Sokeefe - Until She Was Ready For More

Chapter 40

Sophie woke up smiling. And not just any smile. A full face, I'm so happy type of smile. 

She was lying across from a man that she knew was her forever. She had never once felt that way with Fitz. Something in her just knew that this was who she was supposed to spend the rest of her life with. Maybe it was that they were currently in a future where they were still together, but Sophie's confidence in it felt stronger than that. 

Sophie gazed at Keefe, a smile still covering her entire face. She had the thought to brush her thumb across his cheek, but decided moving at all would wake him. In the night, Sophie and Keefe had wound up much closer to one another, which meant she couldn't really move without in turn disturbing him; Keefe's arm was still around her waist and she was practically snuggled against him. Not that Sophie was complaining at all. She quite enjoyed it, really. 

After a few minutes, Keefe started to stir. Opening his eyes gingerly, a slow smile spread across his face as he took in Sophie's face smiling back at him. 

Surprisingly, Sophie wasn't worried about the interaction being awkward. They'd broken down that wall last night. At least, she hoped. 

"Good morning, beautiful," Keefe drawled, grinning. Sophie ducked her head and blushed. 

"Good morning," she answered as she looked up, her smile growing shy. Keefe chuckled. 

"I was thinking, it's probably time to find our way back to our time, yeah?" he asked. 

"What?" Sophie sat up, her smile vanishing. Sure, she wanted to go home, but her future life was really starting to grow on her. 

Keefe slowly sat up too, his eyebrows furrowing. 

"Don't you want to go home?" he asked, confused. 

"Yeah, I guess. I just.... I don't know." 

Keefe tilted his head. 

"I guess I've kind of found a home in this time period. I like it here," Sophie admitted quietly. 

"I understand. But we'll get back here eventually," Keefe answered, smiling softly and taking her hand into his. 

"Yeah, I guess we will," Sophie raised her eyes to his and squeezed his hand. 

Keefe moved to stand up after a few moments.

"Come on," he said, holding out his hand to Sophie. "Let's go eat and we can figure this out later." 

***

Sophie knew that there was a good chance that this would be her last day with her future family. She knew it might be her last breakfast, last play time, last everything. Well, at least for now, she corrected herself in her head. One day this will be my reality.

She tried to make the most of the time until Ashton and Kenric had to go to school. Still, it was only a short bit of time until it was just her, Keefe, and Alora at the house. Even then, Alora went upstairs to play in her room shortly after the boys left, leaving just Keefe and Sophie downstairs. 

Looking at Sophie, Keefe asked, "Ready?"

"As I'll ever be," Sophie said, trying not to feel like she was losing something. 

"Okay. So what would make sense on how to get us home? It's got to be something that we would think of, right?" 

"Right. I mean...." Sophie thought aloud. "There had to be a reason we were brought here... so if we figure that out, maybe we figure out how to get home." 

"Now we just have to figure out that reason," Keefe said in a defeated voice that Sophie understood. This seemed impossible. 

Both Sophie and Keefe sat there pondering for a few moments before Sophie broke the silence. 

"Any thoughts yet? The only thing I could think of was looking at the library, but I seriously doubt there's a book written on how to get back to the time you're supposed to be in," Sophie laughed half-heartedly and Keefe chuckled. 

"I did have one idea. I was thinking we could talk to Biana. She seemed to know a decent amount. Maybe you told her how you got back and she'll remember if we ask her." 

"Good point." 

"Should we light-leap over or call her imparter?" Keefe asked.

"Hmm..." Sophie trailed off. Leaving her thought unspoken, she walked over to the stairs, shouting, "Alora, do you want to go play at Aunt Biana's house?" 

Sophie got an enthusiastic "yes" yelled back at her within seconds.  

"So I guess we're going to Biana's house?" Keefe asked, coming up behind Sophie and resting his head gently on her shoulder. 

"Yep!" she answered peppily, trying to mask the butterflies popping up in her stomach. 

"Okay," Keefe laughed, a slight furrow in his brow.

Before either could say anything more, Alora came bounding down the stairs. 

"Let's go, let's go!" Alora screamed, jumping into Sophie's arms, and Sophie's heart panged. It's going to be so hard to leave. 

Keefe pulled out his pathfinder and spun to the correct facet. As the light started to take him, he pulled Sophie to his side and put his arm around her. 

Within seconds, the light had pulled them away and then brought them to Biana's house. 

"Hey Biana!" Sophie said as they fully appeared in the house. Alora immediately wriggled out of Sophie's arms, presumably running to Beck and Jace's rooms. 

"Sophie!" Biana cried, running over to her to hug her. 

"Hi," Sophie laughed. 

"Hi! What's happened since last night? Did you kiss-" Biana whispered loudly before Sophie cut her off by placing her hand over Biana's mouth, Sophie's face burning. 

"Biana, hush!" she hissed under her breath. "He's right there!" 

Biana leaned past Sophie, her hand still over Biana's mouth, to see Keefe with a grin on his face. So maybe the awkwardness isn't entirely gone like I hoped, Sophie thought.  

Biana's expression turned regretful, although a hint of a smile told Sophie that she didn't feel quite as guilty as it seemed. 

"Sorry, Sophie," Biana whispered. "So what did you need?"

Back at a normal volume, Sophie answered, "Keefe and I were wondering if you remembered how we got back to the present." 

"Hmm," Biana thought aloud. Sophie patiently waited for a few moments, then looked at Keefe. He shrugged, but looked somewhat hopeful. 

"Umm..." Keefe prompted. 

"I don't remember too well, but I feel like you told me that it had something to do with kissing," Biana finally answered, shrugging.  

"What do you mean?" Sophie squeaked, her cheeks turning red once again.

Hey guys, just a heads up, this story is coming to an end pretty soon! But take heart! I still have at least 3 chapters left! And after chapter 42, it's going to seem like the story is over, but it won't be, I promise! So don't think the story is over cause I have some fun stuff planned for the end :)