Freelancing, the Blurry Line

Walking along Soi 5 towards Gulliver’s I come up behind a stunning figure in a short denim skirt and yellow sleeveless top. The skirt is not so short as to make her look like a bargirl, but short enough to make me stare at her legs instead of the broken footpath. I give her a smile and she follows me in, after showing her ID to the bouncers.

I offer to buy her a drink and she says yes, but makes a point of her poor English. I try my best in Thai, but the conversation seems to have little future. When every sentence starts and ends in mai, you know you’re struggling. There’s no casual contact or flirting, so I don’t get the impression she’s a freelancer, but why else would a single Thai girl hang around on this end of Sukhumvit Road?

After a few awkward silences spent watching Ultimate Fighting (of all things) on the big screen, I indicate that I’m hungry so I can extricate myself from the stalemate, but she comes with me. At the open-air eateries on Soi 7 I order a small dish and she says she isn’t hungry, but promptly orders a whole steamed fish and serves it to me piece by piece.

This, surely, is not something any regular girl would do, but every time I think she’s on the game she does something to suggest that she’s not. I don’t feel like I’m getting anywhere either way, so I tell her I’m heading home and get her phone number just in case. She waves goodbye and I think ok, maybe I should have kept talking to her after all?

Thirty metres down Sukhumvit she surprises me again when she catches up to me and asks if I’ll come to a disco with her. I resign myself to being confused because I like being near her. The disco in question is Angels under Nana hotel. Unlike most places at this time of year, there seem to be more men than women inside. Many of them cast dark, envious looks at me as I dance close to her. She really looks fantastic in that skirt. By now we’re touching more, but it still doesn’t seem to mean anything. Two of her friends come and join us and I realize they were with her on Soi 5 when I first saw her. They must have disappeared when they saw me approach her.

Close to 1am I say I’m tired (I really am) and this time she makes it clear she wants to come with me. I realize at last that she was just trying to find out more about my character before she decided to go with me. Rather than ask about money, she tests how ready I am to spend it. It’s not until we’re messing about in bed that she finally asks what I’ll give her. I name a fairly generous figure and she thinks about it for a few seconds before nodding okay. What would she have done if I didn’t offer enough?

While we’re undressing she keeps making exaggerated noises and hip thrusts, then collapses into giggles. If she’s making fun of me I don’t care, I like the way she laughs. As her top comes off she’s shy about her surprisingly small, but rather lovely breasts. “Same-same baby,” she says, but there’s no disappointment in my face so she relaxes. In the bedroom light I find her smile even brighter. Her face is fresh, almost innocent. As for her shape under that denim skirt…

After round one I’m ready to fall asleep, and nearly do, but she gets a phone call from a drunken friend who is celebrating her birthday. I can’t imagine going out again at this stage, but perhaps to help convince me she launches into round two with gusto. Somehow she manages to drag me out of bed and we head out into the street for a taxi to somewhere in Ratchada. I can’t hold my head up, so I rest it in her lap and wake up when we arrive.

The bar is basically an elaborate tent. It seems they are getting around the closing time rule by having security at the door, as if it is a private function. I’m the only farang in a place full of drunken Thais, some smoking those fancy Arab bongs. Perhaps I should be nervous, but I’m too tired to worry.

Her friend is indeed very drunk, as she keeps telling me every second sentence, but she speaks better English. After they speak together the drunk friend keeps telling me how my companion thinks I am such a nice guy (blah, blah, blah), also pointing out between slurs that they each make only 4500 baht a month grooming pets. It’s hard to imagine working full time for so little money. Selective freelancing must appeal to a lot of girls in that situation.

Around 4am her friend can’t stand up any more, so the three of us get a taxi in order to drop her home. I pay for the taxi again but it must be Thai pricing, as it’s very cheap. We stumble back into my room and fall asleep almost instantly, still dressed.

In the morning I’m shocked to discover she looks even better when I’m sober. I want to fold her up and put her in my bag to take home, but settle for a quick morning session of spooning. I can’t begin to describe how good she looks from this angle. We lie in bed naked and half-asleep until midday, then I shower and she washes me, while wearing a towel herself (one of those Thai paradoxes).

The money we agreed on is sitting on the desk, but she won’t touch it until I say it’s for her taxi. She’s too proud to admit 100% what she is doing. I guess you could say that about all freelancers. We share lunch at a street vendor near the hotel and I promise to call her at nine. She wants me to come to a nightclub with her, along with her drunken friend from the night before. I would be happy to see her again, but instead I sleep right through to 1am and never see her again.

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