All We Do Is Work Work Work
When Manaow woke up the next day, Del in her arms, she felt extremely happy for whatever reason.
“What’s the smile for?” Del whispered, cupping Manaow’s face, sounding sleepy.
“I think it’s because we’re at the front desk again, and I’m with you” Manaow whispered back, kissing Del once she was done talking.
Del kissed back, then snuggled back in. “We have a little more time to sleep, so I’m going to do that”
“Okay” Manaow said fondly, stroking Del’s hair, falling back asleep.
Once the alarm went off, the three girls got ready for their day. Manaow put on her makeup, wishing she could be a little more bold, but knowing it was disapproved of. She put pink, purple, and blue earrings in, small ones so it wouldn’t be too noticeable.
“Love your earrings” Del nuzzled into Manaow, kissing her cheek.
“Gotta show my love somehow” Manaow giggled.
“Well, I love them” Del said, sweeping her hair onto her shoulder so she could comb it.
“You guys are so cute, you know that right?” Zol called from the bathroom, where she was brushing her teeth.
“I know Del is” Manaow called back.
After they were ready, they headed down to breakfast, where the rest of the interns already were. Everyone was happier than the other months, since they were where they wanted to be, with people they wanted to be with. Everyone gossiped and ate, conversation flowing freely. They now sat with the tables pushed together, people stealing food from each other’s plates. They actually got so noisy at one point that Oam had to come and shush them, making them all glad it was Oam and not another staff member, since they probably would have gotten points taken off.
Once breakfast was over, Manaow went to the cafe, figuring she would get her free drink early. She saw Valen--no, that was Suthee, she reasoned, seeing a lab coat over a nice shirt and slacks. He was sitting with two others, one who was drinking a hot chocolate with a marshmallow cat. The one sipping the drink had some foam stuck on his lip, causing the young man sitting next to him to kiss it off.
“Disgusting, isn’t it?” Tom asked, looking jealous to Manaow’s trained eye.
“Oh, there’s Valen” Golf said as he fixed Manaow’s drink. Since she never changed it, they no longer asked and made it just how she liked it.
“Still can’t believe he kept Suthee a secret” Phume said with a roll of his eyes.
“Hi Suthee, P’Thara, P’Frong” Valen greeted them, waiing towards the two who weren’t his brother.
“Come sit with us” Suthee offered.
"Oh yes, the exciting doctor talk” Valen said, making a face, then grinning.
“You and Frong talk business for hours” Suthee said, rolling his eyes as he took a sip of his drink.
“We do?” Frong asked, looking confused.
“You could” Suthee clarified. “Valen, P’Frong is a business major. You two can talk that while P’Thara and I talk medical”
Manaow watched Valen give Frong a once-over, apparently finding him to his liking and nodding, sitting next to Suthee.
“If Suthee didn’t tell me you had a girlfriend and that you knew for sure you were straight, I would have been jealous” Thara said with a soft smile, eyes glinting.
“Here, Manaow” Tom said, handing her her drink, distracting her from the scene.
“Thanks, P’Tom” she said with a smile.
As she took the drink over to the front desk (which was allowed, she had checked), she thought about how much fun the front desk could be. Even annoying customers usually bent to her will, as the other girls knew. Usually they were polite, though, which Manaow was grateful for. As she helped a customer check out, Manaow couldn’t help but overhear the young woman behind him, who was video chatting on her phone--loudly.
“Gaaaaaaav! I just barely got here! You can call me later, it’s almost my turn! Tell baby boy I’ll call him later too, okay! Talk to you later!”
She ended the call, walking up to Manaow with her bulging suitcase.
“Oh my god! I love your earrings!” the young woman said in English.
“Oh! Thank you” Manaow said, a little surprised.
The young woman looked around, spotting Zol and Del at the other desk. “I bet one of them is your girlfriend” she whispered.
“How’d you guess?” Manaow said, impressed and grinning.
“I have one myself. I’m Pearl, by the way! And it’s so pretty here! Can’t wait till she comes, she’s coming with my friends Gav and Cai in a few days. But I got the chance to come here a little early, so I did” Pearl explained.
“Well, hopefully you like it here! What kind of room would you like?”
Pearl told her what she wanted, and Manaow got her her room with no issues. When Pearl left, the three interns watched her go.
“You and her seem like you would be friends” Zol said. “You guys have very similar personalities”
“I think so too” Manaow replied. She looked over at Del, giving her a soft smile. “But no one could replace Del”
Del blushed.
In the kitchen, Pao, Pharm, and Tops were handling a sudden rush with grace, all of them used to dealing with chaos in the kitchen.
“You guys are really good at this” Oam complimented them warmly once it was over.
“Thanks” Pao said, wiping some sweat off his brow. “It’s so much better than that cooking class of ours, isn’t it, Tops?”
“Mhm” Tops agreed.
“Well, it probably helped a lot to have that class” Oam said mildly.
“I’m just in the cooking club at my uni” Pharm said. “Not any actual classes. But my mom owns a restaurant and I always helped”
“Your desserts are amazing, Pharm” Pao said.
Pharm blushed, still unused to compliments. “Thank you, Pao”
“I think two of you could go on break if you so wish” Oam said.
“I’ll stay here and wash dishes” Tops volunteered. “I got my free drink this morning so I don’t mind waiting for my break”
“You sure, Pops?” Pao joked, using the faux nickname he had given Tops for the month.
Tops rolled his eyes, smiling. “Go ahead”
Pharm and Pao took off their aprons and went to the cafe.
“Hi you two” Golf said cheerfully.
“Heard there was a rush” Phume said, waving his phone at them.
“It wasn’t too bad” Pao shrugged.
“What do you guys want? Your usuals?” Golf asked.
Both Pao and Pharm nodded, so Tom made Pao’s order while Phume made Pharm’s.
Once the drinks were made, Pao and Pharm sat down at a table together, Phume and Tom coming to join them.
“You guys ready to be out of here?” Tom asked.
“Wow, no faith in us to win, huh” Pao said teasingly.
“That’s...not what I meant” Tom mumbled, ears turning red.
Pao patted Tom’s hand. “I know it wasn’t. But seeing you blush is cute”
“Ooooooh” Golf and Phume said, trying to annoy Tom.
“Shush your mouths” Tom snapped at the other baristas.
“Who do you guys think will win though?” Phume asked thoughtfully.
“Not me” Pao said, shrugging. “But that’s okay, it looks good on resumes”
“I don’t think I’ll win either, but this has really helped with my experience, especially the cooking” Pharm said.
“He asked who would win, not ‘put yourself down’” Golf called.
“I’m guessing Zen and/or Tutor” Pao said as he thought it over.
“I think Pun and/or Del” Pharm admitted.
“I’ve heard you guys place bets on interns” Pao said mischievously. “Who do you guys have money on?”
“That’s confidential” Golf said from behind the counter.
“I bet that means they don’t know” Pao whispered to Pharm, causing him to giggle. Pao drained the last of his iced coffee and stood up. “Well, I have to go back before Chef Man gets angry or something”
Pharm stood up as well, and the two of them walked back to the kitchen.
Manaow, done with her shift, sat in the courtyard, talking on the phone with Cake. Del and Zol had gone back into their room, and Manaow planned on joining them once she was done with her call. After a few minutes, Cake admitted she had to go, so Manaow hung up. She stood, shaking off her skirt, when she overheard the girl from earlier talking on her phone. Slightly curious, she walked to another bench.
“Don’t worry, babes! You’ll join me soon! You know I can handle myself!” was what Manaow could understand, as the rest of the conversation was in another language. “Okay, bye all my babes!”
Pearl, Manaow remembered, looked a little tired, but when she saw Manaow, her face brightened.
“Hi! You’re the one who helped me this morning, right?” Pearl asked, using English. “My friends-and girlfriend-were asking what we could do over here”
“Well, we have the beach, and Bangkok has tons of things to do. Lots of shopping” Ma
“Shopping! My favorite. But I’m not sure Gav and Cai would want to do that”
“Are they boys?”
“Yup, boyfriends. They met online, and their story is so cute! We’re all so glad we get to travel now, it’s been a tough year. What’s your name, by the way?”
“Manaow, it means ‘lemon’ in Thai”
“Lemon? That’s so cute!”
The two girls chatted for a while longer, finding they had a lot in common. They ended up adding each other on Facebook, where Pearl instantly changed Manaow’s nickname to “Lemon”. When they stood up to go to bed, they hugged, knowing they both had made a new friend.
“Hey Manaow, long call with Cake?” Del asked when she came into their room, looking up from her phone.
“Remember the girl from this morning? She asked what to do while she’s here in Thailand”
Del nodded thoughtfully. “She’s a lot like you, right? I bet you gave her all your favorite things to do in the city” she teased.
“You know me too well” Manaow teased back, coming over to Del and giving her a kiss.
Del giggled and accepted, then gently pushed Manaow in the direction of the shower, which Zol had just left, a towel on her head. “Go get clean”
Manaow saluted and went to take her shower.