Waiting for a Yes [Modern!Neji x Reader]

PART 24

Their date ended up being at the beach. Tenten slips off her shoes and socks so she could feel the soft sand underneath her feet.

"Come on," she says, giving Neji a smile. "Take your shoes off."

Neji does as he's told and the sand settles between his toes. It's almost therapeutic, like a mini massage from mother nature. In one hand, Tenten holds her shoes and in the other, she's holding Neji's hand. Her focus is on the horizon as they walk the shore barefooted.

It's that wonderful time of year when the days are shorter, and the sunset comes earlier. So Tenten stares at the warm colored sky that leads up to an inky navy blue and a half moon, which glows like the distant stars.

"It's beautiful, isn't it?" Tenten says dreamily. Neji, who is only half listening, hums in response.

She turns her attention to Neji and sees that he's staring at his feet. His head hung low, and his eyes are downcasted. His entire posture is slouched as they walk as if he was carrying a burden of sadness on his back. She squeezes his hand, instinctively trying to cheer him up.

"You okay?" She asks a far simpler question than she wanted.

At the sudden sound of her voice, Neji's head snaps up. "Yeah, yeah. I'm just tired."

He tries to smile, but Tenten can tell it's forced.

She wants to ask again, wants to tell him it's okay to reveal his secrets to her, it's okay to express his feelings around her - but she doesn't say anything. She drops the subject.

...

Neji returns home late after dropping Tenten off at home. He sneaks off to his room, not wanting to be heard by Hinata since he knows that she'll ask about his date. Once he's secured in his room, his phone vibrates in his pocket. He takes it out and looks at the message.

i had so much fun today thanks neji xoxo

He cringes at the lack of capitalization and punctuation in Tenten's text message. He decides to ignore it, and crawl into bed instead. He just wanted to sleep and forget about what happened today.

Unfortunately, a knock came at Neji's door, just as he closes his eyes. A soft groan escapes his parted lips when he hears his door creak open.

"Neji?" A soft voice says. He recognizes it as Hinata's voice.

"What do you want?" He grumbles, burying his face deeper into his plush pillows.

"Well, um, I just wanted to know..." she pauses as she twiddles her thumbs.

Groaning loudly, Neji knew exactly what she wanted. He sits up and shoots Hinata a half-assed glare. "Out with it already," he snaps impatiently.

Her cheeks turn a deep red as she closes her eyes and shouts, "How was your date?!"

"It was fine," he huffs, as he rolls back over, his back facing her.

"Just fine?"

"Yep. Perfectly fine. Nothing too exciting happened. Dull and boring," he murmurs the last part so Hinata doesn't overhear his comment.

"Oh." Hinata pauses. "What did you do?"

Neji feels a dip in the bed, and he assumes that she's sitting down.

He shrugs before answering. "We went to the beach, and then came home."

"Sounds... not very exciting," she says truthfully. "Did you ever kiss?"

"She kissed me on my cheeks a lot," came his nonchalant reply.

Hinata sighs and puts a hand to her cheek. "No Neji. Did you ever kiss her?"

"No."

He feels a little guilty for not having the guts to actually kiss her. She is his girlfriend.

He sits up, still facing away from Hinata. "Why does it matter if I kiss her or not?"

His cousin hesitates before answering. "Girls like to talk about their first dates, especially if it's with their boyfriend," she says. "You should've heard [Name] talk that way about Gaara. She actually sounded happy and excited about it."

Neji clenches the blankets underneath him. He doesn't want to hear about Gaara's and [Name's] first date.

He was probably kissing all over her like a dog, he dwells angrily on the thought.

"So? And what does that even mean?" Neji asks rolling his eyes.

"It means you failed to make something special out of your first date, with your girlfriend whom you told me you had a huge crush on Neji," Hinata explains.

"I don't have to make anything special for anyone. If Tenten wanted to kiss me on the lips or whatever it may be, she should've done it," he spits bitterly. "I don't owe her anything."

He breathes deeply, trying to calm himself down. Hinata, seeing that her cousin is angry about something, grimaces and leaves his room.

With Hinata gone, Neji collapses on his bed again. He doesn't bother to turn off the lights as his heart continues to blacken. He thought he could love Tenten, but with the date and the talk with Hinata only seems to worsen his mood and his potential love for her. He can only love [Name], and he craves her touch, her smiles, and her beautiful, kind eyes.

"I only love you, [Name]."

...

A/N: I don't know where this story is headed, so next chapter is whatever ya'll want it to be, it just has to make sense with the story please and thank you. Other than that, you'll just be getting shitty short chapters like this one.

//I'm back lovelies//

Love you bye.