He had to get his mind off Regina for a while, he had to stop thinking about her, before he got hurt. They were not exclusive, so that meant he could go out with someone else, right? She couldn’t get mad at him if he went out with another girl. Besides, she was too busy for him any how, what would it matter if he did go out with the guys, found another chick and took her back to the hotel? They were not married or anything.

That’s it, he was just a little hung up on Regina, all he had to do was find another girl and maybe he could break through this obsession that he had with her. An obsession, that’s all it was. She was like a really great batch of pills, all he’d have to do is break away from it for a few hours and let it get out of his system. “And what else, if she gets jealous, you know she wants you,” the voice in the back of his head added. He quickly pushed that thought away and answered his ringing phone. It would be Bizarre with the name of the place they would me up at. The place he would ask the first girl he met and liked to dance and possibly come home with him.

He ignored the burning knot in his gut that had started to grow since he’d even started thinking about spending time with anyone besides Regina. That cemented the idea in his brain. He had to forget about her for a while.

A few hours later, Marshall met Bizarre, Fifty, Kon, Proof and Swifty at a club. After a few drinks Marshall found a girl and went out on the dance floor to grind with her. Proof and Bizarre watched Marshall suspiciously. All the guys had become quite fond of Regina, she was quickly becoming one of the gang. They had grown accustomed to seeing Marshall hanging with Regina and Regina with Marshall, they were usually all over each other. So to see Marshall with another girl they felt kind of responsible to Regina to tell her.

“I don’t think Regina would appreciate Em slobbering all over that woman,” Bizarre said, keeping his eye on the pair.

“I know. I think we should tell her, I’m gonna call her, this ain’t right what he’s doing,” Proof replied pulling out his phone. Bizarre nodded in agreement as Proof dialed the number and waited until she picked up.

“Hello? Oh hey Proof, what’s up?”

“Look, I don’t mean to ruin your night, but I think you ought to know something.”

“What’s the matter?”

“Your boy is down here, grinding on a Pamela Anderson look a like and it looks like he’s getting ready to ask her back to the hotel.”

“And?” Regina asked annoyed. “We thought you should know, since you two are together.”

“Proof, we’re not anything. He can do whatever he wants. Tell him to enjoy himself.”

“You don’t care?”

“No, I don’t. It’s not like we’re exclusive or something. Look unless there’s something else you want, I got to get going, I’m almost done with this stupid paper and then I have to edit it.”

“Well, all right, just wanted to let you know,” Proof said, confused.

“Thanks Proof, I appreciate it. I’ll see you tomorrow probably, good night.” Regina hung up. Once she hung up the phone she looked up to see Ernelle staring at her.

“Oh you don’t care do you?” she asked with an eyebrow raised precariously high on her forehead.

“Don’t start on me Ernelle. Really, I don’t want to hear it,” Regina replied giving her a sidelong glance as she turned back to her laptop.

“So what is he doing then?” Ernelle asked as she stood and took a seat next to Regina. She refused to look at her and continued to type.

“He’s dancing, that’s all.” She replied stiffly.

“With a female I take it?”

“Yes Ernelle,” Regina groaned.

“You are telling me, that you are okay with your man, rubbing and grinding all over some other chick?” Ernelle asked as she snapped the screen on the laptop closed. Regina sat staring ahead of her.

“Yes Ernelle, that is exactly what I am saying, why do you care anyways?” Regina asked, finally looking over at her.

“Because, for the first time in five years I’ve seen you happy. Really happy. I don’t want you to throw it away on the old, ‘No, I don’t really care about him’ fake spheel. You do care.” Regina rolled her eyes at this and stood up.

“Ernelle, please, I don’t want to hear about it anymore.”

“You are totally in love with him aren’t you?” Ernelle said with her eyes wide, a sudden realization hitting her.

“I am not in love with him,” Regina replied looking out from the kitchen as she went through the cabinet looking for something to eat.

“You are too!” Ernelle exclaimed jumping up from the couch and running to the door way of the kitchen.

“We’ve just hung around each other for a while. I am not in love with him Ernelle, not hardly,” Regina replied.

“Give me a break Gina, you two have slept together, what like every night for the past four weeks? He takes you to class, picks you up from class, you spend every waking moment together, except for tonight. And now he’s out with some other girl? How can you not be jealous?” Ernelle knew Regina better than that. Whenever Regina didn’t want to admit to something she would always say the opposite of whatever she really felt. After she’d get a beating from her father she was always “fine.” When her husband threw her out of her house, she was “okay.” After the baby died, she was “all right.” Regina never admitted what was really going on with her. She was more stubborn than a mule.

“Because I’m not. Ernie, we are just, screwing buddies okay? People who like to have sex and hang out once in a while. It’s no big deal,” Regina said as she poured herself a bowl of cereal.

“Once in a while? Please girl! What do you call that blond invasion happening in your bedroom three nights a week, the other four with you being the invasion at his place?” Regina ignored her and went to the fridge to get some milk.

“Come on, you know you want to run down to that club right now and tear his head off and that’s because you care.” Ernelle replied.

“No, I don’t want to rip anyone’s head off and I certainly don’t care about him that way.” Regina replied pushing past Ernelle as she exited the kitchen. Ernelle snorted and followed her to her room.

“All right Reggie, just admit that you are totally in love with him already!” Ernelle said as she stood in the door. Regina looked up from her desk and it was with a fire in her eyes that Ernelle knew not to get too close to.

“And you are totally out of line!” Regina shouted as she slammed the door in Ernelle’s face. She stood there a moment, getting over the shock of the door slamming and then smiled. If this wasn’t evidence that she was totally over the moon about him, nothing was.