Coffee Break
“Where are we headed again, Pharm?” Pun asked. He was in the backseat of a car with Pharm, Pharm’s cousin, and Tutor, as the three interns were off that day.
“My boyfriend’s restaurant” Pharm’s cousin--Sin, Pun remembered--said.
“May I have the address, Phi?” Tutor asked. “My boyfriend can meet me there, if that’s okay”
“Fine with me” Sin said with a grin. “You have one too, right Pun?”
“A boyfriend? Yeah” Pun replied.
“Invite him too”
“He doesn’t drive, though”
“Does he live close?”
Pun thought about it. “It’s not too far away”
“Then we can pick him up. Tutor, your boyfriend has his own car?”
“Yes”
“Tell him we’ll be a little later than expected. Pharm, tell Dean as well, otherwise he’ll panic” Sin said authoritatively. “What’s the address, Pun?”
Pun told him where it was, hoping it wouldn’t be too chaotic. Zen had seen a bit of the chaos, and Pao was used to it, but the other interns would probably be confused out of their minds. He messaged Nott to inform him of the plans, and got a reply that he would be outside of the apartment.
“There he is” Pun said when they arrived, scooting over to be in the middle.
“Hey Pun, Pun’s friends” Nott said when he got in the car, directing a wai in everyone’s general direction.
“Guys, this is Nott. He’s really good at fixing things. Nott, this is Tutor next to me, Pharm is in the front seat, and P’Sin is Pharm’s cousin. We’re going to his boyfriend’s cafe”
“Restaurant” Sin said as he merged back onto the main road.
“In other words, don’t tell Porpla?” Nott joked.
“Don’t tell Porpla” Pun agreed.
“Okay gang, we’re heading to the restaurant now” Sin said. “Any music requests?” he asked, before a call interrupted him.
“Hello Sorn?” Sin asked over the speaker.
“Hi Sin, it’s a little crowded today, so we’re going to have to sit together, sorry if anyone was looking forward to sitting alone, but can’t be helped today. I reserved a table for all of you guys, it’s three interns and their three boyfriends, right? Also, N’Pharm, Dean is here already”
“We’ll be there in a few minutes” Sin reassured him. “Are you going to be able to sit with us?”
“Yeah, I am. Everyone here has their food, the rush is over, just nowhere to sit” Sorn said, sounding a little frazzled. “I’ll see you in a few then” before he hung up.
Once they got to the restaurant, Tutor was swept into a hug by his boyfriend, causing Pharm to giggle and Nott and Pun to smile. They all went inside, where it was indeed crowded. It seemed packed with young women. Pharm caught the names of a few people, including an Air and Fang who were feeding each other, a Pring and Moowan in a serious discussion on how to become better people, a Prae and a Pin talking about school, and a Fon and Pam missing an Amm. When the group passed two young men that were arguing about math, Tutor couldn’t help but make a face, remembering the math he didn’t want to think about over the summer.
“P’Sorn, you might have to expand soon!” Pharm exclaimed when they all got to their table.
“You could come help me” Sorn teased, shutting up when he saw Dean’s look of disapproval. “Or not, your boyfriend seems mad” Sorn joked.
“P’Dean! You know it would be good experience if I helped out” Pharm scolded.
“He knows, he just hates sharing” Sin remarked.
Dean rolled his eyes. “So who is everyone? Well, P’Fighter, I already know you, but that’s it”
Everyone introduced themselves, and ordered their food. It was a bit awkward, since the interns knew each other but they didn’t really know everyone connected to Pharm.
“Any stories of the internship?” Sin asked.
“Pun’s room got flooded” Tutor offered.
“Good thing it wasn’t yours, I would have made you come and stay with me if that was the case” Fighter said.
“P’Fight!” Tutor scolded.
“Really?” Sorn asked.
“Yeah, me and Pao--my friend and roommate at the internship--had to share a room with Win and Tops for a few days” Pun shrugged. “Everything got super wet”
“Told you, you should have called me” Nott said, nudging Pun.
“I tried to tell them, but they didn’t want to listen” Pun said.
A waiter came out and gave them their food, looking a bit distracted. “P’Sorn, we have a bit of an issue”
Sorn got out of his seat to talk to his employee. When they were done talking, Sorn looked annoyed.
“Sorry guys, I’m going to have to call someone to fix one of my ovens, it’s not turning on no matter what we do” Sorn said.
“Actually, I can fix it” Nott said confidentially.
“You sure?” Sorn asked, running his hand through his hair. “If you can, that would be a great help. We have a toolbox somewhere, let me get it out”
Pun choked on his drink, causing Tutor to pat him on the back.
Their lunch over, the eight of them stood outside the restaurant.
“Nott, thanks again for fixing the oven” Sorn said.
“No problem, I’m used to fixing things inside the apartment” Nott shrugged.
“He’s very good at fixing things” Pun said proudly, lacing his hand through Nott’s.
“And you only used the tiny screwdriver you had, that’s really amazing” Sorn said, shaking his head.
Pun managed to turn his laugh into a cough.
“So Nott fixed the oven? No one saw where the screwdriver came from?” Pao asked, tears streaming down his face as he laughed over Pun’s story.
“Thankfully, no. We don’t need them discovering the entire chaos that is the apartment” Pun said, looking a bit pained at that thought.
“You guys would never be left alone” Pao nodded.
“By the way, Zol at least knows you can speak a lot of languages, I just remembered”
Pao shrugged. “Mi español es muy mal, pero es okay. I’m surprised you let them see you talking in all the languages you’ve used in the first place”
“You know I like helping people”
“I do know that, that’s why you took this internship in the first place” Pao said, nudging Pun on the shoulder.