Woah! What's going to happen?!
CHAPTER 15 - These Are My Confessions
Temari heard a fraction of what Sasuke had just told Shikamaru, she then walked to the two boys, causing Shikamaru to immediately stand up from his seat and Sasuke startled, stepping back a bit.
"What's going on?" Temari asked them, in a tone that spoke they were in trouble.
Sasuke looked at Shikamaru. "We were just talking about someone."
Temari shrugged, trying to keep her cool. "Oh, alright," she then turned to the genius. "Shikamaru? Take me home?"
Shikamaru checked his pockets for his keys, while Sasuke stuck an arm up to interfere. "Temari, I don't think Shikamaru is in any shape to be driving right now. Go upstairs, I'll let Sakura know."
All the blonde could do is turn and oblige. She began to overthink, letting her anxiety get to her. What was going on? Who was.. the name Sasuke spoke of? And why did the name sound like such a big deal? She jogged up the stairs, knocking calmly on the girls' room. Hinata opened the door, smiling as she let Temari in, but frowned at the moment she saw Temari's shocked expression.
"Temari!" Ten Ten stood up from her bed, examining her friend's face. "What's wrong? Why do you look upset?"
"I don't even know," Temari told her honestly. "I-I just heard Sasuke and Shikamaru talking outside then Sasuke told me to let Sakura know to bring me home.. then.. Shikamaru was buzzed and..." Temari found herself stumbling on her words. She was weirded out, her blood ran cold at the suspicion that another girl was involved with Shikamaru.
"I'm doing what now?" Sakura walked out of the bathroom with wet hair, drying it with a towel. "Temari! Why do you look so upset?"
Ten Ten supported Temari by the arm, urging her to sit down on her desk chair. Hinata also assisted, doing the same action. "Temari, take a seat. You're in no condition to be standing up right now. Something is clearly up. What is bothering you so much? You look like you just saw a crime scene or something."
Temari gulped, she wanted to tell them, but what if it wasn't worth it? What if they were just going to tell her to calm down and accept the feelings she had for Shikamaru? What if Sakura was going to tell Sasuke about this conversation? Worries and worries spiraled in her head. But after all, what did she have to lose?
"I went outside to go meet Shikamaru since he usually drives me home but..." she paused to swallow, only making her friends pay extra attention to what she was going to say. "I know this is going to sound irrational, but I heard Sasuke like.. talk to him in such a lecturing tone about a girl named.. T-Tay-"
"Tayuya." Ino cut her off, walking into the dorm room. From the looks of it, Ino's demeanor came in dark and she seemed heavily bothered. "She's Shikamaru's ex girlfriend."
Temari froze. Okay, that hurt. And she didn't know why, why she was hurt. They weren't even together. It could of just been that Shikamaru was a close and touchy guy who, well, kisses his friends' foreheads when they're about to fall asleep. The possibilities were endless!
"Temari." Ten Ten put a hand on Temari's knee, making sure she was caught up with time. She then looked at Ino, giving her a stare to read, in which Ino closed and locked the dorm room behind them.
"Alrighty, everyone into the bathroom." Ten Ten announced.
The two boys chilled out in Sasuke's backyard, sitting as they looked out into the sun and shining reflection of the blue pool. They both were quiet, not wanting to say a word that involved Tayuya. However, Sasuke knew how to push buttons, and push them well.
"You know we have to talk about it, right?" Sasuke made his friend realize. "It's been two years, Shikamaru. Why are you still letting it hurt you?"
"Oh I don't know!" Shikamaru practically shouted at him. "How would you like it if you had several classes with your ex everyday? Huh?! How am I suppose to distract myself?"
Sasuke stared at him, unfazed. "That still doesn't cut out the fact you like Temari."
Shikamaru winced before slouching into his sheet. "I know.. I really do like Temari."
"And how it isn't fair that you're practically getting her hopes up by spending every second with her." Sasuke added in.
Shikamaru rolled his eyes. "Yeah I know."
"Psh, I know a lot of things that happen with those girls. It's just I can't break Sakura's trust, of course."
"Good for you."
"Thanks." Sasuke smirked. "But you really need to think, Tayuya cheated on you, not to mention she has a bad reputation. On the other hand, Temari doesn't seem that bad, and boys literally drool over her all the damn time. Trust me, it's all I ever hear about in my physics class."
The genius let out a chuckle. "You take physics too? What period?"
"Sixth."
Shikamaru grinned. "That's funny! Temari has that class too!"
Sasuke gave him a look. "And that's the first thing that comes out of your mouth? Come on, tell me the truth. What's so special about Tayuya that makes it so hard to let her go?"
Shikamaru went pink. "You're gonna laugh at me dude."
"Well I'm gonna laugh if it's stupid." Sasuke told him, smirking again to tease as if he was already going to burst out into a laugh.
"I-I lost my virginity to her."
"So.. why are we in here?" Temari asked the girls, completely squished in between Hinata and Ten Ten.
"You know how the guys usually come in here like they own this room too? Well, in case we're gossiping, we come in here. That way, we know all secrets are secured in here. And trust me, this is a huge secret." Ten Ten explained.
Sakura nodded, agreeing. "Mhm, take it away Ino."
Ino, still with a troubled expression, opened her mouth to explain the story. "Alright, it all started freshmen year, May of freshmen year, if we want to be specific here. Shikamaru and Tayuya met through chess club. And through spending a lot of time together in competitions, they decided to become an item. They dated throughout that whole summer up until March of sophomore year, in where Tayuya broke up with him and he was pretty much depressed for the LONGEST..." Ino took a breath, about to continue the story. "... I know it sounds like a terribly boring story, but here's the catch: the whole time they dated, Tayuya was screwing with other guys AND only really used Shikamaru to keep her grades up. You're probably wondering how him, a totally smart guy fell for all it? Well, she is a a theatre girl, so I guess she was just manipulative as hell, along with the acting of course."
Ino took a break before continuing. "And I should add on, Shikamaru is totally clueless when it comes to girls. Also, the fact that she is in like five of his classes this year, totally is not it!"
The whole time Ino spoke of Shikamaru's story, Temari's eyes grew bigger and bigger. She was speechless, and now she totally understood why Ino had been so angry before. Ino and Shikamaru, they have been friends for the longest, and if anyone were ever to do that to one of her brothers, they'd be toast. Yet again, she looked down, probably more upset than before.
"Temari-" Ten Ten was about to comfort her, but then Temari cut her off.
"Ino, I feel like you're missing a chunk," Temari called her out in a demanding tone. "I get that this really hurt him, but why is it taking him so long to get over her?"
Ino's eyes grew wide, before sighing. "Right... Tayuya, she was Shikamaru's first everything; first kiss, first sex, first relationship. You name it. I don't know if you've noticed, but he isn't really one to be.. affectionate easily."
All Temari did was nod, pushing air through her nose. She was extremely bothered. She had thought that Shikamaru was going to eventually be hers, but she didn't want to be with someone who clearly wasn't over someone else. And that he definitely shouldn't be making moves like forehead kisses either.
"Great. Now I feel like a rebound." Temari thought out loud, causing all the girls to look at each other crazily.
"No!" Sakura told her.
Hinata then put a hand on Temari. "Right, don't say that."
"Think about it." Temari told them, adjusting herself in the tub. "He probably just decided to hang out with me 24/7 just so he can try to get over her." She squatted on her two feet before opening the curtain and stretching a leg out the tub before her whole body.
About to leave, she turns around to the rest of the girls seated in the tub. "Thanks for the talk, but I think I'll just walk home."
"I-I-In this weather?" Hinata asked her worriedly.
"Yes, and quite frankly I think I need it." Temari told them, not even bothering to turn around and walked out the door.
"Shikamaru..." was all Sasuke could say. "Are you serious?"
Shikamaru nervously fiddled with his fingers, stroking his chin. "I-I mean what else? She was my first everything, even my relationship. Come on, don't make me say it, how am I suppose to get over her so quickly?"
"You know, you really are a jerk." Sasuke admitted, sighing. "What else can you do though? You're just going to have to lay low on Temari from now on."
No response came from Shikamaru, because he knew Sasuke was right. It obviously wasn't fair to Temari. Even if Shikamaru had done a lot of things for her, it didn't mean it was alright to play with her feelings. Of course, Shikamaru knew he really liked Temari, it wasn't right to date a beautiful person without being totally confidence in entering a fresh relationship.
Sasuke inserted his hand into the pocket of his sweatpants. "Come on, it's getting late. Let's go back to the dorms."
Temari looked up, noticing the sky turning orange. She had to admit, she missed sceneries like this. Everyday, when she had to wake up for another miserable day at school, the always admired the sky and how it was such a beautiful sight to look at. Smiling to herself, she didn't even notice the car pull up next to the sidewalk she was on.
Sasuke drove straight at a moderate speed, then looking to the corner of his eye seeing Temari smiling to herself. He blinked, then turned to face Shikamaru, then the road in front of him, then back to Temari, and it cycled for a few seconds before he called out for Shikamaru's attention.
"Hey!" He shouted, causing Shikamaru to jump and look in the direction of where Sasuke was pointing at.
Shikamaru straightening up in his seat, practically kneeling on it. "W-What?" He looked down at the time on Sasuke's digital stereo.
'What the hell? The sun is gonna vanish soon.' He thought to himself, and without a warning, he instructed Sasuke to immediately pull over and stop the car, in which he obliged.
As he pulled over, Temari finally looked to notice the matte-black Maserati in front of her. She was about to run, fearing that it could be potentially someone trying to kidnap her, however before she squinted to see who it could be, Sasuke's window rolled down.
"Get in." He demanded.
Temari blinked, then noticing Shikamaru next to him. "I-I wanted to-"
"Don't be-" Sasuke cut himself off, knowing that would kind of be rude to call his new friend stupid. "Just get in, it's going to get dark soon."
The blonde didn't say anything. She simply walked to the car, opening the door and sat herself in it, buckling her seatbelt. She tried to calm herself down, having to act like she didn't know anything about what was going on with Shikamaru. However, she couldn't lie, she was kind of pissed.
"So," Sasuke started off. "What happened to Sakura bringing you home?"
"Heard something I didn't want to, is all." was what Temari said. She bit her lip, slightly punishing herself due to her pettiness.
Sasuke eyeballed Shikamaru, in which Shikamaru touched his face again as a sign of panic. "O-Oh?" Shikamaru began. "Did you two fight?"
Temari crossed her legs. "No." And that was all she said. She was not in the mood to talk to Shikamaru.
"Oh.. okay."
The whole car ride was silent. Sasuke turned into the property of Temari's apartment, in which when he parked she immediately attempted to unfasten the door, but it was locked. She looked up, meeting Sasuke's eyes in the rear-view mirror.
"I hate the tension right now, you guys need to work this out." Sasuke finalized.