warning(s): underage drinking, physical altercation

Sarada slid out from the master bedroom, many thoughts heavy on her mind. This whole party was off putting, and Metal had to go and say all of that. Give him another chance? Would she really be able to do that?

If there's one thing she knew for sure, it's that she was drunk and couldn't make a decision right now. The rose-colored glasses were fully equipped, so the past mistakes Metal had previously made seemed insignificant at that moment.

Logical. She had to stay logical, even though there was literal poison running through her body. In her drunken haze, it was easy to let her composure slip away and focus on nothing except what was happening at that moment. It was a blissful, naive way to cope. And Sarada found herself not quite hating that feeling.

As she reapproached the living room, she saw Inojin standing at the mouth of the hallway and when he turned to look at her, his expression said it all. Sarada felt a big wave of guilt wash over her. God, what in the world had she been thinking?! Spending this entire summer with Boruto only to sneak off with Metal at a party?

Sarada clumsily pointed to the direction she'd just come from. "Hey, um, did you see, uh–?"

"I didn't see anything." Inojin interjected. Sarada raised a brow. What was he talking about? It was obvious he knew Metal and Sarada had just come out of the same room so why was he pretending—oh.

Inojin kept his gaze even with Sarada, and her heart pounded in her chest. Was he going to lie for her?

"You're not going to tell—?"

"It's none of my business," Inojin said concretely. Sarada blinked. She didn't know what to say. Her mouth felt heavy like weights. Her brain was pure fuzz.

"O-Oh, wh–okay."

Inojin raised an eyebrow. "Go find Boruto. He's been looking for you."

Sarada could only imagine what would've happened if Boruto had walked in on them – it would've been a nightmare. But the thought that he was looking for her made her heart race. He didn't forget about her after all. She nodded, and stumbled away.

Carousing along, Sarada laughed as Boruto swung her back into the kitchen next to Mitsuki and Chocho, a cheesy smile on his face.

"You disappeared! I was looking for you forever."

His eyes were bloodshot and he reeked of weed. The smell was something Sarada wasn't used to, but she wasn't put off by it. She pushed him lightly.

"Big house. I got lost."

"We're singing to Chocho." Mitsuki said, as he lit all the candles on Chocho's birthday cake. Boruto nodded and paused the music.

"Alright, can I get everyone's attention?! We're singing happy birthday, so everyone shut up!"

The room fell to quiet chatter. Everyone pulled out their phones to film, readied their alcohol, and Sarada was tripping over her own feet, but she was happy to be there.

After a chorus of an off-key happy birthday song, Chocho blew out the candles, everyone took shots, and the music was turned back to its glorious blaring.

XxX

The next morning Sarada was awakened with puffy eyes, a throbbing head, and a sore body. Stretching her limbs, she then lifted her head to register her surroundings. Miraculously, she was in her own bed. After everyone sang happy birthday, the memories were blurry. The light from her window was striking through her pupils like knives. God, her head was killing her. Her body was fuzzy, numb, and shaky.

Rolling over to her nightstand, she picked up her phone. It was about a quarter to noon. Her phone was almost dead, but still had enough battery for her to look through her notifications and social media. She had a missed FaceTime from Boruto, and a text from Chocho, and the stories posted last night from everyone's social media at the party were insane. People chugging straight from bottles, the mishap of rage cage, Chocho's birthday song, then it seemed to get rowdier after that. Sarada saw herself in a couple of the videos in the background and she looked absolutely plastered.

Sarada rubbed her eyes with a sigh. Ugh, how embarrassing! To willingly get that drunk was telling of her character. Who knows what she could have said, done, or–

Wait.

"Wait, Sarada! I still have feelings for you! A-And, I think we can work it out if we just try." The image of her and Metal out on the balcony made her freeze.

Oh no.

"It's none of my business. Go find Boruto. He's been looking for you." Inojin had said after she had emerged from the room right after Metal.

Did that really happen?

Racking her brain, Sarada tried everything in her power to remember last night. Okay, they had played rage cage, and Metal drank the nasty final drink. Then, she found Metal and asked if he was okay, then they talked, and he confessed feelings for her. And then she went and hung out with Boruto after as if nothing happened, and Inojin was going to keep a secret for her. There wasn't much to recall after that. There was a vision of her and Boruto making out on Mitsuki's bed, but that was to be confirmed. It could very well be a delusional daydream.

The main problem was Metal's confession. Metal was still holding on to her, but she was ready to move on. He was her first relationship, so there were good memories attached to him. But, just looking back on their entire relationship, would she ever go back to that? Of course, she'd thought about it, as do most people with their ex.

But in reality, no, there was no way. Not after how miserable she'd been for months. Being drunk and emotional made it easier to think about giving it another chance. She did still care about Metal greatly, but even whilst being with him, the whole time she wanted to be with Boruto. And that was saying something.

She would never give Metal a second chance, and she was going to tell him that.

Another thing she had to tell a certain someone was that she and Metal talked, and to say she was dreading it was an understatement. Though, if there was any hope her and Boruto would survive another nuclear attack on their relationship, she had to be honest. No more secrets. There was no option to lie unless she wanted to carve her initials on their relationship gravestone as well.

Her and Metal had a conversation, he confessed, and nothing else happened. So why would that be such a big deal? It really came down to if Boruto believed that's all that happened. It was scary not knowing how he would take it, but he was a reasonable guy. He'd understand – he'd had a million exes in his lifetime compared to Sarada.

Sarada knew it had been wrong to go off alone with Metal and question her feelings for him and put hers and Boruto's relationship in jeopardy. She had made a mistake, so she was going to take ownership.

Speaking of the devil, Boruto was FaceTiming her again and Sarada scrambled around her room to find a charger. God, she looked terrible, why couldn't he just regularly call her?!

After finding a charger in her school knapsack, she plugged in her phone, bounced onto her bed, and answered his call. He had his headset on and an Xbox controller in his hand. He looked at the screen with a big smile and slid one side of his headset behind his ear.

"You're alive!"

"Yeah, barely." Sarada rubbed her eyes. "How do I make my headache go away? I feel so sick."

"Drink more alcohol," Boruto said cheekily, and Sarada glared.

"I'm being serious!"

"Drink something with electrolytes and then take some excedrin. You're gonna feel like shit the rest of the day if you don't."

Sarada stared at him blankly. "Seriously? I thought hangovers were something that only happens in movies."

Boruto laughed. "Definitely not, sweetheart."

Sarada brushed off his comment. "Aren't you hungover?"

He didn't respond right away as he was engrossed in his game, but then his focus broke from the TV and he looked at the camera. "No, I don't get hungover when I smoke."

"Smoke?"

"Weed." He smirked. "You know what weed is, right?"

"Yes, I know what weed is," Sarada scoffed. "Is that like a magic cure or something?"

He shrugged. "I dunno, it's just always worked for me. But I can't smoke too much or I get sick. It's a very fine line."

"I just don't think I like it at all." Sarada's head dropped into her pillow.

"Like what?"

"Alcohol."

"Well, it's only your second time, and I think you mixed too much seltzer with tequila." He said.

"I don't know what that means," Sarada replied flatly.

Boruto snorted. "Tequila is that clear liquor you took as a shot. Seltzer was the fizzy stuff in the red cups when we were playing rage cage."

"Oh," Sarada said lamely. She still didn't get the difference and didn't really care, but she also felt dumb for not knowing. "Oh yeah, I was going to ask you yesterday, but when did you get your phone back?"

"Yesterday morning. Since school is starting soon my parents just gave it back to me." He responded. "My Xbox too, but I'm still technically grounded."

Sarada pursed her lips. "That's… interesting."

"I know, you're telling me. My dad is weird like that."

"Then uh, how did we get home last night?"

"I had to carry you from the car into your room." He said with a smirk. Sarada panicked.

"Wait, seriously?!"

Boruto let out a loud cackle. "No! After an hour of drinking water I drove us home. I helped you up to your front porch and you walked yourself in."

Sarada let out a sigh of relief. Okay, at least she had kept some of her bearings.

"I-I just don't remember anything after we sang happy birthday to Chocho," She muttered.

Boruto said something into his mic before flipping it back up to mute then glanced at his phone. "I definitely do. You got all hot and naughty with me in Mitsuki's room."

A tomato paled in comparison to the color of Sarada's face. Her mouth was agape; words completely at a loss. So the delusional daydream was real?! Boruto saw her expression and kept running with it.

"Yeah, I can't believe you don't remember!" His tone was playful. "We were making out, you were grinding on top of me, we were getting all handsy, you were biting my ear, it was a whole thing. You're a total freak behind closed doors, I like that."

"O-O-Oh my god, tell me you're lying!" Sarada was dying of embarrassment. She wasn't even showing her face on the screen. Boruto was heaving with so much laughter that he had to put his controller down.

"I'm kidding! I'm kidding, oh my god, Sarada, I'm just messing with you. I'm not letting you do that stuff to me when you're drunk."

He was still laughing, but his smile was genuine. Sarada dared to take a look, and poked her forehead back into view.

"You swear you're just kidding?!"

"Yes, I swear on my life! I'm just kidding with you. All we did was make out in Mitsuki's room for a minute, but then you just knocked out on his bed for an hour while I sobered up and I took you home."

"You better not be lying to me." Sarada growled. Boruto was still trying to control his giggles.

"On everything, I swear."

He flicked his mic back down and was back to talking with his teammates. Sarada should've seen this coming. Of course, he would mess around with her before actually telling the truth, it was Boruto. It was obvious when he was being honest with her, and she wondered if he could do the same with her.

"Hey, Boruto?'

"Hm?"

"I can tell when you're being honest with me, so I believe you."

"Well good, 'cause I wouldn't lie to you about that," He said, then into his mic, "sorry guys I'm on the phone."

Sarada hesitated. "Can you tell when I'm being honest with you?"

Boruto glanced at FaceTime then back to his game. "Yeah, why?"

"Well, 'cause I want to tell you something."

His eyebrow raised. "Tell me what?"

"Something about the party last night."

Boruto seemed to freeze on the other end. It looked like his mind was racing, but he wasn't jumping to conclusions. "Hold on, guys," He put his mic back up. "Okay, tell me."

This was the right thing to do, right? This would help their relationship, not harm it. In the past, Boruto had withheld information from her, and it'd made her mad. So she didn't want to do the same to him, especially when they had come this far.

"W-Well, I don't want you to get mad."

That was the wrong thing to say, as his expression was now showing that whatever she was about to tell him would indeed make him mad. It was obvious he was doing his best to hide it, and he asked, "Why would I get mad?"

"I-I don't know, I'm just telling you not to." Sarada huffed. "But, uh, you know after Metal drank that drink for me in the rage cage game?"

Boruto snorted. "Yes."

"Well, I went to go find him to say thank you, which I did, but then he wanted to talk to me alone." Boruto was still clicking away on his Xbox controller, but he was listening, so Sarada continued. "And, well, we went outside and talked and he said he still has feelings for me and wants me to give us a second chance."

Boruto immediately scowled and pulled his headset off, glaring down at his phone. "Why are you telling me this?"

Sarada recoiled. "W-Well, I'm just letting you know because–"

"Because you're getting back with him?"

"No! No, let me finish! I'm telling you this because I didn't want you to hear something different from anyone else at the party. I swear, that's all he said to me, and we didn't do anything. He said he still has feelings for me, he wants me to give us a second chance, and then left. That's it."

Boruto refused to look at the phone. Taking a long breath in, he rubbed his eyes. Deep down he'd known this would happen. For what it was worth, he was going to stay composed and hear her out. But this cycle they were in was excruciatingly brutal. Even after spending the whole summer together she still was flipping between them?

"Okay, what do you want me to say, Sarada?"

Sarada was confused. "Nothing? I just told you I wanted to tell you before rumors started spreading that something else happened. This wouldn't be the first time a rumor damaged our relationship."

"So you're not getting back with him? You don't have any lingering feelings for him at all?"

Sarada frowned. "No, I'm not, and I don't. Why are you asking me that? You know all this."

"This wouldn't be the first time you've gone back and forth between us. I don't have the most faith in you when it comes to him." He looked at the phone then back at his game, "I believe what you're saying, but I dunno Sarada. You telling me this just makes me feel dumb. Like you were drunk and went looking for him at a party. I know you said you guys talked and that's all that happened, but now there's that thought planted in your head to give him another chance. It makes me feel like you're gonna go right back to him because you got all the time you needed with me this summer. He's your public relationship and I'm your private relationship. There's really no other way to put it."

"Stop, Boruto, that's not true! Do you not hear what I'm saying? I never said I still had feelings for him, I never said I was getting back with him, I was just telling you what happened so you wouldn't hear it from anyone else and get mad at me! I don't want to get back with him, I swear."

"I hear you. I'm just upset."

"Why?"

"I have a lot more experience with you when it comes to this stuff. You may think you're doing me a valiant favor by telling me this after the fact, but did you not think it was a bad idea before the fact?"

"I did, I knew it wasn't a good idea."

"But you still went anyway."

Sarada was taken aback. "W-Well, yeah, and that's my mistake, I'm sorry! I know I messed up, and so I'm apologizing."

"I get it, trust me. I understand and appreciate you telling me regardless. But, just put yourself in my shoes." He started. Sarada couldn't read Boruto's demeanor at all, but at least he hadn't hung up on her yet. "I go back and forth for an entire school year between you and another girl. Two completely different types of people that you can't even compare, I chose her first, then we broke up and I chose you, and now I'm sitting here telling you that my ex and I talked at a party, and she still has feelings for me and wants me to give us a second chance. How does that make you feel?"

Sarada was quiet for a moment. The only sounds to be heard were the birds chirping outside her window, the clicking of Boruto's Xbox controller, and the sound of her own heavy breaths.

"I-I don't know…"

Boruto made a face. "My point exactly. And don't tell me you're forgetting all the shitty things he did and said to you. You were miserable when you were with him, and now you're just going to forget all of that? He knows you're nice and easily influenced and uses that to manipulate you. He's playing you just to spite me."

Sarada scowled. "Okay, stop. You're twisting my words and turning this into another problem! I'm being honest with you about what happened and you're just getting mad at me for no reason."

"I feel pretty valid in feeling the way I do, but I don't expect you to understand." Boruto quipped. "Metal is your first relationship. Beyond that you have no experience. So you're not going to get why I'm mad."

"Okay, then explain it to me? I'm trying to understand how you feel, Boruto."

Boruto sighed. "I just–I don't know. I don't really want to talk right now. Let me think about it for a while. I'll talk to you later."

He hung up, and Sarada was stunned into silence.

XxX

"He just completely disregarded everything I said. I told him I was sorry, I told him it was a mistake, but then he just rambled on about my lack of relationship experience so I won't understand how he feels. Like, does he not know that I can relate to things even if I haven't been through them? He thinks he's some relationship expert because he had a girlfriend in eighth grade."

Itachi nodded as Sarada viciously expressed herself. The popping boba balls inside Sarada's ice cream cup were feeling the wrath of her spoon as she swirled them around in a tornado of mango-flavored frozen yogurt, and the calm chill atmosphere of the small shop was being bombarded with her angsty energy. She was irritable, craving something sweet, and also had severe dark circles under her eyes. If that wasn't a clear sign she was hungover, then Itachi didn't know what was.

"I think you both are acting on emotion. It's coming from different places, but you're both right in how you feel. You felt it would be the right thing to tell him so he wouldn't hear a misplaced rumor that something more happened, and he is having emotions from past relationships resurface. Am I correct?"

Sarada rolled her eyes. "Yeah. He acts like his first girlfriend completely changed his entire life."

"You never really forget your first love." Itachi said, taking a calm spoonful of his chocolate froyo. "He was young and easily influenced, and was a couple years ahead of you in that department. That's not a bad thing, but you both need to be careful in how you approach things with each other. You guys do explode on each other a lot."

"Because he makes me feel stupid for not having experience! I asked him to explain it to me and then he just doesn't want to talk. And then gets all offended over me trying to figure things out as if he never experienced the same thing. It's just ridiculous."

"Yeah, he is jumping the gun a little bit there," Itachi said. "But it also sounds like he appreciated what you were telling him. So give him credit for that. The thing with having hindsight; it's a blessing but also a curse. When you see people start to walk down the same path and make the same mistakes as you, it's easy to try to deter them from that course. But people are on their own timelines. So, he has to have patience with you in a different way than you have to have patience with him. He's experienced, you're not. It's pretty black and white when you look at it that way. So you both just have to keep that in mind when dealing with each other."

Sarada grumbled under her breath. God, she hated that her uncle made so much sense. It was easier to blame Boruto and say he was being stupid and emotional, but she had to take some accountability too.

"I would also give you a piece of advice. Whether you know someone is going to be mad or not, never start a conversation by telling them not to be mad. It's basically setting the conversation up for failure."

Sarada put an elbow on the table and slumped into the palm of her hand. "Really?"

Itachi smiled and nodded. "The older you get you'll come to learn that sugarcoating things isn't the way to approach life. Real life requires hard communication. Sometimes it's uncomfortable, but it makes it easier for everyone in the end."

With a mangled groan, Sarada leaned in the back of the booth.

"Just be sensitive to his feelings. He's been hurt before in ways you haven't. And when he starts to see that sensitive side of you, which I know it's in there," Itachi smiled, "he'll be more receptive to you. It's okay that he didn't want to talk about it immediately. It's very mature of him to walk away from a problem he doesn't know how to solve yet. Give him space and you two will come back together."

After spending the day at Itachi's house playing with his pets and baking cookies, Sarada had a lot to think about as Itachi dropped her off later. She walked into a delicious smelling kitchen and was taken aback. Had her mom bought groceries? Since when could they afford anything other than chicken and rice?

"I'm home. Mom, what are you making?" Sarada said as she set her bag on the dining table. Sakura looked elated.

"Oh, crispy pork belly, sauteed vegetables, and a homemade loaf of bread! My work gave me a gift card to our grocery store, isn't that kind of them?"

Yes, it was, and Sarada was very gracious as her stomach was filled with the best meal she'd had in a while. After cleaning her dishes, the next destination was her bedroom.

Plopping onto her bed with a sigh, she stared up at her ceiling. Her hangover had lessened, though she still felt fatigued. A good night's sleep would help her feel better. Then, in less than a week, school was starting – her junior year. She wondered what would end up happening this year. There were so many decisions to make in such a short amount of time. Her life seemed to be passing right by her.

If there was one concrete decision she had to make, she was going to do it tonight.

Opening her phone, she composed a quick text.

Can we meet? I want to talk.

XxX

Boruto went over to his closet to grab a pair of sweatpants. He was tired, to say the least, and also experiencing a myriad of emotions. There were a couple things weighing heavily on his mind.

One, being Sarada and the party incident. At this point, it was his problem. Sarada had told him the truth and apologized. So now it was his turn to forgive and move forward, though it was scary putting his trust back into someone who had hurt him in the past. From Sarada's perspective, her tallies for Boruto's misdeeds racked up an entire piece of paper. For Boruto, Sarada's was less than a handful. He was being too hard on her and too distrustful of himself. Just because he had made similar mistakes in the past didn't mean he got to crucify Sarada over making the same ones. He had a couple of years of experience over her and had to be more understanding. The plan was to talk to her and clear the air and apologize on his end for being so uptight about it.

Secondly, he was still "grounded". Not that it really meant anything anymore since he had his phone and Xbox back, but it was getting old having to constantly act like an angel whenever his father was around. He was fed up with all the sneaking around and jumping out of his window. He wanted to take the car somewhere on his own free will again and not feel like a prisoner in his own house. Confrontation was the only way he'd get any sort of freedom back.

Thirdly, the Uchiha's were still obviously struggling financially, meanwhile, his dad was over here handing him hundred dollar bills for a weekly allowance. Boruto was using that money all summer to take Sarada out, buy her nice things, or buy their family some decent food. The way his dad just frivolously threw his money at his kids yet wasn't even helping out his proclaimed "best friend" was despicable. Boruto and Himawari didn't need one hundred dollars every week. Sasuke and Sakura did. Which again, confrontation was the only way he'd get answers out of his dad as to why he was acting like this.

Once his sweatpants were on, he opened his door, Himawari was walking by at that moment and she looked ecstatic to see him.

"Wow, I never see you this time of night!"

"Yeah, yeah." He dismissed her. "Is dad here?"

"I think he just got home, actually." She said, tilting her head. "Why?"

"No reason," Boruto said, and headed downstairs.

Himawari felt a bubbling curiosity in her chest. Her brother was up to something. And she obviously was going to eavesdrop.

Naruto was indeed in the kitchen with a glass of Jack reading over some papers, and just the mere sight of him made Boruto's blood simmer. There were quite a few things to be said to his father, as Naruto's consistent absence had been glaringly obvious. Boruto tried to clear his energy as he walked to the fridge absentmindedly. Himawari sat on the bottom of the stairs, resting her chin on her palms.

"Hey, Bolt! Glad to see you out and about." Naruto held his glass up jovially, but Boruto cringed. He hated when his dad called him Bolt. It was supposed to be a cute nickname but all it did was piss him off.

"Have you seen or talked to the Uchiha's at all?"

Naruto's smile immediately dropped. "No, why?"

"I just figured you would check in on him since he's your friend and he is unemployed." Boruto shut the fridge door, a box of apple juice in hand.

Naruto eyed his son carefully. Boruto was obviously baiting him. "Have you talked to them recently?"

Boruto smirked. "Nah, not really. Just been at their house about every day this summer."

Naruto blinked, comprehending Boruto's implications, but he wasn't done.

"Y'know, even though they went without AC most of the summer, their house is still really fun." Boruto pointed his juice box at his dad. "Did you know there's about a million ways you can cook chicken and rice? And a hundred different types of bread and cookies you can make with the exact same ingredients? Sakura is really resourceful with the bare minimum. Have you ever had to eat chicken and rice for weeks straight, dad?"

Naruto was silent, but his expression was showing otherwise. He looked extremely angry.

"For being a lawyer you're really bad at talking to people you supposedly care about." Boruto sipped his juice box. "You're better at defending serial killers than you are yourself against your own son–"

"That's enough!" Naruto jumped to his feet, the bottom of the chair squelching against the floor.

Boruto made a quick decision to abandon his plan for confrontation and immediately dashed for the stairs, but Naruto caught his elbow and swung him back into the kitchen. The juice box fell to the ground as Boruto was shoved to the wall. The pressure of Naruto's grip was enough to later cause a bruise, and Boruto braced his head for the impact against the wall.

"You are not allowed to talk to me like that, do you hear me? I am your father! I will not tolerate any disrespect from you." Naruto roared.

"Then start acting like one!" Boruto shouted back. Naruto recoiled. "You're never home, but the second you are, you're ordering us around like slaves! You say Sasuke's your friend, yet you have no idea what's going on with their family! You just treat everyone like shit because of your shit life and your shit job! Why is that fair to any of us? You grounded me this entire summer and kept me away from my friends and the people I care about. I snuck out more times than you can count because being anywhere else is better than here–!"

A loud slap rang through the house and Himawari gasped. Boruto fell to the ground in front of her with a thud. Naruto towered over him.

"You are forbidden from leaving this house until I decide what to do with you." Naruto said. "You disrespect me, yell at me, and disobey me. And that is unacceptable."

Boruto crawled a couple paces away and wiped the tear from his eye. Every. Single. Time. He tried so hard to stand up to his dad, to tell him how to fix things, but it always fell upon deaf ears. It was futile to try and change his dad. He was an abusive alcoholic, and that would never change.

Naruto went to take another step forward and Boruto braced himself for another hit, but the front door opened and accidentally bumped into the back of Naruto. Hinata poked her head through with an apologetic smile, but when she saw the scene in front of her, the groceries in hand were quickly discarded as she rushed to Boruto's side.

"Naruto, what is going on?!" She demanded, her hands shaking. She was frantically looking between Boruto and Himawari. Naruto took a couple of steps back, tripping on his feet, guilt washed across his features.

"H-Hinata, I'm sorry, he, he just–"

"He just what?" Hinata snapped.

Naruto was at a loss for words. Sinking back into the kitchen, he retreated into the basement. Hinata examined Boruto's head, his back, arms, and cheek. It still stung red from the strike earlier, and the juncture of his elbow was sensitive. Himawari had grabbed Boruto a cool rag for his face, and the three of them sat at the bottom of the stairwell. Hinata held Boruto in her arms tightly.

"I'm so sorry." She rocked him back and forth, cradling him. "I'm going to fix this. I promise. You kids mean more to me than anything."

There was nothing more comforting than the embrace of his mother. She had protected them their entire life, but when would enough be enough? How many times did Boruto have to get shoved into walls or thrown to the ground for her to leave him? The three of them could make it on their own, they didn't need Naruto.

If Naruto wasn't going to change, and Hinata wouldn't leave, then Boruto would take control of his own fate.

XxX

"Soo, why did you come over?"

Sarada twirled her thumbs back and forth. Her nerves were killing her, but she was here for a reason. Perched on the side of the street curb, her little red car was across the street. The sun was barely starting to set, and the breeze was still warm.

With a deep breath, she built the courage to say what was on her mind.

"I have to talk to you. About the party."

Metal shifted uncomfortably. "What about it?"

Sarada bit her lip. God, why couldn't she just take the chicken route and do this all over text? Why did she always have to do this type of stuff in person? It was insufferable.

"You said you wanted a second chance, right?"

Metal nodded slowly, the seesaw of emotion flickering back and forth between his eyes. There was a glimmer of hope, yet still expectations for the worst.

"I…" Sarada hesitated. She'd never done this before, and her heart was racing. She looked Metal directly in the eyes, and said with sincerity, "I don't want to date you again. We had our chance, but it's over now. We're over. I'm choosing Boruto."

Metal didn't react much except with a grimace. He leaned back onto his elbows with a scoff.

"Hmph. And you think he will make you happy?"

Sarada nodded. God, her heart felt like it was going to explode out of her chest.

"I cannot say I'm not surprised. But just know you are making a big mistake." Metal said, looking up at the sky. "He's not who you think he is. And he is going to break your heart."

Sarada's eyes narrowed. "You're just saying that because you want to be with me. You're being selfish."

"Of course I am, Sarada. I love you." Metal said. "What we had is real. You cannot tell me it wasn't."

The feeling Sarada had in her chest wasn't butterflies, it was disgust. If Metal had experienced her side of the relationship, he would never be saying the things he was. He didn't love her, they didn't have anything real. It was a fleeting, high school relationship that was an escape from Sarada's real feelings. Her real feelings for Boruto. What she and Boruto had was real, and this was going to be the last nail in the coffin that could seal off any remaining problems they might have.

"I don't feel the same way you do, Metal," Sarada said. "You can feel that way, but I didn't feel like what we had was real. It was nice, and you're fun, smart, and talented, but you're not the one for me."

"Neither is Boruto." Metal said with his eyebrows raised. "And as long as you keep telling yourself he is, you are going to lose a part of yourself you never knew you could lose."

His words were giving her anxiety. He was trying to plant doom in her mind before she and Boruto were even able to begin. She wasn't going to let him get in the way anymore. This was her last goodbye.

"I'm done with this, Metal." She said, standing. "I said what needed to be said, and that's the end. I want to be happy, and I want you to be happy."

"I would be happy with you." He said, and Sarada rolled her eyes.

"Will you stop?!"

"Stop what?"

"Stop twisting my words back on me!"

"I'm just telling you how I feel."

"Well, it feels a lot more like manipulating to me." Sarada said. "You can't keep throwing what I said back onto me. I said we're done, and I don't want us to have a second chance. You don't need to always get the last word in to try and prove a point."

"Neither do you." Metal said.

Sarada glared at him. "Just, we're done. And please don't interfere with anything this school year. If you don't bother me, I won't bother you. Do we have a deal?"

Metal shrugged. "If I see something I don't like I am going to say something. To you, that is. I will still be looking out for you. I have no interest in speaking to Boruto."

"What is your problem with him?"

Metal blinked. "That is between him and me."

Sarada folded her arms. "You're not gonna tell me?"

"No." He said curtly. "If that's all you have for tonight, then farewell Sarada." Metal stood up and dusted off his shorts. Sarada was relieved once he went back into his house.

Now that conversation was out of the way, she could look forward with a clean conscience. She and Boruto could finally be together without any roadblocks. It was just a happy, hopeful feeling for the future.

Once she got home and settled into bed, she sent Boruto a text.

Hi. I wanted to say thanks for listening to what I had to say earlier. I understand that you might still be upset but I want to talk whenever you're ready.

Sighing, she turned on her music and lay on her back. The gentle beat of Magic by Coldplay began playing and she closed her eyes to soak up the music and gentle hum in her heart.