SasuHina: Beyond The Camera

Chapter 25

-Hinata's POV-

I will post outfit concept photos at the end of this chapter! Thanks for reading!

By the time I finished bathing, Sakura had locked her bedroom door and even went as far as ignoring me when I knocked to ask if she was alright.

Tonight, the night we've been dreaming of before even meeting one another, was supposed to be nothing but celebratory. We should be overcome with joy and excitement, but instead half of our group isn't speaking to one another. One of those two is even nursing a black eye!

At least the swelling of our redheaded friend's injury went down quickly so it could be hidden with makeup when he's out in public. The last thing we needed was for rumors to go around that our group's members like to fight. Especially when the one who was sporting the hypothetical proof was one of the calmest among us.

I couldn't help but feel sorry for Gaara. Even if he might've gone over the line with Sakura's mother, he didn't do a single thing to deserve being hit like that by Garrett. If things hadn't gotten so out of hand afterward, I would've liked to ask him personally if he was alright, but didn't get the chance.

After realizing Sakura wasn't going to give in and at least reassure me that she wasn't going to do anything drastic for the rest of the night, I retreated to my room with a heavy feeling weighing on my chest. As we were jogging off-stage directly after our performance earlier, high on life, I sincerely thought we'd spend the rest of the evening together as a group, but that wasn't the case.

Either way, when I threw myself onto the bed, the sounds of the crowd cheering our group's name, the sweat and adrenaline, and the euphoric happiness that'd flooded my entire being was all I could think about. My heart was pounding at just the memory of how it all sounded, how it all felt.

My phone suddenly vibrated and I lifted it up to see a message from Sasuke, taking me totally and completely by surprise.

"Hyuuga, wanna hang?"

What the hell? Did I accidentally save someone else's number under his name or something? Not only was this the first direct message he's sent me where it's not in a group chat, but even trying to imagine him wanting to "hang" with me seemed unbelievable. Either way, I responded after a minute or two, not wanting to come off as too eager.

"If you want to, sure. Your room or mine?"

After a moment of waiting, he replied. "The door's unlocked. Just come in."

For some reason, I immediately worried about what I look like. My hair was still damp from bathing and I wasn't about to put makeup on after having just done my skincare routine for the night. With a sigh, I forced my anxiety to take a backburner and headed over with my phone in one hand and the other running fingers through my hair to try and tame it just a bit even though I knew it wasn't messy.

When I shut the door behind me after entering their dorm, I turned to see Sasuke staring down into a glass of what looked like alcohol, an unreadable expression on his face as he rested his elbows on the kitchen counter. I wordlessly came over and sat on one of the stools across the counter from him, face warming slightly. Now that I had a closer look, there was an almost full bottle of whisky sitting on the counter next to him.

Gesturing at it wordlessly, he asked if I'd like a drink as well. I nodded and watched with my chin resting on my fist as he poured it and slid it over to me. We softly clinked our glasses together before taking a sip. My face threatened to cringe at the bitter taste, but I fought it as I swallowed with a frown.