Purgatory of a Fireman
Purgatory of a Fireman – Entry 4
Hello, my name is Sakura, and I loved my best friend Ino. She was a really great new friend I had made. We did literally everything together, and her social circle expanded, even to Neji!
(Actually, speaking of Neji, he's going through stuff lately too. His girlfriend just broke up with him, and so, as he sits next to me in math, naturally I hear all about it.)
But Ino, she was so much fun! She had mall trips and sleepovers and pool parties! Understand, these are all things that Tenten would never do with me. She preferred video games over the mall, she never had sleepovers at her house, and she hated swimming! Of course, I still loved Tenten, and all her weird quirks too, but Ino was a lot more fun. So recently, she had planned a house party.
(She said I could invite anyone I wanted. I of course invited Naruto and Sasuke, I considered inviting Hinata, but I figured that would cause more drama than necessary. I also figured Tenten didn't like things like this, and left her be with her video games.)
It was going to be big, and exiting, and she wanted me to help set up, which I was more than willing to do. So I came about an hour before, to help her, and we got a little distracted with making snacks, throwing them at each other. But finally, we finished, and got ready, and were perfected just as the first people arrived.
Soon, the party was underway. Everyone was here, and Ino's social group seemed to have stretched wider than first perceived. I danced awkwardly among the throng of people; their dancing was a lot more…provocative than mine. And I could've sworn I smelled alcohol in the drinks. I made a mental note not to have any.
And so I left the dancers, feeling a little out of place, and just happened to stumble across Neji! He sat on Ino's sofa, looking depressed and smelling of alcohol a bit.
I sat down next to him, smiling. I poked him, asked him what was wrong, and he turned to me, frowning. "She dumped me…" Was all he would say, before he would settle back into his dejected slouch.
I poked him again. "Cheer up! She wasn't right for you anyway." I said sensibly. "There are loads of other girls in the world!" I cried soon after, trying to sound like I knew what I was talking about.
He turned to me, with a quizzical look, and then grinned. "What about you then?"
I startled. "What? Oh no, not me…" I shook my hands violently.
He analyzed me confusedly for a moment before saying. "Were you not just coming onto me?"
"Me?" I blurted. "No? I wasn't. I was just trying to cheer you up."
He glared at me. "Are you sure?"
"Yes." I frowned. "I have a boyfriend."
He stared at me, unmoved. "Uh huh."
I shook my head. "Look, I didn't mean it like that; I was only trying to cheer you up." I stood up and brushed myself off. "I'm sorry she left you."
And before he could say anything more, I went to find Ino. My nerves were a little frazzled by the whole situation, and I needed her to cheer me up. Imagine, my former crush, asking me out! I wanted reassurance that it was the right thing to do…
And I looked for her everywhere. I passed Naruto by the DJ on my ways around, and he smiled, shouting over the music. "How is it?"
I shrugged. "It's okay." I shouted back, even though we were right next to each other. He nodded gravely in response. "Yeah. That guy over there is leering at you. Want me to beat him up?"
I turned around to catch a glimpse of Neji, and sighed. "Nah, he's just being weird." I called back. "Is Sasuke here?"
"Yeah, somewhere. I came with him, but I last saw him in the backyard, talking to Jared." He yelled back.
"Ah." I hollered back, and made a note to check for him after I found Ino. "Thanks. I'm heading around to look for Ino. If you see her, tell her I'm looking for her!"
He winked. "Will do!"
I laughed and walked off, pushing through the crowd to find my friend. And that's when I saw her boyfriend, Sai, smirking and grinning to his friend. He didn't know what I looked like, I only knew him through the pictures Ino had shown me.
So, with my ninja-like skills, I snuck close to him and his friend and leaned in on their conversation. "-in a while, asked her why we hadn't, and all she could say was she was busy with school work. Which we both know was a total lie because she spends all her time flitting around with her friends." Sai was saying, and his friend nodded in agreement.
"But yeah, so I came to this thing to break up, because honestly, who want a girlfriend who refuses his-"
My eyes widened, and I ran to the hallway. That was definitely not what I had wanted to hear. I ran up the stairs to Ino's room, determined to stick up for her, as she had for me. She was probably in tears, forget my issues at hand here, mine was so mall compared to what she had to deal with! At least I still had my boyfriend, Neji was just a pest, but she had lost hers…and…and…
I ran down the hallway to her room, intent on finally proving that I could be a reliable best friend. I opened the door, and I saw her.
And then I saw Sasuke.
And they were on her bed,
Kissing.
I almost vomited.
Ino noticed me first, and turned to me wide eyed. "Saku…Sakura…it's not what it looks like, I swear…it's not…just listen…"
And I tried to convince myself it wasn't happening. This was too much like a stupid soap opera. Why Sasuke? Of all people?
But I furiously shook my head, and glared at them, my heart aching and hurting so much I wish it would cease its operations immediately.
Just to make it stop hurting.
Sasuke seemed shaky as well… "No…Saku...it's worse than it looks, really, we can explain…really…Saku…baby…" His voice cracked.
My heart still hurt, and I couldn't look at them anymore. I felt wetness drip down my cheeks, and rubbed my eyes furiously.
I couldn't think of anything else to say but, "How could you?" and as I shouted the almost pointless, kind of unneeded and stupid question, I ran down the stairs, because I didn't want to hear the answer. Naruto and Neji and Sai and everyone else saw me run out, tear-stained cheeks. I made quite the scene, I suppose. But I simply climbed into my car by the curb, and drove off.
After about five minutes I pulled the car over, and cried my aching heart out.
All I can remember saying is, "It hurts!" over and over, and I highly doubt I said anything intelligible.
After about ten minutes of incessant wailing, I realized where I was. This was Tenten's neighborhood. I wiped my eyes and drove off in search of her house, and finally came upon it.
Grief-stricken, I ran up to the front door and knocked. Tenten's dad answered with a scowl and frowned when he saw me. "Tenten! Your friend is here…"
I heard mutters of, "Who –at 10:30 at night...?" Before Tenten appeared on the steps, a sweater hastily thrown on. She took one look at me, before she hastily ran to me, and enveloped me in a hug. I burst into tears, and cried on her shoulder.
She patted my back softly and mumbled stuff to her dad like, "Please…just tonight…stay the night…"
And before I knew it, she was dragging me up the stairs and into her bedroom. She shut the door quietly behind her, and sat me down on the bed. And as she patted my shoulders, and whispered incoherent reassurances, I told her everything.
A couple hours later, she was on her feet. "So, how was the dancing at your shin-dig, Sakura?" She stuck an Elvis-looking pose, and I giggled, a slight sob escaping.
She smiled. "Betcha their dancing skills were nowhere near mine, Sakura! Who needs them? Check, this." She pulled her pointer finger and stuck it in the air, before diving it back down and up again, winking and grinning simultaneously.
I laughed again and stood up next to her. "No no," I giggled. "More like this."
And I suppose, after all, you can call me a dancer too. Because that's all I did the rest of that night, laughing all the way.