A/N: Holy crud this chapter is long. It was almost longer, but I got exhausted and this chapter got super long... So I saved the rest for the next chapter. There's not enough hours in the day when you help teach first grade... I'll do a triple-check for errors on this chapter tomorrow, to see if I missed anything in my exhausted state.
So here's the deal peeps, I can't reply to reviews or see them on the page, but I still see them in my email, so PLEASE REVIEW!! I'm sure all problems will be resolved soon. Thank you all for being loyal and reviewing the last chapter despite technical problems. You are all the best!
So I assume Sonny and Chad know guitar because there's a guitar in the prop house, and Sterling plays it :P So there ya go.
I also imagine the person who leaked the info of Sonny's whereabouts in this chapter as OceanUp :P I left it out though because there's enough pop culture references in this chap... It's just fun to imagine, haha ;)
Enjoy!!
---
Sonny uneasily glanced at the giant mirror in front of her as a gaggle of people stood a little ways away, chattering loudly. Two unlucky store clerks had the duty of keeping everyone, especially those with a camera a certain distance away.
She turned to the side, looking her reflection up and down, not able to concentrate on what she thought of the dress she was looking at, due to the uncomfortable feeling of all eyes being on her. Being a celebrity certainly took some getting used to... She didn't think she'd ever get to the point where she could easily ignore all the prying eyes, though. Especially in an awkward situation like this. Some girls could barely handle trying on dresses with their own mothers hanging around. Sonny had to do so with her mother and the extremely large group of people that had found out she was there, thanks to one little newsfeed on Twitter.
Sonny made a face, thoroughly embarrassed, as she continued to awkwardly survey herself in the mirror. She smirked slightly as an idea came to mind. Sonny was an optimistic sort of person, so she decided to make the best of an awkward situation.
"Hey," she turned to address the crowd. "What do you guys think of this one?"
She took a step back when she was greeted with deafening screams. She giggled as she put her fingers in her ears, deciding she would turn this weird moment into something more fun. She would go back into the dressing room, put on another dress, and come strutting out as though in the middle of a fashion show. She would stop at the end of the mirror and strike some sort of overdramatic pose that would make the crowd scream at the top of their lungs, and her and her mother fall over laughing.
Nearly an hour later, Sonny came out with a knee-length ice blue dress covered with tulle. She particularly enjoyed the way it sparkled in the light. She smiled as she held it up to her mother.
"This is the one I want," she paused before continuing, "Blue is Chad's favorite color," she added with a smile.
Her mother smirked and raised an eyebrow at her, nodding her head. "You really fancy this boy, don't you?"
Sonny blushed slightly, passing the dress over to her and hanging her head. "No... I just... I just want this night to be good for him, that's all. It's only fair." She looked at the floor as she approached the large crowd, ready to squeeze her way through the fans to get to the register up front. She hoped her blush wasn't evident.
In truth, she was secretly hoping that Chad would be blown away when he saw her.
---
Chad sighed nervously as he stopped in front of Sonny's door. He lifted his hand to ring the doorbell, but hesitated, instead moving his hand to smooth down his hair. He grimaced as he looked down at the suit he was wearing. He panicked as he suddenly realized that nothing about him was good enough for Sonny. He fussed with his hair a bit more, fixed his tie, brushed his sleeves off, fixed his tie again, straightened out the lapels of his coat, and fixed his tie a final time. He looked at his watch and realized that fifteen minutes had passed. Deciding not to waste any more time, he took a deep breath and rang the doorbell.
He spent the few seconds he had nervously fixing whatever else he could before straightening up as he heard the door open.
"Oh... Chad! You're early," Sonny's mother greeted him, looking down at her watch.
Chad's smile fell as he looked down at his own. Somehow he'd managed to show up 45 minutes early. He had left an hour early, thinking it would get him there just in time. Apparently he'd given himself too much of a margin of error... He swallowed nervously, hoping his blushing wasn't showing as he answered her.
"I-I'm sorry Ms. Munroe, I-I just wanted to make sure I got us there in time, and... er..." he nervously scratched the back of his neck as she smiled at him.
"She's in her room. Right down that way," she pointed to a room down the hallway. Chad smiled back, stepping inside and walking towards the room. He took his time on the way there, surveying his surroundings. It all seemed like a pretty normal home. The only thing that really stood out to him was a DVD set of the first season of Mackenzie Falls, neatly sandwiched between a few other movies on a shelf.
That, and a picture of her hugging a man that he assumed to be her father. He felt slightly guilty as he replayed what he'd said to her in the cafeteria a few weeks ago in his head. He shook it off as he stopped at Sonny's door. He grasped the doorknob, but stopped when he heard music from the other side of the door. He wrinkled his nose as he recognized the artist as Demi Lovato.
He slowly opened the door and poked his head inside, surprised to see her stereo turned off. He glanced over at her and was even more surprised to see her strumming on a guitar. He stood quietly staring at her as he listened in to the lyrics she was singing.
"Until you're mine, I had to find a way to fill this hole inside, I can't survive without you here by my side..."
Chad's heart skipped a beat as he listened to her sing quietly along with her guitar-playing. He smiled a bit when he thought of the possibility that she was thinking of him while she was playing.
"Until you're mine, not gonna be even close to complete, I won't rest until you're mine..."
Then the thought occurred to him. What if she wasn't thinking about him. What if she was thinking about this jerk that was apparently sending her notes?
Chad was broken from his thoughts when he heard a soft gasp and the music abruptly stopped. He looked down to see Sonny staring wide-eyed up at him. Chad continued staring back awkwardly before looking away several seconds later.
"S-Sorry Sonny, I-I didn't mean to--"
"It's fine," Sonny interrupted, placing the guitar down next to her. Chad tried to keep his jaw from dropping as he took in her appearance. Everything from the pink flower in her perfectly curled hair, down to the light blue dress that hugged her hips, down to her high heels. He tried to shake off his gawking, not noticing that Sonny was gawking right back at him. He swallowed nervously and put on his best smirk. He was an actor, after all.
"I didn't know you played guitar."
Sonny's cheeks turned bright red as she folded her hands in her lap and looked down at the floor. Chad smirked again, sitting next to her and lifting the guitar into his lap. "I play a little guitar myself, you know." He held the guitar in his hands, ready to try a technique that worked on every single girl before Sonny.
She smiled expectantly up at him as he started strumming.
"You're the voice I hear inside my head, the reason that I'm singing, I need to find you..."
Sonny laughed, putting her hand out and placing it over the strings, stopping him.
"Sorry Chad, you're not gonna impress me with that Camp Rock stuff. Only Joe Jonas could pull that off."
Chad frowned. "Come on, every girl likes Camp Rock, it's the only reason I know that stupid song. You think I know these things because I want to?"
Sonny giggled again, liking the effect this was having on him. Obviously, he'd never hit this roadblock before. "Eh, I'm more of a Zac Efron fan, to be honest."
Chad laughed back, finally picking up that she was messing around with him. He smiled as he stood up, extending his hand to her.
"Come on Sunshine, we're gonna be late."
---
Sonny smiled awkwardly as she shifted her weight from foot to foot, keeping her hand in a death grip with Chad's while he chatted away with someone she didn't recognize. It seemed he knew every last person here, while she only recognized her own cast and a few of the Mackenzie Falls actors.
She was grateful that Chad at least stayed by her side the entire time. Unfortunately, she had no idea what to do but stand there awkwardly while people spoke to him.
While Chad got particularly involved (or at least pretended to be) in a conversation with a boy she'd never seen before, she stared blankly ahead, focusing on and swaying her hips gently to the music. She found her mind wandering and soon began daydreaming while she waited. She shook her head as thoughts of the journal came flooding to her mind. She shook her head slightly, as though willing the thoughts to fall out of her head. It wasn't fair to Chad for her to be thinking about the boy in the journal. Not tonight, anyway.
Sonny was broken from her daydream when Chad gently squeezed her hand and turned to face her.
"Sorry about that, Sunshine. I-I know I'm not really paying attention to you, b-but--"
Sonny waved his apology off. "Don't worry about it. I'm fine."
Chad made a face before the next song started up. A slow song, he realized, much to his satisfaction. "Wanna dance?" he asked, holding his hand out to her. Sonny smiled and took his hand, giggling when he wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her close to him. He slowly began dancing with her when he noticed her expression soften.
"W-What's wrong?"
Sonny shrugged. "'Catch Me'? Seriously? I just find it funny that Demi seems to be following us around." She smiled a bit when he chuckled lightly at this, but couldn't help feeling uneasy. When she'd been playing the song in her room earlier, she had been playing it with the boy in the journal in mind... Was it really just a coincidence that this was happening now with Chad?
Sonny shook the thought off again, realizing she was thinking about the journal again. This was Chad's night, and she was not going to think about that boy...
She sighed slightly, getting a bit more comfortable. She had to admit, she felt safer than she had in a long time with him. The feeling of his strong arms wrapped around her waist and back was something she could definitely get used to. Getting a little more relaxed, she laid her head down on his chest, pleased when he didn't react. (Save from him tensing up a bit; she imagined he was nervous.)
Once the song finally ended, Chad slowly led them to a stop and placed a soft kiss on top of her head. Sonny felt goosebumps forming on her skin as her heart pounded in her chest. She kept her head on his chest before he eventually spoke up again.
"So... W-What would you like to do now?"
Sonny sighed slightly, not wanting to move from her spot. The feel of him holding onto her and her head resting gently on his shoulder... It all felt so right. She kept quiet, worried that if she answered, somehow the moment would end. Chad sighed, obviously taking this the wrong way.
"I'm sorry Sonny... I know this has been kind of boring--"
"No!" Sonny interrupted, mentally smacking herself for letting that come out so loud. "N-No, that's not it at all..." Chad grimaced slightly, looking down at her, attempting to read what she might be thinking. He studied her eyes as they glanced around the room at all the people. He then figured he had a fair idea...
"...You wanna go somewhere to be alone for a little bit?" He twitched his mouth nervously when he realized that came out wrong. "N-Nothing like that, I just meant... I thought maybe you'd wanna get away from all the eyes for a little bit--"
Sonny thought about it as Chad continued fumbling over his words. She wasn't exactly sure why, but she liked the idea. She didn't exactly like having so many people around seeing them together, and a little alone time with Chad didn't seem absolutely horrible, to be completely honest.
Chad beamed down at her when she smiled and nodded shyly. He gently took her hand and led her outside into the studio hallway.
