandler so worried and serious all the time.

(Sorry this Chapter isn't that good but it's kinda needed to set up the next one. Hope y'all enjoy! :))