For Real and For Ever

Chapter 11

A/N: The image above does not belong to me. It belongs to the person who uploaded it on the internet.

Third Person POV

"Where did you park your car?" Barcode asked Jeff. "How come I didn't see it outside the gate?"

"I had to park it at the corner of the next block,"Jeff explained. "When I arrived at your gate there were several cars parked at the curbside. Did you notice if they are still there?"

"Yeah, they're still there," Barcode replied. "The friends of that guy next door to ours must have come to attend some kind of party or something. It's a Saturday evening, so no surprise there."

After Barcode's mom took the last spoonful of soup from Jeff, she thanked Jeff and told Barcode to offer Jeff some snacks and drink.

Jeff refused saying, "I'm okay, thank you. Since Barcode is here now I'm going to take my leave."

"Thank you again for taking good care of me," Barcode's mom said with a grateful smile.

"Not a problem at all," Jeff replied, bowing before leaving the room.

"I bought some Philippine pastries from the Philippine booth at the mall before coming home," said Barcode. "Would you like to try some?"

"Sure, thanks," Jeff replied.

"Cool!" Barcode said, walking over to the dining table where he had set the paper bag containing the pastries.

Jeff followed him to the dining room.

Barcode took a styrofoam container covered by transparent plastic wrapper. Inside it were several rows of small muffin shaped pastries of different colors. Some were light orange, others were pale green, while others were yellow and purple.

"These are Philippine rice cakes called puto," Barcode explained while he peeled off the plastic cover from the styrofoam container.

"Take one," he offered the styrofoam container to Jeff.

"Thanks," Jeff said, popping one into his mouth.

"Mmm..." Jeff said, chewing slowly and savoring the taste of the rice cake. "Can I have another one?"

"Take as much as you want," Barcode encouraged Jeff. "I bought three packs of these pastries, You can take one home if you want."

"Are you sure?" Jeff asked, trying to talk between chewing the rice cake.

"Absolutely," Barcode replied.

"Listen, tomorrow is Sunday," Jeff said. "I would have wanted to ask you out for either lunch or dinner but I know you have to stay home and take care of your mom. Plus you might need to do some school assignments, so let's schedule it for next week instead, okay?"

Barcode frowned temporarily but realized soon enough that what Jeff had just said was reasonable so Barcode just nodded.

Just then Ken walked into the dining room.

"Hey, Ken, try these Philippine pastries that we bought from the mall earlier," Barcode offered.

"Oh, thanks! I will!" Ken said, reaching for one of the rice cakes.

"Ken, I want you to meet my boyfriend Jeff," Barcode said.

Ken transferred the rice cake from his right hand to his left and held out his free hand to Jeff.

"My pleasure to meet you," said Ken with a friendly smile.

"Same here," said Jeff, accepting Ken's offer of a handshake.

"What are you doing here in Thailand?" asked Jeff.

"I received a scholarship from the Music Department of the Royal University," Ken replied. "Barcode's family very generously offered to provide my accommodations while I'm here."

"So you're into music," Jeff remarked thoughtfully. "What musical instruments do you play?"

"I play the guitar," Ken replied.

"Barcode and I play the guitar too," Jeff said. "And I play the piano as well. Maybe one of these days we can all hang out and do some jamming with our guitars."

"I didn't bring mine with me," Ken said.

"Not a problem," said Jeff. "I have an extra one that you can borrow."

"Wow, thanks, that's very kind of you!" said Ken.

"No problem," said Jeff.

Then Jeff turned to Barcode. "I will be heading out now. You wanna walk me to my car?"

"Of course," said Barcode. "Ken, there's a carton of guava juice in the fridge in case you want some to go with the rice cakes. I'll be back in a few minutes."

"Thanks," said Ken, walking over to the fridge.

He found the carton of guava juice and poured some of it into a glass.

He was drinking the guava juice when he remembered that earlier while he was walking towards the dining room he had overheard Barcode say to Jeff that Jeff could take home one of the packs of rice cakes with him. Jeff had forgotten to take it with him.

Ken quickly set down his glass of guava juice and grabbed the pack of rice cakes and ran out the front door.

Ken stood just outside the gate looking for Jeff and Barcode but couldn't see them.

Ken walked down the block. Maybe they were at the corner at the end of the block.

Sure enough they were there but Ken stopped in his tracks.

Barcode was in Jeff's arms and they were exchanging passionate kisses.

Ken looked down at the pack of rice cakes he was holding, unable to decide whether to interrupt the kiss or to turn away and go back to the house.

Ken decided to walk away. Barcode could always give it to Jeff another time.