Rewatching, THE BEST STORY, starring Mark & Vee from LOVE MECHANICS
Best, a guy who sucks no matter what he does (contrary to his own name), fell for Dew, the hottest guy of the class and the most popular guy
It’s a series that I watched (2 years ago), but inadvertently left off my list.
I wonder where it will wind up on my list?
It’s only 3-2 part eps. So bingeing it.
PS I LOVE War Wanarat! He’s adorable. And a pretty decent actor! 😻 A, very, natural actor.
PPS Too bad, Fern!!!
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(Unfortunately, near the second half of ep. 3, 1/2, the series loses English subtitles! )
Spoilers Ahead (Do not read on if you don’t want to get a taste of the ending!!!!):
F*cking Fern outed Best & Dew to Dew’s mother!!!!! NOBODY SHOULD EVER DO THAT!!!!! Heinous move, FERN!
(Subtitles came back for a little while, then gone again!
I hope they’re there for all of the second part of the final episode! I’ll let you know! Frustrating!)
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SPOILER:
Finale was tragic, heart-breaking, which is probably why I left it off my list!
More Spoilers:
Fern NEVER admitted to destroying the possible future relationship for Dew & Best and Dew never found out about her betrayal!
The outcome of Fern’s outing of Best (and the possibility of feelings between him & Dew) to Dew’s mother: the mother decided Dew would go live in Chiang Mai with his father & go to Uni there. The last day of H.S., she packed his bag and told him he was leaving the next day—thus, preventing any possibility of a final contact between the two boys.
THE END!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Such a sad, tragic ending.
Couldn’t they, at least have fast forwarded 4 years and had them meet again? Or shown them getting together, over the years, somehow in Bangkok or Chiang Mai?
Real life sucks—I want my fairy tale happy ending!
Roxana ambled through the market, exploring the various options. Ripe, inviting vegetables lined the stalls, and the streets were filled with cheerful noises. A farmer smiled at her, waving as she passed. Roxana waved back brightly, shifting her purse on her shoulder. A barking dog ran past, two laughing children chasing after it. The children veered instinctively around Roxana’s shadow.
Ravyn sneered at them, the darkness at her center deepening. The people around Ravyn didn’t react. Roxana had learned long ago that almost all humans couldn’t see Ravyn.
A small child slid past Roxana, slipping a hand into her purse. She let them. All the important stuff in her purse was inside the pocket universe.
Ravyn peered after them, pulsing darkly. “You should kill him.”
Roxana mentally considered her shadow’s advice for approximately 0.01 seconds before continuing her shopping. The boy was just trying to survive, and he had done no harm.
“Think about it. You could take his blood, and using that talisman you made you wouldn’t have to be sparing with your magic.” Roxana rolled her eyes, moving to another stall. She was a Necromancer, not a sociopath.
“Roxana, are you listening to me?” Ravyn crooned, her consciousness seeping into the shadow of the farmer’s stall Roxana had stopped at.
Roxana hummed acknowledgement, the people around her assuming she was contemplating the quality of carrots. Ravyn moved onward to follow Roxana when she left, the patches of darkness twisting and writhing unnaturally as the spirit touched them.
“You can’t keep this façade up forever,” Ravyn lilted, sliding into the shadow of a window grill, “You have darkness inside of you.”
Roxana gave her a dry look, stepping onto her porch, “Everybody does. They all seem to manage just fine.”
“Roxana!” Ravyn snarled as she sashayed past the shadow’s perch, “You can’t ignore me forever!”
Roxana rolled her eyes, closing the front door behind her, “I’m not ignoring you. I just don’t agree with you.”
Ravyn stalked her to the kitchen, sweeping back into her shadow. Roxana could feel the dark glare aimed at the back of her head. Instead of chopping her new vegetables, Roxana pulled a piece of plain white chalk from the drawer.
“I found a fun new spell the other day.” Roxana mentioned as she drew the matrix, “It lets me harness may own shadow and manipulate it into fun shapes!”
Roxana could practically hear Ravyn’s dawning realization. Before she could say anything, Roxana pressed her pricked finger to the runes, activating the spell. Roxana’s shadow, with Ravyn still inhabiting it, pulsed and condensed, compacting into a thin, solid black knife. Roxana picked it up, setting it on the counter. No matter the angle, no light glinted off the blade or handle. The only thing breaking the perfect blackness were Ravyn’s ember-dots of eyes. She blinked, and Roxana could practically hear her growing grin.
"What do you plan to do with this new potential?” Ravyn was excited and altogether smug about the form Roxana had chosen to manifest her shadow in.
Roxana grinned, grabbing the knife and digging through her shopping basket, “chop vegetables.” Ravyn’s sputtering protests only made the resulting carrot cake sweeter.
Aleks could be glad his dad waited until after James left to call him to the living room; he could also regret that it gave his dad enough time to down a few beers and at least some of a bottle of whiskey. He knew he was in trouble as soon as he’d shut the door after James, but he didn’t know he was fucked until he saw the bottle of quaaludes on the coffee table. He grit his teeth. Okay. He needed a strategy. He’d only taken two pills. He could claim his dad miscounted. It probably wasn’t enough to get him out of his dad’s anger, but it could be enough to keep it to a minimum.
“You taking my pills, now?” His dad asked, lounging in his armchair. Aleks shifted his weight from foot to foot.
“No,” he answered. Keep it simple, he couldn’t get tripped up on lies if he kept it simple.
“Because when I got home, there was less in the bottle than what I left,” His dad said. He was still seated at least.
“I didn’t touch them,” Aleks said. Unfortunately, that wasn’t good enough, because his dad hauled himself up onto his feet, and started pacing.
“I come home after a long day of working, trying to put food on the table,” His dad started. It was a speech Aleks had heard plenty of times before. “And my sleeping pills, you know, the ones that let me sleep so I don’t stay up all night stressing about my store, the one I opened so I could provide a better life for you, some of them are gone!”
“I didn’t take any of your medicine, dad,” Aleks said, and his dad turned towards him.
“I know you did, you lying brat!” He yelled, and raised his hand. Aleks flinched even before it flew down to slap his across the face, backhanding him. His ring caught on Aleks’ cheekbone and left a stinging cut there. The blow was hard enough that Aleks stumbled a little, but he left himself fall with it. If he seemed hurt enough, his dad would be appeased faster.
“Dad, I didn’t,” He started, getting up. His dad cut him off.
“You’re lazy, and a liar. I didn’t raise you to act like this,” His dad said, adjusting his shirt cuffs like nothing had happened. Aleks rubbed his cheek, wincing when he felt a few drops of blood squeeze out of the cut his dad had just made. “You’re gonna start working shifts at the store with me, Aleks. Apparently, I have to keep an eye on you.”
“What? Dad, no! The store sucks!” Aleks said, before he could really think about what he was saying. His whining earned him a cuff to the side of the head, and his ear rang at the force.
“You’re gonna have to learn some respect,” His dad said with a sense of finality. He sat himself back down in his armchair and picked up the glass of whiskey he was drinking. “I want to see you there after school on Monday.”
“Fine, Jesus,” Aleks muttered, still getting his balance back. He rubbed at his ear, trying to get it to stop ringing.
“What was that?” His dad demanded, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand after a sip.
“Yes, sir,” Aleks replied automatically. He learned long ago what to say to get to go back to his room.
“Good,” His dad said, and muttered a little to himself. Aleks caught words like ‘discipline’ and ‘ungrateful’ as he beat a hasty retreat back up the stairs. He examined himself in a quick stop to the bathroom. The cut on his cheek stung, and there’d probably be a crusty bruise around it for a couple days, but it wasn’t too bad. He knew some kids at school who got a lot worse for a lot less. He held a wad of toilet paper to the cut to soak up any stray drops of blood, and headed back to his room. He resisted the urge to slam his door, and instead shut it firmly. Jesus. Working at his dad’s sports shop? That was gonna be lame. He normally only helped out during the holiday season, or times like this when he got in trouble - and it was boring as hell. He just sat there and rang up meatheads, or he had to load up the shelves. Some of that shit was heavy, and he wasn’t exactly strong. He could only hope this stint at the store wouldn’t last too long.
School on Monday was busy, and Aleks kept his head down. It wasn’t like he had friends who would ask after the gross yellowing bruise on his cheek, but he didn’t want to start any rumors over it either. He saw James in the hallway, but ducked the other way. He wasn’t really ready to talk to him - even though he heard plenty of whispers through the day about the man. Him and Steve breaking up was the talk of the halls. Aleks heard a couple different versions of the story - some involving Stacy, and one even involving him. It wasn’t a complete surprise everyone hadn’t forgotten James and his short stint together, considering how James had announced it to everyone, but hey. A guy could hope. He left school right after the bell rang, with only the quickest stop to his locker. Normally he would hang around, maybe smoke a bean behind the gym, but there was no time for that. If he wasn’t at the shop by 3:30, his dad would go mental. It was one thing to get a punishment - it was another thing to be punished for breaking a punishment. It was a whole other ball game. Hey, if he was gonna work at the sports store, he had to adopt the lingo.
He made it to the mall at 3:27, and slid into the shop with only a minute to spare. His dad looked up and made a noncommittal grunt as a greeting. Aleks gave a nod back, and slipped his hands into his back pockets. He waited for his dad to give him his orders - and his dad took his sweet time to do it. He made Aleks stand there for a good five minutes, before he pointed at the register.
“And be polite, you hear?” His dad called over his shoulder, as he moved toward his office. A senior with lame hair was stocking shelves, and Aleks could be happy for that. He’d rather count money than break his back.
He fiddled with the displays on the counter, rang up a couple customers, and tried to keep his back straight every time his dad walked by. An hour past, easy enough. Aleks bent down to grab more receipt paper, and when he stood up, he had to choke down a curse. James was waiting in front of his cash register, arms crossed in front of his chest.
“What happened to your cheek?” James asked, voice tinged with just a touch of bitchy. It reminded Aleks of how he’d talked the first time they had really met, at that party.
“Uh, nothing,” Aleks ducked his head, not quite making eye contact. On the counter in front of him, James had a selection of items, including an air horn, a roll of camouflage duct tape, and fishing wire. “What’s all this?”
“Alarm system,” James answered shortly with his arms still crossed. Aleks gave him a bewildered look. “No, I’m not serious, don’t be a dumbass. Did Steve do that to you?”
Aleks breathed out a tiny sigh of relief, masking it by huffing out a fake laugh. It was a little touching that James was worried Steve was taking their breakup out on Aleks, yeah, and it also meant that maybe he didn’t care how he got it as long as Steve didn’t give it to him. Sure, Aleks wasn’t exactly the maddest about what happened between them at this point - he wished he was, but his willingness to let James knock out at his house was proof enough to himself that he wasn’t - but he wasn’t ready to dive into ‘parental shit’ territory. He also wasn’t going to admit the reason he had a ring imprinted into his cheek just now was because he stole pills for James. It was too vulnerable a position to be in, to let him know that he would risk things for James. Aleks reached for the first item, and started punching in the total stamped on the sticker.
“Nope,” He answered, popping the ‘p’ at the end. The cash register grinded out a few numbers on the receipt. It was an old fashioned one that punched out each amount and then the total at the end. "Steve hasn’t bothered me.” James gave a nod, and uncrossed his arms, reaching down to fiddle with a display of chapstick on the counter.
“What happened then? Looks gross,” James wrinkled his nose, and tossed a chapstick into the pile of shit he was buying.
“And here I thought it made me look badass,” Aleks answered sarcastically. He punched in another item.
“So what happened?” James tried for a third time. Aleks could give him credit for trying, at least, but he wasn’t feeling it today. Over James’ shoulder, Aleks could see his dad filling out paperwork in his office, door open so he could still hear any commotion in the store. James glanced over his shoulder, then back to Aleks, looking clueless. It was a cute look on him. Aleks punched in another item, and hoped that he wouldn’t connect the dots.
“Got in a fist fight with a bear, man,” He answered. It was a lie obvious enough to show he didn’t want to answer the question, and it worked. James looked suitably chastised. A moment of silence passed between them.
“So you’re working here, huh?” James asked, while Aleks finally hit enter on the register, and let the machine cough out a total.
“Does it count as working if I’m not getting paid?” Aleks replied sarcastically, starting to bag up the items.
“When do you get off?” James asked. Aleks pushed the paper bag over the counter towards him.
“Why, you gonna ask me on a date?” Aleks snarked automatically, before internally cringing. “Store closes at 9:30. I’m a little bit on lockdown, right now. Dad’s pissed at me.”
“Oh,” James said, eyes flicking over Aleks’ face again. Thankfully, he let the date comment pass. Aleks would probably combust on the spot if he had to get shit for it. “Cool, cool. Another time, then.” He fiddled with the paper bag and pulled out the chapstick. The intense and artificial scent of cherry wafted off the stick as he applied it, capped it, and tossed it back in the bag. He was still standing in front of the register, and Aleks could see his dad watching them from his office, over James’ shoulder.
“Yeah,” Aleks agreed hesitantly, and James gave a jerking nod. It looked like he wanted to say something else, but instead he just collected his bag in his arms.
“Yeah,” James repeated, and then walked on out of the store. Aleks was left with a bizarre feeling bubbling in his stomach. The whole conversation had been weird.
“What was that about? You being rude to customers?” His dad walked out of his office, and jerked his head towards James’ retreating form.
“No, we go to school together,” Aleks said. “We were just talking about homework.” Maybe it should concern him how easily he lied to his dad these days, but he figured he was in the same boat as most teenagers. It wasn’t like he could tell his dad what was going on in his life. His dad gave a grunt, which Aleks took as a satisfied answer, and went back to his office. Aleks glanced down at the display of capstick James had been fiddling with. Cherry chapstick. No wonder his lips were always so soft.
The rest of the night went by pretty smoothly. There weren’t too many customers, and although the silence in the car as his dad drove them back home after they closed the store was tense, he managed to get back up to his room without much more than a couple words between them. He decided to skip dinner, in favor of just going straight to bed. He was tired of being around his dad.
He woke up hours later, tangled up in his sheets, sweating and just shy of creaming his boxers. He didn’t remember everything in his dream, but there were enough specific details that he had to groan at the thoughts, tightening his fingers in his sheets so he could pant out long enough to catch his breath. He cracked one eye open, and glanced down. It was pretty hard to ignore what the dream had done to him - his boxers were tented. He screwed up his face for a moment, held his breath, and made a decision. Yep. He was going to have to take care of that. He glanced at the clock - it was around 2 am, there was no way his dad wasn’t asleep by now. He couldn’t just take care of this in the shower. He’d have to do this old school. Aleks sank his teeth into his bottom lip and dragged his boxers down, cock bobbing free.
He tried not to think too much about his dream, feeling weird about jerking off to half formed images of James’ grin, James’ hands on him, gripping his cock, gripping his hips, the scent of cherry chapstick - which he hadn’t even smelt on James before today, but the smell was stuck in his mind now. Instead, he wrapped a spit slicked hand around his cock and tried to think about the girl from freshman year. Her pretty brunette hair, her tight jeans, the feeling of beard burn on his neck from scratchy kisses - no, that was James again. Aleks groaned and combed his hand through his hair, giving in to it. It was maybe the weakest fight he’d ever put up, but he’d done his token resiting. The hand in his hair fisted, pulling on the strands as Aleks arched his back, chasing that feeling, and then allowing it to escape, not wanting it to be finished quite yet. James nipping at his earlobe, pressing up against him in the car. James licking into his mouth, tasting his own cum on Aleks’ tongue. James grinding his ass down against Aleks’ cock - Aleks’ toes curled as his orgasm rolled through him, shaking through his legs and spurting cum over his stomach. With a grunt, Aleks propped himself up on an elbow and scrunched up his nose at the mess.
Great. This was something he’d have to figure out.
