The Realization (A SoKeefe/Keephie story)

Chapter 8 - Keefe

"Am I interrupting something?" Fitz asked. His voice was as cold as ice.

"No, of course not!" Keefe jumped in, letting go of Sophie's hand and striding over to Fitz, who backed away slightly, an unreadable expression on his face. "Foster's just asking for my advice, which is the best, by the way. Want me to give you the same treatment, Fitzy? Are you jealous that you're not a VIP customer?" He reached for Fitz's hand, then immediately jumped back.

"Whoa." He breathed, fanning the air in front of him. "That's a lot of bad emotions you're hitting me with. Wanna talk it out?" He said, pasting a sappy smile on his face. Don't let him see how you really feel, Keefe ordered his brain.

Fitz scowled. "No, I'm fine."

"Aw, it's fine if you want a demonstration. Foster's telling me right now that she wants me to help her." He sighed dramatically. "Y'know, she can't live without me."

"I did not say that!" Sophie snapped. "Don't make me smack you."

Keefe held his heart like it was breaking. "Threatened and rejected once again! Oh, it hurts!" He moaned, then straightened up with a smirk. "Honestly though, I'd like to see you try."

"So would I," Tam called out from a corner.

"Me too," Fitz said quietly, looking between Keefe and Sophie.

"Me three!" Dex's gleeful expression was clearly present on his face.

"Me four," Biana said, then shrugged when Sophie looked at her in incredulity. "What? I'm giving you a chance to smack the crap out of Keefe Sencen! Who wouldn't want to do that?"

Finally, everyone looked at Linh, who was playing with a globe of water in her hand. She looked up to find everyone staring at her. "Oh..." She shrugged. "Sorry, Sophie," she gave her a sympathetic look.

"Aha! Now you have to do it!" Keefe said triumphantly, punching a fist in the air.

"You know we're talking about me smacking you, and not the other way around, right?" Sophie asked, bunching her eyebrows together.

"Oh, of course, I know," Keefe said, smirking. "It's an honor, truly! Especially when I get to see that cute little crease in between your eyebrows," He added. "You don't need to worry about me!"

Sophie rolled her eyes and used her telekinesis to grab a large pillow from the other side of the room. With one fantastic whomp! she smacked Keefe with it.

Keefe grabbed his own pillow, then raised his eyebrows. "Another pillow fight? That's not very creative of you, but oh, IT IS ON! And I'm gonna win again."

"Wait, you guys already had a pillo— Oomph!" Dex had begun to phrase a question, only to get smacked by a part of Keefe's pillow as he lunged for Sophie.

"Oh, yeah?" Dex grabbed another pillow, and soon, the whole room evaporated into chaos.

"Hey, do you guys want some rippleflu—" Just as Edaline was coming in to offer them treats, she got hit right in the face with a pillow.

The room got silent, fast when they saw the pillow slide off of Edaline's face. She bent her head, and a strange muffled sound came from her.

"Mom, are you okay?" Sophie cautiously approached her. The rest of us watched warily, not sure if she was crying or not. Edaline suddenly threw her head back, and she was laughing. Tears of joy flowed down her face, and she conjured up a handkerchief, drying her face.

"Oh, no, I'm quite fine, dear." She said, dabbing at her eyes. "It's so wonderful to see you and your friends engage in pillow fights. It just awakened some memories of me, Grady, and Juline doing the same thing when we were young." She smiled. "Go on, dears, just don't knock over the ripplefluffs I made for you." She set them on the coffee table, then bustled out the door, saying, "Dinner will be ready in an hour!"

A slightly stunned silence followed her departure. Tam was the first one to speak. "Wow, your mom is..." He said, trailing off and turning to Sophie. "Let's just say that our mom definitely would've yelled at us."

A chorus of "Yeahs" followed him. Then awkward silence resumed.

"So... uh, what should we do now?" Sophie asked, then realized she shouldn't have.

"Makeovers!" Biana squealed. All the boys in the room groaned and stepped back.

"Uh, no thanks." Fitz was the first one to back out. "I know what my sister can do."

"Aw, you probably just don't want to come because you know that I can turn your hair swamp green," Biana said, smiling wickedly.

"All right, Biana's my new hero," Keefe announced to the room.

"Yeah," Dex agreed. "I'm all for her changing Wonderboy's hair color."

"Well, your friends have betrayed you and voted!" Biana said evilly, dragging Fitz upstairs to Sophie's room.

The last thing they heard from Fitz was a groan of "Nooooooooooooooooo!"