No long note up here today. There is one at the bottom, though, and I ask that you all please read it. Other than that… Enjoy! C:
Summary: A break from filming scatters the friends across the globe. This temporary change brings about new relationship challenges for Sonny and Chad. And things get personal when somebody from the past returns unexpectedly.
Disclaimer: Me no own, you no sue. (Anything you recognize is not mine. Anything you don't recognize probably is mine. Probably.)
Four Seasons
By EmbracingRain
Arc Two
Summer
Chapter Six
July 18th
8:23 p.m.
Milwaukee, WI
Airport
Outside Security
"I don't care how much you beg, sunshine, the next time you ask me to bond with your brother, I refuse to do it," Chad said as he and Sonny lingered in each other's arms outside airport security. As it turned out, it didn't matter if you were the star of America's hit teen drama, you still weren't allowed to bring your girlfriend to the gate to see you off. If she didn't have a ticket, she wasn't allowed past security. And it didn't matter if she was Sonny Munroe and you were Chad Dylan Cooper. Apparently protocol couldn't be broken.
"Why?" Sonny queried with a tilt of her head. The scent of Chad's freshly laundered shirt was comforting, the beat of his heart was calming, both working together to fight off her distress at seeing him leave. One week wasn't enough time to be with Chad. Especially when they'd had little time to themselves. If he wasn't at his hotel or memorizing lines, she was babysitting her nephew and he was making valiant attempts to help. Then, Chelsea had gotten it into her head that Drew and Chad should bond, further depleting the time Sonny got to spend with her boyfriend.
"He took me on a ride along!" Chad exclaimed incredulously.
Sonny scoffed. "That's nothing. Nothing ever happens in that town. It's not like it's a big city, Chad."
"Do you know how scary your brother is when you and Chelsea aren't around? Damn scary. He almost arrested six guys last night because they looked at him funny!"
"Drew's just been stressed out ever since…yeah," Sonny defended her brother. Her stomach tied itself in knots as she thought back to the arrival of her long lost father a week back. The memory of it still made her sick, but at least the crying had stopped. Things with her mom, however, were far from pleasant. Sonny was starting to get anxious about when Nico would get back to her about that extra room.
Chad hugged Sonny tighter as she buried her face in his neck. The topic of Rick Munroe was still pretty much taboo for the Munroe siblings, and Chad knew even a slight mention toward the subject was enough to make Sonny upset - whether it was visible or not.
"Will you be okay?" he asked quietly. "Stupid question, I know, but I don't wanna leave unless you think you'll be okay."
"I'll be fine," Sonny replied, looking up at him with a smile that he could only describe as brave. "Besides, you have to leave. They can't finish filming the movie without you. I just wish you didn't have to go already, that's all."
"Are you gonna miss me, Sonny Munroe?" Chad asked in fake shock.
"More than you'll miss me."
"Yeah, that's probably true," Chad agreed. Sonny gasped and smacked his arm. Hard. "Ow! I was kidding, sunshine!"
Sonny snorted. "You'll call, right?"
"Every day," Chad promised, pulling a brand-new cell phone out of his pocket and holding it up for her to see.
"You don't have to call every day. Just whenever you have time. I know you'll be busy."
Chad grinned at her, but it quickly dissolved when he glanced at the time on his phone before it disappeared back into his pocket. "I hafta go, sunshine."
"Stay," Sonny demanded childishly, pulling him closer.
"I wish I could, babe. I don't like this any more than you do."
"One week isn't enough," Sonny whispered in his ear. "Is it crazy that I want you around all the time?"
Chad chuckled, taking a moment to breathe in the scent of her perfume and storing it in his memory. How was he supposed to go another three weeks without seeing her? Yeah, they pissed each other off sometimes and tended to bring out the worst in each other when they fought, but the good times were more than the bad. The good times were sweeter, too, more precious and tender.
"If it's crazy, then they'll have to commit both of us."
"You're cheesy," Sonny accused, looking up at him reproachfully.
"You started it," Chad teased her back before kissing her deeply. God, he was going to miss her! It had been hell when he'd gone to Florida for those few weeks to film his first part in the movie, and he and Sonny hadn't exactly been happy with each other at that point. He couldn't even imagine how much more difficult going to Italy for his second part in the movie was going to get.
"Chad," Sonny said, pulling away from his lips, "I was being serious."
"Sunshine-"
"I wasn't joking," she ploughed on, "when I said I want you around all the time. I was serious. I can't explain it properly, but I feel like… I don't know… I just feel."
Chad laughed, brushing a few strands of hair out of her eyes. "If you'd let me finish, you would know that I was about to say I was being serious, too. And," he took a deep breath before continuing, "I…feel, too."
Smiling and pressing a chaste kiss to his lips, Sonny stepped away. "Go," she said, pointing him in the direction of security. Sonny watched as Chad passed through security, turned to wave at her, then disappeared around the corner in search of his gate. And she knew, as she watched him walk away, that when he came back, things wouldn't be the same.
They were going to be better.
July 19th
11:33 a.m.
Andrew and Chelsea Munroe's House
Guest Bedroom
Sonny awoke to an outrageously loud clap of thunder that shook the windows in their frames and Tristan's loud wails in the room next to hers as Chelsea tried to calm him. The comedienne had almost forgotten that her sister-in-law had the day off work today. They were supposed to take Tristan to the zoo, but Sonny knew that plan was out the window if the thunder indicated the terrible rainstorm she thought it did.
She groaned and rolled over, tugging the pile of blankets over her head and burying her face in the mound of fluffy pillows. She'd gone over to Lucy's last night after taking Chad to the airport and got back a little past three. Looking back, Sonny knew she should have just stayed the night, but things had been hopelessly bizarre. Lucy had become strangely obsessed with Sonny and Chad's relationship and even more so with Chad himself. She'd grilled Sonny relentlessly about him but hardly listened. Instead, she detailed to Sonny exactly who she thought Chad was; it seemed as though she had turned him into some sort of fairytale prince in her mind. And, despite the fact that Lucy would soon be turning twenty, she still had posters and pictures of Chad slathered all over her bedroom walls - the kind you pulled from magazines like Tween Weekly.
Sonny had tried to have fun, she really did, but her longtime friendship with Lucy had felt off. Not just because the fact that Lucy's idolization of Chad had culminated in obsession, but also because Sonny could feel herself drifting away from Lucy. She'd known this day was coming for a long while, the inevitability of moving out to Hollywood, but she was still a little sad about it.
Lucy's obsession with Chad did soften the blow a little bit, though.
Still, Sonny hadn't left Lucy's house without remorse, though, knowing it was probably the last time she would ever see her friend outside of extremely rare and random run-ins.
It took the brunette actress to register that another thing that had woken her up was the buzzing of her phone under one of her pillows. She sat up and retrieved it. Upon glancing at the screen, she noticed she'd missed a call from Chad at seven-nineteen this morning and that there was a voicemail waiting for her. The automated voice told her she'd missed a message and announced it before Chad's voice finally fell through the speaker in a sleepy drawl.
"Good afternoon, sunshine… Or…morning. It's two-something and I just got off my plane in Italy. It's already afternoon here and I've got a meeting with the director in about two hours, so I figured I'd call while I still had the chance." There was a long pause and Chad sighed deeply, the sound coming out fuzzy and huffy over the line. "I miss you, babe. I'll call you next time I get a chance."
After a click that Sonny could only assume was Chad hanging up the phone, the automated voice came back and started babbling. Sonny hung up on the voice and glanced at the date on her phone, wishing that, somehow, Chad's scenes would be done filming early and he could come back sooner.
August 16th
11:15 a.m.
Condor Studios
So Random! Set
Sonny and Tawni's Dressing Room
Sonny was just getting ready to go over her lines for the new "Sicky Vicky" sketch when her phone started to ring. She tossed the script aside in exchange for her phone and answered it as she turned away from her mirror (practicing in front of a mirror helped her work on facial expressions).
"Hello?"
"Hi, Sonny," her mother said too sweetly.
Sonny cringed. She'd succeeded in avoiding talking to Connie more than necessary since she'd gotten back from Wisconsin, still worried about pushing her mom's buttons. The angry tension in their apartment was almost unbelievable.
"Hi, Mom," she replied warily. "What's up?"
"I need you to do me a favor."
"Alright," Sonny agreed, thinking Connie must have wanted her to pick up something from the grocery store after rehearsals. She pulled a blank piece of stationary and a pen out of her vanity drawer, ready to write down whatever the eldest Munroe requested. "What is it?"
"I need you to talk to your father." Sonny's heart sank, but before she could respond, Connie continued. "He and I have been in contact-" Sonny snorted. There was a miracle if she'd ever heard one. "-and I really do believe he's been trying, Sonny. At least give him a chance to have a part in your life," her mother pled. "What could it hurt?"
Sonny sat there for a moment, shock, awe, and anger coursing through her veins. For a minute or two, she couldn't think of anything to say, the hypocrisy of what her mom was asking her to do stunning her into silence. If Rick Munroe had suddenly marched back into his ex-wife's life demanding to be let back in, Sonny truly doubted her mother would be open to that.
"Sonny?" her mom asked tentatively.
"Hey, Mom," Sonny snapped, finally returning to reality and the conversation, "here's and idea: why don't you give him another chance?" She hung up her phone and hurled it across the room with an irate scream, grateful when, instead of the phone hitting Tawni's door and breaking, someone blond reached out and caught it.
"Bad day?" Grady asked as he and Nico hesitantly entered the room, looking as though they'd turn tail and run at any sign of Sonny's temper be it big or small.
"My mom wants me to give my dad another chance," Sonny told them bitterly and they nodded in understanding, having heard the story from her over the phone. "Do you need something?" she asked after taking a deep breath to calm herself down.
"Well," Nico began, perching himself in a chair, "Grady and I were talkin' and-"
"We'd really like it if you came to live with us!" Grady interrupted his best friend eagerly, his face lit up with a grin.
Sonny gaped at them, almost not daring to believe it. "Are you serious?"
"Of course," Nico said warmly. "Grady just has one condition." He rolled his eyes with a shake of his hat-covered head.
"Yeah, sure," Sonny said. "What?"
"Um…you're not…gonna make me throw away my comic book collection, are you?" Grady asked, sounding embarrassed.
"Of course not. Why would I do that? I read comic books, too."
"Fashionita doesn't count," Nico countered, amused. "It's girly."
"We can help you move in Friday after work," Grady promised. "Right now, we've gotta go rehearse for 'Dolphin Boy,' but we'll talk details over lunch. Y'know, rent…stuff like that."
Sonny smiled at them brightly. "Thanks, guys. You have no idea how much this means to me."
August 18th
7:43 p.m.
Hollywood Apartments
Elevator
Sonny hummed cheerfully to herself as she dug through her purse in search of her house keys. Friday night signaled the first night her much deserved freedom. She'd be splitting rent with Nico and Grady, and even though the amount sounded kind of steep, she knew it was cheaper than renting a place by herself. They'd be splitting any other bills and the cost of food, and she knew that, with three of them living in the apartment, they'd be able to handle the bills easily.
…Or so she hoped. She had no idea what Nico and Grady's spending habits were like.
Now her only problem was breaking the news to her mom. And Sonny was starting to suspect that the reason her mom was holding on so tight was because she was afraid of becoming an empty nester. Telling Connie that she would be moving in with two of her friends at the end of the week would definitely not be an easy task.
Still, she only had two days left, and then she was freedom bound. And, to top it off, Chad was officially back from Italy and he was going to take her to dinner when he finally got back on the right sleep schedule. Plus, rehearsals were going fantastically and Tawni was in a great mood. Apparently three months in Morocco had done the blond drama queen some good. She was even being nice to Sonny for a change.
The elevator doors slid open and Sonny stepped out, keys finally in hand. She greeted Mrs. Henderson, the old lady down the hall, with a bright, "Hello!" as they passed. She continued to hum her cheerful tune as she unlocked the front door and stepped inside. The tune died on her lips as she wrenched her key out of the lock and looked up to see Rick Munroe sitting on the couch as Connie handed him a mug of coffee.
"What are you doing here?" she asked rudely, slamming the door shut and crossing her arms over her chest, temper on the rise.
"I asked him here," Connie said hurriedly, coming over to place an arm around her daughter's shoulders. An arm that Sonny shrugged off with a sneer.
"Alison," Rick began, setting aside his mug and standing up. The look on Sonny's face made him think twice, however, and he immediately quieted.
"You have got to be kidding me," Sonny snapped ferociously at her mom.
"Sonny, please just hear him out," her mom begged. "He's here to apologize and make amends."
"An apology?" Sonny snorted with a raised eyebrow. She turned to face the man by the couch. "You really think an apology will fix the fact that you abandoned all of us?" Silence answered Sonny's snide question, and she stomped out of the room angrily. "Forget it," she muttered. She could hear her parents following her to her room but ignored them as she chucked her purse on her bed and dragged a small suitcase out of her closet.
"Sonny, what are you doing?" Connie questioned her daughter as Sonny threw clothes and toiletries into her suitcase.
"Moving in with Grady and Nico," she responded carelessly. "I was supposed to do it Friday night, anyway, so why not just speed up the process a little bit?" There was a heartbeat of shocked silence, and then Rick exploded.
"Like hell you are!" he yelled. "I'm not allowing my daughter to live with a couple of boys!"
Sonny looked at him, unimpressed, as she zipped up her haphazardly packed suitcase and shoved past her parents to get to the door of her room. "Hey, Rick, you're not my father," she bit out. "And, Mom, I'm nineteen. Quit trying to make my decisions for me. I told you I wanted nothing to do with him and you should've respected my wishes." She stared at both of them, daring either one to respond. When all they did was blink at her, dumbstruck, she stormed out of the apartment without looking back.
August 18th
8:17 p.m.
Kimball Acres Apartments
Nico and Grady's Apartment
"Man, we gotta get this place cleaned up before Sonny moves in," Nico told Grady as he removed Super Mario Bros. from the Nintendo in favor of Duck Hunt. The living room was scattered with comic books, video games, and movies. There was also a semi-empty pizza box sitting on top of the TV. Semi-empty because the crusts were still inside it.
"Why? She said she didn't care if we're messy," Grady said plausibly. He picked up the only NES Zapper and plugged it into the console. "Me first!"
"Didn't ya hear her say that one of the reasons she won't move in wit Chad is 'cause he's secretly messy? She says his place looks neat on the surface, but if ya look in the cabinets or his closet, the place is a disaster."
"So?"
"So I don't think she's gonna appreciate blatant messiness anymore'n she appreciates secret messiness."
"It'll be fine," Grady said as he aimed and shot. "She's not moving in 'til Friday. That means we don't have to clean up until Thursday night."
Nico shook his head but didn't bother with a response as there was a knock at the door. "I got it," he said, making sure not to trip over the stray pair of shoes laying in the middle of the floor on his way to the door. Most of the mess was Grady's anyway; Nico tried valiantly to keep his confined to his room and thought he did a rather good job of it. The comic books were Grady's, as were the shoes. They were both responsible for the games and movies. As for the pizza box…well, there'd just be a new one there in a few days anyway. The way Nico saw it, two-thirds of the disaster was Grady's; the other third was his own.
He opened the door to find a miserable-looking, rained on Sonny Munroe on the other side with a suitcase in tow. Nico gawked at her for a few seconds, trying to comprehend what she was doing there. It was only Wednesday and the apartment was still a disaster!
"It's not Friday," he finally said, causing Grady to forget his game and turn around in curiosity. Sonny's face fell even more and Nico automatically shook his head, reaching out to usher her through the door. "I didn't mean it like that, Sonny girl. I'm just…confused is all. I thought we agreed on Friday…"
"We did," Sonny said, stepping into the messy apartment. Grady automatically shoved some comic books and video games under the couch in a poor, hasty attempt to clean up a tiny bit, secret messiness be damned. "I was just wondering if maybe you guys would be willing to let me stay here until I move in. My mom decided to go ahead and have Rick come into town to try to get me to talk to him," she said it was like nothing, but both Grady and Nico knew there was more behind her careless words than she let on. They exchanged a glance and Grady gave a noncommittal jerk of his head as if to say it didn't matter to him either way.
"Absolutely," Nico told her with a smile. He shut the door and took her suitcase, placing it by the door. "That is, if ya don't mind sleepin' on the couch for a couple nights."
Sonny shrugged. "I suppose not." She cast both boys a heartfelt smile and Grady automatically felt ashamed about the disastrous state most of the apartment was in. Sonny Munroe was just one of those girls who could make you feel as though you'd done something wrong, even if all you'd done was be a little bit messy.
"We were gonna clean up tomorrow," Grady said, setting aside the Zapper and picking up a few stray DVDs from the couch. He placed the cases on a shelf in an order that Sonny couldn't understand. There seemed to be no sense to how the boys organized things.
"You don't have to clean up for me," Sonny responded, shrugging out of her coat and folding it neatly in her lap. She felt more than a little awkward.
"I wasn't gonna," Grady said with a slight, nervous chuckle, "until Nico said you didn't even wanna live with Chad because he hides his messiness."
Sonny quirked an eyebrow. "I don't care if you guys are sloppy. You're my friends. Chad's different. At least you guys don't try to hide it." She threw out a hand to stop Nico from picking up the shoes in the middle of the floor. "Seriously, you guys. Don't worry about it."
"But-"
"The main reason I didn't want to live with Chad is because we aren't ready to take that step," Sonny assured them. "Not because he's a little untidy. I'd just clean up after him anyway."
"Doesn't matter," Grady said, picking up the shoes since Sonny wouldn't let Nico. He chucked them into the coat closet then took Sonny's coat from her hands and hung it up.
"Yeah, we're not yo kids or yo boyfriends," Nico added, fetching the nearly empty pizza box and heading towards the door. "Ya shouldn't have to pick up after us. Ima go take this to the trash." He vanished out the door, and Grady continued to clean up as Sonny watched on, feeling as though she should be helping. When she offered, though, Grady just shook his head, saying that there wasn't much she could do.
"How was Grant?" she finally found herself asking.
Grady snorted and shoved some video games into a pile that made about as much sense as the movies. "Terrible," he said shortly."
"Sorry."
"What do you have to be sorry for? Grant's just a big, mean, frat-joining jock, and I'm not the kind of brother he thinks he deserves to have. It's no big deal."
"Grady," Sonny said softly, "nobody deserves to have family treat them like that."
"No offense, Sonny, but I think you're a lot worse off in the family department than me lately."
Sonny laughed bitterly and then said, "Wouldn't that kind of make me an expert then?" Grady had the grace to bow his head in apology.
"Now I'm sorry."
"Don't be."
"Do you wanna talk about it?" he offered.
"Not really."
"Okay then."
There was a minute or two of uncomfortable silence (long enough for Sonny to wonder just what was taking Nico so long with throwing that pizza box away), and then Grady's face lit up with a smile. He picked up the NES Zapper and held it out to Sonny.
"Wanna play Duck Hunt?"
"What's that?"
"Are you serious?" Grady exclaimed, gaping at her. Sonny shrugged indifferently. "Dude, get over here right now and learn how to play!" Sonny laughed and complied, knowing that moving in with Grady and Nico was the right decision. At least until she and Chad were ready.
August 19th
1:29 a.m.
Kimball Acres Apartments
Nico and Grady's Apartment
Nico tiptoed past the couch, moving with practiced ease across the darkened apartment. He held his breath and froze for a moment after hitting his knee against the corner of the wall, hoping that the sudden noise hadn't woken Sonny up. When there was no sign of stirring from the couch, he continued into the kitchen and eased open the refrigerator. The light clicked on as soon as the door opened, causing Nico to curse quietly and glance over his shoulder in the direction of the couch. When his eyes landed on a pajama clad Sonny sitting on the counter, he yelped and backed into the fridge, fright in his eyes. Sonny snorted and took a bite out of the cookie in her hand.
"You look like you've seen a ghost."
"What're ya doin' up?" Nico asked her, turning back to the fridge in search of something to eat.
"Thinking. Drew called a little while ago. Cookie?" she offered, holding out the box as Nico turned around.
"Sure." He flicked on the light and hopped up on the counter next to her, digging into the box and pulling out a handful of gingersnaps. "What'd he want?"
"Huh?"
"Drew. What'd he want?"
"Oh." Sonny nibbled on a cookie for a second before responding. "He wanted to tell me some stuff about Rick. Apparently he's in the middle of divorcing his wife and he's broke." Nico watched her shake her head and shove the rest of the cookie in her mouth out of the corner of his eye. "Figures."
"How'd Drew find out?"
"His cop buddy, Masterson, knows a guy who knows a guy who knows a couple of other guys who live in the same town in Oregon as Rick. It's…complicated."
"So he thinks…what? That your dad has some sort of ulterior motive in finding you guys?"
Sonny scowled deeply, looking at Nico with angry slits of eyes. "He's not my dad; he has had absolutely no part in my life. But yeah. Drew thinks Rick found us because he needs money. He probably figured his best bet at locating me was finding Drew first. Like if he made a good impression on Drew then I'd wanna see him."
"And if ya liked him, then ya'd wanna give him a loan," Nico said, following her thoughts.
"It's like a twisted version of that book. If You Give a Mouse a Cookie," Sonny said scathingly.
"It's lame of him," Nico agreed, grabbing another handful of cookies. "I'm sorry, Sonny girl."
Sonny chewed a cookie thoughtfully and then looked over at him. "Why is everyone always saying they're sorry?" she asked. "I don't get it. Is it just because he's a terrible person or…?"
Nico shrugged. "I guess that's the natural human reaction when we don't know what to say." He breathed a laugh and patted Sonny on the shoulder.
"Pity?"
"No, definitely not. More like…sympathy."
Sonny chuckled the tiniest bit and quirked a small smile. She set aside the box of cookies, swinging her feet through the air, being careful not to hit the cabinets with her heels. "It's just something I've gotta work through," she admitted.
"Ya should know that if Chad's ever in one of his moods, ya can always talk to me or Grady." He squeezed Sonny's hand before hopping off the counter to go back to bed. "Night, Sonny girl."
"Night, Nico."
August 20th
5:57 p.m.
Hollywood Apartments
Connie Munroe's Apartment
The apartment had been empty when Sonny arrived to finish packing with Grady and Nico in tow. It was the same yesterday, just without Grady and Nico. Sonny didn't know if her mom was working late or if she was just making sure she was out of the way when Sonny was around. Either way, she felt strangely like she was intruding somewhere she shouldn't be, despite the fact that she'd lived in the apartment for some time. There was an eerie feeling to the apartment when she was packing by herself, hence the reason she'd brought Nico and Grady to finish packing. Though they weren't really helping all that much. Aside from hauling her mattress, bed frame, desk, and dresser down to the moving van, they hadn't done all that much else to help.
Unless you counted balling up packing tape and throwing it at each other in between pretending to shoot one other with bubble wrap.
Still, they provided comic relief and noise, filling the silence that the otherwise empty rooms contained in the absence of her mother.
Laughing at the boys' rendition of a slow motion gunfight, Sonny hurried to answer her mooing phone with a brisk, "Hello?" She shoved a full box into the middle of the fight, causing Grady and Nico to start arguing over who got to tape it up.
"Hey, sunshine!" Chad's voice rang out over the line. Sonny automatically found herself grinning ear to ear. "I'm on my way over."
"What? Why?" Sonny asked, tossing a pair of shoes into yet another box. The room was basically empty, save for a few shoes and two floor lamps that were currently shedding light on the room. She'd gotten most of everything packed last night after rehearsals.
"Remember I told you that I was gonna take you to dinner once I got back on the right sleep schedule? Well, I'm on the right schedule, so I figured we could go to that new French place. Y'know. Somewhere fancy. I got us reservations for eight, but I figured we could hang out before."
Sonny's smile turned affectionate. "Aw! Chad, that's incredibly sweet, but you really couldn't have picked a worse night."
"What are you talking about? And what on God's green earth is that noise?" Chad demanded, apparently hearing the ripping of tape over the line.
"Grady and Nico are taping up some boxes for me. I'm in the middle of moving." Sonny was seriously starting to regret not being able to properly talk to Chad on the phone over the past few days. This news was a total surprise to him, and she knew he'd feel as though he'd been ambushed with it. He'd known she'd called Nico a month prior to ask about the empty room in search of a temporary place to live, but he had no idea she was actually going to live with the boys. Sonny had been hoping to tell Chad in person, worried about how he would take the news otherwise.
"Moving where?" he asked, sounding alarmed.
"Into Nico and Grady's apartment."
There was a great deal of silence before Chad bit out, "You and I are having a talk when I get there."
"Chad," Sonny said quickly, lowering her voice and leaving the room for some privacy, "can we please just talk over dinner? Please? This is just temporary. Only until I have time to find my own place. Don't freak out."
"Who's freaking out? I'm not freaking out. Just because my girlfriend is moving in with a couple of guys doesn't mean I'm…y'know…'freaking out' as you put it."
"Chad."
He groaned. "Fine," he conceded. "We'll talk at dinner."
"Thank you," Sonny sighed, feeling a little bit of relief. "And you're going to have to wait a while. We're getting ready to take the boxes to the moving van and then we're taking my stuff to their apartment. In fact," she said, watching as Nico and Grady each walked past with a box and a large grin, "it might just be easier if you meet us at their complex."
After giving Chad directions and an address, Sonny hung up and sent a quick text message to Tawni, asking her to find a dress - any dress - and offering to pay her back if she purchased one. Everything she owned that was suitable enough for dinner at a fancy restaurant was packed up and she simply didn't have the time to find something to wear. And, even if she did, she doubted it would be wrinkle-free.
Tucking her phone back into her pocket upon receiving confirmation from her castmate, Sonny retrieved one of the few remaining boxes from her room, glancing around sadly. She promised herself, as she walked out of the apartment and passed her two friends on the way to the elevator, that she would patch things up with her mother tomorrow or Sunday if she was afforded the chance.
August 20th
6:51 p.m.
Kimball Acres Apartments
Nico, Grady, and Sonny's Apartment
Okay… Sonny could've picked worse guys to live with, Chad admitted grudgingly to himself as Grady produced the newest in a series of video games and inserted it into one of the many game consoles under the flat screen. Truth be told, Chad would really only be concerned about Nico if it weren't for Chloe. But there was Chloe, so Chad wasn't concerned. It was cocky of him to think so, but it was true. Of both male Randoms, Grady posed the least threat to Chad. As for Nico…he and Sonny shared some sort of weird bond and Chad wasn't quite sure what to make of it half the time. It was like Nico felt responsible for Sonny's wellbeing and took it upon himself to look after her when Chad wasn't around. And that didn't sit well with Chad, truthfully. After all, Sonny was his girlfriend and she should've always been seeking him out whether he was there or not.
Still, Sonny had chosen him and that was what counted. Besides, Nico and Grady were decent guys. Geeky but decent.
There was a knock on the door and Grady hurried to answer it as Nico was too busy trying to locate the correct controllers in the entertainment center's drawer. Chad didn't know how Grady and Nico found anything. The entire apartment (or what he had seen of it, at least) looked as though a tornado had ripped through.
"Hey, Tawni."
"Sonny asked me to drop this off," came Tawni's brisk reply. A reply that caused Chad to stare at her over his shoulder as Nico handed him a controller. Had everyone known about Sonny's change in address but him?
"You can just put it in her room," Grady told her, looking at the garment bag in her hand with a confused expression on his face. "She's in the shower."
"No I'm not!"
And then, to Chad's immense astonishment, Sonny bounded out of the bathroom in nothing but a towel. Both Nico and Grady's jaws dropped, and Chad began to splutter, struggling to form comprehensive words.
"What are you…? Where…where are your clothes?" he demanded, lurching over the back of the couch to shield Sonny from the other boys' ogling.
"Here!" Tawni said cheerfully, brandishing the garment bag in Chad's face. She was certainly enjoying the spectacle and how thunderstruck the Mackenzie Falls snob was.
"Jeez, Chad," Sonny said, grabbing Tawni's wrist and glancing at her boyfriend like he'd grown a second head. "Don't have a cow."
"I will stop having a cow when you don't walk around in front of those two without clothes on!" Chad retorted, hooking a thumb in the direction of Sonny's castmates.
"T-to be fair," Nico piped up, "this is the first time she's done it."
As Chad whipped around to glare at Nico, Sonny took the opportunity to escape to her new bedroom, Tawni in tow with a bright pink box and the garment bag in her hands. When the door slammed shut, Chad rolled his eyes and loosened his tie before flopping back down on the couch.
"If I catch either of you looking at her like that again, you're dead," he growled.
August 20th
8:05 p.m.
La Nourriture Des Dieux Restaurant
Sonny smiled placidly as the waiter prattled on about the restaurant's list of wines, his stuck up, whiny voice grating her ears. She and Chad exchanged glances and secret smiles as the waiter turned a page of the bound list that had been sitting on their table. The list seemed never ending, and whenever they thought the waiter was through reading, he just took a deep breath and continued on. Chad finally threw up a hand to silence the waiter who looked clearly affronted at being interrupted.
"Neither of us is twenty-one," Chad told the waiter with a somewhat apologetic smile. "I think we'll both be fine with Cokes. Unless you want something else, sunshine," he said, turning to Sonny who shook her head.
"Coke is fine."
The waiter slapped the wine menu to the table and looked at them with a sneer. "Would you like kiddie menus with that?" he asked sourly before stomping off in the direction of the kitchen.
"I think he's lovely," Sonny sniggered as Chad wove their fingers together. She felt somewhat self-conscious in the dress Tawni had picked out for her. It was kind of low-cut and a tad shorter than she was used to her dresses being, but her friend had assured her she'd be able to wear it well. And, as usual, Tawni was right. About the cut and the color - a deep purple that Sonny would have never dared to pick herself. But Chad had said she looked beautiful, and - noticing the dumbstruck look on his face - she'd known he was telling the truth.
"Perfectly charming," Chad agreed with a smirk. "I should ask him what side of the bed he woke up on this morning because I wanna wake up on that side of mine every morning."
Sonny laughed but grew somber not long after. "Okay, Chad. Let's get the serious part of the evening out of the way so we can go back to having fun," she said with a sigh. "You're upset that I moved in with the boys."
"I'm not upset, necessarily," Chad said, wrinkling his nose as he tried to find the right phrasing. "It's that… Okay… Hmm… I thought that if you ever moved out of your mom's place to move in with someone else, that someone would be me. Not Nico and Grady." He looked at her with a tilt of his head that she knew meant he didn't know how she would take this. Sonny squeezed his hand and then steeled her nerves.
"Maybe sometime in the future, Chad," she promised with a small smile. "I don't think our relationship is in the right place right now for us to be moving in together. We're not ready."
"I know that," Chad reassured her. "I'm just saying that I thought we'd be making plans to live together when you decided to move out of your mom's apartment. Why can't you move in with, like, Tawni until you get your own place?"
Sonny snorted indelicately. "Tawni and I can barely share a dressing room. I'm fairly certain an apartment would be worse. Especially since she uses her kitchen as an extension of her closet."
"Still…Nico and Grady?" Chad said, raising an eyebrow skeptically.
"I think it'll be great," Sonny said brightly. "They're adapting surprisingly well."
August 20th
8:26 p.m.
Kimball Acres Apartments
Nico, Grady, and Sonny's Apartment
"Dude!" Grady exclaimed as he reentered Sonny's room where he and Nico were attempting to put her bed together so she wouldn't have to sleep on the couch again. It would be a nice gesture, they both thought. Until they realized they might not have all the tools necessary to put it together.
"What?" Nico grunted, attempting to hold up the footboard and find the screwdriver he needed. Grady handed it to him and took hold of the footboard before continuing.
"There are special lady products in the bathroom and bras in the laundry. And what is this thing I found plugged into the wall?" He produced a small contraption and held it in front of Nico's face.
"That is an air freshener, man!" Nico said incredulously. "And it's ours!"
"Oh…" Grady said, setting the air freshener on top of one of the many boxes crowding Sonny's room, several of which she had already opened. "Dude, I don't know about this anymore. I like Sonny and all, she's a really cool girl, but…I feel like I can't be a dude with her living here."
"She's a girl, not an alien."
"Easy for you to say," Grady bemoaned. "You grew up with a sister; I grew up with a Grant."
"Just treat her like a person. It's no different than seein' her at the studio. 'Sides, it's not like she's makin' any major changes around here." Nico screwed the other side of the footboard into place then moved for the mattress. "Help me out with this one, man."
"Sure."
Together, the friends lifted the mattress onto the bed frame, then stepped back to admire their handiwork.
"I hope that doesn't collapse on her," Nico said thoughtfully, scooping the tools back into the box from whence they came. He looked back at the bare mattress. "We'll let her put the sheets on herself."
"Alright."
They ambled out of Sonny's room, Nico shutting the door as they went. He was putting the toolbox back in the hall closet when Grady let out a startled gasp and shouted, "You said she wasn't making any major changes!" in an accusatory manner.
"What are you on about?"
"She alphabetized our DVD collection!"
"She did what now?" Nico exclaimed, hurrying over. Sure enough, the entire rack of movies had been put in alphabetical order.
"I don't know what's good and what's crap anymore!" Grady wailed, tossing a couple of cases over his shoulders, only adding to the mess on the floor. "And have you noticed something feels off-balance in this room? She moved something, but I can't figure out what."
Grady and Nico exchanged a glance then stared around the living room of the apartment, wondering what, if anything, Sonny had moved and when exactly she had moved it.
August 21st
12:09 a.m.
Kimball Acres Apartments
Nico, Grady, and Sonny's Apartment
Sonny sank against the apartment door with a blissful sigh, Nico and Grady's hastily scrawled note telling her that they'd gone out with Chloe and one of her friends crumpled and forgotten in her hand. Every second she spent with Chad was just another second she felt more herself, more complete, and more at home than she had since joining the cast of So Random! It had taken them so long to get to where they were today. Countless arguments, a lot of denial, a year of fake dates, and some misunderstandings… If those things left Sonny standing there with anything, it was the knowledge that she had slowly fallen head over heels in love with Chad.
Really, it was quite simple. She didn't want to be without him for any period of time. She worried about his opinion on things, longing to take what he said into account. Most of all, Sonny knew she would do anything to see Chad happy. She wanted to strive to make him as happy as he made her, to make him feel as whole as she did when she was with him. Even if she simply wasn't ready to live with him, she did love him.
And she had to tell him right now.
When she wrenched open the door to go running after him, she was startled to find herself face to face with the very person she was in search of.
"I thought you left already."
"I've got something I want to say," Chad replied, sounding winded. "And I want you to listen to me."
"I…uh… Okay." Sonny felt her heart plummet at top speed to the pit of her stomach. Chad sounded a little intense and angry, and that worried her. She couldn't think of anything that would have caused him to suddenly change his mind about their relationship, but the idea of 'what if?' niggled at the back of her mind.
"You're perky," Chad said, and Sonny didn't know if he meant it as a good thing or not. "You're perky and you care…about everyone. You've got this giant personality, but there's so much more to you than people see. You've got a lot of problems, and I feel…completely lucky and honored to be the person you share them with.
"Most of my castmates hate you. You already know I think they're idiots for that, sunshine. But I want you to know that you make me feel like a better person and I love who I am when I'm with you. No matter what they say, I'm gonna be right here with you because you're everything I'm not." Chad paused, leaving Sonny hanging there wide-eyed, her heart hammering as it slowly climbed out of the pit of her stomach.
"I can't explain this the way I wanted to," he finally continued. "Christ, I've been going over this in my mind since June because I wanted to be absolutely sure of myself so I wouldn't end up breaking your heart."
"I love you, Chad," Sonny blurted out, a grin stretching across her face. A loud giggle slipped out of her mouth as he suddenly gathered her into his arms, whirling her in a circle. There was the vague knowledge that they'd broken a lamp when a loud shatter reached her ears.
"Honestly, I didn't expect you to say it first," Chad said with a laugh, setting Sonny back on the floor. "You had this look on your face like you might be sick or something. I love you too, sunshine."
Sonny pulled Chad close and kissed him sweetly, slowly letting the intensity build until she felt completely powerless, aware of nothing but his hands on her skin and the taste of his lips on hers. She reached behind her back to lock the door as Chad's fingers skimmed along the zipper of her dress, knowing well what he was asking and more than willing to comply.
"Let's go," she whispered, pulling away from his lips and tugging him in the direction of her room.
"Sonny-"
She kissed him again, effectively quieting him. "I made you a promise, Chad. You should know by now I'm a woman of my word."
August 21st
10:27 a.m.
Kimball Acres Apartments
Nico, Grady, and Sonny's Apartment
"Sonny in the bathroom?" Grady asked with a yawn as he stumbled out of his room. He'd never felt worse in his life. Despite the fact that Chloe wasn't what Chad called a 'true' member of the cast of Mackenzie Falls, she certainly liked to party like one on extremely rare occasions, and last night had been one of them. Grady hated the feeling of being hung over, but the memory of last night made it almost worth it. If luck was on his side, he'd actually landed himself a girlfriend. Or at least a date for next weekend.
"Guess so," Nico replied, tossing his best friend a bottle of pain killers.
"Hope she hurries up." Grady downed a couple of the capsules.
"Shouldn't be long. Shower just turned off a few minutes before you woke up."
"Good. I gotta pee like a racehorse."
"Did not need to know that, man." Nico grimaced. "Any idea who broke that lamp out there?" He nodded toward the shards of clay that littered the living room floor topped by the now-dented lampshade.
"Nope," Grady replied, rubbing his temples. "I don't remember doing it, but just 'cause I don't remember it doesn't necessarily mean I didn't do it."
The doorknob on the bathroom door rattled momentarily and Grady turned around expectantly, muttering, "Thank you, baby Jesus," under his breath. But the person who emerged from the shared bathroom was not Sonny Munroe. It was Chad Dylan Cooper who took one look at the shocked, scandalized, and infuriated looks flickering across the faces of Sonny's two closest male friends and cursed loudly before hightailing it back to Sonny's room, fear evident in his bright blue eyes.
YOWZA!
This chapter (minus the note you're currently reading) was exactly eight-thousand words long. EIGHT-FREAKIN'-THOUSAND! I decided to present this chapter to you without anything having been removed from it in order to reward you guys for officially hitting precisely one-hundred and eleven reviews last chapter. I know I've said it before, but I'll say it again: you guys are the best! You're fantastic. And you're seriously the greatest reviewers I've ever had. C: Because of that, I've decided that once you guys hit one-hundred and fifty reviews, I'm gonna do a double update for you, no strings attached. All it takes is hitting that magical number. I don't expect you guys to do it right now, but I'd adore seeing somewhere around one-twenty.
Right now, I need your guys' help. I've got an unrelated Sonny With a Chance story in the works. It's shorter than what I usually write when I do a chapter fic (by 'short,' I mean that it's eight chapters long, haha), and it's terribly in need of a name. I've got three that I love, and I feel that any of them could work. Because I can't decide, I'm leaving it up to all of you to choose one for me. Just tell me which one you think sounds the most interesting.
1. Logic
2. Little Hints
3. Bread Crumbs
The title with the most votes will become the title of my newest Sonny story.
As always, reviews are welcome and loved beyond a doubt! You guys are the greatest and I hope you keep on loving this story. C:
-EmbracingRain
P.S. The name of the restaurant should translate into "The Food of the Gods." If it doesn't, please forgive me. My first language is English and I speak some German and Spanish. I know very little French. So if I've gotten the translation wrong, I'm very sorry. C:
