Chapter 9 Mee Noi
Chapter Nine: Mee Noi
Before I know it, the weekend field trip is over.
I’m surprised at how much I enjoyed it, which goes to show I should get out more, like Sud always says.
Maybe that’s the point of going to college—it forces you to do just that.
P’Film and I spent a lot of time together planting and exchanged LINE IDs before I left, so I guess I’ve made a friend.
By the time I go to bed my first night back, he’s sent me several photos he took of us while I was there.
I’m normally not a big Instagram person, but I’ve been posting more since my face landed on the Best Boys page and have been surprised at how many comments and likes they’ve been getting.
P’Tam confessed her feelings to Bua on day two of the trip, and Bua’s been a mess ever since. She isn’t sure she is ready for a relationship so soon after her breakup with her boyfriend, which happened just before she left for college. She also isn’t sure she could be attracted to a girl.
As soon as we arrived on campus, Bua seeks out other friends, since I couldn’t come up with any advice on the subject.
Since Jess went home for the week, I’m on my own in our dorm room.
Lying in bed in the dark, I start missing Sud.
I missed him all weekend, but I know he’s at home now, and I want to be there with him and Ten and Mae and Pah.
My real parents texted me that they are in Paris.
They now own a house there. After that they’re going to be in South Africa for a month.
The main purpose of the message was to remind me to do well in my studies.
I wasn’t even worth an overseas phone call.
Remembering all the nights I cried myself to sleep because my parents didn’t care about me, and how Sud would rub my back while telling me in a soft voice that he would always be with me, brings tears to my eyes.
Trembling, I sit up in bed, sorrow and underlying fear bringing a fine sheen of sweat to my skin.
Has something happened to Sud?
Reaching for my phone, I send him a text with shaking hands. Not wanting to let him know I’m anxious, I simply ask if he’s back home and how everyone is.
Minutes seem like years. Finally, I receive an answer that he’s there, and everyone’s good, and that they all miss me and wish I was with them.
My tears spill over as I lie down in bed again. Clutching Fuzzy, I remain awake for a long time.
***
“When’s Sud coming home?” Bua asks me a week later when we’re hanging out in her dorm room. Her roommate has gone home and won’t be back until the weekend.
“Tomorrow, I think.”
My phone vibrates with a LINE message from P’Film.
Bua waves her game controller in the air. “Is that P’Film? Tell him to play something with us.”
While P’Film’s getting on his PC, Bua says, “I’m glad you two are staying in touch. He’s really cute, isn’t he?”
I look up from my controller. “Do you like him or something?”
“What? No! Actually, I thought you two looked cute together.”
I frown. “We’re just friends.”
“No spark at all?”
I think about it. “He’s nice. And, sure, he’s cute. But I don’t feel anything in particular about him. Not now, anyway.”
“Because he’s a boy?” she asks.
“I don’t know. I just don’t.”
“Maybe you will later,” Bua says.
I kind of doubt it. I guess P’Film is nice-looking, but it never crossed my mind I could date him.
I want to ask Bua if she’s made up her mind about P’Tam, but I don’t want to get her going.
Her friends advised her to play it cool and tell P’Tam she needs time to think, so I’m assuming that’s what she’s doing.
It’s after midnight when we finish playing and I set off for my dorm building.
The moon is hidden behind clouds, and the light outside Bua’s dormitory is burned out, so it’s pitch black where I’m walking between buildings. I turn on my phone’s flashlight, and it helps a little. I have to admit I wish Sud was there to walk with me.
Since I know P’Film’s still up, I call him.
“Hey, what’s up?” P’Film asks when he answers.
“I’m walking back to my building and can’t see for shit.”
“And you’re scared?”
“I just don’t like being alone in the dark. This area between buildings is creepy,” I say, a prickle of unease running up my back. I look over my shoulder, but no one is there. “Just talk to me until I get there, okay?”
“Okay,” P’Film says agreeably. “I got an A on my plant genetics exam.”
“That’s great! You were worried about that, right?”
P’Film hums. “It was so hard. I can’t believe I passed it, much less got an A.”
I tell him about my hardest class last term. When he doesn’t reply, I say, “P’Film?”
The deep breathing over the line tells me he’s fallen asleep. I don’t disconnect, though.
I hear from the woods what I rationally know to be a couple of flying foxes in a dispute, but a shiver runs up my back and I nearly run the rest of the way to my building.
“Everything okay?” the woman at the night desk asks when I burst in the doors.
I nod, feeling silly. Since I’m inside and P’Film is now snoring in my ear, I disconnect the call.
In my room, I don’t bother to undress, just curl up on the bed with Fuzzy and pull the covers over me. Students who went home during the mid-term break have started to return, but Jess is still gone, and at that moment it feels like I’m the only one in the world.
“Don’t be a baby,” I say out loud.
I think about calling Sud, but then I really would be a baby. Besides, I talked to him that morning. He and Ten were going somewhere together.
I must drift off because I nearly jump out of bed when my phone vibrates on the table.
I snatch it up and answer in groggily without looking at the screen. “Hello?”
Sud laughs and mimics my English. “Hel-lo? Are you already in bed?”
Glancing at the clock, I say, “It’s nearly one a.m. Of course I’m in bed. What are you doing? What’s all that noise?”
“Oh, sorry. I didn’t realize it was that late. The neighbor’s made barbeque and everyone’s sitting around outside. What did you do today?”
I told him what Bua and I did.
“That’s cool. I called because Ten really wants to talk to you.”
“Okay, put him on.”
Sud’s brother’s excited voice blasts in my ear. “P’Mee Noi! Why didn’t you come home with Sud?”
“I had to go on a school trip, Nong. Why aren’t you in bed?”
“I took a nap earlier so I could stay up. I got to shoot fireworks!”
“Sounds like a lot of fun.”
“Will you come see us soon?”
“I will. I promise.”
“Okay, well, I’m giving Sud the phone. Mae and Pah would say hi if they weren’t talking to the neighbors.”
There’s a lot of fumbling noises, and then Sud comes back on the line.
“Sorry about that. Ten dropped the phone in the bushes.”
“I didn’t mean to!” Ten yells in the background.
I chuckle. “That’s okay. It was good to talk to him. Did you go online for your exam results? They’re in as of this afternoon.”
Sud groans. “What if I failed something?”
“You know you didn’t.”
“I’ll look tomorrow. Hey, I’ve got to go. Pah’s calling me.”
“Okay. Talk to you later.”
I disconnect and settle back under the covers with Fuzzy.