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chandler
standing behind joey's back, chandler grinned at caroline as the young woman opened the door. he noticed that her hair fell over her shoulder in a loose french braid, a few ginger stands framing her face, and the oversized light blue shirt that she wore was tugged into her jeans. he found her beautiful, although to tell the truth he always thought that she was, no matter the outfit.
caroline let them in, thanking her friends for coming, and chandler realized that nobody had arrived yet besides monica. it looked like being early was turning into a habit of his.
"thanks for having us!" joey hummed joyfully and chandler nodded approvingly.
once their coats were hung up and their shoes taken off, the hostess showed them around the room, monica only quickly peeking out of the kitchen to say hi.
not long after they came in, phoebe, ross and rachel joined them.
caroline's apartment, chandler decided, resembled her so much that he felt like he should have somehow guessed how it looked like. cellos, cosy furniture, a few plants here and there, a blanket tossed in the corner of the sofa; he could easily feel caroline's touch in every part of the room.
"your place is really nice," chandler told her kindly, still looking around.
"thank you, i'm so glad that you could come," she replied gratefully. "i couldn't be more thankful to phoebe for having introduced me to you guys."
"i should warn you now, i tend to respond with humour and irony to anything mildly serious and/or emotional," chandler smiled sheepishly as they now made their way to the kitchen.
"oh, right," caroline smiled back, not at all concerned by his sarcasm. "i'll keep it in mind."
soon enough, all of them gathered around the table, in the midst of which sat a large plate of pasta—monica had been in charge of the kitchen while caroline took on her role as a host. a delicious smell rose from the dish, making joey particularly eager to sit down, which he did before anybody else.
"i guess i'll serve joey first," monica sent a slightly exasperated smile his way, but did as she promised while the rest of the group also took their seats.
"what, i'm hungry!" joey retorted in defense.
"joe, you're always hungry," chandler observed, which had them all smile—they were used to it, throwing in jokes and comments was like second-nature to him.
"aren't we all?" caroline slipped in, equally as playfully. this time, it was chandler who smiled at her, a little surprised.
she and monica then filled each plate while ross was opening the wine he had brought, and when everybody got served and everything was finally in the right place, they could finally get to savoring the meal.
chandler had a mouthful of bolognese pasta, and let out a soft and contented groan as the flavorful taste suffused his palate. it was delicious, to say the least.
"this is amazing! you guys did so well," phoebe complimented monica and caroline. joey didn't even lift his head as he gave them the thumbs up, too busy with his plate.
"i think it's so good you broke him," chandler joked, gesturing towards his best friend.
"thank you guys, and thank you mon," caroline gratefully pressed her shoulder against monica's, and the latter smiled proudly.
after that, the desert got welcomed just as warmly. chandler followed the on-going conversation with his hands wrapped around the warm surface of a cup of a tea, a faint smile floating on his lips all the way through. this evening was enjoyable, and particularly appeasing—be it because of the cold wind rustling outside, or the enchanted look shining upon caroline's face.
