After the picture everyone but Eminem had left.

Ernelle said she was going to clean up in the kitchen, so Regina pulled him over to the door to say good night.

“Come on, you have to go, I have to finish the kitchen and I need to get some sleep tonight, I’m tired.” Regina said as he pulled her against him. She rested her hands on his chest and looked up at him.

“I’ll help you clean up the kitchen, and don’t worry, I’ll let you sleep,” he said smiling at her.

“No, Em, not tonight. I mean it. Five times in three days, I’m spent. Really, I’m a once a day girl, I’ve just had a dry spell so you got lucky.” He laughed at this and held onto her hips.

“Okay, but I want to stay with you. I like being with you.” He said squeezing her slightly.

“Mm, I know. But I got class in the morning.” She replied patting his chest with one hand.

“I just want to stay here, please?” he asked putting on a fake pout. She laughed.

“I can’t believe you just did that.”

“Neither can I, that’s an all time low for me, to result to fucking pouting to get a girl to let me stay.” Regina laughed again and slid her arms up around to his neck and up to the back of his head, running her hands through the little bit of hair he kept on his head. He closed his eyes at the touch of her hands. She had some kind of effect on him.

Ernelle watched them from the kitchen and smiled. She was glad that Regina was finally enjoying something. The past five years for her since her baby died had been horrible for her. After the divorce Ernelle had invited her to stay in the apartment with her and go to school. After a while she got involved with that guy Jeremy who Ernelle did date twice, and then after that had been shot to hell, Regina had met Benny. Benny was the guy who had been hanging around the last three years. Ernelle was never too fond of him because of the way he messed around on Regina and how Regina had refused to see it, although she knew what was going on.

Regina had had so much happen in her life. After her marriage dissolved, to the guy she’d known all her life, Regina couldn’t trust anyone any more. She decided that love did not exist and it was futile to try and pursue something that wasn’t real. That’s why she put up with Benny. It was easy just to pretend that he was good enough.

Ernelle was happy that she was enjoying the little bit of happiness that had managed to creep in along with the crap. She really didn’t know anyone else that deserved the great things that were happening to her. Regina had been such a great friend to her all this time, forgiving the whole boyfriend thing and really just being there for her when ever she needed it. Even monetarily, Regina would even kick in on the rent a little more if she’d been short, or pick up a few extra groceries.

“Regina, just shut up and let him stay!” Ernelle called out of the kitchen.

“You are such a sneak!” Regina yelled back at her.

“Listen to you friend,” Em said laughing.

“Okay, you can stay, but I have to finish clearing up the dishes and stuff.” Regina replied pulling away from him.

“Regina, go to bed, I’ll take care of it. Really, you did all the cooking and got them to come, it’s no big deal!” Ernelle said as she pushed Regina out of the kitchen.

“Ernelle, really, I’d prefer to help, it’ll get done twice as fast,” Regina said trying to go back into the kitchen.

“Oh my god, Em, you should really be insulted. She’d rather spend time with the dishes than with you!” Ernelle shrieked.

“Regina, really, gorgeous man, standing right there, totally nuts for you. Go, now, other wise I’ll hit you with a tomato!” Regina finally gave in and left the kitchen laughing. She took Em’s hand in hers and led him towards her bedroom, closing the door behind her. Once inside he wrapped his arms around her waist and hugged her tight to him.

“Mm, all right though, we got to go to bed, I have to go to class tomorrow.” She said after a few minutes.

“Okay,” he said grudgingly. She went to her dresser and grabbed out some pajamas. Em took a seat on her bed to remove his shoes.

“Wait a minute, I got some of my brother’s stuff here from the last time he visited, you can wear that to bed.” She said as she saw him going to remove his pants. “But I always just sleep in boxers,” he replied.

“When you take off your pants you lose all track of thought except for one thing.” She said, raising her eyebrows at him.

“Yeah, you’re right, I do,” he laughed.

“Hang on, it’s in the closet,” she said pulling the door open. She searched through the shelves for a minute and then pulled out a pair of baggy sweat pants and threw them at him.

“Hey, watch it!” he laughed as they caught him in the face.

“Hey yourself, you said I’d get to throw something at you, so there, I threw that at you. Now put them on, or I’ll make you go take a cold shower,” she said waving her finger at him again.

“Okay, you got me there,” he said changing into the pants.

“I’ll be right back, I’m just gonna brush my teeth,” she said grabbing her pajamas before opening the door.

“What, don’t I get to watch the show?” he asked cockily.

“No, because you don’t need to see any more of that, I’ll be right back!” she laughed as she closed the door.

She returned as promised and found him looking through her bookshelves.

“Find anything interesting?” she asked, coming up behind him this time and throwing her arms around him.

“Have you read all of these?” he asked.

“Yup. All of them, some of them two or three times in fact.” She replied.

“Wow, I don’t know how you do it, really,” he said looking back at her.

“Eh, I enjoy it, that’s all, come on, I’m tired, I need to go to sleep,” she said patting his back and flipping off the light switch. She crawled into the bed and under the covers and looked at him.

“Well, are you coming or what?” she asked.

He nodded and climbed into bed beside her, laying his head as close to hers as possible. She smiled at him as his hands found her waist as they usually did. He wanted to lean forward and kiss her. He wanted to hold her to him, to kiss and touch her.

“What is your fascination with me?” she asked, her hands folded under her chin as she looked at him.

“I don’t know, really.” He hesitated, “What’s your fascination with me?”

“You are honest. You don’t take anyone’s bull shit, and you’re not afraid to go after what you want,” she replied.

“Shit, now I feel like a friggen dumbass,” he laughed.

“Em, don’t worry about it,” she replied with a smile.

“Why won’t you call me Marshall?” he asked finally.

“Because I don’t want to get too attached to you, If I start calling you Marshall, then we’re on a certain kind of terms, and then, well, I don’t know, forget I said anything,” she said looking down towards her hands.

“Why do you do that, every time you start to say something you stop,” he asked, a bit of an edge to his voice.

“Because I don’t want to like you,” she replied, still not looking at him.

“Would that be so bad? To like me?” he asked.

“No, I suppose not, but look, it’s only been a few days, and remember what we said, no promises,” she replied, finally looking back into his eyes.

“I can live with that,” he replied, his hands slowly moving up to her back.

“Good, now can we get some sleep?” she asked.

“Yeah, we can,” he laughed. She gave him a kiss on the lips and then turned over, snuggling back into him and pulling his arm around her waist. “Night Reggie,” he said before placing a kiss on the back of her neck.

“Good night Marshall.”