Best Friend's Brother

Chapter 2

I gazed into Caspar's eyes for what seemed like an eternity. The spell was broken when he slung his arm around me and shouted, "Oi! Look who finally showed up!" Zoe came running, with a barking Nala close behind.

"Hey! You're finally here!" she exclaimed excitedly. Joe walked in the room, smirking.

"Yeah, bloomin hell, what took you so long?" he remarked.

"I...I was, uh, I was wrapping up a video" I stammered, fully aware of Caspar's arm still around my shoulders. Joe winked at me, noticing my blushing face, . I rolled my eyes and stuck my tongue out at him. I shrugged off Caspar's arm and followed Joe into the living room, where Jim and Tanya were waiting. Jim smiled at me warmly and Tanya greeted me with, "Hey, we were just wondering when you'd get here!" I sat on the couch and Joe plopped down on my left. I pulled a bowl of popcorn into my lap and swatted Joe's hand away from my popcorn.

"Get your own bloody popcorn" I joked. Joe wrinkled his nose at me and then stole a few pieces of popcorn when I wasn't looking. Caspar walked over to my the couch and swatted Joe's hand away from my popcorn again. I smiled at him gratefully. He smiled back and while I was mesmerized by his gaze....he snuck a few pieces of popcorn.

"Hey!" I giggled. Caspar winked. Alfie walked into the room and called me and Joe over to do a collab with Zoe. We were doing the best friend vs brother challenge. Joe grabbed my arm and pulled me away from Caspar.

"You two are smiling at each other like idiots." Joe grumbled. He and I were best mates and he knew I was crushing hard on Caspar.

"Just date already, jeez," Joe said, exasperated. I rolled my eyes at him and linked my arm through his, heading upstairs to Zoe. We finished the challenge and when Joe reached over to grab his phone, his arm accidentally touched mine. I felt a flutter in my stomach. Weird. We were alone in the room; Zoe had gone back down to the living room. I grabbed my laptop and pulled my feet up on the couch, leaning on Joe. I wanted to get some editing done before we all settled down for a movie. I heard a tapping noise and looked up to see Nala trotting into the room.

"Hey Alan!" Joe quipped. I giggled and scooped Nala up onto the couch with us. I didn't notice Joe looking at me with a small smile as I laughed, watching her prance around.