Grey Area

So after V-day, I was super excited about my new relationship with Stacy. Though I've dated a lot since moving to DC after high school, I hadn't really found any consistent, stable, and monogamous relationship over the years. In fact, prior to moving back to DC a couple months back, I was determined to find a nice guy--and I did.

On my cloud of happiness, it occurred to me that we were exclusive, but... was he my boyfriend?

"He's your boyfriend. You two are exclusive. It means the same thing," Kristina told me on one of our daily rants and raves.

I tried believing her but my natural suspicion in life told me that it wasn't so black and white.

One day talking to classmate in my MA program, I explained to her my situation. We had a good re pore; but she had a terrible habit of being too harsh and downright aggressive. Sometimes I liked it, other times, I avoided her. But this time, I forgot her habits and spoke to her as friend, woman to woman.

"So I'm afraid that us being exclusive doesn't make him my boyfriend, per se"

Without even looking up from her news paper she curtly said, "He ain't your man--ya'll are just f*cking. Exclusively."

Damn.