Disclaimer: This is me...not owning anything.

A/N: Thank you all SO MUCH for your reviews and alerts...it really does mean a lot to me :). So basically, I feel horrible for not updating last night, like I planned to, but my back was killing me, so I took some medicine and went to sleep. And I won't be updating tomorrow, because my friend is spending the night. Hopefully Friday I'll be able to update :). So yeah... hope you like this!

Chapter 14

Sonny remained sitting in the spot where Chad had dropped her for at least ten minutes before her cast swam over to her.

"What-"

"Was-"

"That?"

Nico, Grady, and Tawni asked (or in Tawni's case, squealed).

"Did you tell him that you loved him?" Tawni pried excitedly, wanting to get all of the juicy details so she could exchange them with Portlyn.

"Tawni!" Sonny snapped. "I do not love Chad, and I don't know why people keep insisting that I do. Because I don't," the brunette insisted, her stomach sinking when she realized that she wasn't so sure about that anymore.

"Well, did it ever occur to you that people are maybe, um, I don't know, right?" Tawni asked her, hands on her hips, her blonde hair tied into a messy bun on the top of her head, still mostly dry.

"Tawni, can we not do this here, now, in front of Nico and Grady?" Sonny asked, her normal perky demeanor faltering into one of weakness.

"Sonny, we're cool with it," Nico admitted, shrugging.

"Yeah. We've all noticed you and Chad's 'thing' for a while now," Grady admitted.

"Now, I'm not saying we'll welcome him with open arms-" Nico began.

"Yeah, he's gonna have to work for our approval," Grady nodded.

"But we're not going to disown you or anything," Nico assured her.

"Well, unless you start acting like you're from The Falls and think you're better than everyone else. Then we might," Grady admitted playfully.

"Thanks guys, I'm glad to know that you approve of my non-existent relationship," Sonny emphasized, slightly flustered.

"Well then, Sonny," Tawni spoke up, making eye contact with her cast mate, "if you aren't dating, and you 'don't love him'," she said, using air quotes, "then what are you?"

Sonny sighed, looking at the slightly darker sky, shrugging. "We're us."

.::.

When Chad returned to the beach house, he found his cast mates in the kitchen, cutting up fruit and throwing them into a few bowls filled with some kind of liquid. He peered over the counter and saw strawberries, watermelon, pineapple, cantaloupe, apples, kiwi, and much more.

"Fruit in vodka," Daniel- or was it Nathanial?- informed him, smiling as he chopped another strawberry in half. "Give this a few hours, trust me."

Chad casually nodded at whichever twin was talking to him, and swiftly made his way back to his room. He sprawled himself across his bed, hands rubbing his face tiredly. Why did she have to be so difficult?

After about five minutes, Chad heard his door creaking open. He didn't even bother checking who it was, but he could tell by the soft footsteps it was one of the girls. A thought occurred to him; what if it was Sonny, coming to confront him? This caused him to sit up quickly, only to heave a sigh of annoyance as his blue eyes saw Portlyn closing his door.

"Oh, it's just you."

"Nice to see you, too, Chad," Portlyn responded. "So how'd it go?"

"Why do you think I want to talk about this?" Chad asked, surprised.

"Well, the rest of The Falls is getting ready for another bonfire party- Random free- and you just make your way back to your room? Seriously, just tell me. Did you two admit you love each other?"

"First of all, that's absurd. We do not, repeat not, love each other," Chad stated, a part of himself squirming, unconvinced. "And secondly, did you ever think that maybe I just wanted to get out of," he shuddered for effect, "helping?"

Portlyn faked a laugh as she made her way towards Chad, putting a hand on his shoulder and sitting down on the bed next to him. "Chad, Chad, Chad. Trust me, you love each other. And before you can object," she added quickly, holding her finger up to silence him as his mouth opened to protest, "I'm not the only one to see it. Tawni said her and the cast of So Random have suspected it for a while."

Chad, for the first time he could remember, Chad was speechless. This caused Portlyn to smirk in triumph.

"Chad, the cast will get over it, trust me. Especially when it boosts the ratings. And besides, you're Chad Dylan Cooper, if they don't like the fact that you and a girl from So Random are dating, they can leave, they're not the stars of the show. You are. And plus, think of how happy Mr. Condor will be! For one, his bonding retreat somewhat worked, and second of all, Condor Studios will be raking in the publicity. But really, that shouldn't matter to you. Just do what your heart tells you to." She smiled at him at the end before frowning. "Wow, I ended that great speech with such a corny line...I just ruined my speech."

"Portlyn, no one said anything about Sonny and me dating," Chad defended. "And I don't care about what the cast thinks. I never care about what the cast thinks. Well, most of the time. And I don't love Sonny, dammit!"

Portlyn raised a perfectly waxed eyebrow. "Really Chad? Because that's not what it seems like. Just drop the act already! You love her, and she loves you, but both of you are just too scared and stupid to admit it. I can almost guarantee that if you tell her she'll say it right back."

"That may be, but almost isn't good enough," Chad immediately replied. "Almost indicates that there's a chance that she might not- Shit!"

Portlyn let out a victorious "HA!" as Chad fell back on his bed, the heels of his palms kneading his eyes in defeat.

"I just inadvertently admitted something I still haven't come to terms with, didn't I?"

"Mhmm," the Mackenzie Falls actress answered, a close-lipped smile on her face.

The blonde sat up, his eyes narrowed at his cast mate. "I blame you. You and you're stupid speeches."

"Glad I could help," Portlyn grinned. "So, how are you going to tell her?"

"I'm not," the heartthrob groaned. "Portlyn, I never said I was going to tell her. I was thinking maybe I'd just kind of keep it bottled up for a while and it will go away."

"Chaaaaaaaad," Portlyn whined. "She loves you too! You have to tell her! Come on, just pretend I'm Sonny," she said, grabbing his hands.

Chad awkwardly looked into the eyes of his co-star. He'd rehearsed love scenes with her before, but this was different. This time what he said would be his real emotions. But he tried to shake that off. Just like rehearsal, he thought to himself.

"Sonny...I know, that we don't get along much. Ever really. But there's-"

As Chad was speaking, the door began to open, causing the two Mackenzie Falls actors to look over in shock as none other than Sonny Monroe herself opened the door.

At the scene before her, Sonny, much to her displeasure, could feel her heart being stabbed with twenty butcher knives and being run over by a semi-truck. Simultaneously. She fought to keep her breathing as even as possible as she tried to tame her anger and hurt.

After spending about ten seconds just standing in the doorway in shock, looking at the two equally shocked teens in front of her, Sonny turned to leave, muttering something about not trusting Tawni.

Chad's vocal chords and legs sprung to life in unison as he dropped Portlyn's hands and hopped off the bed, calling after her.

"No! No... Sonny, wait! There's nothing going on here!"

He took long strides over towards the retreating brunette and grabbed her arm, preventing her from going any further.

"Bullshit Chad. Now let me go," Sonny said, slightly injured by Chad's lies.

"No, Sonny, really!" Chad pleaded, pulling her back into the room and locking the door, standing in front of it.

"Really, now? Nothing is going on here?" The comedian asked in a tone that clearly said 'Chad, you're full of bull.'

"No, not at all! You see," Chad lowered his voice in case anyone was listening. He looked over at the girl still on his bed. "There's nothing going on here. Portlyn's a lesbian."

"Chad!"

"Shh, it's okay Port, Sonny will keep your secret, won't you Sonny?" the blonde asked, using his big-eyed-puppy-dog look at the girl.

"Um...of course Portlyn!" Sonny said, anger disappearing. Wow, I feel like an idiot, she thought. She smiled at Portlyn as she subtly tried to hide some more of her bikini-clad body. "And...way to go on being true to yourself!" She finished, somewhat awkwardly.

"Sonny, I'm not a lesbian, Chad's just being a dumbass. But really, nothing was going on. "

Sonny shot Chad a sideways glare for lying to her. She turned her attention back to Portlyn. "Then why were you two holding hands when I came in?"

Chad and Portlyn exchanged looks as Portlyn opened her mouth to speak. "Well you see, I told Chad that-"

"And now Portlyn has to be going!" Chad announced loudly, forcing her off the bed and out of the door.

"Before I go," Portlyn said from the doorway, turning her body around to face the room and not the hallway, "promise me you'll name your firstborn daughter Portlyn," she whispered to Chad.

"Portlyn, out," Chad demanded, fighting the blush that was working its way to his cheeks.

"I'll take that as a yes," she grinned, skipping down the hallway.

Sonny and Chad just stood there awkwardly for a while after Portlyn left.

"So..." Sonny began, looking at the wall.

"Yeah..." Chad sighed, craning his neck to look at the ceiling.

"So, um... what were you and Portlyn doing?" Sonny asked casually, rocking on her heels.

Chad felt his heart rate speed up at the thought of the conversation with Portlyn. Now. Do it now. "Well..." he began, only to be interrupted by someone knocking on the door. "Oh my God, really?" he asked, frustrated. He had just gotten up the courage to maybe tell Sonny how he felt.

Portlyn's head popped in as she cracked open the door. "Sorry to interrupt," she apologized, "but..um...Ernie's about to walk down the hall to come get you, Chad. So, well...Sonny kind of needs to disappear."

Chad looked at Portlyn, as if asking what happened to that speech?. She shrugged and disappeared out of the room once more, leaving Chad to hide Sonny.

He turned to the brunette from So Random. The rival show. The show he wasn't supposed to have anything to do with. And his cast mate was about to waltz in on the two of them having a very awkward and intense conversation. Chad's eyes searched the room, finally settling on a good hiding place.

"Sonny, have you seen my bathroom, it's quite nice. Go check it out."

"Um, yeah Chad, I have," Sonny answered, folding her arms over her chest.

"Sonny, just go hide in my bathroom," Chad commanded, wondering how much time he had before Ernie barged in. At Sonny's defiant stance, he rolled his eyes.

"Please?"

"Much better," she grinned toothily before skipping to the bathroom, shutting the door behind her.

So there you go! Chapter 14…wow. I think this is the longest fic I've written that I'm actually going to complete, haha. And I hope I didn't offend anyone with the "lesbian" remark, really, I just thought it'd be something Chad would say in a compromising situation (if it wasn't Disney Channel, haha) Sorry there wasn't too much Channy…that should be changing in some future chapters :). Tell me how you liked it and REVIEW! Yay! You guys are the best XD

Much love, Kelsey