"Take a deep breath," she motioned and took a deep breath herself. "Hinata, you have to regulate your breathing or else you will hyperventilate."
Thank god, Naruto gave me a call and to come by her apartment, she would have definitely passed out if I didn't make it in time, she thought and pushed Hinata to sit down on her creasy couch.
"On one, take a deep breath," she motioned again, Hinata looked distraught. Her eyes were fixed at something far away on the wall. Her body seemed rigid; she was clenching her chest with her right hand.
Uh, when will you guys understand your own feelings? Sakura sighed.
Hinata
"Hinata!" Sakura's voice suddenly broke through my thoughts. "Breath!" She took deep breath and motioned me to do the same. I just follow her direction; I have got nothing to lose. I have already lost the battle. How could I have been so fucking stupid. I inhale and other than smelling cinnamon, there is a very slight flower-like smell surrounding me. This is such a nice mixture of scents. I would love to have a cinnamon bun and some freshly cut flowers right now.
"And exhale," Sakura says and exhales. I follow, the sweet scents leaving my senses, which is being filled up by dread and alcohol. Before Sakura can advise me again to take a deep breath, I do it. I need that cinnamon and flower scent or else I might lose my fucking mind. I breath. Exhale. Breath. Exhale. World around me is dark, and I force myself to think of only cinnamon buns and lilies. I should go out and buy some cinnamon buns today, and reward myself with some freshly cut lilies. Reward for what though? Not kissing Naruto? For not making a fool of myself in front of him? Because that's exactly what I did! And just like that the sweet scents are gone, replaced by a stronger earthier scent. I recognize this fragrance, it's the same wet soil smell with just a little hint of rose and mint. It's his perfume. He hasn't changed his perfume all these years?
"Well I guess you are smiling now," Sakura says and I gasp. I completely forget she was sitting right next to me. Where is his perfume smell coming from? I sniff around.
"What are you doing?" Sakura puts her hand on my shoulder, she looks concerned.
"His perfume..."
She looks momentarily confused but then gives me a look which says "duhh."
"What?"
"You are sitting on Naruto's jacket." She points at my ass and there it is, the blue bomber jacket.
I jump out of my skin and to the other side of the room.
"Jesus Christ, Hinata, relax. It's not him, just his jacket. I can give it back to him," she picks it up but suddenly I'm holding on to it.
"Let me," I whisper.
"What?" She tugging at the jacket. I am annoyed, why does she want the jacket?
"Let me give it to him." The ends of her mouth curls up in a sly smile, as if she knows something I don't.
"Okay okay," she let's go of the jacket and I hold it close for a second before dropping it to the ground.
"I will launder it and give it back." I sit back down on the couch. Silence follows. I don't know why I got suddenly irritated by Sakura wanting to give him back the jacket, it's just a jacket. Plus, I don't even want it, I don't even want to face him. Not today, not ever. I wish I never have to face him.
"So, are you going to have another panic attack before telling me what the fuck happened last night?" Sakura suddenly asks. Wait how does she know something happened last night. Come to think of it, why did she even come at my place the first thing in the morning. Then a million questions came into my head suddenly, and increased the mild throbbing pain I was having. Almost as if she could read my mind, Sakura replied to most of what I was going to ask her.
"Naruto texted me this morning, asking to come by your place and check up on you. He told me that you drank a bit last night, so he wanted to make sure you were okay. Are you okay, Hinata?"
He wanted to make sure I was okay!!! My stomach feels light, and I don't think I'm feeling dizzy because of the hangover. How can he still care for me? Ugh, I messed up this time.
"Physically? Yes. Emotionally? Not even close." We both laugh, but the laughter is short-lived.
"Can you first grab me some Advil?" Before I even finish my sentence, she is already placing a glass of water on top of a coaster and an Advil in front of me. When did she even get up from my side? I didn't even notice, she is like a fucking ninja or something. I swallow the Advil down and rub my forehead together. She is waiting patiently for me to tell her what happened last night.
"If you think I'm going to leave here without knowing what happened between you two last night, I might as well borrow your pajamas." She settles deep down in the couch, creasing it further down.
"How much do you know?"
"Literally fucking nothing."
"Okay then, so last night we went out for drinks..."
I tell Sakura most of what I remember, as I am telling her when Naruto picked me up and brought me up the stairs, my heart is pounding out of my chest and my hands are all sweaty. I need to take deep breaths in between so that I won't go into panic mode again. I am trying my best to keep my calm while recounting the events of last night but I am barely hanging on by the time I end up story.
"...when I woke up today, I found this note on the table." I told up the note to Sakura's face, "he also made the hangover cure for me." I point to the coconut water bottles he bought. I finish, and Sakura is just sitting there. She is a great listener and I am not sure what's going on in her mind right now. She did not utter a single word when I rambled on my story to her, but it seems like something in brewing in her mind right now. Her eyebrows are tensed as she is looking up from the note, she has a light bulb moment.
"OH!" she screams, giving me an instant headache, "this note means at some point in the night you to mentioned to him that you," she says pointing at me, "thinks he hates you!" She has a smile on her face as if she solved a major mystery.
"I figured that much..." she doesn't let me finish. She is having fun with this.
"And he went out to buy you some coconut water in the middle of the night! And as your boss he gave you the day off, because we all know a hungover Hinata is no good!" She teases me, but I don't care. I already figured all of this before she came over.
"So, now you see why the fuck did I panic?"
"Woah, okay, Hinata said fuck guys, we need help," she says to an imaginary microphone. That makes me laugh.
"I don't understand why you would panic; it doesn't seem like you confessed your feeling to him or something like that. All you told him was that, you think he hates you and maybe," she moves closer to me, "you told him that you don't hate him!"
Heat rushes to my face, and I swear I can see the earth's rotation around me. I shove Sakura away from my face, she's having too much fun with this.
"Sakura! Please focus, this is serious!"
"Why?"
"Because he is my boss! And more importantly, I was the one who broke his heart last time."
That gets her attention pretty quickly. I can feel the air around us got thicker and more mature.
