Trash Polka | ForthBeam

Chapter 27

The closing event for the festival was awesome. The university had two bands from the music club perform six songs in total. This was when all the participants, students or not, could gather around and enjoy the music.

Pha, Yo, Kit, Ming, and Beam were all standing at the back of the crowd, where it wasn't overly crowded. Beam was waiting for Forth and the engineering gang to arrive like he had been messaged. After visiting his booth, the engineering gang were asked to go back to their very own to close up—if by asked it meant threatened. Apparently, the five guys ditched their booth despite it being their shift in order to avoid having to close up.

Not that Beam was surprised.

"Where should we go after this?" Pha asked while back hugging Yo, placing his chin down on his shoulder.

"Ah! Forth said they still have money from Nong Suthee, so they're planning to spend it on drinks," Beam informed.

"Jesus, how much money did they take?!" Kit blurted out. "They're thugs."

Ming chuckled as he rounded his arm around Kit. "You should've seen them during our last meeting before the festival began, P'! So scary! I didn't even know anything because of the promotion. When you told me everything, I was so shocked. Didn't expect Ai'Suthee to do that."

"Remember, Nong Ming. You have to keep it a secret," Beam reminded.

"Don't worry, P'Beam. Kit already told me that," Ming said, lifting Kit up and shaking him around as if he weighted nothing more than a piece of paper.

Kit groaned and slapped Ming's arm a few times. "Shit, Ming! Put me down!"

Ming simply snuggled his head in the crook of Kit's neck and giggled softly, making the senior blush from his neck all the way to the tip of his ears.

Watching the two, Beam shook his head in disbelief. Seeing the grumpy Kit speechless was a new occurrence for him. Kit was usually the first to file a protest and complain, but whenever Ming was around, he turned into a softer individual.

The five of them saw as the first band came up on stage. The crowd were loud as the members began to introduce themselves and announcing what song they were going to be playing. As soon as the drummer led the performance, everybody watching were immediately jumping on beat.

Out of nowhere, Beam felt a hot sensation coming from his chest. He gritted his teeth and clutched his black shirt tightly, trying to suppress the pain.

Shit, why now?

"Fuck," Beam cussed as beads of sweat rolled down his face.

"Hey, what's wrong, Beam?!" Kit asked, shaking Beam's shoulder. That was when he realized a tattoo was forming on his chest.

Pha quickly moved to Beam's side and unbuttoned his shirt. He pulled out his handkerchief and wiped the sweat that was inching closer to the newly formed tattoo, at the same time reciting encouraging words in his ear.

"Ai'Yo, give me some money," said Ming hurriedly.

"Here," Yo replied after digging his pocket for some money. When he gave it to Ming, he quickly rushed to buy a bottle of water.

Luckily, the pain didn't last for too long, which meant the newly formed tattoo wasn't big. Less than a minute later, the burning feeling stopped. Beam panted loudly, muttering a small thanks when Ming gave him a bottle of water.

"You sure are getting a lot of tattoos these days, Ai'Beam," Pha muttered, sighing. He hated seeing his friend in pain.

Beam used to think he was odd for only having some lilies on his body for twenty years, but thinking again, he hated the feeling of getting new tattoos, especially when he got it out in public like his last two tattoos.