Chapter 1

Sophie’s POV:

“Sorry what?” Sophie asked

“I was just telling you about today” Fitz answered

 They were sitting in her room together doing work like they always did but Sophie was feeling a little distracted, Although she wasn’t really sure why. Normally she was super excited to spend any moments with Fitz and stare at his gorgeous teal eyes and movie star smile. Fitz really liked her and she liked him so why did things feel so distant between them lately? Sophie ignored the feeling and tried to focus on what Fitz was talking about.

“Did you hear what I said?” He asked

Sophie stared at him blankly

“I asked if you wanted to hang out this weekend”

“Oh sure!” Sophie said

Maybe spending more time with Fitz would remind her of how much she liked him. I mean she had liked him for a few years and now she knew he liked her a lot.

 

They kept working and Sophie tried to get excited about their “date”. After a while Fitz went home and she decided to sit down and think. She could have sat there for hours but she was interrupted by a knock at her door. She opened it and found herself face to face with two sparkling ice blue eyes.

“Hey Foster. Miss me?” Keefe said with a smirk

She rolled her eyes. “Hey Keefe” 

“What are you doing this weekend?” He asked

“Not much. Just hanging out with Fitz” 

“Oh” He looked almost hurt for a second before he smiled and said “Have fun!”

“So what are you doing here?” Sophie asked, changing the subject before things got more awkward.

“Just checking in on you,” Keefe smiled.

Sophie wasn’t really sure what to say next so she just smiled back. Keefe took a step closer to her and Sofie felt her heart fluttering (Why was it doing that?!) when she realized how close they were standing. They stayed there looking into each other's eyes for what felt like forever before Keefe cleared his throat said, “Well I better get home”

 

Sophie finished her work, took a shower and climbed into bed. That night her dreams were full of gorgeous ice blue eyes and perfect golden hair. Her mind filled with memories of riding on Silveny, with the wind against her face and strong arms wrapped around her waist. She was filled with a feeling she had never felt before, one that she wanted to run away from and explore at the very same time. She sat up in bed as she realized what it meant. 

“I love Keefe Sencen” She whispered to herself trying to convince herself the words weren’t true. But saying them out loud she realized how right they sounded, how long  she had been wanting to say them, and everything clicked into place. How had she been so blind?! She didn’t love Fitz. Every moment of her life in the Lost Cities, Keefe had been the one helping her, waiting for her and trusting her. She stayed up trying to decide what to do. She felt equal parts horrified and excited as she realized...She had to tell him. No matter how embarrassed she might end up feeling, she had to tell him how she felt. When she finally fell asleep the thought of Keefe’s perfect face stayed in her head and she slept better than she had in a very long time.

 

The next day…

 

She woke up the next morning, surprised at how restful her sleep had been.

I guess you sleep better once you realize the deep emotions you have for someone, after hiding them from yourself for so long. She thought, thinking of her previous obliviousness.

She got out of bed, and got ready for school. When she got to doing her hair, she stopped herself. Usually, she would just leave her hair down, often not even brushing it. But today she was going to “confess” to Keefe, assuming she didn’t chicken out first. No, she told herself, you HAVE to do this. As much as she hated it she decided to ask Vertina for help on how to do her hair. She let her guide her through it and in the end she ended up with soft gorgeous waves that wrapped around her face gently. She put on the smallest bit of makeup and Vertina helped her put on a bit of eyeshadow which brought out the golden flecks in her eyes. “Wow” Sophie whispered to herself. 

“You actually look kind of pretty,” Vertina told her. 

“Gee thanks” Sophie responded, rolling her eyes. She actually loved the look, but she wasn’t going to admit that to Vertina. When she was done she went downstairs for breakfast, reminding herself she had to act normal, and not super anxious in front of her parents.

 

“Sophie, are you feeling alright? You look…. pale.” Edaline said, as Sophie walked into the kitchen

“Umm...Yeah I’m fine,” Sophie mumbled

“Anything you wanna….. talk about?” Edaline said.

“N-No I’m- It’s… What are we having for breakfast?” Sofie said, trying to switch topics as quickly as possible.

“Blitzenberry muffins.” Edaline smiled, nodding to the pile of muffins on the table. Edaline had definitely caught on to the quick subject change. Sophie sat down hoping Edaline wouldn’t bring it up but of course she wasn’t that lucky.

“You know you can tell me anything right?” Edaline asked as she sat next to her.

Sophie was about to say it was nothing and change the subject again but she realized that telling someone might help her calm down a little.

“Ok...So...Umm” Sophie hesitated. 

“If you are scared to tell me you can just blurt it out really fast” Edaline suggested

“Ok...LASTNIGHTIREALIZEDTHATIAMINLOVEWITHKEEFEANDIMKINDAFREAKINGOUT!” Sophie blurted

Edaline gasped. “Really? Oh Sophie, that's great! Are you going to tell him? Edaline said in a voice that made her sound like a hyper 10 year old.

Sophie didn’t think her face could get any redder. “That’s the plan…” “I just hope he doesn’t say no and hate me forever…”

“Sophie of course he won’t! Have you seen the way he looks at you? I swear he’s been in love with you since the moment he saw you. Not that I can blame him.” Edaline smiled.

Sophie blushed and said “ Well I better get to school” and decided to leave before things got more awkward. She couldn’t believe she was about to do this. Oh well. Here goes nothing She thought as she and Sandor leaped to Foxfire.

 

“Hey Sofie! Over here!” Biana called when Sophie got to Foxfire. Oh great, now I have to talk to Biana and act “normal” , Sofie thought, already searching her mind for a good reason to not go over to Biana. Eventually she gave up and went over to her. “Hey,” Sofie said timidly. 

“Sofie are you alright? You don’t look so good.” Biana said, concern flashing across her face. “I'm fine.” Sofie mumbled.

“You know you can tell me if something is wrong”

Not this again, Sophie thought to herself. She trusted Biana but she was already nervous and she didn’t need her to freak out about her love for Keefe.

Sophie looked up and realized Biana was still waiting for an answer

“Umm yeah i’m fine I just umm.. forgot something and I have to get to class so bye!” Sophie said hurriedly, walking away as quickly as she could before Biana could respond to her lame excuse. Ok I guess it’s time to tell Keefe Sophie thought. As she was making her way to his locker she started internally freaking out.

What if he doesn’t like me? Or what if he is super embarrassed and never talks to me again? I’m probably going to be humiliated. And I’m probably going to lose him as a friend.

“Ugg I can’t do this” Sophie mumbled to herself. She chickened out and decided to turn around and go back to her locker. She would just have to live with her secret forever. She could just  forget about this crush! Maybe just forget about Keefe overall. But she couldn’t do that. His perfect blue eyes popped into her head whenever she had a moment to think. However she couldn’t jeopardize their friendship and humiliate herself by telling him. Sophie decided to head to class trying to block out all the horrible thoughts in her head.

 

Sophie deliberately avoided her friends all day, especially Keefe, knowing she wouldn’t be able to hide her feelings, and not wanting to humiliate herself any further. At lunch she hid in a classroom by herself mentally hitting herself for freaking out that morning. Why was this so difficult?! When she was done she slowly made her way to elementalism trying to take the long way there on purpose. She was already having one of the worst days of her life and she wasn’t looking forward to going to her least favorite class. This is the worst day ever she thought to herself. When she arrived her teacher started explaining what they were going to be bottling and how to do it. Sophie tried to pay attention but her concentration broke when he handed her the bottle she was going to be using. It was transparent, clear...and ice blue. Seriously?! You have got to be kidding me. Now the universe is just messing with me. She wanted to cry as all of her memories with Keefe hit her like a tsunami. Laughing, crying, teasing, holding hands. Why did she have to be so...Chicken? Why couldn’t she just tell him how she felt? She was brought back to the present as she heard the teacher say “Begin”. Great. As if I wasn’t bad enough at this class already, I just missed all of the instructions. She tried to figure out how to bottle the element when the memory of riding on Silveny with Keefe hit her again. Her bottle exploded into a million pieces and the shards flew everywhere. One piece barely missed her face but one managed to graze her hand. The teacher glared at Sophie and then saw the blood coming from her hand.

“Better go to the healing center Ms. Foster. We don’t want you causing any more disasters in here” Sophie felt her face heat up from embarrassment, nodded her head and ran out of the room as fast as she could. This is officially one of the worst days ever. She ran to the healing center as fast as her legs could carry her, too focused on her thoughts to pay attention to where she was going. As she turned the corner she ran right into someone coming in the opposite direction. 

“Oh I’m so sor..”Sophie trailed off as she looked up and realized who she had run into.

“Heeey Foster” Keefe said, his eyes shining “When I imagined you falling for me I didn’t think it would be this literally” He joked with his trademark smirk on his face.

Sophie blushed. “Umm...sorry” She mumbled

“Are you ok?” “Where are you going in such a hurry?”

“Healing Center” Sophie answered, forcing herself to look anywhere but his eyes 

“Just like old times then huh?”

Sophie rolled her eyes ”And aren’t you supposed to be in class?”

“Yeah...But when have I ever followed the rules?” He said, taking a step closer to her”.

Sophie could feel her heart beating faster and faster, and she felt a fluttery feeling in her entire body.

“Keefe?” She said quietly “I need to tell you something”

“Sure. Are you ok? Your emotions are going CRAZY”

There was no going back now “I-I really like you Keefe” she whispered softly. Looking up at his gorgeous blue eyes she kept on mumbling “I don’t know if this will change anything, I just really really really like you. I've been thinking about it for a while and I…” she mentally prepared herself , “I love you” As soon the words came out she knew they were right; even if Keefe didn’t feel the same way at least she knew she had tried. “I don't know why I didn’t notice it before but you’ve always been there for me, I was just too wrapped up in Fitz to notice. But I love you”

 

Keefe’s POV:

 

“I love you”

 

He replayed the words in his head over and over making sure he heard them right. Here was Foster looking as beautiful as ever saying the 3 words he had been waiting for years to hear from her. He had wished for it and dreamt about it every night. But this wasn’t a dream. Ths was real. Sophie Foster loved him. 

“I don’t know why I didn’t notice it before but you’ve always been there for me, I was just too wrapped up in Fitz to notice. But I love you.

He could see the intensity and the hope in her beautiful brown eyes as she confessed to him and he was so shocked at hearing the words he never thought he would hear that he had no idea what to say. What do you say to the person you’ve loved since the moment you saw her but never told because you didn’t want her to hate you?

“And I’m sorry I’m telling you all of this right now” Sophie continued “You don’t have to like me, you don’t even have to answer. I just had to tell you. Please don’t hate me.” She got up to leave but Keefe grabbed her hand. 

“Foster” he whispered, holding her face gently in his hands, forcing her to look at him. “I love you too” he said it so softly he didn’t think she heard him, but she did. He felt a million different emotions hit him all at once but one of them quickly overpowered the others. One he finally recognized. Love. They were inches away from each other  and he could feel her heart pounding against his chest. He looked deep into her eyes searching for a sign, an answer. She gave the smallest nod but it was enough. He pulled her close to him, closing the distance between them doing something he had dreamed of for years. She kissed him gently but passionately, each of them wanting more and more from each other. He wrapped his arms around her waist holding her closer to him as she wrapped her arms around his neck. It was the most incredible feeling ever and he wanted to hold her close to him not wanting to let her go. So this is love Keefe thought.

 

Sophie’s POV

 

Sophie finally understood. As she stood here kissing Keefe all the moments they had shared together came back to her and she was filled with a feeling of happiness, joy and understanding. Love. She wanted to stay like this forever holding on to him, feeling like they were the only 2 people in the world. Slowly they broke apart leaving their foreheads touching and their noses inches away from each other. Sophie could feel her heart beating against Keefe’s chest and she could feel herself blushing like crazy but she couldn’t care less. She gazed into those sparkling ice blue eyes and for a second it felt as if everything was right in the world.

“I’d say ditching payed off pretty well” Keefe breathed with a smile on his face

Sophie smiled back remembering how he had said that to her on the day they met. She was so grateful for that day because she couldn’t possibly imagine a life without Keefe.

“I love you Sophie Elizabeth Foster” Keefe whispered.

Sophie looked right into his dreamy eyes and said “I love you too Keefe Sencen”

He leaned down and kissed her again but this time it was different. It was sweet and hopeful and for a second it took away all of Sophie's worries and fears. 

“OMG THIS IS THE MOST AMAZING THING I HAVE EVER SEEN!” Ro screamed, jumping into view. Sofie and Keefe jumped apart. “AFTER ALL OF THESE YEARS I HAVE SUFFERED, WAITED AND FINALLY,” she said, violently shoving Sofie and Keefe together. 

 

“We better get you to the Healing Center” Keefe said after they broke apart again

As they walked there together there was only one thought in both of their heads. 

Best. Day. Ever!