"Thanks so much for not bailing on me," Sophie said, looking at her friend through the reflection in the mirror.
He smiled and walked closer toward her. "This is what you want, Sophie. And I'll always stay by you. Plus, it doesn't involve breaking any rules or laws—actually, that's a negative because breaking rules is a lot more fun than choosing between pink flowers and slightly-lighter-pink flowers for decorations."
Sophie smiled and turned around to face him. "You're way too good of a friend."
He smiled, though it didn't seem to quite reach his eyes. "Well . . . what if I don't want to be your friend, Sophie?"
Sophie felt like her heart had stopped, like time froze, and all she could do was look into his perfectly blue eyes. She wasn't sure what to think or just didn't want to fully understand the meaning of his words.
"What if I want to be your best friend?" he asked after a second, turning his smile into a smirk—though, based off Sophie's photographic memory, the smirk didn't quite match his trademark one.
"Oh." Sophie let out a sigh of relief—hoping her previous panic wasn't obvious—and felt like she could breathe normally again. "What if I told you you're already my best friend?"
Keefe wrapped his arms around her waist. "Then I'd tell Biana and she'd get jealous."
"Jealous of what?" the aforementioned asked from the open doorway, making both Sophie and Keefe jump.
Keefe quickly recovered, however, and moved to be next to Sophie, keeping one arm around her. "She told me that I'm her best friend."
Sophie smiled. "No . . . I said what if I told you that. Not that it's necessarily true."
"I'm an empath, Sophie," he said bluntly, like it was the most obvious thing in the world—though with the amount of times he's repeated it to her, it might as well have been. "I know that's the truth."
"Mhmm," Sophie mumbled, not sounding like she was completely agreeing, though.
"You two are great friends, I can't lie." Biana stared at Keefe knowingly as she said that with her tone low and directed. Her gaze softened as she looked at Sophie up and down. "Anyways, Sophie you look so pretty!"
Sophie saw Keefe smile at the faint blush that appeared on her cheeks—natural blush, beneath all the makeup. "Thanks, Biana. Are people . . . here, yet?"
Biana laughed. "You wouldn't believe how many guys are downstairs! And it's just from one list."
Keefe coughed. "You're gonna freak her out."
Biana rolled her eyes with a smile. "It'll be great! Let's go, Sophie!"
Biana had practically dragged Sophie out of the room and down the flights of stairs, giddy to open the doors and reveal the party in the open land of Havenfield. Keefe was right behind them.
"Ready?" he asked, seeming nervous himself.
"It's been three months," Sophie mumbled to herself, since she decided to have a gala. "I can do this."
With that, she braced herself and opened the doors.
The firefly-like bugs floating in the air glowed in colours of greens, blues, magenta, and violets, which contrasted well against the reds, yellows, and oranges of the sunset. Flowers were strewn up everywhere and made the yard look really beautiful and elegant—though there weren't that many decorations which surprised Sophie since she knew Edaline likes to go overboard in these situations.
Grady wasn't able to accept how much Sophie had grown up and insisted on being there at the gala—which wasn't a good idea considering he could get a little overprotective at times—so Edaline took him somewhere else on a date to keep him distracted, leaving the group of teenagers alone for a party on the estate.
As much as Sophie wanted to focus on the decorations and avoid looking at all the boys on her list who showed up, a quick little glance proved that Biana was right—a lot of people had attended, and all of their eyes were focused intently on the bachelorette of the night.
"What do I do?" Sophie whispered with a panicked smile.
"Talk to a bunch of guys and see who pique your interest!" Biana said before announcing loudly for everyone else to hear, "Thank you everyone for coming tonight! Sophie, here, will get around to all of you, but for now, just enjoy this as if it were a regular party!"
Everyone cheered and clapped as Sophie made her way down the steps of the porch and onto the grass, Keefe and Biana by her side.
"If you wanna take a break, come find us," Biana told her.
Keefe smirked. "Yeah, I know the best ways to ditch these kinds of things."
Biana gave him a slight push before looking at Sophie. "Go! You'll do great!"
"Hi," Sophie said to the first guy she saw, unsure of how to initiate the conversation with a complete stranger.
He smiled, a dimple appearing on his left cheek. "Hey, Sophie."
She was about to ask how he knew her name before she mentally slapped herself, realizing he was here for her. "So . . . how's it going?"
He chuckled and took a sip of his drink. "You don't know who I am, do you?"
Sophie smiled sheepishly as she shook her head no. "Sorry."
"It's alright," he said, still smiling, before holding out a hand for her to shake. "I'm Vixen."
"Vangelis?" Sophie questioned without thinking. When he nodded, she had to fight the urge to run away from him.
He's my number one kept repeating in her mind.
"That's me," he said, though kind of grimly. "Just out of curiosity, am I high on your list?"
Well . . . yeah, she thought, trying to ignore the fact that his accent resembles Fitz's. "You're . . . up there."
He grinned as he took another sip. "I keep forgetting that you're still fairly new to our traditions and that this is probably one of your first galas."
A light, rosy tint arose to her cheeks when she realized everyone in the Lost Cities knew who she was. And when she realized that he was right. "Yeah . . . Am I doing this wrong?"
He chuckled. "You're doing great. All you're really supposed to do is talk to the elves on your list and get to know them a bit better."
"Oh! Perfect. I was planning on doing that already." Some of the tension in her shoulders started to release a little as she got more comfortable with him. "So, since you already know a lot about me . . ."
"Hmm . . ." he mumbled when he caught on to what she was saying. "Nothing really interesting about me, honestly. Mallowmelt is the key to my heart, of course. I'm definitely a lot smarter than my older cousin no matter what he says. My favorite color is red. . . ." He took a pause, trying to think of more things to say.
Sophie found herself smiling. He was good looking, with his dirty blonde hair, few, light freckles, and broad shoulders.
"What's your special ability?" Sophie asked him, glad not to be the kind-of-awkward one for a change.
"I'm a Vanisher," he said with a smile before vanishing.
"Wait . . . Vixen Vangelis the Vanisher," Sophie mumbled before laughing. "You really like V's, huh?"
"Of course," he chuckled. "I'm also a telepath, though obviously not as advanced as you are."
"You have two abilities?" Sophie questioned.
"Yeah," he answered. "Which makes sense since the Matchmakers make sure to pair up powerful couples. So with me having two abilities and you having . . . a million it makes sense I'd be high on your list."
"Oh, right." Sophie had almost forgotten about that fact. "Is your cousin Salvatore Vangelis? I saw him on my list."
Vixen nodded, holding back a chuckle. "He's not really looking for anyone right now though. He only registered to see if his crush's name was on his list and she was so. . . ."
"Yeah, I guess I did that, too," Sophie quietly said, looking down. "But it didn't really work out so well for me."
"Is it bad that I'm glad it didn't work out for you?" he asked, taking a sip of his drink before looking Sophie in the eye. "I mean, if it did, I wouldn't have had the pleasure of meeting you in person."
Sophie couldn't hold back her smile as she blushed. "It's nice meeting you, too."
Sophie talked with Vixen for a few more minutes, finding his teenage drama really interesting. (Apparently, he likes the girl he's roommates with in the Towers, but the girl just so happens to also be his cousin's crush. And Vixen was so shy around her that he gave her notes and gifts as her secret admirer only it backfired and she thought his cousin was the secret admirer. But, instead of telling her the truth, he let her believe it was his cousin since he knew how much his cousin liked her.) He had a nice personality and was really fun to talk to. If they didn't go out, Sophie would definitely still want to be friends with him.
She started to move on to talk to more people, none of them really stuck out to her as much as Vixen did.
As she was finishing up talking to someone, she heard a familiar voice from behind her say, "Hi, Sophie."
She turned around and smiled at who she saw. "Valin! Hey. How are you?"
Sophie was right in thinking he would be handsome without the drool coming out of his mouth and if his hair was properly taken care of rather than slicked back.
He seemed timid, playing with his fingers, as he gave her a smile. "I'm good, thanks. You look really beautiful tonight. I mean, you always looks beautiful. I'm not saying that you only look beautiful tonight but . . . um . . . yeah."
She chuckled a little bit. "Thanks, Valin."
"Um . . . I don't know if you know this but . . . I had a major crush on you when we were in Level Two." He was really quiet while saying that, probably hoping Sophie wouldn't have heard.
Sophie let out a quiet chuckle remembering those times. "Really? I had no idea. . . ."
"Yeah . . . but I'm over you now," he said, not catching Sophie's subtle sarcasm, before quickly adding, "I mean, not that you're not attractive now—you're really attractive and I would still probably like you if I didn't start liking someone else."
Sophie found it adorable that he was nervous while talking with her. "Really? Who do you like now? If you want to tell me, anyways."
"You have to promise not to tell anyone." His eyes gaze intently into Sophie's, awaiting her agreement—to which she gave a small nod, taking a sip of her drink.
"I really like . . . Marella."
Sophie almost spat out her drink. She remembered the first time she met Marella, it had been after she saved Sophie from social suicide by hanging out with the "Drooly Boys"—the social group Valin had definitely been a part of in the past few years.
"Do you think there's a chance she might like me?" he asked, a hopeful sparkle in his eyes.
Given his new appearance, he wasn't a Drooly Boy anymore. Plus, he was talking more and not quite as shy. With those points in mind, Sophie offered him another nod.
"I think that if you start talking to her and let her get to know you . . . you might have a chance."
He let out the biggest and most adorable smile Sophie had ever seen and she couldn't help but laugh a little.
"Good luck," she told him before walking away.
She saw her friends hanging out and talking by the Panakes tree and she joined them, wanting a break.
"Hey, guys!" she cheered, happy to see people she knew.
"Hey!" Biana said back, "How is everyone?"
Sophie nodded her head a bit. "All right, they seem really nice so far."
Tam scoffed. "No dur, they're trying to get into your pants."
Linh smacked her brother and hissed his name. "Be nice! I'm sorry Sophie, just ignore him."
Tam furrowed his brows, rubbing his shoulder. "What? It's true."
Sophie laughed, though. "He's probably right, though."
"Pfft, Bangs Boy is hardly ever right," Keefe said. "They're all just trying to impress you, Foster."
"You still call him 'Bangs Boy'?" Dex asked with a laugh.
Keefe's eyes narrowed at him. "Watch it, Dizznee, I still remember what you did to the Hair at that sleepover."
With that, Dex went stoic, momentarily frozen in fear.
"Just ignore the boys," Linh told Sophie with her polite tone. "I mean these boys—" she pointed to Keefe, Tam, and Dex "—because they're kind of idiots."
Biana, Sophie, and her laughed while the boys all protested.
"I'm gonna go grab a drink," Sophie told them. "Thank you for coming."
"We wouldn't ditch you, Sophie," Biana said, before winking and adding, "Besides, it's a great opportunity for Linh and me to find some interesting guys, too."
The guys started protesting that they were also interesting and Sophie walked away, smiling. She was grateful and glad she had such amazing friends.
Once she reached the table with the refreshments, she grabbed a thin, glass cup and filled it with a red liquid that reminded Sophie of punch. She took a sip of it, and then almost choked when she saw someone standing next to a tree, looking at her with a look of bliss on his face.
"F—Fitz?"
He looked like he suddenly snapped back to reality as his eyes went wide. "S—Sophie . . . You weren't supposed to know I was here," he admitted shyly, looking down at the ground.
"But you are here," she said, putting down her cup on the table, looking at him.
"I know, I'm sorry." He was looking anywhere but at her. Sophie would be lying if she said she didn't wish she could see his sealike eyes. "I just . . . wanted to make sure you were okay. And I missed you. And I just needed to see you again."
"Fitz—" She had thought of so many things that she had wanted to ask him over the past few months since she caught him and Stina kissing, but all of her thoughts disappeared when she finally met his eyes.
He quickly looked away, and Sophie couldn't miss the pink tint on his cheeks. He ran his hand through his hair and sighed.
"I'm sorry, Sophie." He started taking out his light-leaping crystal. "I saw you, and now I'm going to leave. I hope you fi . . . find the right guy, tonight."
"Wait, Fitz!"
Sophie made her way around the table to get closer to him. He had his crystal out, but hadn't created a beam, yet.
"Why . . . why'd you kiss her?" Sophie's voice had gone up an octave and down in volume. It was what she wanted to know the most, but now that she finally got to ask, she felt afraid of what the answer was. "I mean, were you too drunk and thought she was me—um, someone else? Or—or—"
"I don't want to talk about this, tonight, Sophie." Fitz looked like he wanted to say more, and Sophie knew that what he said next wasn't what he wanted to tell her. "Tonight's about finding you your Mr. Right, not thinking about past boys who obviously don't deserve you."
He said the last part quietly and then turned around.
Sophie pulled at her eyelashes and let out a long exhale, trying to calm her nerves and dry her tears before they even appeared.
He made a beam of light to take him home but he hesitated before walking into it. He looked at her for a moment just to tell her, "And to answer your question . . . I did know it was Stina who I was kissing that night."
As he light-leaped away, Sophie's vision blurred and she let out another sigh—though, though it sounded more like a shaky breath.
She'd wondered what his answer would have been for so long only to find out it was what she'd wanted to hear the least.
And Stina's words rushed through her mind. Though, this time, Sophie had more reason to believe that maybe she wasn't lying after all.
She returned to the groups of people—to the boys who had come for her—and she tried to socialize and talk to them. But her mind kept wandering off to seeing Fitz for the first time in so long. And the fact that had Fitz knowingly kissed Stina even after he told Sophie he liked her and promised they would hang out alone during the party. She felt so many emotions overtake her and she tried acting calm and collected while talking to her matches, but she couldn't focus, and it was taking a lot for her to not collapse and cry right then and there.
The guy she was talking to—she was too lost to catch his name—started laughing, probably because he told her a funny story or joke, and Sophie only managed a smile.
She accidentally dropped her cup and blinked once she realized. "Oh, oops." She bent down to pick it up, but somehow tripped over herself and fell down, feeling her hand scrape something sharp.
"Ouch!" When she was able to focus her eyes, she realized there was a small rock right next to her cup and she started laughing, feeling her eyes start to water. "Of course I just happened to fall and land on the tiniest thing that could cut me within a hundred yards. Just my freaking luck!"
"Um, are you okay?" the dude asked her, still standing in front of her.
"Yeah, I'm fine." The words came out sharper and harsher than Sophie had intended, but she was too focused on the cut that stretched across her palm.
"Whoa, Foster." It was Keefe. "Hey, you should probably go."
Sophie saw the feet of the person she was talking to started walking away and felt Keefe's hand gently on her back as he crouched down to check up on her.
"Are you okay?"
Sophie automatically started to nodded, but then stopped herself and leaned into him. "No," she whimpered, and immediately scoffed at herself. "I'm so stupid."
Keefe held her close and stood up and maneuvered them through the crowds of people.
They passed by Biana who stopped her conversation with someone when she saw them.
"Sophie? Keefe?" She saw Sophie's bloodied hand and her eyes widened. "What happened?"
"I'm . . . not sure," Keefe admitted, then pointed his head towards everyone. "I think the gala's done for tonight. Can you send everyone home?"
Biana nodded. "Yeah, sure." She sent one last look of sympathy towards Sophie before getting everyone's attention.
Sophie and Keefe finally made it inside the house and headed for the kitchen where Edaline kept all the medications and first-aid supplies.
Sophie sat down at one of the barstools at the counter, getting a napkin from nearby to wipe away her tears with her non-injured hand.
"Do you want to tell me what happened?" He poured something on a cloth and started cleaning the blood, which stung a little and made Sophie hiss.
She sniffled and wiped away new-forming tears. "I fell and cut my hand on a rock."
He smiled, still focused on her hand. "I meant before that."
Sophie coughed, trying to clear her throat, and trying to buy herself some time to think about if she should tell Keefe about Fitz. And then she remembered they were roommates.
"Did you know he was coming tonight?"
Keefe looked up at her—he was really close, Sophie observed—with wide eyes. "I—um . . . I'm sorry. He said he just wanted to see you and that he didn't mean to talk to you."
Sophie nodded and looked away and Keefe went back to cleaning her hand. "That's what he told me, too."
"He misses you, Sophie." He put down the now-red cloth and grabbed something else and started to pour it over her cut.
The pain from her hand was starting to fade, but Sophie didn't know what confused her more—the fact that she saw Fitz after so long, the fact that Keefe was so close to her, the fact that Fitz knew what he was doing that night with Stina, the fact that Keefe was holding her hand so gently and called her by her first name, or the fact that she knew she looked—and felt like—a mess.
She felt herself start to cry again and Keefe wiped her hand again and hugged her.
"He said th—that . . . at the p—party . . .—" Sophie didn't want to say the words out loud but she was able to cry it out. "He did it on purpose." A wave of sobs took her over and Keefe hugged her tighter. "He kissed her on purpose."
She cried for a while, but when she finally calmed down, and managed to open her eyes, she realized they'd somehow moved from the kitchen into her room and onto her bed.
"Are you feeling better?" he asked, rubbing her back and stroking her hair—which had fallen from its bun.
She sniffled, but managed a nod. "A little." Her throat felt dry and her voice came out hoarse.
Keefe pulled away from her, brushing away strands of her from her face, and smiled at her. "You should go get cleaned up. I'll still be here if you want me to."
Sophie nodded, getting up. "Thank you."
"Of course, Foster."
"You're still here," Sophie stated, noticing the blonde sitting on one of the couches in her room. She finished her shower and getting dressed for bed, feeling calmer and more relaxed compared to the previous hour.
"I said I would be." He looked up from the book he was reading. "Do you want me to go?"
Sophie shook her head, moving to sit on her bed. "No, not right now."
He didn't hold back his smile and went back to reading.
"Keefe Sencen reading a book?" Sophie mocked with a small smile.
"Don't worry, Foster, I won't make a habit out of it," he mumbled.
Sophie focused her eyes and realized something peculiar about the book and almost laughed. "You know, it would be easier to read it if it wasn't upside down."
He chuckled. "I know, I'm training my eyes to read upside down."
"Why?"
"Don't worry about it," he responded, and Sophie saw that he was straining to keep his eyes open and not fall asleep.
Sophie's not dumb, she knows Keefe likes her—she's seen the looks he gives her, the same ones she would give Fitz. And even though she can't deny that new, familiar feelings are arising for Keefe, she doesn't want to give him hope that they can be something when her wounds still felt fresh from her previous heartbreak.
Sophie almost visibly cringed, calling what happened with Fitz a heartbreak. They were never together, officially, and it seemed too dramatic of a word to describe what she felt.
"What are you thinking about?" he asked, snapping her out of her daze.
"Nothing," she replied with a smile.
He reciprocated her smile and put the book on the desk nearby. "You can't lie to an empath."
Sophie laughed. "How did I know you were going to say that?"
"Because you've tried lying to me so many times before," he answered, his tone light and happy because he made her laugh. "You can tell me anything, Sophie. I'm not going to disappear or hate you or anything."
Sophie contemplated it for a moment, pulling at her eyelashes. "Keefe?"
"Yeah?"
"Um . . . I know that you . . . uh . . ." Sophie couldn't finish her sentence, looking away.
"Like you?"
"Yeah." Sophie's cheeks reddened and Keefe's smirk made an appearance.
"I honestly wasn't sure if you knew or not," he admitted, adding in a playful tone, "You are really oblivious."
"Hey!" Sophie threw a pillow at him and he laughed. "I'm not oblivious. . . . much."
"I don't want to be your boyfriend, Foster," he told her after a moment.
Sophie raised an eyebrow. "What?"
"In case that's why you thought I've been the bestest friend ever," he clarified and Sophie smiled. "You don't need any boys in your life—except for me, of course."
"Oh yeah?" Sophie questioned, adjusting herself to be more comfortable amongst her abundance of pillows. "Then why'd you help me out with having the Winnowing Gala?"
He shrugged. "You needed something to help you move on—or at least keep yourself distracted, anyways."
"Thank you for helping me out," Sophie said and Keefe returned her smile.
"Anytime, Foster." After a couple of seconds, he asked, "So . . . you meet and promising elves?"
Sophie's mind flashed back to Vixen and she nodded. "A couple."
"Ddaeng, I guess I have a hitlist now."
Sophie rolled her eyes and threw another pillow at him—missing by a long shot.
Keefe picked up the pillows she had thrown at him, laughing a bit, and went over to sit next to her on her bed.
"I'll be the guy you need, Foster. And right now, you just need a friend. So that's what I am, your friend."
"The best friend ever," Sophie commented, getting him to lie down next to her.
"Obviously."
They both chuckled and Sophie snuggled into his side, feeling her eyes droop. Before she could succumb to sleep, she felt the need to thank her friend one last time for the night.
"Thank you, Keefe Sencen."
~*~
4,866 words, 16 pages, according to google docs, is how long this chapter is. (Oh wow, this chapter is now 4,200 words/12 pages. I wish I could travel back in time and steal my younger self's motivation and ability to write long chapters 'cause obviously I lost those. :/ This chapter is actually pretty long though, I'm proud of myself for once.)
So . . . SoKeefe/Foster-Keefe enthusiasts, what'd you think about the end of the chapter? :)
Song: Monsta X ft. French Montana - "Who Do U Love?"
Thanks, lovelies! -Nuela <3
Edited by EllenH2006