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“So,” Sonny said, grinning widely between the TV screen and her boyfriend. “What’d you think?”
“Um…” Chad pursed his lips as he scrambled to come up with a proper answer. On the one hand, comedy wasn’t really his thing, and he’d be remiss to ever admit that he had enjoyed a So Random! sketch, of all things. On the other hand, Sonny was his girlfriend, and, both from a boyfriend standpoint and an objective one, she had done a good job in the skit. He did want her to be proud of her own work, even willing to sacrifice - and a year ago he would have laughed in your face if you told him this - his own pride for it to happen. Plus, he wondered if there was really any point to lying when he was ninety nine percent sure she had caught glimpses of him trying to suppress his own laughter during the sketch.
He was clearly doing a bad job of trying to suppress his true feelings now, too, because she smirked at him, raised an eyebrow, and smugly asked, “Are you gonna admit that you liked it, or do I have to tickle it out of you?”
Chad’s face fell at this implication, hands instinctively going to cover his stomach and sides. “You did great in the sketch, babe."
She laughed and leaned in to kiss his forehead. “Good boy. I can tell you meant it, too.” They exchanged warm smiles before a familiar jingle sounded from the TV, causing Sonny’s attention to snap back to the screen almost instantly. “Ooh! Check-it-Out Girls! This is me and Tawni’s favorite sketch to do together! I think this week’s segment was our best one yet!” she squealed, starting to bounce up and down in her seat and flap her hands as she rattled on about her favorite sketch.
As her movements began to still, she noticed how Chad was looking at her. His lips were curled into a smile, his eyebrows raised in curiosity and his bright blue eyes carefully watching her. Suddenly self-conscious under his gaze (though for all the best reasons), Sonny gave him a confused look of her own, slipping a stray lock of hair behind her ear. “What?”
“Oh, um, nothing.” Chad waved his hand dismissively, though she didn’t miss the way his cheeks turned pink. “It’s just that… you were doing that thing again.”
She blinked and furrowed her brows. “Thing? What thing?”
“Well…” He inched closer to her, making her smile widen. “I’ve noticed that when you’re happy about something, or when you’re talking about something you really like, you kinda…” He lazily fluttered his own hands a bit to demonstrate. “Wave your hands around like this.”
Her bright red lips parted before she pulled them back into a terse smile. “Oh, that.” Sonny chuckled awkwardly and resumed playing with her hair, though the motion had a much more nervous overtone to it now. “Yeah, that’s just kind of… this thing I do. The Randoms have pointed it out to me, too… When I’m happy, I fidget, but like, more than the average person would. The hand flapping is something I’ve always done, ever since I was a kid.” She laughed again, teeth gritted into a forced smile. “If it, you know, bothers you or something, I can try to stop, I mean, it’s not really something I do consciously, but I can control it, so-”
“What? No.” Chad snuggled closer to her. “I wasn’t laughing to make fun of you or anything, it’s just that… it’s cute. When you do that. I like it.” He shrugged.
The uncomfortable look on her face faded, turning into one of softness as she gazed up at him with her brown eyes. “Really? It’s just that… well, I kinda got teased for it when I was younger, so-”
“Sonny, why would anyone tease you for something like that?” With one look at his face, Sonny could tell he was being genuine, and she shrugged sadly. He curled an arm around her shoulders before continuing. “It’s something you do to show that you’re happy, which makes it automatically a good thing. You shouldn’t be ashamed of the ways you express joy, or feel like you need to hide it.”
He grinned when he noticed the way she was blushing. “Yeah, comedy’s not really my thing, but I can tell it’s something you’re really passionate about. And I love knowing that there’s something out there that can make you this happy. Second only to me, of course.”
Sonny laughed at his joke, and Chad felt his heart start to pound. “Now, c’mon, tell me all about your comedy sketches. I wanna hear all of it.”
Her face lit up at this. “Okay, well…”
As she began to expel all the information in her tiny body about her work on So Random!, Chad's eyes never left her. She was smiling radiantly, and every now and then she would squirm in her seat excitedly, or shake her hands, or wiggle her fingers. Chad was gazing at her with the utmost admiration the whole time, his heart swelling at seeing his girlfriend in a state of such pure, unfiltered bliss.
God, I love her so much.