BAD BUDDIES / BEHIND THE SCENE CHAPTER 4

 

BEHIND THE SCENES – SCENE 4 || PAT

I like the atmosphere of the room.

The morning sunshine is so strong because the dark curtains are tied to one side of the window. The air conditioner was turned off even though I was the one who pressed it at 24 degrees while waiting for Pran to a shower. On a six-foot rectangular bed in a square room, adorned with just a few weird things, only me and my scented rabbit cuddled the whole night.

There was no sign of the man who kicked me off the bed again and again, but in the end, I climbed back in the bed again. I let him kick until he surrendered and didn’t put his efforts in kicking me off the bed again. Pran’s pillow was so cold, it was no longer warm, indicating that the owner of pillow has already left the bed for a while.

Damn. He already went to study but didn’t tell me.

I pulled a rabbit doll in a hug. I can't remember where I got it from, but I realized I'd become a doll addict. Initially, I washed it every week until its ears began to perforate and then the patch was stitched up and it still looks good. But its smell has changed now. I smell my hair every day to feel. Yes, it smells like Parakun's pillow and blanket.

“Bastard Pran. Do you like to look down on my doll? I take it to sleep with me every night, that’s why the smell has stuck like this.”

I like to talk to my rabbit doll before going to sleep. I like to pop at the tip of the ear, and I like long-eared rabbits. The color is duller than it was at first, but it's a classic mole. These days, I like
vintage stuff like this.

I like the atmosphere of the room.

I will return to this story later. After lying on a wide mattress alone, my gaze fell on the bookshelf. There is a house model placed on the bookshelves. Textbooks are organized neatly. Of course, almost all the furniture in this room was prepared by the the owner of the tower. He bought it all, but the artist within Pran arranged this normal room into a more pleasant and attractive one, than anywhere I ever went to. Pran is a man of order. After eating, he must wash it and he must sweep the room every night. This may be due to the work of the wasps that a saw piece of acrylic and cut into it until the room was too messed up.

Unlike me, who has never cleaned a messed up the room. There’s no need to mop and sweep.

Okay. I admit another thing that makes the room nice is Parakun.

I am a lonely person and besides being soft, I am attached to a rabbit doll names Nong Hom. I was in a dorm with Korn first, but I moved to another dorm which was two alleys away when Paa got admitted to the same university nearly a year ago. So, she moved in with me. Pran was here before, he lived in this building before me and I swear I was not going to be in the room next to him, but Paa had a condition that she needs a private space and this was the only room in the building with two separate bedrooms which was still available.

So, circling around the Parakun is purely destiny.

My loneliness has its limits. The more introverted I become, the more suppressed I feel.

If the God has sent me Pran to cure my loneliness for a night by letting me sleep with him in his room, then what about the other nights of the week?

Parakun’s refrigerator has variety of ingredients like eggs, instant noodles, milk, bacon, as well as bread, but no condensed milk. I told him already and hopefully he'll realise to bring it to his dorm before coming here.

The dorm has separate bedroom and an open kitchen which is connected to the living room and dining table. I saw a chevron pan hanging quietly, but the loud rumbling in my own stomach can’t be soothed without a really sweet, condensed milk. I'm a little bit skilled at cooking. Finally, I stir-fried instant noodles. It's not very good, but it's not bad either. It's called survival for a meal before returning to the room.

Tomorrow, I'll bring the toothbrush and towel in the room, so I don't have to walk around to find it. I will also replace soap that is fragrant and refreshing such that if I sniff my armpits, the nose is filled with the fragrance of variety of flowers.

“Phatra didn’t come to eat at faculty today. You can’t wait to meet Nong Mint. Mint really came to eat there today.”

In the late afternoon, I fell asleep on the long wooden table of the large lecture room. The teacher is teaching from the slide at the front and people who had just been in school after nearly half an hour, were sneaking at the back of the room, whispering,

"It's so hot to come out in the middle of the day."

“Missed…missed this event.”

Another friend noted and I moved up my chin to look at the sly letters of the slideshow that are displayed on the projector and wrinkled my nose. Mint, a former star who used to talk to me for a while before gradually separating because of her insensitivity,

"Definitely going to Apanom, it’s much larger.”

“Yes, you look at it.”

"Well, my hands are full.”

“Oh wow. It's overflowing. Definitely Overflowing. At that time, I said, give it a lot of care.”

“It’s annoying.” I’ll be honest, why do women have to be so spoiled?

“When talking to me, it seems like you’re lame.”

“You want him to make a wife, just go give it a try. Do you imagine it?”

"Who told me to take it?" I moved my shoulders, just this short conversation is going to give me a migraine. "If you guys want to flirt, go flirt by yourself.”

“He is interested. I don’t care. Are we going to the same restaurant this evening?”

“Just the moment to meet these bastards.”

I am too lazy to fight now but if I don’t help my friends, they are going to label me as a traitor. “Change shop?”

"What kind of liquor do the architecture kids drink every day? I've heard that their work is brutal.”

“It is cruel.” I accidentally said it and then I was quiet. I almost lost my voice. Once after hitting each other and finished taking care of the wound, Pran had to continue to work until dawn.

"What about your project? Wait, it’s not over. Why do you keep drinking alcohol?”

“Spit another day. I don't want to go and take a lesson to claim that this month it will be all over."

“Your money is going to be all exhausted this month.”

“Bastard Phatra! Don't talk like I don't know what your parents are doing." Korn said.

"I met Mint today. I must find a place to vent. Be my good friend and come with me.”

"Yes, yes, but let me talk to the counsellor first. I've been called at 5:00.”

“Did you fix the part where concrete test has passed?”

"Do you know? I'm not the one calling teacher. The teacher called me to Fai."

I want to pat your head. The woman in front of me looks with a rebuke when the sound of the conversation disturbed her. I smiled. The girl bowed her head back.

"The same awful charm."

"I haven't done anything yet." I shrugged my shoulders as I spoke my catchphrase.

Just wink a little.

______________________________________

After a heavy clearance, the liquor store that used to line up in front of the university moved the area away, but not too far away.

I and Four or five of my close friends went around to visit the most frequently visited place the M where I happened to meet the Parakun, good music, beautiful girls, easy to access. What another place can be as inviting? I don't know if today, Pran is going to be there or not. I can avoid running into him if I call him, but I rarely get the answer.

Even though he was a good guy, but in truth he rarely dissuades his friend at all. Once a person shows up at the store, all the plans made in advance go downhill. Pran is most intelligent and I am most forceful as a person. Pran is a sober person, and I'm the one who doesn't want to hurt anyone, so I try hard to hold back and keep a hold of my group of friends. Just hit each other out and don’t kill anyone. In addition to not wanting to go to jail, I am a good person.

“Hiding here?”

A small voice of a young woman, who had just followed me outside, as I withdrew to smoke, spoke to me for the first time.

"Huh? Why did you come out? There’s smell of cigarettes here. It’s better to stay inside the store.”

I came out to talk to Phatra. It was to convenient to talk inside as others would have teased me too much.

“Well, Nat is so beautiful.” I gave a faint smile and swept my gaze from her orange lips to her chest. Men found this woman insane. “How come I never saw Nat at the university?”

“How come I never met you too? Nat knows Phatra too. We have met earlier at the cafeteria but Phatra kept playing games. Nat also once asked her friend who this cool guy was.”

"Oh, I want to know, why didn’t you come and talk to me?"

“I didn’t know if you already had an owner.” The girl said with a little smile. After a while, she hugged my waist. I could smell the scent of her body mixed with the alcohol that has been drunk.

"Too impatient."

“Don't like it?”

Something like this is going to happen to a man of reproductive age. But I'm not as active as my friends. I can’t take it; I am not serious, but the perfume couldn’t have been more pungent.

“Give me your number.”

“Better have my Line Id.” So, I can block it easily. Be strong. I am afraid to follow Pran to ordain. Men’s tricks need to be practiced.

“You don’t want me to give me your number. Do you have a girlfriend?”

"No, if there was, could you have come and play like this?”

"Who knows?"

“You can ask Korn.”

“Even if there is, I don’t care.” Ohhh, this woman is dangerous. The sound of fire, I’m screaming in my heart. It's beautiful. It's sexy, but this woman is scary. Not yet. I don't want to be a prison man. I opened the QR code,

"I opened the QR code.”

I pressed open for the other person to scan the code and after scanning it, the beautiful girl in a student uniform sat in a seductive position on the bed, showed up as my friend on LINE. Nat sent me a greeting sticker but refused to go back into the store.

"Smoking a cigarette?"

“No. I don't like it."

"Wait inside then."

"Wait…I'm afraid the person around here is going to run away," I laughed. Smoked one last cigarette into my lungs for the last before tucking the tip into the sand above the stainless-steel trash next to it.

“Then let’s go inside together.”

_______________________________________

Damn! I made a mistake!

It was almost 2:00. The taxi driver took a taxi to the front of the tower and then he continued to drop me off. Today's event was that I had been drinking, met a friend of high school, Nat, who is a girl in a group of friends. She is a college cheerleader. She was very interested in me. I have been drinking pure beer, and I'm drunk as a dog and puked in the bathroom twice. When returning, she invited me to stay at the dormitory since its closer to the liquor shop but, my friend will have to drag me back. I should go to a room, any room which is available, any room except for her. I am pretty strict about women; it has always been like this since high school because there's so many people approached. I used to have a girlfriend. I've been tricked into learning hundreds of thousands of brand names known to a person.

Man, all the stubbornness in me has been dissolved.

I remember very accurately. I didn't cry. I had been warned many times about my girlfriend by Paa, but I never believed it until I fought with her so bad. The woman made an offer for me to pay up 10,000 baht and would give up. Oh, my God. My relationship could have been bought with just 10k baht, cheaper than the Hermes belt I was wearing!

“Can I send you up to your room?”

“No... it’s okay.”

The truth is, I can't go to the room at this time in this situation, but I can't sleep with a friend either as proposed in first place. I left the fragrant rabbit in Pran’s room. I can’t sleep until I cuddle it. Korn knows this so he doesn’t ask repeatedly. But no other person knows that I am addicted to Nong Hom.

“When you go to your room, LINE me.”

“Yes.”

"Well, Nat is dangerous. You better not mess with her.”

"I'm not going to go after her."

“It doesn’t seem so. I can only warn you. I have friends on both sides. Think about what I said.”

"Well, I’m going to get out of the cab."

I got out of the pink taxi and luckily, I vomited a lot so nothing else will come out because Korn and I were intoxicated and the moment we got in the car, the driver said just one sentence..’Puke, you pay up 500 baht.’

The elevator of the dorm slowly climbed to the height and stopped on my floor. It was 2:00 a.m. and the floor was quiet. I used my hands to push myself against the wall when I thought I was staggering too much. I stopped before coming to stop in front of the room next door. I made a knock with my mouth and the light emanating from his room showed that Pran was still not asleep. Without a doubt, he was working.

I made the same sound repeatedly until the owner finally loosened the knob and let me enter the room. Even if I smiled, showed him my teeth, it still didn’t make him feel good.

“Pran jaa.”

[T/N: jaa is usually added at the end of the sentence to show politeness. It basically can be used as a substitute for dear.]

“What? Are you drunk? Quit your shit and go back to your room.”

“Nong Hom is in your bed.”

“You rotten bastard.”

“Nong Hom.” I called it repeatedly. The doll has an owner. If he will call the owner rotten bastard, it will not look cute.

"I am sleepy. Let's go in. Why are we standing here?"

“Go back to your room.”

“Sleep with meeeeeee.”

I dragged the last sound and went to hug the other man. Parakun pushed me away almost immediately but I quickly grabbed on the door.

"What the hell are you doing?"

“Hug me. Hug. Hug…. Why there is still a wound on your face? My belly wound is so much better.”

“You’re drunk and delusional. Shit. Stay here. I'll get your stuff back."

"No, I’m going to sleep here. If I go back now, I will get scolded."

"Why did you drink this much?"

"You’re worried.” I laughed but the other guy didn’t find this funny. “I was hit on by a girl.”

"Stupid."

“But I came back, didn’t I? doesn’t it prove that I don’t like the smell of perfume? I like the smell of Nong Hom and your smell…Even better.”

"Are you a psycho? Sniffing me like this!"

“How else would I smell you if I don’t sniff you?” I hugged him again and sniffed him. Then I felt a knee hitting my abdomen. The culprit doesn't feel guilty.

“Disgusting." Parakun said as he turns back into the room, but when I followed him inside, he turns to me and asks

"Who let you in?"

"I can still sleep with you like last night. If you keep on arguing with me, you can't go back to work.”

"And you know what? I was going to get back to work, but when I opened the room’s door and found the dirty dishes of rice, pan was not washed, food scarps in the kitchen, sheets unfolded, bed not made and noodles packets all over the floor.”

Well in the morning I was in a hurry so I didn’t clean up but now standing here and looking at him, I feel a little guilty of the condition of the room now, which means that when he got back to the room, he had to clean it up before he could start his work.

"I'm sorry. Your kitchen didn’t have sweetened condensed milk for me, so I made myself a meal before leaving.”

"Are you blaming me? Step out of my room.”

“Here you are being mad at me just for messing up the room.”

“I am mad because you are not conscious.”

“Wife. Your husband is at fault.”

“Who the hell is your wife!? Don’t play with me. You will come in my room, steal my eat, eat my food, use water, electricity. Be considerate towards my room! And don’t make a cheeky face like this.”

“I know.” He doesn’t want me to play with him but thinking about it, he does sound like a wife. "You’re like a wife kicking your husband out of the house because he didn’t help with the housework.”

"Yet again."

"Sorry." I said and upon hearing this Pran seems so cool down.

“You’re sorry. What next?”

"I'm so sorry. I'm not going to mess with you anymore."

“I have cleaned up your mess this one time. If you continue to do it, I'll wait for you to pick up everything, okay?"

At least means I still have a chance to come to the room. I nodded a little bit for the peace of mind. It would be nice if I thought I was wrong,

"Again, toothbrush and towel, and what's your shirt in my closet?"

"Just in case, if you're in a good place, wash your cold eggs. I don't like the smell of flowery soaps you buy."

"You buy yourself a new one."

"I'll help you out with the electricity bill."

"You think I don’t have the money to pay the bill?”

“I know Pran’s household is as rich as a billionaire, but I want to be here...” I will be honest, the atmosphere around the house is good, and I’m comfortable. "I don’t want to go back and fight with Paa...wait, it’s not like I love you, you know...”

“Don’t be bothered.” He sighed, putting a halt to this matter.” When you go to sleep, take a shower, and wash your hair. Don’t make my mattress stink. I am going to bed.”

“Yeah.”

“You act like a child. Don’t get drunk like this again. Its annoying to see you drunk.”

“Yes.” I was going to embrace Pran again but was stopped.

“Hug me again and I make you bleed.”

I laughed at him and he went to work on his model. Who said Pran is fierce? Its just that when you look closely…

He’s cute…my Pran.