"Put Pink's new CD on, Chris," Stephanie yelled to him from across the room. She gingerly layed her head on Greg's washboard stomach. Greg's fingers lingered playfully through her brown locks as every one sat around Greg's livingroom like loose laundry.

"You got it," Chris replied boisteriously, flipping through the black CD holder and fingering the Pink CD. He ejected the Ja Rule CD and put Pink in its place. A few girls and guys levetated from the couch and floor and were criminals to the beat's seductive crimes.

"Someone's at the door," Greg's friend Barry yelled to him, his arm permanently attach to a petite girl with black hair's waist.

Greg hopped from the couch, chain-reacting Stephanie to fall over in the process. He ran to the door and clicked the gold handle to open it. Railyn stood at his doorstop, raising her crystal eyes to his and beaming a smile as Danielle walked up to her side. Railyn's hair was delicately tied back in a brown barette; Greg could see every contour of her oval face. "Hey," Railyn greeted, laying her arms lazily around his neck.

"Hi," he replied smiling, "And you must be Danielle?" He thrusted his hand to her general direction.

"That would be right," Danielle replied, shaking his hand neighborly, "and you have to be the infamous Greg. You're all that comes out of Railyn's mouth these days." Railyn jabbed her elbow deep into the flesh under Danielle's purple tank top and seethed the look of a witch into Danielle's eyes.

Greg laughed as he closed the door. He lead them to the right and into the living room, a few people dancing their feet off to Pink's grooves. Greg and Railyn were deep in conversation, their smiles and words inauduable to Stephanie who just looked at them suspiciously.

Chris's eyes were glued between Railyn casually glancing about the room and Stephanie's curious stare. Chris bolted over to Greg, Railyn, and Danielle as Stephanie tubmled off the couch and began to walk toward them.

"Railyn, Danielle," Chris smiled, leaving his hands in his black UFO's pockets as Stephanie grazed her hand on Greg's shoulder.

"Hey...Chris," Railyn smiled back, pushing Danielle gently to him, "You know Danielle?"

"How could I forget?" Chris said with a forced gasp, reaching from his pockets to Danielle's pale hand, laying his lips on top of her hand.

"What a charmer," Danielle joked, giggiling a little like a school girl.

"I'm Stephanie," Stephanie sliced through Chris and Dani's conversation. She curtously held her hand to Railyn, not really interested in creating amicable relations with Railyn. "And you are?"

"Railyn," Railyn replied, bitter-sweet radiance seeping from her presents as she wrapped her fingers around Stephanie's hand.

"Right," Stephanie smiled half-heartedly, peering up at Greg. "So where did you two meet? I don't think you go to our school..."

"Oh, no," Railyn assured her, slowly unbuttoning her tan coat.

"We met at Aunt Mary's," Greg continued, his eyes locked on Stephanie. "We stole their booth."

"Well," Railyn replied with a small laugh, "A girl has to keep her guard up or else she'll be walked all over. You know what I mean, right Stephanie?"

"Of course," Stephanie responded with a counterfeit smile. "I'm going to get some punch." With that, she split hastily through the crowd to the table.

"Can I borrow Greg for a second," Chris interrupted the two friends.

"Course," Railyn assured him, Danielle grasping her hand. The two friends eyes eagerly sized up the guys at the party, their eyes to the brim with lust. "We'll go mingle."

Greg followed Chris like a loyal puppy to the dim-lit dining room. They sat down across from each other, Chris's carefree smile slipping into a worried grim. "What is she doing here, Greg?"

"I invited her," Greg defended himself, leaning back in the light brown wood chair.

"Well obviously," Chris replied sarcastically. "I mean, what are you doing? Don't you think it's kind of weird having your girlfriend and a girl who you have a 'connection' to at the same party?"

"I can't just ignore what I want to do to satisfy other people," Greg replied honestly, leaning in toward Chris so he could be heard over the blaring music. "I want to hang with Railyn and still have a good relationship with Stephanie."

"Girls can sense when something's going on," Chris informed him matter-of-factly, running his finger and eyes on the table, "It's like second-nature to them or something."

"Nothing's going on! Listen Chris," Greg replied, his blood starting to heat up underneath his tan skin, "I appreciate your consern with me, but it's my life. I'll handle it."

"Alright," Chris replied skeptically as they rose from the table simultaneously. They proceeded past the front door back to the thumping party.

Stephanie was sitting indian-style on the wood floor in front of the floral-print couch. She raised the red cup to her thin lips as Greg sat next to her, smothering her in his musclebound arms. "Is everything OK?" Stephanie asked with consern. She rested her head on Greg's chest as Greg lightly stroked her hair.

"Yeah, fine," Greg assured her, some unexplainable force wrenching Greg's eyes to Railyn. Her right hand was clasped around the bottom of her light blue muscle tank and her left hand held a cup lingering and begging to touch the sweetness of her lips. Her eyes were fastened on one of Greg's friends intensely, nodding occasionally at his comments. Greg unconciously wished Railyn would look his way the way she only could and she did, for a sliver of a second.

"I think we should celebrate our 6 month on Friday the 9th because you don't have a concert that night, right?" Stephanie blabbered, not even aware of Greg's gawking.

"Yeah," Greg replied warily, snapping back out of the fairytale he was viewing. "That sounds good."

Stephanie could tell he's been different latley, not as caring or attentive as in the past. His embrace was strong and comforting, no doubt, but not tender, not caring. Stephanie gently placed her hand on his leg, silently begging for Greg to tell her what was floating around in his mind. "There isn't anything I should worry about, is there?" Stephanie asked, her eyes enviously gazing at Railyn.

"No," Greg assured her. He looked down at what was beautiful, what was, and still sometimes did, make him feel like Greg. "No, you don't." He tenderly laid his lips on top of hers, the kiss maybe soothing to Stephanie made Greg more uneasy. What is he going to do?