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Pete, through osmosis, had learned a little bit about hotel management from his mother. Chief of which, was to always make sure you had enough rooms before agreeing to a booking and that you never double booked. The holidays were particularly bad for this sort of thing as the large influx of reservations and requests could often lead to bungled record keeping. This sort of thing could easily be resolved ahead of time by calling potential conflicts and telling them that there was a problem with the booking.
This became an attitude that Pete came to expect from other hotel managements.
This was why, on Pete’s hard won vacation with Ae (which was actually not entirely hard to win), Pete was close to ripping out his hair. Not only had their bungalow been double booked. It had been sextuple booked. Pete took a page out of Tin’s book as he called the booking agency from the shade of his car as Ae glared down Tin, Kongpob, Pha, Ming, and Forth from his defensive position in front of the door.
Can had immediately started a soccer game with everyone else on the side as a means to pass the time. Can and Beam were on a team while Yo, Kit, and Arthit were on the other. Can had said it was only fair for the opposite team to have one extra member since, “P’Beam and I are so awesome!”
“I like this Nong!” Beam had said as he fielded a pass from Can as he got around Arthit and scored a goal between Yo’s legs. Can whooped and hollered in joy.
Pete turned away from viewing the game to resume his argument. “Khun, I don’t understand. I’ve heard of double booking. I have never heard of booking six couples for the same bungalow. This is ridiculous!”
“Khun Pitchaya, we really cannot apologize enough and I have already started processing the return on your deposits,” the customer service rep said. Pete noted a distinct lack of empathy and the likelihood that none of them were going to get their full fees back. “But we have no more available units. We insist that you and the other couples come to an agreement separately on how to handle who gets the rental unit and we will process it accordingly on our end.”
Pete bit his lip. Ae was refusing to back down while the other five were advancing on him slowly. Sure, Ae was on good terms with the seniors, but he wasn’t keen on Tin, Ming, and Kongpob entirely yet. It would end badly if Pete let Ae handle the negotiating, and would probably start and end with Ae fighting everyone off.
“Khun, I have another idea. Split the charge six ways.”
“Beg pardon?!”
-----
“You did what?!” Pete winced as eleven people yelled at him. Ae immediately started objecting to everyone yelling at Pete and pulled him behind his body as if he could shield him from ten other semi-upset college boys. Pete mentally ran the odds and figured Ae could probably take half of them down before they stopped him anyway.
“Look, we all know each other, we’re all friends!” Tin snorted and then groaned after Can elbowed him. “There’s a lot of room in the bungalow,” Pete pleaded. “We can share. It’s just a weekend and the charge will be split evenly. We don’t even have to do anything with each other.” Pete gave several of them significant looks. “But I’m just saying, this could be a nice bonding moment for all of us.”
“Are you sure you want to do this, Ai Koon Chai?” Ae looked over his shoulder at Pete. “This isn’t exactly a fun romantic weekend anymore.”
“It’ll be okay, Ae.” Pete nosed Ae’s cheek. “You trust me, right?” Arthit mimed throwing up and this time Kongpob elbowed him.
“P’, be romantic!”
“You’re mushy enough for both of us!”
“Then, this should not be a problem right? P’Ai’Oon?” Arthit shoved Kongpob’s grinning face away.
“Well it’s not like we were going to do much else than drink or walk through the trails huh?” Beam said as he looked over at Forth. “All we need is a place to drink and a place to sleep.”
“If that’s what you want Ai Beam…”
“Don’t you get mushy either!”
“P’Pha… It’ll be fine with you… right?” Yo peered up at Pha, pouty lips and doe eyes. “Yo really just wanted to spend time with P’Pha since your exams are over… And we were going to go see the temples anyway…”
“Yo…”
Kit immediately turned to Ming. “Ming, don’t you-”
“P’Kitkat, it’ll be like a big party!”
“Don’t you understand the point of a romantic weekend?!”
“Na Tin, I want lunch already!”
“Cantaloupe, we need to decide on staying here or not first.”
“Just say yes! Who cares?! FEED ME AI TIN!”
And like that, the group fell into line. Although Ae complained, Pete said it was only fair to draw lots to see who would sleep where. The main bedroom had enough room for two people to sleep on the bed and two more on the floor. The spare room had an air mattress. The living room had a fold out couch, more floor room, and for the most unlucky, the loveseat.
The allocations were written on slips of paper and each couple got to draw theirs out of Kit’s hat.
Pete, as the one who suggested the solution, drew first and was rewarded with the air mattress in the spare room.
Arthit, as the eldest drew second and got the fold out couch.
Can insisted on going third because he felt lucky and got the floor in the main bedroom.
Forth drew the loveseat and Beam punched his arm.
Yo drew the living room floor and pouted but Pha promised to drive to the nearest store to buy an air mattress.
Which left Kit standing victorious with the bed in the main bedroom.
-----
The rest of the day was filled with grumbling that was only abated with a rousing group dinner. Everyone had brought plenty of food and drink so spirits were high.
Settling down for sleep was filled with more grumbling.
Can didn’t mind sleeping on the floor, but Tin did and was only quieted with the prospect of sharing Can’s sleeping bag. Pha had managed to pull through with acquiring an air mattress for him and Yo, but it required moving a lot furniture. Beam complained nearly the entire night, being reduced to sleeping on top of Forth, who didn’t complain once. Ae and Pete were perfectly happy in the spare room and Kit’s only complaint was that Ming was too handsy while Tin and Can were in the room. Arthit yelped only once due to a loose spring but was easily soothed by Kongpob.
But as the late night hours passed, everyone fell asleep to the sound of rain and the hope of a nicer morning.
-----
Everyone awoke groggy the next morning to the sound of more rain. It was only after the first round of morning coffee for everyone that Can pointed out the obvious.
“Was there a river outside yesterday?”
Ae ran to the window and blinked. “No wonder this place was so cheap. It’s near a flood zone.”
“What?!” Arthit ran over as well looking over Ae’s shoulder. “This is unbelievable. The road is entirely flooded. We’re not getting out today.”
Groans were unanimous and the news report stating that flooding would not subside until the next morning cast a sour mood on everyone.
“Let’s play a game,” Can suggested.
“What kind of game are all of us going to be able to play,” Forth asked. “And we didn’t bring any board games.”
“Why be so complicated P’? Just play one on our cell phones!”
“I honestly did not expect that to be Can’s answer and I’m wondering why I didn’t,” Tin muttered to himself.
-----
“You kill stealer!” Arthit leaned over and punched Beam’s shoulder. Forth immediately put his arm around Beam as a deterrent, even if it meant he had to play one handed. Arthit glared at them both anyway. “That was mine!”
“You snooze you lose, P’Arthit.”
“Here P’Arthit, do you want me to help you?”
“Don’t you give me that condescending tone, Kongpob. I know you play this game plenty.”
“Tin… Tin no that’s not how you… Tin stop that. Tin you aren’t going to win by hoarding all the bullets you find. There’s… There’s a limit to how many bullets you can carry anyway,” Can said while pointing at the corner of Tin’s screen. “See, you have all the ammo you can carry.”
“Gonna run this damn market…” Tin muttered to himself before firing his shotgun at another player approaching a supply box.
“Babe, please. This is about to physically hurt me.”
“Supply and demand, Cantaloupe.”
“Doesn’t Ae want to play?” Pete asked as he held up his phone.
“Ai Koon Chai, it’s a waste of money, I won’t be playing it after today anyway.”
“Play with me on my phone then? Please Ae? Na?”
“Okay, don’t be so cute. I’ll play with you.”
“Ming, watch my six.”
“On it Yo!”
“Yo, wait for me!”
“Sorry P’Pha, but if we keep waiting for you and P’Kit to figure out the controls, we’re doomed.”
“Oi Nong Yo! That’s not fair!”
“Don’t worry P’Kitkat! I’ll avenge you later!”
-----
None of them got any sleep that night and all of them scrambled to find outlets to charge their phones. The next morning brought clearer skies and cleared flooding.
The lot of them couldn’t scramble to get away from each other fast enough.