Sonny

As soon as Chad asked that question Danny started to cry. Danny is my four-year-old nephew. I also have a one-year-old niece, who is the most adorable little girl ever! Her name is Maya. Danny is kind of spoiled, and he throws a lot of fits.

"Momma! I want my momma! Moooooooommmmmaaaaaaa!" he whined. I picked him up and began to bob up and down and making a "shuuuuuuush" sound. He didn't even skip a beat. This boy was going to be a pain.

As soon as he started crying, Maya's bottom lip started to pucker out. Two more minutes of this and she was going to be crying just as hard as he was.

"Sonny, what's wrong?" Chad asked again.

"My mom brought my aunt back here and gave me the kids to see. Mom went to get Maya something to drink, and Aunt Jenny went outside. I don't know exactly what happened, but the next thing I knew, Mom came running back from outside saying that I had to watch the kids while she took Aunt Jenny to the hospital." I explained.

Chad didn't say anything for a really long time. I wanted to know what was going through that head of his. When Chad thought hard about something he was pretty darn adorable. I mean, his facial expressions were adorable, not him.

"How are we going to get to the studio?" he asked.

"Oh my goodness! The tour! I forgot. Call Marshall. His number is in my address book by my phone in my room. Just look under M." I told him. He left and I heard him moving around in there. Danny had quieted down during all of this. He had his fingers in his mouth and was sucking on them.

"He's going to hold the bus for as long as he can." Chad said when he came back.

"Moooooooommmmmaaaaaaa!" Danny yelled again. I started to bounce him again, and shushed him.

Maya made a sort of gurgling noise, and then she cried. There was no way I was going to be able to hold them both at the same time. I couldn't ask Chad. There's no way he would do it. I was bending to try and get her when she started walking towards Chad. She put her arms up towards him like she wanted him to hold her. I was laughing on the inside.

"Sonny, what is she doing?" Chad asked, backing up.

"She wants you to hold her. How sweet is that?" I asked.

"Not at all. Sonny, I don't know what to do. I don't babysit!" he yelled.

I couldn't help it then, I started laughing. This caused Danny to start laughing, and made Maya look around the room at everyone. Chad let out a breath when Maya stopped going towards him, but then she kept going. Soon, he was up against the wall looking for a way out of this. The phone rang in my room and he yelled, "I'll get it!"

He ran off to my room and Maya turned, slowly, to face where he'd run off. She turned to me and pointed at the door to my room.

"That's right. It's Chad Dylan Cooper. You like him, don't you? Well, don't worry. I'll get him to hold you, sweetie." I told her. She gave me a big smile that made me smile even bigger. She was wearing a pink dress and had her rocker binky in her mouth. She made a humming noise that sounded like she was happy.

Chad came back into the room, not looking well at all. "That was your mom. She said that your aunt fell down the steps. She broke her ankle and busted her lip. They think she has a concussion, too, so it will be a while before they get back. Looks like we aren't going on the tour after all."

"Aww, Chad. You're going to stay here with me to babysit? Thank you." I said.

"I have no choice." he replied, opening the curtains on a window. It was raining again. "I really don't feel like driving in the rain aga-ahhh!" Chad wasn't paying attention, but Maya had been waddling towards him the entire time and finally made it to his leg.

"Pick her up, Chad! Just think of her as one of your fans. She likes you." I told him.

He looked at her for a few seconds and she smiled up at him. He picked her up and awkwardly smiled. She started clapping and he did smile. It was really sweet, until she decided to grab his bottom lip and pull.

"Ouch!" he yelled, jerking away from her.

"Oh no." I mumbled. I knew what was coming next. Anytime anyone yelled and they didn't look happy, babies started to cry. Maya's bottom lip started to stick out.

"Oh. Don't cry…no, no. Don't cry." Chad asked her. It didn't help. The baby let out a wailing sound that hurt my ears. Chad stuck her on the ground and she sat. She was not a happy baby. Danny wiggled out of my arms and crawled over to his little sister.

He hugged her and said, "S'otay, Myaaaa. S'otay." She looked at her brother and stopped crying. The lip was still poked out, but it was better. She started rubbing her eyes and scratching her head. A clear sign that she was tired.

"Why don't we see if we can get them to take a nap." I asked Chad.

"No!" Danny said. I guess he knew what that meant. "Gamths. I wanna pway gamths." I had a few video games in my room. I went into my room and got the playstation and some games. When I came back Chad was sitting next to Maya on the couch. She was starting to sleep, and Danny was sitting in front of the TV.

"Are you ready to play some games?" I asked Danny.

He nodded and grabbed the remote that I hadn't even plugged in. Pretty soon, we had one interested toddler, and a sleeping baby. I motioned for Chad to follow me to the kitchen.

"We need to find something for them to eat later." I told him.

"Hey, don't look at me. I don't know anything about babies." he replied.

"Just help me, please." I said and he started opening cabinets. We looked everywhere and came up with a couple of bananas, ravioli, and cereal. "That should work until my mom and aunt get back."

"Are kids always this tiring?" he asked.

"You're already tired?" I couldn't believe that.

"Well…I've never taken care of anyone but me before. Besides, I kept waking up last night. I didn't get much sleep." he said.

I blushed. I knew I did because my face was suddenly on fire. I tried to get it under control, but it didn't work. I knew that part of the reason he didn't get much sleep was because of me, and although I was thankful, I was also ashamed. I was sick and I'd never have asked Chad to stay with me if it weren't for that. Besides, I really couldn't make fun of him for being tired, because I was, too.

"How about you take a nap while Maya is sleeping. I have Danny under control." I told him.

He gave me a smile, not his usual smile, but one that was equally charming. "Thanks, Sonny." he said and went into the living room. I grabbed a chocolate chip cookie from the fridge and ate it. It was really good. The phone rang then, giving me something to do other than go and bother Chad.

"Hello?" I answered.

"Sonny? Where are you?" Tawni asked.

"Oh, Tawni. I don't think I'm going to be able to go. There's been a sort of…emergency and I have no way to get up there. I also have to watch some kids." I explained.

"But you have to go Sonny! This is our world tour. Come on!" she shrieked.

"I have a job to do right now." I said again.

"Well-"

Tawni was cut off by Marshall. "Sonny, I'm sorry, but we have to leave now. We can't wait any longer or we won't get to our first stop in time."

"Marshall, I think you need to go ahead without us." I said. Even though it hurt, I knew I had to let them go. I was looking forward to this, but if I was lucky-which I really hadn't been lately-then Chad and I would fix some of my bad luck stuff. That seems kind of ironic, doesn't it?

"Is Chad staying with you until the end of the tour?" Marshall asked.

"Why would he do that? He only stayed last night because he was drenched and my mom doesn't like leaving anyone out in the rain. Except hobos. She doesn't like hobos." I explained. I didn't know why but my mom was always afraid that one was going to bite her. It made no sense.

"Okay…besides that, Chad's parents are out of town, as you know. But they're doing renovations on his house. He was supposed to be on the tour while it was going on, that's why his parents went through with it." Marshall said.

"Well, can you guys come and get him maybe?" I asked. I didn't know why but some small part of me was hoping he would say no. I guess it was that I wanted to know that someone else wasn't able to make it either.

"Sonny, we have to go now. Tell Chad that we're sorry that he doesn't get to come and I'm going to try to get a hold of his parents."

"He can stay here until you find some place for him to stay. It's no big deal." I told him.

"Oh, I bet it isn't." Tawni was now on the phone.

"Tawni? When did you pick up the phone?" I asked.

"Marshall handed it to me. I have to go, Sonny. Have fun with Chad." She sounded like she was smiling and twisting her hair around her finger.

"I am not going to-" Tawni Hart hung up on me. I looked at the phone with my mouth open and then I heard Maya giggle. I went into the living room to see what was going on and she was just giggling in her sleep. Danny had fallen asleep on the remote control he had and Chad was on the floor. He was drooling in his sleep, which I thought was extremely funny because not even the kids were doing that.

"Maybe I can just take a little nap." I said to myself. As soon as I sat down the front door opened. "Mom?"

"Hey, sweetie." she said, coming into the room and hugging me.

"How's Aunt Jenny?" I asked.

"They think she's going to be okay. I came by to get the kids. The nurses said that there is a daycare for the nurses' kids and they wouldn't mind watching them." Just then she saw Chad on the floor and started to laugh. "Did you feed him too much?"

"Very funny, mom. Chad isn't a baby. He's just…Chad." I replied.

"Uh huh." she said, sarcastically.

"What was that for?"

"Oh…nothing. I'm going to get some of the kids stuff together. I'm going to take my car and leave yours here for you and Chad to go to the studio." she told me.

"Mom, we aren't going on the tour. They had to leave without us." I said, bummed.

"Oh, honey, I'm so sorry."

"I do have a question, though." I told her.

"What's that?" she asked, packing the kids' things into a bag.

"Chad's mom and dad are still gone, and his house is being renovated. Marshall is trying to get a hold of his parents, but he needs a place to stay until then. Is it-"

"Sonny, you know that I have no objections. You and I can stay in the living room, your aunt and the kids can have my room and Chad can sleep in your room." she said.

Chad decided to get up off the ground and look around at this point. "What's going on?"

"My aunt is going to be okay. My mom is going to take the kids. Marshall called. He said that they had to leave us. They couldn't wait any longer. I'm sorry, Chad." I told him.

He looked like he wanted to go back to sleep, so I added, "My left my car here so we can go do something." With that, he got up and rubbed his eyes.

"Okay, let's get down to business, then. What did you do the night before your bad luck started?" he asked.

"Well, let's see. That was the night my mom's friend, Judy, invited us to her party. I think it was for her birthday, but I'm not sure. I was in the backyard. She has a wall in between the yard and the garden. I was with some other kids and we decided to go to the garden. The funny thing…is that I can't remember anything after that." I said.

"Does your mom?" he asked.

I shrugged my shoulders and went into the kitchen where my mom was getting some apple juice ready. "Hey, mom? Do you remember what happened at Judy's party?" I asked.

"Sweetie, I don't remember what I had for breakfast." she told me.

"So much for that idea." I said to Chad.

Chad just thought for a few minutes. Either that or he had finally gone loopy, like I always knew he would. I could've sworn I saw a little drool threatening to slip out. But he said, "Let's put this off for a little while. I have a headache, and I want to go do something."

"Okay…what do you want to do?" I asked.

"It's raining, right?"

"Yeah, why?"

"I think I know a place we can go. It's got some really good restaurants and stores around it, too. You wanna go?" he asked.

"Sure, I guess." I replied. Today was really weird. Everything was going so fast, I didn't have time to take a breath.

I told my mom where I was going and headed out the door. We raced down the stairs and into the parking lot. I unlocked it before we ran out in the rain and got in the passenger's side. I thought that since I didn't know where we were going, Chad should drive. He wouldn't have it any other way, apparently.

"The drive is pretty long." he warned me.

"That's fine. I'm just glad to get out of the house." I replied.

We drove for what seemed like all day but it turned out to just be two hours. On the way we listened to the radio and talked just a little bit. We arrived in a really tiny town that I didn't know the name of. I wondered how Chad knew this place, but I didn't ask. I was liking this trip the way it was.

We parked in a parking lot that was big for the town we were in. There were shops and restaurants, but none that I would ever imagine Chad Dylan Cooper going to. The streets were still wet and the sun had just come out. It was only out for a minute, though, because the clouds covered it again. I didn't know what we were doing, but I had a feeling I was going to like it.

"Okay, you can't laugh at me when I show you this place. It's one of my favorite places to go when I get stressed." he told me.

"Oh my gosh! Chad Dylan Cooper gets stressed!? I had no idea!" I fake screamed.

He laughed and said, "Just for that, you have to close your eyes."

I pouted, but I did as I was told. We walked and I soon felt myself going down a slope. I could tell that we were on mud because the ground was mushy underneath me. Chad had just told me that we were almost there when the rain started up again.

"Oh no!" I cried, and was about to take my hands off my eyes, but Chad stopped me.

"Who cares? Keep your eyes closed." he ordered.

I didn't take Chad to be the kind who didn't care about getting rained on, but there was another surprise for me. We walked on, and that was when the bad luck struck again. I stepped in a spot that was already worn away, and the rain wasn't helping any. I slipped, and I almost fell, but I felt arms wrap around me before that could happen. I opened my eyes to see Chad.

"Whoa. Um…thanks, Chad." I said. The blush was coming back.

"No problem, Sonny." he replied. Was he blushing? No, no, he wouldn't ever blush because of me. Would he?

I don't know how long we stayed like that because I didn't care. I wrong when I said that only one of his eyes sparkled. They both did, and they were so blue they made me want to look into them forever.

Whoa, Sonny! Snap out of it!

"Uh…so what were you going to show me?" I asked.

He lifted me up and said, "Take a look for yourself."

It was beautiful. I had never seen anything like it. It was a garden. Although it was raining, it made it all the more breathtaking. There was a little archway leading to another part of the garden. I decided to get under it because I was cold. Chad followed me. There were roses climbing up the arch and a little pond on the other side of the garden.

"So…how did you find this place?" I asked.

"My uncle builds these things. He built this one when I was six. I used to come play here all the time. I don't think I could forget this place even if I tried to." he replied.

I shrugged. I was cold, so I wrapped my arms around myself. To my surprise, Chad got behind me and wrapped his arms around me, too. It was oddly…nice. No one had ever taken me to a place so amazing before. I looked up and to my side at Chad.

"Is this where you take your girlfriends?" I asked.

"Nope. Just you." He smiled. For some reason my heart was starting to race and I was getting butterflies. Why was he so nice when it was just us and then so rude when we were around other people? It made no sense.

"When do you think the rain is going to stop?" I asked.

"I don't know." he said. I thought that was all he was going to say, so I turned back to the garden. He put a hand under my chin and gently made me face him. "And I don't care, either."

Suddenly, all the veins in my body had ice in them. Staring at Chad like this was making me all sorts of confused.

Do I like him? No, no, of course I don't. But, he's so sweet… Only right now, he's sweet. If you were anywhere else, he would be the jerk he normally is. But what if he isn't a jerk? What if he really is sweet?

I finally gave up and just stopped thinking all together. I looked into those blue eyes and just did the one thing that I actually wanted to. I leaned in and closed my eyes. I felt Chad do the same…

This is it! I'm going to kiss Chad!

That was when my phone rang.

Stupid phone…