Okay, so, if you haven't read the description, this story will be comprised of a bunch of fun mini stories. They probably all won't be the same length, but I'll do my best to keep them as short and sweet as possible.

This will allow me to cover a lot of ground and focus on characters who don't usually get the spotlight more than I can with a longer story. I'll also be taking on some POV's besides the Chipmunks and Chipettes eventually and I'm super excited for that.

To start us off, we have a nice simple little tale of two frenemies rekindling their friendship, despite living on opposite sides of the social barrier and having many obligations that get in the way of them seeing each other. Alvittany lovers, this one's for you. I hope you enjoy it.

WINNER WINNER, CHIPMUNK DINNER

Brittany's POV

I sat alone at a table in La Café, impatiently staring at the clock on the wall. This café was one of my favorite places to grab a bite to eat, usually with a friend. Unfortunately, this friend was running behind schedule.

How dare he make me waste my time like this? It had taken us forever to agree on a time and place. I even picked out a special outfit just for this. It was a pretty light pink crop top with a fuschia shirt underneath and beautiful black leggings with pink hearts up one leg.

I had been looking forward to this for WEEKS. If he forgot, it wouldn't be pretty. I had a bunch of words for him. Harsh words, no doubt, but he needed to hear them. It is very rude to keep a lady waiting.

My stomach growled. I debated ordering something and decided against it. I doubted my date,…err…just friend, not a date-date, would bring money. I'd have to order and pay for the food for both of us. I was beginning to regret this entire thing.

I decided I would give the flakey little rascal a maximum of 2 more minutes before I ordered and ate without him and then packed up and headed home. It was entirely possible he'd forgotten our meetup was scheduled for today…or he'd straight up forgotten what day it is.

Finally, he rushed into the restaurant, out of breath. He was wearing a rainbow tie dye shirt with the words "Study Hard Party Harder" written on it. Along with that, he had blue jeans with several colorful paint splatters and matching rainbow shoes.

"30 minutes, Alvin." I scolded, reminding the inconsiderate chipmunk of how long he kept me waiting. "30 whole minutes."

"I know! I know!" He sat down. "Sorry I'm late. Chess club ran a little long."

I stared at him in disbelief. "You're in chess club now?"

He blinked. "No." He responded, taking a menu and browsing through it.

"Then why were you even there?" I was so confused. All he is these days is confusing. It's one confusing decision after another.

He looked up from the menu for a brief moment. "Just hangin' with a few friends."

His facial expression indicated that even he didn't really know why he chose to visit with the chess club. It was just another nerdy thing he did that I'd have to get used to. Groan. Add it to the list.

"Right." I opened up my menu. "Well, since you're here, now we can finally order. What would you like?"

"Mozzarella sticks." The reply was instant.

I rolled my eyes at his choice. "You could have those at home. Don't you want to try something, I dunno, fancier?"

He tossed the menu on the table lightly. "Nope. I'm pretty good with mozzarella sticks for the appetizer."

"But they're so…" I gagged thinking of the texture. "Stringy."

His crystal blue eyes shone bright. "That's just the way I like 'em."

"Alvin, I will make you mozzarella sticks later. Please pick something that you CAN'T have at home." I begged.

"Okay, okay, I'll take the shrimp scampi." He told me, leaning back in his chair and adjusting those awful red glasses that unflatteringly frame his eyes.

I was not exactly enchanted by this choice either. "No. No. No. They look like grubs. This is all wrong. I'll decide for you."

He pouted. "But I like shrimp and Dave barely ever buys it because it's too expensive and he, Si, and Theo don't really care for it."

Enough with the sob stories, Alvin. Geez. I folded my hands and tried to keep my composure. The rage was beginning to boil. "Shrimp is disgusting. You deserve better than that filth."

"Can I at least have seafood?" He asked.

"No." I flipped through the menu, trying to find the perfect delicacy to delight our taste buds.

"But I like seafood." He whined, loudly.

I grinded my teeth. "Then become a mermaid." I retorted.

"Don't you mean merman?" He drummed his fingers on the table in an annoying way.

I laughed softly. "With that long luscious red hair of yours? I don't think so."

"Merman can have long luscious hair too." He protested. Then, a smirk spread across his features. That good old Classic Alvin smirk. How I have MISSED it. He flipped his hair with his hand. "Admit it, you're just jealous of my awesome looks." He teased me. That was a signal that his more fun loving personality was in control.

"Me? Jealous of you?" I flicked my hand at him. "As if!"

"Have ya found anything that lives up to your standards?" He jumped up and walked around to see the menu I was browsing.

"I'm getting there." I looked through the various appetizers and dishes. What would be perfect? And it had to be perfect. Alvin was so "busy" lately that I might not get another opportunity like this for months!

He went back to his seat and slumped. "How come you're in charge of what I can and can't eat?"

I narrowed my eyes. "Because I'm paying for it." I explained.

To my surprise, he forked a wad of cash out of his pocket. Since when does Alvin actually HAVE MONEY!? Where did he even get it from? The Alvin I know was always broke because Dave gave him a low allowance and he could never go a day without spending it on something stupid.

"Here. Can I get mozzarella sticks and shrimp now?" He asked.

I looked at the wad of cash suspiciously. "Who did you rob?"

Now it was his turn to look annoyed. Whoops. In my defense, I'm fairly certain that joke would have landed with Classic Alvin before!

"Nobody. Comic sales are just good right now, and I've been taking Simon's advice and offering study sessions. I've been turnin' quite a large profit." He babbled.

My jaw dropped. "WHAT!? Study sessions?"

"I was skeptical at first, but they're really paying off. Plus, you know, people make fun of you less if you're the only thing stoppin' them from failing physics and algebra." He chuckled, with a hint of sadness to it. I knew he was still not used to getting picked on.

Because I didn't want him to go off on a tangent about how weird his life is now that he's unpopular, I went against my instincts and closed the menu. "Alright, alright. In that case, you can order whatever you want and I'll get a nice salad with purple cabbage instead of lettuce."

He smirked again. "Still not a fan of green stuff."

"You have your quirks. I have mine." I said smartly.

He can NEVER know the real reason I hate the color green is because I was traumatized by it a long time ago. I'm not ready to be vulnerable around him. Besides, I'm still getting to know him all over again.

"Fair enough." Alvin replied, handing me the cash so he could get his choice of food.

We placed our orders and then it was back to waiting for them to arrive so we could eat. Awkward silence filled the table. I wasn't sure what else to say to the guy. Could I compliment his appearance? Would that help the conversation flow more naturally?

I noticed that he had red and cyan nail polish on only his right hand. "I didn't know you painted your nails. They look…nice."

He stuck the hand with the polished nails underneath the table at first, likely assuming I was about to make fun of him or something. Then, realizing I wasn't, he took it back out and let me admire it. "Oh, uh, I was just…experimenting a bit."

I folded my arms. "I've been begging you to try painting your nails for years." I said with frustration. "You always said it was too girly."

His ears drooped and he smiled sheepishly. "Yeah, sorry about that. I guess I never realized what a nice tool for self expression it would be. Jeanette taught me all about its creative potential."

I frowned. My anger level rose. I tried to hold it back. Oh, who am I kidding? I didn't try at all. I was past my limit. "Are you kidding me!? Alvin, I have been telling you all about the creative potential of makeup and nail art for YEARS! But the second Jeanette suggests it, suddenly you agree it's cool? Really!?"

He sighed. "I'm sorry. But, better late than never, don't ya think?" He wiggled his nails in front of me.

"It makes me feel like what I say doesn't matter." I grumbled. "You know how many times I've fantasized about us getting our nails done together? Lots. And then to find out you've been getting yours done with my sister instead!" I sighed. "We have very few activities we both enjoy. I just thought maybe that could be our thing."

He adjusted his red baseball cap. "It can still be our thing too."

"You just don't get it." I groaned. For a self proclaimed genius, he couldn't understand much. "I wanted us to have something we do just the two of us. Something special. Something without either of my sisters."

To that, the inconsiderate boy shrugged. "We'll find something eventually, but…ya really should stop gatekeeping activities "just for you."

"I only want one or two activities just for us." I explained, catching sight of the waiter as he returned with our meals. "Not all of them, just two."

The waiter sat our plates down in front of us. "One garden salad and some shrimp and mozzarella sticks for the happy couple. Have a pleasant evening and thank you for dining with us."

Alvin choked on the water he'd just started to drink that came with our meals. "Uh, we're not really a couple."

I was embarrassed. I hadn't thought about how this would look to all the outsiders who didn't know how awkward the situation between Alvin and I was. "Yeah." I added softly. "Just…friends."

"I'm dating her sister." WHY ON EARTH DID HE HAVE TO ADD THAT PART!?

"My mistake." The regal man corrected himself. "I hope you two friends enjoy your dinner." He walked away.

I burst out laughing, trying to cover up my embarrassment. "Can you believe he thought we were a couple?"

Alvin didn't laugh. "Yes. Yes I can. Remember that our marketing team still thinks we're a couple just because they say so."

I took a forkful of salad and sighed. "Yeah. We really should fix that…somehow."

"Any idea how to do that without destroying our careers?" He asked, biting into a shrimp with a disgustingly squishy sound.

I frowned. "Not a clue."

After Alvin had sung that duet with Jeanette, we assumed management would ease up on their guidelines for our romance. They did not. As far as they were concerned, Alvin and Jeanette were the duo who were just friends, even though the internet was full of speculation of their budding romance on all classic Alvin's socials. And as for 2.0's socials, it was basically confirmed there. Alvin 2.0's socials were a bit more hidden and private than classic's though.

"I'm gonna be stuck singing love songs to you, aren't I?" He grimaced.

I took another spoonful of salad as I thought about how unfair this was. "Looks like it." No wonder it's taken me so long to get over Alvin. I'm still being forced to pretend to have feelings for him, which is confusing my real feelings. I wonder if he feels the same.

"It's times like these when I question whether or not being a rockstar is worth the whole double life mess." He shoved a whole mozzarella stick in his mouth.

I reached across the table to gently flick his forehead. "Don't you say that. Of course it's worth it!"

"Right, yeah." He scrunched his adorable nose. "Because half of me thinks it's worth it. I can't just quit. It would hurt him….I mean, me."

Oh no. Not this again. I cannot be stuck listening to the same ol sob story about his conflicting personalities. "Which you are you right now?"

"Both…neither….it's complicated." He responded, adjusting his red glasses again.

I decided now would be a good time to talk about literally ANYTHING else. Not being selfish or anything, this is for Alvin's own good too. I don't want him to get caught in a sudden panic or start feeling really sad. This is supposed to be a fun dinner together where we hang out like old times.

"So, uh, do you remember the last time we ate here together?" I asked, between bites of my salad. The carrots in it were especially good.

He suddenly got this blank thousand yard stare on his face. "Uhhhh."

I decided to describe it more, in the hopes that it would somehow restore his shattered mind. "We were taking that etiquette course. You had to pass it in order to meet Princess Kate. The final stage of the course was you accompanying me on a date."

"Oh oh yeah! I do remember that!" He exclaimed. Then he glared at me. "You poured orange juice on me. On purpose."

I scoffed. "Well, you started a pie fight."

"Only after you poured the juice on me!" He reminded me.

"At least I apologized!" I snapped. "And we both got to meet Princess Kate. She was so nice. She gave us both sighed photos of her. I still have mine."

He rubbed the back of his neck. "So do I, but it's in a junk drawer somewhere."

"You need to be more organized." I told him in my usual sassy way. Not that he'd listen.

His ears flattened. "Organization is only half the battle."

I didn't have anything to say in response to that, so the two of us just focused on eating our meals for a while. I liked playful banter, but I wanted to stop before we started snapping at each other. If that happened, Alvin might never agree to another outing for just the two of us. That would break my heart.

Finally, I thought up something new to say that hopefully wouldn't cause a huge argument. "Do you plan on going to Eleanor's soccer game this Friday?"

He picked up the last shrimp and slurped it up. "I've got comic book club."

"Couldn't you just tell them you're going to the game instead? I'll be there cheering and she could really use you cheering in the stands." I reasoned.

"I've got a really cool comic idea that needs to come out before I lose it." He insisted.

I pushed my empty bowl into the middle of the table. "That's what you said the time before and the time before that. You're always too busy! Heck, this dinner not-date almost didn't even happen because you were "too busy." I fumed.

"I have a LOT of responsibilities now. It's tough for me to balance all that and have time for fun." He picked some breaded crumbs from the mozzarella sticks off his plate. "I'm sorry. That's just how it'll be for a while."

I was getting annoyed again. "How long is a while?"

He shrugged. "Who knows? Maybe I'll have more time come summer. I sure hope I do."

I knew exactly what his problem was. "Well, maybe if you didn't spend your time hanging around in a bunch of clubs you aren't even a part of, you'd have more time to spare."

I could tell he took offense to that. Oh crud. "You don't know my life, Britt! It's a lot more complex than that. A lot more. I'm trying to handle things the best I can."

"Trying?" I was angry and hurt. "Alvin, I live right next door to you and I see you maybe two times a month if I'm lucky."

"We see each other at school." He pointed out. "And during rehearsals."

"That doesn't count. I'm talking about us getting to play games and go on walks and watch movies and other things like that." I explained. "If I didn't know better, I'd think you were avoiding me on purpose, but I know you're just scatterbrained and I'm not a priority."

"Has it really only been 2 times a month?" He rubbed his arm.

I nodded. "Pretty much, yes. And, by the way, this is the first time we've hung out without you bringing up a fun fact about science in every sentence." I added. Maybe that was an exaggeration, maybe it wasn't. I didn't care. I just wanted my friend back. "So thank you for that, I guess."

"You know I have no control over how sciency I get." He squeaked. "But, you're welcome."

I pouted. "Promise me that we can hang out more. Please. Like I've been saying, I MISS you."

"I'll see what I can do." I could sense sadness in his voice. He really didn't think that he could do much about his lack of free time.

I reached my hand across the table to grab the menu again. "I could teach you how to budget your time better." I offered sweetly.

"What if I agreed to at least do something with ya once a week? It might not be for very long each time, but I can sprinkle some longer outings here and there." He told me, apologetic blue eyes glistening. "That's the best I can do for now. I doubt ya wanna third wheel my dates with Jeanette, which, by the way, don't happen that often either."

He really WAS trying. Okay, well, it wasn't ideal by any means but it was something. It was something more than I had before. "Once a week sounds nice." I responded. "Even if it's only for an hour."

"Phew." He let out a sigh of relief. "Terrific. Glad that's settled."

"Me too." I hoped he made good on his promise. "Are you ready for dessert?"

I handed him the menu. I'd already picked what I was ordering. A double chocolate slice of cake with caramel drizzle. A girl's gotta have her chocolate. Especially when being around Alvin 2.0 tends to stress me out.

He wiggled his eyebrows with a bit of that old Classic Alvin spunk. "Can I get raspberry cheesecake?" He asked.

"Sure can." I winked. 'As long as you pay for it. Because if I'm paying for it, I want you to try the chocolate."

"You know I hate chocolate." He groaned. "But you know who doesn't?"

"Everyone else in the family?" I guessed, adjusting the pink, glitter covered bow in my hair.

He grinned. "Simon."

"Are you saying I should invite Simon out to dinner?" I raised an eyebrow. "He'll surely think it's a date. Plus, you know he's still dragging his heels when it comes to asking me out. I doubt he'd want to come here."

"Ya never know unless ya ask." Alvin pointed out.

He was right about that. Maybe it was worth a shot. Although I'm sure Simon would rather go to a different place than the café. A coffee shop perhaps? He could get decaf and I could get a caramel latte. It would be so romantic.

The waiter was back, breaking me out of my small romantic daydream before it really could get good. "So that's one chocolate caramel cake slice and one raspberry cheesecake slice. Have I got that correct?"

"Yep!" Alvin and I both said at the same time.

The waiter left again to prepare our dessert. I sipped the last of my water and looked sweetly at Alvin. I wasn't as angry at him for being late as I was when he first showed up.

"You know…" He mused, twirling a strand of his shoulder length hair. "Thanks for not overdoing it on the insults tonight. I know that's rough for ya, considering how you and I used to communicate almost entirely through insults and pranks and stuff."

I had been purposely holding back and biting my tongue a lot tonight. I'm glad my efforts were noticed and appreciated. "You're welcome, Alvie."

"Please don't do the Alvie thing either." He requested.

I pouted. "Why? What's wrong with it?"

"It makes it sound like we're a couple and it sends the wrong message to anyone watching." His pupils shrank. He was scared. "I don't want people to start talking about how I'm cheating on Jeanette."

"But I know you aren't cheating." I lovingly wiped some dried up mozzarella cheese off his cheek with my finger. "So it's fine, really."

"I get enough insults without having to add dirty, rotten, no good hound dog to the list, Britt." He tilted his head down.

"Fine. I'll cool it with the Alvie." I agreed. "But ONLY in public. In private, it's still your pet name."

"Okay!" He squeaked.

After that, we ate our slices of cake and enjoyed every minute of it. This had started awkwardly and was bound to become awkward again at some point. Until then, I was content enjoying the moment, and the chocolate caramel cake too.

When it was time to leave, we both lingered on the sidewalk a little. "So, do you have to hurry off to some other nerd obligation?" I asked. "Or would you like to walk home with me?"

He scrolled through his phone looking at something. I assumed I'd lost his attention. "Huh? What? Oh yeah, yeah, we can walk home. I'm just headed home to cram in some homework before bed."

I smirked. "Homework, or video games?"

He was stone faced and serious. It was kind of creepy how much he didn't understand I was joking. "Homework."

"Just homework?" I frowned. "The rest of the night?"

He nodded. "Got a bunch of history, ELA, math, and AP science."

"I have everything but AP science." I told him. "But it'll take me maybe an hour, tops."

He looked annoyed with me. "Good for you. It's not that simple for a guy like me."

"Don't you usually play games before you start on your homework?" I asked, resisting the urge to take his hand. It wouldn't be appropriate. Sure, Theo and Eleanor held hands a lot as friends, but I didn't want to add more fuel to the shipping wars among our classmates if someone happened to see us.

"I do, but…" He was very hesitant saying this next part. "I gave up my game time today for….this."

Ouch. Well, if I wanted solid evidence that Alvin did in fact still care, there it was. He sacrificed his precious game time for me. It made me feel needed. It made me feel like a princess. It also made me realize that twice every month he went out of his way to sacrifice his after school game time just so that we could hang out together. That added up to a lot of game time.

"I appreciate that." I told him as we turned onto our home street. "Maybe the next time we hang out we could…" Urgh, I cannot believe I was about to say this. "Play videogames together."

His tail and ears twitched and his sad face brightened. "That sounds stupendous!"

We arrived at my treehouse and I knew that our rather short evening together had come to an end. It would be a while before we got another chance to hang out like this again. I didn't want the evening to end, but I knew it had to.

"See ya at school tomorrow, Britt." The newborn nerd (one of my many endearing nicknames for him) tipped his hat and set off for his own house next door.

"Wait!" I called out, running toward him. "Since no one else is around, can I hug you?'

He blinked, startled. "Uh…sure, you can hug us, err, me."

We embraced for about five seconds. They were a wonderful five seconds. "See ya round, Alvie!" I said, feeling satisfied with how the night had turned out.

I walked up the treehouse steps and entered the treehouse, where both my sisters were waiting on the couch with eager faces.

"So, tell us how it went!" Eleanor requested. "We want all the juicy details."

"Well, maybe not all of them." Jeanette was much less invasive by nature. "Just any of the ones you're comfortable sharing."

I smiled widely and took a seat between them, filling them in on all the details of my evening with my former lover turned friend. For a long time I was worried I would lose Alvin entirely. While I had lost him in some ways, I'd managed to still hold on to all the most important pieces.

It would take us a long time to know each other's new rhythm, just like Dave had said, but I knew that Alvin and I still shared an unbreakable bond. Our bond had been stretched to the limit, yet it hadn't broken. As time goes on, I'm sure I'll finally get used to the way things are now.

Maybe I still had a ways to go before I could handle changes well. Maybe I'd never get there, but no matter what, I know I have my family and friends to count on to help me through it. I'm a lucky lucky girl.

This actually turned out sweeter than I thought. The plan was always to end it sweetly but I assumed there would be a lot more arguing in it than there actually was. Give both Britt and Alvin a pat on the back for that. I'm sure it was very rough for them.

Stay tuned for another mini story coming soon! And don't forget to leave a review! I could use the motivation!