Playing For Keeps

8. Admit it

Ming had gone out drinking again. He knew he shouldn't have, but his initial sadness had turned into him being completely pissed off and he didn't know what else to do with himself.

There was no way he could be considered a terrible boyfriend! After everything he had done for her. All the gifts he had bought her. All the time he had let her use him as her verbal punching bag. All the times he had to chase after her when he hadn't even done anything wrong. Why did he have to be made to feel guilty after all of that? Why did he ever listen to his dad about staying with her?

These were the angry thoughts that crowded his mind and the more he thought about them, the angrier he had gotten. So, in the moment, drinking was the answer so that he wouldn't have to think at all. He had gone out with Win and a few other engineering guys. Panit hadn't actually wanted to go because, like Yo, he didn't drink. Ming didn't dare get as wasted as he had the night before, but he knew he was still drunk enough to feel the effects of a hangover the next morning. Too bad the impending hangover wasn't enough to make him not drink.

Once again, Ming woke up to his phone ringing. He groaned immediately, silently praying that it wasn't Forth again. Reaching over to grab his phone, he swiped his thumb to answer the call without even looking at who was calling.

"Hello?" Ming said sleepily into his phone.

"Ai'Ming! Aren't you awake yet? We have photos again today." It was Yo's voice, thank goodness.

"I'm up, I'm up." Ming said in a groggy voice.

"What's the matter with you, Ai'Ming? This is the second night you have gone out drinking. You can't let college turn you into an alcoholic. We haven't even received homework yet!"

"Alright, alright. You're turning into my mother." Annoyance started working its way into Ming's groggy voice.

"Are you dressed?"

"Yea..."

Yo knew he was lying. If his voice was any indication, Ming was still lying in bed.

"I'll be at your door in five minutes."

"Five minutes!" Ming yelled, sitting straight up. His head throbbed a bit, but he ignored it.

"If you're dressed then it should be no problem. See you in five." Yo hung up before Ming could say anything else. Served him right for being so careless and going out drinking again.

Ming cursed as he threw the covers off of him and headed straight for the showers. When Yo said he was coming over at a certain time, he meant it. Which meant he only had two and a half minutes to shower and two and half minutes to get dressed. He didn't even know what things they were supposed to be doing today for the pageant, but if Yo was up and ready, that meant Ming was already late. And the last thing he wanted was Forth to yell at him again.

Still ignoring the pounding in his head, Ming took the quickest shower of his life. He was just putting on his tie when he heard Yo knock on his door.

****

Ming was wearing his dark sunglasses again that looked so good on him. He had the same pink flush on his cheeks, and he wore a stern expression that gave him that bad boy look. As he and Wayo walked, Ming wasn't very talkative, and he knew that Yo was just waiting for him to tell him what his problem was.

"Ai'Ming, are you going to tell me what's wrong with you?"

Ming was silent as they walked to the building they were supposed to be taking photos at. Yo waited. It must be something serious if it had Ming, who was always happy, in such a funky mood like this. Finally, Ming spoke.