Friend

Chapter 2: It's Party Time

Why do I have to care?

I don't have to

This is silly 

July 2008

"Have you ever wondered how lizards do the nasty?"

Wait ... WHAT?!!!

Phana is abruptly brought out of his daydream of finishing up early and going to play on his new Gameboy. His father had got it for him for his birthday. Got it would be an understatement though - more like, left it on Pha's desk, hoping he would somehow find it under the piles of medical textbooks his father's been leaving discretely on his desk for the past few months. 

Kit has a disgusted expression on his face, which Phana suspects mirrors his own. His other friend, Beam, the one who posed the brilliant question on lizard fornication is looking contemplative. 

Beam's the fun friend, the one Phana looks for when he wants to rebel against his parents and their unrealistic expectations by hitting the nearest club with his fake ID. He's the kind of friend who sneaks Phana into his room at the middle of the night when they're drunk, who copies Pha's homework minutes before the deadline, who sets him up with pretty girls on dates Pha never asked for. 

Kit's his friend for everything else. 

Phana doesn't bother replying, it's not like Beam really expects him to. They are excellent at ignoring each other. It's Kit and Beam who have the patience for each other, always squabbling over some inconsequential thing or the other. 

The biology class doesn't entail anything Pha has not read already. The thing is, even though Phana hates that he's expected to follow in his parent's footsteps, he's too scared not to. Being a good student is all he's ever known, sometimes he wonders if it would have been easier if he was terrible at studying. No one would have expected anything from him. 

Kit's mentioned that he wants to study medicine for his major as well. Phana's relieved that atleast he will have Kit around. Beam's undecided, he thinks fifteen is too early to be thinking about college majors. Phana would have liked to agree. 

Now that he thinks about it, it would be fun to have Beam around. After all he's been a constant in Phana's life for years now. An annoying constant, but a constant nonetheless. 

In a lot of ways Beam's spontaneity has rubbed off on him. Years ago, Phana was the ideal, straight-laced student but he finds it exciting to have certain aspects of his life kept secret from his parents. Even Kit's been influenced, though not to the degree Beam would have liked, perhaps. 

Phana fills his notebook with doodles. He's happy most of the times, or atleast he thinks he is. He's not not happy. It's just, sometimes he wishes he would have more drive towards something, anything. 

The class ends with his twenty-third doodle. Kit's taking three extra classes this term to make sure he has all the credits for the accelerated biology program next term, and Phana barely blinks when he notices Kit rushing through the throng of students to make it to his next class. 

Beam's waiting for him with a smirk on his face. 

Nothing good ever happens when the smirk makes an appearance.

"No."

"Come on, you haven't even heard what I've got to say yet ~"

The corner of Phana's lips quirk upwards. This is the game they love to play. Both of them know Phana's going to give in, it's never been any other way, but it's fun to pretend otherwise. 

Beam straighten's his tie, he's shorter than Pha but that doesn't stop him from trying to wind his arm around Phana's shoulder. 

"Ai'Pha, I'm going to open your eyes to a whole new world today. Let's skip the rest of the classes today."

Technically, they have the next hour and a half off. Phana never even pays attention in the class, fact. Beam's got this whole thing down to a science, fact. 

Phana is going to skip the rest of his classes, fact. 

"Well -"

xxx

There's this secret Phana has. A secret he's kept hidden even from his trusty Beam and Kit. 

Phana's never actually kissed anyone before. 

That may change today. 

Beam's brought him to a college party. He doesn't know how it's possible, but there they are, two high school kids with fake IDs wearing pairs of raggedy jeans (that Beam had in his bag) and their school shirts, desperately hoping no one's close enough to notice.

"I really don't think this is a great idea, Beam."

Beam's cheerful as usual, his cheeks are a little pink. Pha doesn't know if that's because of the light or the glass of amber liquid he's sporting. 

"It's a great idea! Beautiful girls, loud music, great atmosphere, what's not to love?"

Phana snatches away Beam's drink. This was a bad idea. Definitely, a bad idea. 

"So many things, so many things Beam. We're going to caught!!"

Beam's laughing, it feels oddly comforting to hear the familiar sound in an unfamiliar setting. Phana feels Beam's hand on his arm, dragging him to a quieter part of the room. 

"Just relax. Nothing bad is going to happen. Trust me."

Phana raises an eyebrow, but doesn't argue. Beam's face breaks into a smile, tilting the glass in Phana's hand towards his lips. Pha grimaces as the liquid hits the back of his throat, he's not used to the taste yet. 

xxx

Pha's head hurts and he's all alone. 

He wants to break Beam's smiling face into two. The bastard had sneaked off hours ago, leaving Phana to blindly navigate himself in this jungle of horny and drunk freshmen. 

He's had to relocate twice to shake off a very persistent girl who had wound her arms around his waist pressing her whole body against his, and placed her plush, wet lips against his. It had been strange. Phana felt grimy and sick. Something felt off and he didn't know what it was. 

He can't remember the last time he cried, but he feels like he might today. 

After what feels like forever, but was probably actually a few minutes, Pha gathers himself up and navigates himself through the crowd with the sole purpose of removing himself from this situation. He's never been more glad to throw open a door and breathe the  fresh air outside, than he is today. 

Phana goes to bed, vowing never to listen to one of Beam's hare-brained plans again. 

xxx

Fin