This was when Shikamaru's heart can't handle it anymore and he gives up all faith he'll ever be with the woman he truly loves.

I watched her twirl around on the floor. She had known. From her golden sequin dress to her French braid. She had known this was going to be a party. It was Ino's sixth sense she knew where parties were and what party was worth going to.

She had acted surprised. Gasped and looked around.

He had silently followed holding her hand. He looked uncomfortable. He didn't belong in a room filled with plastic crowns and balloons. He had hated it and he didn't try to hide it.

I could feel Temari pulling me closer as if she was trying to keep me from leaving. I was going to stay by her side forever. She should know that. She should have loosen her grip on me and slowed down her own heavy breathing.

Ino was to be married. She had been breaking hearts for too long and I had been loving her for too long. It was time I moved on and let my heart be the last she broke.

Sakura ran over to Ino had hugged her. It was like being in high school again. Thursday Sakura had chemistry and Ino had art before lunch. Sakura would run over to her and hug her as if that had been separated by the Berlin Wall for years. The only thing that was missing was their uniform and school books in their arms.

I had to accept that in some sense we were all still in high school. The location, the normal discussions and features might have changed. Deep down they were all exactly like we were in high school, Ino especially. I had to let her go because I couldn't be dwelling in the past. I had to grow up we all did.

I would only end up breaking my heart and losing Temari in the process if I chased after her.

Temari was comfortable. She was safe and she was easy. She was everything I had ever dreamed about but we didn't have what people have named a spark.

I wasn't unhappy with Temari. It was nothing worse than it had been in high school. It didn't hurt more like loving your best friend knowing you could never have her knowing that she would never want you.

And as she was kissing his lips I could see her smile. I could see her face brighten. Perhaps she loved him. Perhaps I've gotten it all wrong for once too blinded by my own desire.

Perhaps they had the spark?

I leaned over and kissed him. I knew he wasn't happy. He would pester me about the tacky party Sakura had thrown me, us. He would complain about the foul smell sticking to his clothes. He would taunt my friends for getting plush plastic crowns.

The fact was that I on the other hand loved it.

Yes, it was unquestionably tacky. It was poor. It wasn't a single ounce classy. It was nothing like anything I had been to since I moved away the.

It was also just what I had wanted as a child.

I had dreams about the colors, the crowd and the decorations.

"Thank you so much Sakura! This is amazing!"

I could notice all the men measuring Deidara. Their eyes went up and down. I didn't know how he would fit into our group. I didn't even know if they would give him a shot or if he would want to try at all.

I was scared he would be rude. I had heard him talk about people like my friends. He had never had anything good to say. Thank goodness Itachi had showed up to keep him company.

"It's nothing, I just wanted you to be happy you're finally going to be married like I am."

There might be some competition left between us.

I dragged Deidara over to our regular and now very crowded booth.

"There's starting to be too many blondes here, we have tripled in numbers this summer,"

Naruto joked.

It did help lighten the mood. There was a stranger among their mist. Sasuke's strained relationship to his brother didn't help either. So the ambiance wasn't like the one I had imagined as a child. This would still work.

I had been surprised to see not only Shikamaru by the table but Temari as well. I hadn't seen her since her fist connected with my face. I didn't want her in a party to celebrate my engagement. Not since she thought I had my eyes set on her man. I did not. I would never trade the man next to me for the man opposite me. She was delirious.

"I guess you've all figured that this is Deidara,"

I said introducing my fiancé.

I knew they had seen him before in papers, magazines and on TV.

Deidara put his arm around me and pulled me closer. I rested my head on his chest and it felt safe. It was familiar. I had spent many hours in this position. I know every inch of his body and it feels so right. I closed my eyes and murmured as I took in his scent.

I took a few seconds to recover before I pulled away with a smile.

"This is Sai, Kiba, Sakura, Sasuke, Itachi you know, Naruto, Tenten and opposite us is Temari and Shikamaru."

I gave her a sweet smile locking eyes. It didn't seem to faze her. She was stoic. She hated me and I had learned to love it because I hated her equally if not more. I was too focused on Temari to see Shikamaru.

I knew I shouldn't have invited Shikamaru. I should have listened when Sasuke told me not to. I knew nothing good would come off it. I shouldn't have.

He looked at her with the face of an abused puppy. He still wanted her. He wasn't supposed to sit next to her. If only Sasuke had remembered the table cards.

"There will be food soon!"

I called out trying to salvage the situation.

A few hungry eyes looked over at me. I wasn't sure if they had bothered coming if there hadn't been the promise of food. Not that they didn't like Ino it had been short notice and two of them could be hard to swallow or a longer period of time. They had never met Deidara and had no idea how he was.

"It's so wonderful of you to throw Ino this party and me, me who you haven't even met."

I knew I had to play the sweet card to get anywhere with these hillbillies and Ino. She had hardly opened her legs for me today and if I were to get what I wanted I would have to play nice.

I flashed them a smile and poured some water in my glass.

I could tell the man opposite me hated my guts. Waves of hate radiated from him. There was no way people couldn't sense it. If he already hadn't he was probably dying to put his rainbow into her unicorn. No chance.

I could see Itachi's eyes of bemusement hit me. He had known me for years. He knew me in and out. He was the one closest to me, maybe even closer than Ino who was purring on my chest.

Working out and then start working out again. There's nothing better to hock girls with than being good looking. Hard work will always pay off. Let's not talk about the stamina.

I blinked only for Itachi to see. He would be in on my good guy act. He would never rat me out. I had too much dirt on him not to mention a publishing contract. Everything he was today was thanks to me. I create people as easily as I destroy them. He knows, he's seen it happen countless of times. His hands were bound, not to talk about his tongue.

"I can't wait to get to know you."

Sakura cheered.

I wouldn't wait to show her either. The pink hair was sort of hot. It was so bold, nontraditional in the god damned town. What would ever possess a girl to have pink hair out here? Ino in a wig was also pretty hot. I would certainly think about that during dinner, green, red, purple, blue and pink. Definitively pink, possibly even with another pink.

"How'd you bag a hot bitch like Ino?"

Sai asked as if he was asking a stranger for directions. He was genuinely interested. He had been immediately shot down when he tried to hit on someone like Ino.

"You play the game, score and win."

Ino crawled up and kissed my cheek before she settled on my chest as some lapdog. Chest bitch. God, I do love her.

Sai had been playing the game; he never scored and never won. It had to be something else. Yellow blond hair, deep blue eyes, prominent cheek bones and jaw, broad shoulders, muscular. That might be it. He was dark and weak with almost feminine features. No, it couldn't be that. Sasuke bagged Sakura. It must be personality. If he acted like he owned every girl in the room they would believe him and become attracted to him.

That must be the key to success.

The black haired guy was giving me the creeps. He was honest I'd give him that. It would be hilarious to keep him in the office. He'd end up with a sexual harassment law suit in no time. He wasn't rich and hot so it wasn't harmless flirting.

"I'll get someone one day."

The pink girl put her elbows on the table letting her head rest on her fists.

"So, let's hear it from you. How did you and Ino meet?"

They had perfected that story together. Leaving out her not knowing the customs, that she should have sucked me off for the blow I gave her. For the first time I didn't regret letting whores snort my stuff before they sucked me dry.

"I love that you found me again babe."

What was he supposed to do? She was the hottest thing he had seen and she was even better now that she had lost weight. She had lost too much for my taste now. She was worthless to me modeling wise. She was still famous and I could still get something out of her beside her heart.

"I will always find you."

I looked deep into her eyes and kissed her hand. She was mine and I would always find her. She couldn't run from me.

The waiter came filling our glasses with some red wine from 2013. Awful, I told him to bring a case of their finest champagne. The idiot didn't think I was good for it and had me pay in advance.

Hicks.

He must have been some sort of smooth operator like Ino. Saying what people wanted to hear, coy smile and long eyelashes. They must have taken the same class. Hell, they must teach the same class.

I wished I could reach over and punch her again, him too. It would feel great. I had to cry and tell Shikamaru how much I regretted it for him to bring me here.

I promised to try and make things right with Ino again tonight. I would gladly do it for the sake of the entertainment. If I didn't think of these people as my friends and Ino as a real sincere person but an actor it was hilarious. It was live drama it was like going to a play.

I couldn't look to my right because I would see Shikamaru looking at Ino. He would have this pining and hungry look. He must have had the hots for her since he found out that breasts didn't only give milk to babies.

I placed my hand on his thigh. He had even put on some dress pants for the occasion. I had seen him in dress pants once before as long as I had known him and that was on the day my grandmother was buried.

He would do anything for Ino and I knew there was something Sakura was hiding from me. Why did she end up hating Ino? Had Shikamaru been the cause? Was it something she had done against my Shika? That bitch.

I could hear Tenten small talking with Itachi. Something about one of his books and if he was interested in writing some science fiction, he wasn't.

Sasuke and Naruto had started debating soccer and Sakura was having a hard time realizing that she was actually seeing Deidara for real. I knew she followed all celebrity gossip and almost certainly knew as much about him as Ino did.

Ino was more or less lying on top of him. Kissing him and running circles on his chest with her index finger as they talked quietly among themselves. It was disgusting. She would never practically have sex with Shikamaru in public at a restaurant with their friends.

"What wouldn't you do to sleep with a girl like Ino?" Sai asked over me looking at Shikamaru.

I wanted to slam his head against the table. He wouldn't ever sleep with someone like her. He had taste not herpes.

Sakura suddenly looked over at the three of them then over at Ino. Shikamaru chose to ignore his question.

"I bet she's loose but still would be a good bang."

This caught the attention of the table. They were used to Sai and his lack of any social filter. He had tried discussing Sakura with Sasuke more than once but he had never done anything like this. Not for all of them to hear.

"That's my future wife you're talking about!"

Sai looked over at Deidara not aware that he had talked that loud. It didn't bother him Deidara obviously had something he wanted to share about their sex life. Ino meekly tried to calm him down again.

"Not to talk shite, but she's been around. We have all heard the stories."

Yes, there had been a lot of stories when she went to high school. Most of them died down while she was dating Sasuke. Still there were several good sources that told she had slept with the whole football team in one night, been with half of the string orchestra including some girls. There were several other stories. She was the biggest slut to ever walk in this town. After her time away I wouldn't be surprised if she was radioactive.

"I think you should shut it! I took her virginity!"

Ino pulled his arm down and they all seemed shocked of this revelation. Ino looked perplexed and mortified throughout. She looked so humiliated it almost made me believe it.

"There's no way a girl like Ino could have had sex with just one guy."

"I can somewhat confirmed. We never slept together when we were an item. But I'll tell you she's done some dirty things with her mouth and once she even…"

His story didn't even start before Sakura punched his shoulder. It was evident that she had hit him with all her might. His hand shot to his shoulder, his mouth hung open and he was waggling in his seat. Even Ino had been less of a pussy getting punched and she took a hit to the face.

Deidara's eyes shot to Sasuke. He must not have heard about him. I could see him look at his only friend in the room and he nodded. I had noticed all their hidden communication. They had been having a conversation no one had heard the whole evening. It was mesmerizing to look at.

Ino had almost shrunk and fallen under the table. She was ashamed because she wasn't this super promiscuous and sexual being everyone had pinned her out to be. She was actually embarresed she wasn't the whore everyone had thought of her too be and that was even sadder than being an actual whore.

I'm so glad I came.

Some of the tension in the room seemed to leave and was replaced with food, sadly. Sakura had gone all out and ordered three buffet carts filled with food. There was going to be leftovers and we wouldn't have to make dinner this week.

"Should be perhaps stop discussing my sex life and eat instead, if you haven't lost your appetite?"

It was her feeble attempt to stop the conversation instead of actually telling them to stop. She didn't have the guts to do that. She grabbed her red wine glass and made rid of it in one go. It was almost impressive to see the skeleton make the wine disappear in such a pace.

"First come, first serve!"

It was a joke among our group, well the town. We didn't have time to wait around and be polite. The food would go cold if we wasted time on such trivialities. I saw them all grab their plates; well those who belonged and they were all off leaving the newbies to fight over their crumbs.

It was a good thing Deidara offered to carry my plate. I told him I was going to get another glass of red. It was true; I stopped by the bar and ordered a glass of wine and two tequila shots. I gulped down the red wine first before I moved on to the tequila. I was too out of it to think about what a horrid mix with was and what I would to do me in the morning.

Fuck it, I asked for the whole bottle. Explained that it was for the table. BBQ and tequila was a fine mix, champagne and BBQ wasn't. The bartender agreed and found an unopened bottle, compliments of the house. I gave him a smile and almost felt bad.

I didn't turn around and walked over to the table. I grabbed a lime and went into the kitchen. I could hear the bartender yell that the bathrooms were on the other side. I wasn't looking for the bathroom.

I found the green "exit man" in the left corner and made a run for it.