k e e f e s e n c e n
"left! left! bro to your left!" dex shouted. keefe was at fitz's mansion watching dex yell at fitz for how bad he sucked at fortnite. they'd forced keefe to spend the night after he ditched them for sophie yesterday. "duuuude" dex shook his head when fitz's avatar, on the huge 120 inch tv in front of them, fell to their knees.
fitz rolled his eyes and threw the control back to dex, who was sprawled on the couch behind him. "whatever." he grumbled. keefe was sitting on a barstool next to an island in the downstairs kitchen. fitz's basement was almost as big as the schools gym and cafeteria combined. actually it was probably bigger. to say fitz was rich would be an understatement. keefe had played a few rounds then decided to solve his hunger. he just finished cooking a quick breakfast for his friends and hoped it would be edible, at the very least.
"hey hey hey. not so fast. i finished the eggs. we're eating." keefe decided.
"don't have to tell me twice." fitz smiled and jumped onto the stool beside keefe. dex frowned but turned off the new playstation 5 fitz had just gotten.
"i was just starting a round." dex whined. though his frown turned into a grin when he took a whiff of the toast coming out of the toaster. "yumm. keefe i didn't know you could cook."
"he can't." fitz grimaced. "you have no idea how many egg shells i just swallowed." he gagged. keefe chuckled and threw a burnt piece of toast at him, unfortunately missing. dex sat next to fitz and examined the plate of scrambled eggs in front of him. sure enough there were large chunks of egg shell mixed in.
"this is nasty." dex pouted. his mom was a professional chef and recently opened up her own ice cream shop near eternalia, the restaurant sophie had taken him the other day. dex was used to gourmet meals and clearly wasn't impressed with keefe's lame attempt at cooking breakfast. "we're heading to my moms after i beat your asses in foosball." dex's parents were going through a rough divorce but his mom, juline, was still happy to make meals for fitz and keefe whenever they came over.
"it's fine. i don't wanna bother your mom. she has to deal with your siblings without you today." fitz laughed. keefe and fitz usually tried to dance around the whole situation and avoid making more work for mrs.dizznee.
"true." an awkward silence settled among the boys before a high pitched screech came from the top of the stairs.
"what smells so good down there?!" the three rolled their eyes and groaned as biana came skipping down the steps. "hey dex." she greeted. "keefe."
"good morning." dex waved. keefe didn't want to deal with his ex-girlfriend right then but nodded in her direction, after all she still was his best friends sister and he had to play nice.
"keefe made scrambled eggs for us." fitz explained. "and half burnt toast to go along with it."
"looks good." biana smiled.
"you can have mine." dex offered. "i'm gonna call to check up on my mom. be right back."
"you know on second thought, i think i'll pass." she said when she noticed all the shells. dex moved into the next room and biana slid into his seat. "i'm leaving everglen. could you tell mom or dad? can't seem to find them." everglen was the name of the vackers' house, yeah it was large enough to have its own name.
"you know there's a thing called an iphone." fitz sighed with an exasperated expression.
"i couldn't get a hold of either of them."
"alright, fine. is that all you came down here to tell me?"
biana nodded and took a sip of dex's untouched glass of orange juice. "i'll be out all day with maruca and stina. we'll be at the mall. in atlantis." the way she emphasized where she was going, keefe got the feeling biana wanted him to know. for what reason? he wasn't sure.
"great. pickup something for that sophie girl while you're there, would ya? her party's on tuesday." fitz requested.
keefe noticed biana's jaw lock in place before twisting her lips into a fake smile. "i'd love to."
bzz! bzz! keefe's phone buzzed and he beamed when he read the message on his screen.
foster: where were you last night?
me: clingy much?
foster: seriously.
me: i was at everglen with fitz and dex
foster: and you didn't come to marellas' house at three in the morning?
me: huh?
foster: nvm. forget i asked
me: i'm not letting you off that easy. you're telling me everything on monday ;)
keefe smiled down at his phone for a minute, rereading their conversation. "what are you smiling about?" biana questioned. she hopped off the stool to peer over his shoulder at his phone but keefe put it away before biana could come over. "whatever." she muttered.
luckliy, dex returned before biana pressed him for details. "the triplets made my mom breakfast in bed." he grinned. "sounded better than this crap." keefe glared at him but wasn't really mad in the slightest. okay maybe he was a little insulted. keefe was just glad to hear dex's siblings were finally stepping up. he still remembered them as the little 2nd graders they were when they attended the same school as keefe. it was nice to know the three were maturing, especially since they were going to be in 9th grade in september.
"i better get home. the kitchen's probably a mess and i don't want my mom to have to clean up." dex said.
"k, see ya dex." fitz called out.
"actually i'll come too. i have a football game in a couple hours." keefe added. fitz furrowed his eyebrows. "not for school." fitz nodded and waved goodbye to his friends.
"right, well i should get going to atlantis. don't want to keep my girls waiting." biana followed dex and keefe up the stairs leaving fitz all alone in the basement.
keefe was heading out the front door before being pulled into one of the vackers' many guest bedrooms. "what the-"
"just shut up and listen." biana closed the door quietly and moved them to the center of the room. "i was wrong okay."
"whoa. this is the first. is the infamous biana vacker actually admitting she wasn't right?" keefe sneered. he couldn't help but notice the room she'd dragged him into. he looked around remembering the night he'd spent in there.
biana caught him surveying the room and grinned. "you remember that night?" biana approached him."just you and me alone after prom." she trailed her fingers down his arm and brightened when keefe noticeably shivered under her touch. "don't you miss that keefe? we were so good together. it just felt so-" she paused and stood up on the tips of her toes to whisper in his ear "right."
keefe swallowed hard when her lips moved to hover right above his. she smelled sweet, like strawberries, just how she did when they were dating. he wasn't going to lie, the temptation to press his lips to hers was strong. he let out a moan when her hands ran up his chest, memories of prom night resurfacing. falling under biana's spell was easy when there wasn't anyone around to keep him in check.
keefe snapped out of it, hearing his phone buzzing in his coat pocket. he pushed biana away and shook his head. "no. biana we're over. you made that quite clear. and now you're bored of bangs boy so you come crawling back to me. that's not how relationships work."
her easy smile soured when she read the name of the incoming call on keefe's phone. "you're dating that blonde bimbo aren't you? she's the reason we're not getting back together isn't she?" biana screeched.
keefe silenced his phone then placed his hands on biana's shoulders and stared her right in the eyes. "we're not getting back together because you have a boyfriend. and so what if we are dating, what does it matter to you?"
"i told you i made a mistake. i want you back. don't tell me, are you going to prom with her?" she questioned.
"you broke my heart biana. you just threw away the four years we spent together for a shiny new toy. i need to be with someone who won't just toss me to the side when things get hard." she looked at him expectingly, clearly still waiting for a straight answer. "yes. i'm taking sophie to prom."
"but prom is our thing." biana lifted her hand to his cheek but keefe swatted it away immediately.
"i'm done with your bullshit biana. and don't-" keefe started when she moved to reach him. "follow me." he slammed the door behind him and stormed out of everglen.