A Chat Between Friends
"Why aren't you married?"
I blinked and stopped grading papers abruptly. Slowly, my eyes lifted from the hundreth test I had graded that day and rested upon my co-worker and good friend.
"I know it's a horrible thing to ask, but I genuinely want to know,"Sakura Sensei (but I just called her Sakura) said. "You know how curious and/or horrificly open I am."
I sighed, put down my pen, and rubbed my temples. "Who asked you to ask me?"
"No one," she replied, sitting down on one of the student's desks. It was my free period, and everyone was eating lunch. She looked at me with her stupid, half smile. "A student in my church who has you as a teacher asked me. She listed all these great things about you as well. You would have blushed."
"Who was this?" I asked, perking up the slightest bit. Sakura laughed and pushed her long strawberry-blonde hair out of her face. I caught sight of her ring (her new wedding ring). She had just gotten married that past summer.
"I can't tell. She told me not to." Sakura stuck her tongue out at me, and I did likewise. "But come on, why aren't you married?"
I shrugged, picking my pen back up. "I haven't met the right person yet."
"Do you at least have a boyfriend?" She asked.
I didn't hesitate to snort. "No."
"Sheesh, we need to get you out more, Mayu."
"I don't need to go out," I explained. "I just haven't met that special person."
"You could if youwent out," Sakura insisted.
I rolled my eyes. "Sakura, honey, I just... I've met the right person, but he doesn't feel that way about me."
"Excuse me?" Sakura said, her suddenly going hushed. She scooted the desk closer, and her eyes instantly lit up. "Who is this man?"
Teasingly, I gave her a suggestive look. "Who said anything about a man?"
Her jaw might have dropped through the floor. "Wha-?" I spit as I burst into laughter, causing her to scowl and hit my arm playfully. "You dirty little ho."
"That language is not appropriate in school," I said, still laughing. I then calmed myself and began grading tests again.
"Come on, Mayu!" Sakura whined. "Tell me who it is." It was amazing how much we sounded like our teenage students.
I shrugged, not wanting to touch the subject. "No one."
I felt her poke me with a painful force. "Mayu! Tell me, tell me, tell me!"
I swatted her hand away and pretended to be extremely interested in the test I was grading. "He's just a guy."
"How do you know him?" She just wouldn't leave me alone, would she?
"From my past. He's an old friend."
"So what's the problem?"
I shook my head. "Sakura, can we just drop it?"
She gave me a pout. "You owe me for bailing you out of the last teachers meeting with Let-Me-Look-Down-Your-Shirt Principal Schoch."
I was caught. Grumbling, I shot her a glare, but continued my work. "... his name is Hatori. I'm not mentioning the last name."
She beamed at this. "Ok!"
"Not ok." I sighed heavily. "When I knew him, he was the boyfriend of my best friend."
She fell silent, her smile fading. "Oh..."
"Yeah. Oh." I stopped grading the paper and just fiddled with the pen. "It became really complicated, and to make a long story short... she got amnesia. And he wasn't allowed to talk to her due to... unstable mental capacity." I never really knew how skilled I was at improvisation and lying. I was pretty damn good. "So... They were together for a long time, and... I was just his girlfriends best friend... and I can't just 'make a move' because he's my friend and I shouldn't treat him like that. Plus that would be completely betraying my best friend... so... yeah."
The erie silence between us made me shift uncomfortably. Luckly, it didn't last too long because the phone rang. I stood, walked over to where it was hanging, and picked it up.
"Room 233," I said into the reciever. The voice on the other line shocked me.
"Mayuko-chan?" asked the deep voice of a familiar male.
I almost couldn't breathe. My breath hitched on my throat and I had to cough. "H-hi, Hatori-kun." I tried to ignore the instant look of curiosity in Sakura's eyes. I turned my back to her. "Uhh... why are you calling the school?"
"Just checking to see how the medication is going," he replied. "Feeling any better?"
"Hatori-kun, it's friday," I said slowly. "It's been a week since I was sick."
There was a pause. "So the antibiotics worked?"
I couldn't help but smile. "Yes, Doctor Hatori, you were right as always. I drank a shitload of water, took my pills, and was cured. You've saved the day once again."
"Are you being sarcastic or serious?"
"It's a sarcastic way of being funny, but I'm thanking you in my own special way at the same time," I explained with a laugh. "Just accept it as a compliment, ok?"
At this, I heard his chuckle. My heart stopped beating for a split second. "Alright then. I'm glad." I wasn't sure if he was talking about his medication working or the fact that I was feeling better. "I'll talk to you later, Mayuko-chan."
"Uh huh," I said. "See you, Hatori-kun." I hung up the phone, only to face the smuggest, most disgusting face Sakura had ever given me.
"Doesn't like you as more than a friend, huh?" she said, watching me as I returned to my desk.
"Yes," I responded harshly. "Now shut up and go back to your classroom."
"Alright, Mayu," Sakura sing-sang as she stood and walked over to the doorway. "I knew he liked you!" She practically sprinted out of the room as she said this.
"No he doesn't!" I called after her. I heard her humming happily down the halls, and rolled my eyes. I sank into my chair, shaking my head. "He really doesn't..."
