Chapter Ten 

"Hey guys!" Sophie greeted Fitz and Keefe who stood outside her door, everyone else was already there hanging out waiting for those two to arrive. "What took you both so long?" She hugged Fitz and pecked Keefe's lips before leading them inside. 

"He was helping me pick out something that you'll find out about later," Fitz explained. 

"Hey, no secrets," Sophie complained. Her and Fitz locked eyes for a few moments, almost as if having a silent battle - one where she came out as a winner. I'm going to ask out Linh. We were raiding Biana's shop for something. 

And you weren't going to tell me? She slapped his arm before leading them to the group. She was pretending to listen to Biana explain something as she told him, also, you know Tam is going to murder you. 

Nah, he knows, Fitz replied. 

So I'm the only one not in the no? Sophie questioned, frowning. You know I love this kind of stuff. 

I was planning to tell you before I did it. You know I understand the no secrets thing more than anyone. The two were part of two conversations, but locked eyes and nodded at each other which everyone else caught up on. 

"Are you serious? You haven't been listening this entire time?" Biana rolled her eyes. "Guess I have to start from the beginning." She immediately started to retell her story to Sophie, who made sure to pay attention that time, and then once they were done talking Sophie led them all to eat some snacks. 

"So, how is everything going with everyone?" Sophie was holding Keefe's hand as they made their way into the kitchen, and continued to hold it even once everyone settled into the room. "It's been so long since we've all talked." 

"Well, I've been going okay," Marella replied. "I've just been helping Biana out whenever I haven't been helping my mom out." 

"I appreciate your helping out by the way," Biana replied. She turned to Dex, "And yours too. My shop can get chaotic and you guys help calm it down for me a lot." 

"You know it's no trouble," Dex replied, his arm going around her shoulder affectionately. 

"Really? In front of me?" Fitz whined. 

"Oh shut up, you already know what we're doing for you today. I should be allowed to hug my girlfriend." 

"Doing what today?" Linh asked, cutting in. 

"Nothing," the entire group echoed in response, making Linh shrink back awkwardly. 

"Oh." 

Feeling bad, Sophie responded, "It's actually nothing, if it was worth anything you know you'd know. I only know cause I have to." She pointed to her head, with the hand not holding Keefe's, as if making a point.

"Oh yeah, have you guys ever actually used your cognate bond for anything?" Marella asked. "It seems pretty useless now." 

"We did once, but it was for a classified mission," Sophie responded. "You know I would tell you all if I could." Deciding to branch off topic she turned to Dex and asked, "Have you figured out if you're going to redye Iggy again?"

Dex shook his head. "No, I haven't really thought of a pattern recently." 

"Oh!" Biana cut in. "I miss Iggy! How is the little guy?"

"He's good, same old Iggy," Sophie replied. "Just as smelly as always." 

"What's his pattern right now?" Marella asked. "Dex always does something cool." 

"He's red with white stripes," Dex answered. "And thanks." 

"Let's get into the juicy stuff," Marella stated. "Relationships. You guys have really told me nothing. 

"Did you find anyone off your list yet?" Fitz asked her. "You haven't really talked about it."

Marella shook her head. "No, I haven't really tried I guess. No one on there really screamed out to me. Besides you guys, I guess, but you're all in relationships and I'm not really into you. You only screamed out to me because you're my friends." 

"Wait, they were all on your list?" Sophie asked, confused. "They didn't tell me that." 

"It wasn't really important. For example, we were on each other's lists but never addressed it," Fitz told her. 

She acknowledged his statement with a nod before looking back at Marella. "So, are you going to apply again or just not think about it for right now?"

She shrugged. "I don't know, to be honest. I don't really know what I want, which sounds weird considering when I was younger I thought I did." 

"Well, I'm sure you'll find what you need eventually, even if what you find is that you don't need anyone," Biana assured her, smiling. 

Marella quickly thanked her before stating, "You guys still haven't told me about how your relationships are. I know that you two are together," she pointed to Dex and Biana, "and you two." Her eyes found Sophie and Keefe's clasped hands. 

"I think I've already told you about my girlfriend, Syden," Tam told her. "We've been together for a bit now." 

"Linh mentioned her," Marella replied. Syden Mayfair, right?" Tam nodded. "I heard she's a really powerful guster."

"Yeah, she's great," Tam replied. 

"Her sister's awful, though," Marella continued. "Aviana Mayfair might as well be another name for the devil. I-" She was cut off by a knock at the door, which Tam quickly walked away to answer. 

"It's probably Syden," Tam told them. "She told me she could come but she'd be late." They group tried not to be obvious about their eavesdropping as Tam answered the door and hugged a tall girl with long, wavy black hair. As she made her way towards the group, a small nervous smile on her face, Sophie took notice of her deep blue eyes, which Sophie wasn't a stranger of by this point, complete with flecks of silver. 

"Hi, nice to meet you," Sophie greeted first for the group after a sudden silence. "Syden, right?" 

The girl nodded, a smile on her lips. "The one and only," she joked. "Hold on, I want to try and get this right." She started to list of the names of everyone in the group, trying to correctly identify them. "Of course I already know you," she said, acknowledging Linh. "It's nice to see you again." 

"It's great to meet you," Sophie said. "Tam could only mention so much, it's nice to meet the real thing." 

The girl's smile grew wider as she looked at Tam, and Sophie found her heart aching at the look of complete devotion and trust in their eyes for each other. She had never seen Tam look at another person so passionately before, not even Biana who she knew he had a thing for when they were younger. 

"That's so cute, I wish I had a camera," she whispered in Keefe's ear, who simply smiled back at her. When she saw the two she had almost felt jealous, for a second she found herself thinking I wish I had someone to look at me like that, but when she locked eyes with Keefe she realized he looked at her almost the same way. It made her realize just how lucky she was to have him, just how much she loved him. 

And then she almost choked on spot as the second thought entered her mind. 

Because in that moment she realized that it wasn't just another relationship they had. It wasn't just a 'thing' they had. In that moment she realized she was completely and utterly devoted to Keefe Sencen and if she could have him in her life forever, she'd be okay. Because she was in love with him. 

"Whoa, mood change. You okay?" Keefe frowned at her. "I'm sensing a lot there, Foster." 

"I'm just really happy," she assured him, grinning. 

"I can tell." He didn't say anything else, and Sophie had to practically force herself to return back to the conversation back at hand, which was still on relationships except now she realized the friends were all working up to Fitz asking out Linh. Even Tam was chipping his two cents in. 

"So, Linh, what's your relationship status?" Marella questioned, already in the know. Fitz had told her while they were walking to the kitchen. Before asking about Linh, the group had been frying Fitz, not really getting anywhere. Sophie knew he was still nervous. 

"Oh, I haven't really gotten into the relationship scene yet," Linh replied.

Are you okay? Sophie transmitted to Fitz. If you want I can tell the group to back off. 

Fitz locked eyes with her and in the smallest motion possible, he shook his head. Only with enough movement that she'd understand. I was thinking maybe it could be more private. It would feel awkward with all you guys here, but I promise to tell you everything afterwards. 

"Hey, guys, how about I bring you all up to see Iggy." She looked at everyone with wide eyes, her head tilting to Fitz. 

Privacy, she transmitted to everyone except Fitz, Linh, and Syden. She would have transmitted it to Syden, but as they weren't close she didn't want to push any boundaries. She knew the group was fine with her transmissions. 

"You two stay, only so many people can fit in my room," she told Fitz and Linh. Good luck, she added for Fitz. She quickly pushed everyone towards her room and they scrambled away as quickly as they could. 

"Oh, no you don't," Keefe muttered, pulling Sophie away from everyone on the stairway. "We'll catch up," he told everyone else, who gave them weird looks as they made their way into Sophie's room. 

"What do you need?" Sophie asked, confused. 

"What was up with your emotions back there? They kind of suddenly shifted and it was rough, especially since I was holding your hand." 

A blush appeared on her face as she said, "Sorry. I was just stuck in my thoughts for a while." She looked down at the stair she was standing on. "It's kind of awkward, I can tell you later."

"Those were some pretty intense emotions for thoughts." He looked at her. It looked as if he was going to ask more when suddenly Fitz shouted, "I DID IT!"

Immediately it sounded like a herd of buffaloes running down the stairs and everyone was screaming in excitement, it was almost as if they weren't adults now. Sophie and Keefe were the first to make it to the pair, but it was Biana's speedy running that made her the first to hug them. "Finally," she cheered. "Fitz has been talking up doing that for at least two weeks now!"

"Really?" Linh asked, a blush on her face that matched Fitz's. 

"Uh, yeah," he said, awkwardly scratching the back of his neck. 

"That's so sweet," she responded, her hand moving down to fidget with a small bracelet that Sophie noticed wasn't there before, and realization dawned it was the piece of jewelry Fitz and Keefe raided from Biana's store. "This bracelet is beautiful, by the way." 

"Thank you!" Biana grinned. "Everything's homemade, as you know." 

"And beautiful," Sophie chimed. "Honestly, I need to make time to go down there. I need something from there." 

"I can always get you something," Keefe replied. "I know what you like." 

"That'd be awesome, thank you," she quickly gave him a kiss, leading to a few of her friends fake gagging. The two rolled their eyes at the actions of their friends before everyone resumed to talking, and happily gave date ideas to Fitz and Linh for their first one. 

After a few hours passed slowly everyone started to trickle out until it was just Sophie and Keefe at the house. Her parents were staying late at Alden and Della's house, so Sophie knew it would be just the two of them until he left. 

For about twenty minutes the two worked silently, cleaning the house up as not to annoy Grady and Edaline when they got. "Have you ever thought about moving out?" Keefe asked her. "I mean, I've moved out of my house. Biana and Fitz moved out of their parents house even if they have a place together since they wanted to stay roommates. Linh and Tam have always lived on their own. Dex only lives home because of the shop and Marella because of her mother." 

Sophie shrugged in response. "I think I'm going to wait until me and you one day move in together, it would make life easier and I can't imagine living alone." 

"You're already planning our move in together?" he questioned. "You think about that stuff?" 

Sophie looked at him, surprised. "Oh, you don't? I thought it was normal. I mean, we've both already talked about getting married one day and having a family." 

"Yeah, but it just sounds weird talking about moving in together because it's such a mundane thing. It seems more real than marriage and families because people daydream about that so much." 

He sat down on the couch and she followed suit. "Well, I figure one day it's going to happen. I can't imagine one day us not being together."

Keefe replied. "Yeah, I can't imagine us not being so happy together." 

Sophie's heart skipped a beat as she added, "So in love with each other." 

His head snapped towards her and they were sitting facing each other fully. "Really?" he questioned, his voice almost a whisper. 

She simply nodded. "Just as we were talking about. I love you so much I can't imagine not loving you. I can't imagine not being with you forever, you know?" 

A massive grin stretched upon his face. "Well, the same goes for me. I love you too, Sophie Foster. For forever." 

"For forever."

---

I'M ON SKYPE WITH MY BEST FRIEND AND WE'VE BEEN ON SKYPE SINCE I STARTED WRITING THE CHAPTER WHICH WAS APPARENTLY FIVE HOURS AGO AND WE'RE STILL SKYPING AND I LITERALLY SCREAMED AT WHAT I WROTE AND MUTTERED "HONESTLY, WHERE'S MY PUBLISHING DEAL?" AND SHE CHOKED 

okay chapter questions

1. did you expect that to happen in this chapter cause i didn't that was unplanned the fingers just went on typing and i finished it and was like whoA

2. do you have any internet friends? literally all my friends are internet friends and i'm fortunate to have met my bestest friend ever who's like the love of my life sabina (the one i'm skyping lmao) and also becca who reads this despite not even knowing what kotlc stands for but she's a real one 

3. what's your thoughts? are you happy about how everything's playing out?

okay but i just showed sabina what i wrote about her and she goes "wait, is kotlc keeper of the lost cities" and i was like "yes" and she goes "okay so i'm not a fake" CHOKE that was for you becca xoxo