Temptation (NEW)

Chapter Seven

Saturday mornings have a certain ritual. I use the term morning loosely because neither Shikamaru and I wake up before noon. I usually get up first and get my shower for the day. Usually by the time I'm dressed, Shikamaru is up and waiting for his turn to shower. While he showers, I prepare our "delicious" microwaved breakfast. Normally, it's a subpar breakfast burrito that is never fully warm in the middle. Truly a breakfast of champions, if you ask me.

Once we sit down on the couch to eat, we snipe at each other about what we want to watch on TV until we ultimately settle on some slap-stick comedy show we find on Netflix. I don't know why we ever bother to argue over it because this is always the outcome. By this time, Choji arrives with breakfast: part two. It's either donuts or fast food. It comes in handy because Shikamaru always has a lit blunt perched between his lips. The munchies start to kick in.

This routine has been going since our freshman year of college. Saturday's are our time of relaxation and unwinding from a tiresome week. We can talk about our week and vent, if needed, or we can just hang out and have a good time. It's blissful and is rarely ever interrupted.

Until today.

My phone started ringing on our hand-me-down coffee table that was cluttered with empty soda cans and cigarette butts that never made it into the ashtray. All of our eyes looked in its direction, wondering who would dare disturb our sacred Saturday routine.

"Who's that?" Shikamaru inquired with his eyes moving back to the TV screen.

"Probably just Kiba," I sighed as I unraveled myself from my bundle of blankets to check my phone. It wasn't unusual for him to join our Saturday's.

For a second, I wondered if I was just hallucinating from the second-hand high I was getting from Shikamaru. My heart was in my throat as I read the name on my phone's screen. Sasuke.

"Sasuke's calling me," I gulped. I had let it ring for a couple of seconds before I had the courage to speak his name.

"Really?" Shikamaru gasped, perking up from the couch. "Answer it! Answer it!"

Choji was wide-eyed with fear, waving his hands around like a mad man. "What? No, don't answer! What if Sakura murdered him and now she's looking for you!"

"I still have a project with him, Choji!" I argued. "I can't just ignore him entirely!"

By this point, the phone stopped ringing during our brief little panic. We all collectively let out a sigh of relief as we stared at the phone in my trembling hand.

"Call him back," Shikamaru urged.

"What? Why?" I shrieked in defiance. "I thought we all agreed it'd be best if I didn't tangle myself with him? He can just text me if it's about our project!"

"We both know not hearing from him has been eating you alive!" Shikamaru retorted.

I scrunched up my nose at the accusation. "Tch, that's not true! I'm already over it!"

My phone pinged with a notification in the palm of my hand. All conversation halted. Sasuke's name was in bold letters at the top of my screen. I was terrified to read the contents of his message. Part of me hoped that all he wanted was to talk about our project. I think I'd be less stressed out if that were the case. However, there was another part that wanted him to say something else. An apology. An invite. A delightful "Fuck you." Anything would suffice to clear the confusion I felt.

Sasuke: Hey, I was wondering if you were busy tonight.

I read that text over and over in my head. My heart was going a mile a minute. I wasn't sure if it was a good or bad feeling. My two friends were eagerly awaiting to hear what it read. One had a dopey grin and the other looked petrified.