Sleeping With My Best Friend - (Complete)

Chapter 23 - Zander the Third Wheel

"What the hell is he doing here?" Dean asked, looking back and forth between Berkley and Zander. "I thought you said he wasn't coming over tonight anymore."

"Oh, hey Dean," Berkley said with a forced laugh, trying her best to sound natural and not like she was freaking out. She knew he'd jump to conclusions and get the wrong idea about why Zander was there.

"I told Zander about how I'm dating somebody now, so we decided to just hang out as friends tonight. I made a lasagna and we were gonna watch a movie."

"You're dating somebody? Since when?" Dean asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Yeah, I told you about it. Remember?" she asked, giving him a piercing look with her eyes that told him to play along and act like he knew what she was talking about. "Jason Richardson, the funny, tall guy we went to high school with. You played on the football team with him. He asked me to be his girlfriend yesterday and I said yes."

Dean stood there, looking back and forth between her and Zander, thinking. She really hoped he wouldn't blow her cover and call her out on her lie right in front of him.

"Oh right. Yeah, I ummm, I must have forgot," he said slowly, nodding. She was relieved he had picked up on her not so subtle hints.

"So you and Zander are having a friend's hangout? Does that mean I'm invited then, since I'm your best friend?" Dean asked her, with a hint of a mischievous grin and a gleam in his eye.

Ugh, why did that cocky smirk of his have to make her want him even more? It wasn't fair.

Hanging out with Zander was the last thing Dean would want to do, so he obviously just wanted to stay so he could chaperone their hang out time.

The three of them having dinner and watching a movie together sounded like the most awkward, uncomfortable evening ever, but she couldn't exactly kick him out without making it look like she was trying to be alone with Zander.

She really did just want to be his friend. After what happened in the Hamptons with Dean, she wasn't even thinking about Zander like that anymore, even if Dean didn't want her.

"Ummm. Well, it's okay with me. Is it alright with you if he stays?" she asked Zander.

Zander looked back and forth between them for a few seconds, thinking, before shrugging his shoulders and reluctantly saying, "Yeah. I guess so."

"Great!" Dean said with a big smile, patting Zander on the back and then hooking an arm around his shoulder. "Ooh. You brought wine? Nice," he said, taking the wine bottle from Zander's hand and inspecting it.

"Yeah, glad you like it," he grumbled under his breath, looking away and letting out a frustrated exhale, rolling his eyes.

'Well this is already thoroughly awkward,' she thought to herself.

Then the timer on her phone went off and she was relieved for the distraction, because the tension between these two guys could be cut with a knife.

"That's the lasagna. Let's go down and eat in the dorm kitchen. That'll be a lot easier than the three of us trying to eat up here in my tiny room," she suggested.

"Lead the way," Dean said with a smug smile on his face.

He didn't seem to feel guilty at all about how awkward his third wheeling on their hangout time was making it for everyone. In fact, he seemed to actually be enjoying it.

'Cocky asshole,' she thought to herself as she led the way downstairs.

When they got down there, she made some garlic bread and salad really quick to go with the lasagna while Zander poured the three of them a glass of the red wine he had brought. He sat down at the table across from Dean and she couldn't help but notice the tense glances the two guys were shooting at each other.