All Along: a KeeFoster story

The lecture

As soon as the door opened, Sophie and Keefe got as far away from each other as possible.

"I should go..." Keefe said hurriedly. Sophie didn't blame him for wanting to get away from her parents. The look Grady was giving him was downright murderous.

"Bye Keefe!" Sophie shouted as he bolted out of her room, down the stairs, and light leaped away.

She was glad that he was able to save himself from the coming lecture, but on the other hand that left her alone with an embarrassing mom, an overprotective dad, and Sandor. He was just kind of smirking in the corner because he knew that this speech would rival his own.

"So Sophie, I think it is about time we have another one of those little chats." Grady said ominously, while moving towards Sophie's bed. Well, at least it sounded ominous to her because she knew that whatever happened, it wouldn't end well.

She burrowed under her bedcovers to try and shield herself from his words.

"I know it's embarrassing, but it's also very necessary. So, shall we start with the Sencen boy?"

Sophie started whimpering under the covers. "Dad, Keefe is just a friend."

"Are you sure about that? When I came in, you two were standing pretty close together..." He teased. She groaned very loudly.

"You saw that?" By now, Sophie's head was peeking out of the comforter.

"I did, and I'm sure Sandor would be more than willing to tell me what else was going on in that room."

She shot Sandor a pleading look. "Grady, nothing happened. He was just being his usual silly self."

Grady made a face that said 'keep telling yourself that'. "If you say so. So if it's not the Sencen one, what about Fitz? Or maybe Dex?"

With each name Sophie's face got redder and she protested more.

"Let's start with Dex. He's a nice guy, and obviously cares about you a lot, and..." He would have kept going if Edaline hadn't stopped him.

"Ok Grady, I think I'll take it from here." Sophie breathed a sigh of relief. Sure, talking about boys with Edaline wasn't great, but Grady was a hundred times worse.

"Sorry about that, no matter how many times I tell him it won't happen, he is always going to hope you get together with Dex." She explained.

"Did you tell him about the bracelet disaster?" Sophie cringed at the memory. Even though their friendship had survived it, relieving the memory was still painfully awkward.

"Yes, I did. He doesn't seem to understand that it means you're just friends. But continuing the talk, you know you can always come to me to talk about anything... especially boys." Edaline said, wiggling her eyebrows.

Sophie mumbled a yes, but truthfully, she would rather bathe Verdi for the next month than talk about boys. Unfortunately for her, Edaline didn't give her a choice.

"I know one of these boys is special to you..."

"MOM!"

"Don't 'mom' me I know it's true. I'll leave you to think about that." She walked out the door, but not before giving Sophie a knowing smile that made her flush bright red.

Wait... who did she like? Sophie wasn't so sure she knew anymore. It felt so much more natural to be friends with Fitz than date him, but now her stomach did flips whenever she was with Keefe. Ugh, why was life so confusing?

When she fell asleep that night, Sophie dreamed of blond haired boys mimicking Councillor Alina while being chased by fluffy gulons.