Not On a Train

Maybe I'm just weird, but I think trains are romantic.

Guest starring: Selena Gomez! Again! Applause, applause, applause, applause….

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"Selena! Let us out!" Sonny pounded on the glass doors of their train compartment. The blurry silhouette of Selena Gomez turned to face them with her hands on her hips.

"Face it," came her muffled voice. "You two are meant for each other, and I'm not letting you out until you admit it!"

"Come on, Selena, you can't lock me in here! I am Chad Dylan Cooper, and I do not just get locked into train compartments with Random people!" Then, chuckling, he turned to look at Sonny.

"See what I did there?" He chortled.

"Yes, Chad, you're hilarious," Sonny rolled her eyes. Then she faced the compartment doors again.

"Selena, you'll have to let us out when we get to New York! We have to be on Good Morning America in thirty six hours! I have to meet Kelly Rippa!"

"I'll tell them you two were too busy declaring your undying love for each other," Selena laughed, and then they saw her head turn as a tinkling bell was heard through the corridor.

"Ooh, cheetos," she said, and zipped off, taking the keys with her. Sonny could hear it jingling on her wrist. She sighed and began banging her head on the glass so that it started quivering.

"You lose brain cells when you do that," Chad said, watching her from the other side of the compartment. Sonny snapped her head back.

"I would lose a million brain cells before choosing to do this," she snarled at him. Chad remained unabashed.

"I would usually say that you don't have even half that number, but unfortunately in your case that would be a lie," he said, looking at her steadily.

Sonny started. "Did you just call me smart?" she asked, looking at him with raised eyebrows. Chad bit his lip thoughtfully.

"Huh," he said, tilting his head. "I guess I did."

There was a heavy silence, and then Chad gave a loud sigh.

"So," he said, in a very casual tone. "What's your favorite color?"

Sonny blinked. "Um – what?"

"Look, Monroe, if we're gonna be stuck in here until New York we might as well get to know each other a little better." Chad said. "Now, tell me what you're favorite color is."

Sonny looked confused for a minute, but then she shook her head. "All right, Chad I'll play along. Since there's nothing else to do." She added in an undertone. "My favorite color is blue."

"Blue?" Chad asked, tilting his head. "Really?"

"Yep." Sonny nodded. "What's yours?"

Chad thought. "I like green. It reminds me of the forest."

"You like forests?" Sonny asked, perking up. Chad smiled.

"I miss them. Colorado had so many trees, there was green everywhere you turned. But now it's just an icky gray I see every time I look out the window." Chad said mournfully, gesturing towards the window.

"I didn't know you were from Colorado," Sonny said. "Is that where you grew up?"

"Until I was like, nine. And then we moved to Hollywood," Chad said brightly, straightening up. "I haven't visited my hometown in such a long time…" he said wistfully, trailing off. "What about you? How come you like blue so much?"

"Oh," Sonny said, smiling reminiscently. "It reminds me of the ocean."

"I thought you were gonna say it was because of my eyes or something," Chad said teasingly. They were sitting on the same seat now, and Sonny playfully punched him in the shoulder.

"It's not because of your eyes," she said, rolling hers. "It's because I love the ocean so much and I miss playing in the water."

"But Wisconsin isn't near the ocean, is it?" Chad asked.

"Well…no. But my family and I would always take daytrips up to Lake Michigan every weekend, and there's really not a big difference." Sonny said, grinning sheepishly.

Suddenly, there was a commotion outside in the corridor, and Selena's voice rang out: "Hey! Give me those; I have to keep them locked in there until we get to New York!"

A woman's voice was accompanied by the jingling of keys. "Ms. Gomez, if you're trying to play Cupid, then don't do it on a train, okay? People can actually sue us, you know. Next time lock them in a closet."

Chad and Sonny looked at each other excitedly and stood up, ready to barge out of their compartment once the doors slid open. But before they could make a move, they saw Selena's backside pressed against the glass, her arms spread out along the length of the doors.

"Wait!" she cried desperately. But the woman pushed the keys into the slot and the doors slid open.

"Finally!" Sonny cried, moving towards the entrance. But she stopped short when she saw the look on Selena's face.

"I don't think so," Selena said in a low, dangerous voice. Then, she stepped into the compartment. Sonny backed up into Chad, who placed his hand on her elbow protectively.

"Now," Selena said, closing the door behind her menacingly. "I want you two to stay in here for the rest of the trip, and I don't want any attempts to get out. I am going to get you guys together if it's the last thing I do."

"But – but that lady took your keys," Chad said, pointing uselessly at the closed door. Selena smiled.

"I don't need keys to lock a door," she said, looking evil. There was a flash of light as she waved a hand at the lock, and suddenly there was a bolt and chain hanging across the door. Chad and Sonny gaped.

"How did you do that?" They cried simultaneously.

Selena, who was on her way to the door, stopped short. She turned back slowly, with a radiant grin on her face.

"You know the special effects that they have on my show?" she asked them. They nodded.

Selena hesitated for a moment, her mouth opening and closing as she chose her next words. "They're not special effects," she whispered hastily, and with another flash of light, appeared to walk through the door to the other side. They could see her silhouette waving at them cheerfully, and then hurrying off.

Sonny turned to Chad, mouth open. "Oh, my God!" she cried, her eyes bulging. "Selena Gomez is a wizard!"

"Wow, I did not see that one coming." Chad said, sitting down shakily. They sat there in silence, and then Sonny smiled. "Well that explains a lot."

Chad looked at her. "So, how much longer until this train reaches New York?"

Sonny checked her watch, and then realized she didn't have one. "Um, I don't know. What time is it?"

"It's time for you to get a watch!"

Sonny gave him a look. "Really, Chad? Really?"

"Sorry. I had to," Chad said, biting his lip and looking down.

Sonny tried her hardest not to notice how cute he was when he did that.

"Okay," she said, clapping her hands together. "Let's play a game!"

"What kind of game?" Chad asked, looking up.

"I have no idea what it's called, but my friends and I back in Wisconsin used to play it all the time when we were bored together. It actually gets pretty fun once you get into it." Sonny smiled.

"How do you play?" Chad looked interested.

"Okay, well, I say a word, and you say the first word that comes to mind. If you wait for more than three seconds then I have to start all over again. And when I'm done, it's your turn." Sonny explained.

"Okay, let's give it a shot," Chad answered, and he sat up straight, waiting for Sonny to go. She cleared her throat.

"Alright…sky."

"Ozone."

She gave Chad a funny look. He shrugged.

"Train."

"Hogwarts."

"Time."

"Father."

"Date."

"Sonny."

"What?" Sonny asked, looking startled. Chad's face was red.

"Sunny, like, not cloudy. I like dates that have Son – uh – sun!" Chad stuttered. Sonny didn't look reassured. On the contrary, she looked like she was fighting back a grin.

"Alright, Chad. Whatever you say. Chad."

"DylanCooper."

"Candle."

"Romantic."

"Heart."

"Guitar."

"Okay, I'm sorry, but how do you get 'guitar' out of 'heart'?" Sonny asked, raising her hands up in question.

"Don't tell me you've never heard of Heart! They've got awesome guitar playing in their songs!" said Chad eagerly. Sonny's face lit up.

"Oh, yeah, that was like the first girl rock band! I didn't know you liked Heart!" She said happily. Chad nodded.

"Yeah, I have a lot of their songs on my ipod." He said.

"Cool."

"You."

"Um, I wasn't playing the game, but thanks." Sonny blushed. Chad looked like he wanted to not be there right now.

They continued on like that, and Sonny learned a lot about how Chad's mind worked. True, he did think of himself a lot, but he had a higher opinion of her than she thought. In fact she started modeling all the words to try and get him to answer his real thoughts on instinct. The sky outside became darker and darker, until finally it was twilight and the clouds were beginning to turn pink. They could see less and less trees now, and more and more concrete and buildings. The city began to slowly appear on the horizon.

"Okay, I really don't want to play anymore!" Sonny said loudly as Chad grinned. They had switched, and Chad said 'crush', to which Sonny had immediately responded 'you'.

"Okay, let's tell secrets then." Chad said. He came to sit next to her, and she tucked a strand of hair behind her ear to be able to see him better.

She scoffed. "We're not at a sleepover, Chad."

"Oh, I know, but secrets are fun as long as you never tell them." Chad replied.

Sonny took a deep breath, then hung her head down in defeat. "Okay, we'll tell secrets, as long as you swear on your life that you'll never repeat them to anybody in your whole life."

"I swear," Chad said eagerly. "Now, you first."

Sonny thought for a minute, then spoke. "My real name isn't Sonny," she said. "It's Demetria. They just called me 'Sonny' because of how happy and bubbly I was as a baby."

"You're still pretty bubbly," Chad chuckled. Sonny gave him a small smile.

"What about you? Tell me a secret that hangs in the back of Chad Dylan Cooper's closet." Sonny said enthusiastically. Chad scowled.

"I was a nerd in middle school. I had glasses, braces, a roller backpack and waist-high pants. And I had straight A's. Thank God I can act, or else I don't think I would have made it through high school without killing myself." (Chad's twenty.)

Sonny frowned. "You shouldn't have had to feel like that, Chad. I'm sorry. I wish I could have been there for you. Is that why your ego is so big now?"

Chad laughed. Hard. "Oh, no, Sonny, that's not why my ego's big. But it's one of the contributing factors. I have to make myself feel confident somehow."

Sonny looked at him, but her expression was hard to read. "I didn't cry at my dad's funeral," she whispered. Chad stopped.

"How come?" he asked softly.

"Somehow…I couldn't. I don't know why. But I've always felt so horrible about it. It's not like I have another dead father to cry over, you know?" Her eyes looked so much darker than before. Shinier, too.

Chad looked away. "I didn't use to believe in love."

Sonny's head snapped up to look at him. "You didn't? Why?"

"Nobody ever gave it to me." Chad said simply. "My parents were always too busy with work to make time for me; I never had any friends because the kids at school were so cruel to me. And when I finally did get accepted, it was because of the new me that was arrogant and egotistical and beautiful. But it wasn't even me." It was Chad's turn to look sorrowful.

"Well, what did make you believe in love, then?" Sonny asked, and for some strange reason, her heart jumped to attention and began to drum excruciatingly faster.

Chad's eyes held a twinkle as he turned to look at her. "Now that's a secret that I'm not telling today," he said mysteriously.

"Well – could you give me a hint?" Sonny asked, and against her will, her head seemed to be inching in towards his face.

Chad looked at her a long time. His expression seemed like it was clearing something up in his head. Then, he too pressed his face into hers until their noses were almost touching.

"Yes, I can," he said, and before she knew it their lips were locked, his arms were around her, her hands were wound in his amazingly soft hair, and it seemed like nothing else was there.

That is, until Selena stuck her head through the wall, (and I mean just her head) saw them, then screamed, "YES!"

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Yay! Wasn't that cute? I made them inwardly tormented for dramatic effect. The next chapter will be called Not in he Rain. Oh, and could somebody please tell me if I'm keeping them in character? That was one of the rules.