Celebrity Crush (A Sokeefe AU)

Chapter 11: The Semi-Formal Dance

     "Marella? Oh my gosh!"
     "I told you Tam was taking me," Marella said with a shrug.
     "Wait a minute," Biana said, looking at Marella with a confused expression on her face.
     "She's not my date," Tam explained. "I'm just taking her because her parents don't want to."
     "Who rented this limo?" Marella asked, looking around.
     "It's not rented," Keefe said. "We just, have a couple sitting around. I figured this fit the occasion best."
     "Of course you have a couple of limousines sitting around," I teased, pushing my hand into his hair playfully. He smoothed it back down.
     "Do not mess up the hair!" He admonished, but he was smiling. If Keefe could just pull out a limo for a semi-formal dance... he must be really rich.
     Wow, Sophie. I thought we'd already established that. "This is going to be the best night of my life," I proclaimed.
     "I'll make sure it is," Keefe promised. Which basically got rid of any doubt that anything bad could possibly happen.

     There was peppy music. Keefe and I sat down on a bench by the snack table, and he grabbed us a couple of things. "I want to clarify," he asked over the music, "are we dating?"
     "How can you just ask stuff like that?"
     "I am Keefe Sencen, Foster. You can't possibly mean that."
     "Fair point."
     "So are we?"
     "Well..." I thought about it. Was I really ready to date anybody? "I mean, we've established you're crushing on me. And it's totally returned. I don't know. At this point, we're at that in-the-middle stage where we like each other but aren't dating, I guess."
     "Then we've got to fix that." Keefe dramatically put his hand on my shoulder, and said in a voice that belonged on a soap-opera, "Sophie Foster, will you be my girlfriend?"
     I played along, putting my hand on my heart. "Yes!" He hugged me, and it felt really good to have our relationship defined.
     "So," he said as a slow dancing song came on, "shall we dance?"
     "Oh... I'm not any good."
     "Then we'll just have to fix that, won't we?"
     "Keefe..." He yanked me up from where I was sitting and put his hand on my waist.
     "Put your hand on my shoulder. It goes like this..." And that was when I learned that it wasn't actually as hard as I thought it would be. Naturally, Biana was dancing with her partner - Tam - but I was surprised to see Linh and Dex dancing together. Fitz was dancing with some random girl.
     Keefe scowled at them as he twirled me around. "Harley. I swear, I need to get back at her someday."
     "We should totally prank her," I suggested. Keefe smiled. He liked that prospect.
     He twirled me around, and so did everyone else in the room who knew the dance. Dex and Linh were a little late, but that's to be expected.
     Then another song came on. This one, I actually knew the dance to. Mom had forced me and Amy to learn it. Before... you know.
     Keefe smiled. "Tell me you know this."
     "Totally." And we picked up the pace, stepping in rhythm. He was twirling me around at the appropriate times, dramatically dipping me at the end.
     When the song ended, Keefe led me out into the hall. "Too noisy," he explained. "I have sensitive hearing."
     "Yeah, I take care of my hearing too," I said, glad it wouldn't make me sound dorky. "I was getting hot in there too."
     "Foster, you were already hot."
     "Oh my gosh, Keefe."
     "Oh my gosh, what? My hair is extra shiny today? Yeah, I know."
     "Keefe, you're impossible."
     "I try to be."
     I shoved him. He shoved me back. Keefe made this dating thing really easy - he didn't make it mushy or corny, or even awkward. He always knew the perfect think to say to keep everything a joke. He grabbed my arm and spun me around, and then dipped me like he had a few minutes earlier. I flung my arm out. This was really, really fun.
     Keefe let me back up, and I don't know what I was thinking, or if it was me or Keefe, but two seconds after that I was kissing him. My arms were around him and his were around me, and I'd never kissed anyone before so it was a totally new experience. I had always been scared of kissing, because I thought I'd be bad at it. Turns out, it just comes naturally.
     I don't think either of us really knew what was happening. But neither of us wanted to stop, either. So we just stayed like that, in the hallway, for a while.
     Eventually we ran out of air and had to separate, just enough to breath. But we were still holding each other, and our noses touched.
     "That was my first kiss," I breathed.
     "It'll come as no shocker to you, it wasn't mine. But, I think it was the best kiss ever."
     "I have nothing to compare it to, but I'll have to say: I couldn't imagine it better."
     "You're really good at it."
     "Seriously? Cool, but you could think?"
     "My first time, no. My second time, kind of. This is actually my third, and I still wasn't ready for it, but I guess I was kind of used to it."
     I'd been kind of hoping it was his first, too, but that was just wishful thinking. Of course Keefe had kissed girls before.
     "How many girlfriends did you have before me?"
     "Two real ones. Biana, actually, was my first."
     "Seriously?"
     "I know, I had terrible taste. But hey, I was eleven years old and she was pretty and a model. And it didn't help that we were starring in a movie where we were this first kiss young couple thing. But I broke up with her after, like, one week, because she was the only one who was actually into it. She's still chasing me."
     "Wow. She's nuts."
     "I know, right? She's a pretty bold ex. But anyway, my second was a girl named Jennifer Kettle, and, like with Biana, we starred in a movie together. We were actually mortal enemies in the movie, so we decided we should get to know each other better. And then... it just evolved. That one lasted a couple of months, but then we learned that her mom really didn't approve of us. It was kind of scary."
     "That's..."
     "I know, right?"
     "Just wondering, how could she not know?"
     "Jennifer was sneaky. But, me being me, it's hard to hide after a while. My every move ends up in a magazine. My parents were couple of the year a few years back. After them it was the Vackers."
     "Cool."
     "And then, of course, the incident with Harley. Girls kind of backed off after that. Of course, they all still liked me. It's hard not to. I'm handsome, charming, smart -"
     "And totally modest," I joked.
     "Exactly! Who wouldn't fall for me?"
     I tried to shoot a name back at him, but the truth was, I couldn't think of a single girl who hadn't liked him.
     "You... are... so ridiculous."
     "What? Can't think of anyone who doesn't like me?"
     "I don't know. I don't think Marella does."
     "Marella's ridiculous! She's been head over heels in love with Fitz for years, and he didn't even glance her way until that day we gathered at my house and had that Truth or Dare game."
     "That was eventful."
     "Yeah. This is going to sound weird coming from me, but I was actually really nervous that you'd reject me. You're the whole package: Pretty, intelligent, bubbly, and popular. Oh, and modest. You're basically Biana with a brain."
     "Great description. You should tell it to her."
     "Ha! I should."
     He led me back into the noisy high school gym, and we danced together for the rest of the night. And I wasn't nervous about this relationship anymore.
     Not even a little.