WOW!
So I was expecting you guys to hit around one-hundred forty reviews or thereabouts and you hit one-hundred sixty! I was incredibly impressed by ya'll! And I know that I promised you guys a double update when you hit one-hundred fifty, so…
Without (much) further ado, I, EmbracingRain, present to you, my faithful, deserving readers…
PART ONE OF THE DOUBLE UPDATE.
Welcome to Arc Three! Once again, we've got an updated summary to go with the new storyline. Speaking of the new storyline, it should turn out to be pretty cute. When it's not fraught with miscommunication and stress that is… There's gonna be some fun moments with Nico, Sonny, and Grady that will bring them closer together; and Chad and Sonny will have some ups and downs that will be the make or break of their relationship…especially as Chad prepares to make a big step.
Enjoy!
Summary: The stability of Chad and Sonny's relationship begins to waver as they face major decisions, and Chad worries about what will happen if Sonny leaves him behind.
Disclaimer: Me no own, you no sue. (Anything you recognize is not mine. Anything you don't recognize probably is mine. Probably.)
Four Seasons
By EmbracingRain
Arc Three
Autumn
Chapter Seven
September 27th
11:57 a.m.
Condor Studios
So Random! Set
Sonny and Tawni's Dressing Room
Chad barged into Sonny's dressing room sometime around noon, hungry and prepared to take Sonny to lunch in the commissary. He'd hardly seen Sonny around the studio or outside of it in the past three weeks. She'd just started online classes and their film and rehearsal schedules were completely at odds this month. Chad was kind of starting to feel like he didn't have a girlfriend at all. In fact, he knew he'd really feel like he didn't have a girlfriend if he and Sonny weren't on the phone every night. He knew their schedules at the studio couldn't be helped, but Sonny had become totally absorbed in her classes. It was a little more than obnoxious.
But no sooner had he stepped into the room than someone blonde and decked out in a neon pink tracksuit tackled him back out the door.
"What the-?" Chad spluttered, catching his balance. He yanked his shirt back into place, angrily glaring at Tawni. "What the hell, Tawni!"
"You're not allowed in our dressing room today," Tawni said with a snaky smile. She set about filing her nails as she stood guard at the door.
"Says who?"
"Says Sonny."
"I seriously doubt that."
"Pft! Okay. Don't believe me," Tawni scoffed.
"I won't!" Chad declared loudly, moving to push the female blond out of his way.
"Eww! Don't touch me!" she shrieked, slapping his hands off her arm.
The door flew open to reveal a very peeved Sonny. She stood there in the doorway, her arms crossed over her chest, one high heel clad foot tapping out an impatient beat against the floor. The look on her face gave Tawni cause to make an attempt at looking remorseful and Chad to cow under the angry heat of her gaze.
"What's going on out here?"
Tawni pointed a manicured finger at Chad, effectively pinning the blame on him. Chad pointed back in vain. The Blame Game had been actively played and won by one Tawni Hart. Chad was just the unsuspecting and unwilling victim. Sonny was now looking at him like he had killed someone.
"Can you please take your fight elsewhere?" she asked tersely. "I don't have time for crap today. I've got more important things to do and not enough time to do them as it is."
"What about lunch?" Chad interjected before his girlfriend could slam the door in their faces. He asked rather rudely, but he couldn't take back the tone of his voice now…
"I don't have time for food!" Sonny said like it was the most obvious answer on the face of the planet. "I've got a timed test due in half an hour and I'm not even halfway done yet!" With that being said, she finally did what Chad had been dreading and slammed the door in a huffy rage.
"What the hell was that?" Chad spluttered to no one in general.
"She's obsessed with her online classes," Tawni said in a conspiratorial whisper, even though she knew the other blond hadn't really been asking her for an explanation of Sonny's behavior. "She's totally slacking off on the show, too! She takes all the smallest roles and yet she never has her lines memorized."
Chad frowned deeply. "That doesn't sound like Sonny," he said skeptically as the two actors began walking away from the dressing room door.
"That's what I'm trying to tell you! It's like she's been bitten by some…by some…educational zombie or something!"
"Okay, you girls officially need to stop hanging out with Grady and Nico so much. I think all those zombie apocalypse games and movies they're obsessed with have gotten to you too. You're not even being rational!"
"Pfft! Yeah right!" Tawni scoffed. "I'm perfectly rational, thank you very much."
"Look," Chad said as they entered the commissary and began their short wait in line for the very nearly inedible food, "I'm sure there's a logical explanation for her…" Chad didn't quite know what word went with Sonny right now, so he just kind of waved his hands around in the air and made a face to symbolize her weird attitude.
"There better be." Tawni ignored his idiocy, too absorbed in herself to care. "Marshall's getting pretty mad. I'm not complaining that she's taken the smaller roles - that just means there's more of the good ones for me - but she could at least memorize her lines. She's bringing down the rest of the cast with her."
The line moved up and each teen grabbed a tray before trying to find something to eat that wasn't spit in or burned to a crisp.
"So what are we supposed to do?" Chad asked almost rhetorically. "Stage an intervention? Because I highly doubt Sonny would appreciate all of us trying to stop her from getting an education and bettering herself. Remember how badly she freaked out when I accidentally said college is for ugly people?" He plucked both an apple and a banana from their respective baskets, shuddering at the remembrance of Sonny's harsh reprimand. Shaking his head at the thought, Chad paid for his meal and sat down at a table, hardly registering when Tawni joined him a moment later.
"What do we say then?" Tawni mused aloud, drumming her fingertips against the Formica tabletop and stirring her soup absentmindedly. "Something, obviously. But…what?"
"I don't know," Chad admitted. "But whatever we decide to say, we'd better say it soon. I haven't seen her in weeks."
Tawni snorted indelicately. "Like I care about that. I just want Marshall to quit yelling. All the stress from it is bad for my skin!"
It dawned on the two actors at that precise moment that they were sitting at the same table, eating, and commiserating, which was an odd situation for them to be in for neither liked the other. There was a full minute of strained, shocked silence as Chad and Tawni stared at each other, stunned azure eyes meeting stunned azure eyes.
"Why are we sitting together?" Tawni finally demanded. She sounded more than vaguely affronted.
"Hell if I know!" Chad said defensively.
Tawni glowered at him darkly. "Leave!"
"I was here first! You leave!"
"It's not polite to make a lady surrender her seat after she's already sat, Chad."
"Lady?" Chad barked basely. "Don't make me laugh. And who said anything about me being polite?"
They sat there, too angry to eat and too stubborn to move. The blond rivals were at a stalemate and neither was willing to throw in the towel. Instead, they each stood (or rather sat) their ground as their food grew cold until the arrival of Nico, Chloe, and Grady, all of whom did a comical double take upon seeing Chad and Tawni at the same table.
"What's goin' on here?" Nico asked suspiciously.
"Chad won't leave!" Tawni screeched.
"I was here first!" Chad bellowed in retaliation.
"Where's Sonny when you need her?" Grady commented to Chloe under his breath.
"Oh, God. I know, right?" Chloe said, echoing his sentiments exactly, right down to her tone of voice. "Seriously…"
"She's working on another timed test!" Chad and Tawni reported in the same irritated manner at the exact same time. They shot daggers at one another across the table with their eyes. "Would you shut up?" both demanded, once again in perfect sync.
"Another test?" Chloe piped up incredulously. "Isn't that, like, the third this week alone?"
Chad grumbled something unintelligible that the others took for an affirmative answer then began picking at the stem of his apple. The look on his face was formidable, and the way he was plucking at the apple's stem made him seem like he was hell-bent on revenge. Nobody dared to speak to him as the new arrivals joined him and Tawni at the table.
"I just don't get it," Nico said with a shake of his head. "I mean, I'm proud of Sonny-girl and all for furtherin' her education, but she's just…not herself."
"I know what you mean," Grady said. "Yesterday I asked her if she wanted to run lines, and she said no. Usually she's all gung-ho and running off to get her script."
"All Marshall does is yell," Tawni put it, "because she's not making the effort."
"I haven't seen her really," Chloe said. "Maybe once. And she looked so frazzled that I didn't even bother talking to her."
"Don't even bother tryin'," Nico told her. "It's like talkin' to a brick wall. She's totally oblivious to what's goin' on around her."
"But it doesn't seem fair to any one of us to just let Sonny carry on like this."
Tawni nodded, dragging her spoon through what was left of her soup. "Even Chad said we should say something to her, didn't you?" But when she looked to Chad for an answer, he was gone, his sparse tray of food the only evidence that he had even been in the commissary at all.
September 27th
12:27 p.m.
Condor Studios
So Random! Set
Sonny and Tawni's Dressing Room
Sonny happily clicked the 'done' button on her online test, turning it in just three minutes ahead of time. She cracked her knuckles and moved on to her next project: reading for her English class. She'd just clicked the link for the online version of the story when somebody yanked her laptop out of her hands.
"Hey!" Sonny looked up to see Chad towering over her, the laptop in his hands.
"We need to talk."
"Gimme back my computer, Chad," she said, standing up and holding out her hands.
"No," Chad said with a dark scowl.
"Yes!" Sonny lunged for the laptop, but Chad raised it above his head, high out of her reach. She jumped for it anyway. "Give it!"
"Sit down," Chad commanded. "We need to talk."
"I have to read a story for my English class!"
"No, you need a reality check."
"What are you even talking about?" She jumped again, still failing to rescue her precious piece of technology from her boyfriend's grasp. Damn Chad for being so much taller than her!
"What the hell happened to you, Sonny?" Chad asked. "I haven't seen you in weeks. I don't even feel like I have a girlfriend anymore!"
"What-"
"And now I hear that you're slacking off on the show and that you've been getting in trouble with Marshall? Tawni says you never have your lines memorized. Chloe's afraid to talk to you! And Nico and Grady are just as frustrated with you as the rest of us!" Chad was vaguely aware that his voice had steadily been rising as he spoke and that Sonny was now gaping at him like a fish out of water. He plowed on.
"You're completely absorbed in these stupid online classes you're taking, Sonny! Before you started them, you told me you'd still find time for us. Well, guess what? We haven't seen each other for longer than, like, five minutes in three weeks. In between your busy schedule of taking tests, studying, not memorizing your scripts, and not seeing me you've completely blocked out not only me, but your friends as well!"
Sonny stared at him for a moment or two before saying, "You're completely blowing this out of proportion, Chad."
"Am I, Sonny? Am I really? Because I'm pretty sure if you talked to any one of your friends, they'd agree with me. Hell, I'm sure Marshall would even agree!" Chad set the laptop aside, but Sonny made no attempt to snatch it back.
"So, what? Are you breaking up with me or something?"
"Why the hell would I break up with you?" Chad bellowed, throwing his hands in the air. "I'm so fucking in love with you I can't even see straight sometimes, Munroe! All I'm saying is that you need to remember what's important. I mean, if Tawni's complaining about you slacking off, then you know it's bad. You've got your priorities so bass ackwards that I don't even know how you function!" He growled and kicked the leg of a side table to release some of his frustration.
"Those classes are important to me."
"And what about me, So Random!, and your friends? Huh? Aren't we important to you?"
"Well, yeah-"
"Then act like it, damn it! I'm tired of not seeing you. I'm tired of having you be distracted every time I talk to you on the phone. I'm tired of having Tawni kick me out of the room whenever I stop by! Do you have any idea how frustrated all of us are with you? You're not yourself!"
"I just want to do well in my classes!"
"And that's fantastic, but maybe you should take a break every now and then. The universe isn't going to explode because you get a B on a quiz or something!"
"Chad…"
"We all care about you, Sonny. We all want to see you do well," Chad told her quietly, making a valiant attempt at calming down. "But when you've got all of us sitting around a table, not eating lunch, and trying to think of what to say to you to bring you back to Earth, that's when you know you've been neglecting us. Because I do not eat lunch with Tawni Hart by choice."
"I-I'm sorry," Sonny said softly, sitting down on a chair. "I had no idea you guys were so upset."
"Yeah, well, I guess that just goes to show you that you should open your eyes every now and then."
"I guess I did get a little…caught up in my classes. I could do more work at home, spend more time memorizing my lines. I have been slacking off with those… Marshall got really mad the other day."
"And what about me?" Chad prompted.
Sonny wrinkled her nose. "I don't know if I wanna spend time with you," she teased. "You're kinda mean. And you yell and kick things."
Chad chuckled. "I'm sorry, Sunshine." He pulled her out of the chair and into his arms. She returned the hug with a gentle squeeze.
"I love you, Chad."
"I love you, too, Sunshine," he replied, kissing the crown of her head. "Sorry I yelled."
"It's alright. I kinda needed it."
"I'll say."
The door on Tawni's side of the room slammed open and Tawni herself marched into the room, followed closely by Grady, Nico, and Chloe. The three Randoms looked upset; Chloe just looked a little amused. She and Nico were holding hands.
"We need to talk to you," Tawni hissed, stomping her foot on the floor.
"I already did," Chad cut in, holding Sonny a little tighter.
"You did?"
"Yep. And Sonny promised to take more time for all of us and the show."
"You did?"
Sonny nodded and stepped away from Chad. "I did. I'm really sorry, you guys. I had no idea I was being so stupid. The classes just kind of…consumed me, I guess. But I'm done being so oblivious. I will definitely have my lines memorized in time for rehearsals and I promise not to be such a monster to you."
"Does this mean I have to split the big parts with you again?" Tawni whined.
"Yes."
"Aww, man! Can I still kick Chad out of the room whenever he comes by?"
"No."
"Ugh! You're just a fun sucker! You suck the fun out of life!" Tawni stomped over to her vanity and sat down in front of it, pouting.
"Are we cool?" Sonny asked, turning back to the other three.
Grady and Nico both grumbled their assent with reluctant smiles, and Chloe said, "Hey, I never really had a problem with you."
"Really? 'Cause Chad said you were afraid to talk to me."
"Well… Maybe a little. You just had this look on your face when I saw you, and I thought you might snap at me if I said anything, so…"
"I may have exaggerated a tiny bit…" Chad said, sheepishly scratching the back of his head.
"Yeah, you're good at that," Chloe said to him. "I mean, you really tend to blow things out of proportion sometimes."
"I told you," Sonny whispered, jabbing Chad in the side with her elbow affectionately. "Do you still want to run lines, Grady?"
"Sure. I'll meet you onstage in five minutes. I just gotta get my script." Grady hurried out of the room, Nico and Chloe following in his wake, still holding hands.
"They're cute together," Sonny said thoughtfully to Chad as the other couple left the room. "I think we started a revolution when we started going out. It's like we created peace between our shows!" She leaned up and gave him a leisurely kiss before snatching up her script and heading toward the door. "I'll see you later."
"You fun sucking, wet blanket!" Tawni hollered as the door shut.
Chad let out a low whistle. "You seriously need to learn how to be nice to people, Blondie."
"Has it ever occurred to you somewhere in the shallow depths of your pea brain that you're just as blond as I am?" Tawni snapped. "Calling me that just makes you a hypocrite."
"Yeah, but I'm CDC. I'm allowed to be a filthy hypocrite and I'm impervious to name calling," Chad said, shrugging. He left the room with a smile on his face. He finally had his Sunshine back.
September 28th
11:02 a.m.
Condor Studios
Marshall Pike's Office
Sonny knocked on the open office door and poked her head into the room, balancing a platter of warm cookies on one hand. Marshall spun around in his chair, his lips turning down in a frown when he saw who was at his door.
"Sonny."
"Hi, Marshall," the brunette actress said meekly, stepping into the room. "I just wanted to bring these by." She set the tray of cookies on his desk and he looked from them to her in confusion.
"By any chance, do they have your lines memorized?"
"No," Sonny said. "But I do. And I wanted to apologize to you for these past few weeks. I got really caught up in the online classes I'm taking and I wound up getting really out of line. But Chad sat me down and talked to me. He helped me see reason and I'm ready to shoulder any of the consequences for my actions." She stood there, pleating the fabric of her shirt between her fingers nervously. Marshall stared at the cookies and rubbed the top of his balding head.
"Do you realize how close we were to Tawni Town?" he asked, looking up at Sonny with his watery eyes. "I don't want to live in Tawni Town, Sonny. I don't even want to get that close to it again. Do you hear me?"
"Yes, sir. Loud and clear. I need to buck up and start doing better on the show."
"That's right." Marshall sighed. "I'm not going to punish you, Sonny. There's no point."
"There isn't?" Sonny asked, confused.
"Of course not! Why would I make you miserable for trying to get a higher education? That's just absurd! You're doing good things for yourself and you should keep doing them. But if you keep slacking off around here, I'm going to have to do something about it. We don't want Mr. Condor getting involved."
Both Sonny and Marshall gave an involuntary shudder at the thought.
"You say Chad talked to you?"
"Yeah. Why?"
"Keep dating that boy. Being with you has been fantastic for his people skills. We don't need another puppy-shoving incident."
"Oh, you don't have to worry about me and Chad breaking up. We're very happy together," Sonny chirped reassuringly. She smiled at her boss brightly.
"Okay. Well…go get ready for rehearsals. You said you have your lines memorized."
"That I do."
"What about Tawni's?"
"Parts of them."
"Try memorizing those too," Marshall suggested. "She's been throwing off the whole dynamic this week. Worse than you were. I might need you two to trade some roles."
"Tawni won't be happy about that," Sonny said, unsuccessfully trying to hold back a giggle.
"Eh… Whatever keeps me away from Tawni Town."
Sonny laughed and walked out of the room, but turned back and poked her head in again after a few steps. "Thanks for understanding, Marshall. I promise I won't be slacking off anymore," she said before skipping off to the stage.
October 3rd
8:33 a.m.
Baldwin Apartments
Chad's Apartment
Chad ran his tongue over his perfectly straight teeth and then checked his smile in the bathroom mirror. Perfect, as always. Everything was always perfect in Chad's life. He tweaked his hair a bit and then stepped back from the counter, something purple catching his eye as he did so. He picked the object up, examining it with wide blue eyes.
"Sonny's toothbrush," he mumbled, dropping it to the counter like he was five and it had cooties.
Attempting to shrug the moment off and telling himself it was just a toothbrush so no harm could come from it, Chad headed for his closet in search of a shirt to wear to the studio. He was innocently flicking through his shirts (and talking to each of them in turn) when he stumbled across two sweaters and a dress. They were hanging there. Right in the middle of his shirts.
"Sonny's clothes," he muttered, whipping around.
There, in his hamper, were a few size small shirts and a pair of girls' jeans.
"Sonny's dirty clothes!"
And next to the hamper…
"Three pairs of Sonny's shoes."
He toed each pair gently, jumping when he accidentally knocked over a high heel. Frightened, Chad grabbed a shirt at random and dashed out of his closet as he pulled it on. He wrenched open his bedroom door, taking note of Sonny's slippers by the bed and her perfume on the nightstand.
"Sonny!" he yelped when the open door found him face to face with his girlfriend. She was holding a spatula and smiling.
"Hey! I was just going to ask you how you like your eggs. I'm making us breakfast!" she said with a large smile. The smell of bacon and pancakes wafted into the room.
"Scrambled," Chad replied loudly, plucking the first word that came to mind out of his head. He then slammed the door in her face.
"O…kay…" He heard her respond. "By the way, your socks don't match."
Chad stared in terror around his room as Sonny's footsteps retreated toward the kitchen. Sonny's clean clothes, Sonny's dirty clothes, Sonny's shoes, Sonny's toothbrush, Sonny's slippers, Sonny's perfume…
Sonny was in the kitchen.
Sonny knew how to use a spatula.
Sonny was making them breakfast.
It was starting.
So, I thought I'd try for a little bit of humor there in that last section. I figured this chapter needed it after Sonny and Chad's big argument. Chad strikes me as the kind of guy who would get freaked out about all of that stuff. I could totally see him hyperventilating about it.
Anyway!
I'm sorry it took me so long to get this out! I was out of town and I was so not expecting to have to post the double update this time around. I was thinking that would come after this chapter. But you guys hit one-hundred sixty reviews, which was ten more than you needed for the double update and twenty more than I asked you guys to reach. So I've been working on cranking out this chapter and the next one. I'll have the next one up soon. It's almost finished, but I've got a party to go to and then I need to edit the chapter. Hopefully it won't take me very long to post again. In the meantime, please review! I love hearing from you guys!
Love,
EmbracingRain