Sorry that I haven't updated in a while, but thanks for being patient and I hope you enjoy!


It's been a few days since my huge fight with Chad, and I have tried to steer clear of him. He seems to be more angry at me than I have ever seen, even when we were "enemies" before we started dating. However, tonight is a big night at The Patio, with many music performances throughout the night, and they're introducing a lot of new drinks at the bar. I can imagine that Mel will be pretty busy. The whole gang is going, and I'm sure Chad and Olivia will be there as well, since The Patio has become a common hangout for people who work at Condor Studios on Saturday nights.

Tawni and I are currently getting ready in her bathroom. I have decided to lightly curl my dark brown hair and do some smokey eye makeup with a pale lip. Tawni, on the other hand, is having somewhat of a breakdown.

"My hair looks like a rat's nest!" she exclaims.

I roll my eyes at her. "Tawni, your hair looks the same as it always does. Plus, if you're so worried about it, don't be. The place will be dark anyway so no one will even notice."

Tawni stops putting on her lipstick and stares at me as if I were a fool. "Sonny, that is not the mindset that you have when going out on a Saturday night. Guys will be there!"

I roll my eyes, setting down my mascara. "I could care less about that. I'm just going out to support Mel. I'd rather just go to the studio and work on music."

"Well, maybe tonight will give you some inspiration for music," Tawni says. "You can't get too much inspiration being couped up in a studio 24/7."

She does have a point. I take my phone out of my back pocket and look at the time. Music performances start at 8 and it's 7:45. I'm not sure what time Mel goes on, but I want to be there for when she does.

"We need to hurry," I tell Tawni urgently as she continues to mess around with her hair.

"Sonny, I can feel my hair expanding already!" she exclaims, applying some anti-frizz cream.

"Then why don't you just pull it back in a ponytail?" I suggest.

She turns to me and shouts, "A ponytail?!"


We finally arrive at The Patio at 8:30. I'm shocked we made it this early. I can hear the music from outside. We walk in, and I see Grady and Nico sitting at the bar, with no Mel in sight. I worry that she's gone on already. I hurry over to them to ask.

"No, she's out serving drinks. She goes on later in the night."

I let out a sigh of relief and order a drink.

"A Manhattan please," I tell that tall, dark haired bartender. He turns around, and I'm surprised to see the face of James Conroy. "James? What are you doing here?"

"Mel needed some help," he says with a shrug, placing his hands on the bar. "Plus, it's widely known that I make the best drinks in Hollywood. Can I interest you in a Conroy?"

"What's that?" I ask, raising an eyebrow. I look over to Grady and Nico to see if they know what he's talking about, and they vigorously shake their heads, only to smile and nod when James focuses his attention on them.

"Just give it a shot," he says. I hesitate, but oblige him. He presents me with a blue drink, and I wearily take it in my hands. He smiles at me, eager for me to try it and I send him a forced smile. I look at the drink before taking a sip. It's absolutely horrible, but I try to muster as big of a smile as I can and give him a nod. He seems to buy it.

"Maybe you should try a Tawni Hart," Tawni says with a smirk. James looks over at her, licking his lips, and asks, "And what's that?"

"Simple," she says with a confident shrug. "Mix your spiciest drink with your most popular. A Tawni Hart."

James smirks at her, grabs two drinks, and mixes them together into two shot glasses. He picks one up himself, and she picks up the other. They both try it, downing it in one swift gulp. James wipes his mouth and sets the shot glass down on the bar.

"Better than I expected," he says, looking into Tawni's eyes. "Fitting."

Their eyes linger on each other a little too long, and Nico, Grady, and I exchange looks. I'll have to ask Tawni about this later. All I can do now is smirk at her. Tawni usually doesn't even try with guys. Instead, she shrugs them off, but she seems to be paying quite a bit of attention to James.

"Well, I'm going to go look for Mel," I say, breaking the silence, although Tawni and James are still looking straight into each others eyes.

"Alright, alright, alright," I hear over the speakers and I look up on the stage to see Mel speaking. "Everyone give it up for that last act. Wasn't she great?!"

Everyone cheers. She was pretty good, although a little bland for my taste. She didn't have a lot of emotion to her.

"I just want to thank everyone for coming out tonight and to show our appreciation, we're going to have a little karaoke contest and whoever the crowd likes best gets free drinks for the rest of the night!" The crowd cheers and Mel grins. The contest was Grady's brilliant idea. "So whoever wants to sing, come over here and sign up and the contest will start at nine."

"Hey, Sonny, why don't you sing? You'd totally win," Nico suggests.

"Nah," I say, shaking my head. "I'm just here to relax and observe. I am going to go see Mel though. I'll see you guys later."

I walk off, making my way through the sea of people and up towards the stage when I see Chad with a drink in his hand. I sigh and fish in my purse for a check before heading over to him.

"Here," I say, holding the check out to him.

He looks down at it, swallowing his drink and pulling it away from his lips. "What's that?"

"Rent. Sorry I didn't give it to you sooner," I reply in a dull tone, not wanting to have much of a conversation with him.

He shakes his head. "I'm not taking that."

"Fine," I say, putting it back in my purse. "I'll mail it."

And with that, I walk off and over to Mel. She spots me and walks over, meeting me in the middle.

"Hey! Thanks for coming!" she exclaims.

"I'm glad I could! You ready for that karaoke contest?" I ask with a grin, excited for it myself.

"Let's hope the winner is someone who isn't much of a drinker," she says with a laugh. "Are you going to do it?"

I shake my head, "Nah. I think I'm just going to be part of the audience this time."

"Alright, if you say so," she says with a shrug. "I'd better get back and see how James is doing. Oh, and if you go to the bar, whatever you do, don't try a Conroy."

"Too late," I say with a disgusted face. "It's a good thing he's good looking, otherwise that bar would be barren."

She laughs in agreement before walking off.

Just as she walks off, Olivia and Chad walk up, the former looking angry and the latter looking nervous.

"Hey, Sonny, remember when you said that you didn't like me?" she asks. Before I have time to respond, she says, "Well, I don't like you either." She looks up at Chad and says, in a satisfied tone, "There, I said something to her."

She stalks off and I've never wanted to punch someone as much as I do right now. I look at Chad, shaking my head. He looks at if he wants to say something, but he holds his tongue and follows her.

The karaoke contest starts soon, and I decide to take a seat on one of the couches. Suddenly, an idea hits me. Maybe I can find someone here at the karaoke contest to help with my label. An singer, a song-writer, a musician. Anybody. I'm excited to listen to the performances. I surely can find artist to sign or a songwriter to help bounce ideas off of.


Well, that was pointless. The singers were fine, but nothing spectacular. Why is it so hard to find someone for my label? This idea was horrible, and it's all Olivia and Chad's fault. I stand up and head over to the bar to find Tawni and James chatting once again.

"Well, maybe that movie of yours needs a little more inspiration from Tawni Hart," she says.

"Well, maybe the director needs a little more inspiration from Tawni Hart," he retorts.

What in the world is going on?!

I decide to interrupt. "Hey, Tawni, can I talk to you real quick?" I ask.

She turns to me and says, "Sure." She then turns back to James. "I was getting bored anyways."

He only smirks at her, as we walk off.

"What is that about?" I ask once we get to a more secluded place. "Are you and James..."

"Oh, gosh no!" she exclaims, although I'm not quite sure I believe her. "No, we are just working together on that movie. He treats everyone like that."

"Not me," I say in a sing-song voice with a knowing look on my face.

"Sonny, nothing is going on!" she says with a wide grin, giggling a little at my accusation.

"Oh my gosh. You like him!" I exclaim, pointing a finger at her.

She grabs my finger and shoves it down. "Oh, be quiet. Anyways, I saw you talking to Olivia earlier. How'd that go?"

"Well, she walked over to tell me that she didn't like me and then walked off," I say, running a hand through my hair. "I honestly don't know what she still has against me. I'm not even after Chad!"

"Mmhmm," she says, eyeing me.

"I'm not!" I exclaim.

"If you say so..." she says in sing-song voice.

"I'm not!" I repeat, getting angry with that false assumption that everyone holds. "And for the record," I say, pointing a finger at her, "you flirt exactly like your mom!"

She gasps, obviously offended, as I walk off, over to a table with Nico and Grady sitting at it.

I take a seat, starting to say something, but Grady shushs me and points up to the stage.

"Hey, guys. I'm Mel and tonight, I'm going to be singing an original song I wrote a few years ago. I hope you like it," rings Mel's voice over the speaker once again.

She starts to strum her guitar, and her voice fills the room. Her voice is so beautiful, powerful yet gentle. Her lyrics are just as gorgeous, and I watch everyone watch her, enthralled by her performance and suddenly it dawns on me. Why haven't I asked Mel to join my label? She's the perfect fit. She's talented, we're already friends, and she's at the studio a lot already because of Grady. It's perfect!

She finishes her song, and I'm so excited with my idea that I rush over to the stage to tell her, but before I reach the stage, I hear Olivia and Chad talking, seeming to be in some sort of an argument. Unable to help myself, I hide behind a corner and listen as closely as I can.

"Look at me!" she exclaims. I peer over and see that she's grabbing her hair. "Look at my hair!"

He puts his hand on her waist, "What are you talking about? Your hair looks great."

She runs a hand through her freshly cut hair. "Of course you think so. It's Sonny's length. I'm single white female."

"No, you're not," he says, shaking his head.

"I'm not blaming you. I'm blaming me. Ever since Sonny came back to Hollywood, I've been acting insane. I'm neurotic, insecure, jealous, paranoid. And that is not who I am."

"I know that."

"But it's who I've become. I'm not stupid or blind. I know that Sonny is the reason that you're writing that script, alright?"

What script?

"You can deny it all you want, but I know it's the truth. And I am not going to be a footnote in the Sonny and Chad love story."

She starts to walk off, but he grabs her by the arm. "Look, Olivia, you don't need to be so paranoid about this, alright?"

"Chad, you snuck out to see her a few nights ago!" she exclaims.

"That meant nothing," he says desperately.

"Oh really?" she asks. "Cause right now, it seems like it meant something. I'm the one who moved here for you, and I am not wasting my time here. So you need to figure out what you want."

He sighs, putting his hands on her shoulders and looking her in the eyes. "I want you."

She shakes her head. "And I want you to stop being in love with Sonny...but I guess we're both screwed."

And with that, she walks off.

I can't believe what I just heard. Is Olivia right? Is Chad still in love with me? Everything he has done and said has led me to believe that he's not and yet when I'm around him, I feel like he feels exactly what I feel as well. But then again, maybe I'm just fooling myself. If Chad really wasn't in love with Olivia, he wouldn't be with her. But then again...

Before I have time to think more on the confusing subject, I hear Mel's voice.

"Why are you hiding behind a wall?" she asks in a confused tone.

I quickly jerk my head over towards her and try and think of a reason. "Um, just making sure the wall is sound." I say, tapping on the wall. "Seems good to me."

She laughs at me and I'm happy that I got her off track. "Anyways, I wanted to talk to you about something. Do you have a private place we can talk?"

"Yeah, sure. Come into the back," she says. She leads me to a back room that looks like another lounge.

"We're not quite done with this place yet so it's not open to everybody, but it will be soon," she explains. I nod, surveying the room. There's a pool table and some couches and chairs. The room isn't very big, but it is a nice getaway from the bar and everything.

"Anyways, what did you want to talk to me about?" she asks.

"Well, what do you think about joining my label?" I ask, putting on a wide grin, hoping that will sell the idea even more. Naive, I know.

"What?" she asks, obviously taken aback by the idea.

"I know that it's kind of a surprise, but I saw you onstage and I don't know why I didn't think of it sooner. You're such a great singer and songwriter and musician. And I really need help with my album, and I was thinking maybe you could help me out. And if you wanted, we could even record your own songs for your own album," I suggest.

"Are you serious?" she asks excitedly. "You want me to help you make an album? That has to be the coolest offer I've ever received. Heck yeah, I'm in!"

I'm unable to contain my grin. "Thank you, thank you, thank you!" I exclaim, hugging her tightly.

"No, thank you! This is such a great opportunity for me. I'm so excited. I've gotta go tell Grady!" she exclaims. "You wanna come?"

"Actually, I think I'll just hang out in here if it's okay with you," I say, wanting some alone time.

"Yeah, sure," she nods, a smile still on her face. She runs off and out the door. I take a seat on the couch and my mind attempts to drift back to Olivia and Chad's conversation. But I don't allow it. I'm sick of all of this, having to try and decipher everyone's feelings. I'm done with it. I just want peace and quiet. However, that doesn't come because I hear footsteps, I turn around to see Chad walking towards me.

"Ugh," I groan, turning back around, not wanting to look at him and deal with him. "Ya know what, I'll just rip up the check. I can move spaces anyway."

"Let me ask you something: do you have an alarm in your head that goes off when I'm happy with someone else?" he asks. His tone is angry, which I didn't expect. He must still be upset from his conversation with Olivia. "What do you want from me?!" he shouts in frustration. It makes me turn towards him quickly, shocked by his outburst. "I fly to New York. I ask you to marry me. You said no so I moved on." He shakes his head and lowers his voice. "Why can't you?"

I stand up. It's now or never. I have to be honest with him.

"Because I should have said yes," I tell him. "Chad...I was young, and I was scared. And I did not realize that by saying that I wasn't ready that we would never be together. Had I known that, I would have said yes."

He just shakes his head at me. This is obviously not the answer he wanted to hear, and it is certainly making his life more complicated, but I have to be honest. "Sonny," he begins, attempting to stop me.

"No, Chad, I miss you everyday," I continue desperately. "And I have told everyone here that I didn't come back for you, but I did. Of course, I did." I pause, trying to gauge a reaction, but his jaw is clenched and his facial features stern. "I still love you, Chad."

He shakes his head, and I can see the turmoil in his eyes. "Sonny, I-"

I cut him off, grabbing his by the face and pulling his in for a kiss. It lasts for a couple seconds before he pulls away, not daring to look in my eyes. He just shakes his head. He starts to say something, but the moment he looks into my eyes, both he and I know that he's a goner. He grabs me by the arms and pulls me in for another kiss, deeper and more passionate than the last one. It lasts a much longer time, and everything is right in the world. This is what I have been waiting for all these years.

I'm the one to pull away after quite some time, a soft smile on my lips. "You still don't me, don't you?" I ask in almost a whisper.

He lets out a sigh and gulps before saying, "I have to go see Olivia."

His response confuses me to no end, and I am left with a blank stare on my face. I don't respond because I have absolutely no idea what to say. He turns away and walks off.

It takes me a few minutes to regain my thoughts before I head out into the bar area. I see Tawni sitting at the bar and I take a seat beside her.

"I came back for Chad," I admit.

"Well, duh," she laughs. "You've had your I'm-in-love-with-Chad face on since I saw you at my house when you came back."

"What I'm-in-love-with-Chad face?" I ask with a slight laugh.

"The only face you've got," she tells me with a grin.

I smile before shaking my head, "Well, it doesn't even matter now because he's with Olivia."

"Girlfriend," she says, as if she's about to spill some cold, hard truth, "Olivia doesn't stand a chance. Trust me. Nobody wants to get in between a Sonny and Chad love story. It's not a good place to be because they're going to lose."

"Well, the place I'm at isn't so great either," I say.

"Are you kidding?" she asks. "You're Sonny Monroe. This is the guy who made a billboard about how much he loves you." I try to hide a smile, but I can't.

"Do you think he still does?" I look at her, scared for the answer.

She looks at me for a few seconds before deciding on an answer. "It has always been Sonny and Chad. You guys are meant to be together. It's the way it's supposed to be. So go and get your man," she says, which makes me laugh, "and this time, if he proposes, please say yes."

I give her a hug. This is why she's my best friend.

"Okay," I nod.

She gives me an encouraging grin and I walk off, ready to go get the man I'm in love with.


I arrive at Chad's apartment and knock on the door. I'm shaking, not because of the cold, but because I have never been so excited yet nervous about someone in my life. It's more nerve-wracking than our first date because I'm already head over heels in love right now. The door opens and in front of me is the tear stained face of Olivia, and suddenly it hits me.

He broke up with her. That's why he had to go see her. And suddenly, I feel terrible for being so mean to her. Sure, she's deserved it a few times, but I was really just taking out all my frustration on her when it was really frustration with myself.

"Olivia, I'm sorry," I say, unable to control myself. I feel guilty for stealing her man, though I don't regret it for a single second. "I didn't mean to-"

She holds her left hand up and smiles through her tears, "Chad asked me to marry him."

And all I can see is a familiar diamond ring on Olivia's finger.


1. I made this chapter long to try and make up for being gone for so long so I hope you enjoyed this length! And

2. Please don't hate me!

But really, I am DYING to know everyone's thoughts so pretty pretty please comment and let me know what you're thinking. Whatcha think about Mel joining Sonny's label? And what about Tawni and James? And of course, Chad's surprises proposal? Let me know in the comments and I'll try and update soon!