They Call Him Chandler (Under Revision)

Seven: One Big Mess

~Nikki~

Still March 18th, 2012.

“Don’t. Don’t you dare.” Nick took in a sharp breath. “What happened to all your goddamn patients?” I heard him snap in a hushed whisper from inside of Chandler’s room.

“Gone. Vanished. Poof.” Chandler hissed back with just as much venom, if not more. “Why do you think I came back when I did? I couldn’t stand it any longer. I tried to stay away, Nick. I did. And I didn’t plan on staying. I just wanted to see her again. In person.”

I heard Nick let out a sigh of frustration. Whatever he’s trying to stop Chandler from doing is clearly putting him under some stress. Good. Serves him right for blackmailing me. “Well, now you have. And it‘s almost gotten you killed.”

Silence fell over the room for what seems like hours. And it was Chandler who finally broke it. “I’m in love with her, Nick.” were the six words that came from Chandler’s mouth. And ‘I’m in love with her.’ were the five words that shattered my heart completely. The five words that sent draggers straight into me. I felt my eyes begin to sting, and my heart break. Great. Chandler is in love with someone else. And Nick really expects me to tell him now? Even though he doesn’t know that I know.

“As if it wasn‘t already completely fucking obvious to anyone with eyes. Or common sense.” was Nick’s snappy reply. Then I heard the chair squawk as he stood up.

I immediately got up from my eavesdropping position on the floor and bolted down the hallway, back into the waiting room. As soon as I sat down in the little faded blue chair, my eyes began to flood with tears. Who were they talking about? Who was the girl Chandler flew halfway across the world to see? Who was he in love with? And more importantly, if Nick already knew, why the hell would he want me to tell Chandler how I felt? To embarrass me, no doudt. What a wonderful Brother I have.

Note the sarcasm there.

----

March 26th, 2012.

I threw my backpack on the floor as Page and I entered my living room. For the past week or so, Page decided he’d be my personal driver to school and back. Why? No idea. But it was nice since he’s a cool guy. Not to mention it means spending more time away from my personal hell. Aka: My house. Sighing at those thoughts, I practically dragged myself into the kitchen. I’ve been feeling pretty depressed since I over heard that talk between Nick and Chandler in the hospital. I winced at the memory.

“Do you want anything to drink?” I asked Page as I walked into the kitchen with him following, while talking about something that I didn’t care about.

“Nah. I’m good.” he told me with a smile. “By the way, how’s my cousin doing?”

I felt my heart squeeze at the mentioning of Chandler. I felt the look of sadness wash over my face and I leaned against the refrigerator for support. I don’t know why it felt like someone dropped a 20 pound bag of bricks on my chest, but I know it didn’t feel good. “He’s fine.” I mumbled, trying to keep my voice steady. “He ah,” I cleared my throat. “Is getting his arm brace off today. And the one for his leg came off a few days ago.”

“Well that’s good.” I couldn’t see Page’s face, but for some reason I knew he was smiling. “I heard he was playing guitar with the cast.”

I couldn’t help but smile at the memory of Chandler figuring out how to play guitar with his arm cast. Even though it hurt him, and he knew he wasn’t supposed to, he was determined to play that damn guitar. “He’s the stupidest smart person I’ve ever met.” I told Page, shaking my head with a sad smile. “With all his medical training, he knew playing guitar wouldn’t let the bone set right. But he did it anyway, that idiot.” I mumbled, rolling my tear filled eyes.

I’ll call Chandler names, I’ll tell him I hate him, insult him, push him away. But no matter what I do, or how hard I try hide my feelings for him, I know deep down I love him more than anything. And I know I’ll never get over him. Even if I live forever. All those facts hurt because I know he’ll never feel the same way.

“Nikki?” Page called my name, snapping me out of my daydream of self pity.

I bit my lip, feeling bad for totally ignoring Page because I was too busy thinking about his cousin. The one who’s in love with someone else. “Sorry, what?”

He smiled, laughing before rolling his eyes. “Do you wanna go to prom with me?”

I froze, completely shocked and stunned by his question for two reasons:

One: I’d totally forgotten about prom.

Two: Chandler’s COUSIN just asked me to go to prom with him.

“Uhm,” I bit my lip as I turned around to face him. “I’m not sure.” was all I could come up with as I tried to stall until I could think of an excuse not to go. Its not that I didn’t want to go to prom, it’s that I didn’t want to go with Page. He reminds me a lot of Chandler so I’d be thinking about him, instead of Page the whole time. “When is it?” 

“April 18th. About week or so after your Birthday.” he said, a bright smile lighting up his face. Nice, his smile is. But it’s nothing compared to Chandler’s. 

I opened my mouth to say no, but I quickly snapped it shut when a past thought came to mind. “I’m in love with her, Nick.” are the words that echoed in my head over and over again. Making my heart twist in pain, and my eyes sting. Chandler doesn’t care what I do, or who I’m with. The only person he cares about is whoever the girl he’s in love with is. So why shouldn’t I at least attempt to be happy? “Sure. I’ll go to prom with you, Page.” I told him, faking a happy smile as I said it. Maybe if I keep acting like nothing is wrong, I’ll start to believe it.

But then again, I know that’s not true. Otherwise, I would be completely over Chandler by now.

---

I heard the hushed whispers of Nick and Misty as I came down the stairs for dinner. “When did Misty even get here?” I thought to myself has I somehow managed to sneak down each step without making a noise. I held my back against the wall, trying to listen without being caught.

“I really don‘t understand what you‘re saying to me, Nick.” that was Misty talking in her rarely used serious voice. “This was just supposed to be fun. And that was your idea.”

“Believe me, I know. I just…” Nick sighed loudly before going back into his hushed yelling. “I didn’t know what I was getting into.”

I frowned, my brain starting to hurt as I tried to figure out what they were talking about. As I tried to figure it out, I let out a too loud sigh. I stopped breathing, trying to listen to see if they heard me.

“Let’s not do this right now.” Misty said, her voice growing louder as she walked out of the hallway and to the door. I heard it slam close behind her.

I don’t know what the hell that was about, but I’m gonna find out at one point or another. I hopped down the last step to come face-to-face with Nick’s annoyed glare. “Were you eavesdropping?” he hissed through clenched teeth.

“Me?” I asked, trying to keep my voice calm so he wouldn‘t know I was lying. I mean, he did know how I felt about Chandler. Of course he‘s been holding that over my head for the past few weeks. Nick told me if I pissed him off, he‘d tell Chandler before I moved out. “No.” I said firmly. “But I did hear Misty storm out. What happened?”

His eyes narrowed a bit before going back the their normal size. “Don’t worry about it.” he told me as he started to walk toward the living room. But before he went to sit next to Chandler on the couch, Nick turned around to give me an evil look that I knew all too well. “Oh, and Nikki?” he smirked. “You’ve only got five weeks left. If that.” his smirk grew wider as his eyes snapped to Chandler and back to me. “Time’s a ticking.”

Chandler looked between me and Nick with a confused look on his lovely face. I could tell he was wondering what the hell Nick was going on about.

I locked eyes with Chandler and his confused look vanished. A gorgeous smile taking its place. In that moment, a small thought crossed my mind. “What if?” What if somewhere deep down Chandler actually did feel the same way about me as I do about him? What if he actually does love me back?

But all of those thoughts vanished when I realized it wasn’t me who Chandler was looking at, but the person directly behind me. I didn’t want to turn around. I didn’t want to know who he was looking at like that. But of course, the nosy part of me took over, causing me to turn around and look.

“Hello, darling. You must be Nicole. It’s nice to finally meet you in person!” the beautiful woman said to me, her heavy British accent coating her words. “Oh, I haven’t introduced myself. I’m sorry. I’m being terribly rude.” Her slight frown turned into a bright smile as she held her hand out for me to shake it. “I’m Edwards. Clair Elise Edwards.”

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Author’s Note: OHHH. OHHH. CLIFFHANGER. Clair Elise Edwards is back! And she’s up in the Clark house! For those of you who forgot, Clair is Chandler’s British ex girlfriend. But she’s not there to start drama. Stay tuned to see her purpose for coming back! (:

Vomment and fan! Love you for reading, darlings! :D

-Lexi Rain