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Best Friend
He was deeply in love with her; she had no idea.
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Chapter 5: What Are You Hiding, Hyūga?
"You need to come with me for a run,"
He smiled at what she said.
"Why should I?"
The next day, he was invested in his thesis when Hinata called him out of the blue. He answered absentmindedly, the dismissed message forgotten when he heard that distinctive voice.
"Because..." she giggled. "You tempted me to eat ice cream,"
He almost snorted while typing some references from an open book. "You could've said no,"
"But I did!"
"Nope, I don't recall,"
"I'll convince you soon," she proclaimed like a promise. "What are you doing?" she asked.
"Working on the thesis," he said.
"Oh! Am I interrupting you?" she sounded panicked the more she talked. "I'm so sorry!"
"Relax," he rolled his eyes."I'm just stuck for a bit, but I'll be fine," to be truthful he wasn't even sure about that. He was hungry, and he didn't sleep a lot partly because of stress, and the other because he couldn't stop replaying his day with the girl he was currently speaking with.
"Do you need any help?" she asked.
Was she on the way to offer help? he thought for a moment a little hopeful, a little nervous at the crazy possibility that they were going to see each other soon.
"Not really," he said, he chose the words carefully.
"I know I'm considered a Beauty Queen, but may I remind you that I'm very smart," he could almost perceive the pursed lips she used to make when she was annoyed, or almost didn't get her way. The perks of being her best friend from childhood were that he knew her very well, and sometimes she could be a little bratty.
But then again, he was the king of brats, his behavior was an era of his life, Hinata was just on occasion where she wanted to help or to be included in something; which he believed was the case right now.
"Hinata, really it does not matter," he said as delicately as possible.
There was a moment of silence for a bit. "I just want to see you..." she murmured to the phone, and for a moment everything turned quiet except for that ringing in his ears and the thumb on his heart.
'The witch was doing her spell,' his brain thought grimly.
"...but I don't want to take you away from your duties," her voice brought him back to reality.
Sasuke could just reschedule, and say that he was indeed busy and this needed his full attention, even though he still had a month to turn it in. However, he also did want to see her. As friends, of course, spending time together even when it was not needed was something that they use to do; Hiashi never minded that he was in his daughter's room, and vice versa when it was their turn to study or hang out in his room. But they grew, they were no teenagers, nor they were living in their childhood home, where doors were open, and someone could see them.
Obviously, he still had feelings for her. Was this wise to do?
"You can come over if you want," he said in an impulse, although his voice collected the blood was rushing to his ears. "I'll text you the address,"
Since when he heard the voice of reason anyway?
The truth was that he liked to be in the center of temptation, he was a masochist like that. But nothing was going to happen; mostly because he knew she could never see him in that light. As painful as that was, he decided to clean a little around his apartment; all the movement reminded him that he hadn't eaten anything since breakfast. It was currently 4:17 p.m. based on the digital clock on his coffee table. He was a freak neat, so there wasn't anything much to clean, however, he needed to distract himself.
He wonder how much it was going to take her to come to his place. He decided to check his bathroom and do a little scrub just in case she needed to go, he also wiped down a bit the mirror, and rearrange the towels. Next, he went to check his room; now he knew nothing was going to happen, and he didn't want to be the jerk, with his head in the gutter. At the end of the day, he was looking for a distraction, something that could help him with the fact that Hinata was coming over just like in old times; however, it wasn't like that at all. It felt foreign, and it also felt 'more' intimate.
Was he overthinking?
Probably
Was he going to do something?
Probably not.
Hinata's behavior on the other hand had been familiar and foreign as well. He wasn't necessarily mad at the fact that she was confident and a little straightforward, the downside of that was the fact that the roles had been reversed, and he was feeling on edge when he was around this developed version of her. A part of him she would've realized what she was doing to him by acting her way.
'I'm here,' the text read. Shortly there was a knock on the door. A little delicate, which pretty much confirms who it was. He looked back at his room; everything looked okay. He was the one that was a little bit unstable in his messiness of thoughts.
Not a minute later he saw that the protagonist of this thought brought some food accompanied with her smile. Her hair was a little way, and she wore an all-black outfit with biker shorts and a long sleeve. He decided to stop his lingering eyes by commenting on what she brought.
"Are you bringing something you are not supposed to eat?" he greeted.
She blushed a little. "Maybe," he let her walk inside. "You're still coming with me for a run to help,"
He snorted. "Being your accomplice is not very beneficial,"
It was the first time in a while he heard her laugh out loud.
The digital clock read 6:54 p.m.
"Uno," he said making her pout.
"No fair," she said,
"I didn't make the rules," he commented with a smirk.
"After all these years you're still a cheater," she said with a mocking accusatory glare.
He scoffed. "And you still don't know how to play," he said. "I'm pretty sure you had a +4 at the beginning, and you didn't throw it,"
She gasped. "How did you know?"
He just shook his head at how obvious and gullible she tended to be. "You're supposed to play it, and you hold back for no reason," he argued, shuffling the cards again.
"I don't know what you're talking about," she picked up her glass of water.
He looked at her, distractedly shuffling the Uno cards. She was gorgeous even by doing something so simple as drinking a glass of water. They bantered like old times, it was a nice feeling, almost as if five years didn't pass by.
"You're hopeless," he said.
"And you're still a cheater..." she said suppressing a smile. "Wanna go again?"
"Nah," he started. "Tired of winning,"
"Cocky!" she accused while helping him clean up the cards. While they both put the cards away, they started to clean the takeout as well, carrying the glasses Hinata followed to the kitchen. "I don't know if you already had plans, but you like to go to the preliminary next Saturday?"
That was in four days, "Why?" he asked.
"I..." she struggle for a bit. "I would like to see a comforting face," she admitted.
His heart felt warm at that moment, "I'm pretty sure you're sister would do a better job than me..." he started. "But sure,"
"I'm so sorry for the way she was looking at you, she tends to get jealous," she said apologetically. "I talk to her about it,"
"She's always been like that," he said, remembering the times she would create the most crazy excuses in order to get her away from him.
"Yeah, but by now she should be over that childishness,"
"You Hyūgas had always been possessive,"
"And you Uchiha's don't?" she said."Remember when you threw me into a pool, on purpose" she empathized. "Because your dear 'Ni-san' was helping me with my homework,"
He groaned. "That didn't happen like that," he joked.
"Not you gaslighting me!" she laughed.
They stayed silent for a moment, they were staring at each other, he would give everything he owned to know what was going around that pretty head of hers. But he actually wanted to ask something of her; so with that resolution in his mind, he shot the question.
"What's the deal with Neji?"
As the open book she was, her eyes opened a little. "What do you mean?" now she did not sound defensive, what she did sounded suspicious.
"Just curious," He wasn't ready to back out. "Hinata I've known you, no once have I ever heard of a cousin named Neji,"
"Ah, she visibly relaxed, "Well, remember that father has a twin brother, right?"
He nodded.
"Well Uncle Hizashi is not big on the Economics department like father," she started. "He lives a low-profile life, but an adventurous one," she said. "He's a photographer and has been all around the world," she said excitedly, to which he nodded, silently encouraging her to continue. "But, Neji wanted Father to mentor him, and since neither Hanabi nor I have been interested in the business..." her voice quieted down as if remembering something.
He kept looking at her encouraging her to talk.
"Neji is most likely getting the company, I'm no longer heiress," she said.
That irked something in him. "Are you ok with that?"
"Yes, although I wish things could be differently," she murmured.
"How so?" he asked.
She seemed to wake up from whatever was taking her mind at the moment. "Nothing, Sasuke," she said.
'What are you hiding, Hyūga?'
He could press on a little bit, but Hinata looked pretty much done with the whole ordeal. So he turned around and looked for something he forced himself to hide when he started writing his thesis.
"Pinot Grigio," the girl said at the blueish wine bottle. "What are we celebrating?"
He smirked. "That you suck at Uno"
The laughter filled his ears and he felt complete. "You're the worst," she said. "I'm still convinced you cheated."
He didn't have wine glasses; so after he opened the wine, he poured the liquid into their previously used glasses.
The first time he ever drank, was with Hinata he had stolen an old whiskey from his dad's study, at the time he didn't believe he was going to get in trouble, however, once he shared it with Hinata the girl took a sip and that's all that was needed to show how to hold her liquor; he shared the memory with her.
Hinata hid her red cheeks behind her hands. "Don't remind me," she groaned. "I swear I can hold it better now" She took a bit of the wine from the glass as if to prove her spoken point.
"I doubt it," he took a sip, silently daring her. Although if something happened he was willing to take care of her.
"Remember I was trained to take over the company, I had to learn to social drink."
"That's kinda depressing,"
"It is," she admitted. "But still helped, even if I wasn't in parties and such,"
"You're not missing much," he went to his fair share of parties during the early days of freshman college. It really was nothing fun after the first hour.
"I wonder what college would've been like with you around," she said.
He wondered the same thing; they had been together since elementary and after High School they lost all touch.
"I think it would've been the same,"
"What? Study groups and you being grumpy,"
"I'm not grumpy,"
"Yes, you are!" she said smiling. "At least front what I remember, I don't know about now,"
"Some habits are hard to break,"
" I mean you are more mature and more tolerant,"
"You're less shy,"
"Yeah, I had to change a bit in order to get what I wanted," she admitted. "It worked for a while,"
He listened to her attentively.
"Is a slim chance, but I hope I win the pageant," she said with a voice of an octave higher than a whisper."Not because of a crown and title, but because I'll have some freedom," she downed the whole glass and he had to admit he was a bit surprised.
"You'll do fine," he said after Hinata poured her second glass.
"You should give an advice."
"Why?" he asked. "I don't know anything about it,"
"Sasuke..." she looked pointy at him. "You are Sasuke Uchiha, champion in kudo, chess, and fencing." she cited. " You're really smart, confident, and overall admirable." she continued. "I'm not sure what I'll do during this pageant so I'll take whatever you say, because I trust you," she said. "I'm scared," she admitted in the end.
He looked at her trying to conjure up motivational words in his mind and take away the panic in those clear eyes. "You'd always been exceptional on your own. There's nothing I can say to help because you know what to do, just trust yourself," he finalized.
"Thank you, Sasuke," she said with a smile.
He smiled back, there was warmness in his stomach and he wished he could memorize every single detail of this night and treasure it forever.
She extended her hand and touch his cheek which made him freeze. "You still have the cutest dimples ever," she whispered, her small dainty hand caressing his face, her thumb was close to his lips and for a moment his sharp black eyes caught the way she was staring at his mouth, he could remember vividly that he was doing the same.
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Message from the Author:
I'm so glad you liked the last chapter, I decided to add some drama to this chapter. We all saw this coming anyway, right? I challenged myself of writing a thousand words in under an hour... I did a 1,200. I'm feeling a little proud of myself.
-LaCrazyWriter