Temptation (NEW)

Chapter Twenty

I sat beside Sasuke in the bed as he talked on the phone. Through context clues, I figured out it was his mom that had called him. It was hard to hear what she was saying, but I knew it wasn't good. Sasuke was completely emotionless with his responses if he said anything at all. He mostly just listened, staring at the stitching on his blanket in a blank stare. It was eerie seeing him this way.

Suddenly, he just hung up the phone after a few minutes. There was no goodbye or anything of the sort. I think he got tired of listening, or maybe it was all too much for him. Holding my breath, I watched as he scrolled through his phone until he found what he was looking for. He brought the phone back up to his ear again and waited.

"Itachi?" he softly spoke after a few rings. "Are you busy?"

He listened to him for a few seconds before speaking again.

"Could you...Could you..." His voice trailed off as soon as the tears began to build. He was struggling to finish what he wanted to ask without his voice completely breaking. "C-Could you come down here? Soon?"

I could hear Itachi's response sound a little more frantic through the phone.

"Mom called me," Sasuke continued. "I--I'm about to lose everything, Itachi."

I immediately reached for his other hand and squeezed it. I could only imagine how scared he was. He listened to Itachi for a while. His responses were short again just from how hard he was crying. I was watching everything around and within him fall apart. I wanted to cry with him.

"Please hurry," Sasuke begged. I knew Itachi reassured him that he would.

They hung up the phone and that's when Sasuke completely lost it. He sank into the bed, releasing a sea of tears. I wrapped myself around him because it was all I knew to do. He was shaking so much, even when I pressed him tightly against my chest. This lasted for a while until he finally exhausted himself. He trembled in his sleep and latched onto me so I couldn't move.

When I woke up the next morning, I knew neither of us would be making it to class. Most of the night was spent calming him down from panic attacks that would come and go. I probably slept a total of four hours, and he probably slept less than that. Despite minimal sleep, I was wide awake. I couldn't help but wonder what his mom had said to him. He couldn't seem to find the courage to tell me.

I slipped out of his bed and tiptoed to his kitchen once he turned away from me in his sleep. As a kind gesture, I figured I could make him a breakfast. He'll shrivel up at this rate if he doesn't eat something soon. My first obstacle was figuring out where his utensils were. I felt like a nosy old lady going through all of his drawers and cabinets. The second obstacle was determining what food he had so I could completely follow a step by step guide with ease. And the third? Doing all of this quietly so I wouldn't wake him.

"Shit," I quietly whispered to myself. My eyes widened at the YouTube video I was watching on a how-to video for making pancakes. "How does she flip these things so easily?"

I was so engrossed with the video and making sure I didn't burn anything that I hadn't noticed Sasuke standing behind me.

"Do you need some help?"

I think my soul evaporated from my body from how startled I was. I spun around, completely disheveled.

"What are you doing in here?" I gasped.

"This is my kitchen?"

"No---I mean---I thought you were sleeping," I stuttered. "I wanted to surprise you."

He glanced around at the kitchen. Flour was all over the counter. Used utensils were scattered around. I hadn't put away the other ingredients so they were in random places, too. Some cabinets were wide open because I had mindlessly forgot about closing them. He looked surprisingly amused at the mess I had made.