How It Should Have Been: Sokeefe AU

Episode 31: (Sophie's POV)

Before:

"Bangs Boy wouldn't care," Keefe mumbled, not tearing his gaze from Sophie's.

Sophie laughed softly, staring back. "I think he might."

Keefe tried to look away, but found that he couldn't. Those beautiful eyes had latched onto his brain and were holding tight.

He started leaning in before his brain realized what was happening. To his utter shock, Sophie was leaning in too, her eyes and, he realized with a mixture of horror and excitement, her mouth growing closer. Her breath warmed his mouth, and he could hardly breathe because it was finally happening...

His lips.

His eyes.

They were... getting closer. He was leaning in.

Sophie realized with a sudden burst of shock that she was leaning in too, although she had no memory of deciding to do so.

Her brain seemed to have decided what to do all on its own. And his lips were still growing closer, and closer, and—

Their lips were about to touch when Sophie remembered where she was.

She rushed back with a gasp, their mouths a millimeter away.

Keefe leaned back.

His face was... just crushed. Sophie felt horrible, knowing that she was the reason he felt that way. Her mind was in a whirl, her thoughts muddled and her brain soupy. She had to work through this with Keefe. If he left now, and they didn't work through this, their friendship could be ruined forever. But...

"I— I was about to..." She couldn't force herself to finish the sentence. This was just all so awkward, with feelings and—

Crap.

Keefe could feel her emotions.

She scooted back more, putting space between them. Space was good right now. Especially since her face was probably bright red.

She just felt so stupid. All the hints, and the flirting, and the sweet moments, the smirks, the teasing, the loaded glances that she had never understood...

"I have a boyfriend," she reminded herself. "His name is Fitz, and I really like him."

Keefe didn't wince on the outside, but Sophie could almost feel him flinch, as though the words had struck him physically.

He inhaled sharply, shaking his head so hard it looked like he was in pain. She was about to reach for him when he stopped, squeezing his eyes shut and opening them again.

"I'm sorry... I just—" Keefe didn't finish.

They sat there for a few minutes, processing what had happened.

"What— what do we do now?" Sophie asked tentatively.

Keefe let out a harsh laugh. "I... don't know. I never meant..."

He looked so heartbroken, so resigned. All the progress he'd made that day— gone. And it was all her fault.

It made Sophie push through the awkwardness, and ask, "So you— you..." She could not, as much as she tried, make herself force the words out. "Me?" she ended up saying, hoping that he would understand. Maybe their friendship could be salvaged.

Keefe hesitated, and that told her all she needed to know.

He did... like her.

Sophie forced herself to think the words, even as she felt their friendship fracturing under the weight of the awkward.