Mango Flavored Ice Cream

Cute Fluff

Part 1

“Wh-what are you doing?” Krystal asked, her voice soft and laced with confusion.

Amber turned to look at the girl. Even though she was only a little bit taller, Krystal seemed so fragile compared to her. A sense of protectiveness washed over her. “What does it look like? I’m walking you to class.”

“Why?” Krystal’s dark brown eyes flickered towards the older girl, a frown adorning her face.

Amber narrowed her eyes at the expression. She didn’t like seeing the frown on the girl’s face. It didn’t suit her. A smile should be spreading across that beautiful face instead. It bothered her that she was the cause of the frown.

“No reason.” Amber gave a small shrug as she matched the younger’s pace that had suddenly sped up. She actually just wanted to be near the girl but she wasn’t going to tell her that.

Krystal continued to frown as she turned away, clutching her bag tightly.

“Amber!” A voice suddenly called out causing Amber to turn around.

She saw one of her friends running towards her.

“What?” Amber called back a bit unhappily. Couldn’t he see that she was trying to find a way to get Krystal to talk to her? She then turned back around in time to see Krystal hurrying away, her silky black hair flowing behind her.

“Who was that?” Key asked as he came up to the girl.

The love of my life. “No one,” Amber muttered and let out a long sigh as she turned to face Key again. “What do you want?”

“Jeez, you look like I just sat on your dog or something,” Key said as he took in Amber’s expression.

Amber rolled her eyes. “Nice comparison. Now what do you want?” she repeated. Classes were going to start in less than five minutes and the tomboy wasn’t in the mood to have everyone in class stare at her like she killed someone for being late.

“Double date. You, me, Eunji and Suzy.”

Amber raised her eyebrows. “Wow, didn’t know you were interested in me in that way.”

Key shot the girl a death glare and shoved her lightly. “Ha, ha. Very funny. But I’m being serious, Amber. I need you there.”

“Why? You like Eunji so take her out by yourself. There’s no need to drag me into this.”

“I would, but you know how nervous I get when I’m around her by myself,” Key reminded the girl. “Please, Amber. Help me out.”

“I can’t.” Amber refused. Not only did she not have any interest in Suzy but she didn’t have the time to either. “I have work after class.”

“That’s fine. We’ll just come by the ice cream shop.”

“You want me to be on a date while I’m working?” Amber asked the boy incredulously. “Dude, my boss would fire me in an instant!”

“Come on, Amber. Please! Help me out, I’m desperate!” Key pleaded.

She sighed. It wasn’t a secret to the tomboy that Key likes Eunji and has had a major crush on her ever since the start of freshman college. But why must he drag her into this?

“Can’t you ask Minho to come with you or something?”

“No, Minho’s a jerk,” Key mumbled. “Besides, Eunji told me that Suzy really likes you. You two could totally hit it off!”

“No thanks.” Amber immediately declined.

“Please, Amber. I really need you to be there.” Key was now begging, blinking his eyes cutely while pouting. It looked very disturbing, to say the least.

“Ugh, fine. Just this once. But you owe me big time.” Amber pointed a finger at the boy then waved his face away from her. “Now stop giving me that creepy look, it’s disgusting.”

Key broke out into a big smile. “Thank you, thank you, thank you! I promise I’ll make it up to you!”

“Yeah, whatever. I’m going to class,” Amber grumbled and walked away. If going on this double date ruins her chances with Krystal, then she was going to kill Key with her bare hands.

~~~

Classes had ended about half an hour ago and Amber was now in the local ice cream shop wiping the counter top. She was not looking forward to this date at all.

“Smile, Amber,” the girl next to her hissed as she readjusted her navy colored apron.

“No. I don’t want to,” Amber stubbornly replied and moved to the sink to wash her hands.

“You’ll scare the customers away and that’ll only piss our boss off, you idiot.”

Amber huffed and forced a smile onto her face. “There. Happy?”

Yuri peered at the tense face and nodded. “It’ll do.” She then swung the towel in her hand over her shoulder and crossed her arms. “So, want to tell me what’s wrong?”

“No, you’re too old to understand.”

“Excuse me? Since when are people too old to understand? I think you’ve got your logic backwards.” Yuri tilted her head and observed the girl. “Besides, I can already tell that it’s about a girl.” A mischievous grin began to spread across her face. “It’s Krystal, isn’t it?”

Amber’s fake smile immediately fell and she narrowed her eyes at the girl questioningly. “How do you know that?”

Yuri shrugged. “Her sister is in my Management class. Apparently someone has been bothering her baby sister.”

“I do not bother her,” Amber lamely retorted.

“Well, you follow her around in school and act like a huge idiot so it’s no surprise she would be freaked out by you.”

“What? I do not... Wait, I freak her out?” Amber pulled back and blinked in surprise. “She’s afraid of me?”

Yuri brushed a hand through her hair and sighed. “Want my advice, kid? Back off.”

Amber frowned. “But if I’m not around her, how will she know that I like her?”

The mischievous grin returned. “So you do like her. I knew it. How much exactly?”

Since there was no point in hiding it now, Amber decided to just admit it. “A lot...” she sighed in defeat. Ever since her junior year of high school, she has had feelings for Krystal. The only problem back then was the younger girl wasn’t even aware of her existence.

“Aw, that’s so cute!” Yuri cooed and clasped her hands together happily. “Amber’s in love~.”

“Don’t make fun of me.”

Yuri smiled and gave the tomboy’s shoulder a light pat. “Just give her some space. Don’t hover around her all the time like a ghost. Trust me, she’ll notice you.”

“I’m sorry, but since when are you so knowledgeable in this area?” Amber asked, raising her eyebrows skeptically. “Is there someone following you around that you haven’t told me about and I need to beat up?”

Yuri rolled her eyes. “Don’t be a jerk.”

Just then, the bell on top of the glass door rung as three people entered the shop.

“Oh, great,” Amber groaned. She had nearly forgotten about the stupid double date.

Yuri shot Amber a questioning look but the younger girl shook her head.

Key walked in with Eunji by his side while Suzy trailed slightly behind them.

“Hey, Amber.” Key greeted albeit nervously.

“Hi,” Amber replied without much enthusiasm. She was not looking forward to this one bit.

“Amber, this is Suzy.” Eunji introduced her friend. “I think you two are in the same Economics class.”

Amber gave the girl a nod of acknowledgement. “Nice to meet you.”

“You too.” Suzy flashed a smile.

Even though Suzy seemed like a really nice girl, things could never work out between the two. Not when Amber already has someone else occupying her heart. And as if on cue, Krystal’s face flashed across Amber’s mind and it made her miss her for some reason.

“What can I get you?” Yuri asked as she held the ice cream scoop in her hand.

“Hi, Yuri,” Key greeted, “I think we’ll get the vanilla sundae. It’s Eunji’s favorite.”

Amber silently snorted at Key, knowing he was allergic to anything closely related to vanilla. He’s going to regret it later if he eats even one bite.

“Are you sure?” Yuri asked, raising her eyebrows hesitantly after she finished preparing one of the two sundaes. No one can forget the time when Key’s entire face bloated up from trying one small scoop of vanilla when he was sixteen because he wanted to taste it so badly.

“Mm...” Key bit his lips, quietly contemplating the risk and embarrassment. He then decided it was better if he didn’t. “Okay, nevermind. Change mine to a chocolate sundae, please.”

Amber pressed her lips tightly together to keep herself from laughing out loud.

Eunji looked over at Key. “Is something wrong?”

Key rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. “Um, no. It’s just... I’m allergic to vanilla.”

Hearing that, a smile lit up on Eunji’s face. “And you wanted to eat it just to make me happy? Aw, that’s so sweet of you.”

Amber mentally gagged and shook her head. It was obvious the two were going to last a long time together. She then glanced over to her right and immediately tensed. She had totally forgotten that Suzy was still there.

“Err... What would you like?” Amber cleared awkwardly.

“I’ll just have a plain cone, thanks,” the girl smiled.

“Sure,” Amber nodded and turned around to prepare it. She then handed the girl her cone when she was done. “Here you go.”

“Thank you.” Suzy reached into her bag and pulled out some money.

“Ah, no. It’s okay.” Amber quickly shook her head. “It’s my treat.”

Suzy blushed and nodded shyly as she placed her money back into her bag.

“Okay, come on then. Let’s sit,” Key said, turning to the booths nearest to the counter.

Since they were the only customers in the shop right now, Amber decided it was alright to join them for a bit out of politeness. But she didn’t sit. She just stood with her body leaning against the side of the booth.

After a few minutes of random chatting, the bell chimes above the door rung again. Amber didn’t bother to look up because she knew Yuri was behind the counter.

“Hi, what can I get for you?” Yuri asked cheerfully.

“Hi,” a girl softly replied.

Amber’s head immediately shot up. She could recognize that voice anywhere. She glanced over to see Krystal standing in front of the counter with her hair swept up in a ponytail and one hand in the pocket of her jacket. Man, why does she have to be so breathtakingly beautiful?

Without wasting another second, Amber pushed herself from the booth and stalked behind the counter, bumping Yuri aside with her hip. The older girl stumbled off to the side and turned to glare at the tomboy.

“Jerk,” she muttered.

“Hi!” Amber ignored Yuri and greeted Krystal happily. She always found herself smiling whenever Krystal’s around.

“Uh...” Krystal stared back at Amber, a little startled.

“What can I get for you?” Amber asked, trying to keep things as normal as possible.

Krystal cleared and regained her composure. “May I have one tub of mango flavored ice cream?” she asked.

“Of course!” Amber nodded and turned to Yuri. “You heard her.”

Yuri rolled her eyes and grabbed an empty ice cream tub. She then started filling it as a faint grin danced on the corners of .

“So, what are you doing here?” Amber asked in an attempt to strike up a conversation. This was the first time she had ever seen the girl at the store. For some reason, it made her giddy. She mentally face-palmed for acting like such a little school girl.

“Um...buying ice cream...” Krystal answered.

Oh... “Right. Of course.” This was an ice cream shop after all. Aish, nice going, Amber. Way to make a fool of yourself. “Is mango your favorite?” She tried to save herself with another more appropriate question.

Krystal nodded slowly.

“I’ve never tried that flavor, actually,” Amber said but then immediately regretted it. She should’ve told the girl that mango was also her favorite flavor. It was her moment to bond with Krystal and she blew it! Nice going, idiot.

“Oh...w-well, it’s really good,” Krystal wasn’t sure what else to say.

Amber nodded awkwardly and glanced over at Yuri in time to see her put the lid on the ice cream tub. She reached over and snatched it from the girl. “Here you go,” Amber said cheerfully as she handed the tub to Krystal.

“T-thank you,” Krystal mumbled as she accepted the ice cream and placed a five dollar bill down on the counter.

“Oh, you don’t have to do that.” Amber quickly pushed the money back towards the girl. “Just take it.”

“N-no,” Krystal stammered. She then pushed the bill back into Amber’s hand. “I can’t possibly.”

Amber blushed as she stared down at her hand that had touched Krystal’s. She couldn’t believe their hands touched. For crying out loud, THEIR HANDS TOUCHED.

As Amber was too busy spazzing inside her head, Krystal had turned around and left the store.

“Wow, you’re such a sore loser,” Yuri commented as soon as Krystal was gone.

“I can’t help it.” Amber brought her hand up to her chest and sighed dreamily, her hand still tingling from the contact.

“Well, you can start by treating me better.” Yuri shook her head and chuckled.

“Uh...yeah, about that... sorry. I didn’t really mean to push you.” Amber apologized a bit guiltily. “I was kind of out of it.”

“Yes, I saw that. You’re so whipped it’s quite shocking. But I forgive you.” Yuri gave Amber a pat on the arm. “Anyway, remember what I said. Leave her alone for a while and give her some breathing space.”

“Do you think she likes me?” Amber asked. Maybe Yuri was able to pick something up since she’s better at reading people.

Yuri tilted her head and pondered. “I’m not sure... But one thing I am sure of is, she doesn’t hate you.”

“Really? How do you know?”

“Well, for one, I noticed a faint blush on her cheeks when you started talking to her.”

“Really?” Amber became hopeful.

“Yeah. She also looked kind of nervous around you so I think that might be a good sign.” Yuri said and had to chuckle at Amber’s excited expression. “But again, I’m not 100% sure. All I know is that you don’t repel her.”

“I see. Thanks.” Amber deflated a little.

“Don’t worry. You’re a nice person, Amber. I’m sure she likes you. You’re my favorite sister, after all.”

“You don’t have a sister,” Amber reminded the older girl.

Yuri shrugged. “Well, if I did, you would’ve been my favorite.”

Amber chuckled and shook her head. “Thank you, I guess.”

“By the way,” Yuri leaned closer towards Amber and nudged her rib with her elbow. “That girl is staring at you.”

Amber turned to look. “What gir— Oh crap. Suzy.” 

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Part 2 coming soon. Check Forward for date & time.