.
Best Friend
He was deeply in love with her; she had no idea.
.
.
.
Chapter 6: Are we okay, Hyūga?
He could never find out why they didn't kiss right there and then, but he was hopeful, and for a second he thought it was going to happen, but alas like a bad romantic comedy movie they were interrupted by a loud knocking.
Something that used to be a part of his everyday life was now an anomaly, so when he saw that Hinata flushed her cheeks and after murmuring that he was going to the bathroom. He cursed under his breath, at the same time the knocking became incessant, so before he was developing a headache, he decided to answer and kick out whoever was on the other side.
"Took you long enough," Naruto like the fast fox he was sometimes, walked past him. "Watcha doin'?" he asked sitting comfortably where Hinata was a minute ago.
"I'm busy you idiot, so get out," he kept the door open; he felt frustrated but did not know exactly why. Sasuke knew what he was doing was wrong, they were both tipsy, and Naruto wasn't the one to get things at first and read the room, he was pretty sure he has not noticed that they were two glasses on top of his coffee table.
"Your laptop is closed," ok, so maybe he had some intelligent surges that helped him realize his surroundings from time to time.
He was probably about to say some rude retort when the presence of someone made him stop in his tracks.
"Hinata-chan?!" the shriek from his excited friend almost broke both of his eardrums.
"Hi, Naruto-kun," she said with a shy smile. It was like a slap in his face, like a bad deja vu, it kinda made him feel better that she was not blushing, but still, it felt like high school, the scenery in which he was in love with the girl and said the girl was in love with his other best friend.
"Oh god, Hina..." he went to hug her. "I did not know you were here, this bastard didn't want to tell me," his accusatory blue eyes sent daggers toward him.
He just rolled his eyes at the plain mockery.
"How are you Naruto, kun?" she said with a giggle when their hug dissolved.
"Ah the usual, studying and working," he said. "OH, Hina, you have to meet my girlfriend, she's totally obsessed with you,"
Hinata looked normal at the mention of Ino; for a moment he thought she was going to flinch or something.
"I would love to meet her," she said.
"She would love that, hold on I'm going to Facetime her," he fished out his phone. "NO! I'm just going to send her a picture, then she'll call me,"
Sasuke rolled his eyes and picked up the glasses before entering the kitchen.
'Stupid Naruto,' he thought grimly. He heard Hinata laugh, and he couldn't help but feel bitter and jealous at the fact that the blonde was third wheeling. Exactly what? Well, technically nothing. Because they were all friends; he put the plates and glasses a little too forcefully in the sink.
He decided to stay a bit to think about what just happened, and because he needed to check his feelings, which were all in a whirlwind and totally unstable. He should not get this riled up over this, and also he was behaving like he was in high school. He was grown, he never experimented jealousy like this. As if it was doormat for a while and just this idea of Hinata and Naruto... it was enough to almost make him see red.
He breathes deeply a couple of times before facing the music. The two of them were talking as if time was not an issue, old friends; he also noticed that they were a little too close, but he thought quickly that Naruto was a touchy-free person, and also knew that he loved Ino very much.
"I'm telling you she's going to freak out!" Naruto said."She's been following this pageant thing for so long, or something like that, and she does these crazy lists predicting who's going to win and stuff, and I swear she says you have a good chance of winning,"
"Oh..." he heard Hinata say. "That's very kind of her" she continued, "But I don't know if I'm going to win,"
"It does not matter," the blonde said. "You're already a winner," he gave his signature smile.
"Thank you Naruto-kun,"
After the smile, Naruto turned to him. "So, you've been keeping Hina a secret huh,"
"We just reconnected, you idiot,"
"Hey! I know I came along later on to your super exclusive, snobbish family friendship." he stopped, "Except you Hinata, you've always seemed cute, at first weird, but in a cute way..."
He rolled his eyes; he would never understand how he made a stable friendship with this dumb sack.
"ANYWAY!" his cavilations were interrupted. " You guys were always my friends, I'm glad the gang is back,"
"I'm glad for that too," Hinata said.
Both of them looked at him, and he couldn't deny that this reunion, although annoying at first, was a good feeling of nostalgia. By his selection since junior high, it was just them, so being there felt worthy of a celebration. He looked at them encountering that they were waiting for some sort of shared reaction. "Whatever," he said letting out slowly a smirk.
"Ha! That's the bastard we love," Naruto said which cause a little laugh in Hinata, who just looked happy and thankful for this moment. "Besides the pageant thing, what have you been up to?"
From then on they engaged in the conversation of catching up, it was nice, he learned Hinata was doing did business major, but a minor in literature.
"Yeah you were always reading," Naruto recalled to which Sasuke silently nodded. "Bussiness is for your dad right?"
She nodded. "Father was adamant about that, and I agree even if I'm not the heiress anymore,"
"You were always too good," the blonde commented. "But hey, that's part of you, so at least you have something that you're really passionate about."
"What about you?" she asked.
"Well you know how I always wanted to be a politician," he mused.
"That's great!" she said.
"I mean for a moment I thought to be some sort of engineer like the teme here, but that Thesis man, is taking his whole life,"
"You do realize that eventually, you need to write one," one of his favorite pastimes was to burst the bubble of fantasy that his friend had.
"You're lying!" he exclaimed childishly. "Tell him Hina, this teme is just being annoying,"
"Actually..." the girl started with an apologetic smile.
"Oh no!"
"Why would I lie," Sasuke mused half annoyed half amused.
"Ugh!" he put his head in his hands. "Ino will dump me,"
"Don't be so dramatic!"
"Easy for you to say, your girlfriend is a saint, but Ino is not that patient."
"You have a girlfriend?"
All the banter died down quickly to let space of an almost theatrical silence full of tones of drama; the cold shiver down his spine. Now, technically they have spoken about Sakura before, and he said that she was just a friend. In essence, she was, they haven't taken their relationship further; but if one was being objective Sakura and he were headed to the exclusive dating area. However, he obviously didn't explain the technicalities to Hinata.
With one look at her, he noticed that she was unsettled by it, and he felt panicked because he wanted to explain, but then he would look like an asshole. He felt like one though.
"Yeah! Her name's Sakura..." he will wish for Naruto to read the room and not add more fuel to the fire.
There were a few times, like three times to be exact, that he has felt this way where he lost his footing in an imaginary abyss of despair, disappointment, and total disarray.
This was the fourth time.
Hinata's eyes were not accusatory, but they were reading every mood of his; he suddenly remembered how analytical she was. He could read her just as well, but she caught on and turned away from him. He wished he could explain things better, and not look like the douchebag that minutes before was almost kissing her. But Naruto was there, and he was not good with his feelings.
"Naruto..." he said like a warning.
"I know I know! You guys aren't officially dating, but I mean, just might as well, you guys need to make it official," he turned to the Hyūga. "She's really nice, Hina, you're going to like her. She's my girl's best friend."
"That's nice Naruto," she stands up. "Is getting late, I should get going,"
"I'll go with you," Sasuke said almost jumping to get closer to her.
"No, is ok," she said with the polite voice she used to do when businessmen wanted to approach her and she evaded them. "An Uber should be here shortly."
It kinda hurt, but he understood.
"Hey, Hina why don't we hang out on Saturday?" Naruto said.
"I can't I have the preliminary,"
"Oh!" he said. "Can we tag along? I can bring the girls so you can meet them," he said excitedly.
"Baka, don't invite yourself over like that..."
"Is ok." Hinata interrupted. "You have my number Naruto-kun, I'll send you the tickets." she gave a small smile. "I'll go now."
"Bye Hina!" he went to hug her quickly."Oi... Teme I need to take a piss," he practically ran to the bathroom. "BYE!" the blonde shouted from the hall.
"Bye, Sasuke," she said, but she did not move, nor said goodbye the way he was used to.
"Are you ok?" he asked. But what he really wanted to ask was, 'Are we okay?'
She did not answer, and it was one of those moments where even a negative to a question like that was welcomed. Between them, it felt like he was asking for some reaction from her. Eventually, she nodded.
He gulped before trying again. "Do you still want to go on that run?"
"I don't think I should compromise your time more than I already did."
He closed his eyes for a brief moment, organizing his thoughts, he tsked his tongue before talking again.
"Listen Hinata, she..."
"I think my Uber is here," was the interruption. "I'll see you on Saturday," she murmured.
Just like that, she walked out with the only chance to explain himself.
.
.
.
Message from the Author:
At first, I wanted Sakura to barge in, but honestly, Naruto was a perfect choice, besides I like this dynamic of Sasuke and Hinata lowkey flirting and Naruto just happy to be there and unknowingly causing trouble. Next chapter, Preliminary, and more dramatic.
I want to thank the guest readers, cus even though I can't PM you, just wanted to let you know that I read and appreciated your interest in the Fic. I love your reviews and appreciation.
-LaCrazyWriter