Page 21 of Crushing On My Brothers BFF

CHAPTER TWELVE

Sophie

“He’s making one hell of a splash,” Paul says, smiling as we both watch the TV.

A celebrity news station shows a video of Kaleb rescuing a little girl from a mob of crazed paparazzi. He looks so heroic as he carries her back to her mother, all the paparazzi stepping out of his way like he’s a force of nature. They cringe away from him, seemingly terrified. When I see him holding that little girl, I don’t know. It makes me think of way, way,waytoo far into the future. What if…

No, I can’t let myself think about stuff likethat. There can’t be ahappily-ever-afterhere. Not unless Paul is somehow okay with what we did.

I feel awkward sitting beside Paul, shifting from side to side, full of energy but nowhere to aim it. Taking out my phone, I check the video. The views have shot up to fifty thousand. The comments are full of people discussing the paparazzi video.

One comment catches my attention.Between this and saving the girl, these two are Fame Warriors!

I smile as I think about working as a team with my man,Kaleb.

“What are you grinning at?” Paul asks.

I show him my phone. “I think it’s more of a nervous smile,” I say because Ishouldn’tbe smiling about this.

“Oh, damn,” he says. “You’re going to be famous.”

“I don’t want to be famous.”

“A man can’t take a dump without it ending up online these days,” Paul mutters. “What happened, anyway? Why am I only now just hearing about it?”

“I didn’t want to stress you out,” I tell him. “That woman was disgusting. She’s lucky I didn’t break her phone. She didn’t care why he was there, didn’t care we were in a hospital. She saw a celebrity and assumed she had a right to record him. Gross.”

“Speaking of videos…” Paul leans forward as much as he can, wincing even if he tries to hide it. He’s not on the strong pain pills, the ones heneeds. He hates drugs of any kind. He would rather stick it out than dull his senses in any way. “I need to tell you something.”

I wait, as Paul explains. The more he talks—telling me about the documentary Kaleb is making—the more fired up my mind gets. Is this the real reason Kaleb came, then? To use Paul for content? Is there a way I can help? I’m torn right down the middle about it.

“Well?” Paul says when he’s explained, and I’m just sitting here. “What do you think?”

“I think it could be a great documentary,” I say, and I think if I agree to help, it will mean more time with Kaleb. I should listen to Gwen’s advice and try not to have one-on-one time with him. That will be impossible if I agree to this. “But I thought Kaleb was just here for you, not for work.”

Paul shakes his head. “When you have as many responsibilities as he has, you have to compromise. I know him. I know he’d rather just be here as my friend, but he must think about his company. Anyway, I’m good with it. I want to help. Willyouhelp?”

“I’m just a student,” I mutter. “Anyway, I’ve got my own projects.”

“You said the video was almost done. You said you were three weeks ahead of schedule.”

“Nothing gets past you,” I say dryly.

“You don’t have to help,” he replies, some of the excitement in his voice dimmed at my response. “I just thought it would be a good experience for you, and it’ll be useful. There’s only so much footage Kaleb can get. The whole thing can’t just be interviews with me. I’m not even sure what he’s going for. I don’t thinkhe’ssure, either. You might be able to help.”

“I’m sure he has people for that.”

“We’re not asking people. We’re asking you.”

“Wait, he knows you’re asking?”

Paul nods, looking at me as if it’s obvious. “It’s his company, his documentary.”

“And he wants me to work on it?”

“Yes,” Paul says.

Why would he want that after what we did? Surely, he knows it’s better if we stay far away from each other. I want to ask Paul about Kaleb’s love life, but I can’t think of a way to bring it up naturally in the conversation.

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