fifty sokeefe kisses

(26) palm

Tired.

That was all Sophie could think as she nodded off again. The stack of papers in front of her blurred together into a hazy white shape.

Someone snapped their fingers under her nose. "Hey. Earth to Sophie."

Sophie lifted her head to find Keefe staring at her in concern from across the table. "If you're tired, just go to sleep," he said. "We can handle it from here."

"But we're so close," Sophie protested. She pressed her hands against the array of documents spread across the Everglen dining table. Her mind whirled as it picked up bits and pieces of data from each one; numbers, phrases, coordinates, all information they've collected on past missions. "We could decipher this by tonight, find the Neverseen outpost, and by morning—"

"By morning you'll be dead from sleep deprivation," Biana chided from the other side of the table, her head resting in one hand. Her tone was light, but the bags under her eyes have darkened with each passing hour.

Keefe gave Sophie a meaningful look. "You've been up longer than either of us, Foster. You need the rest."

He wasn't wrong. As soon as Forkle had informed them of a minor breakthrough, Sophie and her friends rushed straight to Everglen to brainstorm and research. It was their first lead in months and the morale boost was infectious, especially with Dex cracking bad jokes and Tam rolling his eyes at each one. Then one by one they began retiring for the night, until it was just Sophie, Keefe, and Biana left.

"Yeah, but this breakthrough could be really important," Sophie said. "It should be looked at from all angles."

Biana raised a playful eyebrow. "Have you tried thinking about it while lying in bed?"

"Well, you might need my photographic memory to help."

"I have a photographic memory too, dork," Keefe snorted. He pushed his seat back to come stand by her chair. "Enough with the excuses," he told her, placing his hands on her shoulders. "You need some sleep. Come on."

It was easier to protest against Keefe and Biana than admit it, but Sophie was afraid. She had to find something worthwhile from all these findings, or else the past few months of work would have been for nothing. Back to square one, one step behind the Neverseen. Again.

Keefe cupped her face in his hands. "Hey. Snap out of it," he scolded gently, as if he could read her mind (which, to an extent, was probably true). "I promise I'll wake you up if we find anything, okay? You'll be the first to know."

Sophie relaxed under his touch. His hands were warm on her face. She suddenly felt silly; of course she could trust her friends with this.

"Okay." She turns toward his hand and presses a kiss to the inside of his palm. "Thanks."

He smiled down at her. "Go to bed, Foster."

Sophie let him help her up before she heads out of the room, already looking forward to the promise of her soft bed. She pretended not to see Biana hiding a smile behind a stack of documents.