Risky Business

"Don't know how I lived without you

'Cause every time that I get around you

I see the best of me inside your eyes

You make me smile"

-1-

August 23, 2014

"You would think that it would look dorky on me," I watched as my best friend stood in front of the mirror, tilting his head from side to side, "but I make the whole crown-look look totally amazing. Don't you think?"

Chad turned to look at me, giving me a sly wink. I, in turn, rolled my eyes and smirked. Sure, my BFF is slightly egotistical, but he's also pretty damn adorable, if may say so myself; even if he is wearing a paper-crown made by his niece, which looks like a slightly-duller version of the one that the Burger King dude wears.

Then again, Chad would do anything for his niece, which is one of the many things that I love about him.

"Chad, you are twenty-four, you know." I sighed, and this time, he rolled his eyes.

"We don't even know what time I was born, Sonny. My mom was drunk with pain meds, and my dad was just plain drunk. So, technically, I could still be twenty-three," I watched with bated breath as he took a step towards me, and leaned in closer, "just like you will be in the matter of two weeks."

I gulped, just thinking about my upcoming birthday.

Twenty-three just seemed like a huge jump from twenty-two. When you're twenty-two, you're still at that partying age. When your next birthday comes, you have to mature.

And today, Chad was now as old as Methuselah.

Happy birthday to him.

"Whatever you say, Chad." For a split second, I tore the crown off of his head so I could ruffle his hair. "But as of midnight tonight, you have to act like a mature adult. That means no slang talk, no rapping in the shower, no having any fun. Do you understand?" I looked at him pointedly, whilst he started humming "I'm On A Boat." Lovely, Chad. Just lovely.

"I thought you had to do those things after you turn thirty. Or after you have a kid. Not when you turn twenty-four."

He had a point, and I was really just joking with him before (which he picked up on). "Still, Chad," I whined, balling my hands into fists, "Doesn't twenty-four seem just, so old?"

I knew, deep down, that I was exaggerating this whole age-oldness deal, but I somehow needed to verbalize my unreasonable feelings.

"You'll be here in a year, Munroe." His hands were on his hips, and some strands of his hair were sticking up out of the crown. He looked like a twenty-four-year-old minus twenty years. I hid my smile.

"A year and two weeks." I corrected.

"But still," He took a step closer to me, resting his hands on my shoulders, "Where do you want to be a year from now?" He held up his hands to stop me from answering. "Let's rephrase that, where did you think that you'd be a year from now, ten years ago?"

My jaw somehow unhinged and my eyes kind of bugged out as I started gawking at him.

When I was twelve/thirteen, I really thought of anyone twenty and older as being a cool-kind of-old.

Therefore, I planned on being married, and having at least two kids, and having an amazing career.

I had one of those things now.

As for the other two, I would never, ever tell Chad about them.

"Chad-" My mouth went dry when I even thought about my explanation, but thankfully, we were interrupted.

"Chad!" The booming, yet sweet voice of Jamington Cooper Smith drifted through the room as she walked into it. "Sonny!" She smiled at me, and came over and hugged me first. In turn, Chad pouted, and held his arms open for his older sister. She obliged, wrapping her arms around him, and I laughed.

They acted like they were four and seven, instead of appropriate adults, one of whom had a child and was expecting another one.

"If it isn't my favorite brother and future sister-in-law." She beamed at us, rubbing her slightly-rounded belly, as I blushed and Chad frowned.

I knew that Jamington was joking, but still, I was sick of that type of joking.

After my twenty-first birthday, I starred in a movie. This caused the paparazzi to follow me everywhere. Considering the fact that Chad's my best friend, he comes with me a lot of places.

So, the rumors started spreading, and jokes between our friends and family members started developing.

And they've never stopped.

Ever.

"Jamie," Chad looked at his sister tiredly, pointedly, as he continued speaking, "where's my baby?"

Just like that, a little critter with red curls ran into the room, flinging herself at Chad. "Uncle Chad!" I watched as Chad picked up his three-year-old niece, hugging her to him.

"Aubree!" Chad planted a kiss on top of her head, and then set her down.

There's always something about a guy loving a little kid, and that kid loving back with all of the adoration in the world.

I really don't think that guys care about how girls are with children, but girls certainly do.

With that thought, Aubree ran over and hugged my legs, while I bent down and hugged her. I caught a glimpse of Chad looking at me, smiling; but when he caught my stare, he quickly looked way.

"You ready to get this party on the road?" Jamie was fiddling with the keys, ready to go.

Chad tugged his crown on tighter, and marched out of his house.

I grinned at Jamie, picked her daughter up in my arms, and headed out after Chad.

I loved this family way too much for my own good, and I think that they feel the same way. And I'd never want anything to change.

Ooo000oo0

"So when are you and CDC going to come out and announced that you're engaged?" I didn't know whether to punch Grady, my former co-star from So Random, or grin and bear it. Considering my clean criminal record, I opted for the latter choice.

"Grady," I drew in a deep breath, "Chad and I aren't even dating, and you know it."

The new father of two rolled his eyes. "I know, Sonny," he patted me on my shoulder, "But remember the days of So Random? I swear, the two of you could not go a day without flirting with one another. And whenever he'd have a girl, you'd get jealous. Whenever you'd have a guy, he'd get jealous." Grady licked his lips, and watched as Portlyn, his wife, chatted with Tawni (my other old co-star). "What I mean is, back in the days of our old shows, all of us could cut the sexy tension between you and Chad with a knife."

I blinked, let my mouth fall open, and then blinked again. "S-sexy tension?"

I probably should've been more concerned about the fact that Grady said I had it with Chad, but whatever.

"I have little ones, now." Grady winked obnoxiously at me. "I suppose it's better to use the term 'sexy' – and make them think of see-through bras and underwear, over 'sexual' – and make them think of seduction and beds."

"Grady," I swallowed back the laughter that was bubbling up, "Lily and Dolly are just six months old. The only thing that they care about is food and a clean diaper." Not even that. But I held my tongue and looked around the room.

Chad's party was set in this new, clean club in town. Lapele, or something like that.

It had disco lights, but clean, pop, kid-friendly music. There was alcohol, but not a whole lot. Besides that, there was yummy mozzarella sticks and onion rings on every table, so that was a bonus.

Besides the food, there were balloons everywhere. Chad's birthday cake was over in one corner, surrounded by presents, and my mouth watered just looking at it.

It was chocolate, but it had blue paisleys on it, with a creamy white-chocolate overlay. I really, really couldn't wait to take a huge bite out of it.

I tried to divert my thoughts on other things besides the cake and Grady, so I continued glancing around the room.

Besides Tawni and Portlyn, I quickly spotted Nico, the Jonas Brothers and their wives, Miley Cyrus and Liam whatshisname, and David Henrie who was talking to Chad.

My desire was to hide out with Aubree and Jamie, but they were occupied with talking to Justin Bieber. Never had I ever imagined that Aubree's green eyes could be as big as they were now.

I suppose that good old Justin Bieber can amuse some people. Heh.

"Sonny," I spun around to face Grady, but he was already by his wife's side. Instead of him, Chad and David were quickly approaching me, and David was grinning.

"Sonny Munroe!" He engulfed me in a hug, and I suddenly found it more difficult to breathe (David's cologne has always been on the really, really strong side).

"David," I huffed back, pulling away to shoot a glare at Chad. He just shrugged at me. "How's it going?"

"Great." As if he couldn't have aggravated me more, he gave me a playful punch on the arm. I wanted to punch him too, but not as playfully…more over, painfully.

"So, I heard that you and Chad are preggers. Congrats." I really, really wanted to punch him. Chad shot a glare at David, turned to me, and shook his head.

It was aggravating. It was aggravating as hell.

"David, we'd have to be married to be pregnant, and that's not happening anytime soon." I was happy that Chad was defending us and all, but my happiness was replaced with my mouth falling open in dismay. Anytime soon.

Chad's mouth hung open too, as he realized his mistake.

This caused David the Douche to clap his hands in utter joy (kill me now), and smush Chad and I together in a group hug.

"So, you're saying that a Chadson wedding will happen someday!" Kill. Me. Now. I wanted to die.

Especially since that statement did not come from David. The voice belonged to Miley Cyrus, and behind her was her boy-toy.

"Uh, no." Chad looked frantically from me, to Miley, and then to David.

Boy, were we in a pickle now.

"Oh, come on," Liam, who I didn't know so well, spoke up, "I think that the two of you would be cute together."

"N-no." Chad shook his head, and I just stared dumbly at all of the people around us. "We're just best friends."

Chad and I should've known this crowd. With this crowd, you can get away with nothing.

Not. One. Word.

"You know the 'idea' about best friends, don't you, Chad?" Miley took a step closer to my poor birthday boy, probably scaring the hell out of him.

"N-no." He was stuttering. She was definitely scaring him. And, as much as I wanted to defend him, I held my tongue. Partially because I was scared to get pounced on as well.

"Well, they say that two best friends of the opposite sex can't be best friends." Miley stopped talking, and I narrowed my eyes at her.

Did she know that she made absolutely no sense at all?

Oh well.

I still like her better than Selena Gobiotch and Taylor Obsessive Swift.

"Without falling in love."

Oh, so she did have a thing to add on to her previous statement. One that I should've been expecting.

My eyes went from her gaudy necklace, to Chad's eyes. We held our stare for a few moments, and then broke it off.

From the look in his eyes, I got a few things.

One- he was really wishing for me to slap Miley.

Two- he was ready to get the hell out of his birthday party.

Three- he was just as sick of our friends making jokes about us being a couple as I was.

And, I think that I might've picked up on a forth thought of his.

He was slowly, but surely, going to come up with a plan that would stump them all.

And, in truth, I couldn't wait to know what it was.

Lyrics: Bose, Jeremy; Daly, Blair; Harding, J; Shafer, Matthew – Smile by Uncle Kracker

A/N: So how cute is Chad with Aubree? Wouldn't you pay for the Chad on TV to have a niece? Anyway, thank you SO much for all of the reviews and alerts so far! It's always nerve-racking yet exciting to start a new story, so I hope that you guys like it!