Joey&Chandler

MTF (Bracelet Buddies)

In the morning, Chandler got dressed for work and puzzled over how to hide his bracelet from his co-workers. He still hated wearing the flashy thing, no matter how nice the sentiment behind it. If Joey *had* to give him any kind of jewelry, then why not a nice watch or cufflinks or something? Still, Chandler couldn't get rid of it now, so he would have to grin and bear it.
As Chandler ate breakfast, Joey passed by him on his way out the door. "Hey, Joey!"

Joey grunted something and put on his coat.

What was up with him? Then Chandler noticed something. "Hey, you're not wearing the bracelet."

"Oh, that. I, uh, I decided not to wear it anymore. You don't have to wear yours either."

"Wow!" Chandler was relieved but confused. "Why the sudden change?"

"Nothing. You know, what you said before, about saving it for a special occasion."

"Oh, okay. See ya, Joe."

"See ya."

After Joey left, Chandler took off his bracelet and went over to his desk to return it to its box. When he opened the drawer, however, he found Joey's bracelet carelessly thrown inside. Strange. The box was right there, if he wanted to put the bracelet properly away, but no, Joey had just left the bracelet to get scratched up by the various contents of the drawer. Why would he do that? Chandler frowned, mystified, and put both the bracelets safely away.

***

While working in his office that day, Chandler kept thinking about Joey and the bracelets, but couldn't understand it. It felt like he was missing something, but what? Chandler called home and left a message on their machine, asking Joey if he wanted to come meet him for lunch, but Joey never returned the call, nor did he ever arrive at the office. Chandler ordered in, trying to make sure that he didn't miss Joey, and then wound up with too much food after Joey didn't show.

This was frustrating. Had he somehow offended Joey again? Or worse, had one of their other friends let slip how much Chandler still hated the bracelet, or even how had he lost it for a while and inadvertently wound up with two? That sounded right, except that Joey didn't speak to anybody else this morning before leaving.

So what had happened, and when? Joey seemed perfectly happy and fine last night. In fact, Joey had felt enough at ease to joke about becoming more than friends.

Suddenly, it dawned on Chandler that Joey must not have been joking. Oh no! Throwing on his coat and grabbing the extra food, Chandler hurriedly told his secretary that he had an emergency at home and had to take off early.