One
Sophie was having a sleepover. She'd never had one before in the Forbidden Cities because she'd never had any friends to have over. She'd been to one in the Lost Cities when the Keefe was with the Neverseen and they thought they were going to ambush Havenfield. Edaline had insisted that she have her friends over for a sleepover. Sophie agreed on the pretense that she didn't make them go to bed if they didn't want to. If she was going to have a sleepover, it might as well be fun.
"Hey, Soph, are you all ready for the sleepover? Your friends will be here soon."
"Yeah, Mom."
Sophie got up from the couch where she was reading a textbook for linguistics. Edaline was holding two pans of mallowmelt, which she set on the table beside other sweets Sophie had grown to love since moving to the Lost Cities. Sophie glanced outside, where she saw several flashes of light. She opened the door to let her friends in.
"Hey, Foster," Keefe smirked as he walked in. He tenderly grabbed her hand and squeezed it tight.
"Hi, Sophie," Fitz said with a smile at their entwined fingers. He'd gotten over Keefe and her dating a few years back.
Dex, Biana, Linh, and Tam followed behind Fitz, and Tam shut the door behind him.
"Hey, kids! I've got some food on the table here, and Sophie's room is all set up," Edaline said, snapping her fingers so that her friends' overnight bags teleported upstairs. They walked up to Sophie's room where sleeping bags of different colors were set in a row. The overnight bags were stacked in a pile by the door. Biana grabbed her pink bag off the top of the pile and plopped down on the purple sleeping bag. Dex chose the green one, Fitz chose red, and Tam chose black.
"So, Foster, what are we doing tonight?" Keefe said, claiming the light blue sleeping bag next to her yellow one.
"I don't know," she admitted. "I was counting on you guys for ideas."
Biana's eyes lit up. "Truth or dare!"
Linh laughed as she lowered herself onto an off-white sleeping bag. "I wasn't there, but...didn't it get weird last time you guys played that?"
"We don't talk about that," Keefe said.
"So it's a yes, then?" Biana asked.
Fitz, Tam, Dex, and Linh nodded eagerly. Sophie was pretty sure that they all had a mischevious dare or two up their sleeves.
"I'll go first," Biana offered. "Okay... Fitz, truth or dare?"
"Uh...dare, I guess."
"Okay," Biana began. "I think you don't like Sophie anymore, because, well..." Her eyes darted to Sophie and Keefe's interlocked fingers. "So now you must like someone else. Go take the hand of the person you like and sit next to them. Then hold their hand the rest of the day. And before you leave Sophie's house tomorrow, you have to kiss them."
Keefe, Tam, and Dex snickered. Sophie and Linh exchanged worried glances. Fitz slowly stood up. He passed by each of his friends. He stopped at Sophie briefly, but moved on to Sophie's great relief. He sat on Linh's sleeping bag and slowly reached for her hand. Linh blushed, but smiled and gave it to him. Fitz leaned over and whispered something in Linh's ear. She blushed and nodded. Fitz cupped her cheek, and they kissed. It was a short kiss, barely one at all. But Biana was obviously satisfied. She looked like she was about to burst. But Sophie was terrified of the other matchmaking dares she had in mind.
"My turn," Fitz said. He looked at Biana. "Ditto."
Biana scowled at Fitz. But she marched over to where Tam and Dex were sitting. Then she grabbed Dex's hand and kissed him, much to his surprise. But then her annoyance faded and was taken over by a look of mischievousness. She scanned her friends. Her eyes finally settled on Keefe.
"My turn," she said. "And I choose Keefe. Truth or dare?"
Keefe blinked. "Truth," he said. "But I know I am going to regret it."
"What is your biggest secret?"
Keefe dragged a hand down his face. "Can I skip?"
"Nope."
"Pleeeeaaaasse, Biana," he whined.
"No."
Keefe sighed. Then he muttered something she couldn't understand. But Biana had obviously heard because she squealed.
"What'd he say?" Dex asked.
"Keefe?" Biana said.
"Fine. I said that..." he took a breath. "I wanted to have a kid with Foster. Soon."
