Ahh…. Sorry it took forever to update. DX But I've been at a loss for ideas… But anyway, read and review, ;P
Disclaimer: I don't own SWaC (But I am overly excited for Falling for the Falls! ONY ONE MORE WEEK!)
"James…Conroy?" Chad asked, "You're kidding."
"No, I'm not. I heard Mandy talking on the phone again and this time she actually said his name," I said.
"Seriously? She said 'James Conroy'?" Chad asked.
"Umm…well…she didn't say his last name… but-"
Chad groaned.
"BUT! Who else could she be talking about?" I asked, "If they want revenge on me, Tawni, and you first, who else could it be?"
"Sonny, I'm sure there a over a million James's out there."
"Chad," I said seriously, "It's James Conroy."
"Alright, I believe you," Chad said finally.
I didn't say anything for awhile.
"What?" Chad asked.
"We need to figure out how to stop them. They'll do something Friday during or around the show. Only Nico and Grady know now and trust me, they'll make things even worse if they try anything."
"That I believe you 100% about," Chad said, "So what do you suggest?"
"I don't know," I said, "You have any ideas? All I know is that we need to be in there when she does it."
"And how do we do that?" Chad asked.
I shook my head, "I don't know."
"Well 'I don't know' won't help us," Chad said.
"I know, Chad," I said, "But still, what are we going to do? We have only until tomorrow. We have to figure something out by then."
"Yeah, Sonny, I know," Chad said, irritably.
"You know, you don't have to help me," I said.
"Yeah I do," Chad said.
"Why?"
"Well according to you, she wants to get me back, too… or James does… And I'm guessing whatever she does, it will look like an accident that had nothing to do with her," Chad said.
"Probably," I muttered.
"Sonny, you need to relax," Chad said.
"There's no time to chill out!" I said, "My friends could get hurt! Why aren't you taking this seriously?"
"Who said I wasn't?" Chad asked.
"Well… no one, but you're suggesting you don't care," I said, "When we figure something out I can relax."
"Listen, we will figure something out. Soon. I promise. And I'll help you," Chad said.
"I know. You've said that you'll help me," I said.
"I just don't want you to forget that I'm here for you," Chad said.
That made me speechless.
"Chad," I said, a small smile making its way onto my face, "that might be the nicest thing you've ever said."
He half smiled and shrugged, "It's no problem."
"So now what?" I asked after awhile of silence.
"Come with me," Chad said.
"Where are we going?" I asked.
"You'll see," he smiled, taking my hand.
He took me to his car and opened the passenger's seat and gestured for me to get in it.
"Chad," I said, "where are we going?"
"I'm not going to tell you. Get in please?" Chad asked.
"Fine," I sighed, getting in the car.
Chad smiled and got in the driver's seat and when we were both buckled up, we left Condor Studios and drove.
"No hints?" I asked, "And I don't want to be out too long."
"No hints," Chad smiled, "And we won't be out too terribly long. Maybe an hour or two."
"Hrm. I still just don't get how you can be so relaxed and cool about this!" I said, "We just got suspended from Condor Studios until Monday, Mandy's got something planned against all of us… I just don't get it."
"Sonny, we've already talked about this. And don't think I'm not worried about any of this. Because I am…" Chad said.
After that, aside from the radio playing softly, it was quiet for the rest of the ride.
And it was a few minutes later when Chad pulled into a parking spot.
"The park?" I asked.
"Yep," he said.
"Chad, are you sure?"
"One hundred percent. There might be a paparazzi or two, but it's normally pretty quiet around this time of day. We should have a quiet place to think about what to do about Mandy," Chad said, opening the door and getting out.
I got out as well and looked around, "It is quiet from what I see now…"
"Yeah, it normally is," Chad said.
"And normally we're in the Studio at this time… how would you know that it's this quiet… because I'm sure it's busy here on the weekends," I said.
"Good question. Well let's just say sometimes I leave a little earlier than normal when I have a bad day, or just need to get away from anything," he shrugged.
I nodded and after a moment I said, "Well… let's go!" And I shut the car door which had still been open and I headed off to the park entrance and went in.
Chad was following close behind me and I headed to the path that led through some trees. And as we neared that area, Chad came up to my side and took my hand lightly in his.
I looked at him questioningly, "Come with me," he said softly.
He and I walked the path through the trees and soon Chad veered us off the path and we walked for another five minutes or so until we reached a certain tree where Chad sat down, so I did too and we sat there in silence for while until Chad broke it with a sigh and asked,
"Have you ever just felt the need to get away from the world? Want to shut yourself out of it and just be alone?"
I blinked, not expecting him to say that, "Yeah, but not recently."
Chad nodded, "Whenever I do, I come here. To this very tree and climb it and just hide out there until I'm feeling better," he smiled.
"Chad, can I ask you something? It might sound a bit rude, though," I asked.
"Um, sure," Chad said.
"Why are you such a jerk at times?" I asked, "I mean, to everyone you're this cocky, egotistical jerk. Though occasionally to me, you're nice and sweet and caring… I don't really get it."
"It's complicated," Chad said, "I just didn't have the best childhood after Mom died. It was tough. Dad didn't care about me anymore and I needed to fend for myself. I don't like feeling weak. It makes me feel vulnerable to everyone and everything else. It's a tough world out here. And I don't have much, if any, support for anything from my father. My fans and everyone in Condor Studios are mostly my family. And my fans only like me for what I do in shows or movies. And a lot of people see me as a jerk and I wouldn't blame them. I am a jerk," he spat.
I sighed, "Chad… I know a bit about your family and stuff, and for that I'm sorry, but the reason you have so many people who don't like you is, yeah, like you said, you can seem like a jerk at times. Most times, actually," I muttered, "But you're better than that. I know it. And you show that side to me all the time. Or when you try to, people don't appreciate it, or understand that you are sincerely trying to be nice."
"Eh, you don't have to use big words like sincerely, Sonny. I'm not worth it," he said. And for that I hit him on the arm, "What was that for?" he asked, rubbing where I hit.
"You are too worth it, Chad Dylan Cooper!" I said angrily, hitting him again.
"Seriously, Sonny, maybe I'm called a jerk because I really am one. Why? Because I hardly care about people!" he said, "Only a select few I truly, or you might want to say 'sincerely', care about… And guess what? You, Sonny Munroe, are not on that list of people!" Chad said.
I opened my mouth to say something before his words hit me, "Excuse me?"
"You, Sonny Munroe, are not on that list of people…" Chad repeated.
"Chad Dylan Cooper! I can't believe you would say something like that! You kiss me, you take me out here to this park, you play with my emotions then-"
"Whoa, wait," Chad interrupted, smiling a bit, "I never said which list of people you were on."
"Wait… what do you mean?" I asked.
He smiled, amused apparently, "Sonny, you're not on the list of people I don't care about. You're the first on the list of people I do care about."
"What? But you made it sound like you didn't care," I said.
"Did I, Sonny? Did I really?" Chad asked and he and I laughed. "Oh, Sonny," Chad said, "You really care that much about me to get that flustered?"
"Well, maybe I do. Maybe I don't," I shrugged, looking away from him for a moment, looking uninterested. Then I looked back at him and asked, "What's it to you?"
Chad smiled and I knew what he was thinking, so I smiled back and shut my eyes as we both leaned closer to each other and we kissed briefly.
We parted and I sat back against the tree and smiled to myself.
"So I got you to relax. Do I win something?" Chad asked.
"You just got your prize," I said, looking at him quickly, "But now since you brought it up; the main purpose of this place was to have a quiet place to think of something to do about Mandy, was it not?"
"Yeah, I guess it was," Chad said.
"So what do you think?" I asked.
Chad and I both thought for awhile then he smiled.
"What?" I asked.
"I've got it."
And once again I'm out of ideas… so bear with me as I try to think of something. :/
