Adorable

Chapter 11 | Girl Talk & Dad Talk

Sophie sighed, resisting the urge to tug on a loose eyelash. Sir Alvin had been droning on for the last hour about some obscure elf-dwarf treaty that had been replaced millenia ago. Sandor had fallen asleep almost instantly, and Sophie was very tempted to do the same. Especially since she still wasn't caught up on her sleep.

So she busied herself in her own thoughts. She daydreamed about Keefe- how he had ignored the kelpies and stared at her like she was the only thing on earth that mattered, how he had sat against the Panakes tree all night to help her sleep- but mostly how he kissed her like there was no one else on earth, how he managed to never be afraid of what anyone else might think. She loved him so much it hurt to be away from him. So she tried not to think about it.

Instead, she thought about Biana and Dex, who obviously had something going on. Sophie thought of how Biana had mouthed 'tell you later' when Dex had implied he and her had had fun together at the sleepover. Sophie figured something had happened while they were watching the kelpies, but she didn't know what.

The look on Dex's face as he stared at Biana made Sophie really happy. She knew he'd find someone he loved and who'd love him back. And Sophie was all for it. She thought they'd be adorable together. She wondered how Fitz would take the news...

Finally, her session was over and it was lunchtime. Sophie hurried to her usual table where, indeed, Dex and Biana were sitting together. Fitz was sitting on Biana's other side, and Keefe was sitting next to Fitz. He was laughing hysterically about a joke he had obviously just told. Fitz was giving him a mad-but-hiding-a-smile look, so the joke was probably about Fitz. Biana and Dex were laughing too, and Sophie saw them sneak a look at each other.

She made her way over, and sat down next to Keefe- after only a moment's hesitation. He grinned at her and started to say something, but Fitz cut him off.

"DON'T YOU DARE TELL HER KEEFE." he said, still holding back laughter.

But Keefe only continued. "Hey Sophie, Fitz-"

"I SWEAR KEEFE. IF YOU TELL HER I WILL SHAVE YOUR HEAD."

They all laughed so hard their sides hurt, even though Sophie still had no idea what the joke was.

"Tell you later." Keefe stage-whispered to her.

"I will find out!" Fitx threatened.

"Fine... I won't tell her... but only because Ro over there would definitely do it for you."

"I totally would." Ro popped in. "I wouldn't even need a reason. It'd be awesome."

They laughed again as Fitz and Ro high-fived. The mood was so light, Sophie almost forgot the events of yesterday. Then she accidentally met Fitz's eyes, and it all came flooding back. The smile dropped off his face too, and they quickly looked down. Keefe obviously noticed the mood shift, but he didn't say anything.

The rest of lunch passed silently and awkwardly, and Sophie managed to get through the rest of her sessions without running into Fitz- or falling asleep.

As she made her way to the Leapmaster, she ran into Biana.

"Hey, Biana!" she called.

"Yeah Soph?"

"Wanna come to Havenfield this afternoon?" she asked, winking.

"Uh..." Biana obviously knew what she meant.

"C'mon... don't you always want to have 'girl talk?'"

"Well... yeah. But we have to talk about Keefe."

Sophie hesitated. "Fine. But you go first."

Biana laughed. "Deal. Just let me go home and change." And she leaped away.