Author note :

Here's the 10th Chapter hope you'll like it.

Chapter 10 : It's cool we're just friends (part 2)

Sonny's POV :

We were on Monday, and I was glad to go back to the studio. I had missed my friends so much. The rest of the week-end had been a little awkward. Since Saturday afternoon Chad hadn't really talked to me, well we made small talk but we didn't have a real conversation, and every time I would point it out, he would laugh at me and tell me I was imagining things.

Caydee told me that it was nothing, that he was like that sometimes and that it had nothing to do with me. I was pretty sure that she was lying about the last part, it had everything to do with me. He stopped talking to me when I told him that we weren't friends and I could tell that he wasn't really fine with it, and even if I had tried to cheer him up by telling him that we weren't enemies anymore, I saw that he wasn't really convinced.

I don't get it, only two weeks ago he would have laughed at me for even thinking about us being friends, and now he was totally ignoring me because I told him what was the truth. We're not friends, we can't be.

"Hey, Sonny. Good to see you again." Tawni said with a big smile, apparently she hadn't heard about Chad's interview yet. "Are you feeling OK ? Where is Chip, I have two words to tell him." She asked me, hatred in her eyes.

"Tawni please don't. It's finally almost fine between us." I pleaded. He didn't want to talk to me already, so he would probably hate me if Tawni went to his set and yelled at him.

"So it's true." She said sitting at her vanity. "You two are friends now." So she knew, but yet she didn't look pissed but more disappointed. Did I miss something ?

"No, we're not. Tawni, I swear, we're not friends, we're … acquaintance." I told her.

"So he considers you like a friend, but you consider him like an acquaintance ?" She asked. "You didn't tell him that Sonny, did you ?" She said shocked. What ? I'm considered as a traitor because I think of Chad as an acquaintance ?

"No I didn't. I told him we weren't enemies anymore, so stop with this look. I'm not friends with Chad, Tawni." I told her. "You're my friend Tawni, not Chad." She shrugged and started to apply her make-up.

"Well you're not my friend, not really. You're more like … What was that word you just used ?" She asked me.

This hurts, how could she tell me this ? I know that Tawni's best friend is Tawni, but she was a friend for me and I thought she felt the same way. "Acquaintance." I said trying to hide my disappointment.

"Yes, that's it, you're an acquaintance." She said with a smile.

I couldn't stay there, so I went to the prop house, and luckily no one was there. I sat on the couch and wanted to cry my eyes out, but no tears came out of them. The words Tawni said to me kept on repeating themselves, over and over again. Nobody could feel like I felt right then. When someone told you you weren't their friend when you considered them like it, it hurts, really bad. That's when it hit me, I'd done the exact same thing to Chad two days ago. And now that I knew how it felt, I understood why Chad wouldn't talk to me.

I wanted to apologize, but I didn't know what to tell him, sure I wanted to be friends with him now that I'd seen that he wasn't really a jerk, but it didn't mean we were friends, at least not yet. I decided that I should at least go and tell him that I was sorry, even if it wouldn't change the fact that we're not friends.

Once in front of the door of his dressing room, I pondered the choices in front of me : Knock or enter. It would be best to knock since he's already kind of mad at me, but he might not want to talk to me, because he's mad at me. I chose to knock first.

"Yes." Chad answered when he opened the door. When he saw me a sad expression appeared on his face for a split second, but he regained his composure quickly. "What do you want Sonny ?"

"Can I talk to you ?" I asked shyly. I didn't want to talk about that in a corridor where people walking by every five seconds. "I want to apologize about Saturday, Chad." I added when he didn't say or do anything.

"Fine, come on in." He said and let me step inside his dressing room. "So." He said and crossed his arms over his chest after I'd closed the door.

"I'm sorry I said we weren't friends when you thought we were." I said simply. I didn't want to brought the Tawni incident up, he might have had a kick out of it.

"It's OK Sonny -" He started but I didn't let him finish.

"No Chad it's not !" I said. "I know that it hurt you when I said it, and believe it or not I know exactly how you felt, and I'm really, truly, sorry." I told him, and the tears finally escaped my eyes. My vision blurred but I'd been able to see Chad's worried expression, before I couldn't distinguish anything clearly.

Chad's POV:

"No Chad it's not." She told me. Sure it wasn't really fine but I won't hold a grudge against her because of what she'd said, not for a long time at least. "I know it hurt you when I said it, and believe it or not I know exactly how you felt, and I'm really, truly, sorry." She said and started to cry. I didn't know what to think or what to say. Why is she crying ?

I went by her side." Sonny, why are you crying ?" I asked her. "It's Okay, I don't mind anymore, no need to cry about that." I told her and took her in my arms to comfort her. I don't know what came over me but I just did, I was worried about her, I'd never seen her cry before and the sight of tears on her cheeks just broke my heart.

She continued to cry for about five minutes or so. When she regained a little control on her emotions she looked up at my face. "Thanks Chad, right now, you're the closest thing to a friend I have here." She told me with a little smile, but it didn't reach her eyes.

"Of course not Sonny, you have Tawni and the other randoms." I told her and she started crying again. What is wrong with her ? Where's the bubbly Sonny I like ? "Okay Sonny. What happened between you and them ?" I asked her. I knew it could only be about them because she started crying again when I mentioned them.

"Nothing." She told me between sobs.

"OK." I told her and pulled a little away from the hug to see her face. "Sonny, I never saw you crying in the seven months I've known you, so when you say it's nothing, I don't believe you."

"You don't care anyway." She said and pulled totally away from the hug.

"Sonny, do you think I would have asked you what was wrong with you if I didn't care ?" She shook her head. "Good now that it's established that I do care, could you, please, tell me what got you crying on my shirt for the last ten minutes ?" I led her to the couch and sat next to her.

She wiped the tears off her face and started to talk. "Well Tawni wanted to come and talk to you but I told her not to because you were already mad at me because of the friend thing, but I told her I didn't want her to because we were starting to get along. So she asked if it was true that we were friends and I told her it wasn't, that we were now more acquaintance than friends, at least for now, and she made a face like I was a traitor or something and asked me if I had told you that we were acquaintance, I told her no, that I had told you we weren't enemies anymore and that she was my friend not you and she told me that she thought of me as an acquaintance and not as a friend."

"Wow, that was a long story with very few pauses." I told her to make her smile but it didn't work as well as I though it would. "So let me get that straight, you told her that she was your friend, not me, and she told you that you weren't friends, so you understood why I didn't want to talk to you and you came to apologize and started to cry because of her and when I said she was your friend you started to cry again ?" I asked her, summarizing her story.

"Yes." She said. "I'm surprised, you actually listened to me." she said wiping the few tears that had escaped her eyes during her story.

"Sonny I told you that I cared, I thought it was obvious I would listen." In fact I would listen to her even if she was telling me things that had absolutely no sense. "So what are you going to do ? I mean it's not like Tawni was your only friend, you still have the other three." I said. Even if I would love her to come hang out with me at the Falls, she had made it clear before that we weren't really friends.

"I don't know, I thought that Tawni was really my friend. Nico and Grady are always playing video games or eating something, and as much as I love eating, I'll get bored doing it all day long. And Zora is always in the vents and I'm afraid of heights, so that won't do either." She said sinking deep in the couch, and close her eyes. She stayed like this for a little while then talked again. "Chad, are you still mad at me ?"

"What ? Sonny I was never mad at you, I was just disappointed, just like you are disappointed in Tawni. I could never be mad at you." Shit why did I have to say the last part ? She didn't seem to have heard it thought, thank god.

"So I guess you wouldn't mind if I came here and hang out with you for a little while ?" She said shyly. Gosh, this must be my lucky day, and it was still early. I would have Thanked Tawni if she hadn't been so mean to Sonny.

"Yeah sure, no problem. My door is always open if you want to come." I told her with a grin, she smiled back and this time it reached her eyes.

"You know what Chad ? I think I might have been wrong about us not being friends after all." She said.

"Oh really ? How so ?" I asked her. It wasn't like anything had changed in the last two days.

"Well, you could have told me that I deserved what happened with Tawni, but you didn't, you listened when I told you what was wrong and you tried to comfort me when I was sad. You know me well enough to tell when I'm lying -"

"It's not that hard, you're a really bad liar Sonny." I told her.

"Still, you knew I was lying and you pushed me to tell you what it was. Even Tawni wouldn't have done this with me, and apparently we're acquaintance too. So we might be friends after all." This was more than I had expected today, her apologizes would have made my day, but this was unexpected !

"Well since we're friends and that apparently you don't want to spend time with your cast mates today, would you like to have lunch with me ?" I asked her, and her smile grew even bigger.

"Yeah, sure." She said and went by the door. "Thank you Chad, you really are a friend." And then she went back to her set.

"Chad, rehearsals start in two minutes, let's go !" Portlyn said from the door. We walked to the set side by side. "Hey, what's with the smile ?" She asked and then noticed the stain Sonny's tears had made on my shirt, and made a disgusted face. "And your shirt ?!"

"Sonny came to apologize and cried because of Tawni." I explained as we reached the set. "Let's rehears everybody !" I said clapping in my hands.

"OK lunch break everyone !" The director yelled three hours later. Everyone went to the cafeteria, but I went to my dressing room before. When I opened the door I saw Sonny sitting on the couch.

"Sonny ? What are you doing here ? I thought we were supposed to have lunch."

"We still are, but I didn't want to wait in my dressing room because Tawni would probably be there, and if I sat alone in the cafeteria people would stare." She explained. "Ready to go ?"

"Yeah sure." I said and opened the door for her. "Ladies first."

"Thanks Chad." She said with a smile and walked out of the room.

Once we were in the cafeteria, we had to make a choice, either eat with my cast or eat at another table. The So Random! Table was out of the question since they hated me and Sonny didn't really want to spend time with them. We ended up sitting at a table just the two of us.

"So, did you talk to Tawni since this morning ?" I asked very curious. Sure I was happy to spend time with Sonny but I knew it wouldn't last very long, Sonny will forgive her sooner or later.

"No, not since she said I was just an acquaintance of hers, and she doesn't even seem to notice that I'm not talking to her." She said crossing her arms like a stubborn child.

"You know you can't hold a grudge against anyone Sonny, you're going to forgive her." I told her, I knew she would, just the timing was unsure. Having to spend most of her days with her, even not talking, in less than a week she'll have forgiven her, it only took two days to make her apologize to me after all.

"Well not today and certainly not this week, and since she doesn't even know I'm mad at her, it can last for a very long time." She said, a little disappointed in what she said. "And may I say, I can hold a grudge against someone if this someone still talks to me." She said her eyes starring at me. She was right she could have continued not talking to me after the rain thing but since I didn't talk to her neither did the talk to me.

"Sonny, stop dreaming, in less than a week you'll have forgiven her." I told her with a smile.

"Are you challenging me, Cooper ?" She asked, faking an expression of shock.

"Maybe I am, who knows ?" I replied playfully, I knew I would won even if we didn't make a bet, and I wanted Sonny to be happy again. Because even though there was a smile on her face I could still see a glint of sadness in her beautiful hazel eyes.

"Oh you're on, Cooper !" She said her hands flat on the table. "If I win, you'll have to Caydee's made of honor at her wedding and look genuinely happy for her each time we'll be talking about her wedding."

"You're going too far Sonny, can't I just look happy and skip the made of honor thing ?" I asked her while thinking about what I could ask if I won, which will happen.

"Not a chance, Caydee is going to be happy when I'll win." She said with a smile.

"Not so fast you haven't won yet, you have still a week. Oh and if I win, you'll have to be my date at the engagement party this week-end." I said and to my utter surprise, she didn't seemed against the idea. It might mean that she really think we were friends after all. "So you have until Saturday evening, if you haven't Tawni, you win. If you did I win. Deal ?" I asked her and took out my hand for her to shake.

"Deal." She said and shook my hand. "It's going to be so much fun to see you and your sister talk about napkins and flowers. I'm going to have a kick out of this." She said with a huge smile on her face. At this moment Tawni came by our table.

"Sonny, can I talk to you for a sec ?" Tawni asked her. Seems like I'll win this bet in no time. Sonny ignored her and I couldn't help but smirk. She shot me a dark glare. I could see her will to win this bet crumble seconds by seconds. "Please Sonny." Tawni plead.

"Fine !" She said and got up "And wipe this smirk of your face, Chad. You haven't won yet." Then the two of them went on the other side of the cafeteria and started to talk calmly. Tawni kept on talking for a little while saying what I'd guessed were apologizes. Then Sonny talked, and they gave each other a hug.

Sonny came back with an angry face, sit back on her chair and crossed her arms over chest. If I hadn't seen Tawni go back to her set with a smile I would have bought her acting but I knew I won the bet. "See, I told you you couldn't stay mad at her for more than a week." I told her with a smirk.

"That's not fair, you know me too well." She complained. "So I guess I'll your date Saturday for Caydee's engagement party." She said and she seemed happy about it.

"Seems like it, I have to go though." I said getting up. "I'll come and get you when I'm done, you have probably things to do or to talk about with Tawni."

"OK, I'll wait for you there then." She said. I went back to the set to shoot the last scene of the next week's episode but somehow I couldn't keep my thoughts away from Sonny.

No matter what people said or did, there was always something that made me think about Sonny. I was so distracted that we had to do the scene almost twenty times before I managed to stay focused to say my lines.

"What was up with you, right then." Portlyn asked me. "You couldn't stay focused more than thirty seconds."

"Nothing, I just had a lot on my mind." I told her, I had a lot of things about Sonny on my mind, a lot of unanswered questions.

"It's about Sonny, isn't it ?" Was I that obvious ? "Chad, I've known you for almost two years, I can tell when you're obsessing on a girl. And everyone knows you have a crush on Sonny, apart from Sonny." She said frustrated.

"I don't think everybody knows that, her cast still hates me and they're supposed to support each other." I pointed out. I would have loved them to know that though, everything would be so much simpler, and I could tell Sonny what I felt without having food thrown at me.

"Chad you should take her on a date, even as friends, see what happens. You might be surprised." She told me.

"Do you know something I don't, Portlyn ?" I asked, suspicious.

"I might happen to know that Sonny feels the same way about you." She told me. How could she know that, she barely talks to her. "I might happen to know someone close enough to her, that has somehow heard her say she liked you."

"Portlyn, stop messing with me. I won't humiliate myself and ask her out on a date, at least when she knows it's one." I had already kinda asked her out to my sister's engagement party, but it doesn't seem like a date since she would have came anyway. "Now, if you will excuse me, I have to go pick her up and make myself home." I said and made my way to Sonny's dressing room.

"At least think about it !" Portlyn yelled from the other end of the hallway.

Sonny's POV :

"So you're really friends with Chad ?" Tawni asked me.

"Yes, we're friends." I told her, but somehow the word friend didn't seem right. "Are you OK with it ?" I asked her, not that I needed her approval but still it would be easier to be friends with Chad if she was OK with it.

"'course I am !" She said. I really don't follow her anymore. Only a few hours ago she was pissed and now she was happy. "Sonny, he showed everyone that he could actually be nice with someone else than himself, and besides he was a better friend to you than I was, today."

"We're friends now ?" I asked her, does she have some memory issues ?

"We always were, I just told you that we were … that word that I can't remember, because I thought you were lying to me about not being friends with Chad." She said and hugged me. "Now silly, what was this winning talk earlier in the cafeteria ?" She asked me and sat on the couch.

"Well Chad and I made the bet that I wouldn't be able to stay mad at you for more than a week, so when you came he somehow knew I would forgive you." I told her.

"And what did he win, since you forgave me." She asked. "You forgive me, right ?" She asked, a little panicky.

"Of course I forgive you Tawni. You know I can't hold a grudge against someone." I told her and gave her a reassuring hug. "So now, I'll be Chad's date to his sister's engagement party, Saturday evening." I told her with a smile. I knew she wouldn't really be happy about it, but I couldn't help it. I was way too happy to frown, even if it wasn't really a date, I would have an entire evening with Chad being nice and everything.

"What ?! You're going on a date with Chad ?" She asked me, but not furiously, she looked more shocked than anything else. "How is this possible ? Only three weeks ago you couldn't even walk in the same hallway without yelling at each other !"

"Yes I know, but everything's fine between us now, and he can be really nice when he wants."

"Not when he wants Sonny, with who he wants. That's completely different." She told me and took out her phone and texted someone.

"Who are you texting ? Do you have a knew boyfriend ?" I asked her getting closer. When I was only a few feet away she put her phone back in her pocket.

"No, I was texting … a friend about … something I had to keep her updated on." She said a little nervous. "Hey Sonny, it's almost your birthday right ?" She asked me and I was surprised she actually remembered, in a little less than two weeks I would turn eighteen.

"Yes, in a little less than two weeks, why ?" I asked curious. It would be my first birthday in Hollywood, and I was getting a little excited.

"Well Lucy called me and told me she was coming here to celebrate and she asked me to ask you what you wanted to do." Lucy had called her ? That's weird, she didn't say anything about calling Tawni about my birthday.

"I'm supposed to have a family diner at my place on Sunday, to which you can come if you want by the way, but apart from that, my schedule is all clear. So be creative, I'm sure I'll love it." I'm pretty sure she was only trying to distract me though, so I came back to the real topic.

"So you have a new friend ? Do I know her ? You're not texting yourself, right ?" I asked her, when I remembered that she was her own best friend.

"Yes you know her, and no I wasn't texting myself." She said getting up. "And I won't tell you her name, but she likes you." She said and came next to me. "So you're going on a date with Chip, and you seem happy about it. Are you hiding something from me ?"

Chad's POV :

I was just outside Sonny's dressing room when I heard the conversation she was having with Tawni. "So you're going on a date with Chip and you seem happy about it. Are you hiding something from me ?" Tawni asked her.

"W-well … I … "Sonny stuttered.

"Oh my god, you like him." Tawni said. So Sonny liked me, more than a friend.

"Is it that obvious ?" Sonny asked with a small voice. She didn't even deny it, she really likes me. I would have done a little victory dance if I wasn't in a corridor where people could easily see me.

"It's written all over your face." Tawni said. "Don't worry though, I had a few doubts for a long time, I kinda knew you would fall for him."

"You're not mad ?" Sonny asked her.

"Well as your cast mate, I'm not really sure it's the best idea." Tawni told her. Would you shut your mouth. "But as your friend, I highly recommend you give it a shot. Chad has changed, even Grady could tell, so he might be right for you." Tawni told her. I might have to reconsider to be nice with her sometimes.

"Do you thinks I should tell him ?" She asked Tawni. No need, I already know everything.

"Hell no, he's the guy, so he's the one who has to take the first step." Tawni told her. "Just go on this date and wait to see what happens. I'm almost sure he likes you too. So what are you going to wear ?"

"I already bought my dress with Chad's sister Saturday." Sonny told her.

I decided it was a safe time to enter their dressing room, now that they weren't talking about me anymore. "Hey Sonny, I'm done shooting for today. Are you ready to go ?" I asked her and she blushed when she saw me in her doorway.

"Yes sure. Just give me a sec to grab my things." She said and got up.

"OK, I'll wait for you in the car." I told her and got to the parking lot and in my car.

Sonny came just two minutes later. "So how was your afternoon ?" I asked her while driving. "Did you have enough time to catch up with Tawni ?"

"Yes, everything's back to normal, we talked about my birthday and a new friends of hers, just like we would have before the incident." She said. Apparently she wasn't planning on telling me that they had talked about me.

"Your birthday, uh. When is it ?" I asked her, if everything went as I had planned, she would have the best birthday of her life.

"Next Sunday." She told me when we reached my house. "Hey, is Caydee still here ?" She asked. She really liked Caydee, and Caydee treated her just like she was her little sister.

"I don't think so, she usually goes back to college on Monday mornings, she'll be back on Friday night though."

* * * * *

"I'm back everyone !" Caydee yelled from the hallway Friday afternoon. Sonny almost jumped off the couch and ran to hug her and pulled her upstairs. "Well nice to see you too Sonny." She said laughing but she followed her anyway.

When she came back downstairs, Sonny wasn't with her." Chad, little brother, What's up in your life ?" She asked me with a smirk.

"You already know Caydee, so why are you asking ?" I was a hundred percent sure that Sonny had already told her about our 'date' and us being friends, she might have even told her about her liking me.

"Because it's funnier this way." She said with a smile and became more serious. "You really like her ,uh ?"

"Shut up Caydee." I told her and put a hand over her mouth. "She could hear you."

"Chad, why haven't you told her yet ? She likes you too, and her cast mates aren't a problem, from what I understood, and I'm pretty sure yours wouldn't really care.

"I know all this Caydee. I know."

"You know ? What, are you some kind of weirdo that can read minds ?" She asked .

"No, I overheard her talking with Tawni Monday when I went to pick her up." I said guiltily.

"What ?! You know since Monday and you haven't told her you liked her yet ? You're a lost cause Chad. Seriously ?" She asked to make sure I wasn't lying.

"Do you think she would have stayed in her room after talking to you if she knew ?"

"Good point." She said . "You're going to tell her though, right ? I won't be able to keep my mouth shut for much longer."

"Keep your mouth shut about what ?" Sonny asked when she entered the room.

Both mine and Caydee's face went blank. "About our gift for our parent's anniversary." Caydee said after a little silence. "Yes we're planning a surprise for them and we booked them a trip to Paris."

"Oh, that's great." Sonny said oblivious.

* * * * *

"Girls, we're going to be late !" My mother called from the bottom of the staircase. "Chad could you please, go and get them." She asked me Saturday night. It was almost seven and the party was supposed to star in less than thirty minutes and we were still at home.

I climbed the stairs and knocked on Caydee's door. "Aren't you ready yet ? We have to go like right now." I said.

Caydee open the door a little and looked at me. "Wow Chad, don't you look dashing. We're almost ready, we'll be here in a sec." She said and closed the door. I came back downstairs ans waited with my parents. My mom gave me a dark glare.

"Hey don't look at me like that. I'm not the one we're waiting for, am I ?"

Surely two minutes later Sonny came downstairs, looking more beautiful than ever, her hair in perfect silky curls in a slightly green strapless dress.

author note :

thanks everyone for reading this, but more to the people who review and alert and favorite.

Thanks to you guys.