Before:
"How about we go inside and have dinner?" Biana suggested.
"Right, so you can gloat all the way there," Fitz snorted.
"Aw, you know me so well! Let's go!" Biana lived up to her promise, bragging about her team's victory all the way back into the house.
After a delicious dinner of some kind of gnomish vegetable that tasted like sunshine, the group headed back to the reception hall to play more games.
"How about truth or dare?" Keefe grinned. "We can finally see who makes our little Miss Ruewen's heart pitter-patter." He puckered up his lips. "Unless you want to play spin the bottle?"
"NO!" Sophie said, trying to decide which sounded worse.
"Yeah, Truth or Dare is definitely better to play later, when we get more tired," Maruca said, a mischievous smile curving her lips.
Sophie sighed, knowing that there was no stopping her friends when they wanted to do something embarrassing.
"How about we play Never Have I Ever?" Sophie suggested.
"A drinking game! I like it!" Keefe declared, holding his hand up for a high five.
"No, obviously we would play with lushberry juice or cinnacreme or something," Sophie rolled her eyes and left him hanging.
"Sure, that sounds fun!" Dex agreed.
Biana and Fitz went to get lushberry juice, and everyone else got situated on their sleeping bags. Sophie was sitting in between Fitz and Keefe (for reasons she did NOT want to know), and on the other side of Fitz was Maruca. After Maruca was Biana, then Dex. On his other side was Linh, and she was next to Marella. Tam was sitting in between Marella and Keefe, which he did NOT look too happy about.
Keefe wasn't exactly thrilled, either.
Fitz and Biana came back and settled down in their spots, setting lushberry juice in front of each person so they wouldn't have to share one bottle.
"Okay, I'll go first," Keefe said. "Never have I ever... kissed Sophie."
"Oh, come on!" Sophie exclaimed. "No way does that count!"
"No, it counts!" Tam grinned, agreeing with Keefe for once. "And, it has to be on the lips!"
Every single one of them, including (almost... hesitantly?) Keefe and Fitz followed suit, staying still without taking a gulp or putting down any fingers. Including Sophie.
"How does that count? None of us have kissed Sophie!" Dex protested.
"Well, if you want me to go again, I will..." Keefe grinned.
Sophie sighed, and, realizing a way to get revenge, "My turn! Never have I ever... pranked Dame Alina."
"Aaaww, now you're trying to get me out of the game!" Keefe complained as he took a sip and put down another finger.
So did Dex, Biana, Marella, Fitz, who had probably been roped into it by Keefe, and, surprisingly, Tam.
"What?" the Shade asked. "I hate her too!"
Yet another way Tam and Keefe were alike.
"Alright my turn," Fitz tapped a finger against his chin thoughtfully. "Never have I ever... kissed a gulon."
"Fitz! I thought we were friends!" Keefe moaned dramatically as he put yet another finger down. "Why is everyone targeting me?"
"My turn!" Maruca reminded them before Fitz could respond. "Never have I ever... had any siblings."
"Seriously?" Linh asked, gesturing to Tam. Everyone except Keefe, Maruca and Marella put a finger down and drank their juice.
"Yup!" Maruca smiled. "Okay, Biana, your turn!"
Before long, Keefe was out of the game, and Biana was close after, with only one finger left.
"Never have I ever... watched a human movie," Marella said, grinning when Sophie, Dex, Biana, Fitz, Linh, and Maruca lowered a finger.
"Okay, I'm out!" Biana flopped onto her sleeping bag.
"Joining the cool kids club, alright!" Keefe gave Biana a high five. He did the same when Fitz got out the next round, then Sophie, Marella, Tam, Maruca, and Linh. Dex gave a whoop, holding his hands up in victory.
"But did you win, when winning this game just means you haven't done anything fun?" Keefe teased.
Dex threw a pillow at him, and at Fitz when he let out a snicker. Somehow, that turned into a full-scale pillow fight, with feathers and laughter flying every which way.
Eventually, Sophie gave in and called for a truce. The feathers slowly settled, and the friends settled too, sitting back against their cushy pillows.
"I think it's truth or dare time!" Maruca announced.
Sophie groaned, but she had to give in. "Okay, who's gonna go first?"
"ME!" Biana quickly volunteered herself. "Okay... Sophie, truth or dare?"
"I'm going to regret this... but... truth?" Sophie braced herself for the worst.
"Okay, who do you like?" Biana smiled deviously, answering so quickly, it could only have been planned.
Sophie instantly felt her face catch fire. Confessing her crush on Fitz wouldn't be the worst thing in the world... but it would still be super awkward. Especially during a sleepover... where he was sleeping right next to her!
"Any time now..." Keefe's smile wasn't as easy as usual, and his fingers tapped the floor. Almost...nervously?
Sophie groaned and covered her face with her pillow. "Do I have to?" Maybe if she could stall for the rest of the night, she wouldn't have to answer! That sounded like a good idea.
"Yes you do!" Marella prompted. "No stalling!"
Great. There went that plan. It looked like she couldn't get out of it... she was going to have to confess. With Fitz right next to her.
Fabulous.
"I like... I like..." Sophie hesitated, and prepared herself for some epic Keefe teasing. "Fitz." She said it so quietly that she wasn't sure anybody heard her, but obviously they did.
Keefe turned into a statue (one with amazing hair) that didn't blink, move, or breathe.
Dex grinned uncomfortably, obviously out of his element.
Biana squealed and clapped her hands together. Maruca and Linh sat there smiling at Sophie and Fitz, no surprise on their faces.
Marella crossed her arms, satisfied with a job well done.
Tam shifted on his bed, obviously awkward about the whole situation.
And Fitz?
Fitz just sat there.
Sophie hid under her blankets. She peeked out, trying to glimpse everyone's reactions. And that's when she realized...
No one looked surprised.
Even Keefe. He just looked more... resigned, somehow.
Even Fitz.
"Wait, did you all know?" Sophie demanded, finding the courage to lift up her head.
"Of course!" Biana was annoyingly unapologetic. "It was kinda obvious."
"UGH!" Sophie groaned. "This is the worst ever!"
"Sooo... anything you wanna say, Fitz? Or you, Keefe?" Marella nudged the boys.
"Um... What do you want me to say?" Fitz was bright red. Sophie couldn't bring herself to look into his beautiful teal eyes.
And Keefe?
Sophie didn't know why... but she couldn't look at him either. Her confession almost felt like a betrayal, even though it wasn't like they were together, or anything like that. Nothing even close.
"Okay, let's go around the circle!" Marella's smile had never looked more wicked. "Maruca! Your turn!"
Why was Maruca's smile evil too?
"Fitz!" Maruca chose. "Truth or dare!"
"Um..." Fitz looked cautiously at Maruca. "Better be dare."
"I dare you to tell Sophie how you really feel!" Maruca high-fived Biana triumphantly, looking as proud as if she just became a councillor.
"WHAT?" Sophie protested. "What does that even mean?"
"It means... I like you too?" Fitz tried, a hint of a smile on his face.
Time slowed.
And stopped.
"You... what?"
"I have a crush on you?" Fitz said it like a question.
"I..." Sophie trailed off, suddenly unable to speak. Words. She needed words.
"Wow, this is pathetic," Tam commented in the long silence that followed. "Looks like I'm gonna have to help you out. You both like each other, yes?"
Sophie and Fitz nodded, glancing at each other then quickly looking away.
"Wow, you guys are like children," Tam rolled his eyes. "So are you gonna date, or wait, or...?"
"Um, I don't know," Sophie said awkwardly. Her face was still burning. "What do you wanna do?" She asked Fitz, while still trying not to make eye contact.
"I guess... do you want to date?"
"Um, yes! Sure! Yeah!" Sophie quickly stopped herself from talking anymore. This was the moment she'd dreamed about for so long, but everything seemed to be coming out wrong. This wasn't how she had imagined it at all!
"So, Fitzphie is official!" Marella sighed. "Finally! It took years, but we made it happen! Nice job, team!" She high-fived Biana, Tam, Maruca, and Dex happily. Even Linh.
"Wait, what?" Sophie sat up. "You've been trying to..." She couldn't finish.
"Get you together? Yeah," Maruca supplied. "So you finally would stop being oblivious. It was getting kinda ridiculous."
"Yeah," the rest of the group agreed.
"Anything you wanna say, Hunkyhair?" Biana asked, calling him the nickname Keefe had coined for himself in a bet against Fitz.
Keefe had been very quiet. And it looked like he was the only one not part of the 'get Fitzphie to happen' group.
"Nope! I'm good! And, um, how 'bout we change the rules? For a dare, you can only do dares, not truths made to look like dares." Keefe wouldn't meet Sophie's eyes.
"Of course," Tam snorted.
"Fine," Biana studied Keefe, something like sympathy in her eyes... or was it guilt?
Everyone else sighed and allowed the rule change, and the game continued, although Sophie and Fitz very noticeably shifted closer to one another and never truthed (was that a word?) or dared each other.
"Keefe, truth or dare?" Tam asked him with a grin.
"Dare me, Bangs Boy," Keefe crossed his arms.
"I dare you to let Linh blast you up toward the ceiling with a geyser."
"You're on!" Keefe turned towards Linh. "Go ahead, water girl!"
Linh grinned, and immediately a blast of water curved towards Keefe, launching him up, up, up... and then he fell.
Sophie being oblivious is pretty easy to write. Just like... blushing. That's basically all it is-
Actually, getting launched into the air with a geyser seems super fun, not gonna lie. I would love to do that-