HYSM

Nine

Mew felt his eyes on him, as he sat cross legged on the corridor floor between Zom Marie and Tul. He always knew when Gulf was watching - that unique heat on his skin and tickle in his stomach, they were his messengers.

And he'd received such sensory triggers a lot in recent weeks. Since the night in the bar - flames lighting in the younger's dark orbs as he'd eyed Mew on the dance floor, hands caressing at a distinctly male body - the heat, the tickle, and the gaze that caused them, had been near incessant.

But as for the reasons behind that, Mew was determinedly indeterminate...

Curiosity about this formerly unknown angle of his Phi's sexuality, perhaps? Straightforward shyness about what had taken place between the two of them under the nighttime cloak of the garden? Or simply a symptom of Gulf's own subsequent private confusion.

Mew tried not to linger for too long on such a thought path - wouldn't allow himself to venture any further than those basic, tentative steps. Because ultimately, he knew that it wasn't what his Nong wanted. So, rare self preservation.

Tuning back into his friends' present conversation, Zom was bidding farewell as she rose to purple platformed boots and departed for her own afternoon seminar - the Fashion Design faculty located a ten minute walk from Sports Science, even if in the most aerodynamic of trainers.

And in the space left behind by the young woman's bubbly chattering, Mew and Tul leant heads back against the cool interior wall, resting eyes to doze in pleasant, post-lunch fullness, gentle hum of their classmates in the corridor about them.

They had been good friends since high school, the two, and - grace of Tul's year living abroad in Australia - had both also entered university a year late together. As a medical student, Tul happily shared several classes with his friend that semester - the doctor-to-be having chosen Sports Science theory electives since he harboured an interest in muscle injury recovery.

Although, even if the two hadn't studied together, theirs was that bond of friendship for which it isn't necessary to spend every hour or day together. An unbreakable union of easy understanding and trust that would endure, whatever the weather or calendar.

"The project sign up sheet for the Hua Hin trip should be in class today", Tul yawned now, stretching arms aloft before slapping his own cheeks thrice - an aggressive attempt at waking himself up for the hours of study to come.

"Two words: Beach parties!", Mew grinned, then, "You want to buddy up for the project?"

"Deal!" Tul returned toothily, the two men's hands meeting mid air - thwack - in a high five of zestful camaraderie.

So the much anticipated trip was finally in sight - students invited to attend a coastal physiotherapy conference at a local athletics meet the following week, at which duo teams would work on assigned projects, to climax in a presentation on the last of the five days. A ripple of excitement had spread throughout the lecture theatre, when it was announced that all attendees would be booked, en masse, into a beachfront hotel, evenings free to do as they pleased as young adults. 'Work hard, play hard' - the middle aged lecturer could practically see the thought bubbles as flickering neon flashlights above their heads.

"Ahhh, this trip will be heaven, we can finally escape the BKK smog" sighed Tul contentedly, tilting his head to rest in platonic affection upon Mew's shoulder as the resulting dreamy slideshow flickered before his eyes: A beach of white sands and turquoise waters, majestic palm trees and gentle waves, fresh air, beer bottles on ice, and the freedom and invincibility of youth.

But Mew wasn't sharing his friends vision. He was held transfixed, instead, by the fierce eyes of the face that glowered openly down at him now from the opposite wall of the wide corridor. Those eyes that hadn't left his own since Tul's head had touched his shoulder. Gulf stood as one amongst the many queueing students at the double doors, yet somehow projected the feeling that there were only the two of them in all of Thailand.

Then - a sudden incision to the powerful, mutual gaze - came the click of a door lock as the entrance swept grandly open and the line jostled forwards, the tall man carried along by a stream of bodies, as if in a current.

"Wakey wakey Suppasit, let's go and get signed up", Tul teased unaware, offering a hand to his friend to help him up from the floor, cramped spine and coccyx aching as Mew rose with a groan of discomfort.

They located the project registration sheet on a wooden desk at the front of the vast, brightly lit, hall, students taking turns to sign their name against a chosen partner.

But when Tul reached the front of the line, he whipped his head around to face his friend, eyebrows aloft in surprise...

"Bro, we can't buddy up, you're already taken"

"What?" Mew frowned, pushing forwards to lean hands against the desk as he peered down at the list himself.

In the left hand column were alphabetically-ordered typed names, and he quickly found his own -

'Suppasit Jongcheveevat'

And on the right hand of each row, were the handwritten signatures of the person who wished to partner them.

"Alai Wa?!", came Mew's intake of astonished breath when he saw, scrawled in the angry red ink of a ballpoint pen that had pushed down so hard onto the paper that it had torn a small hole:

'Kanawut Traipipattanapong'