These Feelings Inside (How Deep Do They Go)

Chapter 9- Something So Unexpected

It'd have been better if they split into two, she'd give Fitz the gold since he often wore gold jewellery, and she could take the silver to match—would he find it weird if she wore a ring to match him? What about the third then? Maybe she could use it as a gift? Though, she could just gift an expensive ring to just anyone—

"Matching rings, really Foster?" A voice asked from behind her, causing her to whirl around in shock, the rings flying out of her hands.

To her annoyance, Keefe caught them with ease, a smug look on their face.

"Where's Biana?" she asked.

"On her way, she says the clothes there weren't worth it. But you didn't answer my question. Matching rings? Oh, there's three. Flowers on them too? Betcha can't identify the flowers here."

"Sure she can," Biana said, as grabbed Keefe by the arm. "You don't get to run off like that."

"Looks like carnations to me," Sophie said.

They whistled. "Well, look at that."

Sophie resisted the urge to just take the rings and shove them back towards the jeweller, but they were really pretty, and—

"What about the size?" Biana asked, holding one of them. "Looks tight for my finger, so it wouldn't fit him."

"I've got a bigger size, and I've got something to help deal with when it's loose," the jeweller said. "It'll cost a little bit, but not much."

"That's fine, thank you," Sophie said, because what ultimately sold her on buying the rings was that they were cheap considering they were three.

"So," Keefe asked, their cheerful tone at odds with the furrow of their brows, "what'cha gonna do with the third?"

Sophie shrugged. "I'm not sure." She could also tell there was likely some unspoken confession of does this mean you plan to confess?

Sure, some of the flowers they gave each other had some romantic connotations, but she was sure that he wouldn't ignore the fact that many people who confessed to their crush used carnations as an alternative to roses. Or maybe they'd just continue to toe the line. She had to admit, she'd probably do that if she were in his place.

...she was just going to buy the rings before she chickened out.

•~•~•~•~•~•

Once they finished their shopping, the three of them headed home. Biana went back to her place and Sophie and Keefe began packing what they had away from plain sight. Sophie didn't get much so she finished earlier, and went downstairs. To her surprise, Fitz was there in the living room, pacing back and forth.

"You okay?" she asked, and he started, turning to her with wide eyes.

"Yeah," he said, a little breathless, "I'm fine."

"Did something happen?"

"Everyone's fine, nothing happened."

She glanced up at his eyes, and was surprised that his gaze wasn't on her at all.

"Let's go to my room," Sophie offered, taking him by the arm as they went there.

They entered her room and casually sat down on the bed. She didn't let go of his arm, and was pleased when he didn't move away.

"You hang out with Keefe a lot," he said from beside her.

She stared up at the ceiling. "This again? Is something wrong?"

"No," he said, but she could feel his arm tense a little. "I'm just jea—" he cut himself off.

"You're just..?"