Seventeen | Soulmate AU | ✔

42 | You Big Dummy

I know. I realize that it's a really attractive chapter title. Just go with it, haha. I don't know if, say, some of you guys were disappointed in not seeing Keefe asking Sophie to be his girlfriend last chapter. I figured that I'd make it a good start of the month with a cute scene, tho. Nothing to sappy, just some cuteness.

Oh, also, I kinda finished Legacy (I know, took you long enough Owl), so if anyone wants to dm me and chat about that or anything, definitely go for it. I'm fine if you guys want to discuss Legacy in the comments now. Thank you to everyone who didn't out of respect for not spoiling the story for me. Love you guys.

Just an update as far as this book goes: I don't know how many of you saw my feed message, but because of the way I wrote the girlfriend scene (that wasn't in the outline, I didn't plan that) I ended up having to scrap three chapters because I had so much suspense and build up. Lucky for you guys, I kind of put you out of your misery and just skipped that because of my sporadic tendencies. I've really started to hate my ending after scrapping three chapters, though, so I'll probably be rewriting that entirely. This coming week should be an easy one for me, and I should have a lot of time just because of school assignments. This should also be the case for next week, so I'm hoping that just during this week and next week I can take out a large chunk of the ending at least, if not finish this story up. Yay updates!

"Go on without us," Keefe tells Edaline with his most convincing smile. Nerves gather in my stomach as I realize he wants to be alone with me. She looks at me for approval, and I smile reassuringly. It is only then that she turns and leaves.

As soon as she's out of sight, Keefe pulls me to his chest in a hug, wrapping his arms around me and burying his face in my hair. "Sophie..."

I can hear his heartbeat. "Keefe?"

He flushes a little, pulling away to look at my face, almost embarrassed. "Sorry. I just...you're so brave for going through all of this."

Oh. That was really sweet. "Thanks," I say quietly. I don't really think the same thing – after all, I had never chosen to deal with cancer, it was just something that I had to put up with. Was putting up with it all that brave? I wasn't given much of a choice.

"Seriously. You are," he insists, reading my thoughts off my face as though I had said them.

"Thank you. That really does mean a lot," I say in response, choosing not to voice my disagreement. I offer him a small smile.

There's a pause, and silence fills the gap before Keefe speaks up again.

"I'm sorry...this was stupid. This is a stupid idea," he mutters, looking discouraged.

I'm not sure what he's talking about, so instead I give him a confused look. This is a little bit weird. I'm not really sure where he's going with this.

"I...don't have chocolates, or roses, or anything special," he goes on to clarify, reaching over and grabbing my hand. "But Sophie Foster, would you do me the honor of being my girlfriend?"

My heart skips a beat, and I let go of his hand, instead using it to cover my mouth instinctively. Any words or thoughts fly out of my head in an instant, replaced by emotions: shock, disbelief, then happiness.

"I think I've officially won and hit jackpot in the game Make Foster Blush," Keefe jokes, grinning at my face. But even behind the persona, I can still see the slight nervous tenseness he has awaiting my reply.

"Oh my god, shut up," I say, smacking him in the shoulder and burying my face in my hands.

Of course when I finally find words that I can use, those are the ones I use. Of course.

"Foster? You doing okay there?" His voice sounds amused and concerned at the exact same time, and I feel his hands graze mine. He pokes me, to which I let out a small high-pitched noise.

"What was that?" he asks, laughing as he retracts his hands. And then they're back. They take mine gently away from my face, pulling away my cover so that he can see how I'm feeling.

I'm not sure if what he sees is what he wants to see, but I know he notices that moment he touches the inside of my palm. There are tears in my eyes and a really huge smile on my face, and I look absolutely ridiculous from what I can tell. I'm not wearing anything particularly nice; I'm not feeling like I'm anything special, and the he goes and does this. Ugh.

"Sophie," he whispers, brushing a few stray tears away.

I have the dignity to laugh. "Stop being so sweet," I blubber, trying to avoid his eyes.

"Only if you stop being so cute," Keefe replies in his most serious voice.

I pout in his direction, trying to pretend that there isn't some other tear dripping down my left cheek while I do so.

Then I throw my arms around him and bury my face in his neck, realizing that I still haven't told him my answer to his question yet. "Keefe, that's a yes, you big dummy."

His arms loop around me again and I know he's smiling now, even without looking. His hands come to trace soothing circles in my back as I revel in his touch.

This is the kind of moment that makes me sad – something so good that I'll probably never beat. Never will I ever have this feeling again in my entire life. I won't feel this way, I won't be like this. So I just enjoy the moment while I can, and while it's here.