AU: After my exams, I swear I'm on a SWAC Fanfiction writing spree. Well, at least until my results come out. But anyways, I'm submitting this for Fanfreak4Channy's contest. I've never entered a contest before, so I hope it goes okay! Anyways, I think this is kind of similar to Romance Without Kissing, one of my other stories, but this has a little twist to it, as you'll see below. Enjoy! (:

How to get a steak, amongst other things

Chad Dylan Cooper spied Sonny Munroe out of the corner of his eye. She was getting yogurt. Cherry yogurt with chocolate frosting, to be precise. Chad didn't like cherry yogurt, personally he preferred Vanilla, but no one made swirls like Sonny's. She could make any flavour with any topping look appetising.

Not that he was watching her, which was ridiculous. But he was feeling... observant, today. He also observed that she was wearing a pretty brown dress with some very adorable white shoes. Not that he cared. He turned back to his medium rare steak that he had persuaded the lunch lady to prepare for him. Fine, he had used his patented smile on her, which had reduced her to a blubbering mess, which allowed him to practice his charm on her. He wrinkled his nose at the steak. It looked delicious, it was true, but he wasn't very hungry anymore. Why did he even try the Chad charm anymore? He didn't feel anymore glee when he used it.

'Hey Chad!' he heard a tinkling little laugh coming from behind him.

He turned around, trying to hide the little smile from overtaking his features. He composed his face and eyed her cooly.

'Sonny.'

'Could I join you for lunch? The rest of the cast is busy today, so I'm by myself, and you're by yourself too, so maybe we could...' Sonny smiled tentatively.

Chad tried not to grin. 'You want to have lunch with me? Won't the Randoms have something to say about it?'

He could have sworn that he saw her blush a little, but it might have been a trick of the light.

'Well, they can't force me to do anything.' She answered a little crossly.

'Of course not,' Chad answered pleasantly. They looked at each other for a minute, both unsure of what to do.

'Well, are you going to allow me to sit here or not?' Sonny asked rather petulantly.

Chad gestured carelessly to the seat in front of him, though his heart was beating erratically in his chest. He picked at his steak and played around with the peas casually as Sonny stared at him. Or she could have been staring at his steak.

'How do you do it?' she asked curiously.

'Do what?'

'Get a steak. Just getting chicken knuckles is hard enough, but a steak? How do you do it?' Sonny leaned forward and Chad caught a whiff of her cherry perfume. It was just a light scent, but it was intoxicating.

He cleared his throat and adjusted his collar. 'Well, first of all, you've got to be blessed with the Chad Dylan Cooper charm.' Sonny narrowed her eyes at him. Seriously?

'Then, of course, you have to learn the art-' he leaned forward, '-of persuasion.' He lowered his voice to a whisper. Sonny widened her eyes and put down her spoon. Chad made it sound so... Dramatic.

Chad saw Sonny's eyes widen in anticipation and smiled inwardly. She was totally a sucker for drama, and she didn't watch Mackenzie Falls?

'First, you smile.' Chad grinned at her, a disarmingly grin that turned Sonny's insides into butter. She swallowed nervously, but kept watching his face. She wasn't sure if she liked where this was going, but she couldn't take her eyes off him.

'And then, you take her hand,' he took one of her hands off the table and held it with his left hand. 'Always left hand,' he warned, 'because it's closer to the heart and you want to show her that you are sincere.' Sonny's eyes widened even more, if that were possible. 'Are you really?' she breathed. 'What do you think?' he returned, his blue eyes dancing mischievously.

'And then, you put your face near to hers,' he positioned his face right in front of her. He could feel her rather panicky breathing. 'You ask her for what you want,' he grinned, 'in this case, a steak.' He laughed and sat back in his seat. 'Its quite simple.'

Sonny looked a little put out, and more than blushing as she sat back as well. She was suddenly aware that they were the only ones left in the Commissary. 'That's it?' she finally said. Chad quirked his lip. Sonny seemed... Disappointed. 'What were you expecting?' Chad replied, a smile playing on his lips. Sonny squirmed uncomfortably in her seat. 'Well... More than that.'

'What, you thought I was going to seduce the lunch lady?' He chortled. 'That's rich.' Sonny sighed. 'I guess I did expect you to... Uhm, seduce her. But I guess what you showed me would have worked as well. Does it work for everything?'

Chad nodded slowly. 'Wait, did it work on you?'

Sonny suddenly seemed entranced by her yogurt.

'Did it?' Chad persisted.

Sonny looked up at him with a frosty glance, and replied, 'I have no idea what you're talking about.' Chad smiled at her. If her flushed cheeks were any indication, it had worked. And it worked exceptionally well. Chad mentally patted himself on the back.

'Wait, you do this to the lunch lady every other day?' Sonny gave him a suspicious look. Chad looked puzzled by the question. 'Well, not every lunch lady.' He admitted.

'Only the pretty ones?' she asked knowingly.

'Only the pretty ones.' He agreed solemnly.

Sonny looked at him dejectedly. 'I suppose I wasn't pretty enough to follow the job through.'

Chad narrowed his eyes at her. 'Female insecurity' he muttered to himself.

He leaned forward. Sonny looked at him in puzzlement. She leaned forward too. He slowly let a smile take over his face. 'You're pretty enough,' he assured her in a whisper. He took her hand and held it, keeping his eyes on her face the entire time. 'You're too pretty.'

And then, just like that, he stood up and pushed in his chair.

'Wh-What?' Sonny asked, looking rather dazed.

'You're also too pretty for this yogurt.' He snatched the cup from Sonny before she could say a word and strolled out of the Commissary. 'You're too sneaky for that yogurt!' he heard a yell come from behind him and he laughed.

He took a spoonful of (the nearly melted) yogurt and grinned.

Cherry might just be his new favourite flavour.