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"morning!" ella greeted joey as he walked out of his room into the smell of pancakes. "you're making pancakes?" joey asked making his way to the kitchen counter. "don't worry, i had monica teach me how. i thought it'd be a good icebreaker because chandler hasn't talked to me since the wedding," ella finished flipping the pancakes and started looking for a plate. "still?" "still! at least when i was mad at him we could stay make jokes together. he hasn't talked to me in three days," ella set down the plate of pancakes as joey sat down. "oh hey—joe," chandler walked out of his room half-asleep but, nervously laughed and immediately ran into the bathroom when his groggy eyes landed on ella. "that's actually an improvement," ella raised her eyebrows before switching off the stove. "why can't you two just date? you guys are so good together," joey whined at the green. "for the fifth time, i'd rather go through this than get into a relationship that i don't want to and end up hurting him anyways. plus, say we do get together. what if he gets all chandlery and starts freaking out about having to commit?" ella asked joey matter-of-factly. "yeah whatever," joey rolled his eyes as chandler walked out of the bathroom. "morning chandler," ella casually spoke and sent chandler running into his room. "its progress," ella gave joey a small smile.
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the next morning ella made pancakes again but this time, it was to soften the awful news she had to break to joey. she waited till chandler went to shower to finally tell him. "i'm moving out." "el, don't joke like that," joey giggled before proceeding to eat his pancakes. "i'm not joking joe." joey paused and stared at her for a few seconds before beginning to whine like a child in hopes that he'd be able to convince her to stay. before ella could even explain herself he'd already started distraughtly making his way to his room leaving her speechless in the kitchen. ✧ that night, after all of the friends had headed to bed, ella and chandler had a moment alone in their living room. the two sat on their couch watching whatever was on tv and of course, joey had told chandler about the news so he just brought it up. "so, you're moving out?" chandler softly asked. "yes i'm moving out," ella gave chandler a sad smile. "where to?" "they finally cleared out heckles' apartment and i thought i could just get phoebe to cleanse the place," ella explained to him before about ten seconds of silence fell between them. "i have to ask, does it have something to do with what happened at the wedding?" chandler finally spoke up. "no, actually. as comfortable as the pullout couch is, i think its just time for me to get my own place," ella lightly giggled and pushed her hair out of her face. ella could visibly see chandler processing the change for another few seconds. "so you're leaving for may?" "i'm actually leaving for april," ella bit her tongue having to correct him. "but that's next week," chandler calmly put together. "i know. but, it was now or the apartment went to someone else," ella guiltily answered, a little weirded out by how calm he was about it. even more silence fell between the two until chandler spoke up again. "well i'll miss you, a lot," chandler gave her a soft smile fully turning to her. "i'll miss you a lot too," ella returned a smile. "is it weird if we hug?" ella quickly added on. "probably," chandler smiled and softly giggled, ella laughing along.
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"well why do you have to move so far?" rachel asked with tears forming in her eyes for the sixth time that week. "rachel i'll be living directly below you," ella exhaustedly reassured her. "still! i can't just drop over and see what you're up to..." "yeah i didn't like that at this apartment either," ella joked as she finished up some of the last boxes. "no more walking into this apartment and immediately being in your 'room'," ross started. "having a girl roommate was fun while it lasted," joey added on flinging one of ella's loose bras across the apartment. "well, i guess that finishes up the five things i brought here," ella rolled her eyes as she grabbed her bra off the floor and threw it in the final box. "don't forget about the boxes of your clothes in my closet across the hall," rachel reminded her. "and mine," monica half-annoyedly added on. "yay! this means we can have our last memories at the apartment while ella still lives here!" phoebe cheered as the girls made their way out the door and across the hall. "dude, you've been really quiet about ella moving. don't you care?" joey disappointingly turned to chandler. "of course i care. i'm heartbroken but i don't think me saying something is going to change anything," chandler tried explaining to the ignorant boys. "what if it did?" "but what if it this is the right decision for her? i mean, do i really want to be the guy that stands in front of her really finding herself?" chandler threw out the rhetorical question. "yes!" joey and ross exclaimed in unison. "how about i don't do that. what if i just start by asking her to hangout tonight?" chandler shut them down and told them his plan. "yeah whatever, be a good person," ross mocked the bing.
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chandler and ella had walked around the city for hours that night. after talking and joking about musicals, their parents, and everything else, the two went back into their building for the night. "you know you can come in right? we're not on a first date. plus, if you don't want to sleepover the walk home isn't that long," ella joked before going to unlock her door. "i know, i know. i'm just still not over you and i'm not ready to test what happens if we're in an apartment alone together," chandler nervously laughed trying to avoid anything weird happening between them. "i hope you know i'm not over you," ella paused and turned around matter-of-factly. "oh. you're not?" "chandler, its only been like 2 weeks," ella half-joked, fully turning around and crossing her arms in almost disbelief. "i mean, you seemed pretty firm on how you felt i thought you'd been thinking about it for while," chandler scratched the back of neck embarrassed. "i wasn't thinking about it at all when you asked. of course i knew the conversation would come up at some point, i just didn't think it'd be that night," ella explained fidgeting with her hair. "oh." "last time i'm asking, you comin' in?" ella turned to unlock her door again. "no, actually," chandler gave her a soft smile. "then i'll see you tomorrow morning," ella returned a smile before opening her door. "i'll see you tomorrow morning," chandler walked away and made his way to the stairs.
❁ ⇔ 1184 words a/n: pretend i gave a lot more context for everything in this chapter...
