The Barista

Chapter 2 - Latte

Boruto was loosing count of how many times he's done this routine: oversleep, go to class, have lunch, meet his friends, come to the coffee shop, struggle to fall asleep - acting like an idiotic angst teenager instead of the adult he actually was – by over dreaming about his crush.

It was all very unlike him to not just come out and say it. It had always been easy for him to speak his mind (his father always said keeping him quiet was the problem), but it was different somehow with Sarada. He would walk in the coffee shop, all brave and ready to announce out his feelings, but then-

"Hi." Sarada spoke with a smile.

Then she smiled and all his line of thinking vanished, his neurons nowhere to be found and the rest of his body became anything but helpful in his predicament.

It obviously showed because the girl raised an eyebrow at him, "you do this a lot."

"What?"

"This phase out thing where you stare way past everything."

"No I don't." He blurted out, she pointed at him.

"Just there again. Then you seem nervous once anyone points it out."

"I'm not really nervous," he tried to sound confident, crossing his arms over his chest, "I'm actually a cool, popular guy."

He mentally slapped himself for this. You know what kind of guy says these kinds of things? A douchebag.

"You sound like a douchebag." See? Even Sarada agrees with him.

His shoulders dropped, "I'm sorry. I'm really not."

She smiled, handing him his coffee for time number - well, he didn't know really. What he did know was that for the first time she didn't put the coffee in front of him but actually handed it over - as in, hand in hand. It was all very romantic for someone that had as low expectations as they can get by this stage.

He spent the rest of the day smiling widely. Sarada pretended she didn't notice and tried to hide her own little smile until it caused a small twitch to her face and Wasabi assumed she was having a stroke.

"Boruto, are you going to come here every day?" Wasabi asked, arms crossed over her chest.

Boruto wasn't really listening. Sarada was doing the cleaning today and that fortuitously included a lot of bending over and sweating. It was very, very hard to concentrate like this.

Wasabi continued, "this is an hour of your daily life. Your friends are going to become suspicious."

The blond nodded vaguely. The girl easily followed his stare to her colleague.

"Clean your drool, we'll be sued if someone slips on it and falls."

Boruto nodded again, not even blinking.

"I'm getting a special flamingo hamburger delivery this afternoon and we'll use it to feed the horses."

He nodded again.

Wasabi rolled her eyes, waving a bored hand in front of his face and snapping her fingers. Not even a blink resulted from that.

She smirked with mischief, "you know, I heard Sarada deals drugs on the fifth street after midnight."

"Hm? Sarada what?"

She laughed, "You're pathetic."

He pouted, "I'm not. She's just… captivating."

Wasabi patted his head, "thank you for reminding me why I'm gay."

"You made me walk fifteen minutes for this?" Shikadai looked around the shop as he removed his scarf, "you do realize I walked through snow for this?"

Boruto tried his best to sound offended, "no one invited you, you followed me here! Besides, this is an excellent coffee shop."

"You don't even like coffee!"

"But I like this coffee! See how great it is?"

Shikadai eyed him with distrust, "there is something here you are not telling me."

Boruto played innocent, "I don't know why you would say that and I don't know why you would insist in coming here with me-"

His friend looked around him; it was a quiet place, spacious, it looked comfortable and warm enough. He guessed for a bit maybe that was enough for Boruto, a space away from his hectic life. This line of thinking disappeared instantly as soon as Shikadai's eyes landed on a slim figure that was currently cleaning the area around the coffee machine. The girl's dark hair was a not-too-neat braid that almost went down to her waist… a very nice waist and- well, let's say it was enough to see her from the back.

The dark haired boy raised a hand, "never mind. It speaks for itself."

Before Boruto could open his mouth, Shikadai walked to the till, expecting to get a better a look at the girl. Sumire was close by and served him instead. The dark haired girl continued her cleaning and did not turn back to look at them, much to Boruto's relief.

"Can you stop staring?" Boruto hissed at his friend as they sat down.

"I can, but I won't," the other young man spoke, sipping his coffee. He stopped mid sip and raised the cup to study it carefully, "this is actually good coffee." He then returned to his staring.

"Shikadai, please," the blond mumbled, "she's gonna notice."

"I've only seen her back, I want to see how are your chances looking from the front."

The other rolled his eyes, "how are they looking from the back?"

"Not great." At that exact time, Sarada turned around to speak to Sumire.

Shikadai looked taken back. Boruto poked his arm, "how are my chances looking now?"

The dark haired boy turned to his friend and grimaced, "worse."

The blond sighed dramatically and buried his face in his hands, "Shika," he spoke, sounding muffled by his hand coverage, "what am I going to do?"

"Keep stalking her daily?" the so-called-friend suggested with a shrug. "Maybe you can find a weakness a black mail her or something."

Boruto gave him an especially bitter look. His friend shrugged, "I don't see any other way this could happen. I mean, you have the looks for it but your personality and your inability to keep a stable relationship are not really working in your favor."

The blond became more and more miserable as Shikadai counted down ways for him to get want he wanted, then gave up surprisingly quickly and turned to ways for him to get over his silly crush.

Sarada pretended not to notice as for over ten minutes Boruto seemed to sink further and further into the table until his forehead was dead against the glass of the tabletop.

"Maybe you need to change your ways," Shikadai continued on minute fifteen, "try blonds for a while. Everyone says blonds are more fun."

"Everyone is wrong," a female voice interrupted. Boruto's head snapped upwards as he immediately recognized it.

Sarada was standing over them, a small smile on her face as she put a desert plate on the table.

"Here's your cupcake."

Boruto's eyes did not leave her. Had she heard anything? Oh my God, had she hear it all?

"I didn't order a cupcake," he said in a whisper.

Sarada shrugged, "you look like you need one."

Both boys watched her walk away, mouths slightly gapping in surprise.

"I'll be dammed," Shikadai started, turning towards his friend with a smirk and patting his back, "you might actually have a chance."

"What is it with you guys?" Boruto almost shouted in frustration. It was the second time this week a friend had followed him to his favorite place. He either needed to get better survival instincts or a bodyguard.

"Shikadai said I wouldn't believe it and I didn't," Inojin stated bluntly, "I just want to see what all this craziness is about."

"Can't a guy just like coffee?"

Inojin stopped and turned back at him, "a guy can like coffee but not as much as someone would like heroin."

Boruto blinked, "you think I'm on drugs?"

The other blond rolled his eyes, "I think you're obsessed and I want to know why."

"Inojin, please-" Boruto started, planning to go over a list of rules his friend had to abide as not to give his feelings away to everyone at the coffee shop. Before he could speak, Inojin had barged in the shop.

Sarada noticed them both rushing in, Boruto rushing to whisper threats to his friend if he dared to over speak as he was known to do. The girl made her way to the till with an inquisitive expression.

Inojin could have not been smiling any wider; so this was Boruto's heroin.

"Hi. I'm Boruto's friend, Inojin."

Boruto tried his best to disappear behind his friend. Maybe he should have forbidden Shikadai to speak a word of this when he had a chance.

The girl nodded and peaked behind Inojin, spotting the blond who greeted her with a nervous wave.

"Didn't know he had any of those, then you all appear together." She smiled as she said it.

Boruto emerged quickly form his hiding spot, "I told you I had friends," he turned to Inojin, "tell her how popular I usually am."

"I don't think she will believe me if this is all she's seen of you."

Sarada and Inojin laughed together at Boruto's betrayed expression. He kept his expression on as the other two made small talk about him, as if he wasn't even there.

While Sarada got the coffee ready, the dissing continued.

"He's not a bad guy, really," Inojin spoke, "he lives by a simple set of rules: eat everything, sleep everywhere and never go out with the same girl twice unless she's hot."

At the third rule, Sarada turned around. Boruto's face lost all color; that's it. She hates him; all this was for nothing and-

"Good to know we have one rule in common," both guys seemed surprised.

"Which one?" Boruto blurted out.

She smirked, "wouldn't you like to know."

The Uzumaki brooded all the way to their table.

"Thanks for nothing, Inojin," he scolded. The other boy ignored him, keeping his eyes on Sarada behind the counter as she talked to a purple haired girl and glanced at them every now and then.

"You might have a chance."

Boruto's ears perked up like an excited puppy, "you really think so?"

Inojin shrugged, "she might like good looking idiots."

"I'm not an idiot."

"Oh, really? How is the study going for next week's test?"

Boruto tried to keep his dignity, "I still have a week to study."

Inojin shrugged, "yeah, she totally looks like someone that would date a guy that's failing his studies." That was enough prompting to get the Uzumaki to lock himself in his room and study harder than he had ever done in his life.

Boruto slammed his books down on the coffee table. Enough was enough. He had been very good and kept himself away from Sarada for a whole week of studying. He had promised himself he would be rewarded with as much Sarada-oggling he could get if he managed this, and he did!

He walked fast paced towards the coffee shop as he had only a few minutes left before it closed.

He eagerly walked through the shop's front door and the place was empty, save for a familiar face that was currently putting the mugs back on the cupboard. Boruto's happiness didn't last long as his smile was met with a cold stare.

"Where have you been?" She stated bluntly, before he even had a chance to open his mouth.

"I-uh, I have been studying," he stated as he removed his coat and scarf.

"You have studied here before."

And he managed to study exactly two lines for the three times he tried studying in the same space as Sarada wandered about with her swaying hips, doing her job of occasionally bringing food to tables and other times leaning over to clean spaces like she was paid to do. It was about as counterproductive as studying could get.

"It's my worse subject and I really had to concentrate for it," his smile was innocent as he tried his best to charm his way out of this conundrum.

She shrugged, coming out from behind the counter to tidy up the chairs, "hm, guess you are an idiot."

"I'm not, I just really had to do well in this for you." Boruto grimaced, fighting the urge to slap himself for saying that.

She stopped cleaning to look at him with a raised eyebrow, "for me?"

He hesitated, "uh- yeah, so you don't think I'm an idiot."

"Too late for that."

Silence settled. Boruto looked at the floor with guilt, "I'm sorry I haven't been around."

"It's just been a week," she said with half a shrug, mumbling, "it's just really quiet here without you."

Sarada would never, ever admit it she had said this if anyone was to ask her about it. But it was enough for Boruto to gain (almost) all the courage in the world,

"I'm sorry," he repeated. His mood improved and he stepped closer to her, "let's hug it out!"

Sarada stepped back, putting the towel she was using to dry the table in front of her, "wait, what? No, no, no."

"Come on! I'm a really good hugger," he defended, opening his arms wide.

She eyed him defiantly, "I am not a hugger."

"You don't say," his tone was drenched in sarcasm. "Come heeeere."

"Stay away" She swatted him with the towel.

"One hug. I promise we'll feel better."

She sighed, "one hu-" before she could finish her sentence, his arms enveloped around her.

Sarada could not think straight. His scent took over her, his arms around her, his chest so close she could swear she could hear his heart beat; it was so hard to think. She leaned her head against his shoulder with a whisper, "idiot."

She really felt like an idiot for liking this stranger so much.

To be continued...