Sorry about the delay. I had some major writer's block, but I think it's mostly gone now. Yay. Okay, so I've got to say, in the last two chapters, I was a little worried that I hadn't driven it home enough that the Cooper family, other than Chad and Michael, were really just a bunch of jerk faces, but judging from your comments, I think I did the job. Good. We probably won't see much of them again, so yeah. Well, enjoy.

Chapter Five: In the Mood to Laugh

Chad's Point of View

Sonny and I got out of my car and started walking to the stairway of her apartment building.

"Now, there's something I should warn you about," Sonny began.

I felt myself tense up. "What is it?" I asked a little frantically. To say I was nervous to meet Sonny's mom was an understatement.

Sonny smiled and gave me a confused look. "I was just going to say that my mom's a hugger like I am… Are you okay?"

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine," I said unconvincingly.

"Are you nervous to meet my mom?" she asked incredulously. Well she didn't have to sound so surprised. When I didn't respond right away, her expression became even more shocked. "Chad, you're going to be fine and… Oh… I think I know what this is about…" Her expression softened.

We had reached the stairs by then, but Sonny stopped me from going up.

"What?" I asked. I was curious as to what it was that she had come up with.

Sonny suddenly attacked me with a hug, almost knocking me off my feet. I stumbled backwards, but caught my balance and hugged her back. "What was that for?" I mumbled into her hair.

"Are you nervous because you're afraid that my mom knows about what happened with your parents?" she asked.

What?! I put my hands on her shoulders and held her at arm's length so I could see her face. "You told her?"

She stared at me innocently. "Yeah," she said like it should've been obvious, only I could tell she was trying to be nice about it. She studied my expression for a second. "Sorry, but my mom and I have a way different relationship than you and your parents. I tell her pretty much everything. It's okay, though, because she doesn't blame you or anything. I'd already told her that you were warning me and I was insisting on going anyway." She shrugged it off. "She still loves you."

I just stared at her.

"Was that what you were nervous about?"

"No, but it is now," I said.

"Sorry…" she said sheepishly. Sonny took me by the hand and starting pulling me up the stairs while I resisted the temptation to drag my feet to keep from going.

When we got to the door, she dropped my hand and searched her pockets until she found her key.

"Isn't your mom home?" I asked. Wasn't that kind of the whole point?

She smiled and shoved the key in the lock. "No, she doesn't get home for another half hour," Sonny said indifferently.

I stared at her. "So you got me all worked up back there for nothing? Your mom isn't even home yet?"

She snickered. "You brought it up." She threw the door open and walked through, spreading her arms out in a "ta-da" way.

"You are evil, you know that, right?" I knew she could probably hear the smile in my voice. I followed her in through the door and shut it behind me.

"Well, I suppose I really can't deny that, can I?" Sonny shrugged shamelessly. "Okay, so this is no 'Cooper Mansion' but it works."

I scoffed. "I'm sick of the big fancy stuff anyway. Show me normal."

"Okay," she said eagerly. Sonny skipped around the corner and I assumed she wanted me to follow. "This is the kitchen. Cozy, yes?"

"Yeah. It's nice to see a kitchen that you're guaranteed to not get lost in," I said, looking around the small, but nicely decorated kitchen. I looked back to her face and caught sight of a slightly anxious expression before she immediately changed it to her usual smile.

"Moving on," Sonny said, grabbing my hand again. We walked through a doorway on one of the walls in the kitchen and we came to the dining room. "Dining room…" she pointed to the room that was visible from the dining room. "Living room…" So I guess we were technically in the living room/dining room.

"Nice. It feels… lived in," I said truthfully.

"That's a good thing, right?" she asked suddenly.

I could feel my expression change to one of confusion. "Yeah, of course."

"Okay, uh…" Sonny led me down a short hallway and at the end were two doors. "My mom's room." She pointed to the plain brown door with nothing else on the outside. I had kind of figured that that was her mom's room since the other door had a giant poster for So Random on it.

"And my room." Sonny opened the door and barely gave me any time to take it all in before she gasped, ran into her room, and snatched something off her wall with a ripping sound.

I stepped into her normal-sized room that was decked out in purple and pink and other random knickknack type things sitting around. I chuckled at her reaction and tried to see what she had ripped off the wall. "What was that?"

"Nothing!" she said defensively.

"Okay, now I'm curious. Seriously, what was it? A poster?" I took a step closer to her.

She kept whatever it was behind her back while she took a step back but ended up just backing herself into a corner. "Yes, a poster that you will never see," Sonny said warily.

I smirked as I stood in front of her, blocking her from any escape unless she had suddenly gotten faster since I last saw her run. "What, is it a poster of Zac Efron or something? It's okay, I'll get over it." I smiled jokingly.

"Forget it," she said unconvincingly as she quickly realized she was trapped.

"Oh come on. Please?"

I could see her determination faltering. "You won't laugh?"

"Me? It's like you don't know me at all," I said.

Sonny raised her eyebrows questioningly.

I sighed. "No, I won't laugh, I swear."

She lowered her eyes and held up the partially crumpled up poster. "In my defense, I was a fan of the show before I came on So Random and I just never mentioned it because of the rivalry."

I looked from her face to the poster and smiled, trying not to laugh. Not really at her, but at how ridiculous she was being over it. "This is what you were hiding from me?" I asked incredulously. It was a poster with the entire cast of Mackenzie Falls on it, including me. "You were a fan?"

"Don't get full of yourself," she warned jokingly. "but yeah… I mean why else do you think I recognized you so fast when we met?"

"And the need to hide it?"

She shrugged. "I don't know. I was kind of embarrassed since I still had it and now I'm dating the star of the show. I don't know, it just seemed kind of weird, the more I thought about it because I have a giant picture of you on my wall, and then I forgot to take it down before you got here, so…"

"Right, because I would really hate it if my girlfriend hated the show I'm on," I said sarcastically.

Sonny rolled her eyes and tossed the poster onto her bed. "All that aside,-"

"Wait, wait. Do you still watch the show?" I asked curiously, prepared to drag it out of her.

She looked up at the ceiling in exasperation and gave me a do-I-really-have-to-tell-you face.

"You promised I could ask all of the questions tonight," I reminded her.

"Okay, well, to be honest, I sort of stopped watching it out of spite after you ruined my peace picnic, and I only started watching it again once they started showing the episodes we wrote."

"Hmm… Okay. So what were you saying before?" I never really realized how much we jump from topic to topic until now. Hmm. Kind of weird actually.

"I was going to ask you if you liked hamburgers and stuff like that." Sonny leaned comfortably against the wall, not caring that I was still standing in the way of her being able to leave.

"Sure. Why do you ask?"

"Because that's what we're having for dinner. It's about the only thing my mom can cook that doesn't come out… mangled." She laughed good-naturedly.

"In that case, 'hamburgers and stuff like that' sounds very appealing."

"And I hope you're also in the mood to laugh. A lot!" Sonny said, talking with her hands as well.

"Oh, yes, what is this comedy that we're watching anyway? You've had me in suspense," I said with fake enthusiasm.

"Oh, shut up," she said laughing and pushing me to the side. "It's a surprise."

"Okay, but if I've never even seen it before, then what's the point of not telling me what the title is?" We made our way out of her room and walked into the front hallway to wait for her mom, I was guessing.

She pursed her lips thoughtfully. "You make an interesting point."

"That's because it's a good, reasonable point."

She leaned back against their front door and crossed her arms. "Fine, I'll tell you the dang title if it'll make you happy. It's called It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World. And don't worry, because my mom is not watching it with us. No offense to her, love her to death, but I am not letting her watch a three hour movie with us."

"Three hours?" I asked.

The front door unexpectedly flew open, causing Sonny to stumble forward into my arms.

Someone who I assumed was Sonny's mom walked in, wearing the same smile that resided on Sonny's face practically 24/7.

"Mom, you're home," Sonny mumbled into my shirt.

"Hello. Nice catch," Sonny's mom noted.

I quickly helped Sonny to her feet, not noticing the double meaning to her statement until after Sonny gave her mom a wide-eyed don't-embarrass-me-look.

"Sorry. Nice to meet you, Chad. I'm Connie Munroe," she said before enveloping me into a hug like Sonny'd warned me.

"Nice to meet you too," I said after the quick hug.

"So, I'll just go get dinner started. It shouldn't take too long, so feel free to do whatever you want." She started walking out of the room but stopped short. "Within reason. No burning down the house or anything."

"We won't mom," Sonny said, looking eager to get her mom out of the room. As soon as she was gone, she grabbed my hand and took me into the living room. "Sorry about that. Your parents may be rude, but my mom is embarrassing."

"I think I'd still take the embarrassing parent," I said, watching her slide a DVD into the TV. "We're watching that now?"

"Why not? It's likely my mom will burn dinner and have to start over at least once, giving us about an hour," she said logically, before jumping onto the couch and sitting cross-legged on one of the cushions. "Sit, sit."

"Since when did you get so bossy?" I sat down next to her.

"I am not," she protested. "Now be quiet."

"Oh, yeah, you're not bossy at all," I said sarcastically.

The main menu came up and she hit the play button on the remote.

"Ready to laugh 'till it hurts?" she asked leaning into my side.

"Bring it on Munroe. Oh, but just don't talk during the movie."

She stabbed the pause button and the credits that all old movies have in the beginning and end froze. "Excuse me?" She laughed in spite of herself.

"You always like to do commentary on all your favorite parts, whether I've seen it before or not."

"Fine, I'll be good." Sonny hit the pause button again before finally just hitting the skip button to get to the actual movie.

Okay, so the rest of Chad's visit will be in the next chapter, which should be out soon. And the movie mentioned, It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World, is a real movie and I do not own it. It's this really hysterical movie from 1963 with a bunch of famous comedians we really have never heard of. The only person I really recognize is Mickey Rooney. Oh, and the original three stooges make a cameo too, as firemen. Anyway, if you haven't seen it, you should. Not sure where you could find it, I think you can buy it or rent it but I'm not sure. My family is also big on comedy and funny movies, so of course we have it on DVD and so do my grandparents on my mom's side. But, I hope you liked this chapter, and I will be updating everything else I have going on fairly soon. Thanks for reading, and please review like always. Thanks! :)