Seducing the innocent

As I explained in my last post, flirting with Phet, who’s 21 and speaks no English, is a testing exercise. But so far, so good.

The bus trip to Vang Vieng is going very well I feel. I’m not sat near the boy, he is a couple of rows ahead, across the aisle. I am smiling a flutter of eyelashes at him every time he looks back at me. And he looks back at me regularly. Yep, it’s definitely going very well.

We’ve now reached our destination and picked up some food from a Lao street vendor. We’re walking along with bags of finger food. It’s all very sensual: sharing spicy and fragrant food. Feeding sticky rice directly to Phet is also a great way to get closer. (God, he’s such a doll, it’s almost intimidating!) My fingers on his lips, suggesting a kiss. This is a trick my lovely Eduardo used on me back in London, feeding me popcorn in the cinema on our first date. Very, very sexy.

Next we’re all seating around a cocktail covered table, and I’m drawing Phet’s portrait. Just to clarify, I’m going to add quickly that I’m a professional artist. Anyway, there is no better excuse to stare at the boy. Not that I feel I need an excuse by now.

A few drinks later, our hair is down and we’re both dancing like teenagers (hell, he is still almost a teenager) under the starry sky. It’s 2 am. I stopped drinking alcohol an hour ago, and I have sobered up: time to take him back to the guesthouse.