Adorable

Chapter 25 | First Date

A/N I *LOVED* WRITING THIS CHAPTER! I HOPE YOU LOVE READING IT AS I LOVED WRITING IT!!

Keefe's POV

I stood outside the Gilded Rose, leaning against the wall to wait for Sophie. I had left her a plain temporary leaping crystal to get here, and then came here myself to make sure I was ready when she showed up. I had left a note with the crystal with a simple message:

Dinner. Wear something pretty.

Just so that she didn't show up in her pasture clothes. Not that I minded, but I wasn't sure they'd even let us in if we weren't dressed up.

Just then, I caught a glimpse of light blue out of the corner of my eye. Oh gosh. I'm pretty sure my chin hit the golden sidewalk. Foster was standing about ten feet away in this ice blue dress covered in drop-shaped white diamonds. It glittered as she walked and looked like it was made of sparkling ice. The dress cut off just below her knees in the front but hung almost to her ankles in the back. It was sleeveless, with a halter neckline covered in tiny diamonds.

I stared at her. I couldn't look away. My gaze eventually shifted to her face, and I noticed she was bright red and fidgeting.

"Uh... Biana helped. I told her not to, but-"

"No, no." I cut her off, pushing off the wall and walking towards her. "You look amazing. It's perfect. You're perfect." Now it was my turn to stutter. "I mean- you're beautiful, Sophie. I mean, you're always beautiful, not just in this dress- but the dress is beautiful-"

She smiled, and I suddenly lost the ability to speak. Which was probably a good thing. Biana had obviously helped with her makeup too.

"You don't look so bad yourself," she grinned. "Is that supposed to be a tux?"

"Uh... I don't know. There was this weird little shop that sold human clothes, and..." I trailed off again, locking my eyes on hers and finding it impossible to breathe.

"I love it. And I love that you cared enough to find it." She stepped closer to me. I was afraid to touch her, and I guess it showed. "It's just a dress, Keefe."

"Yeah, but..." She pressed a finger to my lips, which was a very effective way to shut me up. Tingles that felt more like bolts of lightning shot through my body from her touch.

I took a moment to regain control of myself, then bowed formally and offered her my arm. "I would be honored if the beautiful, powerful, and mysterious Lady Sophie Foster would join me for dinner."

She played along, placing her hand lightly on my arm and taking on an expression that was probably supposed to look condescending but just looked like she smelled something bad. "The honor is mine, Lord Hunkyhair."

I couldn't hold back a smirk as I led her inside.

"Reservation for two." I said to the bored-looking waitress in the front.

"Name?"

"The Mysterious Miss F and her dashing sidekick."

The girl looked annoyed as she checked us off the list. I heard a soft giggle slip out before Sophie could stop herself. I grinned at her, then led her by the arm after the waitress. When we got to our table, a fancy two-seater with a tablecloth, candles, and a vase, I let go of her arm to pull out her chair. She slipped into it and smoothed her dress. I pushed her in, then sat across from her. The waitress laid out our menus and left.

I examined the paper. It looked like it was fifty years old. It had gold leaf stamped around the edges and the words were written in fancy calligraphy.