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Chapter 17

Sophie traveled back downstairs to tell Keefe that he could stay for the night.

"Keefe!" she called.

"Yes, Foster?"

"You can stay. Since Biana is so considerate."

"I knew she was going to let me. Especially since we're dating."

Sophie rolled her eyes at her obnoxious boyfriend but still smiled.

"Come on. I guess you're staying in my room."

"I am? What about Arina?"

"Biana's asked the gnomes to arrange a new room for her. Let's go." Sophie reached to pick up a stack of pillows, but Keefe stopped her.

"How embarrassing is it if my girlfriend does all the work?"

"Are you being sexist?" she asked.

"No! Of course not! It's just . . . you've already done so much for me. It isn't fair if you have to do even more than that."

"Too bad. You can add this to the list that you need to repay me for." Sophie replied, and raised all of the things Keefe had brought with telekinesis.

"Oh. I forgot about that."

"I can tell. Now come on." Sophie led him to her room, opening the door to her expansive room.

"Woah, Foster! If you had told me your room was this big, I would have come earlier." he said, glancing around the room. "Hey, you still have these?" he asked, pointing the the paintings he had given her all those years ago.

"Yeah. What did you expect? That I would throw them away or something?"

"Not really. I just thought that you would've stored them away and never looked at them again."

"Why do you ask anyways? I thought you were here for a sleepover."

"You're right about that. Now, time for us to do cool stuff."

"I have a feeling I won't like what you're talking about when you say 'something cool'".

"Of course you won't. But we're doing it anyway!"

Keefe spent his time calling their friends, going on and on about himself. The funniest reaction was Tam's, because he just sputtered and stared at the screen. After his final hail to Dex, Sophie yawned.

"I didn't even do anything, I just watched you ramble about yourself for like, two hours. I thought this was supposed to be fun. If this is what elves call a sleepover, I'm never having or attending one again."

"That wasn't even the fun part."

"Then what is? I'm tired." she told him.

"Oh. I guess I didn't think about that. Well, you're going to have to stay awake a bit longer."

"For what?"

He pondered for a second, then said, "Actually, since you're tired, you can sleep on me."

"Won't that be uncomfortable for you? And besides, I could sleep on my bed."

"I want cuddles, Foster." he tilted his head at her adorably. Sophie gave in. "And it's fine. I can deal." he replied, and spread his arms as if he was waiting for a hug. Sophie reluctantly curled into his embrace, his warmth enveloping her. He kissed the top of her head, and Sophie didn't even mind how close they were. Or how stiff she was going to be the next day.

Sophie awoke unpleasantly to Biana squealing like a gossiping schoolgirl.

They're so cute! Aren't they, Arina?

I don't think you should disturb them. They stayed up almost as long as we did.

Oh, stop. I need a picture.

Sophie opened her eyes groggily. "Biana? Arina? What time is it?"

Biana looked a bit surprised. "Maybe 8:30? I was just obsessing over how cute you two are. But by the way, could I get a picture of you two?"

"Biana!" Sophie jumped up to knock some sense into her friend, but Keefe grabbed her hand sleepily.

"Stay." he mumbled, and Sophie sat back down.

"Oh my gosh. Couple goals!" Biana squealed again. Sophie put a finger to her lips as the universal shush sign.

"Come on, Biana. We have stuff to do anyways." Arina said, and dragged Biana out of the room with her. Sophie silently thanked Arina and settled back into Keefe's arms sleepily.

She woke up again, but this time she was in her bed. Keefe was nowhere to be seen, so she left her room in search of him. Instead of Keefe, she found Linh and Arina conversing on the sofa.

"Sophie!" Linh exclaimed excitedly. "Could you come down here?" When Sophie arrived in the living room, Linh pulled her onto the couch with her. "So, since when?"

"What are you talking about?"

"You and Keefe. A couple."

"Why does everyone always ask that?" Sophie asked. Linh laughed.

"Because we all thought it would happen eventually. Anyways, back to my question."

"I didn't see you as a person who liked the gossip on everything."

"As you could probably assume, I'm around Biana and Marella way too much. But I would still want to know, nonetheless."

"Almost a week. Now, don't tell me you came all the way here just to ask that."

"Of course not. It's really fast, but no worries. Arina hailed me because she wanted her Hydrokinetics training to be earlier today."

"Did she say what for? She didn't mention it to me."

"You and Keefe were too busy cuddling for that anyways." Sophie flushed.

"About that. Have you seen Keefe, by any chance?"

"I think Fitz came and he went to talk to him."

"What? Well why didn't you stop him?"

"I tried, Sophie. But Keefe seemed set on it. And you know how Keefe is when it comes to things he want." Linh replied, gesturing to Sophie.

"I'm going to go talk to him."

"I don't know if that's a good idea. Fitz seemed pretty mad."

"Well then, more the reason to stop them." Sophie said, and stormed outside, Linh right behind her. "Fitz!"

"Sophie, get out of here." Keefe said, gritting his teeth. Blood was also dripping down the side of his face, so Sophie was all the more concerned.

"What in the world?" Sophie rushed to him, feeling Fitz's glare on her. She reeled on him, her scowl rivaling his own. "What have you done?"

"I was just teaching him a lesson to stay away from what's mine." Sophie knew he was referring to her.

"You don't own me, Fitz! Now get out of here, before I haul away your unconscious body!" she didn't like making threats, especially to someone who she used to care about deeply, but this was getting out of hand.

"Whatever. I think my message got through to this idiot anyways."