Sophitz: A Week to Find Love

Chapter 23

Sophie's P.O.V.

"Okay, Lyssie, you need to choose now!" Biana declared. "Which is the best pizza? 

"Hmm... I've never been asked to choose before, but I will do it since it seems interesting," Lyssie replied, carefully examining each pizza. She then proceeded to take a small morsel of all the pizzas then ate them all very slowly. 

"Why is it taking so long?" Keefe complained. Marella hushed him. 

"Quiet, Keefe, the chef is at work determining the best pizza!" she scolded. Lyssie swallowed her last bite of pizza and cleared her throat.

"Alright, I have come to a decision..." She waited for suspense. "Biana and Tam win!" 

"YES!" Biana exclaimed, jumping up and down. She tried giving Tam a fist bump, but he looked lost so she sat down to explain it. Meanwhile, Keefe and Marella were both disappointed they had lost but quickly cheered up realizing they had an entire pizza they could still eat. Their pizza was gone in a matter of minutes. 

Then there was Linh and Dex. Linh seemed to really enjoy their... Topping-full pizza. I could tell Dex really didn't like the look of the pizza, but he tried a slice anyway to make Linh happy - which I thought was really cute. 

"How did you like the pizza?" Fitz asked me. "Was it good? Terrible?" 

"Somewhere in between," I said truthfully. It wasn't the worst piece of pizza I had ever made... Then again, it was also the only piece of pizza I had ever made. 

"Well, I'm not a very good cook," Fitz told me. 

"No, no, you were a fine cook," I assured him. "On the other hand, I was a horrible cook. You'd think that for someone who loved food as much as me, I'd at least know how to make a pizza."  

"Really? Since I thought you were a great cook too," Fitz replied. I blushed even though I had no idea why. I just tended to do that a lot around Fitz.

I didn't know what to say, so I just shoved a pizza in my mouth, which now that I think about it, probably looked really stupid. I quickly swallowed it, and although I have no clue as to why - I got this sudden feeling of bravery. Perhaps it was the pizza. I figured that if all my bravery was going to come from a pizza, it was some sort of sign that this was my only chance to tell Fitz... That I liked him? Is that what it was? Yes, I think I liked him very much... 

"Um... Fitz?" I asked quietly, half-hoping that he wouldn't hear me. But no such luck.

"Yes, Sophie?" I took him a deep breath and held it for as long as I could. More stalling techniques. But once I felt like I was going to pass out, I knew the time had come. 

"Okay, well, uh..." I stammered. "I just, I wanted to tell you that I really, really..." 

"EVERYBODY STOP!" Biana suddenly shouted. I froze, almost glad I'd had an interruption. "IT'S NEARLY 3! WE'RE GOING TO BE LATE FOR OUR NEXT EVENT!" 

"Seriously Biana?" Fitz asked, looking slightly annoyed. "That hardly seems appropriate for a level 5 shout." 

"You've leveled your shouts?" Dex asked curiously. Biana nodded.

"Yup! It was very efficient. But anyhoo, everyone up! Let's get going!" She went around the room, helping everyone out of their chairs in record time. 

"Thank you Lyssie!" Linh exclaimed as we headed out the door. "You will be invited to our wedding!" 

Once the door was closed and we were back out in the street, Dex asked, "When did she get on our wedding list?" 

"A few minutes ago," Marella replied. 

"Why... Why was I not consulted?" he questioned. 

"I wasn't either!" Keefe added. 

"No, no, we figured it'd be better to consult you after we left," Linh explained. "So we don't talk in front of Lyssie. Dex sighed.

"Well, since you've already invited her, it would seem rude to uninvite her..." 

"YAY!" Linh squealed. "And that completes our guest list!" 

"Um... It does?" I asked. It seemed like an awfully short list. 

"Yup!" Linh confirmed. She pulled out a small notepad I didn't even know she had and started reading. "Linh, Dex, Marella, and Keefe's wedding stuff! Guest List: Sophie, Tam, Fitz, Biana, Cindy, Officer Dorothy, Lyssie... And that's it! Although I might invite more people later..." 

"Hmm... So it's a small wedding?" I asked. Linh nodded.

"It seems so..." she replied with a sigh. 

"It's alright," Dex comforted. "At least it's a small wedding with people we know and love. Well, except for the random people you've invited. But I'm sure they'll come around to being our friends after seeing us get married." 

"And Lyssie is already our friend," Marella pointed out. 

"Great!" Biana exclaimed. "This is all amazing! Now, let's go to the next activity! Into the car everyone." 

A black car had appeared in front of us out of nowhere. We all climbed in, barely fitting. 

"Where to?" the driver asked. 

"Um..." Biana murmured. She wrote the address on her hand then showed it to the driver. "Here! This location is supposed to be a secret from everyone here, though." 

"You're not a kidnapper, are you?" he joked. Biana gasped. 

"I would never kidnap my friends!" The driver nodded.

"Alrighty then! Off to... Undisclosed location!" 

I sat patiently in the car, rethinking my life choices. Perhaps I missed my chance! Maybe now I"ll never get to tell Fitz how I feel. Good going, Sophie. The first boy you actually like in years and you mess it up. I had to say my subconscious thoughts were pretty harsh. But I knew they were also extremely true. I had messed everything up. I mean, that was the PERFECT opportunity, and I just let it slide by! I even got a pizza sign! 

But now it was all ruined. I suppose I still had a few more chances since there was still light in the day... But who knew if I'd be brave enough then? I was rarely brave, to begin with, so the odds of that happening were super low. Except... Recently I learned that the odds were never right when it came to my guessing. In fact, they were wrong every single time. So perhaps by some miracle, I still had a chance. A small chance, but a chance nonetheless. And a chance was all I needed.