“Probably because I knew you’d make a big deal of it when it’s nothing. Anyway, how about you and P’Tam? Have you given her an answer to her confession?”
I’m pleased at the way her face goes red at the question.
“Come on, we need to study,” she says, grabbing her notebook and turning away from me.
Chuckling, I go back to Principles of Management.
Chapter Sixteen: Sud
The weeks fly by. Noi practically lives in the library, studying for exams. My theater professor exempted me from my theater final since working on performing a scene with the others would cut into my time rehearsing for the series in workshops. I’m thankful, because I have plenty of other exams to worry about. Noi continues to find time to tutor me in math, and we do workshops twice a week now that we’ve started filming for the trailer on Saturdays.
Last week, we did extra skinship for a scene that ends with a kiss. Not like the kiss we did at the audition, but apassionatekiss. We haven’t tried doing it yet, but we’ve done a lot of staring into each other’s eyes and touching. It’s weird. I mean, it’s work and it’s easy because it’s Noi, but it’s still something we’ve never done in our relationship. I mean friendship, not relationship.
Koman plops down in the chair beside me in the theater where I’m studying. Glancing at my textbook, he says in English, “What’s up?”
“What do you mean?” I ask in Thai. I can read and write in English okay, but I don’t speak it very well. Noi’s much better at it.
“You’re sitting here by yourself, shaking your head like you’re trying to rattle something loose,” Koman says, still speaking English. “Are you falling behind because of the acting?”
“No.”
“What, then?”
I need someone to talk to, and I figure that, next to Noi, Koman is my best friend.
“This whole thing—being in a ship with Noi. It’s messing with my head.”
“What do you mean?” Koman asks.
“Would you stop with the English, so I don’t have to decode everything you say?”
“Sorry,” he says in Thai. “I’m practicing for a trip I’m taking to New York City in the summer. Explain to me how it’s messing with your head.”
“Noi and I have known each other a long time, and—“
“He lived with you, right?”
“Yeah. Since we were six.”
Taking a bottled drink from his backpack, Koman opens it and takes several swallows. “I guess that makes him more like a brother than a friend.”
“Not really. I don’t think of him the same way I think of my little brother, Ten. But having lived with him for so long does make it pretty easy to do all the skinship stuff with him, which, if you remember, was the whole reason I needed him to do it with me in the first place.”
“Skinship. That’s all the touching and kissing, right?”
“Right.”
Turning in his seat so he can look me in the eyes, Koman asks, “What’s that like? Is it gross? I mean, it’s got to be, especially for a ladies’ man like you.”
Rolling my eyes, I say, “I’m not a ladies’ man.”
“Yes, you are. Before you became a monk, you had girls all over you.”
“You mean when I realized I was going to flunk out of my first year at university if I didn’t start taking it seriously? You of all people know how much time a relationship takes, and I don’t have it right now.”
Koman’s phone buzzes with a text—undoubtedly from Waan, which underlines my point. He types something back before slipping his phone into his backpack and returning his attention to me.
“Okay, I get it. So, you’re bothered by theewfactor of acting all lovey-dovey with your best friend. Is it ruining your friendship or something? I guess that makes sense.”