Page 77 of Friend Ship
“Your brother is very mature. I’m proud of him,” Mae says. I notice she’s watching Pah’s face, so l turn my head to look at him.
“Pah? Is this a big problem for you?”
“I won’t lie to you. I’m worried about both you and Mee Noi. If this new relationship goes badly, what happens then? And don’t tell me it won’t because you can’t guarantee that.”
“I think Noi and I would do anything we could to save what we have. What I mean is, if we can’t make it as lovers, we’ll find a way to go back to being friends.”
“That won’t be easy,” Pah says.
“I know.” What can I say? Noi and I want to be together, and we’re going to be. We’ll face any problems as they come.
“All right, then.”
“When Mee Noi wakes up, tell him I’m making grilled pork.”
“Okay, I will.”
My parents get up and leave me alone in the living room where I stretch out on the couch. It’s such a relief to have it all out in the open, it takes me a while for me to calm down. After a while, I hear footsteps on the stairs and Noi’s voice in the kitchen, talking to Mae. I get up and head that way.
The smile that appeared on my face when I thought about telling Noi that Mae, Pah, and Ten know about us and are okay with it vanishes when I walk into the kitchen to find Noi crying into Mae’s shoulder.
“What happened?” I ask. “Noi?”
Mae strokes Noi’s head. “He’s just overwhelmed. Everything’s fine.”
“Overwhelmed about what?”
“You told them,” Noi says, pulling back from Mae and wiping his eyes with his hands.
“I would have waited for you, but it just seemed like the right time.”
“We asked him outright,” Mae defends me.
“I woke up from my nap and was scrolling through my phone when Ten came in and told me it’s okay with him that you and I are boyfriends,” Noi says, his chin wobbling.
I open my arms to him, and he comes to me, snuggling into my embrace.
“What’s happened now?” Pah asks, stopping short when he walks into the room and sees us.
Mae explains it to him, and then we sit down at the kitchen table and Pah goes over what was said earlier when Noi was sleeping. When he’s finished, Noi’s face is pink from embarrassment. Biting his lip, he nods to Mae and Pah when they ask if he’s okay.
“I just don’t want to talk about it right now, if that’s all right.”
“Of course it is,” Mae says.
***
Later, after we’ve stuffed ourselves with grilled pork and Ten and Oat have gone upstairs to hang out in his room, Mae, Pah, Noi, and I sit on the front porch, Noi sharing a chair with me. Noi leans his head against my shoulder as we look out at the darkness of the yard. Pah’s telling us about his latest film project, and Mae’s doing needlework.
“I wish they would give you boys more time here,” Mae said after Pah finishes and we’ve been silent for a while. “Are you going to drive them back in the morning, Thawan?” she asks Pah.
“Yes. I promised Khun Intapong I would have them at the studio by noon.”
“Well, I don’t see how giving them an extra day could hurt.”
“Time is money,” Pah says.
Mae huffs and continues with her stitching.
