Just By Chance

9. Falling

Beam's heart was slamming in his chest as he walked with Forth. When he noticed that Forth wasn't walking in a direction to any of the canteens, he stopped.

"Hey, where are we going? None of the canteens are in this direction." Beam called out.

"We're not going to a canteen. There's a really good chicken stall right outside the university. I thought you might like it there."

"Chicken?" Beam perked up. Beam was always down for some chicken.

Forth nodded.

"Cool!" Beam fell into step behind him. At least if they went to get food outside the university, there would be less of a chance that other people would see them. Well...less of a chance that people would see Forth. He was the one that was supposed to be helping with the competition, not Beam.

It didn't take long for them to arrive at the tiny stall with a small, older lady selling freshly fried chicken and sticky rice. She had tiny stools set up around two tiny tables and there were two other students sitting down eating.

"I eat here twice a week at the least. You're gonna love her chicken." Forth said, and although he didn't smile when he said it, Beam could hear the smile in his voice.

"Two servings of chicken, please." Forth called out to her.

"A 10 Baht piece or a 20 Baht piece?"

Forth turned around and looked Beam up and down then turned back.

"Make his a 20 Baht piece. I'll take a 10."

"Hey!" Beam yelled out.

"Don't worry, I'm paying."

"But...I was...that's not..." Beam didn't know what he was trying to say, really. He wasn't mad that Forth ordered more chicken for him, but he would be lying if he didn't say he was surprised that a simple piece of chicken was 20 Baht. He could get a whole serving of pad thai for that price. And why did Forth look him up and down like that before ordering? And why was Forth paying??

As if he could read his mind, Forth replied to him.

"You should eat as much as you can. You're too skinny."

And just like that, Beam had a quick flashback to their freshman year when he ran into Forth at the canteen. Forth had ordered his food before him. Since he had ordered so much, the woman at the stall ran out of ingredients so Beam had to get something else. Forth saw his disappointment and gave Beam his order. Before walking away, he looked at him and told him the same thing, you're too skinny.

"Would you like rice with that?"

"Yes, two scoops please."

The auntie smiled briefly then got to work chopping and bagging up their chicken and rice. Forth turned back around to Beam again and started to whisper.

"She actually charges for the rice too but since I come here so often, she lets me have it with the chicken, no charge."

Beam smirked.

"Take a seat. I'll bring it to you." She called out without looking up.

Beam and Forth walked over to the last two remaining stools and sat down. As they sat, there was a breeze and it tousled Forth's hair while blowing his engineering jersey open. Beam could do nothing but just stare at him. Forth looked around, not noticing that Beam was eyeing him. It was clear that Forth liked to workout. His biceps were rather thick and his shoulders were pretty big too. Beam's eyes trailed down to his chest. He didn't realize just how much thicker Forth was than him until this moment.