-Modern Day AU-

Sakura flipped the sign on the door to the Coffee shop from 'Closed' to 'Open', smiling. She was on the opening shift with Ino, like she'd been for the past couple of weeks. It wasn't like she was stuck doing that shift; her boss let her pick her hours, as long as there was a notice a little while beforehand. Sakura intentionally picked these hours every day, despite not liking to wake up early, partially because it worked for her online schooling schedule for college. Ino internally questioned this at times, but never said anything. They had both gotten the job together, so Ino took the same shift as Sakura so they could work together.

"Sakura, don't forget to put the Almond milk you bought into the fridge; it's still sitting on the counter..!" Ino yelled over, setting up chairs.

Sakura jogged over from the doorway to the counter, grabbing the carton of Almond milk, putting it in the fridge before it got warm. "Phew..." Sakura muttered, letting out a relieved sigh, "That was close..! Thank you for reminding me..!"

"Yeah, totally," Ino replied, smiling a little as she finished setting up, "Why did you buy that, anyway? We usually just go with Lactose Free when people ask, and there usually aren't complaints."

Sakura giggled a little, smiling at her friend. "You'll see!"

Around 20 minutes later, when people started coming in, the reason Sakura had kept taking the morning shift walked in. This boy looked roughly their age, give or take a year or two. He had raven black hair, similarly colored eyes, and a bored expression on his face. He was wearing a grey hoodie and ripped jeans, a set of converse on his feet. Sakura saw him walking in, smiling in his direction. Ino finally put 2 and 2 together; this person was Sasuke Uchiha, a college student nearby, as well as a regular in the mornings, and always ordered the same thing; Coffee with Almond Milk, since he mentioned he was Lactose Intolerant, but all they had was Lactose Free, so he just stuck with that.

Sakura silently nodded in his direction as he walked up to order. "The usual?" she asked, smiling, and he nodded. "Coming right up!" she got to making the coffee, grabbing the Almond Milk when he wasn't looking. She added it to the coffee, writing his name on the side of the cup with a little flower, as she did with most people's coffee cups. Sasuke walked up to get his coffee, taking a sip as he looked at his phone. His face looked perplexed for a second, and he turned around to Sakura, raising an eyebrow.

"Excuse me, is there Almond Milk in this..?" he inquired, raising his coffee cup, to which Sakura nodded, smiling. "You just started using Almond Milk..?"

"Well," Sakura started, scratching the back of her head, "You always ask if we have it, so I thought I'd just buy some specially for you, since you come here so often, and are usually super nice..!"

Sasuke's eyes widened a bit, as he tried to process what the pinkette just said. "So..." he started, his expression a bit surprised, "You used your OWN MONEY...to buy Almond Milk for Me, some guy you barely know...just because I come here a lot..?

Sakura nodded, smiling a little more. They just stared at each other for a little bit, Sasuke trying to understand this person, and Sakura just returning his gaze.

Suddenly, a tired voice from behind Sasuke spoke up. "Kid, just give her your number. I need caffeine." They both looked over to see a man in a grey hoodie and cargo shorts, a black mask over his mouth, bandages over his left eye.

Sasuke looked a little shocked, trying to figure out the correct words to say. Sakura took this as an opportunity to pull her flower-shaped notepad from the pocket of the apron thing she's required to wear, as well as a glittery red pen. She writes her name, as well as her number on the notepad, tears that page out, and slides it across the counter to him. Sasuke picks up the little paper, reading it, a small smile creeping onto his face. He looked up to Sakura, nodding a little.

"'Sakura', huh..?" he said, sliding the paper into his pocket, "Alright, I'll
remember that. Talk to you soon, okay?" Sakura nodded, and with that, Sasuke walked out, sipping his coffee.

Ino giggled from across the way, smiling at her friend. "Go Sakura..!" she said, pointing a finger gun at her, "I guess my dating advice finally paid off!"

Sakura smiled at her friend, taking the next order. Something told her that today was going to be a good day.

-TheDemonGirl84-