A Cognate Thing-a sophitz story

forty nine

Fitz sat alone in his room on his bed replaying the presentation he had that day for the Councillor's. It had gone really well, almost too well. They were quick to give praise and encouragement for the knowledge he presented and the ideas and improvements he had suggested. The dreams of being an emissary for the council suddenly felt very real and he couldn't help but smile. He was just about to contact Sophie to find out how her special session had gone that day when he heard a knock at the door.

“Special Delivery for Fitz Vacker.” The voice behind the door said quickly.

Confusion raced across Fitz's face. He wasn't expecting any deliveries, especially not a midweek package. His parents always sent the package on the weekend.

Opening the door he saw the familiar box and bow from his father's favorite bakery in Atlantis.

“Are you Fitz Vacker?” The delivery guy asked.

“Yes, that's me.”

“Sign here,” he motioned as he handed a small device still holding onto the familiar box. As Fitz finished they exchanged the device for the box.

Fitz took the box and headed to his closet, pulling the steamer trunk from the bottom. This was where he kept his secret stash of treats from his parents. He quickly added this box and closed the trunk returning it to his closet. He thought it was odd for them to send a second treat box so quickly but pushed the thoughts aside remembering that his dad had regular meetings with the council that day and they must have told him how well Fitz had done that day. Yes that had to be the reason behind the unusual delivery.

Fitz made his way back over to his bed, ready to contact Sophie to hear about her day when another knock came at the door.

“Fitz, can I come in I need some help with something.”

Fitz could hear Keefe’s voice and wondered what he needed help with now. Rolling his eyes, Fitz made his way to the door to help Keefe.

“So I know it is still a couple weeks away but for the Paradise Party Palace beach bash I am wondering do you think I should just have an open invite or be more selective and exclusive?”

Fitz shot Keefe a look.

“That is what you need help with?”

“Of course, if I go with an open invite you have no idea who might show up, which has positives and negatives but if I play it safe and have an exclusive guest list I could miss out on meeting some really cool people. Plus the more people will make my dad freak more, but with less people I can make sure that no one is having a bad time and I don’t want anyone to have a bad time at my party. You see my dilemma?” Keefe genuinely looked concerned over the situation.

“Keefe what if you had a mixture, selective list but let everyone bring a friend or two. Then you get a controlled group but some variety.” Fitz said looking a little annoyed that Keefe was wasting the time he could be talking with Sophie.

“That is why you are my best friend, you totally get how I need things done. I guess I don’t need to wonder who you are going to bring with you.” Keefe answered back grinning.

“Yes Keefe I would assume that Sophie and I will come together, since she is my girlfriend now. It does make sense.” Fitz answered back the sarcasm could be heard dripping through his voice.

“Well don’t make Foster get all weird or anything that night, it’s awkward enough knowing what she is feeling around you. Now with the whole dating thing I don’t want it to cramp me trying to relax and have a good time.” Keefe teased.

“Good night Keefe, you can leave now.”

Keefe grinned and turned to leave before glancing back to Fitz, “you know I am going to have a good time regardless of Fosters mushy ‘I love you Fitz’ feelings.” Keefe perfectly mimicking Sophie’s voice.

Just hearing Keefe mimic Sophie made Fitz more determined to reach out and talk to Sophie.

Settling on his bed for the 3rd time Fitz finally was able to reach out to Sophie excited to hear about her special session today and to tell her all about his presentation.

“Hey Sophie, how was your session today?”

“Sorry Fitz I can’t really talk right now, Biana is here and we are going over some things right now.”

“Oh.”

Sophie could hear the disappointment in his voice and she really did want to talk to him especially after sending him the treats, which he should have received by now, but she knew she needed some girl time with Biana before telling him about what Quinlin had said earlier.

“It was a long day and I missed some things at school today that Biana was catching me up on. Can we talk later?”

“How about we try again tomorrow or this weekend? I really should get some sleep.”

“Ok, sleep well. Good night Fitz.”

“Good night Sophie.”

“Are you done talking to my brother?” Biana asked as Sophie turned to acknowledge her again.

“Yes, he sounded so disappointed but I seriously don’t know what to say to him.” Sophie answered back.

“Well tell me again what exactly happened today with Quinlin.” Biana prompted Sophie.

Sophie proceeded to tell Biana how during the session she had asked about mind looping and how Fitz couldn’t do it and that Quinlin’s theory was Fitz didn’t have 100% trust in Sophie which was crazy because Sophie wasn’t holding anything back from Fitz anymore and if he didn’t trust her what was going on. Were they not really compatible to be cognates, and if they weren’t compatible would they be matched someday, were they just wasting time trying to date? What if everything collapsed and they couldn’t even be friends anymore?

It was hard to keep up with Sophie’s rambling but Biana tried.

“Wait, why are you worrying about being matched? I didn’t think you were even going to register?” Biana questioned.

Sophie went to her satchel and pulled out an envelope.

“Is that what I think it is?” Biana asked, her face couldn’t hide the shock of seeing what was in Sophie’s hands.

Sophie wide eyed nodded her head.

“Are you really going to fill it out?”

“I don’t know. What do you think?” Sophie asked quietly.

“Well if you fill it out now, your answers may be skewed towards Fitz because you really care about him. You do care about him? Right?” Biana questioned giving Sophie a look.

Sophie thought back to extremely personal letter she had written to Fitz and knew just how much she did care about Fitz. Panic set into Sophie’s eyes as realization hit her.

“Sophie, what is it? Are you ok?” Biana asked fear creeping into her voice.

“I think I made a huge mistake.” Was all Sophie could get out as she tried to breathe.