The thin line [Complete]

Chapter 8

Arthit's POV

What movie did we just watch? I am definitely sure that we spent two hours in the darkened movie theatre with characters constantly flashing on the screen but I doubt I have any comprehension of what just went on? Maybe there were dinosaurs at some point?

I was squeezed between two very distracting characters of my own, where on my left sat Preet, who everytime she leaned towards me to whisper something about the movie I pretty much stopped thinking. And then on my right sat Mike who may might as well have watched the movie as much as me since he spent almost all of the movie trying to force feed popcorn into Kongpob's mouth. Does he assume Kongpob has some sort of an eating disability that Mike keeps thinking he needs to feed him constantly?

So between the two of them I was so distracted that I ended up wasting my movie money. But I believe it might be upon me to break it to Kongpob that there is a possibility that his friend Mike has a beyond normal obsession with him. But that is such a weird conversation to have with the man I hate more than earthworms swimming in my noodles.

Wait, why do I even need to have that conversation with him. He is a big boy. I am sure he is more than capable of recognizing when someone is fawning over him. And as I have experienced first hand Kongpob is particularly skilled at making people's life hell who rubs him the wrong way. So this could work out better for me than I first imagined. While Mike was all weirdly stuck to Kongpob, I could focus on Preet.

Yeah, this is the right thing. Focus on Preet now. C'mon Arthit. Stop getting distracted by other people's lives. Especially since I need all the help in the world to get a move on for mine. The way I was going I would easily end up attending her children's graduation before I managed to even ask her on our first date.

I was dragging my feet behind the group while they were happily chatting away about the supposed movie we just saw while I was trying to come up with a game plan to salvage the remaining of my evening when I heard this Mike fellow address Kongpob again.

"Are you heading home now Kong? I can take you back."

"No!"

Four heads turned towards my unexpected outburst. No? No? What the fuck am I doing? Ok, think fast.

"Uh.....Kongpob can't go home just yet."

"Why?"

"Cause I need him to come in to work with me right now."

"You need me to come in on a Saturday night?"

"Yes."

What the hell is wrong with me? I literally just pep talked myself into ignoring his life and focusing on mine. I was in the middle of practicing my speech to Preet and now I was heading into the office just to not let Mike drive Kongpob home. Here I couldn't get two words straight when I was supposed to talk to Preet and yet I was spurting things left, right, and center when it came to Kongpob.

So here I was about to pull my hair out due to frustration while I sat on my desk staring out the back of his head as he typed away on his computer. And after a couple of hours of an entirely wasted Saturday evening for me I saw him swing around his chair and gave him a hard look.

"P'Arthit I am done with the report."

"Oh okay, good. I emailed you a few more things I need you to look at."

"Right now?"

"You have something better to do?"

"P' why exactly am I here?"

"Cause this is your father's company. And you should be living and breathing every free second of your life working towards your future success."

"Ok fine, let us pretend for two seconds that you haven't gone completely nuts and I buy your insane reason as to why I am working on a Saturday night. Why exactly are you here?"

"Who else is going to keep an eye on you?"

"Are you not interested in P'Preet anymore?"

"Of course I am. Why else would I suffer through so many lunches and dinners with you if I wasn't."

"Then I am going to ask again. What are you doing here? I gave you all these opportunities and you haven't made any head way at all. I thought you wanted me to take Mike away, I do that and then you show up at our movie theatre."

"Yeah, uh....I forgot which one I was supposed to go to."

"You know I am not an idiot right?"

"I am not entirely sure about that"

"Fess up now. What are you upto?"

"I don't know what you mean."

"I thought we made a deal. I would help you with P'Preet and no more bullying from your side. I thought I have been holding up my end pretty well. So I don't really get why you are back to being your old grumpy self again. Do you really want to go back to the old days? I have tons of tricks still up my sleeve you know."

"Fine, fine. You can go home for now."

"And I am not coming in tomorrow."

"Alright, whatever. I can't imagine you taking over with this attitude towards your own company."

"Good thing then my father is healthy as a horse. Now can I please get a ride home?"

We were nearly completely silent while I drove towards our apartment. I obviously have no reasonable explanation as to why Mike rubs me in such a wrong way. And irrespective of how much I may dislike Kongpob, I think it's better to have an uncomfortable conversation with him rather than blurting out random things which end up running a perfectly good potential date. Except anyone who knows me can attest to my non-existence conversational skills.

"So...uh....how exactly do you know Mike?"

"We went to high school together. Although we also lived pretty close to each other growing up so I have known him a lot longer."

"Both of you are really good friends then?"

"Yeah, I would say so. We have managed to stay in touch all along. Even after we went to different colleges and he started traveling a bunch with his band."

"Good enough that he is willing to drop everything and come hang out with you anytime you demand his time?"

"What can I say? I am a very likable guy."

"He seems like a good looking, popular fellow. Doesn't he have a girlfriend or something to spend all his free time on?"

"Hmmm....no. Now that I think about it I don't think he has ever dated anybody."

"That seems weird. Why do you think that is?"

"Not really sure. Maybe he is too busy to focus on his love life."

"Obviously not busy enough since he has more than enough time to hang around us every weekend. Maybe he ....uh.....likes someone already?"

"Maybe. He hasn't mentioned anyone specific to me though. Why are you suddenly all obsessed with Mike? Are you worried he is hitting it off with P'Preet?"

If I wasn't driving currently I would have face palmed hard enough to rattle my brain. Here I was trying to drop hints that maybe Mike had some not so platonic feelings towards him and then he turns around and say I am obsessed with Mike. How daft can the boy possibly be? I guess it is time for a more direct approach.

I was once again searching for a new way to broach the subject by the time we had reached our apartment building where we saw Mike perched against his park car, obviously waiting for a certain someone.

"Hey! What are you doing here?"

"I need to leave for practice and some promotional tours tomorrow. I won't be able to hang out with you for some time now. So I thought we could spend some time tonight before I head out tomorrow. We only spent time with your friends around so we didn't really get to catch up personally. If you are free that is."

Is Kongpob not hearing what I am hearing? How is it not blatantly obvious what is going on here.

"Yeah, of course. You should have called instead of just waiting out here. C'mon up. Do you want to stay over tonight?"

What? No! I haven't even gotten around to warning Kongpob about Mike yet.