Chapter 20: Friends and Ice Cream Are Therapeutic

The next few months passed by really quickly. Irie-kun and I are having a hard time seeing each other due to our school schedules and studying for our term finals. I miss him a lot. I've made some friends in my nursing program, Tomoko, Marina, Motoki and Keita. The best part is that we keep pushing and competing against each other to do better in class, especially during the practical lessons.

Dad's still thinking of moving out of the Irie household and is looking for a new place. Dad's told me not to mention this to anyone, but I'm tempted to tell Irie-kun…not that I have the time or the chance to do so.

Matsumoto-san hasn't said anything yet about Irie-kun and I dating, but she acts friendly when we run into each other on campus, I muse on my way home from the university. Suddenly, an arm grabs my wrist, yanking me into a nearby alley. I open my mouth to scream, when another hands covers my mouth. A female voice whispers, "Shhhh, Kotoko, it's me."

I tear away the hand and take a step back. "Mrs. Irie, what are you doing?" I ask, placing one hand over my rapidly beating heart. "You scared me!"

"Shhhh," She shushes me again, before dragging me down to the other end of the alley. "Kotoko, we have a problem." She whispers.

I look at her suspiciously, "What on earth are you talking about?" Mrs. Irie doesn't answer me; she merely peeks out onto the street, looking in either direction. I stare at her for several minutes, "This is getting ridiculous. I'm going to head home. I need to prepare for my lectures tomorrow-"

"THERE!" I jump as Mrs. Irie suddenly shouts and points down the street. I stare at her, before peeking around the corner as well. Suddenly my heart seems to stop and drop into my stomach.

Irie-kun is walking down the street with a smile on his face. Listening and talking intently with a woman with long black hair. I swallow hard, working hard to keep my face neutral as Mrs. Irie is watching my expression. I know that that woman is Matsumoto-san, which means that the reason I don't see Irie-kun except at home, is that he's always out with her. Schooling my features, I turn to Mrs. Irie, a hopeful expression on her face. "Irie-kun has a girlfriend, good for him. Now if you excuse me, I don't particularly care and need to go prepare for my lectures tomorrow." I turn around and walk back down the alley, all the while fighting tears. I didn't see Mrs. Irie smile behind me as I walk away.

I spent the next week purposely avoiding Irie-kun, which was easy to do at school but harder at home. Since Tomoko has a job, she usually can't stay to hang out with us after class. Marina usually leaves to go stalk a rich doctor, looking for her future husband, while Motoki goes with her to look at the eye candy. This leaves me to hang out with Keita, the only other sensible one in our group. One afternoon after class I stop Keita before he leaves. "Want to go grab ice cream with me?" I tried to go out often to avoid seeing Irie-kun and Matsumoto-san, and avoid Irie-kun at home.

Keita smiles, "sounds like a plan. I'm just going to run to the washroom first. I'll meet you outside the building." Grabbing my stuff, I meander down the hall, to the front door. Stepping out into the sunshine, I take a deep breath before sitting down on a bench under a tree next to the building. I crack open my textbook, reading over the last chapter. I look up as a shadow steps in front of me; Keita smiles, holding out his hand to me. I take it, and he pulls me up, and spins me under his arm. I laugh, letting go and holding my textbook close. Keita hands me my bag, which I had placed on the bench, before we turn, walking down the path.

"So why ice cream of all things?" Keita asks once we're off campus.

I shrug my shoulders. "I feel like something cold and sweet today. Besides, it's such a nice day out."

He bumps my shoulder. "You're not drowning your sorrows?"

I step back staring at him as if he had grown a second head. "Why do you say that?"

"You seem to be down these past few days. You're usually very cheerful." He stops, and places his hands on both my shoulders, staring into my eyes. "Are you sure you're ok?"

I smile faintly, "You're sweet Keita, but you forget I have a boyfriend." He rolls his eyes at me, leaving one arm around my shoulders as we walk down the street.

"I haven't forgotten, but I'm going to kill the boy if he's the reason you're so down and upset these past few days. Speaking of which, if he's your boyfriend, how come I haven't seen you with him ever? I thought you said he goes to the same university as us."

"He does. He's in the business building, so I don't see him very often because our class schedule clash." And he's going out with another girl behind my back, I add silently. What hurts even more, is that our four year anniversary is coming up. I had bought Irie-kun the perfect gift a few weeks ago and was looking forward to giving it to him this Saturday.

Stepping inside the ice cream store, I stare at the multitude of ice cream colours, I groan when I spot two flavours. "What's wrong? They don't have your favorite kind?" Keita asks teasingly.

"The opposite," I moan. "They have two of my favorite. The question now is: do I get both or just one?"

"Get both, you're a little too skinny for my liking." I glare at him.

"Are you trying to fatten me up?" I slap his arm repeatedly as he tries to shield away.

"NO…ow….I'm just saying….ow….that you're really skinny. I can feel your ribs when I hug you. Are you not eating properly?" He ducks, avoiding my last slap.

"Not really, just haven't been feeling hungry." I shrug.

"Hi, what can I get for you two?" I turn as the server asks us for our orders.

"Hi, can I get one scoop of the passion fruit sorbet and the hazelnut praline please."

"And can I get one scoop of the mint chocolate chip, and two scoops maple." I stare at Keita.

"Two scoops of maple ice cream?" I ask.

"It's so good. I'll give you a taste." He winks at me and I roll my eyes.

"Here you go, that'll be 9.50$ all together." The server states as she hands over our ice cream. I go to pull out my wallet, but Keita beats me to it. He hands the server a ten dollar bill, telling her to keep the change.

"You didn't have to do that." I tell him once we exit the ice cream parlor.

"Yeah I did. It's not cool to let the lady pay." He winks at me again, scooping a bit of his maple ice cream. "Here, I promised you a taste." I open my mouth as he slips the cold treat inside.

"Oh wow, that is good. It tastes like maple syrup." I smile cheekily up at him. "I prefer my passion fruit sorbet though."

He shrugs, "fair enough."

We walk in silence for a bit, while we eat our ice cream. Entering a nearby park, we find a bench near a small pond. "Are you ready for our first practical tomorrow?" I ask, finishing my last bit of ice cream.

"Completely, I mean, we're only doing bandages and needle preparations. I'm looking forward to next week when we practice blood pressure, and bandage work."

"Blood pressure's not too bad. I'm not looking forward to the blood drawing lab though." I state thoughtfully. "That's the end of term lab isn't it?" I ask. Keita nods. "Well, I guess I should go home and memorize the theoretical stuff for tomorrow. Meet you before class to review?" I ask, standing up.

He nods his head standing up as well. He pulls me in for a hug. "I hope you feel better, Kotoko." He whispers softly before releasing me. He turns and walks away. I shake my head.

"I'm too much of an open book sometimes." I murmur quietly before turning to the opposite direction and making my way home.

Hi Guys, here's the next chapter, for those of you who don't know, I replaced my apology in chapter 19 with a chapter 19 chapter...that sounded better in my head. Anyways, I had a comment a while ago asking me if I was going to incorporate Keita and the others into the university arc. This chapter should answer that. However, I do have a question for you guys. I'm currently debating to whether have Irie-kun's father have his accident which results in the engagement or not. What do you think? Either way, there are a few love rivals for Kotoko in the coming chapters, but how Irie-kun becomes a doctor will be up to you guys. Yes to his dad's accident or no. I guess that's it for now, I'll write to you guys next time. Ciao!