Because of a Scroll | KotLC Fanfic

Chapter 7 - Maybe I Do

After the embarrassing—in Sophie's opinion—breakfast, the seven of them decided to play Base Quest. After some debating, the teams were boys versus girls, as it usually turned out to be. The girls quested first while the boys guarded.

"Where do you think they went?" Linh asked quietly.

"I don't know, maybe near the garden?" Biana suggested. "Sophie, can you track their thoughts?"

Sophie tried her best, but she only got a general location. Fitz was getting pretty good at blocking her while also covering three other kids.

"Not exactly, but I think you're right Biana. I'm hearing quiet thoughts near the garden."

They took off that way, splitting up so that if they got ambushed, then they weren't all tagged out at once.

Sophie tried harder, hoping the closer distance would give her a more specific location, and heard clearer thoughts by the fountain. Sophie assumed that the fountain was the base and transmitted it to Linh and Biana.

The garden was a massive piece of land that was filled with flowers and plants of all shapes, sizes, and colors. It was like a maze with vines covering the arches that led down new paths.

After a couple of minutes, Sophie got to the end of a gravel and dirt path that led into a clearing with an engraved stone floor. There was an enormous fountain spouting out water from the top that overflows its layers into the small pond in the center of the wide, circular bowl. There were benches made of the same stone circling the edge of the areas that weren't blocking the three other similar paths.

Sophie slowly moved forward, finding it suspicious no one was here despite hearing thoughts emitting from this location. She looked around, careful not to trigger one of Dex's traps, but was surprised to find nothing by the time she reached the fountain. She drew out her hand to tag the boys' base and—

"I wouldn't do that if I were you."

Sophie jumped back. "Don't do that! You scared me."

Fitz smiled. "I'm sorry, but I wouldn't touch the fountain if I were you." He came out from his hiding spot behind the opposite pathway that led to the fountain. "You don't want to activate a nasty surprise, do you?" He slowly started walking closer to her.

"No, but there aren't traps around here." Sophie smiled, folding her arms, unsure if she was right or not.

He kept walking closer slowly. "And you know that, how?"

"Because . . . you wouldn't want something bad to happen to your sister."

"But you're not my sister," he pointed out, a grin growing on his lips.

"But you wouldn't be sure if Biana would be here first or not."

He nodded his head, still walking closer. "True. But I think it's pretty likely the one who knew exactly where we were would be the one to get to us first, don't you?"

Fitz stopped a few feet away from her and his smile grew when he saw confusion spread across Sophie's features.

"We?" she questioned a moment too late.

"Got you!" someone yelled from behind her, wrapping his hands around her waist.

Sophie yelped and turned around in the elf's arms, already knowing it was Keefe.

Both Keefe and Fitz laughed at Sophie's reaction as she calmed down.

"You two are jerks," she complained, though she couldn't stop a smile from appearing on her face. "Where are the other two?"

"Probably tagging out Biana and Linh," Fitz answered, reducing his laugh to his million-dollar smile.

Sophie felt Keefe's arms tighten just the slightest bit around her when Fitz walked closer to her. When Sophie realized Keefe was practically giving her a back hug she blushed, but didn't move, not wanting to make things seem more awkward. She heard Keefe grin and hoped it wasn't because of her emotions.

"Looks like we won," Keefe said, looking at where Tam, Dex, Biana, and Linh were walking together towards them.

The boys smiled victoriously and they played a few more games, the girls winning all of them. For this game, Sophie decided to stay at the base to defend while Biana and Linh went out to tag the boys.

Sophie was concentrating on finding the boys' locations when she heard a twig snap behind her. She twirled around so fast, she almost got whiplashed. Both her and Fitz's eyes were wide as he looked down at the twig he stepped on, embarrassed.

"Shoot," he said quietly to himself when he realized what he'd done.

Sophie wasn't sure if she should be relieved that it was just Fitz or if she should panic that it was now just her and her crush, by themselves, during a competitive game where everyone was hiding and she had no idea how long they'd be alone.

Fitz raised his hands up as if to surrender, smiling. "Hey?"

Sophie couldn't help but smile, feeling a little awkward. "Hi."

"You got me, huh?" he said, looking like he was trying not to smile.

Sophie smiled. "Not quite yet." She subconsciously started walking towards Fitz. When she was less than a foot away from him, she got on her tippy-toes and pecked his cheek, her own turning bright pink. "Now I do."

He chuckled deeply and Sophie's heart fluttered, happy that she was the reason for his laugh. "You're so adorable."

Sophie backed towards the tree that was her base, feeling like her heart would burst. "Yeah?"

"Yeah," he said confidently. "And any guy would be lucky to be with you."

Sophie risked peeking a glance at Fitz, knowing full well that his grin would make it look like she ran a marathon. Then she asked, "And who do you want that guy to be?"

He shrugged, his smile looking more genuine than a grin. "I think you know."

"I think you think I know a lot of things," she teased.

"I know you know who I want you to be with," he said, grinning.

Sophie's heart fluttered again when she met his eyes, but she felt more happy than nervous. "Tell me who."

"I want you to be with me," he said with a wavering smile.

Sophie felt as if her heart might explode as she said, "Maybe I do, too."

His smile turned more confident. "And I take it that means you like me, too?"

"Too?" Sophie questioned, realizing once again that Fitz Vacker, like the Fitz Vacker, the very boy she just happened to have a crush on since the first day she'd met him all those years ago, liked her back.

"Yes, Sophie," he said, his smile widening as he took a step closer. "I. Like. You. A lot." He emphasized each word, drawing them out slowly.

"A lot?" she stuttered, noticing him getting closer and closer with every step.

"Definitely a lot." He seemed to enjoy making Sophie blush with their enclosing proximity. "I'm just not sure if you really like me."

Sophie exhaled and looked him in the eye, smiling. "Maybe I do."

~*~

I hope y'all enjoyed this chapter. Other ships, be patient a little bit; they may or may not happen ;)

If you see any typos/grammatical errors, please point them out so that I can fix them ASAP!

Question: do you want KotLC to be turned into a film?
If so then what type (show/movie/anime/cartoon etc...)? 

Song: Taylor Swift - "Delicate"

Thanks, lovelies! -Nuela <3
Edited by EllenH2006