[ AN ] Oh the angst is back! So I know pretty much everything that's going to happen in this, but it will take longer to update because school is starting soon. Sorry for the late update, I went camping during the weekend :)

Disclaimer from the prologue still applies. I'll update you if that ever changes.


Somewhere along this winding road we lost the trust
So I'll walk away so you don't have to see me cry ;

( the many ways to F A L L )
& chapter one : the trouble with love

~ colourfuldaze.

---------------------

And you just want the world to see
But like a drug that makes you blind,
It`ll fool ya every time

The days passed slowly since the day that Sonny made her sacrifice, but they still passed. She isolated herself from the ones that she had loved the most, it was as though she wasn't truly living anymore. She was a shell of the girl that used to be, a shadow of the figure that was able to make anybody's day. She was still in the celebrity picture: although her songs were darker now and her acting was filled with more emotion than ever.

It was only a matter of time before she was back in the spotlight, since James had told her recently that she was being looked at for a role in a dramatic movie. The media had shown up at their home the day before, even yelling out questions that were unrelated to her or the movie. They were about Chad, all about Chad. Chad and Tawni. Tawni Hart-Cooper, her former best friend.

They don't mention Chad and Tawni very much. They live together, but that was just a topic that remained mostly untouched. She could speak for both of them when she says that it hurts too much. It had been one year since Chad and Tawni's wedding, the last time that Sonny Monroe allowed herself to cry for the blue-eyed blonde that she would never be able to hold, to love – ever again.

She didn't really understand why they were asking irrevalent questions, she never let herself think about Chad and Tawni anymore. But apparantly, after a year, Chad and Tawni were on the rocks. James had shown her magazines – they all had the same cover: Chad and Tawni arguing at the Oscar's.

But she already knew that. Her and James were given the pleasure of sitting right behind Hollywood's Golden Couple. Sonny had won the Best Actress in a Film award, and when she got up, Chad had grabbed her wrist. It was a small moment in time, and she broke away before it would start. This was what she wanted. This was her sacrifice.

The trouble with love is
It can tear you up inside
Make your heart believe a lie
It`s stronger than your pride

------------

Her living condition with James was unusual for their age. Others their age were already married, some had children already. But they were never normal anyways. At 18, she had fallen in love. At 20, he had found his soulmate. At 22, both their dreams had been shattered by another "couple's" selfishness. At 26, they didn't even had a single strand of hope left for their shattered hearts and their unreachable dreams.

"Sonny, phone!" she heard him say.

She quickly reaches for it and put the phone on speaker, so that James can hear too.

"Hello?"

"Is this Allison Monroe?" a deep mysterious voice asked.

She looks questioningly and James and he just points at the phone, telling her to respond.

"Um, yes? Who is this?"

"I am Christopher Stewart, director. Do you know what this is about?"

She looked and James confusingly and he just grins at her.

"Um.. well I was told that I was being offered a lead role in a movie".

"That, Ms. Monroe, is exactly what this is about".

She squeals and James takes the phone from her.

"What genre? Is it up-and-coming? Who is being considered for the male lead?!" he demanded at once.

The man seemed taken aback at first, but then replied nonetheless.

"Is that James Conroy? What a surprise! You are also going to be contacted for the role of the best friend of the lead. Think about it and get at me!".

Sonny tackles him and for the first time in months, they truly are happy.

"Consider the roles, and then meet me next week at Olive Garden to meet the rest of the cast".

And the line went dead.

The sad story always ends the same
Me standin' in the pourin' rain
It seems no matter what I do
It tears my heart in two

-----------------

They both dressed up formally and were on time for the dinner. They both knew how important this meeting was and how important first impressions were in the business. James told the waitress that they were under Christopher Stewart's reservation, and they were immediately seated at a 10-seat table. There were already 3 people there, a teenage brunette, a jet-black haired child, and the known director himself.

They exchanged hellos and a light conversation surrounded the group as more and more people came. Soon enough, only two more seats were empty.

"Okay, well here is the general idea. There is this girl, who has experienced more heartbreak than ever imagined. She has been betrayed countless times, but nothing can set her up even more when she meets Austin Blake Anthony, an actor she meets when she bumps into him at a coffee shop. They fall in love. He breaks her heart. He cheats on her with her best friend, and she runs. Away from the heartbreak, betrayal. They meet again two years later when he gets into a car crash. But again, she runs. He promises her that he would walk out of her life, and he does. His last request is that she attends his wedding, a year later" he spoke.

By the end of his speech, Sonny is close to bursting into tears. How can this movie be exactly how the past decade of her life has been? Everything was right, it was all what had happened between her and Chad. She took a glance at James, and his face had quickly become unreadable again. He was hiding his emotions, they both knew the feeling of being vulnerable.

They both stayed in silence while the rest of the group chatted, at least until Chris' voice booms: "FINALLY, Hollywood's Golden Couple has arrived!".

Damn it. Please no. Not them. ANYONE but them.

She reluctantly opened her eyes and looked to James for support when she wound Chad Dylan Cooper and Tawni Hart-Cooper standing in front of them.

( How can she run away when they're blocking the exit? )

She already knew that this night was going to be awkward, but now she didn't know what to make of it. Most likely, Chad would be the male lead. She would be the female lead. NOTHING good could come out of this.

She knows that Chad and Tawni are glancing at her, and she tries desperately to ignore that fact. She places her hand in James', and he squeezes the grip between them.

It was only a matter of time before things would change again. But with her best friend by her side, she somehow knew that things would be okay.

The trouble with love was, that you could never control who your heart beats for. As much as she tried.

Even after all the years of running and hiding, she found her heart beating for the blue-eyed blonde sitting across from her.

The trouble with love is
It doesn't care how fast you fall
And you can't refuse the call
See, you got no say at all


[ author's note ] thank you guys for being patient with this, the past week for be has been the worst ever. i'm leaving for a funeral in a few hours, and i won't be updating for the next week or so. sorry guys, i've had quite a week.

( RIP Grandma, I love you . )