Drunken Truths
A.N: Sarada and Boruto are 18 and they can legally drink in Konoha.
The music at the club was making Sarada's head hurt. She walked slowly between the crowds, trying to find the familiar faces of her friends who had talked her into joining them for the first time ever. She was not particularly fond of these places but after a lot of crying and shameless begging, Chocho finally convinced her best friend to meet them there after her date. After all, she always says, there is more to life than training.
"Sarada!" Chocho called out at the distance. The girl was fairly easy to spot in her bright, shiny emerald dress.
"Chocho, this is-"
Chocho hugged her eagerly, interrupting her mid-sentence, "fun!"
Smelly, loud, dark, were all the words that were running through Sarada's mind. 'Fun' was not even in the top 10. "Yeah, that."
Chocho scanned through the crowd, trying to spot Sarada's date.
"He's not coming." The dark haired girl spoke, reading her friend's mind.
"Why not?"
"Because he is painfully boring and conceited." Sarada spoke loudly to ensure her friend could hear her over the music.
Before Chocho had a chance to defend her match making skills, a voice interrupted their conversation,
"Oh, and who is this?" Inojin spoke, leaning an arm over his teammate, "are you not going to introduce me to your friend- JESUS! Is that you, Sarada?"
Sarada's eyes narrowed, resting her hand on her hip, "I went on a date, Inojin."
"With a pimp?" Another voice spoke. This time it was Shikadai eyeing her up and down as he took a sip from his drink. The pink tint on his cheeks made it clear he had already too much to drink.
The Uchiha fought the urge to punch her so-called-friends in the face. "Glad to know I look like a prostitute."
"But like- an expensive one. For football players and whatnot," Shikadai nodded, "I like it."
"Thank Chocho. It was her idea to add three layers of makeup to my face and shove me into a dress that I can barely breath in."
The teammates looked at each other. Chocho raised her arms innocently, "I just said I knew what type of girl he liked and I could really see you rocking that look."
Inojin and Shikadai looked at Sarada again and shrugged. Inojin spoke first, "Yeah, you do look hot."
Shikadai nodded in agreement, adding "I haven't seen you without your glasses in a while. Let alone in a dress. Now with makeup, heels and everything, I'm impressed."
"Thanks, guys." The Uchiha replied dryly. "Now, if you have stared enough, can you tell me where everyone else is?"
"Everyone's dancing on that side," Shikadai pointed at one of the corners where Sarada could spot Mitsuki and the others. "And Boruto,"
Inojin hesitated slightly, "Boruto… is by the bar."
Sarada had heard plenty of tales of Boruto's nights out and how he was so popular and so fun and so funny and so whatever the hell people felt like mentioning to her.
The Uchiha herself did not enjoy nights out that much and she would rather much more appreciate a hot drink and a book throughout the night, than this loud music and constant darkness.
"I'll get a drink and then meet you guys here." Chocho nodded, winking at her the other two boys when Sarada turned her back.
A few minutes of slow walking and dancing through a ridiculous amount of people led her to the bar.
The Boruto she was looking at now did not look like the man she had heard about. He was sitting alone by the bar with a drink half full to keep him company.
"Boruto?" She asked, hesitantly. She could easily recognize his tussled golden hair and bright blue eyes but it seemed very unlike him to be sitting here, alone.
He still looked nice despite his drunken state. He had a white shirt with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows and black pants; his father's necklace was shining around his neck, reflecting the lights from the club.
It was quite amazing for Sarada how great this idiot could look even in a drunken stupor.
She sat next to him and waited. Eventually, he turned to look at her.
"Sorry, not in the mood," was the only thing he said before he took another sip of his drink and continued to ignore her.
"Well, this is very unlike the things you told me about your nights out, Boruto." She teased, "I was expecting a girl on each arm and the sharing of god knows how many STDs."
"Lady," he slurred, turning towards her, "I don't know you and you don't know me and really I just wanna drink and pass out in peace, okay?"
Sarada blinked in surprise, "You don't know me?"
"No," he mumbled, "I don't care if all the guys think you're supper hot with your red dress and your cleavage and whatever."
The Uchiha had the decency to blush as she looked down to her clothes. Her red dress was a bit too tight and revealing for her taste but she had promised Chocho she would trust her dressing and makeup skills. Something she would not fall into ever again.
Sarada brought her long black hair forward to cover her chest that was clearly capturing too much attention from her friend, "my eyes are up here." She stated bluntly.
The blond laughed and looked her in the eye, "you look familiar."
The dark haired girl raised an eyebrow, trying hard to suppress her laugh, "do I now?"
He tilted his head slightly, "it's hard to tell with the makeup."
The girl sighed and explained her situation for what it felt like the hundredth time, "I went out with Chocho's cousin who according to her has very particular taste."
"A clown taste?" Boruto pointed out innocently, Sarada could not help but laugh.
"Do I really look that bad?"
The blond waved her off, "no, no, it's very kardashianesk," he stopped, fighting to keep his concentration, "I guess if you're into that."
Sarada smiled sweetly, "some guys are into this." She turned around to find a guy picking his drinks up from the bar, "Look." She told Boruto, turning back to the other man.
"Hi!" She spoke sweetly, with a wink for added effect. The guy stared at her for about two seconds, wondering why on earth would such a good-looking girl speak to him. He proceeded to try and approach her but actually knocked the two drinks he was holding on himself and then scrambled away quickly.
Sarada turned back to her friend with a smirk, "see? This look destroys planets."
The blond shrugged, "it won't do much to me."
"Why not?" She asked, offended. It hurt her feelings that Boruto did not think enough of her to even consider her a distraction, no matter how she looked.
He sighed, "'cause I'm in love."
Sarada's eyes widened; those words were a strong tug on her heart. "Wha-what do you mean?" She asked, trying to disguise her affliction.
He shrugged again, a deep frown on his features, "I like this girl for ages but she doesn't like me," he stopped, turning to look up at the ceiling, "actually, she doesn't even know." He turned to her again, an awkward smile taking over, "I've been drinking to get the courage to tell her."
The dark haired girl tried to collect her thoughts, "who is this girl?"
"She's the most awesome person, ever. She is funny, she's smart, she's gorgeous, she's- God. She's everything." The young man ran his hands through his hair in clear despair.
Sarada looked away, absent-mindedly playing with the hem of her dark red dress, "When did you meet her?"
Boruto laughed, "pre-school."
That wasn't much of a narrow down. Most of their group of friends had met that long ago anyway. The Uchiha tried to press a bit further for information,
"When did you know you liked her?" She was definitely not ready to use the 'love' word about this girl she had no idea about.
He seemed to consider this for a minute, "since I drew her picture in pre-school and she loved it," he scoffed, "the most ugly-ass drawing ever."
Sarada scoffed, "what, was that your pre-school move? Because you did exactly the same to-" she stopped mid sentence, Boruto did not seem to notice.
"Why are you drinking?"
"Because I want to tell her how I feel and according to Inojin I should just drink until I have the courage to tell her then keep drinking so it can help me deal with rejection."
Sarada made a mental note to encourage their friends to provide better advice. "No- I mean, why do you have to tell her today?"
"She was having this date today with this guy that's her best friend's cousin." Boruto glared at his glass, "Chocho was going on and on about how perfect they'll be together." He spoke bitterly, "she should know. I mean, they are best friends. I'm sure the guy will be just what she wants."
Sarada smiled gleefully.
Boruto raised an eyebrow, "what are you so happy about? I just told you the saddest story-"
"No! Don't tell me more." She wanted to hear it when he was sober.
"Hey," Boruto started but she was long gone.
"Chocho!" Sarada called. Her friend turned to face her,
"What are you-"
"Your cousin," the Uchiha started, grabbing her friend by the shoulders, "is he a nice guy?"
Realization dawned as Chocho's puzzled expression turned into a smile, "the guy is a douchebag." She smiled wider, "I've taken that you've spoken to Boruto."
Sarada grinned, "he didn't recognize me in his drunkenness. He really should be more careful about telling his secrets to strangers."
The Uchiha left with a big smile on her face. Chocho turned to Inojin, "take your friend home before he gets himself into a coma."
"Ouch," Boruto spoke, taking another sip of his coffee as he massaged his temple. Considering he was one of the strongest ninjas in the village, his pain tolerance was not great.
There were hard nights, and then there was last night. Everything about it was a blurred memory of lights and a woman in a red dress.
The coffee shop was almost empty this early in the morning but he needed desperately to sit in silence and not in a house with his loud sister and his even louder father.
"Hi," a soft voice spoke. A voice Boruto thought he could recognize anywhere.
"Sarada, wha- why are you here?" She sat down in front of him, taking her coat off to show a dark red top.
"I knew you'd be here because I figured you would want some quiet coffee time after last night." He smiled, this girl knew him too well for his own good.
She continued, "I found something this morning and I wanted to show you." The blond tilted his head in query. She rummaged through her bag and took a folded piece of paper out, handing it over to Boruto.
He unfolded the piece of paper, instantly recognizing the worse and only portrait he had ever drawn in his life.
"This- why do you have this?" She smiled and took the paper from him, holding it gently against her chest.
"I have it because it's important to me."
He grinned, "I didn't think you still had it." His smile vanished quickly. He took a sip of his coffee, "how was your perfect date?"
Sarada scoffed, "deeply imperfect."
This got his attention, "what do you mean?"
"Chocho set me up with an idiot so I could realize there are other idiots out there that deserve my attention."
The blond raised his eyebrow, "that's a weird approach." Sincerely, he was just happy that it failed.
"And how was your night?" Sarada asked with a grin.
Boruto noticed but decided not to comment on it, "a lot of drinking and forgetting."
The grin remained, "why would you drink so much?"
'Because I'm a coward', he thought. The blond shrugged, "Because it's fun."
"I bet your headache begs to disagree."
Boruto ran his hands through his hair again as he did when he was nervous. There was something amiss that he couldn't exactly figure out. For starters, this was the first day Sarada saw him with a hangover but did not comment about how bad this would be for his training and their team in general. Nor was she extra loud just to cause him grief as usual.
"I heard you had different reasons for your drinking."
His heart was beating fast, what did she mean? He struggled to maintain his composure and hide his glaring blush behind his cup of coffee, "did anyone tell you any different?" He could bet it was Chocho that told her. Or maybe Himawari. To be honest, it could be Inojin as his lack of capacity to keep quiet. God knows, all his friends were terrible at keeping secrets.
"Yes, you did." She spoke with a confident smile.
Flashes of memory came to his mind. A girl with a red dress.
"Where are your glasses?" Boruto asked. He knew she did not wear them every now and then but today… why would she bother to wear contacts to come meet him at a coffee shop?
She played with her hair absent mindedly, "I figure it would be easier for you to remember if I had no glasses, was wearing red and my hair loose."
"Remember what?"
"The girl with the red dress that kept you company while you drank last night."
The flashes in his mind puzzled together.
He was completely taken back, "no… I would have recognized you."
"A dark place, loud music and not expecting to find me in a ridiculously tight dress, wearing full makeup." She leaned back in her chair, "You didn't."
Boruto covered his mouth as a reflex, "shit. What did I tell you?"
Sarada smiled, looking down to try and hide her blush. Taking a deep breath she looked back at Boruto, holding his hand that was resting on the table.
"You told me you were in love."
The End