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There are certain norms one must follow if you want to get back together with your ex. The first one is to not seem desperate- this will only worsen whatever relationship you still have with this person. The second is to try and move on with your life, as hard as it may be. I followed none of these rules. It was three weeks since Sonny had broken up with me over the recount issue, and as much as I wanted to believe I was right, it didn’t take long for me to realize I’d made the biggest mistake of my life. So, there I was, stuck, in the Mackenzie Falls set, trying my hardest to hold back from bawling in front of everyone for the third time that week. The cast was starting to get sick of my heartbreak, I knew that, but I also knew they wouldn’t say it to my face. That day we were filming the season four mid-season finale. It was meant to be heartbreaking, me and Chloe would be standing in pouring rain- our gazes desperately longing for each other, as I took her in my arms and begged her to take me back. Now think of that and tell me how easy would it be not to think of Sonny? The entire crew was happy, we’d all received a salary raise, certain new characters appeared that everybody liked, and I couldn’t do anything because I was there sulking. I wanted Sonny, I needed Sonny. The stale air of the set lingered in her absence, and I thought if I tried hard enough maybe I could embrace a complete imaginary version of her. I was going insane.

We’d taken a break from shooting our scene, mainly because of a castmate’s sickness. We’d all told her to go home but she wouldn’t hear a word of it, and so far, she wasn’t doing too great. I laid down on a chair, my body dragging down until it eventually reached the floor. What has my life come to? Then I heard a noise. I whirled my head, a desperate voice in my mind wondering if it was Sonny. No one entered the set so loudly, so in need to make themselves seen. I smiled against my will, I barely even saw Sonny anymore so to think-

Crap I’d gotten my hopes up too soon.

It wasn’t Sonny, but two of her castmates, whose names I was pretty sure weren’t greasy and nerdy but I couldn’t put too much effort to remembering anything beyond that. I scowled as they approached me, smirks planted on their faces. This couldn’t be good, every time the chaos pair approached me I was guaranteed a horrible time. I gathered up my body and sat back on my chair, looking disinterested at them.

“Hello?” I said.

“Chad!” They both simultaneously replied. “We need you”

I smiled. “I need you to leave me alone.” I said. “Don’t you see I’m busy? We’re shooting a mid-season finale over here!”

The boys scratched their heads, searching around for any sort of action on the set.

“There’s no one here.”

“No one here yet. They’re taking care of a castmate, she’s sick.”

“Okay,” said glasses. “so you have time to hear us out, please Chad, this is very important”

I guess I was somewhat curious as to what the two idiots were doing, and a small part of me wondered if it had anything to do with Sonny.

“Fine, what do you want?”

The boys squealed at my answer. “We need your photo.”

I grinned. “An autograph? Well, why didn’t you just say so, names please.” I got my hands on a marker and a Mackenzie Falls poster as I walked around the set looking for a stable surface to write on. The guys stopped me.

“No! No that! We need you to send us photos of yourself.”

I raised an eyebrow. “What for?”

The boys fidgeted and were cautious when looking me in the eye when they responded. “Well, Nico here thought it’d be smart to text a girl online and tell her he was you.” I resisted the urge to laugh. “And well, since she lives in Ukraine, she can’t exactly visit so she’s asking for very specific photos of you.”

“How specific?”

“She wants a photo of you holding up a poster that says ‘I love you so much darling’”

“Not doing that.” I stated, simply as that. I began to walk away, at first just to get a cup of coffee but as the boys kept following me, I kept going until eventually I was out the Mackenzie Falls set. We were having that ridiculous discussion in a public hallway, if that wasn’t worthy of So Random! I don’t know what was. The boys begged and pleaded but I remained silent and stoic, up until I reached Sonny’s dressing room. I didn’t know why it’d been instinct to go in there, but I couldn’t just leave…ugh stupid heartbreak.

“Come on Chad!” The guys begged, to be honest for a minute I’d forgotten they were even there. “Do it for a friend.”

“What’s even in it for me?”

The boys looked at each other, their brows furrowed in confusion. “Well…we don’t exactly have a-“

“No.”

“Come on!”

“Look, these are the kinds of things that only happen in So Random! Back in Mackenzie falls we have a life. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to get to rehearsal” I attempted to leave, but the boys covered my path.

“Oh, you’re not going anywhere boy,” One of them said. “Not until you accept.”

“Threats? Seriously? You’re going with threats? Not to be that guy but your death stare looks like that of a puppy.” I tried to walk away, but they had me cornered.

“Well, if you’re going to be like that” the boys said, their eyes widening in craziness. I raised my hands, swallowing hard, I was not going to scream bloody murder in front of Sonny’s dressing room.
I mean, I wasn’t going to do that until they practically lunged at me. They weren’t all that strong, but it was two against one! I screamed when they got ahold of my hair and just like that there was only one option. I grabbed onto the door knob of Sonny’s dressing room and launched myself inside. I took a deep breath, and locked the door at the sound of screams from the other side.

When I finally composed myself, I smirked. “Peace out suckas!” I screamed at turned my head around.

Sonny was staring daggers at me, half her face looking confused, the other painfully angry. I stammered, and quickly gave her a small smile-it did not help the situation.

“What are you doing here?” Sonny asked.

“I’m sorry” I exclaimed. “But your castmates are insane, they were going to kill me!”

Sonny’s eyebrow shot high up. “They were going to kill you?”

“Yes”

“Chad, your excuses are getting weirder by the second.”

“I’m serious!” I said.

“He’s serious” The boys yelled from the other side of the door, proceeding to repeatedly smash the door with their fists.

“Nico! Grady! What are you doing?” Sonny asked.

“Chad was being mean to us.” At first, I thought Sonny might take their side, after all she wasn’t too prone to defend me after the break-up, but all she did was raise an eyebrow and sigh. I grinned, I at least had the benefit of the doubt, that had to be something.

“Guys come on, we have rehearsal in like two minutes, just let Chad be!” Sonny said.

“No! If he won’t help us then he must pay”

I rolled my eyes. This was seriously getting out of hand, once our castmate recovered from all her vomiting I was supposed to be at rehearsal as well. I reached the door and screamed. “Just let me out!” They did not comply, and when Sonny tried to open the door they reached their greasy fingers out, I peaked a bit and saw they had a bat. Oh hell no. I instinctively fled to the other side of Sonny’s dressing room, a fearful whimper leaving my mouth.

“Oh please, Nico, Grady! Let us out!” Sonny said, her voice leaning on the side of frustration and a little bit of hopefulness her words would reach these guys.

After a while of empty pleadings, we knew we were stuck. The guys were not going to leave the side of that door for anything, and we were both obviously going to miss our respective rehearsals. I sighed but took a seat in Tawni’s puffy chair.

“Well, they’re not going to leave you alone.”

I looked down. “I guess not.”

A heavy silence weighed, and I took this opportunity to look at Sonny-really look at her. It was no surprise Sonny was beautiful, I’d thought so since the first time I’d seen her, but with the distance and a big longing it was as if she was a beauty goddess. Had she gotten prettier? Was it just my imagination playing tricks on me? I groaned internally. I’d always liked Sonny’s hair, the nature of its waves and how soft it looked and how rounded and nice it made her face look, it was one of her best attributes. I wished I’d gotten to touch it more back when she would allow me to.

I stood up and looked at a very distraught Sonny. “Look, I’m sorry about this, I seriously didn’t want to come here. I was at the Falls set and-“

She held her hand in the air. “Chad, no, you don’t have to explain how you got into this predicament. I mean, it’s Nico and Grady.”

I smiled softly. “So, what are we going to do?”

“I don’t know, I guess wait for the guys to get tired and then bail.”

“They seem pretty persistent.”

“What other choice do we have?” She asked. I searched my mind, hollow as an Eastern Bonny chocolate.

“What do you want to do?” I looked her up and down, my gaze eventually landing right back to her hair. It looked soft, I knew it was soft, and it always smelled like lemons. Damn it, Chad, you had to go and be stupid right? I thought.

“I guess we could watch some TV” Sonny picked up the remote and turned on the Tv at the center of her dressing room. We both took a seat, rather close to each other, and proceeded to scooch further away. Sonny flipped the channels, but my gaze wasn’t at the TV. Sonny played with her hair when she was nervous, and I couldn’t decide whether it was because of my forced presence or the fact she was missing rehearsal. Eventually she landed on a channel and I looked at the TV, flustered.

“Mackenzie Falls?” I asked. “I didn’t know you still watched that.”

Sonny blushed. “Chloe and Mackenzie broke up without any explanation, obviously I’m going to keep watching to know what happens.”

I scoff. “If you just saw what happens in the mid-season finale-“

Sonny practically jumped me, getting ahold of the collar in my shirt. I swallowed, part of me excited the other so very afraid. “What happens in the mid-season finale?!” She asked abruptly. I leaned my head back, trying-and failing-to hide how hard I was blushing. I guess I didn’t do too good a job because Sonny blinked and took back her seat in the couch, the one about five feet away from me.

“I don’t think I can tell you.” I said.

“Why not?”

“Don’t you want to see it for yourself?”

“Does Mackenzie confront Chloe?!” Sonny asked. My boss would get real mad if our secret collaboration with another tween show “Rosetta Ville” would go out, but this was Sonny, and she was asking me, practically about to beg me to tell her. I hadn’t seen her this riled up in weeks, hell I hadn’t seen her in weeks. The least I owed her was a little spoiler.

“Okay yeah, they get back together”

“Really!” Sonny asked, and I didn’t know whether her getting closer was intentional or subconscious. “What happened? Why did she broke up with Mackenzie?”

“Gabriel came back to town”

“Gabriel came back to town?!” Sonny’s mouth widened. “As in her super dangerous, abusive, werewolf ex?”

I smirked. “That’s the one. Wow, you’re really caught up in the show aren’t you.”

Her gaze turned back toward the TV; she rolled her eyes. “Just a little”

The episode playing was the Halloween special, where I had dressed up as a prince. Not going to lie, if I wanted Sonny to watch an episode of Mackenzie Falls it’d probably be this one. I looked radiant on that episode, even more so than usual. Of course it’d take a while before I made an appearance but it’d be worth it once she saw my outfit. As of not she was too focused on the episode’s actual plot. Heh, wasn’t that about to change.

“I can’t get back together with Mackenzie!” Exclaimed Chloe on the screen, Sonny gave it her undivided attention. I’d already watched this, I knew it was the janitor that killed the professor, and I knew full well the only pro of the episode was the mystery and my amazing outfit. My hair had taken hours to get done, I had a very puffy coat, a cape, a mini crown, some make-up, it was a very intense process. But as of now, I hadn’t appeared yet, so I just looked at Sonny. Pretty little Sonny, beautiful Sonny, Sonny my ex-girlfriend with whom I was trapped in a dressing room. Granted, we hadn’t heard from Nico and Grady for a while so either they were asleep or ditched their vengeance mission, and I still didn’t want to go to the door and check. So I looked at Sonny, still nervously playing with her hair.

“Wait, there you are” She pointed at the Tv, I looked back. Damn, yes I was that handsome. Sonny snorted. “You look ridiculous.”

“Ridiculously gorgeous you mean?” I teased.

“Ridiculous as in how long it took to get you into that outfit?”

“An hour tops, the hair was what took the most time.”

“Oh, I can tell, I bet half that time was spent with you complaining someone was touching your hair.”

I laughed. “Maybe”

Sonny beamed, and appropriately blushed and looked back at the Tv.

Okay, so maybe she wasn’t swooning over me as I’d expected, but that meant nothing. I was still going to enjoy myself as much as I could. And oh I did. The many jump scares that proceeded the interruption of the episode were ones I’d familiarized myself with so much they barely affected me anymore. I knew Big Foot was nothing more than some bad CGI, and the knife that Brenda was running around with was perfectly safe. I knew all that, but Sonny didn’t. Every chance the show got it filled with bloody murder and screams and, I don’t know if Sonny knew this, but every jump scare she got closer and closer to me. I blushed, G-d dammit this show was killing me. She was so close by the fifteen minute mark, her back was leaning against my chest and dammit you’d think the best actor of our generation would have good lungs but in that moment I didn’t.

I knew it was a risk, but I slowly lifted a hand behind her back and by the time the next jump scare happened, her head was testing against my shoulder. I inhaled shakily, trying my hardest to breathe. Her hair was soft against my neck and the air around me tinted the aroma to lemons. I smiled.

“This show is great” Sonny said. I didn’t think I had it in me to make a sly remark about the compliment, she’d probably get her head off my shoulder if I did. “I get why it won Tween Show Award”

I sighed slightly. I didn’t want to remember the fiasco that had been the Tween Show Awards Ceremony. Outside of me being a complete prick, Sonny had full right to break it up with me. I’d been terrible, blinded by ego and well, a tiny bit of narcissism even. It’d only been three weeks but it felt much longer without Sonny and now she was so close and very second was passed by so quickly. I didn’t want the moment to end, even if it meant carrying on an awkward conversation.

“You deserved that award” I whispered. “I just wasn’t supportive.”

“Yeah, you weren’t”

Looking back at the Tv, I realized the episode was just about to end. Three more minutes, three more jump scares to go.

“You were terrible” Sonny said. “Asking for that recount. You simply thought your girlfriend couldn’t be capable of winning something”

“No, I knew you were pretty amazing. I thought…and I was wrong of course, but I was too scared of the relationship ending. I’d gotten too used to our usual routine, and I thought the change could break us up. I was jealous, and I take full accountability for that.”

Sonny looked back up at me, not even flinching at the next brutal scream on the show, just her face so close it was making my flame up.

“I’m sorry” I murmured, getting caught up in the scent of her hair. “I don’t expect you to forgive me, I don’t really think I deserve your forgiveness, but I just wanted to say that”

It took all my willpower to stand up, leaving Sonny leaning against the couch, mouth agape. I approached the door of her dressing room cautiously before taking a small peak at the other side. The idiots were asleep. Thank G-d, I don’t know how long I could have lasted so long to Sonny without losing my mind. I gave a small push to the door, and walked to the other side before Sonny approached me.

“Chad, wait!”

I turned my head. “What?”

She looked at me for a moment before she pulled me against her and kissed me. My mind was conjuring every possible reason for this and I eventually landed on an idea. She wanted me back as well. Oh thank G-d I wasn’t alone in this. I searched her hair with the tips of my fingers, enjoying every moment. My stomach was filling up with fireworks and I was pretty sure they would light us both on fire if this kept going but I didn’t care. Sonny was here, Sonny was kissing me, and I wasn’t sure if this meant she had forgiven me but it was a maybe. I hadn’t imagined this, not after three weeks of no contact, I’d practically given up. Not ever again.

When we gathered our breaths, I looked at her with a vulnerable look. She did the same, but a tiny smile forming in her lips. G-d she was beautiful. “I’ll see you” she said.

Then she shut the door behind her, and I traced my lips with my fingers.

I’ll see you, she’d said. Dammit, she didn’t know how much I wanted to. I was so careless I accidently stepped on one of the guys. I blinked. He stood up and gathered his guts to grab the bat next to him. “I hope you’ve reconsidered” he said in what he probably thought was a menacing voice. I giggled. “You helping us?” He lifted up the bat. “Or not?

I beamed, looking back at Sonny’s dressing room. “You know what? Why not?”