Page 3 of Friend Ship
“We’ll be ready.”
***
That night after football practice, I knock on the door of Noi’s dorm. His roommate, Jess, opens it.
“Oh, Sud. ‘Wa’dee.” He gives a quick wai before turning and walking to his desk.
I close the door and walk over to Noi, who is lying on the bed in his pajamas reading a book.
“Hey, I brought you the script.” I smack his butt with it before handing it to him.
“Is Noi going to be in a play?” Jess asks, staring at his computer screen, which is filled with what looks like a half-written essay.
“He’s doing a scene with me for my theater arts video exam,” I explain. “It’s a boys’ love scene. Didn’t he tell you?”
“I was hoping it would get cancelled,” Noi says sitting up now with the script in his lap.
“No chance, buddy. We’re doing this.”
“Wait, what? Did you sayboys’ love? Like, one of those gay dramas my sister watches?“ Jess asks, dark eyes going wide. “You guys are gonnakiss?”
“If the scene called for a kiss we would, but it doesn’t,” I say, noticing Noi sinking farther behind his script. “Why are you making such a big deal out of it? BL dramas are really popular.”
“I know that. I just never thought I’d have friends acting in one together,” Jess says.
“It’s just one scene, and it’s for school,” Noi says, putting down his script and glaring at Jess.
“So, you’re going to act like you’re all in love with Sud and shit?”
Rolling his eyes, Noi goes back to reading. I pull my copy of the script out of my bag and drop down on the big yellow beanbag on the floor by the window. I’ve already read through the scene a couple of times. It’s basically two guys coming to grips with the fact that they like each other. Koman did a really good job writing it, and I’m excited to act it out with Noi.
Jess rolls his desk chair behind me and looks over my shoulder.
“Who’s who?”
“I’m playing Leo and Noi’s Put,” I tell him.
After a moment of reading, Jess grunts. “Looks like Mee Noi is the bottom.”
“What’s that mean?” Noi asks.
Jess points at me. “It means he’s doing the fucking.”
Noi’s eyes widen. “What?”
“Don’t listen to him, Noi.”
“It’s the truth! I’ve listened to literally hours of my sister and her friends talking about bl’s. One guy is always the top and the other is the bottom,” Jess says. “Noi’s smaller, so he’s the bottom.”
“I’m not small!” Noi protests. “I’m an inch taller than you are!”
“But you’re smaller than Sud, and that’s all that matters. The smaller one is never the top. Well, rarely. They’re getting a little more realistic these days, or so my sister claims.”
“I think you know an awful lot about this,” I say, eyes narrowing. “Are you sure it’s your sister who’s a boys’ love fan? And, they never say that about tops and bottoms. Stop stereotyping.”
“It’s notme, it’sthem! And they may not say it out loud, but everybody knows it.”
“Well, that’s just stupid.” I go back to reading my script, but Jess has managed to get Noi overthinking.
