This chapter is mostly triangle stuff- bleh! I crammed the second Fitz and Keefe scenes in here, just to get it out of the way. After that, we have a plot development chapter, a filler/triangle-ish chapter, the chapter where Sophie chooses, and then the plot stuff starts getting intense. I can't wait!
Enjoy!
Team Valiant decided that they would reconvene in a few days. Stina and Sophie had worked out a plan to each make a list of questions to ask Blur and Axel. Sophie was under the Panakes tree, brainstorming ideas for the interrogation, when Fitz walked up. Glad for the distraction, Sophie set down her paper and pen and invited him to sit next to her.
Fitz handed Sophie the box he was carrying. She examined it, face brightening as she realized what it was. "Ripplefluffs?" Fitz nodded, smiling adorably. His teal eyes sparkled with excitement. Sophie laughed. "Oh my gosh, Fitz, with all the treats you bake me, I'll turn into a blimp!"
His movie star smile grew wider. "In that case, let me take some of that off your hands."
Sophie swatted him playfully. "Not a chance!" Fitz laughed, shrugging. Sophie opened the box and shoved a ripplefluff into her mouth. It was good- nowhere near mallowmelt, but still good. The dessert was gone in only a few seconds. "Thank you," she said, mouth still full.
"No problem." Teal eyes bored into her own brown. Her heart was fluttering, face approximately the temperature of everblaze- and somehow, she blushed even deeper when his gaze turned to her mouth. Why was it so difficult to chose? The amount of desire she was feeling right now should have made her instantly forget about Keefe and go kiss her teal-eyed wonderboy, especially considering the fight she'd had with him, but something held her back. Again, why was this all so hard? Fitz's crisp voice brought her back into reality. "You got a little..."
"Oh." Her face cooled as Sophie attempted to lick the icing off of her lips. "Am I getting it?"
"Here." Fitz very delicately touched his finger to the corner of Sophie's mouth, and wiped it away. His fingers lingered on her cheek. Sophie's blush came back with a fury. Sticking it into an oven would feel icy compared to this. She wouldn't be surprised if she melted on the spot. Softly, Fitz whispered "You know... we're still waiting for you to make your choice. It's been a while."
Sophie squeezed her eyes shut, wanting to block out the ever-present stress about the love triangle. "I know. I'll choose eventually-"
Fitz's fingers dropped from her cheek and tore through his hair. Somehow, it made him even better looking- but it was hard for her heart to flutter when he was looking so angry. How did the perfect moment between them get ruined so quickly? "When, Sophie? You know I love you, but I can't stand-"
Her heart fluttered and broke at the same time. "That's not how the first 'I love you' is supposed to go," Sophie whispered.
They said nothing until Sophie was called back into the house.
"And that was my first 'I love you'- romantically, at least- and it was ruined! My first kiss didn't really count, my first declaration of love doesn't, am I cursed or something!" Sophie buried her face into her pillow, grateful that her girl friends were willing to listen to her rant about all of her relationship problems, but so, so frustrated.
Biana handed Sophie some consolation mallowmelt. "Ugh. That sucks. You can bet I'll be yelling at Fitz tonight- or better, throwing him back into the chandelier." Sophie barely cracked a smile, even though any other time she'd be rolling on the floor laughing.
"It's just- Keefe wouldn't stop flirting with me. Fitz told me he loved me. Why can't boys realize that I just need time before it's okay to do romantic stuff like that?"
"Boys suck," Marella announced, staring up at Sophie's ceiling while draped over Linh's lap. "Dating girls is way better."
Linh splashed her girlfriend, smiling. "Hey, it's not Sophie's fault that she's straight and has to deal with boys. Let's try to be nice to her about it, okay?" Marella reluctantly agreed. To Sophie, Linh said "You know what I would suggest?"
"No. I can't read your mi- well, I can, but it's illegal, so I'm not going to." Thinking of telepathy made her think of Fitz, and their cognatedom. She tried to push her brain away from that direction. "What?"
"Talk to Keefe," Linh said. Sophie groaned. "I get it, you need time to cool off from your fight with Fitz. I'm not going to tell you to talk things out with him. But you've ignored Keefe for a while, you've had four days to cool off from what sounded like a relatively minor fight- I'm not saying it was irrelevant or anything, but your argument wasn't, like, something you need to kill each other over. Maybe not ignoring Keefe would help you feel a little better? Talking it out usually does work pretty well."
"Fine," Sophie agreed reluctantly.
And that was how she ended up standing at the Panakes tree yet again, waiting for that other boy she was annoyed with to show up and apologize. Sure enough, Keefe came only a few minutes later. While the Hair was still Keefe-ish, it was a little less messy than usual, which made Sophie oddly upset. Closely following Keefe was Ro, who had a bag of popcorn in her hands.
"Bring on the Keephie drama!" she announced. Sandor, who was outside watching Sophie, rolled his eyes- but he also stole some of Ro's popcorn.
Keefe approached her like someone would approach the gallows. Or a classroom during exams. Same thing. He ran a hand through his hair, returning it to its proper state of dishevelment. "Sophie."
My first name? Sophie thought. "Um- hello- Keefe- hi."
Any other time, Keefe would have teased her mercilessly for that eloquent reply. Now, he simply looked down at the ground, littered with Panakes petals. She wondered if he was remembering Calla... and the time they spent with the Black Swan. Sophie hoped he wasn't remembering it like she was. That definitely wasn't a happy time for him. "Are you... are you still mad?" Keefe asked tentatively.
"No," Sophie muttered. Well, that's not true, she thought.
"Liar." Keefe's mouth twitched up in a small, probably fake, smile. "You can't lie to an Empath, remember?"
"I guess I'm a little mad."
Keefe's Empathy probably knew that Sophie was only telling a half-truth- a severe understatement- but he didn't call her out this time. "I figured."
They were silent for a while, until Sophie stammered "So, um... we're supposed to be talking, I guess-"
Keefe nodded. "I'd really- I really want to apologize to you. I'm a freaking Empath, and I know you- I should have realized that flirting would make you super uncomfortable. I sort of... I could tell that the whole triangle thing, the awkwardness, was starting to affect our friendship, no matter how much I didn't want it to. Foster, I can survive rejection from you, but losing you as a friend... that would be too terrible to comprehend. I just sort of... I somehow managed to think that teasing you would release a bit of the awkwardness, make things seem a bit more normal between us. It probably did make things less awkward for me, not having to tiptoe around you, but I should have considered how you'd feel about it, because the last thing I want to do is make things more uncomfortable for you. I'm really sorry, Foster."
Sophie refused to acknowledge just how sweet that was- but it was a little hard to keep a grudge after that. "I guess I did kinda overreact, did I?"
Keefe smiled at her- a real, wide smile. Not even a smirk. "Nah." With that smile, Sophie decided- or rather, realized- that she forgave him. Linh was right- it wasn't really that big a deal, especially now that he apologized. She smiled back.
Abruptly, Keefe's smile faded. His ice blue eyes returned to the ground as he ran a hand through his Hair. "I also, sort of, want- well, no, I don't want to, but- I'm surrendering."
Shock doused Sophie like a bucket of ice water. "You're what?"
"I keep screwing up, Foster. That's what I do. While Fitz does his Cognate thing with you and acts so perfect, I'm just here messing things up over and over again- and it's only a matter of time before I destroy things so badly they can't be fixed."
"You don't-"
"No matter how fabulous I look, Foster, you can't deny that I'm bad for you." The joke fell flat, and somehow, it broke Sophie's heart even more. His sad smile accompanied the delivery. She wasn't sure if she wanted to choose him, but right then, Sophie definitely wanted to hug him.
"You're not," she promised.
"Stop lying to me," Keefe whispered. "Please." It was the last word that shattered her heart.
"Keefe..." Sophie said. Her mind was racing, trying to formulate the best possible speech she could give Keefe to convince him of his worth. Yeah, you make mistakes, but you're also... just... well, you're always there to lighten the mood. You always keep me from stressing out so much I die. You're always willing to be my shoulder to cry on. You're willing to sacrifice anything for me- no matter how much I tell you I'm not worth it. And what I said earlier, that's not true- you do sweet stuff because you're sweet. Not to get me to like you, to make me happy. My point is, you may be flawed, but you're also really really great."
"Good lies are so painfully beautiful," Keefe replied.
"I'm not lying..."
Keefe was silent.
"Keefe, if you surrender now and I get with Fitz, I'm never going to stop wondering 'but what if I chose Keefe?' That question will torment me forever. I can't choose before I've actually chosen, if that makes sense. What if I'm walking down the aisle to marry Fitz and suddenly I wish it was you instead? Please, don't take the choice away from me. No matter what you think, I really like you, so... don't take yourself out of the running." Especially now that she was mad at Fitz... the same thing applied, she didn't feel ready to let her first crush go, but Keefe definitely had a good chance.
"Okay," Keefe said finally.
"Okay."
Keefe ran a hand down his face. "Waiting is such torture," he mumbled. Then his ice blue eyes widened. "Shoot- sorry. Sorry. I'm not trying to pressure you or anything, I swear. Take your time. It's fine. I was just talking to myself, wanting to get the rejection over with, not wanting to get my hopes up... crap, I keep rambling and making this worse. Again, super sorry. Please ignore everything I've just said. I don't want you to feel rushed."
"Sorry. I really am trying. It's just... I can't. Choose."
"Don't feel too bad." Keefe brushed a strand of hair out of Sophie's face. His fingers lingered as he whispered "I would gladly endure any form of torture to make you happy, Sophie."
Long chapter! Almost 1,900, not counting A/N's! Wow! Too much triangle stuff- but I slipped a little bit of Girls' Part Of Day in there. Probably the closest you'll get to a girls' night for a while, I'm sorry. It just didn't really fit with the plot. Maybe I'll add in a little right before Sophie chooses.
Please comment! --->