So, like in the description, this is basically a spinoff one-shot set after Skyscraper. I wanted to let the world know how I cope with a thunderstorm or power outage while I'm home alone or babysitting after dark. One time I was home alone and my dog knocked over the trashcan downstairs and I thought someone broke in the house, so I sat hiding in my closet basically sobbing quietly cuz I thought I was gonna die for about an hour. Scariest moments of my LIFE!
Anyways… See? I'm too open and honest with people… one day, I'll have a secret. One day…
ENJOY!
Sonny POV
"So let me give your heart a breeeaaaakkk!" I belted into song while drying and straightening my much-loved black locks.
Chad has this hugely important meeting with a bunch of really big-in-the-industry people tonight that goes on for hours and hours and hours so I get most of the night to myself. Instead of pulling a Kris Humphries and having a gigantic party, I decided to spend a little quality time by myself and just relax. So far, I've taken a really long, really hot bath and did a mini-concert while drying my hair.
I walked into my music room and onto the balcony looking out into the huge backyard. Over the ocean, I could see a bunch of large, dark clouds approaching. Of course, the one night I'm all alone…
I decided to forget the approaching storm and eat plain white rice and a piece of bread on the back porch for dinner without Chad on my back bugging me about how I "never eat like, anything" or I "need to add variety into my meals".
"Here comes the storm…" I sang to myself as the wind picked up when I was cleaning up. I closed all of the windows and chose to chill out in the living room for the night, "Ooh! So Random!'s on!" I said happily realizing once again that I didn't have Chad on my back about how 'horrible' and 'childish' my old show was.
I mean, seriously? His show was atrocious. It was WAY overdramatic and the storyline might have been written by alpacas.
As it got darker and darker outside, I turned on all of the lights downstairs (what? You can never be too safe!), grabbed my phone and laptop and put them next to me and wrapped my favorite Wisconsin blanket around me before settling into the couch. As the thunder rolled outside, my relaxation slowly started flowing away.
"Check it out!" I giggled at me and Tawni's young selves on TV.
On commercial, my scared self laid on my back and sang again, "Hit me like an earthquake, feel my heaven and earth shake," I jammed to Aftershock and sat up, there was a rumble in the distance and the whole house started shaking. The power flickered as I bounced up and down on the couch whimpering to myself. After what seemed like an hour, but was apparently 6 seconds, the shaking stopped and the house was silent except for the TV.
"Not cool…" I whispered to myself, "Lovestruck, the tremors keep repeating and I tell myself keep breathing, but I'm caught in your aftershock," I clutched my phone and a pillow to my chest trying not to have a total breakdown.
I finally caved after a few minutes and changed the channel to the news to see what just happened, "An earthquake has just shaken up the heart of Hollywood," No, really? I hadn't noticed…
As long as I've lived in California, I've experienced many minor earthquakes since we are on the Ring of Fire, but that was my first one all alone. During a thunderstorm. And it really wasn't as small as the others.
Too scared to reach for my laptop, I took to Flitter on my iPhone to tell the world what I had just experienced,
Just had my first big Hollywood earthquake all alone. Pretty freaky when it's also storming!
I received many replies instantly, but one from Grady really made me smile,
SonnyMunroeCoop I happened to be singing along to one of your songs at the time and something tells me you were doing the same?
I laughed, Grady doesn't creep on me or anything, but he knows that in situations like these I tend to sing to myself to try and comfort my inner scaredy-cat. We learned a lot from each other in the 'special talk time'.
CheesePantsGrady We must sing louder to appease the natural disaster spirits!
I replied and flinched at the earsplitting crack of thunder outside, "Thousands of Flitter messages coming in from the stars right now about the quake, including those of the Jonas Brothers, Zac Efron, and a brief exchange of messages between former costars and good friends Sonny Munroe,"
"Cooper," I corrected the TV.
"and Grady Mitchell."
"Wow that was fast," I said to myself. The power flickered again and to calm myself down I decided to whisper-sing Nightingale. The ballad slowly became louder and louder as the song went on and by the end, my voice was feeling very powerful.
I pride myself in never missing a note when I'm all by myself and nobody's listening to me. I always feel that there's no pressure, so I can try out something new and if I don't like it, I won't be embarrassed. Hence the reason I forced everyone but one person to leave the recording booth while I recorded My Love Is Like A Star.
After the last line, I sat up and forced myself to watch the celebrity news because the remote was too far for me to reach.
"There have been many exchanges between Sonny and her friends on Flitter, but none between her and new hubby Chad Dylan Cooper recently. Does this mean Splitsville for the newly wed couple?"
"You've GOT to be kidding me…" I shook my head.
"A source tells us that the two aren't spending much time together anymore and have been fighting nonstop since the day they got married."
"We've been fighting nonstop since the day we met, but that didn't stop us from eventually getting together, did it?" I sassed right back at the TV.
"Such a shame…they're just so cute together!" Heck yeah we are.
"And we haven't even had the potential for kids yet…"
"Seriously? I cannot watch this," I stood up and the power flickered again, "Just kidding!" I sat back down clutching the pillow to my chest again.
"If you follow Sonny on Flitter, you can tell she's scared where she is all alone. Go on our website and tell us what you think of the fact Chad Dylan Cooper leaves a very vulnerable and petrified Sonny Munroe-"
"COOPER!" I was ready to throw my pillow at the TV, "AND I'M NOT VULNERABLE!"
"-home alone on such a dangerous night in Hollywood." "People make a living off of this crap?" I questioned and I lost signal for the channel, "I'm gonna take that as a sign," I used my feet to reach the remote and changed the channel. After I had lost signal for every channel and the dish, I just sat and stared at the blank screen.
"Why you looking at me spitting the same old line? Tryin' to creep back, ain't no flippin my mind. Don't you get it by now? The story's over, over. Still calling my name outside my house I'm hittin the switch, watch the lights go out. Watch the lights go out," I sang.
And as if I had called for it, the power shut off. Very funny. I sat in silence with myself, not moving whatsoever. The house was pitch black and completely hushed, "I hope you ache-" My voice shook from fear.
I sat totally still and in complete silence still, not knowing what to do. The storm raged on outside and I jumped every now and then when a branch hit a window, "Everything's ok, Sonny…everything's ok…it's just a little storm, Sonny…don't be a wimp…" I murmured to myself as I sunk lower and lower into the big brown couch, "Did you forget…that I was even alive? Did you forget everything we ever had?...Did you forget, did you forget…about me?" I softly sang a quiet-ish song to myself.
After Don't Forget (actually the first two verses before it got too loud for my trembling voice to handle) I moved on to Every Time You Lie, "How long's it gonna take before you see that she's no me? Oh no," I was tempted to clap, but I was still too terrified to move.
"So don't say you're sorry, cuz I'm not gonna listen…" I whispered before a large clap of thunder had me whimpering again, "Sonny…seriously? You're acting like a baby!" I tried to pep talk myself. I sat in complete silence and no movement for another 15 minutes.
The branches banging on the window and the many strange noises throughout the house had me sunken in my own fear so much that a single tear had formed in the corner of my right eye. I clearly flinched when my phone lit up with an incoming call.
"Hi, Chad," I said quietly.
"Hey Sonshine," His soothing voice quickly brought my heart rate back to a reasonable number of beats per minute, "Are you ok?"
"Trying to be," I answered.
"What are you doing?" "Oh the usual, just sitting motionless on the couch in the dark and quiet, only occasionally jumping because of the abnormal noises the many machines in our house make when the power is off and at the branches hitting the window every other second," I rambled sarcastically.
Chad laughed at me, "I would've called sooner, but for some stupid reason they continued the meeting after the earthquake, but cancelled it after the power outage."
"That's a relief…Celebs Daily had me convinced we were getting a divorce because you didn't Flitter me back." You see, my panic mode and sarcasm mode are very similar and tend to turn on at the same time.
"The remote was too far away?" He guessed.
"Yeah AND I'd have to un-burrito myself to reach it," I complained, "Did they reschedule your meeting?"
"Yup. Next week," He answered. Another clap of thunder had me yelp.
"How long until you get home?" I asked Chad wiping away another tear.
"I'm really only 10 minutes away from home, but traffic is literally stand-still. It could be hours."
"Stupid LA commuters. People in Wisconsin know how to drive in this weather!" I informed the world. The storm sirens started going off and I tried not to get worked up again.
"Sonshine…" How can he read my mind so easily? "Is Tawni home? You could drive next door and freak out together." Haha very funny you jerk!
"Yeah I remember she told me she was going to be home all night too. But I can't drive because since the power's out I can't open the garage door," I tried to tune out the sirens.
I could tell Chad was trying to come up with suggestions, but he had nothing, "…Sonny…I'm really trying to get home to you as soon as possible," He told me in a soothing voice.
"You know…I could just walk over to Tawni's," I wiped another tear.
"Right. Like you're gonna get up from the couch."
"All I have to do is walk over to the coat closet and grab my shoes and a coat," I said.
"No heels. It's not like I can drive you to the hospital in this weather," I laughed at him trying to mother me, "Be careful, kiddo."
"You too, drama snob" We said our goodbyes and I tried to find the strength and courage to get off of my new best friend, the couch. I convinced myself to call Tawni first, who was suffering from the same fear as me.
"There's a boy lost his way, looking for someone to play…" I sang to myself forcing my hands out of my cocoon/burrito, "There's a girl in the window, tears rolling down her face."
It took me a few minutes to unwrap myself, and while quickly walking to the closet to avoid whatever may be watching me I almost slipped (I completely forgot I was wearing my fluffy socks to go with my polka dot fluffy pants). I picked up the first pair of Uggs I saw, remembering Chad's ban on heels because he thinks I'm a clumsy idiot, and a dark green military style jacket. I put them on and stuffed my phone into my pocket.
I locked the door when I got outside, but I sat on the porch for a while hoping somehow the storm will suddenly let up and it'd be sunny California once again, "Be brave, Sonny," I did an all out sprint next door, screaming *only* 6 times, and ringing the doorbell in record time.
"It's open!" My blonde friend yelled to me probably too terrified to leave her couch. I told you we suffer from the same storm phobia.
I took my sopping coat and boots off and found my way to Tawn in the dark. She was all curled up in the living room looking at something on her phone.
"Sonny!" She enveloped me in a rare hug when I sat down and handed me a blanket, "You are so fearless for running through the storm and the sirens and the dark!"
"Literally one of the scariest moments of my life!" I got back into my burrito and curled up on the couch facing Tawn who was also in fluffy pants and socks. She had a pink sweatshirt on while I just had a black short-sleeved v-neck, "Where's Nico?"
"He and Grady are somewhere doing something for some show. But he won't be back until tomorrow. You're lucky Chad's coming back!" She whined.
"Traffic's horrible though, so I wouldn't be surprised if he sleeps in his car tonight," I told her.
"Sawni sleepover! We haven't had one of these since…since…FOREVER!" She said and we both yelped from the clap of thunder.
"The sirens normally mean to go to a basement, but I'm too scared to move," Tawni and I huddled close together.
"I think I get a text on my phone when you have to do that," I put my phone on my lap.
"K. Let's just try and get our minds off of everything that's happened… We can't do each other's hair or makeup…or watch a movie… or go shopping… So I guess we can have a heart to Hart!" She said and I laughed.
"Is there anything weighing on your mind you need to vent about?" I asked.
"Not really. What about you?"
"Well…I was watching a celebrity news show about an hour ago," I started, "And they were all freaking out because I had said something on Flitter about being alone during the earthquake and Chad never responded."
"Did you want a response?"
"No…no… I just…They were going on and on about how we're getting a divorce soon and I'm just confused."
"About why people think like that?"
"About how they get paid for thinking like that!" I told her and she laughed in agreement, "And get paid for following me everywhere and making up stories about how I've gotten plastic surgery all over or I party too hard every night or I have a drinking problem… I don't even drink!" I complained.
"They say the same things about me all the time, you just can't let them get to you," Tawni told me.
"I know, I know… I just don't like how they'll go after my family or my relationship or my past. It hurts, you know?"
"Yeah I totally understand. Sometimes I feel like they're building up this insane anger in you so that one day you snap. Then they have a bigger story to cover," Tawn shared.
"I've been working on that and not letting them get on every last nerve, but I feel awful when my mom calls me and tells me she got mobbed at the store or that she can't get out of the driveway without getting insane questions about me thrown at her."
"The sad thing is, is that's part of the job. When you're this successful, they just get more annoying. When you have a happy relationship, their numbers grow. When you have a story of your past as scary as you do, the questions get more personal. It's just a matter of what you're willing to share and how far you'll let them go," Tawni ranted.
"Oh, hey deep Tawni. I didn't even realize you were here!" I said and we both cracked up.
"Way to ruin a heart to Hart!" She pushed me. There was another huge clap of thunder and we screamed.
Chad POV
After many, many hours in that stupid gridlock traffic, I pulled into the Harris's driveway and ran up to the door in the pouring rain.
I knocked lightly but no one answered. So I quickly decided that I know them well enough to just walk in. When I wandered into the living room, the lights were back on but Sonny and Tawni were fast asleep. Sonny's head was on Tawni's shoulder, and Tawni's head on Sonny's head. They were both curled up in their blankets, clutching their phones.
I first slowly laid Tawni the other way on the couch, then gently picked up my adorable sleeping Sonshine and carried her to the car with all of her stuff.
Sonny woke up when we reached our garage, "Hey, Chad," She yawned adorably.
"Hey, sleeping beauty," I teased her.
"Shut up…" Her face turned red, "I had to go through a lot tonight, so the least you can do is carry me."
I caved (actually for once I didn't even attempt to argue) and carried Sonny upstairs, "So how was your first earthquake-slash-severe storm home alone?"
"It was awful, thanks for asking," She said sarcastically, "I was scared out of my mind."
"I thought so," I told her.
"It's almost creepy how well you know me," She looked at me and I laughed at her.
"Well, I'm sorry you had to be all alone. Love you," I kissed her forehead.
"Love you too," We drifted into a deep sleep.
THE END!
I thought it was cute I feel bad because I always put Sonny through horrible things in my stories… Oh well! It's always fluffy in the end!
–Linz