Huey knew. He knew what was going to happen. He knew 3 months ago that this is what exactly was going to happen. All of the warning signs were clear. But like most of the time, people were too dense find out in time. Now they were all suffering the consequences.
But Huey was not about to let that happen to his family. Not ever. He couldn't. He'd die without them. So he had to plan. And he had to plan smartly. Or they will die.
It all began last year in October on a Saturday. It had been raining heavily outside, so everyone stayed inside their homes. Riley and Granddad were in the living room watching a Martin marathon. Huey was in the dining room doing his Human Anatomy homework.
Riley and Granddad snickered at something Martin says as he guides his wife, Gina, to the bedroom. Then the show ends. "Woo, that Martin sure is something. Ain't he, boy?" Granddad chuckled heavily. "Yup," Riley smiled. "Martin always gets pussy,"
Huey rolled his eyes at his family. He doesn't even know why they watch that show. Every episode is the same. Martin does something that he doesn't want Gina to know about, he somehow involves his idiotic friends in it, he banters with Pam, and then he dresses up as a woman to further create the "crazy black woman" stereotype. But Gina figures that Martin's hiding something from her, he tells her what it is, and then they have sex to avoid fighting. And they've been watching Martin for 6 hours now.
"Hey! Watch your mouth in this house," Granddad warns Riley.
"What I got watch my mouth for," Riley asked. "Is you just mad that a TV character get more pussy than you do, Granddad?"
Granddad fumes and reaches for his belt. "Boy, if you don't stop swearing, Imma whip your ass!"
"Aww, you are mad, Granddad." Riley teased. "But maybe you can become an actor, you can probably get some pussy, too. But oh yeah, when you tried to become an actor, you could only get some dick from Winston Jerome!"
Fed up with Riley, Granddad stands up from his recliner. In one swift movement, Granddad pulls off his leather belt and wraps it securely around his hand. "That's it, boy!" He shouts. "Come 'er!" He grabs Riley by his braids and starts smacking him everywhere with the belt.
As he watched this altercation go down, Huey wondered if he should stop this or not. But he had a lot of homework to do and he would need the house to be quiet. So he got out of his seat and quickly walked over to the living room. Huey pulls Granddad by his arm off of a crying Riley.
"Granddad, stop" Huey says. Granddad glares at him.
"Give me one good reason not to bust the breaks off his ass!?" Huey actually has to stop for a second to think of a valid reason. Then he gets it. "Riley's 15. He's way too old for you to keep beating him. Just send him to his room."
Granddad puts his fists on his hips. "I don't give a fuck how old this nigga is!" he exclaims. "I don't give a fuck if he 15, and I don't give a fuck if you 17. I will still beat y'all asses even when you turn 120!" You won't be here when we're 120, Huey thinks, but he just keeps quiet and glares back at Granddad. In the speed of light, Granddad puts his belt back on. He then returns to his seat. "And keep looking at me like that or you'll end up like that sniveling nigga right there." Granddad points to Riley, who whimpers as he struggles to get up. He drags himself onto the sofa, and lies on his back. He catches Huey looking at him and sneers. "The fuck you looking at, nigga?"
Huey returns the look. He begins to go back to the dining room when a commercial (for some reason, louder than all of the other commercials) comes on TV. It's a McWuncler's commercial promoting a new item on its menu. Being a vegan, Huey couldn't care less. However, his brother and grandfather's eyes were glued to the screen.
Before we all grew up with the McDual, the TV said. But we all need change in our lives. Now introducing the brand new McDual…Double Stuffed! Riley and Granddad looked like kids at Christmas. They looked at each other, smiling ear to ear. They seemed to have forgotten about the fight that happened moments before.
On the TV they showed the original McDual, the small, overpriced, chemically induced burger. Then right next to the sandwich, they dropped the Double Stuffed McDual. Huey's face twisted with disgust while Riley and Granddad's face just radiated happiness.
The burger was monstrous. The buns could barely support the burger. You could hardly even see the condiments. Just a few slices of cheese, some tomato, the lettuce poking out from between the burger, yet ketchup, mustard, and burger juice dripped from the sandwich. The burger was just, well, burger. It was just two large mounds of beef between 2 slices of medium-sized white bread.
Twice the size of McDual, the Double Stuffed McDual comes with your choice of plain, cheese, or caramelized onions. Also comes in the Kiddies' Meal. And just for the small price of $3! Buy 10 and get a free small drink and small fries. Supplies are limited, so hurry up and get your Double Stuffed McDual today!
The commercial ends by showing bunch of skinny, racially ambiguous people happily buying and eating the slop of meat. The trademark jingle, "I'm buyin' it" plays, the commercial ends, and another episode of Martin begins.
But Riley and Granddad didn't seem to care. They already began getting dressed to leave. Huey crosses his arms.
"Are y'all seriously about to go get that nasty excuse of a burger?" he says. Riley zipped up his jacket. "Just cuz you's a grass-eating hating ass nigga don't mean we can't go out and enjoy some real food." He says. Granddad nods as he puts on his shoes. "Your brother's right, Huey. Did you see the size of that thing? I'm about to go get 10 of those things so I won't have to cook for a week! Your brother can go eat those, and you can just eat the plants outside."
Huey quickly does the math in his mind. "You're going to spend $30 on burgers? You never spend over $5 for fast food. You always get McRoosters and free water." Granddad grabbed his keys and he and Riley head towards the garage door. "Shiiiiddd, Imma still get the waters with my free fries and drink. And, yes I am going to spend $30 on some burgers. I'm not sure why you care like you and I are both paying bills. Besides, I've been craving meat all day."
"Well damn, Granddad. If you been wanting meat all day, I could of called up Winston Jerome. He would have been more than happy to give you some." Riley laughs. Granddad slapped the back of Riley's neck. "Shut up before beat your ass till you piss yourself. Huey, we'll be back in a few. Don't fuck up my house." Huey hears the door close, the garage door open, and the car leave.
Huey is suddenly tired and yawns widely. He turns off all of the lights downstairs only leaving the dining room's light on. He collapses on the couch facing the TV. Forgetting about his homework, he grabs the remote and turns on the Jazz channel. He closes his eyes and lets the sounds of the storm and notes of the sax wash over him. He almost slips into drowsiness when he hears the doorbell ring.
Huey silently curses and hopes that if he ignores them they'll go away. He shuts his eyes again. He tries to lets the smooth jazz bring him under again. But the doorbell rings 3 times again. "Goddamn," he says aloud. Huey gets up from the couch, and lumbers over to the door. He opens it and finds a surprise.
Jazmine DuBois stands at the door. Huey raises an eyebrow at her. She just rolls her large emerald eyes at him "What took you so long to open the door?" she smirks. Before he can responds, she walks past him into the house. Huey glares at her. "Yeah, come in Jazmine. Make yourself at home." He says sarcastically. "Thanks," she responds dryly. He closes the door and leans against the door. He watches her as she takes off her wet black Keds and places them beside door. Then they walk to the living room.
"Where is everybody?" she asks.
"They went to McWuncler's", Huey says. Jazmine furrows her brows "To get that new burger?" she asks. Huey nods. She shivers.
"Ew. It looked so gross on TV. So what are you gonna eat, then?"
Huey shrugs and looks towards the kitchen. "I'll make you something." She offers. Huey looks down at her, He gives her a half smile that makes her eyes widen. "Thanks," he says.
Then they both observe each other.
She's wearing a maroon hoodie, dark blue skinny jeans, and grey ankle socks.
Her orange hair, fizzy from the rain, is in one long fishtail braid that goes down her back. It looks lovely on her, but Huey always preferred when her hair was big and poofy. Like his own. Jazmine's 5'4, but he was 6'2. So he towers over her. She's carrying a black duffle bag on her shoulder. She starts fidgeting with the strap of the bag.
"Why are you staring at me like that?" she says. Huey puts his hands in the pockets of his black sweats. He meets her eyes with his.
"You were looking at me the same way, Jazmine," he says. She shrugs slightly and looks away. Huey yawns and stretches. Remembering his sleepiness, he walks over to the chair opposite of Granddad's Lay-Z-Boy and lies in it. He grabs the remote and turns the jazz music a little louder. He closes his eyes and tries to once again concentrate on the drums and the rain. He but can't sleep. He opens his eyes and finds the mulatto staring down at him disapprovingly. Huey frowns. "What?" he says.
"What do you mean 'what'?" she says tersely. Huey sighs and sits up.
"I mean, what are you doing here, Jazmine?" Jazmine huffs and puts her hand on her hips. "Are you serious Huey? I cannot believe you forgot. You even texted me this morning asking if I was still coming over."
What is she talking about?, Huey thought. But he was not in the mood. He stood up from the chair and shot her a dangerous look. "Jazmine, I don't have time for your attitude. You either tell me why you're here or you leave. It's that simple." Jazmine steps back from him to regain her stance. She crosses her arms and pouted at him. "You were suppose to train me today at 6. Sword training? Does any of that ring a bell?" she says.
It actually does. For the last year, Huey's been training Jazmine in martial arts. Why she was suddenly interested, he'd never know. He just remembers how she begged him that for her birthday he's show her a few moves. So in February he did, but every weekend she'd come asking for more. And the practices became apart of daily life here at Woodcrest. But Huey was so caught up in "work" and school that he forgot all about her.
Jazmine was actually so horrible on the first week that Huey actually laughed a few times. But as the months went by, Jazmine greatly improved. In two months she was able to defend herself. Now she's great at just kicking ass. All he had left to teach her was how to use the sword, how to shoot and handle a gun, and how to wrestle.
Jazmine looked up at him sadly. "But you look tired, so I guess I'll let you sleep and I'll come back tomorrow." She turns to leave, but Huey grabs her by her wrist.
"No, don't go. I'm sorry." The words come out of Huey's mouth before he time to think about. "I just forgot about it. I'll train you." She grins widely. "Oh thank you, Huey!" she cried. She gets on her tippy-toes, wraps her arms around his waist, and hugs him tightly. Huey's ears feel hot. All he could register was that her hair smelled wonderful. She releases him, her hands still on his waist. She looks into his wine colored eyes. "I have to change first though," Jazmine says. Huey only mumbles a response. "So do I," She smirked at him. "I'll use your bathroom downstairs," she declares. Huey nodded at her. "Okay, Jazmine. I'll change in my room." She beamed again. Jazmine fully released him.
She strolled towards the basement door, which was in the back of the kitchen. She looks back to see Huey just standing there looking bemused. Jazmine's playfully rolled her eyes. She walked right back to him. She places her hand with his and their fingers laced together. Jazmine throws him a dazzling smile.
"Well, come on, Freeman!" she laughs as she pulls him toward the basement. But Huey wasn't listening to her words. He just frowned down at their hands, thinking about how soft her hands were.