Just Playmates

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II. Play Pretend

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"So…erm…where exactly are we going?" I asked Chad. As much as I tried to hide the unnerving tone in my voice, it just couldn't be done. I was the perfect definition of timidity right now, and both Chad and I knew it.

"Wait and see." Chad smiled comfortingly.

To my surprise, he didn't take this opportunity to tease me. He didn't laugh at me as his eyes shined in amusement. Nope. Instead, he turned the radio on and rolled the windows down, welcoming the California's ocean breeze. One of his hands was on the wheel and another was placed slightly away from my hand. I could see it inching towards mine then getting pulled back abruptly every time he almost touched me. I pretended not to notice as I watched from the corner of my eye, wondering what in the world he was doing. Wait -- was he trying to hold my hand?

My stomach felt flutters again, and I silently groaned to myself. Stupid, stupid butterflies. The dang things just won't leave alone today, will they?

After watching Chad reach for my hand then retreating back for the umpteenth time, I grabbed a hold of his hand for him so he would finally stop going back and forth. I intertwined my fingers within his, causing the butterflies within me to practically explode. At the same time, I felt Chad's tense body relax as he held my hand back, continuing to drive as if nothing had happened. Was it me, or was his smile just a little bit too big?

Chad parked his car in an open space, as if it was reserved for him, in front of the most expensive restaurant Malibu had to offer.

"Oh my God." I whispered. "Chad, this place is much too pricey--"

"It's nothing." Chad shrugged.

"No, a plate costs, like, three hundred bucks each!"

"Sonny, it's Valentine's Day. I'm your date. Now let me be your date." He spoke to me slowly like I was some sort of special child, a hint if irritation thrown into his tone.

I huffed indignantly and reluctantly allowed him to take me to the restaurant that could have gotten me bankrupt if I ever ate there myself.

I glared at him as he opened the door for me and helped me out of his car. He had the nerve to treat me like a daisy. As much as this continuous feeling of annoyance is, well, annoying, it's much better than those stupid butterflies that wouldn't leave me alone for the majority of the ride.

Chad gave me a look that made me regret my actions. "If you be good, I'll let you hold my hand again." He smirked at me.

"What?! You're the one who kept on desperately reaching out for my hand!" I exclaimed.

"You have no real proof of that, but I know for a fact that you're the one who practically grabbed mine and pulled my arm out of my socket." Chad grinned.

"Gah." I growled, annoyed.

Chad chuckled as we walked towards the restaurant, opening the door for me. "Ladies first."

It took all of my willpower not to kick him in the shin, grab his car keys while he's down, and drive off.

Chad and I entered inside to see a few other celebrities inside eating nonchalantly while others stared at us with awe. We were led into a private booth in a separate room to my surprise. Wait, no, surprise is an understatement because the next part threw me off my feet. Candles were lit, a single rose was placed in a watered vase, a basket of breadsticks was leaning against the wall, and a waiter was waiting patiently for us with a smile. The whole thing made me think that Chad overdone it just a little…not that I'm complaining.

"Wow, Chad," I gasped as he pulled the chair out for me before sitting down himself.

(Seriously, when did Cooper attain manners and how to be romantic?)

"I know, right?" Chad smiled to himself, impressed with what his money managed to create.

Ah. And there's the conceitedness. For a minute, I thought it was gone.

"But really, you didn't have to go through so much trouble for me just for one day." I gushed.

"And what if I did want to go through so much trouble just for you?" Chad smiled at me, dare I say it, timidly.

I began to giggle the snort embarrassedly. You heard right. I giggled. Then I snorted.

FML.

I cleared my throat awkwardly as I shifted uncomfortably in my seat. I sneaked a glance at Chad. He gave me that signature smirk of his, those deep, blue eyes sparkling with laughter.

"Cute." He whispered to himself.

"Did you say something?" I asked.

"What? No."

"So what's good to eat?" I asked, picking up the menu. I opened it to find that I had never heard of any of these meals listed in this menu. Everything was in Italian! The only thing Italian I knew was spaghetti, and this place doesn't even serve it! Oh jeez.

"What's wrong? You look…lost." Chad chuckled, setting his menu aside.

I faked a smile at him. "Um, so what are you ordering?" I asked him sweetly, ignoring his question.

"I think I'm going to have the Rosti. No, wait, I'll have the Raclette. Hmm. Yeah, I'll just have the Rosti." He grinned at me.

"Uh. Yeah. I'll have the…erm…Rakleet."

"You mean the Raclette?"

"Yeah! That!"

The waiter wrote our orders down before handing us two glasses of water then leaving. I spun the straw in my water absentmindedly as the awkward silence followed. Chad was glancing around every corner, fidgeting with the napkin in front of him. And if I can recall, things has never been this quiet between Chad and me. This was…well…awkward. Way too awkward for my liking.

"So, Chad," I smiled.

"So, Sonny," Chad mimicked.

"I was just wondering: why did you take me to this restaurant out of all the others? I would have been satisfied if you just took me for a walk in the park or something." I shrugged.

"Maybe I just wanted to see that confused look on your face when you tried to translate the Italian foods." Chad grinned cockily.

I narrowed my eyes at him and threw a breadstick at his head.

"Hey," Chad whined, throwing the breadstick back.

"Well you deserved that." I retorted.

"Even after going through such hard work for you?" Chad gasped, feigning offense. I rolled my eyes and folded my arms irritably, leaning back against my chair. "Hey, remember, you're the one who asked me out in the first place." Chad scoffed merrily.

My eyes lit up in realization. "Yes, you're right. I did ask you out." I smirked. "Which is why I should be the one to choose where our date is located, right?"

"What? You've got to be kidding me. We just ordered our food, and I'm starving." Chad stated.

"C'mon, Chad. Let's go out: Sonny Monroe style!"

"Um, how about no." Chad raised an eyebrow at me, giving me that rare, serious look of his that read, 'Don't push it, Monroe.'

"Why not? I mean, it's Valentine's Day, and you and I both know that if we spend another five minutes in here, we might begin to cry of boredom." I pushed him.

"Sonny…"

"Chad…" I imitated him like he did to me before, a winning smile on my face.

"Ugh. Fine. I'll go with you." Chad sighed in defeat.

"Yay." I clapped my hands.

Hey, I'm forced to have a date with America's teen jerkthrob. I might as well have fun, right?

I pushed out of my seat before grabbing Chad's hands and dragging him out of his chair. We ran through the waiters, nearly knocking a handful of them down, until we reached the front door. I grabbed Chad's keys from his pocket, making him sit on the passenger seat unwillingly while I hopped into the front seat.

"I can't believe you're making me do this." Chad glared.

"I can't believe you didn't complain too much about me being in the driver's seat of your baby." I replied smoothly as I started the car.

"Do you even have your driver's license?" Chad asked worriedly.

"Yeah, I got it last week." I smiled innocently, beginning to back the car up.

"Oh my God." Chad breathed slowly, trying to calm himself down.

"Have in little faith in me." I nudged his shoulder as I got onto the road.

"Sonny, if you get even the smallest scratch on my car--"

"Relax, Cooper. It's Valentine's Day. Let us have our d--" I couldn't find myself to say it, so I blurted out the first word that came to my mind. "--play date."

Oh dear God, not this word again!

I tried not to cringe as I felt Chad easing. He was shaking this time, trying not to laugh again. And yet, no avail. Chad broke into laughter almost instantly. "You really are a kid, aren't you?" He smirked tauntingly at me.

"I'm not that young." I snapped back.

"Could have fooled me. Seriously. What teenager in their right mind still calls, well, whatever this is, a 'plate date'?" He asked.

"Well what would you call it?" I muttered in annoyance.

"I'd call it a date." Chad admitted fearlessly.

"Just because it's Valentine's Day and I asked you to hang out with me doesn't mean that we're on a date!" I exclaimed.

Chad merely smiled at me, knowing the lies behind my words. "Okay. Sure." He responded sarcastically.

I inhaled a deep and steady breath, turning onto another road unfamiliar to Chad and me, but apparently my mind was going haywire for me to notice.

'Okay, Sonny, don't let him get to you. You're doing this to help Nico and Grady. You're doing this for your friends. You're going on a play date -- I mean date -- I mean a hang out! Gah. Okay, don't get frustrated. You're only hanging out with Chad today, on Valentine's Day, also known as the day you despise the most; and you're hanging out with the person you can't stand at the same time! Oh my -- ah! You're hanging out with him to save Nico and Grady's butts, alright?!'

I practically had a headache after my mental disagreement.

"Wanna tell me where we're heading?" Chad said as he looked at the small town we've entered.

"Um…" I started.

I couldn't recognize a thing. The town. The streets. The scenery. Where are we, really?

"You'd get mad at me if I said no, wouldn't you?" I bit my lip.

"You're dead to me, Monroe." Chad glowered furiously at me.

"It was an honest mistake!"

"You got us lost!"

"You're making it sound like it's my fault!"

"Because you're the one who took the wrong turn!"

"You're the one who let me drive your car!"

"It's not like you would have given me my keys back if I asked for them!"

"Well it's your fault for taking me to the most boring restaurant in all of California!"

"It's your fault for begging me to leave the most boring restaurant in all of California!"

"Ha! So you do admit that it was a boring place!"

"Really, Sonny?! Really?!"

I stopped the car and parked it against a curb. "Look, arguing is not going to help our situation."

"So then tell me: what will?" Chad asked rhetorically.

I caught my hand from slapping him right there, right now.

I sighed and covered my face, worn out by all means. "I don't know. Maybe we could ask for directions back to Hollywood?"

"Pfft, yeah, if these people even know how to direct properly."

I smacked Chad's arm. "Don't insult those you don't even know!"

"Yeah, you're right." Chad frowned, almost looking regretful. "They can probably give better directions than you can navigate." He then added.

"I'm going to forgive you for that because we really need to get home. My mom might be worrying about me now." I said as I hopped out of the car, not even bothering to make eye contact with him.

Chad followed suit and stood next to me, both of us leaning against his convertible. "What now?" He asked.

I looked to my left to see that a small beach was right besides us along with a groups of teenagers playing in the sand. "Come on, there's people over there. They might be able to tell us the way back to Hollywood." I said, grabbing his hand.

I felt him intertwining our fingers again, and those dang butterflies spurred up in me once more. I ignored them, mentally begging them to leave me alone for once. Just the way I ignored how Chad is still not letting go of my hand (and the fact that I'm secretly enjoying it).

Chad and I made our way to the beach. I slipped out of his grasp as we neared the group of teens, some sitting on chairs, others in the water. Even if we were on a 'date,' I don't want people to think that we're actually dating. I glanced at Chad, nudging him to speak up first as the teens gave us confusing looks that pretty much said, WTF.

"Uh, hi. Yeah, my, erm, acquaintance and I are lost." I said, knowing that Chad didn't take the hint.

"Acquaintance? You really only see us as acquaintances, Sonny?" Chad asked incredulously, and if not, then as if he was appalled.

"Oh my God. You're Sonny Monroe and Chad Dylan Cooper!" A girl squealed. "I'm, like, one of the biggest Channy fans!"

Chad and I almost burst out laughing once those words left her mouth.

That and I was close to hurling.

Ew. Channy.

Our couple name sucks.

Even though we're most definitely not a couple and will not be a couple.

"As sweet as that sounds, and we are quite flattered, we are not a couple." I laughed weakly.

"Not according to the internet or E! news. You guys are sooo dating." The girl protested.

"And also not according to Sonny's dreams and hopes. Deep down she loves me." Chad smirked, earning himself a glare from me.

"He's kidding." I smiled at the girl, reminding myself to dump sand into Chad's pants later on.

"He is? So he's single?" The girl's friend asked flirtatiously.

I dismissed the butterflies, the warmth in my stomach, and the giggles I kept in as Chad held my hand and muttered sweet things to me. Yeah, I could ignore that. But the sudden urge to wring her throat out was something I could definitely not ignore.

"Listen, we just wanna go home." I said before Chad could flirt back. "Do you guys have any idea how to get back to Hollywood?"

"Why don't you ask Aaron and Nathan? They're the ones who actually can read a map." The first girl said, pointing at two boys whom were surfing out in the ocean.

"Oh no. This outfit costs two hundred and--" Chad began.

"Thank you!" I smiled at the girl before subtly giving her friend the evil eye. "Let's go, Chad." I said, grabbing a his ear and leading him into the ocean as he continued with his petty whines about his attire, hair, skin, and welfare.

"If I drown, it's under your conscience!" He shrieked as our feet finally touched the salty water.

Jeez, it's like he's never even been to the ocean before. His house is located right next to it for God's sake.

"Seriously, my lawyers won't have it if the star of America's hottest tween TV show dies! We shouldn't have went here in the first place! I can't believe you got us lost!"

"Will you just shut up?!" I lost it. He hit my final nerve, and now I've lost it. "You've done nothing but made this more difficult than it already had to be! You know, if you'd just shut up for one second then maybe we'd actually be on our way home! But nooo. You keep on blabbing about yourself as if you own the world--"

"Sonny, look out for that wave…" Chad warned wearily.

"What wave?!" I practically screamed at him.

But it was too late. I lost my balance and fell into the ocean, drenching my whole entire body.

I sat in the water, actually feeling despair run through me. I was pathetic, more pathetic than I was before. I felt like tears were going to fall from my eyes and not because I blinked under salt water.

Chad sighed and ran his fingers through his hair. "I'm sorry." He mumbled.

"What?" I asked him, not knowing if I heard right.

"I said that I was sorry. You're right, I guess. I've been nothing but dead weight this whole entire time. And so I'm sorry." Chad apologized meekly, extending his hand to pull me up.

I smiled at him and took his hand.

I didn't stand, though, until I pulled him down with me.

Chad got buried underneath the water for a second, his hair to his shoes completely wet. He was spitting out water nastily as he sat next to me, shaking his hair wildly. "Okay, I deserved that. But my hair totally didn't. Sonny, we're in salt water! Do you have any idea how much it could damage my hair?"

"Oh stop being a baby." I laughed, splashing him slightly.

"Fine, then you better promise you won't cry if I do this."

"Chad, what are you doing--" He dove into the ocean before pulling me down with him for a moment. When we surfaced I yelled, "CHAD!" as I gasped for air. "Oh you're so getting it!" I giggled. I pushed his head into the water. Dunking a boy underneath the ocean, especially if that boy is Chad Dylan Cooper, has never felt so satisfying before.

I squealed as he grabbed my wrists and pried me off of him. We tangled our legs together, trying to break loose as our hands stayed in lock, like we were having some sort of chicken fight. I couldn't help but laugh throughout the whole thing either. And the best part was that Chad was laughing alongside as well.

"You're so immature." Chad grinned after we finally gave up and decided it was a draw.

"I'm immature?" I raised an eyebrow at him. "You're the one who pulled me into the water headfirst."

"Hey, you're the one who tricked me again by dragging me down with you when I actually was nice enough to offer you up." Chad smirked in return.

"You gotta admit that it was funny though." I smiled.

I was taken by surprise when I felt Chad wrap an arm around my shoulders. "Yeah. Just hilarious." He said gently into my ear. And he wasn't even being sarcastic.

I turned my head slightly so that our faces were right besides each other. I could see him leaning in and his eyes closing. The scariest part was that I could feel myself inching closer and my eyes shutting as well.

"Hey, watch out!" A voice called frantically, interrupting what could have been the best moment of my life. Or my biggest mistake.

Chad grabbed my arm and stood up swiftly, pulling me out of the way before a teenage boy on a surfboard could have hit us.

"Oh my God, are you okay?" I asked.

"Yeah. Peachy." The boy groaned. "Oh shit." He mumbled, seeing that his board broke in two.

I looked up at Chad embarrassedly, knowing that we were so close to kissing. Our lips almost made contact with each other -- willingly. But while I was feeling pretty much vulnerable and having yet another mental freak out, Chad, on the other hand, looked more annoyed than he was the whole entire day. "Stupid kid." He muttered to himself. "I was so freaking close and he had to come along and ruin it."

"Um, hi," I spoke to the boy first. The boy looked up at me, his board in his hands. "I was just wondering if you're either Aaron or Nathan." I said, remembering what that girl back at the beach informed us.

"Yeah, I'm Aaron." The boy nodded, staring at his board with nothing but devastation.

"Well, I was just wondering if you happened to know the way back to Hollywood. You see, my friend and I are lost, and clearly we don't know the way back." I explained.

"Oh, so I'm your friend now?" Chad smiled cheekily.

"Wait a sec. Aren't you guys from those two TV shows?" Aaron asked as his eyes widened. "Yeah, you're the two my girlfriend obsesses over!"

"That's a bit disturbing." Chad made a face.

"We just really want to know the way back to Hollywood." I pleaded.

"Not until I get a picture!"

Chad and I turned around to see the same girl, only this time she was holding her camera.

Once we got the directions from Aaron after what seemed like millions of pictures, Chad and I finally returned home by 7:00 pm with the moon already lit up high in the sky with the stars shining all around it. Chad offered to drive me home, and since I didn't have a car yet, I allowed him to.

It was like high school all over again when you, the new girl at school manages to get the hot senior guy to take you home in his awesome car after a date … or something like that.

As we sat in the car, nearing my home, I felt Chad's hand reaching out for mine bravely, taking the initiative to hold my hand without my help. I felt myself blushing immensely this time. I was as giddy as ever, and for the first time, I wasn't ashamed of it.

"You know, Monroe, today wasn't as bad as I expected." Chad admitted.

"Well, what can I say? I make a wondeful date." I joked.

"Hey, Sonny," Chad muttered nervously as he parked the car.

"Yeah?"

"Is it alright if I do something…"

"Do what--"

I closed my eyes to feel Chad's lips on mine, kissing me gently. Speechless, I was speechless. No words could explain this moment.

And people say that you'll never get to taste perfection.

To those people, 'In your face. I just kissed perfection so HA!'

We pulled away from our chaste kiss. I was turning into a tomato while Chad gave me that love stricken look I'm admiring right now.

"I'll walk you to your door." Chad said, stepping out of the car and opening my door for me again.

"Good because I'm letting you." I flashed him a small smile.

He held my hand as we walked into the building, and he's still holding my hand as I breathe this very moment.

"We should do this again some time." Chad said as he walked me up to my condo.

"Yeah, we should." I grinned. "I'm glad that I even had to ask you out in the first place."

Chad's eyes furrowed. "What do you mean you had to ask me?" He demanded.

Oh shoot.

"I-it's not like that! I mean, n-no, well, it was in the beginning, b-but--" I stuttered pathetically, trying to find the right answer to this without revealing too much.

But why must the right answer be the one thing he didn't want to hear?

"Sonny, did someone ask you to go out with me today?" Chad asked, folding his arms.

I sighed and stared down at my shoes, my bangs falling across my eyes. "Yes." I mumbled reluctantly.

"Wow. Just wow. And here I thought you actually liked me."

"Chad, I do like you. I really, really do." I insisted.

"I can't believe I wasted the best day of my life on you." He rolled his eyes, stabbing my heart harder than anything before.

With that, he left me standing in front of my door without another word.

A/N: Please forgive me for making this chapter really corny & cheesy in the middle. I just couldn't help myself :P I know that Valentine's Day just passed by, but I would have gotten this chapter in on Feb. 14th. It's I had guests and blah, blah, blah. Bottom line: I was too busy. And I know that parts sound like it came from StarStruck, (Which, by the way, was TOTALLY FREAKING AMAZING. Sterling Knight, I love you sooo much.) but in my defense, I had this story line in my head a week before the movie aired :)