A/N. This chapter is just a bit of fun I've thrown in for you all. I really wanted to know what it would be like to get the whole gang together in a social setting. Turns out it's rather tense!! Also, I've tried to answer some questions that some of you have asked throughout the story. Anyway, enjoy!
Joel
We spent a full 24 hours together in that room. Let's just say we more than made up for lost time.
It was only a persistent buzzing of my phone that eventually managed to pull me out of the Casper love bubble that I'd been wallowing in.
I leaned over the side of the bed and pulled my phone out of the back pocket of my discarded jeans.
Luna: If you can finally extract all your body parts from my brother, what time should I expect you?
I chuckled at the text.
"Who is it?" Casper asked.
"It's your sister, she wants to know what time we're picking up Lyra and Orion."
"What?" Casper said, sitting up suddenly, his eyes wide and afraid.
"Hey, hey, it's ok," I said, feeling his anxiety run through me.
"But their Emily's," he said, still looking at me warily. "Are you not bothered?"
"Do I look bothered to you?" I said, maintaining eye contact.
"Well no, but how can I be sure?"
"Casper, we're mates," I said chuckling, "can you feel any anger or resentment? Because I can feel your anxiety and lack of trust."
Casper jolted slightly, his head tipping to one side. "No, but I can feel your disappointment. Because I don't trust you? Oh god Joel, I'm sorry! Of course I trust you."
I chuckled and opened my arms as he crawled back into bed and snuggled into me, burying his head in the side of my neck.
He began trailing little kisses down my neck, over my collar bone and across my chest.
I let out a moan of pleasure.
This only seemed to spur him on as he rearranged his body so he could start kissing down my stomach, stopping briefly to swirl his tongue inside my belly button.
I could feel myself growing needy once more.
"Casper, stop," I said, pulling his head up before he could go any further.
Casper looked up at me with a mischievous glint in his eyes.
"Oh come on Joel. You know you want to," he growled out seductively.
"It's not about what I want," I replied back, my voice slightly raspy from the desire that he'd managed to awaken....again. "It's more a matter of what our bodies can take."
"Oh come on, I've taken the worst of it," he said, going back to planting little kisses around my waist.
"Yes, but you're bigger than me," I pointed out, leading him to burst into laughter.
I took his momentary lapse in concentration to roll him over and jump out of bed.
He stopped laughing abruptly.
"Hey, where are you going?" he asked, his face now fallen and sad.
"I'm going for a shower," I said with a smile, "then I'm going out for lunch with Mark, Lyla, Jamie, Nathan and Cole, and then I'm going to Luna's to pick up Lyra and Orion so we can spend some time together."
"And what about me?" Casper asked, his eyes wide and pleading.
"Oh you're coming too," I said before walking out of the door and heading into the bathroom.
"Hang on, which bit?" Casper asked, as I heard him scramble out of bed.
"Oh all of it," I said peeping my head back around the door to the bathroom and giving his naked body a once over with my eye, "starting with a shower."
I bit my lip to hide my smile at his shocked expression, then I withdrew my head from the door, turned on the shower and waited.
__________________
Casper glanced around the table and I could tell he felt a little uneasy.
I slid my hand under the table then ran it down his thigh and squeezed gently.
"So I told him I didn't want the red ones, and do you know what he said?" Lyla chirped away at the table.
Jamie shook his head frantically as Lyla stared him down waiting for an answer.
"He said, the red is the only colour they had! Can you believe that?"
Jamie shook his head once more, and I watched as Mark took a long, slow sip of his drink to hide his smirk.
Lyla and Mark were getting married in just a couple of months, and according to Mark, Lyla had gone all bridezilla on him. I thought it was hilarious, but Casper and Jamie just didn't know quite how to take her.
"Hey look, it's Cole," I said nudging Lyla, and Jamie shot me a grateful glance.
Lyla squealed in delight and shot up out of her chair and ran straight to Cole giving him a massive hug.
"I can't believe there's two of them now," Mark mumbled, but in good humour.
"Oh god, he's not going to talk to me about wedding flowers too is he?" Jamie said with an eye roll.
"I don't think he....." Mark suddenly trailed off, his eyes wide and fixed on something across the restaurant.
We all turned to follow his gaze and my jaw dropped at the sight.
Casper spat out his drink, and Jamie burst out laughing.
Nathan had just walked in. His silver streak now dyed bright shade of electric blue.
"What the fffffflip," Casper mumbled, refraining from swearing seen as there were children seated nearby.
"Don't say a word," Nathan growled as he plopped down in the seat across from Casper.
Jamie tried to muffle his laughter, but he just ended up having some sort of coughing fit. If looks could kill, Jamie would have been turned to dust by now.
A few seconds later, Cole and Lyla returned to the table, and Nathan's scowl immediately disappeared as he smiled at his mate.
"Wow, I love the hair!" said Lyla, her eyes nearly popping out of her head.
"I know! Isn't it cool?" Cole replied, "I told Nathan, it would take perfectly. I've got a red dye for next time."
Jamie couldn't take it anymore, and banged his hand down on the table while doubling over in laughter.
Cole suddenly snapped his mouth shut and I saw him visibly shrink back into himself then send a worried glance towards Nathan.
Lyla glared at Jamie.
"Well, I like it," I said, trying to ease the tension a bit.
"So do I," said Mark. "You do realise that all you've done is make him even appear even hotter to all the women?" he said turning to Cole.
Cole's eyebrows raised and I nodded in agreement when he turned to look at me.
Nathan smirked, and finally the tension dissipated as quickly as it appeared.
"Anyway, speaking of women, how's the mate hunt going?" Casper asked Jamie, and I gave his leg a gentle squeeze to show him I appreciated the change in conversation.
"Too many women, not enough time," he replied back with a wink.
Unlike Casper, Jamie had been enjoying his time looking for his mate. Casper told me that Jamie was loving all the attention he got and was turning into a massive flirt.
"Maybe she's human," Cole remarked.
"She might be, I don't care. As long as she's got lady bits downstairs, that's all that matters," he said with a smirk.
Casper rolled his eyes, while Cole scrunched up his nose.
"Wow, she's one lucky girl," Lyla said, and it took Jamie a couple of seconds to realise she was being sarcastic.
"Hey, don't you judge me! Just because your mate happened to be the first guy you touched doesn't make you any better. If you hadn't found your mate, you might have made your way through half the population by now."
"As if!" Lyla said with a snort. "What you fail to realise Jamie, is that a girl likes a bit of romance. And I'm afraid that if you don't find your actual mate, no one is going to want you unless you change your whole attitude."
"Hey, men like a bit of romance too," Cole added.
Lyla rolled her eyes.
"That's true Lyla," Mark said with a glint in his eye, "when was the last time you romanced me?"
"Oh stop moaning! All I have to do is take my top off and I have your undivided attention."
Casper spluttered next to me, and I failed to hide a smirk.
Mark blushed slightly then said, "You said you thought what Joel did for Casper was adorable. Casper's a guy."
"Oh god, it was though wasn't it!" Lyla gushed. "All those clues and the tiger facts. I would love it if someone did something like that for me!"
"Yeah Joel," Mark said, narrowing his eyes at me, "when did you get so soppy? And where did you get all those facts about tigers from?"
"Oh, Cole helped me with that," I said, smiling at Cole.
"How?" Nathan asked Cole.
"Well, Joel asked me to google some tiger facts on our drive up here, but reading my phone in the car makes me travel sick, so I just messaged one of my online friends and asked them to do it for me."
"Online friends?" Nathan asked, his eyebrow raised.
"Yes."
"And what is this 'online friend' called?" he asked, his eyes fixed on his mate.
I saw Cole start to fidget nervously under Nathan's intense glare.
"Urm, Intergalactic Being?"
Nathan blinked a few times.
"Intergalactic what? What kind of a name is that?"
"Come on Nathan," I interrupted, trying to take some of the heat off Cole, "you really need to get with the times. No one on the internet uses their real name. They make one up."
Nathan turned back to Cole.
"So this Intergalactic space person could be anyone?"
"Well yes," Cole replied quietly, "but I know for a fact that she's a girl, so there's no need for you to worry, is there?"
Nathan hummed discontentedly, but went back to looking at the menu.
Cole looked over to me with wide eyes.
"A she? Really?" I mouthed to him.
"I have no idea," he mouthed back while shrugging his shoulders.
Nathan snapped his head round to Cole on seeing the movement, and Cole quickly leaned over and kissed Nathan on his nose.
"I only have eyes for you, you idiot," I heard him whisper and I swear I saw Nathan practically melt under Cole's gaze.
Casper turned to me and smiled and Jamie coughed while spluttering out "get a room," making everyone on the table groan.
"Hey, it's not my fault I'm the only single person here," he said holding his hands up in surrender.
"Joel," Cole said loudly, getting my attention, and everyone else's at the table. "Can you tell me the story again where you beat Jamie's ass in training."
Jamie's head snapped round to look at me in surprise, while I just opened and shut my mouth like a goldfish.
"Are you ready to order?" came a welcome voice from next to me.
I grabbed hold of my menu eagerly. "Yes, I'd like..."
"No, we need a few more minutes thanks," Jamie said, while slamming my menu closed before I could order.
"Ok, then," the waitress said nervously, before walking away.
I turned to look at Jamie, my teeth gritted together as I smiled sheepishly at him.
"What lies have you been telling Cole?" he asked angrily.
"Not lies, exactly," I began hesitantly.
I felt Casper jiggle next to me, and I turned to see him turning red from trying to hold in his laughter.
"Hey!" I said, lightly cuffing him on the shoulder.
"What? It's just so funny," he spluttered out before laughing again.
"See even your mate thinks the idea of you beating me is hilarious," Jamie said with a smirk.
Casper suddenly stopped laughing. "No Jamie, I'm laughing because you still haven't figured it out yet."
"Figured what out?"
By now the whole table was laughing and Jamie was starting to get frustrated.
"Can someone tell me what I'm missing here?" he asked.
"Have you not figured it out yet?" Casper said. "I had my suspicions but I didn't know for sure until I saw him again that night."
"Saw who? Will you stop talking in riddles and just tell me?"
Casper just burst out laughing again.
"It was Joel!" Lyla practically shouted. "The guy who pissed in your territory? It was Joel!"
A couple from a nearby table shot us a funny glance at Lyla's outburst. Jamie didn't seem to notice.
"It was you?!" he said looking at me in amazement.
"I'm afraid so," I said with a shrug. "You pissed me off with your 'I'm so much better than you' speech so I decided I was going to win."
"That's my mate," Casper said proudly, and Nathan sniggered quietly.
Jamie just shook his head in disbelief.
"So thanks for that Cole," I said sending a glare his way, "but if anyone else has a better conversation starter I'll be grateful."
"Oh, I've got one!" Lyla said enthusiastically.
"If it's about the wedding again, I give anyone permission to shoot me," Jamie said sulkily.
Lyla stuck her tongue out at him then carried on, "No, I've got a question for Joel. What animal do you think suits me best?"
Casper laughed next to me and I just groaned in frustration.
"Oh come on....pleeeeasse," she whined.
"Fine," I said with a sigh.
I looked over at her and pretended to think. I didn't really need to, an animal came to me straight away.
"You'd be a............... a donkey."
Her face fell.
Mark laughed.
"A what? No be serious Joel, really, tell me what I'd be?"
"I am being serious!" I replied.
"Go on then, why a donkey?" Cole said looking curious.
"Well, firstly she is incredibly stubborn, and it's nearly impossible to change her mind once it's been made up."
Mark nodded enthusiastically in agreement.
"Secondly, she is incredibly strong and loyal, and thirdly, she wouldn't be afraid to give you a swift kick to the shins if you upset her."
"Owww!" I squealed after being kicked in the shins.
Lyla finally cracked a smile at my pain.
"I don't think it's a bad thing," said Cole, bringing out his phone. "Look how adorable this one is," he said showing Lyla a picture.
She took the phone off Cole and began scrolling through the webpage Cole had pulled up.
"Ok, fair enough, they are quite sweet," she mumbled while handing Cole back his phone.
"So what about Mark then?" Lyla asked.
"Oh no!" Mark said waving his hands in front of him. "I have no desire to be compared to any animal. Let's move on!"
"Hey, if he doesn't want to know, I'm not going to say anything," I said, backing Mark up.
Lyla huffed a little and crossed her arms on her chest. "Fine then, who wants to know what happened with the wedding invites?"
"Quick, shoot me! Shoot me now!" Jamie said, dramatically throwing himself back on the chair.
"Are you ready to order now?" came a slightly anxious voice from next to me.
"YES!" came back the unanimous response.
A/N. And a big shout out to Intergalactic Being who really did help me find some of the Tiger facts!!