Temptation (NEW)

Chapter Sixteen

Shit.

I haven't felt this kind of regret before. The second I opened my eyes, a wave of everything that happened hit me all at once. First, it was the conversation between Sasuke and I. It replayed over and over in my dreams, just for me to wake up with it immediately on my mind. And to make it worse, I have Gaara laying beside me. He was just an innocent bystander that I've just used for selfish reasons.

Seeing him made me remember the details of the night before. That was the next thing to hit me. We fucked almost immediately when we got back to the apartment. I'm almost certain we made out in the back of the car before that. I chugged a lot of beers at the game just to give myself the courage to do it all. From what I remember, it was pretty good, though. I oughta be happy with myself, but I'm not. He wasn't Sasuke.

The process of unraveling myself from his arms without waking him was meticulous, but I managed it. I wanted to avoid the post-sex conversation. Talking about feelings and where to go from here was not ideal. Quietly, I crept out of my room and tip-toed into the bathroom. Looking at myself in the mirror was hard. I was ashamed of my actions.

The door opened, making me jump out of my skin a bit. Shikamaru was scowling as he wedged himself inside with me as I tried to wash the shame-filled look off of my face.

"I think I could kill you, Naruto."

I rolled my eyes. "For what?"

"You're rebounding with Gaara," he huffed. "You always do this shit when you go through your little breakups. I guarantee when Sasuke calls, you'll drop him immediately."

"Sasuke won't call," I remarked through gritted teeth. "We're done, okay?"

"That doesn't change the fact that you're still rebounding."

"I'm not, Shikamaru. We've always flirted off and on, so it's fine."

He furrowed his eyebrow towards me. "Do you realize how fucking scary those siblings are? One fuck up and we're both dead."

"Why would you be dead?" I whined.

"Because I'm associated with you!"

We were both startled by a banging on the bathroom door. I think we both held our breath a bit. Those siblings really are scary.

"Some of us need to take a piss out here!" Kankuro shouted from outside of the bathroom. Thank God he was oblivious to our conversation.

Shikamaru was first out of the bathroom and I quickly followed behind him. I saw Temari only donning Shikamaru's shirt on the couch. No one else was in the room with her. Shikamaru left my side to go sit beside her, pretending as if he didn't just threaten my life. I continued walking into the kitchen to avoid any tough conversations with them.

"Good morning." Gaara was standing by the coffeemaker with a mug in his hand. It threw me off-guard to see him out of my bed. He was actually wearing pants now.

"Oh, uh, good morning," I nervously greeted as I poured myself a cup of coffee, too.

"Interested in grabbing breakfast?" he asked smoothly. "Just me and you?"

I raised the hand encased in a cast. "I can't really drive anywhere at the moment," I nervously chuckled. I secretly hoped that would be enough to avoid being alone with him.

"I could drive, if you're cool with it."

Dammit. There's no escaping this.

"I suppose we should go get ready, then," I replied with a smile.

~~~

Honestly, I fully expected this to be the most uncomfortable breakfast date I've ever had. I expected him to bring up last night and interrogate me for answers. However, that wasn't the case. It was relaxed and casual. No feelings whatsoever. I liked it. It was something that I could never get out of Sasuke.