Sophie leaped to Candleshade, stumbling a little as she hit the ground. She knocked on the front door-a bit shyly, she didn't know why. She'd been to Keefe's house a few times before, although most of the time they hung out at school, Havenfield, or even at Everglen with the Vackers. Still, it wasn't weird for her to be there. There was no reason for her nervousness, she told herself. She took a deep breath as the door opened to reveal Keefe standing there with a broad smile on his face, Ro standing close behind and smirking.
"Hey Foster! Come on in!"
Sophie stepped inside, reaching to give Keefe a hug in greeting. He opened his arms a little surprisedly, unused to this show of affection, but happy for it nonetheless. Ro and Sandor exchanged a knowing glance without either elf noticing as Keefe held onto her for several seconds, Sophie drawing comfort and strength from his strong arms. "Why so affectionate, Foster? Did you finally realize how much you love me?"
Sophie blushed, letting go of him as she realized how long she had held on. "I just wanted to say hi."
Keefe smirked. "Keep telling yourself that, Foster. Keeeeep telling yourself that. Anyway, now that you're here, what do you want to do first? We've got mallowmelt in the kitchen, or we can chill in my room and eat later. How long can you stay?" he asked.
"However long Grady and Edaline let me, I guess. Since we're on winter break I don't have anything I need to do today...or like any day this week," she realized with a laugh. "It's so nice to not have anything I need to do."
"It really is," Keefe agreed. "How did you do on midterms?"
"Pretty well, I think," Sophie admitted. "I barely squeaked by with an "A" in alchemy, but I did it! What about you? All "A"s as usual?"
Keefe nodded, smiling. "Nicely done!" he said. "You know, I think that merits mallowmelt. C'mon!" He grabbed her hand, twining his fingers through hers as they stepped onto the vortinator to go to the kitchen.
Keefe jumped off the vortinator, landing sturdily on his feet, while Sophie would've fallen over upon landing if it wasn't for her hand in his. He pulled her to a standing position and let her hand go, suddenly conscious that he was still holding her hand. She hadn't minded; it was nice to have someone holding onto her. She missed his warmth and closeness all of a sudden.
Keefe opened the fridge, looking inside. "Hmm… we've got mallowmelt, butterblasts, and ripplefluffs… what do you want?" While Sophie considered the options, he pulled out two bottles of Youth, handing one to her and opening one for himself.
"I'll have whatever you're having," she eventually decided to say.
Keefe looked at her suspiciously. "Oh c'mon, don't be polite with me. I know you've got your eye on something. What is it?"
Looking a bit guilty, Sophie shrugged, replying, "I guess I'll go with mallowmelt or butterblasts, whatever you prefer."
"I'll get you a little of both, Foster, cause I'm nice like that," Keefe said with a knowing smirk. He cut pieces of mallowmelt for them both and added butterblasts to two plates. "Shall we go to my room, then?"
"Sounds good to me," Sophie agreed. They left the bodyguards in the kitchen, where they were munching happily on some treats of their own.
In Keefe's huge room, they sat cross-legged on the floor, munching cheerfully. Looking up from his plate, Keefe leveled a knowing eye at Sophie, who was concentrating on eating her mallowmelt without getting any of the sticky cake on her face. "Now, Foster, what's up? It's not normal for you to just hail me and ask to come over. Usually you're off with Fitzy staring into each other's eyes and stuff. Plus, I can tell that under your calmness, you're kind of upset. Are you two okay?"
Sophie sighed. She supposed there was no avoiding this conversation eventually, so she shrugged sadly and replied, "Not really. We broke up this morning. I was trying to calm down before I hailed you so you couldn't tell how upset I was, but I should've known you would be able to tell."
Keefe's eyes widened. "Really? Gosh, Foster. I'm so sorry. But why would the all-powerful Fitzphie end things, if you don't mind telling me?"
"We aren't good for each other, Keefe. Sure, we get along well, we like each other, all that, but neither of us were helping each other heal. We're both struggling a lot and have been for a while with nightmares and flashbacks and mental health problems. And we aren't helping each other heal from that. I guess we both are hurting too much to be able to listen and help each other. Neither of us really wanted to break up, but we talked about it today and decided it was probably smartest for us both." Sophie lowered her head in sadness, as tears started slipping down her cheeks.
Keefe stared at her in surprise, opening and closing his mouth a couple times in an attempt to find something to say. He finally decided on, "I'm so sorry, Sophie. That's really hard, but it sounds like you made the right decision. Is there anything I can do to help?" He reached out awkwardly, patting Sophie's shoulder a few times and then resting it there comfortingly.
Sophie wiped her eyes, sniffling a bit. "You're here. Thank you for always being there for me." She smiled sadly at Keefe, realizing again how wonderful of a friend he had always been to her, even though he made mistakes at times.
"Of course, Foster. I wouldn't miss a chance to live up to my position as president of the Foster Fan Club," he replied, smirking. "Besides, you're so cute, why would I miss a chance to be with you?" Sophie knew he meant "with you" like he was near her, but part of her wondered if there was a double meaning… and if she wanted there to be a double meaning.
"Would you like a hug?" Keefe asked, bringing her back to where they were. Sophie blinked a few times, nodding, and as he reached for her, she buried her face into his shoulder and wrapped her arms around him. She melted into him as his strong arms held her until she let out a deep breath and released her hold, wiping away her last teardrops.
"Thank you, Keefe," she said a little shakily, taking some final deep breaths.
"Of course, Foster. Anytime you want a hug, I'm down," he said, winking at her as she blushed. "Now what do you want to do? You can stay over as long as you want. Heck, if Grady and Edaline don't mind, you can sleep over. It's not like Daddy Dearest is going to be around to care."
Sophie looked surprised, then intrigued. She thought for a minute, then replied, "I'd be interested in that. What would we do until then?"
"Well, I have some games, and we could paint or sketch. You could do a painting of me. It's impossible to make me look bad," he said with a smirk, running his hands through his hair and pulling it roguishly over one eye.
"That actually sounds fun," Sophie admitted, laughing at his antics.
"You don't have to sound so surprised, Foster. Want to hail your parents and ask them about tonight right now, or later?"
"What do you think would be best?"
"I'd hail them now, but that's just me," Keefe said, shrugging. "I have sleeping bags and we could sleep on the carpet. I also have pajamas and whatnot you can borrow, or we can raid my mom's closet to find stuff. That might actually be fun, to find some stuff we can make look less ridiculous..." He trailed off, looking mischievous.
"Okay, I'll hail them now," Sophie agreed, pulling out her Imparter from her bag and typing in "Edaline," then pressing the button to call her mother.
Edaline picked up on the second ring. "Hey Sophie! What's up?" There was the vague sound of roaring in the background, making Sophie wonder if they were feeding the gorgodon. Her mom had some purple juice smeared in her hair too, so it was likely.
"Hey Mom! I'm at Keefe's, and since we're on break, we were wondering if I could sleep over at his house tonight. Is that okay with you and Dad?"
"Yes, that sounds fine," her mother assented. "Do you need to leap home and grab some supplies first?"
"I have some stuff of my mom's that she can use, Mrs. Ruewen," Keefe interjected, popping his face into the frame of the screen with a wave.
Edaline nodded. "Okay, then. I'll have my Imparter if you need something. Your bodyguards okay with that?"
"Yeah. I only took Sandor and Bo, since Ro is here too. We'll put them up somewhere. I'm sure Ro and Bo will be just delighted to spend a whole night together," she said, smirking at Keefe, who started chuckling mischievously in the background. "Love you, Mom! I'll see you tomorrow!"
"Sounds good, sweetie! Love you! Hail me if you need anything!" With an extra-loud sound of roaring in the background, Edaline hung up, leaving Sophie and Keefe to grin at each other happily.
"So, now what?" Sophie asked Keefe.
"Now, we finish our mallowmelt, and then I'll get out the paints." Keefe grinned at each other as he put an extra-large bite of mallowmelt in his mouth.