An Angel's Heart

Dinner with Friends

"Yoo hoo, Pha!" Pring's sing song voice came from across the courtyard, pulling everyone's attention. Most of the contestants for the Moon and Star Competition were gathering their things and preparing to leave after a long day of practice. They wanted to get home and change so they could start the weekend off well.

Pha turned to see Pring walking closer to him and immediately began to search for escape routes. Unfortunately, he didn't have line of sight to any direct way to the parking lot or passed all the people that were milling around. The next best option seem to be a stealthy retreat, but the courtyard was clear of trees and vehicles, so his hiding places were few. He realized he was stuck, so he turned to face his fate like a man facing the firing squad.

"Hello, Pring," Pha said, defeat in every line of his body. This day was definitely not going well for the tall man.

"Let's go to dinner," Pring demanded imperiously. "You've wasted enough time helping with this ridiculous competition. I'm bored."

Pha's face turned a pale shade of green, his mind searching for any excuse to refuse until it finally landed on the perfect one, "Sorry, but I've got plans with Beam and Kit."

Beam, who was obviously flirting with one of the Stars, and Kit, who obviously had the attention of Ming, both turned to their friend, surprise written on their faces. Pha was supposed to be asking Yo out for hot pot and they had both agreed to give them some time alone, assuming Yo would agree.

"Did you already have plans for tonight, Kit?" Ming asked, disappointment in his voice. Kit had been about to say yes to Ming's offer of dinner, but now was being forced to decline.

"Sorry, I guess I already have plans with my friends," Kit said, then under his breath, continued, "Even though Pha couldn't be bothered to ask me if I wanted to go."

"Why don't we make it a group dinner?" Ming asked, coming up with a plan that could earn him some additional time with his dimpled day dream. "We'll all go together."

Kit looked over at Forth and Yo, who were talking just to his side and decided that wouldn't be a bad idea. From the looks of things, Pha was going to lose his chance with Yo if he didn't get his head in the game, so inviting them all to dinner would at least give Pha more time to man up.

"That sounds like a good plan," Beam said, jumping into the conversation and abandoning the girl he had just been trying to pick up. A dinner with a love triangle sounded like a much better diversion anyway. "What do you think? Yo, Forth? Want to go get dinner together?"

Yo was a little nervous at being asked to go out with Pha and his friends, after all, they'd barely even looked at each other since Pha had walked out of his room on Tuesday. But it wouldn't be so bad, if Pha didn't want to be his friend, they could just politely ignore each other. It would be a sad reminder, but he couldn't avoid Pha forever, so he nodded in agreement.

"Great, I'm in," Forth answered, putting his arm around Yo's shoulders and drawing the smaller man closer.

"Fine," Pring said, looking at the group disdainfully. "I suppose it will be fine if all your friends want to join us. Just so they know not to be too intrusive."

Pha's face went a decidedly deeper shade of green when he'd worked out what she just said. Yo was going along with him and his friends for dinner, and Pring intended to come as well. Pha tried to think back through his life, wondering how he could possibly have accrued this much bad Karma in one lifetime. His only explanation was that he had built up bad Karma from a previous life.

They all decided on a restaurant, but ignored Pring when she suggested expensive places that were farther away. Then the group arranged transportation, Pha was stuck with Pring since his car only had one passenger seat. Ming took Beam and Kit, while Yo rode on the back of Forth's motorcycle. Everyone except Pha seemed fine with the groupings.