thoughts: I like skinny jeans. And Pocky. Just saying.

It's hot. Like, SUPER hot. I think it's 94 degrees. Or something. First day of summer — the hottest and longest. Kill me.

dedication: to my wonderful cousin, Michelle. Happy 18th Birthday, you silly goose you!

disclaimer: I'll think of something witty later.


skinny jeans
; redlightmix

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He's gay.

He's freaking homosexual. (Not that there's anything wrong with that) But he's hot. He's unbelievably hot.

This is so not fair. Why does he have to like guys?

Tch, the hot ones are always gay; I know that. But come on, this guy is so physically attractive, he makes me want to magically become a man just so that he could love me.

It's not fair.

I remember every single detail of the first time I met him.

It was an average, boring shift working at Forever21, and business was sorta slow. I think it's 'cause I made Tenten take most of the customers, while I occupied the only employee chair in the entire store and tried on some of the new 'shatter' nail polish — which just came in, by the way. So you can get a deal on that, buy 2 get 1 free. Just saying.

Then I started eating Pocky 'cause I was bored and got hungry.

Anyway, at the same moment the delicious chocolate-covered confection entered my mouth, he walked in.

About 5'11, with dark, spiky, and somehow gravity-defying hair. And he had these super deep and dark eyes that sucked you in and made your legs turn to jelly (It's a good thing I was already sitting down). He was lean and not too muscular, but it wasn't bad. Not bad at all.

He looked around for a bit and stopped when he finally found the check-out counter — which was where I (and Tenten) was at. Then, he proceeded to walk towards us, and we totally made eye contact. I couldn't help but whisper, "Damn," to myself. But by doing so, the uneaten Pocky stick fell out of my open mouth, while I openly stared at the living piece of perfection walking in front of me. I tried to play it off nonchalantly but probably failed terribly.

I think he saw. 'Cause then his mouth cracked a slight smirk, and when he reached the counter, he rested his hands on the surface and leaned in — a little close for comfortable breathing on my part, but hey, I didn't mind.

"I think you dropped something." That had to be the sexiest, orgasm-inducing voice that has ever been bestowed upon my unworthy ears. It was kind of low and smooth and made me visibly shiver — even in this insanely humid weather.

Then it got sort of awkward when neither of us made a move to say anything else. I was afraid that if I even attempted to open my mouth to reply, I might have asked him to marry me or to father my future children. And I didn't even know his name. I think I'll call him Hot Guy. Yeah.

So you see, I went through a lot of mental strain to clearly form words.

"You're..."

Okay, good start.

Hot Guy's eyes never left mine, and he waited with a blank expression for what I was going to say next.

And what I did happen to say made me want to bash my face as hard as I could against the counter top.

"Your... shirt is nice."

Really? Really? I was so disappointed in myself.

He seemed to be amused at how flustered (and retarded) I was, because that smirk — which makes me want to jump him right then and there — was back. He looked down at his own plain navy blue T-shirt and back up at me."Thanks."

"So—"

"There you are!" Tsunade came out from the employee's room in the back, grinning at Hot Guy. Tsunade is the store manager, so she's technically my boss. And she has big knockers. Just saying. I always compare them to my (almost) non-existent bosom, and it's like comparing a sexy, ferocious tiger to a cute, harmless kitten. I am so jealous.

"Good afternoon, Boss!" Tenten saluted her after finishing with a customer. That's so Tenten. She has, like, an infinite amount of energy, or something.

"Alright, Tenten, Sakura, this is Uchiha Sasuke." She gestured to Hot Guy, who just held up his hand not-so-enthusiastically. (YES! I now have his name.) "He's the new employee, and I'm putting him on the same shift as you two. Got it?"

Oh. Okay. He's going to work on our shift with us now. Got it.

...

Wait.

...

What?

He's going to work here? Hot Guy is going to work here?

Like, he's going to sell teenage girls clothes and underwear and other accessories?

It's official. My brain has just exploded.

"And Sakura..." Tsunade frowned at me and picked up my untouched open box of Pocky. "WHO THE HELL SAID YOU CAN EAT ON THE JOB?"

I cringed and shrunk back into the chair. "Err... You want one...?" Hey, it was worth a shot.

She crushed the box in her hand effortlessly (and mercilessly — I didn't even get to eat any yet). "Get your ass back to work!"

I stood up and saluted her, "Yes, ma'am!"

"And did you just use that nail polish without paying for it?"

Ugh, that so coming out of my paycheck.

So, Tsunade put me on fitting room duty. I hate fitting room duty. All these customers bring in a shitload of clothes to try on and end up making me put them all back. Those douches. Now I'm standing here looking bored, chipping away at my newly painted thumb and index finger nails.

I stretched around a bit, 'cause I got tired from standing for so long. I bent over to fix my new (and really tight-fitting) skinny jeans. It was so hot. Like, almost as hot as Sasuke. Almost.

I don't care if I was baking in those skinny jeans. I wanted to wear them anyway because they totally made my butt look great.

Then, Sasuke passed by me on his way to his station, new name tag neatly in place on his chest. He glanced at my (stupidly ogling again) face and then at my pants, a smirk forming on his face.

"Nice jeans."

Did I hear that right?

Did he just compliment me on my jeans?

I was so out of it, but I managed to yell out, "You too!" Hey, I might as well return the compliment. And it's not like I didn't mean it. 'Cause his jeans really did work for him. Damn. And crap, I think I was staring at his butt.

"Were you just staring at his butt? That's not creepy and perverted at all."

I hate you, Tenten. SHUT UP.

"Why is your hair French-braided?" I pointed out her lack of typical buns. She always had the same hairstyle. It has never changed since she was born. She came out of her mother's womb with buns. Seriously.

"Oh this? Sasuke did it for me." She touched her hair and grinned.

"Oh, really? Cool."

We stood there nodding understandingly for a while, before I actually comprehended what I heard. A million questions flooded my (already-exploded) brain.

What kind of guy knows how to French braid? I don't even know how to French braid. And why did this not come off as weird to Tenten? It's a guy we literally just met 6 and a half minutes ago, and she already let him touch her hair. Her hair. A girl's hair is her life. Sorta.

Suddenly, nothing made sense to me anymore.

Later on, Tsunade invited us all out to eat barbecue to celebrate the new addition of Sasuke, along with the other Forever21 employees who work different shifts. It was really awkward trying to socialize with people we never really talk to on a normal basis. I barely knew most of their names, and she expected us all to start chatting like close friends?

Anyway, to start things off, she ordered a couple rounds of drinks, and soon, everyone was laughing and having fun as if we were all super close. It was weird. But I think I kind of liked it.

So that brings me to where I am now, sitting here, beer in hand, staring skeptically at the one guy who has been bothering me all day.

And that's how I came to the conclusion that he must be gay. Nothing else made sense to me.

He complimented my skinny jeans, works at Forever21, and knows how to French braid. There's no way he's straight. Also, throughout our shift, a lot of customers — high school girls, middle school girls, middle-aged moms even — acted like they needed his help getting something high up so that they could talk to him. It was a disturbing. But, he never once showed any interest in them other than that of helping a customer. Then, when guys came up to talk to him, he was pretty friendly to them.

Does that mean something? He doesn't like it when girls talk to him... But he likes it when guys do?

Okay, so, he never really outright said he was gay. But still, how can there be a guy who's that hot and can do all the things he can, and still be straight?

Nothing else made sense to me.

Or maybe that's just the alcohol thinking. I could never hold my liquor well.

I was certain is was mostly the alcohol to blame, since I started accusing every single guy employee of being gay. Then, I tried to reason with myself that Naruto, Shikamaru, and... — what was his name again? Oh, right — Kiba couldn't be homosexual (although I completely forgot how I persuaded myself). Not so sure about Neji. The guy has some silky smooth, Pantene commercial-worthy hair.

A little later the party got a tad bit out of hand. Apparently, Tsunade and Naruto had a drinking contest, and both were now passed out on the table; Tenten was drunkenly coming on to Neji, who looked a little less than comfortable (which kind of supports my theory that he's also gay); Ino was drunk-dialing her ex-boyfriend and sobbing loudly into the phone, while Hinata tried to take it away from her; and Shikamaru was sleeping. Of course. I glanced at Sasuke, who surprisingly looked rather unfazed by all the chaos around him. He didn't even look tipsy.

Then, Kiba (obnoxiously) got everyone's attention and suggested playing 'spin the bottle.' Somehow, he managed to get most of us (who were conscious) to agree to play. He thought it would be funny to throw in something a little a more interesting, so instead of just kissing like you normally would, you have to share a Pocky kiss (which is where two people eat each end and eventually kiss in the middle).

I don't even know where he got the Pocky from. I have a strong feeling he stole that from my purse while I was busy staring at Sasuke.

So the first person who went was Hinata, and her spin landed on Tenten. It was so painfully awkward watching them, but when they finally kissed (Pocky and all), they got cheers from all over.

It was only when everyone was staring that I realized it was my turn.

"Oh, sorry." I raised my hand a bit as an apology, took a deep breath, and spun the bottle.

The entire time it rotated, I held my breath. As it gradually slowed down, everyone leaned forward in anticipation.

As it came to a stop, I slowly looked up at the victim of my spin.

And it just had to land on Sasuke, who, by the way, did not look interested in all. Which hurt my pride a little.

Okay, so normally, I'd be ecstatic if my spin landed on Sasuke, but I just came to the conclusion that he's gay. How am I supposed to kiss him knowing this?

So I did nothing.

I sat there staring at him, while everyone just looked back and forth between us silently.

After a minute or so, Sasuke sighed and stood up, grabbing a stick of Pocky from the box.

"Let's just do this already." He made his way over to me, looked me in the eye, and stuck one end of the stick between his teeth.

Seriously? I felt really bad, 'cause I felt like it was my fault he was being forced into an uncomfortable situation like this.

He stood there holding the Pocky in his mouth, waiting for me to make a move, while everyone watched in complete silence. I sighed. I couldn't put him through this.

"Sasuke... I'm sorry. I can't do this to you," I glanced up at him sympathetically. He stared back at me with a confused look in his eyes. "We just met, and I know you don't want to do this, but everyone's kinda forcing us too, and it was my fault the spin just had to land on you while you were minding your own business, and I think it's also my fault that Kiba came up with this stupid Pocky kiss idea 'cause I'm pretty sure he stole my Pocky, and now you probably hate my guts 'cause you're... you know. And we're in an uncomfortable—"

"Sakura," Oh my God, he said my name. "Bite it."

I didn't really get what he meant until he pointed the other end of the Pocky stick at me.

"Wait, were you listening to anything I said just now? I'm only thinking—"

"Just shut up and kiss me already."

Trust me, I wanted to do nothing but that, and the way he said it almost made me go weak in the knees. But I still couldn't do this to him.

Oh, what the hell.

I looked at him straight in the eye and bit down on the Pocky. We both took incredibly small bites, well, more like I was nibbling at it. I guess he got impatient because next thing I knew his face was an inch and a half closer to mine. At this point, our breath kind of mingled, and I could no longer keep eye contact with him. There was only about a centimeter left of the stick, but something in my mind screamed at me that this wasn't right.

And something else was screaming at me telling me to kiss the hell out of him.

I guess the voice of reason won, because I pushed him away from me. I didn't push him hard, but it did make space between us. The miniature left over piece of the Pocky fell to the ground. There were complaints from the spectators thrown here and there, but I didn't care.

"I'm sorry, I can't do this to you, Sasuke." I touched my cheeks with my palms. I'm pretty sure they were bright red.

"What're you talking about?" He sounded genuinely confused.

"I can't kiss you because... because... Iknowthatyou'regay!" I yelled. Really loudly.

I guess the embarrassment hit me after a moment of silence, 'cause I ran as fast as I could out of the room. And once I stopped in the hallway, the guilt hit me, and I leaned against the wall.

What have I done? What if he was planning on keeping it a secret? Now everyone knows! And it's all my fault.

Shitshitshit.

I'm such a douche!

A moment later, Sasuke also ran out. I guess he didn't see me there at first 'cause he almost ran passed me. He looked at me and placed his hand on the wall next to my head.

"Care to explain what you meant in there?"

I closed my eyes because I couldn't look into his without feeling bad. I chewed on my lip but didn't say anything.

When he made it clear that he wasn't going anywhere, I finally opened my mouth.

"Okay, so, I couldn't kiss you, even though I really wanted to," He smirked at this. "'Cause well, it didn't seem like you wanted to, and plus, I just met you, like, a couple hours ago, and everyone was pressuring and watching us, which already makes it uncomfortable, but then you're also gay so that makes even more uncomfortable and—"

"Wait, did you just say you couldn't kiss me 'cause I'm gay?" I'm going to ignore the fact that he totally just interrupted me.

"Well, that was one of the reasons, yes." I nodded.

He scoffed. Scoffed. At me. "You think I'm gay."

I frowned. "Yes... Didn't we go over—"

"Really? Do I seem gay to you?" He pressed, forcing me to stare in his dark eyes. Damnit, legs, stop turning to jelly.

"Uhmm... well..." The way he was staring at me was making it really hard to think straight.

"What convinced you that I'm gay?"

"You.. you work at Forever21!" He gave me a blank look. "Okay, well... you complimented my jeans! Guys don't do that... do they? OH, and you can French braid! I can't even French braid!" At this point he was smirking again. Like he was amused, or something.

"Is that it?"

Well... now that I think about it, they weren't very good reasons to think he was gay. Damnit, I hate when over-think things.

"I needed a summer job. My brother used to make me French braid his hair when I was a kid. And the jeans?" He glanced down and back up, still smirking. "Let's just say they look good on you."

I so knew it. Did I not tell you those jeans made my butt look great?

"So... you're not gay?"

He looked at me with an expression that seemed to question my level of intelligence.

"Okay, then... can I finish my turn?" I asked him, a bit uncertainly. He smiled at me. Like, smiled. It wasn't a smirk, or a half-smile. It was an actual smile. And it's probably the most beautiful smile I've ever seen in my life.

And I'll take that as a 'yes'.

So I grabbed his face and kissed him. It was amazing. It wasn't a hot, hair-grabbing, body-groping kiss like I imagined it would be, but it was nevertheless more than what I hoped for. I felt like I was flying with unicorns and narwhals in a magical land of Skittles.

And it so wasn't the alcohol.

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Later that night, he drove me home and bought me every flavor of Pocky.

Yup. He's a keeper.

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おしまい


A/N: Yes, Sasuke can French braid. Don't be jealous.

Just let the image of young!Sasuke French braiding Itachi's long, luscious hair form in your mind.

And sorry, it's incredibly hard trying to make Sasuke seem gay. So that's why Sakura ended up sounding stupid in her argument.