"I don't know... I mean I want to go but what if he comes home?"
The other side of the line let out an exasperated groan, followed by an equally irritated voice, "If he hasn't come home in all this time why would he come home tonight? Sakura... you need to get out of the house. I haven't seen you in weeks! I'm worried about you."
Silence. A silence which spoke volumes. Sakura knew her best friend was right, but it was easier said than done for her to break out of her comfortable routine of waiting for Sasuke to come back home. Her days revolved around struggling herself awake, surviving work at the local hospital, and spending time alone at home alone while trying to pretend that her reason for staying up into the early hours of the morning wasn't because of a lover gone on what she had been telling others was a "sabbatical". Every day was the same, but this mindless, emotionless routine was the only thing she felt she could do to bring him back to the city where he belonged. Or maybe she had just been caged up for so long that she was truly beginning to believe it.
"Sakura, you there?"
"Yeah... yeah, okay. I'll go tonight."
Excitement raced through Ino for a second to hear her friend agree, but the mood fell away just as quickly since could tell that there was no heart behind it. No matter what she wanted to do for Sakura, forcing her out with some girl's night ploy wouldn't be worth it if Sakura was doing it only for show. For each plan that might fail to get Sakura out of the house, Ino had two more to counteroffer as an attempt to make Sakura somehow get a real smile on her face.
"Saku, I know you better than that. Don't lie to me. You don't want to go, do you?"
Bright green eyes stared at their reflection in the sunset glazed window, their owner not failing to notice the hesitation they showed clear as day. As her gaze wandered over the faint face in the window she began to question how much time she had been wasting waiting for Sasuke. He was a man who had a lifetime full of lies and self-proclaimed mistakes to try and sort in his mind and in his heart, and for all she knew it could take a lifetime to heal from that. While his life had been trying to run away, hers had been dedicated to running after him, but who was she to decide that what she had been doing was best for him, or them both? Sasuke held a key to her apartment, he knew how she felt about him, and after all these years it was likely clear that her heart would never waver. A newfound resolve washed over her, and for the first time in her life, she thought perhaps she could both wait for him and still live in the meantime.
"Maybe, not entirely. I'm sorry Ino, but it's been so long since I've gone out. What if I don't have fun?"
Ino laughed softly as she switched her cell to the other hand, taking a second to look over the ravenous black dress she held on a store hanger in front of her.
"Then we'll go home. You can come to my place, we'll watch some princess movie and order some junk food. Just you and me."
Relief as a word was an understatement for what Sakura felt in that moment. The pressure of living up to the whole stigma of a girl's night out had been an invisible weight on her heart since Ino pitched the idea earlier that morning. Even if she was hesitant to go out, to socialize, to pretend like she was actually 'okay', knowing she had a safe out with someone who she trusted with her entirety made the whole offer sound much more appealing.
"Thanks, Ino. Fuck it, let's go out tonight!"
Were it possible for facial expressions to be heard through a phone, Sakura would definitely be able to hear the triumphant smirk that spread across Ino's face when she heard her best girlfriend sound excited for the night. Ino swore to herself at that moment that she would ensure Sakura would have the perfect night, be it spent out on the town or indoors, no matter what she would have to do.
"That's my girl! Now, let's talk dresses."