A/N: Thank you everyone for reading/reviewing/alerting. I hope you'll enjoy this chapter! (One more chapter and this story is complete!)
"Hello, my name is Tawni Hart and I'm here to inform you of an epidemic that's been sweeping our nation… Slipper Thefts."
A chuckle scattered throughout the audience when Tawni said the last part of her line. It was the next day during live show performance. Marshall loved the sketch and thought it could the next big thing, like the Check-It-Out Girls. For right now, it was my revenge until the rendezvous.
"Each day, thousands of people are losing their slippers because of these thefts," Tawni continued. "Let's take a look at one of these thefts caught on tape."
The next scene was Nico lying in bed with his pajamas on, like he just woken up. He swung his feet over to the side and was about to stick his feet into bunny slippers right beside the bed. However, Grady came in dressed in all black and stole the slippers and ran off before Nico's feet even got to them. Nico screamed in distressed, "MY SLIPPERS!"
"Millions of scenes similar to this occur every day. If you donate to Help Save the Slippers Foundation, scenes like this…"
My scene was up and the set looked exactly like the prop house. I was situated on the couch exactly the same way as the night my slippers were stolen, but this time around, I had pink bunny slippers on. I pretended to be distracted by the television when Grady came running in again and stole the slippers right off my feet. I screamed and hid in my blanket as he ran off.
"To this," Tawni said as she continued her monologue.
Grady kept running with my slippers in hand until Zora dressed in a police uniform tackled him. She then promptly arrested him on the spot saying, "Your slipper stealing days are over, buster."
"Your donation helps catch the slipper thieves and reunite slippers with their owners."
Zora presented me my stolen slippers and I got very emotional over the reunion. I let out a very loud sob that the audience cracked up over.
"So please donate to Save the Slippers Foundation, because it's no laughing case when your slippers are stolen. Thank you."
The audience gave us a standing ovation as we lined up to do our sign off. Marshall did the honors, but you couldn't hear him since the applause and cheering was overwhelming. We ran off the stage and did a mini-celebration backstage. I attempted to be happy and celebrate with my cast, but butterflies in my stomach decided to have a party of their own, a hoedown.
I was nervous. Even Tawni could tell as I paced back and forth in our dressing room.
"Relax, Sonny," she said in a smoothing tone from her side. "You'll get your slippers back soon enough… just right after you two admit your love for each other."
"Yeah… wait, what?" I stopped in my tracks and whirled around to face her. "We do not like each other. Especially Chad. In fact, we hate each other. No, I take that back, we loathe each other."
"Whatever." Tawni rolled her eyes. "I still believe you guys are in denial. Or at least, you are."
"I am not in denial." I looked at the clock. "I have to go and get back my slippers."
I grabbed my purse and started out the door, but Tawni's light bulb went off in her head.
"Wait!" she screamed while she grabbed my arm. "We need to do something before you go to your hot date with Chad Dylan Cooper in the lovebird stage!"
"It's not a date," I protested as she dragged me to the chair in front of her vanity. I was scared.
I was late with my "meeting" with Chad. Tawni decided at the last minute that a rendezvous means Sonny-needs-a-makeover. I was wearing a ton of makeup and she attacked my hair with a curling iron. I tugged on the top Tawni made me wear; it was one of her infamous flowy tops. She also thought I needed heels, just in case I needed to make a quick escape from Chad. I was completely going to thank her as soon as this ordeal was done.
Chad wasn't there at Stage 14 when I got there. I was standing in the middle of the café set of the popular TV series, Pals (when the show ended, the studio refused to let another show in and kept the stage intact). I glanced around nervously, because I really didn't want to find other people in here besides me and Chad.
I sat on one of couches and waited for Chad, if he decided to show up. My purse was right beside me, packed specifically in case Chad would be difficult in handing over Buster and Binky.
Everything went black as a pair of hands covered my eyes. I screamed and grabbed the hands and threw them off my face.
"Geez, Munroe, calm down," said Chad when his hands were off.
"You scared me," I retorted as I grabbed my purse and got up to face him. I clutched my purse closer, even though the couch acted like a barrier. "Where are they Chad? I want to see them before anything happens."
Chad just shrugged and his hand dove into a bag he was carrying. He pulled out Buster and Binky. They looked exactly the same as the day they were stolen. I breathed a sigh of relief.
"Before you get them back," Chad said as he returned them back into his bag, "we need to talk about the ransom."
"Ransom?" I was confused. "What ransom? The note never mentioned anything about ransom."
"Go on a date with me Friday night."
I had to laugh.
"Sorry, Chad, I already made plans," I explained. "I promised Zora to babysit Gnomie."
"Gnomie?" Chad looked more confused then I was. "You mean that gnome from the Gnome Sketch?"
"Yep."
"Well, then," he said as he gained his composure. "Saturday night."
"Chad," I said with a devilish grin. "I believe I have something that will change the circumstances dramatically."
I reached into my purse and pulled out Chad Dylan Cooper's golden hairbrush.
He gasped.
"You stole it? I thought it was Portlyn who did it!"
"Nah, she only took the hair off of it. Apparently, she has a shrine of you in her dressing room."
Chad shuddered at the thought before he sternly said, "Give it back."
"Not until you give me back my slippers," I said as I put the hairbrush back in my purse.
"I don't think so, Sonny. Not until you agree to a date."
"Well, then, I believe we have reached a stalemate."
Chad didn't think so, since he came around the couch towards me. I backed up, keeping the distance consistent.
"Why did you steal them?" I asked. That was the one question on my mind ever since he took them. He stopped short in his tracks and I made a couple of extra steps for insurance.
"Because I like you," Chad said in a duh-voice. I almost dropped my purse as my mouth dropped. He had to be kidding me. Tawni couldn't be right.
"So how does it involve them?" I asked with my voice quavering. The butterflies in my stomach decided to start up their dance party again; this time around it was a disco.
"I was going to ask you out earlier," he admitted, "but that's when you got your slippers. I couldn't get your attention, because you were so enthralled with them. So that's when I decided to steal them."
"So you like me." So much was thrown at me within the last couple of minutes that I had to reason through my thoughts. "So that gave you reason to steal my slippers, write a ransom note for them, then, at the rendezvous, you act like a complete jerk in demanding a date with me when you could have asked me nicely in the first place?"
Chad also thought about it and started to look sheepish.
"Where in Chad-world does that even logically work out?"
"It worked in Mackenzie Falls," Chad mumbled to himself hoping I wouldn't hear. He was wrong.
An idea popped into my mind. It was gutsy, but risky; however, it seemed to be the only choice right now if I wanted Buster and Binky back. I had to do it.
"So it worked in McKenzie Falls, huh?" I regained my composure and confidence as I shortened the distance between Chad and I. I ended up being in his face. "Would this work in Mackenzie Falls?"
I closed the distance between our lips and kissed him. Chad was taken aback at first, but then really got into the kiss. His hands went into my hair and on the small of my back to pull me closer.
"Wow Sonny…" Chad said in-between kisses. "I never knew…. you felt this way…"
I wasn't paying attention. I was more concerned about my hand slipping into Chad's bag and retrieving Buster and Binky. It was harder than I thought since they weren't conveniently together and Chad was kissing me.
"Ha!" I said after I got my slippers and broke the kiss. I pushed away from Chad, but since he was so out of it from the kiss that he made it easy to break the embrace. I turned and started to run out of Stage 14 while shouting, "Peace out sucka!"
Chad must of snapped out of his faze, because after I kicked off my heels in mid-run, I heard him scream, "That's my line!" as I sprinted out the door.
