Dive: A TharnType Story

13

Type sat back with his arms crossed in front of him, leaning back on the bench at the bowling alley. He had changed his method of protest to that with an added scowl everytime he lost to Tharn because planking on the bench every time it happened was too much considering how often it happened. Tharn turned around to look at Type and broke into a grin. He missed seeing Type splayed on the bench, but he was still satisfied with the slight pout of frustration on his face. 

"How do you win every time? I've literally only won once against you," Type almost whined making Tharn start to chuckle because he found this new thing even more satisfying. "You just suck. It's high time for you to accept that fact," Tharn said, plopping down next to him. 

Type turned to look at him angrily. "I can't help that my balls love the gutter. This game is rigged against me. How do your balls never end up in the gutter? It's so annoying!" Type said and Tharn froze recalling the time that he let Type win by intentionally rolling his ball into the gutter. The euphemism almost made him start grinning, but he was too stressed to pay it more than a cursory thought. 

"You always bowl on the mark. Except that one time when I won," Type said, thinking out loud, as realisation slowly dawned on him about that day. He had been really upset about his fight with Nicolette and Tharn had won one game before, but suddenly lost in his last turn when the ball rolled into the moat; something that had never happened before then nor had it happened since that day. He turned to look at Tharn incredulously. 

"You! Did you let me win?!" Type asked in an accusatory tone with an equally accusatory finger pointed towards him. Tharn immediately stood up and wiped his hands on his thighs nervously to come up with an excuse because he had been caught red handed. 

"The fried chicken is on me today. Let's go," Tharn said as he hurried towards the exit. He had nothing to say in his defence so he decided to put as much distance between him and the problem as possible, even though he had just invited the problem to follow him to the food court. The irony wasn't lost on him.

His plan was cut short when he felt Type grab onto his hand and pull him back before he could exit. He turned around to look at Type, a little scared to gauge his reaction. He finally met his gaze to see Type smiling at him, looking heavily amused, which confused Tharn. 

"Aren't you forgetting something?" Type said and Tharn just stared at him, confused even further. Type moved his gaze to Tharn's feet, who proceeded to follow Type's line of sight to see that he had almost walked out of the bowling alley with the bowling shoes and broke into a chuckle at his brainfart. Type, recalling how he had almost made the same mistake once before, started chuckling along. He didn't doubt for a second that they really truly were best friends.

°°°

"How is Pina doing? It's been so long since I've seen her," Type said, taking a sip of his soda. "You and me both. She hasn't come to Bangkok for 3 weeks already. This is the longest I've gone without seeing her," Tharn said, a little saddened at the thought. Type felt bad for his friend. "Yeah, we've been seeing much less of her since she moved back home after her graduation," Type said, missing the other half of his friend too. Without her around, they just ended up bowling or hanging out at Tharn's place on the weekends. The few rare times she visited, Type gave them the space they needed. The three musketeers were no more. It saddened him to think about it.

"She said she'll come see me next weekend. But that's what she said last weekend. And the weekend before that. She's just so busy with work," Tharn said, sighing and taking a bite of his chicken. "Yeah, I was taken aback to know that her family is in the import/export business and that she joined it. It's such a far cry from her personality. I thought she'd do something more interesting and adventurous in life like becoming a scuba diver or a paraglider or a base jumper," Type said, picturing Pina in all of those roles. Tharn grinned, agreeing with Type's hypothesis.