Chapter 7

Erina refused to take off her sunglasses in her Biology II class that morning. The room was far too bright for her hung over tastes, and her head was throbbing so freaking hard at the moment. She barely remembered how she got home last night. After got out of bed and heaved up her guts into her toilet, instead of finding Gaara on her couch, she found a snoozing, drooling blonde. When she woke him up, Naruto told her a very interesting story about how she kicked him in the shins more times than he could count. Then, once she had calmed down, she started licking his hair and talking about how blue his eyes were.

Erina had quickly shuffled out of the room without even saying goodbye before she could hear anymore. He had texted her a few times during class, asking if she was alright, but she refused to respond to them, at least until her hangover was gone. She had this feeling that she had said something else to him during her drunken stupor that she shouldn't have said.

According to Naruto, Gaara had left about halfway to her dorm; apparently he had stayed in him and Kankuro's room for once. Her professor was rattling on about metaphase, but all she could think about was if she had done something last night to upset him. She snuck her cheap cell phone out from underneath her textbook. "I'm really sorry for last night. Lunch at Haiku's around 1:30?" the brunette typed out, carefully reading it back over before hitting "send". Hopefully, he would answer her.

"Takeda-san. Put that up," her professor stated, not even looking behind him. He just continued to write on the white board about mitosis or something.

A few heads glanced at her, and she slid it beneath her book again, looking a little embarrassed. Then she remembered that last night she was licking Naruto's hair and decided this wasn't anything worth getting worked up about. After a couple of minutes, she heard the gentle buzz of her phone letting her know that she had received her answer.

"I'll buy."

Suddenly her headache felt a lot better.

Erina waited around Haiku Café for thirty whole minutes before she saw Gaara finally come in. She got up and ran over, hugging the redhead tight around the waist the second she saw him. Not the best thing to do, considering Gaara wasn't at all used to physical contact from anyone, but she'd never forgive herself if she lost him as a friend. "I'm really sorry about last night, Gaara. I was stupid, immature, and stu-"

Gaara grabbed her by her shoulders and pried her off of him before she could finish. Yeah, not used to physical contact at all. "It's... fine," he mumbled, clearing his throat. He knew that Erina was just upset about Naruto's feelings for Sakura, but last night was just a little much for him to take after she started licking his hair. And even putting up Kankuro and his friends were better than hearing her go on about the Uzumaki's eyes. Gaara pulled his wallet out of the back pocket of his black jeans. "What do you want?" She still looked like she hadn't gotten over her hangover yet.

"You don't have to," she started, reaching into her own purse. Her friend wouldn't have it, though, and she was forced to let him pay for her meal. So, she patiently waited in a big comfy arm chair for him to get back with their food. She was so happy that she was able to enjoy sitting in comfortable silence with him again. Unfortunately, the silence didn't last as long as it normally did. Her tiny blue cell phone began buzzing away the second they had started to eat.

"It's Naruto," she explained, pressing the button to ignore the call. She still didn't feel comfortable talking to him right now. She still had the feeling she had said something to him that she shouldn't have. You know, other than the whole thing about his eyes looking so blue.

Gaara cocked his head to the side and blinked his sea foam eyes in confusion. Since when did Erina ever ignore Naruto? Did they get into a fight about last night? "You aren't going to answer?" he asked, setting his strawberry parfait on the coffee table.

Erina felt blood rise into her cheeks, and she hid herself behind her latte. "I guess I'm just... embarrassed about last night." Suddenly, she was very interested with the way the barista had written Gaara's name on the paper cup.

Another moment of silence, that wasn't so comfortable, Gaara finally said, "You should talk to him." Erina looked back up at him from her lunch with interest. Normally he kept his mouth shut about what he thought she should or shouldn't do. He reached into his jean pocket and pulled out his cell phone, showing her the screen. "So he'll stop texting me."

"Have you seen Erina yet?"

"Did she say anything about me?"

"Is she mad? She seemed mad!"

"Tell her I'm really sorry for whatever I did okay?"

A sigh passed her pale pink lips. If it would get him to stop freaking out, she would return his call.