Elysian (After Stellarlune)

15. Keefe's POV

 "It's going to be fine, Foster." Keefe told Sophie. "What's the worst that can happen?"

"Well, there's a chance that none of them like us being together and kick us from the group. Or Fitz gets super mad and leaves. Or no one believes us. Or-"

"Foster," Keefe interrupted. "You don't think those are all a little extreme?"

Keefe had known Sophie was nervous, but if he'd known she was freaking out this much, he may not have even asked her to do it.

"Are you sure you want to do this right now? I mean, it can wait, since you're clearly stressing about it." Keefe took Sophie's hand so he could tell if she was lying. Also, he just wanted to.

"Yes, I'm fine. Sorry. Let's just go and get this over with."

They headed for the Havenfield Leapmaster. Keefe had come over early to talk about how they were going to announce their relationship to their friends.

"Lunch, right?" he asked her.

"Lunch." Sophie turned and yelled "Bye Mom! Bye Dad! See you later!"

Then, still clutching Sophie's hand, Keefe walked them up to the Leapmaster and leaped them away.

—

When Keefe got to the cafeteria for lunch, Sophie was the only one there. "I asked my elementism Mentor if I could leave early." she'd whispered to him when he sat down beside her.

"Why?" Keefe asked her.

"I was so nervous, I couldn't catch a single bottle of wind. My Mentor agreed that me leaving early was fine."

"Ok. Now, we wait for the others."

Within a few minutes, everyone in their group was sitting down at their table. A few were eyeing Sophie and Keefe suspiciously, maybe having caught them holding hands that morning. Biana was grinning wildly, like she already knew what was going to happen. After she'd seen their interaction in Elysian the night before, Keefe wouldn't be surprised if she'd already guessed what he and Sophie were about to do.

"Ok, now that everyone's here, I have something to announce." Sophie said, and the table quieted.

"What do you want? To ask our theories about Elysian and Gisela? If so, no luck." Stina sneered at Sophie, her hatred for the moonlark blatantly obvious.

"Um, no, that's not what we wanted to say." Sophie replied, slightly cringing.

"Who's we?" Stina asked, but Sophie ignored her. Keefe understood. That girl was such a pain sometimes.

Keefe replied for his... girlfriend? Almost girlfriend? He and Sophie hadn't talked about titles yet. He'd have to ask her later.

"Me and Sophie,"

Biana's smile somehow grew wider.

Fitz stood up, muttering some excuse about the bathroom.

Marella leaned in, eager to hear the newest gossip.

Sophie laced her and Keefe's hands together, saying softly, "We're together."

"Yes!" Biana shouted, jumping up. A few prodigies glanced at her, so she quickly sat back down, exclaiming, "The Great Foster Oblivion is finally over! SoKeefe for the win!"

"What's SoKeefe?" Sophie asked, blushing furiously. Keefe also noticed that she was steering away from the topic at hand and focusing on something else.

"It's your guys' ship name, obviously!" Biana said. She was bouncing up and down in her seat. Keefe wasn't sure he'd seen her this happy in a while.

"I should go check on Fitz." Dex said. "I'm happy for you guys, though." He walked past Keefe and whispered, "But if you hurt her again, I will hurt you a thousand different ways."

"Ok, ok, protective best friend. I'll add you to the list of people that want to hurt me."

Dex walked off, and Keefe marveled at how far his and Sophie's friendship had come. They'd gone from being good friends to having an awkward kiss to being best friends and ending up at a point where Dex had threatened Keefe about hurting Sophie. They really had come a long way.

Everyone started peppering them with questions, so Keefe said, "We'll go from left to right. We'll start with... Stina, um, we're actually gonna skip you, so Linh, what do you want to say?"

"How long have you two been together?" She asked.

"A few nights ago, Foster confessed her undying love for me, and I did the same." Keefe smiled at the memory.

"Next?" Sophie said.

Biana interrupted, "Can I go? It's not my turn but I have a few things to ask you guys."

"Sure, Biana. What do you want to ask?" Sophie sounded resigned, like she was expecting this from Biana. In truth, Keefe was too.

"My first question is for Keefe: How long have you liked Sophie?"

"Um, well, awhile I guess." What Keefe really wanted to say was that he had never liked Sophie, he'd loved her since the day he met her, but that seemed a little too forward for a relationship that was just announced.

"Ok... we'll come back to you. Sophie, same question, but about Keefe. How long have you liked him?"

Sophie thought long and hard for the next few minutes, until finally answering, "I'm not 100% sure, but I think a part of me has liked him since he came back from the Neverseen and saved me and Edaline. When I looked up at him, I wasn't scared anymore." Sophie was looking at Keefe now. "I knew that I would be ok. That, after everything that had happened, I still trusted him completely. Looking back at it now, I can see and recognize those feelings, but I couldn't see it in the moment. I guess now I understand what you guys meant about 'The Great Foster Oblivion.' It all just feels so blind, so, well, oblivious not having seen those feelings before, both in Keefe and myself. To sum it up, I've liked Keefe for a while, and I just never recognized it."

Sophie was intently staring at Keefe, and suddenly, her voice filled his head, saying, I've never liked you. I've loved you.

Sophie must have accidentally transmitted the thought, because when Keefe started from the suddenness of Sophie's voice in his head, her eyes widened in surprise.

Can I tell you something, Foster? Keefe thought, hoping Sophie was still in his mind. I've loved you since the day I first met you.

Sophie smiled, so Keefe knew she'd heard him. Keefe, I-

"Ok, love that confession, Sophie, but now I want to hear if Keefe's answer changed." Biana interrupted, spoiling the moment.

"I think we covered it, already." Keefe said, exchanging a small, secretive smile with Sophie.

"Alright, alright, lovebirds, we get it. You like each other. Now, next up is-" Biana was interrupted by the bell, signifying the end of lunch, Keefe jumped up, but Sophie was a bit slower to pick up her tray.

"What's wrong, Foster?" he asked her, although he was pretty sure he knew what she was about to say.

He was right.

"I just remembered. I have my Telepathy session with Fitz next."

Noooooooo, Telepathy with Fitz. It's gonna be so awkward! I almost hope that Fitz and Sophie's cognate connection gets broken, just so that Fitz's "bUt wE'rE coGNaTeS!" excuse won't work anymore, but alas, that probably won't happen. Not making any promises, it's just that I'm not sure if their Cognate connection will actually come in handy later in the story. I'll figure it out.

I have another question: What's ur fav fantasy book series? Mine is, obviously, KOTLC, and if KOTLC is urs as well, whats ur second fav? I'm just curious, and if i see any books that intrigue me, i might check them out and try them. Who knows. Anyways, bye :)

(Before u go, I wanna say thx for 500 reads. That's, like... I don't even know how to describe it. I didn't really expect anyone to read this, let alone have it read over 500 times! Seriously, tho, thank you so much)