Kotlc Sleepover

Chapter ❇10❇

"Surprisingly, yeah," Sophie said slowly, like she was worried she was just tricking herself into actually having a good night's sleep. "I woke up once, but . . ."

She suddenly sat up. Turned to look at Keefe, who had been trying to disappear.

Obviously she had remembered why she had woken up. She had remembered his stupid nightmare.

He cringed, even as her eyes welled with concern, and she opened her mouth to ask something. But she glanced at the other girls, thought better of it, and gave him a small, sad smile.

He carefully returned it, wondering why his head felt so light and heavy all at once, and why his stomach felt like it was buzzing with electricity.

"So," Lihn started, and Keefe suppressed a groan as he was pulled from his thoughts. "You two sure were out of it."

Sophie frowned, her eyebrows drawing in, calculating, instantly suspicious. "Yeah . . ."

"And with your sleeping bags so close . . . " Biana prompted, hiding her smile behind her hand.

Sophie raised an eyebrow, confused, and looked down. She finally seemed to notice that she was most definitely not in her designated sleeping spot.

Keefe tried to appear cool about it, but Sophie's shocked and embarrassed expression made him feel suddenly self conscious. Which was ridiculous, he knew, but he couldn't shake it.

"Keefe," Sophie muttered, looking up at said boy. "Holy crud, I'm on Keefe's sleeping bag."

Marella nodded proudly. "Sure are."

"Yup, that's what it looks like to me," Biana noted.

"Yup," Lihn agreed, popping the 'p.'

Sophie's face took on an adorable shade of red, and she turned to look at Keefe, horrified.

"I," she started, then stopped, mouth hanging open.

Keefe was sure his own face was just as red. He tried to think of something to say to defuse the topic, anything, but he couldn't seem to form actual words.

"Anyway," Biana started, waving the camera. Keefe felt the blood drain from his face; he had forgotten about the pictures. "We have a couple photos to show you, Soph."

Said girl nodded slowly, suspiovus again. Heavy waves of embarrassment rained off of her, and Keefe picked up on the feeling easily. She scrambled up, away from Keefe's spot, and walked over to the girls.

Keefe knew what they were showing her. He sighed and turned away, waiting for the waves of emotion he was sure was coming.

And come they did.

Shock, alarm, confusion, humiliation, shame, embarrassment, anger, and about a million others, included a strange one that looked a lot like affection, though he was sure he was misreading it, swam through the air and knocked into Keefe's chest. The overload of emotions was so powerful that he actually winced, pressing a hand to his heart and taking deep, cooling breaths the way he had learned how.

"What?" Sophie whisper-hissed, and Keefe turned to see her trying and failing to snatch the camera away. "Delete those, now!"

"No way!" Marella giggled, trying to keep her voice down. She shielded Biana from Sophie's anger.

"Don't you guys look so cute?" Lihn teased in her quiet, soft way. She smiled innocently, like she was honestly just asking the question.

"Oh, I am going to hurt you," Sophie threatened, trying yet again to get the camera.

And failing. Again.

"Sophie, Sophie, Sophie," Marella said, smirking and shaking her head. "Do these photos make you realize something? Anything?"

Sophie's face went red and she shook her head, hard. "No!"

Biana grinned. "Really? So that blush on your face is because you haven't noticed something about the way you feel?"

Keefe felt his own face flush. This conversation, as much as he had looked forward to having it, was way to in-depth for this early in the morning. The others weren't even awake yet!

"I noticed nothing," Sophie insisted, like she was trying to convince herself as much as the girls.

"What about you, Keefe?" Lihn asked, and inside, Keefe groaned, yet again.

He didn't even bother to look at the screen Biana was holding out. He knew what was on it. "You know what I noticed?" He asked casually, standing up. Blood rushed to his head and made him slightly dizzy, but he didn't really acknowledge it. "I noticed that I'm starving."

"Yes!" Sophie immediately agreed, jumping on the excuse. "Man, we should get some breakfast!"

Keefe nodded. "Yup. Let's go."

"No way!" Lihn whined, reaching out and grabbing Sophie's arm to keep her from walking away. "C'mon, you guys can't get out of this!"

"Yeah!" Biana agreed, hands on her hips.

Sighing, Keefe turned to look at them. Met each of their eyes so they would know he was serious, which was a rare thing for him.

"I had a nightmare. Sophie woke up and helped me. We fell asleep. On accident. That's it."

They all stared at him for a moment. He stared back. Finally, Marella nudged Biana and Lihn, and the three girls shared a look.

"Fine," Lihn relented, exasperated. "Let's eat, then."

Keefe's face broke into a semi-forced smile. He was sure his face was still red.

"Yeah. Let's go get breakfast."