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He suddenly swooped me up in his arms. "By the way...happy birthday."

"Aw!" I was thoroughly impressed, having only told him when my birthday was once when we first met, and hugged him back. "Thanks Bud. You remembered!" Then I pushed him away. "Chump!"

"Hell's wrong witchyou?" he moved away from me.

"How come you didn't say anything earlier? I thought you forgot."

"Ah," he nodded and placed a hand to his heart. "I apologize. Alright..." he nodded again. "From now on I'm calling you at midnight on every birthday for the rest of your life."

"Oh...so...now I'm gonna know you for the rest of my life?"

"Yeah darlin', I told you. Me and you, ride or die to the end...we was meant to be."

I smiled and looked away. For some reason I brought Collin up again.

"Collin gave me this for my birthday."

"Hmm..."

"He bought me this butt ugly bracelet back in high school. But then I saw this other bitch wearing the same p.o.s. charmless bracelet one day and, well, you know the rest."

He chuckled humorlessly and went along with the subject change. "So he never bought you any charms for it?"

"Well..." I held out the Cupid/heart.

We both laughed.

"So what did you say when he apologized?"

"That I'm over it." We both chuckled again and then he was serious.

"Want to get together later on? I'm having a little set in my room tonight. Well, me and my roommate. You should come and bring your roommate."

"Ok, Bud...but if we get there and it's just us, we're outta there."

He chuckled again and kissed me on the cheek. I wished he would kiss me on the lips. "Happy birthday, baby. See you later."

CHAPTER 11

My roommate and I arrived at Kenney's dorm just before sunset. The party was already jumping. Shayna and I could hear the music from all the way down the hall. Word must have gotten out about his little "set," or maybe they just did this every Friday and I never knew about it.

When we got to the room it was nothing but dudes. They all stopped to look us over as soon as we walked in. I knew we were cute and all, Shayna being the tall glamorous Iman type and me being the stacked, cutesy SWV type. But that didn't explain why all the guys stopped and grinned at us when we walked through the door.

I heard someone in the back say "Damn, they both fine. Which one is she?" but Kenney hurriedly stopped his blender and rushed over to us before anyone could say anything else.

"Ladies!" he called grandly with open arms. "You're the first to arrive. Please," he handed us plastic cups. Mine said "Birthday Girl" on it. I grinned at him. He winked. "Help yourselves to a drink and make yourselves comfortable. I just have to finish setting up." He gestured to a tall, gorgeous, brown skinned, hip-hop Tims-wearing type dude with flawless skin and post-dreadlock Lenny Kravitz hair. "Tashi, you remember my roommate, Drama?"

"Oh yeah. From Shipwreck." He was the emcee. "Waddup?"

"'Sup." He nodded to me. Then he looked over at Shayna and gave her his best 'I like you' smile. She blushed and stuck out her hand. He took it and, assuming my eyes weren't playing tricks on me, pulled her a centimeter closer to him. Just enough not to notice, but enough to make you wonder why you were suddenly...hot. Oh, he was good... "And you are?"

Shayna was a tough one, but it was hard for any girl to not be affected by his Billy Dee...cool. That's the only word that I could ever find to describe Drama. Real, real cool.

And foine.

"Shayna." She giggled under the pressure of his steady gaze, forced her eyes away from his, and grinned at me. I could almost swear her picture perfect espresso face was turning a lobster red.

"Pleasure." He held her hand a minute longer than necessary. "Name's Rob...but not everybody knows that, so..."

Shayna nodded, still holding onto his hand. "My lips are sealed."

Drama's eyes moved down to her lips and I could almost see her melt under the ice cold exterior that she reserved mostly for guys she really liked and strangers.

I decided to leave those two kids alone before I got hot and went to fix myself a drink. It was a nice stiff one to take the edge off of a crappy week.

No sooner had I sat down than this tall, thick, football playing Morris Chestnut looking brother walked over and sat down beside me. He was fine as hell, I have to admit, but he reminded me too much of Collin...without the light eyes.

"Hello beautiful."

"Hello." I sipped my drink.

Before anything else could be said, Kenney came over and handed me some sour cream and Ranch mix and told me to "Get to mixin'," nodding in the general direction of the food table.

I handed it right back to him. I liked him and all, but we weren't that tight.

"I don't think so."

Kenney busted out laughing. "Please?" He flashed me his dimples. "Come on birthday girl." I was such a sucker...for a select few. You know I went ahead and did it. Before I could throw a couple of words his way, though, Kenney clinked two spoons together. "Gentlemen... and ladies," he added, smiling at Shayna, who was somehow now with me at the table pouring chips into a bowl. "My girl Natasha is celebrating her birthday today, so I want all y'all to be real nice to her."

"Happy birthday!" they all shouted, still side-eye gawking at us. I blushed, but tried not to show my embarrassment.

Instead I turned to Shayna. "How did we get stuck doing this?"

"Heck if I know," Shayna, who was a lot like me...minus the potty mouth, snapped. "This is freakin' messed up how they got the only two women in here busting our butts for their party while all them fools that's been here the whole time, sittin' around waitin' for us to finish!"

"That is messed up," I agreed. "Let's bounce." We put the food down and I fixed myself a drink for the road on our way out the door.

"Ladies, ladies," Drama said smoothly, placing a drink in Shayna's hand, too. "What's the rush?" I knew he had been listening to us the whole time, but was trying to play dumb. Neither of us thought it was cute.

"We're out," Shayna called not looking back. I smiled at my roomy. It wasn't every day that she snapped on somebody, but she could hold it down when she needed to.

"Naw, look, look..."

Kenney came smoothly over for damage control, and at the same time started conveniently mixing the dip himself.

"Me and Kenney been at this all night. This is just some last minute stuff we needed help with. Usually we're more on top of our game than this."

"Please stay." Kenney put a 'be easy' hand on Shayna's back. It seemed to work. "These fools just worthless," Kenney said with a grin and pointed to the other guys who were just sitting around talking. "Besides, we're charging them $2 a drink." Shayna and I looked at each other. "But for the two of you, there's never a charge. So..." he put the dip down and rested his other hand on my shoulder. "No hard feelings?"

Shayna and I looked at each other, then nodded at Kenney.

"Aight Bud. Next time explain yourself."

"My bad." Kenney gave his roommate a sly smile and ushered us back to the table.

"Ain't this about a bitch!" I said laughing as I realized that we were right back at the table mixing and pouring just like we were doing right before our little Norma Rae walk out.

Well, at least the drinks were good...and free. I raised my cup to Shayna, who must have been thinking the same thing as she raised her cup to me. We both cracked up and went back to work.

Shayna hung around by the table checking out the scene while I finished mixing the rest of the dip, then we chose two chairs in the back of the room. Not by accident, they were also dead smack in the middle of the wall so we could see everything that was going on without anyone walking up on us. I had hung out with Kenney a lot over the semester, but had never seen him in his own element. I was curious to see what he was really about. I think Shayna was also digging his roommate and wanted to see what shystiness Drama was up to, first, before she let on that she liked him.

Shayna leaned over. "Drama's cool, huh?"

"Oh yeah, real cool. You should see him on stage."

"What does he do?"

"Sometimes rap. Poetry sometimes. But really, he's the emcee."

"Oh, for real?" Her eyes lit up. She must have been the type to only go for the one who was running things. I couldn't blame her.

"Yeah. I'll let you know next time me and Kenney go to Shipwreck."

"You and Kenney, huh?" She grinned at me.

I smiled in the other direction. "Don't start."

She suddenly screwed up her face. I looked over to see what she was looking at. About eight girls were walking through the door like they owned the place. One of them stopped to give Kenney a very suggestive hug and then turned to look Drama dead in the eye. Kenney kind of moved her out of the way and greeted the other girls. One of them, the girl that had just hugged Kenney looked over at us and rolled her eyes.

"What the hell is that trick looking at?" Shayna asked loudly, not taking her eyes off of their whole crew. Like I said, Shayna didn't go off often, but when she did, I was always right there with her.

I just shrugged and looked over at Drama, who was watching Kenney try to diffuse the situation. Kenney went over and put a hand on Drama's shoulder and then nodded to us. He said something, I'm not sure what, but suddenly Drama smiled and sauntered over to us.

"You ladies alright? Need anything?"

"No, we're fine," we said in unified extra-sweetness.

"Well, let me know if you do." He gazed at Shayna a little longer and then walked off.

I saw Shayna grinning out of the corner of my eye. "You like him."

"What?"

"You heard me." I took a sip and tried to stop smiling so I could swallow.

"I just met him!"

"Ah, love at first sight..." I sighed dreamily and teased her some more. "Want me to find out what's up? Hey, Kenney!" I called before she could say anything else.

Kenney walked over to us and sat down beside me. "How can I help you?"

"Yeah, uh..." I looked over at Shayna, who didn't think I was funny and decided that she must've really liked Drama more than I thought. I decided not to embarrass her. "What's up with those girls over there? Why they start muggin' us soon as they walked through the door?"

"You know how y'all get. Come over somewhere once and think you're the only girls that should be up in the place."

"You know us so well," I said sarcastically and shot Shayna a look.

Kenney caught the exchange and quickly retracted his statement. I guess he figured if he kept it up, we wouldn't be back. He was right. "Well not you two, per se, I'm just sayin' in general. That's how them broads are." He nodded to the overdressed crew, all of them now gathered around the desk-turned-bar.

"Uh-huh. So..." Shayna leaned around me to see Kenney better. "What was up with that hug, and that look she gave Drama? Which one of you is she with...or both of you?"

"Oh hell naw!" Kenney said loud enough to make everyone else in the room want to know what we were talking about. "Tashi, tell her. You already know I don't even get down like that. I don't even share my food..." He leaned back easily, like he was chatting with old friends. He did that a lot, actually. With everyone. "That's just some girl Drama used to mess with. Actually, she's the reason we started calling him Drama. Eventually he just accepted the fact that we would never let him live her crazy ass down and gave into the name." He chuckled like it was no big deal and gave us just enough of the story without saying too much. "She bugged out on him one day, like they were together when they were very clearly not, and he just...had to cut her loose."

"So, why was she hugging you like that?" I asked.

Kenney looked at me. "Just tryna make Rob jealous, I guess. Tisha's crazy. She was stalking him for a while, too. I hope that crazy heffa don't like me!" he declared, giving her the side-eye. Then he looked over at me and smiled suggestively. "Didn't know you cared."

Shayna grinned at me then, too.

"I don't. Just being nosy."

"Uh-huh." He stood up. "Well, gotta go make rounds. Make sure everything's copasetic. Be back."

"Alright," we both said, then Shayna turned to me. "I like him."

"Yeah..."

"No, for you. I like him for you." I just shook my head. "So..." she shifted her eyes, perfectly framed in to-die-for lashes, over to Drama. "You think Drama's alright?"

"I'm...not sure. His name is Drama, and that's what you definitely don't want to get caught up in."

"True. Good thing we sat back here."

"Why?"

"So we can see how this whole thing plays out." We looked at each other and grinned.

I held up my cup and clinked hers, and then sat back and took another sip. "Girl, this is about to be some Jerry Springer stuff."

We both laughed and noted that several more guys had walked into the room. Kenney sure did have a lot of good-looking friends. I watched him standing across the room taking money from the girls as they told him what they wanted to drink. He was such a charmer. He had them all smiling and blushing...and handing over their money...like they had never seen a real live man before. He looked over at me and winked. I blushed and looked away.

"I knew you liked him."

"Whatever Shayna."

"Whatever my butt! I'm not just here to see what Drama's about."

"Shayna..."

"Let me find out."

I decided to make it look like I was already into someone else. "I saw Collin today."

"Who the heck is Collin? Not that fool who keeps calling our room. The one you don't want to talk to?"

"That's the one." I forgot for a second who I was talking to. Duh. Half the time Shayna was the one screening my phone calls.

"Anyway girl. We ain't even talkin' 'bout his stalker ass. We're talking about cutie pie over there."

"You think he's cute?"

"Maybe," she nodded thoughtfully. "He's a little skinny, but he looks like he'll fill out in a few years. And he's always spiffed up, but I can tell he's really probably extra hood when nobody's looking...which is what I know you like." She grinned over at me. "Look at those dimples, Tash. He's adorable. You should really snatch him up before one of these other girls locks him down first."

"Nah, he's too goofy. And there's no way he's a thug. Not with those fake glasses he's always wearing. Besides," I nodded to some more girls who were walking through the door, one of which was the girl whose mouth he was all in in front of the gym earlier that day.

Damn, that looked like a hell of a good kiss, too... I looked back at Shayna and willed my mind to stop wondering. "I think he's with her."

"Her?" Shayna crinkled up her nose. Kenney went over to the girl and gave her a soft kiss. Shayna looked over at me in surprise. "Guess so." She started laughing when the other chick, Tisha, flashed her eyes at the new girls. "On second thought, I have a feeling he might not be the settling down type."

I nodded in agreement and watched Kenney brush the girl's hair back and kiss her again. It seemed like he was doing it more for Tisha's benefit than for the girl's.

"You still like him, though."

I shushed Shayna quickly as Kenney walked the new girls over to introduce us.

"Tashi, Shayna, this is LaToya," he motioned to the girl he was kissing, then to the other two, "Dana and Anna."

"Hi," I stuck out my hand. "Nice to meet you."

I looked angrily over at Shayna, though, when all LaToya did was suck her teeth and look in the other direction. Forget that trick bitch then. It wasn't my style to try to be nice to some heffas I didn't even know anyway. I had only been fakey-fakin' it for Kenney's sake, since he thought enough of her to bring her stuck up ass over to me. I'd have to tell him about wasting my damn time like that later. Luckily, the other two girls shook our hands before Shayna could open up her big megaphone mouth and blast them all the way back out of the room. Kenney looked at us apologetically and quickly steered LaToya out of my way. He already knew what I was thinking. As usual, I didn't have to say a word.

"Can you believe that mess?" Shayna asked before they were out of earshot.

"I told you, straight Jerry Springer."

She looked over at me and laughed. "You really don't give a crap do you?"

"About them? Hell no. I'ma last longer than all them hos, and don't even have to sleep with Kenney to do it."

Shayna busted out laughing. "Have to? Girl..."

"Don't even say it." I put a hand up to stop her before she could start telling me about how good she thought he would be. Shayna had this theory about guys and the way they walked.

I'll just leave it at that.

"Speaking of," she said out loud, probably in response to an internal 'walking theory' conversation that she had continued in her own mind without me, and stood up as Drama sauntered our way. "So Rob...I mean... Drama..." she looked back at me and winked. I just shook my head. "What's the 411 on all this...?" Shayna made a wide motion with her hands, like she was encompassing everyone in the room. She was extremely good at reading people. I knew that if she asked Drama what was up, it was probably because he would be the one to happily tell it.

I chuckled and picked up my cup as she linked arms with him and walked him towards the other side of the room. As soon as they were far enough away, Morris Chestnut/Collin look alike came right back over.

"I'm sorry," he began and sat down next to me. "I never got to introduce myself. I'm Ricky." He put out his hand.

"Natasha."

"Natasha," he repeated and held onto me ten seconds longer than I wanted him to. I pulled my hand away and looked around. I guess Kenney took that as a distress signal because he immediately came over to us.

"Damn Kenney!" Ricky said and leaned back comfortably in the chair. "Am I steppin' on your toes or what? This must be your woman the way you keep runnin' over here every time I try to sit down and talk to her." Ricky leaned forward and said it loud enough for LaToya and her girls to hear. They all looked over at him, then at Kenney.

I could tell Kenney was pissed, but he played it off nicely. "Naw, playa. Ain't even like that." He looked at me. "You alright?" I nodded. "You sure?" I smiled and nodded again. "Aight then." He gave Ricky a warning look and walked off.

"Bitch ass," Ricky mumbled as soon as Kenney was out of earshot.

I looked over at him in surprise.

"Oh, you like him or something?" He looked me up and down. "Didn't peg you as the type to like them yella boys."

I looked around for Shayna. This guy was getting on my nerves. Unfortunately for him, the more liquor I got in my system the more likely I'd be to tell him that to his face.

"I'm kind of thirsty," I said. "Could you..."

He smiled and pulled out an unnecessarily big wad of cash. He must have been trying to get robbed. "Anything you want."