Kongpob and Arthit: short stories

Late Night Shopping

Arthit works in a supermarket, he meets Kongpob late one night.

It's a slow night at the supermarket and Arthit is desperate to go home. His shift is ending in forty-five minutes and then he plans to watch the latest episode of his favourite show and be asleep by 2am. At the next checkout, Bright is lying with his head on his conveyor belt, arms pillowed under his head as he snores loudly.

Arthit knows that their supervisor is somewhere in the back catching up on his own sleep and that he won't be out to bother them until it's time to close up. So he leaves his friend to snooze and focuses on the handful of customers still shopping this late.

There is an older couple in the booze aisle, loudly discussing the merits of Chardonnay over Sauvignon Blanc; an old man who visits the store at least five times a week is picking out oranges, a strange thing to be buying so late at night; and there's a guy he doesn't recognise down aisle six which is where they stock the pharmaceutical supplies. Since he looks to be about college age, Arthit has a good idea about what he might be choosing this late.

But he gets a surprise when the young man finally makes it to his checkout, the last customer in the store tonight. Instead of the expected condoms, the boy has three types of cold medicine and a pack of pro-plus, as well as several energy drinks.

Arthit looks between the items on the belt and the man who is buying them and immediately notes the tell-tale signs of a bad cold. His eyes look glassy and there are deep bags under them; his lips look chewed red raw and swollen; and his nose has a halo of pink around it.

"Rough night?" Arthit asks, reaching for the first item and scanning it.

The young man nods but doesn't speak and Arthit notes the throat lozenges and feels even worse for him.

He continues to scan the items, but there's a loud 'restriction' noise and he quickly checks the screen. "Oh, I'm sorry, turns out you can't buy both of these medications at once, looks like they have paracetamol in and it's restricted."

When the man doesn't reply, Arthit checks his face and realises he is indicating that his throat is sore, so he lifts the two boxes, "Pick?"

Arthit is watching as the young man looks between the boxes, face puzzled. Then he takes pity on him, "I would probably go with this one, from experience," he says, tapping the Lemsip. "I always find it soothes the throat as well as giving you the right dose of drugs. But only if you aren't allergic to anything?"

"I'm...not," the man croaks out, offering Arthit a smile.

It's so cute the way he speaks that Arthit can't help but smile back, something he absolutely avoids when serving the general public. He much prefers to maintain a customer-checkout operator vibe so that people hurry through his station and get the hell out of the store. But there's something about this man that is making him want to be kind. It's probably because he's ill, but it helps that he's easy on the eye too.

After putting through the Lemsip, Arthit starts on the energy drinks. "Umm, can I offer you an opinion?"

The young man nods.

"I wouldn't take these and the pro-plus. To be honest, I did that once at a festival and it all went dramatically wrong. I couldn't sleep for about forty-two hours and my pee turned bright green!"

The man stifles a laugh and it turns into a wracking cough which makes Arthit feel terrible.

"Oh man, I'm so sorry," he says, quickly opening the cough sweets even though he hasn't scanned them and opening one for the other man.

Warm fingers scoop it from his hand and a shiver runs down Arthit's spine.

For a long second they are locked in place, Arthit staring at the man, the man staring back. But then Arthit shakes himself as he feels the blush creep onto his cheeks - he hates being so damn pale! Quickly he turns back to the conveyor belt and grabs another item without looking.

It turns out to be a pack of sanitary towels, which doesn't help to ease the redness on his cheeks. He's gotten used to checking out every product in the store, but there's still something about feminine products that make him a little more nervous - as a gay man he really hasn't come into contact with them before this job, he's not a stereotypical gay character from a movie with the female best friend after all.

He quickly scans them, eyes wandering to the other guy of their own accord.

"Sister." He says hoarsely and gives Arthit another smile which Arthit hesitantly returns.

Eventually, he's scanned the last of the items and is packing them all into a bag that the man passes over. As he hands it back, he makes sure to let his fingers rub against the other guys and is rewarded with another grin.

But when he says the total and the guy offers him his card, he takes a bigger chance glancing down at the name which he never does.

Kongpob Suthiluck.

He likes the sound of his name and rolls it around in his mouth without speaking. It suits the young man in front of him, he thinks.

After completing the transaction, he reaches out to pass the card back, but instead Kongpob wraps his fingers lightly around his wrist.

"Thank you." Is whispered and Arthit feels a shock run through him as one of Kongpob's fingers strokes the pulse point at his wrist.

They stand there, just staring at each other, Kongpob's finger still tracing the path of Arthit's vein until there's a loud snort behind them and the sound of Bright lifting his head and going through his usual confused routine whenever he wakes up at work.

Immediately, Arthit pulls his arm back and Kongpob slides his card into his pocket.

"Arthit! Are we nearly done?" Bright asks loudly as he stands and comes out of his cubicle to stand beside Arthit, "Oh, Hi, I didn't see you there."

Kongpob smiles once more, eyes catching on Arthit's and then he motions with one hand and Arthit offers him a weak goodbye.

"Who was that hottie?" Bright asks as Kongpob exits the store, bag dangling from his fingers.

"Just a guy with a cold." Arthit replies, opening his register to start counting out the notes and coins, "I couldn't sell him all his medication though." He indicates the packet on the side and continues to count even as Bright leans over.

"But you thought he was cute right?"

"Umm.. I didn't really notice." Arthit says, frowning as he loses track of the pennies and has to start over. "Shove off now, I have to finish the count."

Bright grins and then grabs the pack of cold medicine, heading down the aisle lazily to re-shelve it.

"Hey Arthit?" He yells and Arthit groans as he once again loses the count. What's wrong with him, he does his every Friday with no issues even when Bright is at his most obnoxious.

"What Bright?" He yells back.

"Would you do him though? If he asked?"

This time Arthit not only loses count of the pennies, they spill out over his fingers and crash all over the floor.

He groans loudly, "Bright! You made me drop everything! Get over here and help me now!"

They've finished everything and have checked in with their supervisor who is locking the door behind them, when Bright coughs loudly and points down the road.

Standing there is Kongpob Sutthiluk, bag of medicine dangling from two fingers.

"Arthit! I think you should go see what he wants, and I'll watch from here just in case he's some kind of serial killer and I need to rescue you!"

Arthit knows that Kongpob has heard him by the bright smile that is curving his cheeks, so he takes a risk and steps towards him.

As he comes to stand in front of him, Kongpob points to his throat and frowns a little.

"Sorry.." he croaks out, "I..it.. hurts."

Arthit nods again and then nervously sweeps his bangs out of his eyes. "I'm sorry about my friend. He's a bit loud."

Kongpob laughs silently and then reaches out to tweak Arthit's collar with his free hand. "Can.. I see you.. sometime?"

And Arthit smiles.