Maybe, Probably, Certainly (Project S: Spike/Waterboyy)

Chapter 10: I'll Take You Right There (Part 1)

Someone coughed in a background once. Then the second time.

Kluay tried to ignore it, but it was difficult to pretend that Puen wasn't spoiling his moment of playing the night in shining armour, when he was standing only two meters away.

"What?!" Kluay hissed from the corner of his mouth, continuously patting Achi on the back.

The captain of the volleyball team looked more sheepish than anything else.

"Err... guys, we're in the middle of the street. If someone recognizes Achi we may get him in trouble." He pointed out. "Sooner than I predicted." He muttered under his breath, earning a playful elbow in a rib from Than.

Kluay wordlessly searched his pockets and threw car keys to the other sophomore, while the freshman straightened himself and was furiously wiping his face, still turned away from both volleyball players.

They put the bags in the trunk and got in the BMW. The musician sat quietly in the back, his face drawn, looking at the passing landscapes and Kluay joined him there. Than was casting him worried glances from the front seat, and the swimmer was observing him thoughtfully, while writing a series of messages on his smartphone for about forty minutes, and later on making a phone call.

"P'Nawa, any progress with the thing I asked you to take care of?" He listened intently, only nodding from time to time. "Yes, yes, I understand. Of course. Yes, Achi is with me."

The boy startled at his name being mentioned and looked at his senior alarmed, but Kluay smiled reassuringly at him, and raised the hand in a calming gesture.

"Alright, give us five minutes, P'." He concluded and hung up. "Let's park by that café." He motioned at the approaching building. "Achi and I have to do a video conference right now, so you two," the swimmer indicated Puen and Than, "have to wait outside. Feel free to indulge yourself in a bar. My treat."

The three guys eyed Kluay suspiciously.

"Relax," he said with confidence. "It's all part of my master plan. What can go wrong?"

His rhetorical question was met with a long stretch of silence.

"Oh, come on!" Kluay whined at this lack of confidence.

***

The matter involving Achi must have been a pressing and important one, because more than an hour had passed and they still weren't done. Than and Puen sat in an outdoor area of TUBA Café enjoying the twilight, ice tea and ice cream deserts, and chatting about anything. Actually, it was the freshman doing most of the talking, while Puen let his mind wander when he took in Than's face, every little detail of it.

Although he'd never utter these words out loud, he thought that his friend was simply beautiful. Everything from his sparkling dark eyes to a full sensual lips, currently flashing him that unconsciously flirty smile he loved so much, was inviting him in. And apparently he wasn't the only one that thought so, since the younger guy was asked to represent Business Management Faculty in a Moon and Star competition. After Than had rejected the idea out of hand, a lot of people approached Kluay to use his influence as the former Moons of KU and the man that runs the campus to change the boy's mind, but he told them to leave it be. It was the first and only time when he agreed wholeheartedly with the other sophomore, probably for different reasons though. Kluay didn't want the hassle, but Puen was afraid Than would be too distracted to focus on volleyball, and there was also a part of him that wished to keep him, in a way, hidden from everyone. Was he selfish for not wanting to see another person disappear from his life? Was it fair of him to put so much –.