Hey everyone! This is my very first fanfic so first I just wanna say thanks for even clicking on the story and bothering to read this.

Next, I've gotta say that I absolutely love the Boondocks (obvi), especially some Riley/Cindy & Huey/Jazmine. I've been playing this new song on repeat for days called Think Like A Man by Jennifer Hudson, Ne-Yo, & Rick Ross. After, hmm, maybe the 27th time listening to it, a plot kinda began to unravel in my mind and I thought: "Huh. I totally could picture Riley and Cindy singing this to each other."

And so this oneshot songfic was born [PAUSE: I really wanted to give the backstory to what lead up to the main focus of them singing in the story, but it got sort of long, so this is going to consist of two chapters. Sooo a twoshot I guess? Is this a thing? If not, I just made it one. Cause I like to break the rules… okay un-pause].

Hope you enjoy! Also, if you haven't heard this song, seriously suggest listening to it. Love Jennifer Hudson & Ne-Yo's voices together.

Disclaimer: I do not own any part of Aaron McGruder's The Boondocks and his characters. Also do not own the song Think Like A Man.

Think Like A Man

Cindy

She had basically become an insomniac.

She hadn't always been one, and on normal circumstances, she wouldn't have given a shit. She usually didn't go to bed until around 2 or 3 in the morning anyway. The difference now? Ever since things had gotten so screwed up, she now found it impossible to go to sleep. Which left her with endless hours to just lie in bed and think.

To think about everything that had led her to this point. Think about everything that had transpired between now and the last three weeks. And think about the one person who had brought her to the place she was in now.

Riley-fucking-Freeman.

Twenty-one year old Cindy McPhearson rolled over on her side, continuing the clutch the pillow tightly to her chest.

She didn't want to think about that… that… boy! That asshole! That dickhead! That…

Cheater.

She closed her eyes tightly as the thoughts began to swarm through her mind again. It was like her brain refused to think about anything else. It was tormenting.

She thought about the way things had been before everything had managed to become so screwed up. Back to when they just seemed so… right for each other. They were so alike. They had the same interests, the same tastes, the same attitudes. Everything. He made her laugh. He treated her as his equal, he didn't care that she was a girl. He didn't care that she was white. He wasn't afraid to challenge her either, which really impressed her. With her attitude, almost everyone was afraid to stand up to her. Riley wasn't. Well, he and his know-it-all brother both weren't, but that was it.

She had a crush on him since they were kids. And as they grew older, they just seemed more and more perfect for each other.

But things always have a way of changing.

She saw the signs before he did. She noticed as she got older that their tempers were exactly alike, probably the worst similarity that they both shared. When they got into it, it was war. Neither refused to back down. Ever. The only thing that "resolved" the problem? Passionate, heavy, make-up sex. And that was that. They problem would be over, never to be resurfaced again.

Another thing she noticed, Riley was a terrible alcoholic. For one thing, he didn't know his limit to save his life. He would get wasted to the point where he would blackout and just say and do the most ridiculous and stupid thing. When he finally sobered up, he would rarely ever remember any part of the night prior.

And of course, she had noticed Brandy.

Cindy's nails involuntarily gripped tighter around the pillow in anger as her mind continued to race.

Brandy, the girl that had been in the same grade as Riley. Brandy, who had happened to work with Riley at the Nike Store. Brandy, the central focal point around their more recent fighting.

Oh, she had noticed her, alright.

Cindy began to notice her the first couple of times Riley would reference to her while telling a story about work. When Cindy asked who she was, he'd reply with "just a friend from work." She had noticed her when Riley would get evasive when Cindy would ask him who he was texting. He would stare at her for a moment, as if debating on whether to reveal, before settling on his standard answer: nobody. It was when Cindy had stopped into the mall to drop off Riley's lunch that he'd forgotten, that she'd really noticed her. She had been about to walk into the Nike Store to find him, but had spotted the back of his braided head sitting at a table outside of the next store down. And he didn't appear to be alone. Because his back was to her, she had the urge to walk a little closer. Sure enough, she saw the Riley was sitting with a beautiful girl with long dark hair, a curvy body, and a charming smile. There was one plate of food on the table, from which they seemed to be sharing from. Cindy saw how the girl smiled and giggled. How she playfully shoved Riley's arm when he had said something to her. How she batted her long lashes and gazed at him with a dreamy expression. And she had seen the nametag on her chest.

Brandy.

Because she was a no-bullshit kind of girl, she confronted him about it later, to which he immediately brushed off.

It's nothing. We're just friends. Why are you so jealous? Get off my back. You're crazy.

The arguments became worse and worse, each one still focused around the same damn issue. No matter how many times the fighting would die down, no matter how much she tried to let it go, and no matter how much they "made-up," it would also come back up. And the fighting would be worse than before.

And then… she did the thing that she wished she could take back. The thing that would have prevented things to snowball the way they did. The thing that changed everything.

She'd gone behind his back. She violated his trust. She snooped through his phone.

Riley had been in the shower and had left his phone on the bed. Cindy originally had no intention of going through it. She had been getting ready to go out with Jazmine and was fixing her hair.

Then she had heard his phone vibrate on the bed.

That's when she had been tempted.

He was in the shower. She'd put it right back. He'd never know.

She walked over to the bed slowly, trying to delay her burning desire to look. She picked it up, and slowly hitting the button for the phone to light up. And then she read: New Message from Brandy.

That's when her conscious went out the window. Now she had to know.

Without giving it another thought, she went to his messages and went to the conversations between him and her. She was angry to see that there was over 200 recent messages between the two of them. She became angrier to see that she liked to give him little pet names. "Hey boo." "Whaddup, bae?" She had reached furious when she saw a picture of her blowing a kiss to the camera, a subtitle reading Miss ya, babe.

"What… the fuck… is you doin'?"

Cindy winced, remembering the harshness of his words as she looked up, horrified to see him standing in the doorway, glaring at his phone in her hand.

And then all hell broke loose.

Their screams were heard by her neighbors. Objects were thrown. Threats were made. And then he had stormed out, angrier than she had ever seen him in her life. He hadn't come back to her place that night, not that she expected. Not that she even wanted him to. But she had never expected him to do what he did.

She found out later than everyone else. She had been driving to pick up some pain killer for her headache when she started getting texts from people.

From Jazmine: Ohmygod, Cindy. I'm so sorry. Please talk to me. It's going to be okay. I'm coming to check on you.

From Caesar: Cin, I am so sorry. You know I'm here if you ever need to talk to me.

Even from Huey, probably the most unemotional man on the planet: Wow. I'm sorry, Cindy. I truly am. I'll talk to him, believe me.

She had been so confused and slightly scared when she got them all, within minutes of each other. The only person she responded to was Jazmine, asking her what the hell was going on. The only response:

You didn't' get the text? Sent from Riley's phone?

She didn't bother replying. Before she even knew what she was doing, she had pulled up to the Woodcrest mall and began marching to the Nike Store. She knew that Riley would be off today. She had no idea when Brandy's hours were, but she knew one thing. Even if she wasn't working, somebody was going to tell her where the hell the bitch lived.

Lucky for her, she didn't have to do an interrogation. The bitch was standing at the counter, a simple smirk on her lips as she watched Cindy storm in.

"May I help you?" Cindy remembered her saying amusingly, as if she didn't need to fear for her life.

"Bitch, I'm gonna say this one time." She remembered uttering lowly. "I don't know what the hell you sent from his phone or whatever the hell rumor you done spread, but I'mma tell you right now. It. Ends. Now."

"Well, I don't know anything about a rumor, but if you're referring to a text…" Brandy said as if confused as she pulled out her cellphone, hit a few buttons, before spinning it around. "I received this one about ten or so minutes ago… from Riley."

Cindy couldn't help it, she let a tear fall on her pillow as she remembered the picture vividly. The way Brandy had been straddled on top of Riley. The way he was shirtless. The way she was bra-less. The way they were both horizontal in bed as they shared a passionate kiss.

"And by the looks of the message, it seems like it was forwarded on to a bunch of people. Probably everyone in his address book." Brandy continued as Cindy stared at the picture in shock. "Well, except for you, obviously. Weird, huh?" She had said with just enough sarcasm to make Cindy regain her composure. She looked up at Brandy slowly, her eyes darkening.

"So you're basically telling me that you are the one that took this picture." She asked evenly.

"Well, my phone wasn't with me, so I had to use his. And then maybe I wanted to send to picture to myself for a keepsake. But when I did that, I must've accidentally hit forward to his entire address book. Whoops." She shrugged.

"And you're really just going to stand there, staring at me with innocent eyes as you tell me all this?" Cindyhad asked calmly.

"Well, first off, on the real, I didn't even know Riley was in a relationship before last night. You know, before I ran into him at the bar and we had a few drinks. So if you're gonna be mad at anyone be mad at yo man for not telling and for going along with it. Two, he had mentioned that you two had gotten into a fight and that it was over and done between you, so can you really be mad? And three, what the hell are you gonna do to me? Here, in the mall, with all these people? You ain't bad, white girl. And more importantly, you ain't gonna do shit here." As she had rambled on and on, which is what Cindy had expected her to do, she hadn't noticed that Cindy had sat her purse down, pulled her hair back, taken off her necklace, and taken off her earrings. Her last statement was what had caught Cindy's attention.

She thought she wasn't go do shit, huh? Just because she was in public? Just because there were witnesses?

Brandy clearly didn't know her.

And that's when Cindy had a blackout of her own.

Riley

Riley Freeman looked to the door to see his brother open it and step in.

"Nigga, what the hell you want? Get out my room." He muttered, continuing to toss his basketball in the air from his spot on his bed.

"Until someone informs me otherwise, this is still, and will always be, part of my room too. A lot of stuff of mine is still in here, including my bed." Huey replied in a bored tone as he leaned against the wall.

"You's don't even live here anymore, man! What's the point of even bringin' yo ass?"

"To check up on Granddad. To make sure he's still taking his medicine. To make sure you haven't killed him yet… or vice versa, I suppose." He shrugged.

Huey had moved out when he graduated from high school and had been accepted into the University of Maryland, College Park. He got an apartment a few blocks away from the house and commuted back and forth to school, even though it was a half hour away. Everyone was shocked that he didn't go somewhere far away since he always talked about how he wanted to get the hell out of Woodcrest. But Riley knew his brother, and he knew the only reason he hadn't gone somewhere far yet, was to do exactly what he'd just admitted. To try and continue to take care of him and Granddad.

"Please. He don't need no extra person watchin' over his ass. I got it." He continued to toss the ball in the air.

"Even if I pretended that that statement was true… who's gonna check up on your ass?" Huey asked pointedly, raising his eyebrow.

"Nobody." He said lowly. "I don't need anybody." He said the last part quietly as he finally stopped tossing the ball, closing his eyes momentarily.

"…You wanna talk about it?"

"Not really." Riley shrugged, pushing the ball so it'd roll off the bed. "Ain't nothin' to talk about no how."

"Riley."

"I don't even know what the hell you're tryna get at. What do you wanna talk about?"

"Riley."

"Probably just wanna talk about yourself anyway. Everything peachy keen wit' you and Jazmine?" he rolled his eyes, stressing her name.

"We're good, thanks." Huey's eyes hardened. "How are you and C-"

"Don't." Riley uttered through clenched teeth with his eyes closed. "Say…. Her name."

When he finally opened his eyes to glare at his brother, he saw that Huey had almost a sympathetic look on his face.

"You're gonna have to talk about it sooner or later, Riley." He said calmly.

Riley sighed, sitting up and resting his arms on his knees. "How are you and Jazz? Fo'real?" He asked his brother.

Huey nodded with a shrug as he sat down on his old bed. "We're doin' pretty well, I guess. She wanted me to tell you that she misses you… not that I can imagine why." He smirked.

Riley grinned. "Yeah, whateva. Tell her to save that gayness for you."

"I think I'll just stick to the original message and tell her that you miss her too."

"Whateva, nigga." He rolled his eyes with a smirk. Then he got quiet again. "Has she, uh… heard from anybody… recently?" Riley asked, scratching the back of his neck.

Huey shot him a look. "Can you be a little more specific? Jazmine is basically friends with everyone so-"

"You know damn well who I'm talking about!" Riley snapped quickly. "Cindy. Damn."

"Well, that clears things up." Huey said, ignoring the glare he got in response. "And yeah…. She has."

"How'd she say she's doing, man?" Riley asked quietly.

Huey turned to Riley and gave him a knowing look. "Judging by what she tells me and by the way you've been acting… I'd say she's doing and feeling about the same as you."

Riley lowered my head with a nod. "Great."

"You two have to talk eventually, Riley." He heard Huey say.

"What the hell am I supposed to say, man? What can I possibly tell her that is gonna make any of this go away?" He said with a blank look. Huey returned it.

"You be honest with her. No, it might not make the problem go away. It most likely won't. But at least you'll be trying to fix it. At least attempting to make it better. Sitting here in your room all day is solving nothing. You're just as miserable as she is."

"She said she never wanted to see me again, man." Riley muttered.

Huey scoffed. "I highly doubt it. You and her both say a shitload of stuff when you're mad. Which is what gets you into trouble in the first place."

Riley shook his head, continuing. "I'd never seen her as serious as she was, man. It was bad. Hella bad. Like no joke."

"Care to elaborate? I never got the whole story." Huey leaned back on the headboard of his bed and gave Riley his full attention.

"Well..." Riley began, rubbing his arm. "You know 'bout how she went through my phone, right?" Huey nodded once. "I was mad as hell. Not because I had some real secretive shit or nothin', but 'cuz she just straight up disrespected me. Like, you fo'real, bitch? You can't trust me that much you gonna look through my phone? You never snoop on someone else's shit. 'Specially a real nigga's shit."

"Continue." Huey rolled his eyes, already sounding bored.

"Nigga, who is tellin' the story?" Riley snapped. "Like I was sayin', after that shit, I just peeled out, knaa'mean? Mad as hell. I went down to the bar, right? And-"

"How the hell are you even getting into the bar and getting served? You're nineteen!"

"Don't worry 'bout all dat. I knows people." Riley grinned as Huey narrowed his eyes. "Anyways, hater, I'm in the bar gettin' a few drinks to just unwind and chill out, when I see my friend… well, used to be friend. That hoe can just choke on a dick now." Riley's eyes quickly hardened as he remembered.

Huey's eyebrow lifted. "The same one from the-"

"Yup." Riley nodded, giving him a look. "The same. Damn. Whore."

"Shit." Huey muttered. "I can see where this is going."

"Pretty much." Riley nodded his head as he continued. "Anyway, she was there. She saw that I was upset and tried to get me to talk to her. Steady buyin' me drinks by the way. At first I wasn't gonna, but after the fourth or fifth drink on her dime, I started feelin' a little better. And I did tell her."

"What happened then?" Huey asked, looking grim.

"Well, after the next few drinks, I honestly don't know. Well, I know now, but I remember nothing else from that night, man." Riley sighed, shaking his head.

"Damn." Huey said. Riley nodded. "I know. I need a drink now just thinking about it."

"The hell you do." Huey snapped. Riley rolled his eyes. "Continue."

"Well, obviously you know what went down. I woke up, saw us both in the same bed, and felt like the worst piece of shit to ever walk the earth. I couldn't remember anything at all."

"What'd you do?"

"I woke her the hell up and asked her what happened even though I pretty much already knew being as though we were both naked." Riley watched his brother wince. "She confirmed it though. I felt so damn bad. For one, she really was like a friend to me. I had guessed that maybe she mighta liked me at a time, but I just didn't see that way. Why would I when I have Cindy? Had Cindy." Riley clarified, looking sadder as he went on. "I just couldn't believe that I did that to her. Yeah, she pissed me off, but she didn't deserve that." Riley said, shaking his head while looking solemn.

"Go on. What happened then?" Huey prodded.

Riley sighed. "Well, I told her I was sorry. I said that I didn't mean for it to happen and that it was a mistake. She had promised me that she wasn't going to tell anyone and that it would be our secret. Bitch." Riley's eyes narrowed, as did Huey's. "I went to go change in her bathroom, but when I came back out, she left this stupid ass note by my phone that said she had gone to work. I didn't even think about it, I just grabbed the rest of my shit and got the hell out. I was gonna go to Cindy's house to try to talk, but remembered I had to stop in work anyway to pick up my check. I had just gotten there when the texts came." Riley closed his eyes as he remembered. "Everyone was flippin' the hell out on me, including you," he stopped to glare at his brother who grimaced in response. "I was about to try to find out when I noticed Cindy's car parked in front of mine. I forgot about it and just ran inside to find her. I found her alright."

"Wait, didn't the bitch say she was stopping into work too?" Huey asked, his eyes widening. Riley snickered at him. "Yup."

"Oh hell." Huey muttered, putting two and two together.

"This girl went straight off. I've never seen her that mad before. Grant it, the bitch did need that ass-whoopin', but damn, I really thought Cindy was gonna kill her."

"I'm sure that was her original intention had she not been restrained…. Sorry. Go 'head." Riley glared at him before resuming.

"It took me, all of my five other co-workers, two witnesses, and six mall cops to stop her from attacking her." Huey let out a low whistle. "Yeah. Then, when she noticed that I was one of the people that was holding her back, she knocked me the fuck out. I woke up on the damn floor about 20 minutes later after she had already been kicked out of the mall and the bitch had been taken to the hospital. Now I must've still been out of it, 'cuz I decided to drive to her house."

"By yourself?" Huey asked incredulously. His brother nodded once. "You realize you could've died right?" Riley rolled his eyes. "Whateva."

"What happened?" Huey asked quietly.

"Nothing good. As soon as I got there, she told me to look at the picture that had been taken and sent out from my phone." Huey winced. "Then it just got worse from then on. It was bad, man. We said a lot of shit. Some shit we never shoulda said." Riley said, putting his head into his hands.

Huey was silent as he realized Riley probably didn't want to discuss the things he had said. But it didn't stop Riley from remembering every word.

"I HATE YOU!" He remembered Cindy screaming from the top of her lungs. "I fucking hate you! I can't believe you could ever do this me! I can't believe I ever put my trust in you! You pathetic excuse of a lyin' punk-ass, pussy-chasin', bitch-ass, no good CHEATER!"

And then something inside Riley snapped. He was so angry with himself, with Brandy, with this entire situation he just couldn't contain it. He let his temper get the better of him once again and didn't think before opening his mouth.

"How the FUCK can I cheat?" He had screamed, causing Cindy to pause and stop momentarily. "Have you ever once heard the word 'girlfriend' come out of my mouth in relation to you? We're not even together. We've never been defined as boyfriend or girlfriend, so how the hell can I cheat on you if we aren't and never were anything?"

Riley clenched his fists and ground his teeth together as he remembered his harsh words. Maybe they had been true, but he knew that just because they weren't defined, didn't mean anything. What he had said had been total bullshit. He cared for and respected her more than anybody he knew. She was his everything.

He remembered as one lone tear rolled down her cheek as she stared at him. The way she looked at him, hurt written all over her face. And the way her next words, broke both of their hearts.

"You're right." She said, her voice managing to remain stable even though another tear fell from her eyes. "You're absolutely right. We aren't anything. So congratulations. And I promise you, we never will be."

"Cindy-"

"Get the fuck out, Freeman. And this time, don't come back. I mean it." She had said, turning her back on him and going into her room. Riley had heard the lock of the door click as he walked closer down the hallway. He could hear the sound of something shattering, signifying she had thrown something. And then he heard the sound of her crying. It was soft at first, as if she was trying to be quiet. Then they started to grow louder.

Devastated, with nothing left to say or do to change the outcome of the situation, he slowly walked out.

Riley felt a hand on his shoulder. He glanced up slowly to see Huey staring at him with a somber expression.

"I'm sorry."

"I dunno why. You're not the one who fucked everything up. I did."

"So fix it."

"I don't know how." Riley admitted honestly.

"You will. Soon enough you will." Huey said, rising to his feet. Riley shrugged as Huey began to walk to door.

"Hey." Riley looked at his brother, who stood in the doorway.

"It's gonna work out in the end. You know that right?" Huey asked.

"There's no guarantee." Riley muttered. Huey scoffed, causing Riley to glance back at him.

"When have you ever known me to be wrong about anything?" He smirked.

Riley grinned and rolled his eyes. "Whateva, nigga. Get your gay ass the hell outta my room."

"Love you too, man. See you tomorrow." He smirked again, the closest thing he had to a smile, before leaving the doorframe.

Riley sighed as he laid down on his bed again. He crossed his arms behind his head as he thought about everything. About what had happened. About what his brother had said. About Cindy.

He wanted her back. He needed her back in his life.

The only thing he could hope for was that his stupid brother's intuition wouldn't fail him this time.

Author's Note: And now you see why I thought it'd be better for two chapters. I like details as you can see.

The next chapter should be out either later today or tomorrow at the latest hopefully.

Hope you like it! Please feel free to drop a review! Whether you love it or hate it, let me know.

Thanks again for reading my first story! Update sooon! :)

~ Schweetie