Disclaimer: Well, I may not own sonny with a Chance or So Random!, but….I got nothing. It's late, let me be, haha.

HI HUGGABLES! Yes, I'm completely aware that I stink when it comes to updating multichapters, but have you ever had that feeling where you get a story idea and it just won't go away? That's how I feel. No worries, I'll try to update this multichapter and Echoes of Thunder in My Mind regularly(not counting next week, when I go on vacation). I'm on summer, and I should be updating more frequently, but these past few weeks have just been so busy. Now I'll try to focus more on my writing. Anyway, guess what? This IS, indeed, a new multichapter from me, and that just makes me as happy as a bird with a French fry! Weird quote(sorry, but it's unknown, so I can't disclaim it) but it makes me laugh. Okay, I realize this is a very, very strange idea for a multichapter and all, but I'm excited, so bare(or bear?...hmm…it's late) with me pleasy cheesy and I'll try to make this good, or at least as good as I can make it. Kay, story time! And for the record, until I tell you otherwise, this story is fully in Sonny's point of view. Normally I don't like first person with my writing, but I decided to give it another shot. Alright, now it's REALLY story time.

All the art of living lies in a fine mingling

Of letting go and holding on.

~Henry Ellis

Blacklisted

I sighed, wiping down the counter absentmindedly with a wet rag. Business had been slow tonight – usually the place was buzzing with activity – and it looked like I would have to close early. I hated to do that because being at home meant being alone with too much time to think.

Don't get me wrong, I'm happy, I really am. It's just that things used to be so different, and when I really had time to focus on that aspect of my life, the glass looked a lot more empty than it did a few minutes ago – if you know me, or anyone who might know a little trivia about me, you'd know I like my glass overflowing. Then again, I guess things worked out for the best, considering my job these days required a lot less pressure to be perfect.

You see, So Random! was great – making people happy was what I did best. However, after an incident involving Chace Crawford, whipped cream, a camera, and fifty pounds of cement, I was blacklisted in Hollywood. By that time I was eighteen, so I decided to make people happy in a different way – I was going to open a bar. Yes, I was underage, but a fake ID and a wig whenever the cops came to check on me did the trick, and in less than two years, Sonny's had become a household name – in Hollywood, at least.

Now I'm twenty (almost able to legally drink any alcoholic beverages I make for people) and life is actually pretty great. Every once in a while, someone will recognize me, but for the most part, I'm just your average young adult trying to bring home enough money to get by on. And judging by the amount of customers this place usually gets – not counting the ten other bars I own scattered across the west coast – I'd say I do a fairly decent job.

Deciding the counter was clean enough, I put down the rag and grabbed my keys. It was nearing ten o' clock, and if I rushed I might be home in time to watch the news. This was life as usual – I woke up, went for a jog, worked, and got home in time to either watch television or crash – and I usually picked the latter option. Of course, tonight was an exception.

Just as I was about to pick up my purse, a tired looking man, seemingly around my age, came bursting through the doors, a frown on his face. He didn't even look up as he sat down on a bar stool, obviously in need – or want, at least – of a drink. "Give me a beer, and make sure to keep 'em coming."

I nodded, doing as he asked – like the good little girl I was – in silence. Finally, I looked at him. I mean, I really looked at him. It didn't take long for a small smirk to slide into place on my face – a smirk that was long overdue. "Why, if it isn't Chad Dylan Cooper. Hollywood sure has a mouthful to say about you lately." I hadn't seen this boy in two years, and he may have just saved me from an hour of drowning myself in ice cream and sorrow.

He chuckled darkly, still not looking up. He probably wouldn't have recognized me anyway – I wasn't smiling too much anymore, so my face was a lot more solemn than he was used to seeing it, and my brunette hair was pulled back into a messy ponytail. "I'm badass, it's what I do." If he thought I would let him leave it at that, he was mistaken.

I laughed sarcastically, handing him his beer. "That's specific. Come on Cooper, what's up with you? Spill the beans already." If anything, he was surely as frustrating as he had been two years ago.

Shaking his head, he chugged down half of the drink in one swallow. Wow. "Girlfriend issues." It was then that his brain seemed to really register my words, and he looked up for the first time since he had come in. "Sonny?"

I grinned at him, feeling childish for being so exuberant he remembered me. "How'd you guess?" Alright, so I probably could have come up with something a little wittier than that, but it was late.

He smirked a little, looking me up and down. I wasn't sure whether to be flattered or repulsed – considering this was Chad, he was judging the way I looked. But I worked out every day, so if he wasn't satisfied, who cared. "No one's called me Cooper since you left. It wasn't hard." Then he raised an eyebrow, a playful smile on his lips. "This is seriously where you work now? I'm surprised."

I rolled my eyes, smirking back at him. "Hey, I'm doing pretty well. Besides, I don't just work here – I own this place." I was boasting a little, maybe, but he was annoying me with his cocky posture and devious smirk.

He rolled his eyes too, laughing quietly. "I figured that out by the name, Sherlock. But really, thanks so much for clearing that up for me." So he was still sarcastic. Two could play at this game. And yes, this was a game I was victorious at.

I scoffed, sliding another beer his way. "You know, if you annoy me too much, I can throw you out. Besides, aren't you underage? I could get a bad rep for selling alcohol to a minor."

Frowning at me, he scrunched his nose up. I had to admit, it was cute – he was still as jaw-droppingly gorgeous as he had been last time I'd seen him. Of course, I knew that from seeing him on the cover of every magazine. Mackenzie Falls was doing well with its sixth season. "I'll be twenty one in a month. Don't be a buzzkill. Besides, aren't you a little young to be running this place?"

I laughed loudly at his expression, practically gushing with the rush of adrenaline I felt pumping through my veins from being around him. It was like the past was coming back to me, but I didn't feel haunted – I felt relieved. For one small second, I felt more whole than I had in a long time. "I'm not going to turn you in. And sure, I'm a little young, but I have my ways. Trust me, I'm not as helpless as you seem to think I am."

He grinned at me, his face flushing with color – it seemed like the past was catching up to him a little, too. "Oh, trust me, I know. I still can't believe you did that to Chace Crawford just because he told you he thought Selena should have played you in my movie. Do you not know how A-list Chace Crawford is, Sonny? Did you have no concept of the word celebrity at all? Because I don't know what you weren't grasping."

I laughed again, placing my hands on the counter and leaning in a little. "I think that's what Marshall told me, too. It wasn't my brightest moment, but, hey, if I don't believe everything happens for a reason, I don't have anything left to believe in." Deciding I was getting a little too personal – Chad tended to do that to a person, darn his charisma – I changed the subject. "So, you're having girlfriend issues?"

He shrugged, deliberating in his head for a minute, although I wasn't sure what he was debating with himself about until he relaxed. Now I understood. He had decided to let down his guard for a minute. Chad sighed, his shoulders slumping. "Yeah. I mean, she's just so…high maintenance. You know? She's hot, and great in bed, but she can be a complete snob sometimes. Anyway, now apparently I'm some asshole just because I forgot to pick up her rat – I mean, dog – from the groomer's the other day. Stupid, right? Pick up your own damn rat-dog."

If I hadn't been so disturbed by his emphasis on her sex appeal, I would've laughed. His predicament was different, in any case. Instead, I just bit my lip, smiling on the inside, and turned to face him, giving him a third beer. "Alright, this is how things are going to work. You're going to let me drive you home because you're buzzed, and then you're going to call me tomorrow. Why, exactly? I'm going to make your relationship all better. You'll see." I was either masochistic or desperate and lonely, but at the moment I decided tired would do as my leading emotion.

Chad raised an eyebrow at me. "And if you just make it worse? Because we all know how you like to Sonny things up…even Chace Crawford knows that. I'm not so sure about this." Alright, did he really need to doubt me? I knew what I was doing…most of the time.

Rolling my eyes, I scoffed. "I won't make you pay for your drinks tonight, and if I mess things up I promise you'll never have to see me again." Way to go and sound desperate. Maybe I was desperate, considering he was the one string I might be able to hang on to from my past, but he didn't necessarily need to know that.

He sighed, giving in. I was surprised, but mainly I was just worrying about how, exactly, to fix his relationship. Then again, maybe I could work some magic. After all, I knew what I was doing, right? "Fine. But if she brings her little yappy puppy into this, you're picking up its…droppings." Screw the ten o' clock news. Life had just gotten a lot more interesting.

I can't decide if I like this or not….so can you PLEASE review and let me know? This sort of reminds me of Cure for the Common Man by Loved-Invention(fabulous story) but this concept will be different, I promise. I just got this idea a few nights ago. Anyway, love y'all, and only review if you want to, because I refuse to be a review nut. Oh, and I don't own Chance Crawford, kay? And the other chapters will be longer, really. This was just the beginning type thingamabob. SMILES!

LOL