talk to you (n. uzumaki)

4.

Hi everyone! Thank you for your patience on this next chapter. I appreciate it so much! I actually just started a new semester at college myself, so here goes nothing! 

After your shift ends for the day, you can't help but feel the slightest tickle at the back of your brain when you think about finally doing something besides work or school tomorrow. Although, it's a study meeting... at the library... with a classmate... so maybe it's just a bit school related. Still, you find solace in the fact that you won't be studying by yourself or with Shikamaru over your shoulder.

As you make a cup of microwave mac and cheese for lunch, you keep feeling your eyes scoot to your closet, hearing the microwave faintly hum in the background. 

"Maybe I should pick out a cute outfit for tomorrow? To celebrate living a little?'" you think to yourself, feeling a little silly at the thought. You deliberate over it while stirring your cheese sauce into your pasta, and eventually give in to the impulse, unable to ignore the idea. 

You set down your macaroni with a sigh, and head over to your closet, opening it to see all the cute outfits you'd been saving for a day out, which is surely equitable to meeting a classmate to tutor him.

There's what feels like an eternity of deliberation over the clothes in your closet, spending an unusually long amount of time paring together outfits in your head. But you eventually come to a conclusion: a fuzzy pink sweater and a simple yet stylish white skirt. Nothing crazy. But definitely better than what you'd usually wear to someplace that you frequented, like the library.

Folding your clothes to sit atop your desk, you find yourself strangely eager for tomorrow to come sooner. Your roommate comes out of the shower, and you take advantage of the bathroom being free to shower, get changed for bed, and make yourself a piping hot mug of chamomile to drink before you go to sleep.

Before you know it, you hear your alarm for work going off at 6:00 AM on the dot; much to the ire of your roommate, who groggily pulls her pillow over her ears with a groan. 

"Sorry, go back to sleep!" you whisper to her, feeling bad for having to wake her up so early. Carefully shuffling out of bed, you pull on your barista uniform for work, and get cleaned up for your shift. 

You manage to get there right at 7:15 on the dot , greeting Shikamaru at the door with a wave. As much as you try to ignore it, you feel a little part of your heart pattering with excitement that you had something to do after work today, for once! A little grin crosses your face at the thought, and Shikamaru raises an interested eyebrow at you. 

"Someone's in a good mood... did something good happen?" He asks in a teasing tone, crossing his arms and leaning against the counter. "Ah wait... did the good thing perhaps happen to be blonde and obnoxious?" Shikamaru adds, a smirk on his face. 

Merely rolling your eyes at his clear attempt to get a rise out of you, you decide get to work making sure everything you need for the morning is stocked. 

"I'll have you know, I'm actually meeting up with a friend to study after work. Not that you'd know what studying is, boy genius." You retort, sharpening your words a little at his teasing. 

He scoffs at the mocking title, meeting your gaze with an unbothered expression. "Hey, why waste your time studying if you don't even need it in the first place, y'know? It's such a pain."