Tick
Tick
Tick

The clock seemed to slow as I stared at it. The second hand ticked slower and slower and slower... It seemed to almost be ticking backwards.

I inwardly groaned. I was tempted to hit my head against my desk. I was stuck in Science, my least favorite class. It was fairly easy, but I hate everyone in my class so I was always bored to death.

Ring. Thank God, I thought to myself. I hurriedly grabbed my bags and rushed out of that class. I walked down the hallway and stopped outside a door. I waited patiently as it opened and students piled out. Finally the person I wanted came out of the class.

"Do you have to be the last person out of the class?" I whined. Neji chuckled.

"You know I do." I rolled my eyes and slapped him on the arm.

"What are you doing this weekend?" I asked. Neji thought deeply.

"Let me guess. You want me to go on another shopping trip right?" Neji smirked at her. I gave him a goofy smile.

"You know I can't buy anything without the advice of my bestest friend." I hugged his waist. We continued walking. "Did I tell you I have a date with Kiba tonight?"

"No you didn't. Why did you agree to that? Kiba is a loser." Neji said angrily. I sighed.

"Now I remember why I didn't tell you. You never like the guys I go out with. Why aren't you ever happy for me?" I asked him sadly. There he goes again. Always dissing on the guys I choose.

"I'm just looking out for you. I don't want anything to happen to you." Neji said quietly staring off into space. I hugged his waist tightly before letting go.

"Thanks Neji. You're a great friend, but I can take care of myself." I smiled at him as we reached his class. "Bye Neji. I love you!" With that I waved and walked the rest of the way down the hall.

Neji walked to his seat and sat down. Sasuke, an acquaintance of his, turned to look at him. "You still the gay best friend?" He asked with a smirk.

"I don't know why she thinks I'm gay, but you know what is good about being a gay friend?" Sasuke shook his head. "I get to go with her when she tries in bras." Sasuke high-fived him.

"That's awesome." Neji nodded, but then sighed.

"Yeah, but I don't want to be the gay best friend. I want to be her boyfriend. But she sees me as gay so I guess it'll never happen."

"Tell her the truth." Sasuke suggested.

"Yeah, but what if she gets mad at me. Then I won't even be her friend and I can't deal with giving that up. I'd rather be her gay best friend forever than not a friend at all." Sasuke nodded. They turned to the front of the class as the teacher began her lecture, but all Neji could think about was how he was so in love with my best friend.

"Neji I need you to zip me up." I said as I came out of the dressing room. I was trying on a dress for homecoming, which was a few weeks away. I turned my back to Neji and he zipped up my dress. "How do I look?" I did a twirl and stopped to look at Neji. He was staring at me intently.

"Gorgeous. But you always do." I smiled.

"You're so sweet. I wish I could find a boyfriend like you." I turned and went back into the dressing room. "I need help putting on the next dress. Can you come in here and help me?" I started pulling off my dress as Neji walked into the room. I turned to him, in only my underwear.

"Where's the dress?" He asked. I took it off the hanger and show it to him. I pulled it over my head and tried to pull it down, but it was snug.

"Can you pull it down for me?" I felt stupid. My arms were above my head and the dress was covering my face so I couldn't see. I felt Neji's hands grab underneath the fabric and pulled it past my breasts and my stomach. When I could finally move my arms I pulled the dress the rest of the way down.

"It's kind of short." Neji said as he stared at my butt. The dress came right below the bottom of my butt. It was a black skin tight strapless dress and it was shiny. "You look like a hooker." I glared at Neji in the mirror.

"Thanks for the compliment. Sometimes you're so sweet and other times you're a complete ass." He ignored me and kept staring at the short length of my dress.

"I think it's too short." Neji reached over and tried to pull it down farther, but it wouldn't go any farther.

"I don't like it. Help me take it off." I put my arms over my head as Neji slid his hands underneath the dress. His hands slid up my thighs and hips, up to my stomach and past my breasts and shoulders. When it was finally off I threw it to the ground and looked at the other dresses I were thinking about trying on.

"Why don't you wear a thong anymore?" Neji asked. I didn't look at him as I replied, taking a dress off it's hanger.

"They're very uncomfortable. I don't like them and I feel like a whore when I wear them." I stepped into the dress and pulled it up. The dress was a blue one strap that went to my middle thighs and the skirt part was ruffly. The cut was low where it showed enough cleavage to make people wonder, but not enough to make me look slutty.

"You look beautiful." Neji said. I looked at the mirror and twirled.

"I like this one. What do you think?" I turned to look at Neji. He looked me up and down.

"I like it. It shows off your beautiful legs and great shoulders," Neji rubbed my shoulder, "And it makes you look amazing." He put his had under my chin and tilted my head back. He looked as if he was thinking about something deeply. His brows furrowed and he let go of me and stepped back. "I'll be waiting outside for when you're done."

I watched Neji leave the dressing room and sighed. What is going on with Neji? I asked myself. He's been acting weirder than normal. I pulled the dress off and put it on the hanger. I pulled on my shirt and shorts and flip flops before walking out with the dress I wanted, leaving the other ones behind.

I was about to pay for my dress when Neji stopped me. He steppe in front of me and handed the cashier his credit card. "What are you doing?" I whispered to him.

"Paying for your dress." He replied casually as if it was normal. Then cashier smiled at him and he smiled back.

"I wish my boyfriend was sweet enough to buy me a dress." She said, looking off into space fantasizing.

"He's not my boyfriend. We're just friends." I said as I grabbed my bag and began walking away.

"You better snag him before someone else does." She called after me. I sighed. If only he wasn't gay, I wanted to say, but something in me stopped me from saying it. Neji and I walked out of the store.

"Thanks for buying it for me. You didn't have to though." Neji put his arm around my shoulder and glared at any guy we passed.

"It's what friends are for." Neji smiled at me and I smiled back.

"You're the bestest friend a girl could have." I wrapped my arms around his waist and hugged him tightly. We walked through the mall with his arm around my shoulder and mine around his waist.

"Do you have a date for homecoming?" Neji asked out of the blue.

"Not yet. I'm thinking Kiba might ask me, but he hasn't and I'm tired of waiting. It's only a few weeks away." We continued walking in silence before Neji interrupted it.

"If you don't have a date then we could go together." He said quietly.

"Of course Neji. That would be awesome." I stood on my tip toes and gave him a kiss on the cheek.

"Neji guess what?" I yelled excitedly into the phone. I heard Neji sigh from the other side.

"What?"

"I told you to guess." I giggled to myself. I was in such a great mood and I couldn't contain it, not that I wanted to.

"I don't know. Tell me." Neji seemed very pissed off at the time, but I didn't care. I had to tell someone my news and he was my best friend.

"Deidara asked me to homecoming!" I squealed into the phone.

"What about Kiba? I thought you wanted him to ask you."

"Yeah, but he didn't and Deidara did." Neji sighed.

"That's great Tenten. I have to go." Before I could say bye or anything else he hung up on me. I stared at the phone in shock. Why wasn't he happy for me? I asked myself. The doorbell rang and I hurriedly went to get it. I opened it and smiled.

"Hey Sasuke. What are you doing here?" I asked as I invited him in. When he was inside I closed the door. Sasuke was looking around my living room.

"I see things here have changed since I last came here." I rolled my eyes.

"Of course. You haven't been here in five years. Speaking of which, why are you here?" Sasuke sat on the couch and gestured for me to sit with him. I complied and once I was sitting he spoke.

"I just wanted to see how you were doing. Haven't talked to you in a while. How are you and Neji?" I raised an eyebrow.

"Were fine. Why? Is there something I should know?" He stared at the ceiling.

"I shouldn't be the one to tell you, but I hate seeing you so clueless." He said cryptically. He looked me dead in the eye as he spoke his next words. "Neji's not gay." I let this sink in.

"He is gay." I said, completely in denial.

"He's not. Did he ever tell you that he was gay?" I thought back to all the years I spent with him. Thinking back to all the times we went shopping, hung out at my house, went to the movies, and ate out I never remembered him saying those words. He never confirmed that he was gay, but he never said he wasn't.

"Not really. I just assumed he was because he hasn't dated a girl before." Whenever girls would come up and ask him out he would deny it, and I'd never realized it, but when he denied them he was always looking at me.

"He's never dated because he's in love with you."

"..." I was speechless. I didn't know how to respond. He's in love with me? How did I not notice? "Why hasn't he told me?"

"He thinks you would be mad that he pretended to be gay and that you wouldn't be his friend if you knew the truth. He'd rather be your gay friend than nothing at all." I looked down at my hands. I can't see my life without Neji.

"I have to go talk to him." I stood and began to leave, but Sasuke grabbed my wrist and stopped me.

"Don't tell him I told you."

"Why did you tell me?" Sasuke looked at me straight in the eye.

"I can't stand to see two people who love each other do nothing about it." Sasuke let go of my wrist. I walked away and only when I was out of sight did I let the blush creep up to my cheeks.

"Tenten why are we at the mall? You already have a dress and shoes for the dance. You're done shopping." Neji complained as I dragged him into Victoria's Secret.

"I need a strapless bra to go with the dress." I walked over to a bra I had had my eyes on for a while. It was a strapless nude push up bra that provided lots of comfort and made your boobs look huge. It was perfect for my plan.

"I'll wait outside while you try it on." Neji said avoiding my eyes. I went into a stall and hurriedly took my shirt and bra off and put on the strapless. My boobs were practically falling out, but it looked good.

"Neji I need you." I called out to him. He opened the door and took a look at me.

"It's fine." He tried to leave, but I pulled him inside.

"Fine isn't good enough. What's wrong with it? Do my boobs look too big?" I stuck my chest out for emphasis. "I feel as though my boobs are about to pop out." Neji just shrugged and avoided looking at me. "You haven't even looked at me." I crossed my arms over my chest. "Is it because I'm ugly."

"You're not ugly. I've told you countless times that you're gorgeous." Neji looked at me for the first time and analyzed my bra. "It looks great on you. Deidara will be lucky to have someone as pretty as you as a date." Neji said sweetly.

"I forgot to tell you. I'm not going with Deidara." Neji raised an eyebrow. "I told him I couldn't go with him because I fell in love with someone else and I want to go with them." Neji looked down.

"Oh." He said quietly.

"But the problem is that he is one of my closest friends," I walked closer to Neji, "And I know him as my gay friend, even though he isn't gay." Neji's eyes widened and he tried to step back, but he ran into the wall. "Even though he lied to me I still love him." I pressed my body to Neji's. "The problem is he hasn't asked me to homecoming." My lips were centimeters from his.

"Tenten..." He drifted off as he claimed my lips. He brought a hand to the back of my head and his other one to my lower back, pulling me closer to him. I pulled back and stared lovingly into his eyes.

"I love you Neji."

"I love you too. Will you go to homecoming with me?" He asked as he lifted me off of the ground.

"Of course." I kissed his lips briefly before pulling out of his arms. "Now leave. I have to get dressed." I turned away from him and watched him in the mirror.

"Does it matter. I've already seen you naked multiple times." I glared at him.

"Don't push your luck Hyuga. You better be glad I'm not pissed at you for lying to me." Neji chuckled as he walked out of the door. I quickly got dressed and left the dressing room. I walked up to Neji and intertwined our fingers. As we walked out, after I bought the bra, I asked Neji, "So are you my boyfriend or my gay boyfriend." I said jokingly.

"I'm defiantly not the gay boyfriend." He smirked at me.

"Good because I don't like the gay you." I smiled at him as he frowned at me.

"Why?"

"Because we couldn't do this." With that I stood on my tip toes and kissed him on the lips.