Food, Glorious Food
The next several days went by without much incident. Pao lost three more points when P’Mod caught him taking pictures when he should have been working, while Tops lost two when he accidentally said a room was ready when it wasn’t. Everyone was learning more about each other, whether it was from room arrangements, their duty groups, or who had breaks at the same time. However, for Zol, it wasn’t enough, especially when another week went by without them meeting up as a big group. Sure, she was there when she and Zen lost two points for talking when he had finished a room and she was bringing a customer, and heard from Pun when Del and Pharm lost three points each when they weren’t paying attention and spilled vegetable peelings over the kitchen floor. On their third Sunday of the internship, when all the interns were free, she messaged the group chat to see if everyone wanted to go to the street vendors that were close by for dinner, and everyone accepted, to her slight surprise.
“I’m surprised you wanted to go, Win” Tops said as they got ready to leave.
“I want to get my mind off the extra two points I lost yesterday for not being fast enough with the towels and making Zen wait. It’s not my fault P’Wharn and P’Pat were too distracted kissing each other to pay attention to me, but no, I get the points taken off because they are ‘full-workers’ and I am the lowly intern” Win explained grumpily.
“Hey guys” Tutor greeted them as they headed towards the elevator. “Ready for a big group dinner?”
“Hey you three” Win said. “Does street vendor food count as a group dinner? We are gonna split up to get it”
“I haven’t street vendor food in a very long time” Pharm said excitedly. Now that he was more comfortable with everyone, he could be very bubbly. “My boyfriend always takes me to fancy places, which is nice, but sometimes you just want street vendor food, you know?”
“Can’t relate” Zen chuckled. “You two have such rich boyfriends but mine is a regular college grad who barely gets by on rent, we have street vendor food all the time”
“Well, with Tops as my boyfriend, I have gourmet meals for free” Win said, sticking his tongue out at the others while putting his arm around Tops’ waist.
They got down to the front of the hotel, where the other five were waiting. They were just in time to hear Manaow bemoaning the fact that she had lost seven points and had to pay for damages when she had spilled cleaner on clean blankets by accident, staining them badly.
“You ready to go?” Zol, having spotted them first, asked.
“As ready as we’ll ever be, Nong Zol” Tutor replied. The ten of them walked to the nearby vendors, splitting up as they found the food they wanted.
Pun found what he wanted first and sat down in a grassy area near the end of the street. Pao found him and sat next to him.
“You know that’s totally disgusting right?” Pao commented on Pun’s decision to put ketchup on his “American-style” shish kebabs, which had barbeque sauce on them.
“Is it?” Pun asked, maintaining eye contact as he ate another chunk of meat.
“Hey, ketchup on those! I love that combo, isn’t it great?” Manaow said as she sat down with her noodles.
Pao’s mouth dropped and he looked like he didn’t know what to do. Pun threw him a triumphant look and kept eating.
As everyone came with their various food choices, Pao and Zol took pictures. They chatted among themselves as they ate, talking about their different experiences with customers or their behind-the-scenes work. When it looked like everyone was done eating, Zol took her chance to ask how and why everyone chose to do this internship.
“My friend Kay told me about it, and I told Manaow and Del” Pharm said.
“A Kay whose boyfriend’s name is Neung?” Tops asked curiously.
“Yeah, why do you know him?”
“Yes, he and Neung did the internship last year and told me and Win, and I told Pao, who told Pun” Tops said.
“That’s so funny, I didn’t realize we had him in common as a friend!” Pharm exclaimed.
“We were told at the beach, weren’t we, P’Tutor, P’Zen” Zol said. “It was from the group who had done the internship last year”
“P’Fight knows P’Valen apparently, from the business, so he became more okay with that once he knew that” Tutor interjected, rolling his eyes.
“I think P’Win--not you, my best friend’s boyfriend--might know P’Valen too, actually, which means P’Dean might too” Pharm said thoughtfully.
“Wait, you said last year’s interns?” Win interrupted. “That means you guys met Neung and Kay too, since they did it last year”
“Which one was he?” Zol asked, always interested in knowing how people knew each other.
“Whichever one was always touching his boyfriend, that one” Win said, not wanting to give Zol any details for her stories.
“That was...literally all three gay couples” Zol said as she thought back.
“Not my problem” Win said.
“Zol, he’s this one” Pao brought out his phone, having looked up Kay on Facebook. He showed her the phone, and Zol looked at it thoughtfully.
“Please do not write about my friend, thank you very much” Win said, stone-faced. “I know Neung and he wouldn’t like it. Don’t think Kay would either, but I don’t know him as well”
“I’m writing a girl’s love story, thank you very much. I need to expand my base and that’s a good way to do it” Zol said huffily.
“Good” Win said it in a manner that immediately conveyed he still didn’t approve.
“You are just like my brother, you know that? But taller” Zol said while rolling her eyes. “How Saifah and Tops put up with either of you--”
“Saifah?” Win asked in a strange tone. “Is he super tall and plays guitar?”
“Yeah, he is and he does” Zol said after a second of stunned silence. “How do you--”
“--know him? He let me use his guitar one gig after my strings broke on stage” Win explained.
“Hey, I remember Saifah mentioning that” Tutor said. “That he had to lend his guitar out. That’s so funny, how we all know people from our different groups”
Pun shook his head. “I doubt any of you know anyone from my apartment” he said confidently.
“Try us” Manaow challenged.
“There’s my boyfriend Nott, who works at a muffler shop, Arm, Om, Yuri, the brothers Wang Chao and Mahan, and then Mocha and Latte, who are basically Porpla’s min--”
“Porpla? Isn’t that Junior’s big sister?” Zen asked thoughtfully. “Let me ask, cause I’m pretty sure I’m right” He got out his phone and quickly typed out a message. Barely thirty seconds later, he had his answer. “Porpla is indeed Junior’s big sister, so Tutor, Zol and I know her indirectly, sorry Pun”
Manaow and Zol were rolling with laughter, while Del tried to calm them down, looking apologetically at the boys when she wasn’t able to control them.
“Well, I’m out of here if that’s okay with everyone” Win said, getting up. “Tomorrow is the beginning of our last week in our first groups and I personally want to get out of housekeeping and the faster I go to sleep the faster the week is over”
“I’ll go with you” Tutor said, getting up as well.
“Tops, you coming?” Win asked.
“Yeah, I need to get some sleep” Tops said after a moment of consideration.
“Anyone else?” Win asked as he put his arm around Tops’ shoulders.
Zen and Del joined them as well and the five of them went back to the hotel, while the remaining five went to look for dessert, ending up at a small cafe. They ordered various drinks and talked mostly about relationships, delighting Zol, who was learning new things to write in her novels. They stayed about forty-five minutes, then also headed back to the hotel, ready for their last week in their duties.