Confessions and Realizations - A Sokeefe Story

Chapter 8 - Sweet Dreams

Sophie's POV: 

Sophie lay down on her bed, and buried her face into the pillow. She knew Keefe would follow her and knock on the door any minute now, so she had to collect herself before she was too far into her tear fest. So it surprised her when he didn't knock, and just came in without asking. Sophie started rubbing furiously at her face, hoping the puffiness would go away. 

"Foster, it's okay to be sad. It took guts to talk to Fitz like that." Keefe was being so nice to her even when she had been a jerk. She felt him come over beside her, and start rubbing circles on her back. It was too much. She sat up and started to cry on Keefe's shoulder. 

"Hey, Sophie, it's okay. You did what you had to do. Fitz was out of his mind to act like that. Don't blame yourself."

"I was so mean to him, he'll never forgive me!" Sophie really thought he wouldn't. She had gone too far this time. 

"Hey, do you wanna go out to Calla's tree?" Sophie loved Keefe for that. Not in a weird way though, like, in a friend way..... she started making excuses in her mind. 

"Foster?" Keefe's concerned face appeared before hers. Oh, she hadn't answered. 

"Okay." She sniffled. "But can you carry me there? I don't trust my legs right now."

Keefe laughed softly. It was a beautiful sound. "Sure, princess. Anything for you." He took a bow, this time making Sophie laugh. 

"I'm serious, though, Keefe." Sophie was, and she didn't care what it would look like. She just wanted to be held in his strong arms.

"I know, Foster, you don't joke that often. When you do, it wouldn't be about something like this." Keefe was looking at her with some sort of mixed emotions, mostly something that looked strangely like..., love? He must just be loving making her embarrassed. 

She felt him lift her off the bed, and carry her down like she was his bride. She was so surprised by how gently he was holding her, not like she was going to break, but like she was something precious that he wanted to be careful with. Well, she was a living being. But it felt like more than that. (seriously just realize your love already)

When they reached the main floor, Edaline gave them a smile while restraining Grady from attacking them. (I wrote that so casually.)

"We're just going up to Calla's tree okay, mom?" Sophie turned her head and smiled back at her mom. 

"Sure. Have fun. I can send up some mallowmelt if you want." She replied, silencing Grady's protests. 

As they (or Keefe, really) walked out, Sophie heard Edaline telling Grady that Keefe was a really sweet boy, and that he would keep Sophie safe. Sophie knew this first hand. 

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Keefe set Sophie down by the tree trunk, and offered her the mallowmelt that Edaline had conjured. 

"Thanks, Keefe. Really." Sophie was eternally grateful for all that Keefe had done and continued to do for her. 

"It's no problem. I love doing things for you." Little did Sophie know, he meant that he loved her, too. 

They finished their mallowmelt and Sophie couldn't suppress her emotions anymore. She started to sob quietly, not daring to look at Keefe. She didn't want to bother him with her silly problems.

Of course Keefe noticed. He moved closer to her and hugged her from the side, pulling her against him. 

"I'm so sorry, Keefe." 

"Foster, you have nothing to be sorry about. Fitz deserved that."

"You know, Keefe, I'm just afraid that next time he might do something worse, and I won't be able to stop him in time. If he hurts you, and I can't prevent it. 

"Look, you're the lady Fos-Boss, I'm sure you can convince Fitz to calm down. Even if you can't, don't worry yourself. I'm sure I can take Fitz. I mean, I got chosen for my fighting skills rather than him." Keefe smirked and flexed his impressive muscles. Wait, did she just say they were impressive?

"Ugh, Keefe, this isn't a joke." Sophie scolded him. But really, she was mostly just annoyed at herself for calling Keefe's muscles impressive. 

"Okay, two things," Keefe said while rubbing his hand on her back. "One, I know. I'm sorry, that wasn't funny. Two, what the heck is the emotion you just threw at me. It was like, I impressed you or something."

Sophie blushed. Of course she blushed. Sophie, get it together, she thought. 

"I don't know, maybe I was just surprised by how cocky you can be. It is impressive that someone can have an ego the size of North America."

Keefe scrunched his nose. It was cute, Sophie decided. Wait, what? Before she could start making excuses, Keefe said "What's a North America?"

She made an oh face. "It's a continent in the Forbidden Cities. That's where I used to live. Well, I used to live in a part of it. In the United States. It's not important though."

"Well, to me it is. Tell me more, pleeaaaaseee?" He gave her puppy eyes. "What was that expression again, pretty please with a cheery fruit on my amazing hair?" (that was the best sentence I have ever written)

Okay, that was too much, Sophie started laughing so hard she fell over. "You kn - laugh - know Keefe. Y-You have - laugh -  a photo - laugh - a photographic memory!!!" 

Keefe looked at her again with his puppy dog eyes. "But I forgot, and The Mysterious Miss F. is the only one who knows what I'm talking about. Pretty please with a cherry on top?"

"Ha!" Sophie pointed at him. "I knew you knew the real thing."

Keefe's face turned from confusion, to surprise, to realization. "Oh, whoops. Foster wins again!"

Sophie laughed and gave herself a fist bump. "I guess so."

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They talked for a while, before Sophie got tired and fell asleep with Keefe's hand in hers and her head resting on his chest. The last thing she heard before falling asleep, was Keefe's deep voice saying, "Sweet dreams, Foster."

She swore she could've heard him say "I love you." She was probably just tired though.