Exchange Gift

3

Bright looks over at Win who has been looking sullen the whole night. Which was odd because it was usually Bright's designated role to be the sullen unsmiling member of the group.

He had been meaning to ask what was up several times now but something always got in the way. But the long sighs and the non stop drinking of wine was worrying Bright. He already had a pretty sucky day. He didn't want to end it by having to clean up his roommate's vomit or deal with how easily Win cried when he was drunk.

Why was he having a bad day?

Well, for starters he had the brilliant idea to sleep over at his parents' house the last two days. He figured he owed them a visit since it was Christmas and all.

Big mistake. He should have just sent them fruitcake.

Then of course when he could finally escape his father, Bright had to sit in hours of Bangkok traffic, miss lunch, and contend with the large and unbearable holiday crowd at Siam Paragon.

That's another thing that irritated him - his stupid decision to shop for reunion presents at the mall and the even more stupid decision to choose to pick them up instead of just availing of the delivery service. He used to just gift everyone vinyls. Why did he stray from that tradition?

Then he remembers why.

Metawin.

They've been friends for so long now. Roommates for 2 years. Business partners for 5.

And he deserved more than a round disc their own stores sold every day.

He got him something special this year. And not wanting to make his other friends make an issue out of it - specifically First who keeps on shipping him with Win my god is he twelve years old - he bought the others non-vinyl presents too.

He smiles to himself. If Win likes the gift, that would make this day a little less sucky.

He looks over at Win yet again, determined this time to find out what's wrong. But his best friend was no longer in his seat.

Bright looks around and sees Win in the kitchen, opening another bottle of wine.
Bright heaves a sigh and sprints to the kitchen.

"Don't you think you've had enough? Have you even eaten yet?"

"You know I have a high tolerance for wine."

"You've had like what 5 glasses? And just the ones I've counted."

"You don't need to keep an eye on me Bright. I am a grown man."

"You can't stop me from caring about you."

Win's eyebrow raises. Whenever he does that, Bright begins to feel antsy, his palms begin to sweat. Like Win's eyebrows were some sort of lie detector.

"Because we're friends," Bright sputters.

"Are we friends? Are you sure?," came the venom-laced response.