Christening The House

Ice Cream 🍦

Kong's POV------

Arthit has been my best friend for over 20 years and I can remember the day we met as if it were yesterday.

I had just turned eight and was playing outside in the yard when I noticed a huge moving truck pull into the driveway next door. As the family emerged, my eyes locked on the boy, who looked to be around my age. I remember he had chocolate brown hair and milky white skin. As he looked around the yard of his new home, he turned towards me. For a second I wanted to run into my house and hide, but I just stood there frozen. He smiled and waved. Not wanting to be rude, I smiled and waved back. He then ran over to his mom and spoke to her. She looked over at me, still firmly rooted in one spot, smiled and nodded her head. Arthit ran over and stood right in front of me.

“Hi”

He said.

“Hi”

I mumbled.

“My name is Arthit . What’s yours ??”

“Kongpob”

“I am shifting here, the next door and I am happy that now I’ll always have someone to play with”

I looked into his hazel eyes and smiled. I had very few friends at school, because I have always been pretty shy. It would be nice to have a friend so close by to play with.

“I have my Transformers outside. Do you want to play with them ??”

Arthit’s eyes lit up and he smiled widely, displaying his beautiful dimples.

“Yeah”


So the two of us ran to my porch and played for the next couple of hours. Little did I know that in that one moment, my life was forever changed.

*************

Over the years, Arthit  and I were inseparable. You rarely saw one of us without the other. Being more outgoing and braver, Arthit always stood up for me when I was teased for wearing glasses, being too skinny or not being very good at sports. He always took care of me.

As I sat and thought about how our relationship progressed from a brotherly friendship to romance, I remembered another day in our history vividly. Even though I didn’t realize it at the time, I think it was the day I fell in love with Arthit .

*************

Arthit and his family had lived next door for almost a year now. Summer time in Bangkok was always hot, so Arthit  and I decided to walk to the corner store and get some ice cream. He was particularly excited because he heard that the store now had his absolute favorite flavor in the world... Raspberry soft serve. I never really cared what flavor I ate as long as it hasn’t have nuts in it. After we had purchased our ice cream cones, we headed back to my house where we were going to watch some TV before working on our fort in his backyard.

Arthit  was in heaven as he licked his cone and talked to me. While crossing the street, I must have tripped over my shoelaces or something because all of a sudden I was falling to the ground and watching my ice cream cone land, ice cream side down, on the ground. Arthit  was immediately at my side helping me up.

“Are you okay, Kongpob”

He asked, concern in his eyes.

My palms stung. I lifted them up and noticed they had been scraped up and were bleeding a little.

“I am okay”

I whispered.

I then realized that my ice cream was lying on the dirty ground. Ants were already making their way to the sweet treat and all I could feel was frustration bubbling in my chest.

I was frustrated because I tripped and fell.

I was frustrated because I embarrassed myself in front of Arthit again.