"All the Things (Your Man Won't Do)"

Written by Dave the Wordsmith

Disclaimer: Boondocks is owned by Sony Pictures Digital Inc. and Aaron McGruder. All the copyrights associated with Boondocks belong to them. Only the ideas contained within this story are the property of the author. No profit is being earned by the writer of this story.

This Story was Inspired and Influenced by the Following:
A crazy dream I had a few days ago, which helped me come up with this one-shot
Joe - "All the Things (Your Man Won't Do)"
Maxwell - "Fortunate"
Usher - "I Will/Bedtime"
Dave Hollister - "Take Care of Home"
Michael Jackson - "The Lady in My Life"

Quick note: What up world? Ya boy's back with a lil' one-shot to tide y'all over while I finish the last chapter of "Heart of Porcelain" (which is almost done). This piece here is kinda different from what I usually do, but you know me, I come from the unexpected, even if it may blindside folks. So til' my next update, big ups to everyone that's supported ya boy, and has reviewed any of my works, added a story of mine as a favorite, put one of my stories on alert or just read my stuff. Real talk.

Peace.

"I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel."
-Maya Angelou

The clock struck three o'clock when Jazmine Dubois woke up. Never had she ever felt so incognizant, so flabbergasted. As soon as she opened her eyes, a burning pain ate away at her vulnerable aching heart like a wild fire. Her surroundings appeared blurry from the thick fog that clouded her vision.

Where was she again?

How did she get here?

And when?

The room felt like it was spinning. Her eyes enlarged in order to get a closer look at everything, which unfortunately resulted in an intense stinging sensation in her eyelids. She coughed and licked her lips, wondering incredulously how they became so incredibly chapped. She looked down, hoping she would not see what she thought she would see. She was wrong. Her nose scrunched up as she cringed upon the sight of the dark, circular damp spot where her head rested on her plush angel white pillow. It was a fresh, small puddle of her saliva. The sight of it was so disgusting she squealed and flipped over the pillow. The last time she ever drooled during her sleep, she had to have been at least sixteen years old. Now that she was twenty five, the idea of sleeping with her mouth wide open, so trapped in her dreams that she would actually unconsciously allow spit to roll out of the corner of her mouth onto her pillow, should have been the least of her worries.

While she slid over to the edge of the giant king sized bed, a throbbing headache repeatedly struck both sides of her forehead. She groaned while she rubbed her temples furiously, upset that she had to indulge in those silly imbibing festivities the previous night. Unable to focus and see through the hazy, translucent curtain of tears that fell down her left cheek, she allowed her index finger to brush her sign of distress away that welled up in her eyes and rubbed it off by her side on the silk, brown colored sheets. Now she remembered where she was. It was some nice suite she stayed in for a little while at a nice five star hotel. The name of it escaped her memory but it had to be nice, because there were 22 karat chandeliers and a grand piano in the next room.

To her right, the huge window gave her an excellent view of Las Vegas, including the entire beautiful skyline and several other hotels lit up with their bright colorful lights below the dark midnight sky.

Immediately a huge rush of questions popped up in her mind. Why was she in Las Vegas? Wasn't she in Woodcrest? And why wasn't she in her own home?

Like a slap to the face, something suddenly made her remember the answer to that last question. She felt so sick to her stomach, the weight of all the consequences of her mistake finally weighing in, crushing her spirits. To her left, she tried her best not to look at the figure sleeping soundlessly, buried under the covers that rose and fell in a normal rhythm that occurred when someone was left alone, uninterrupted from their slumber. She knew who it was, and it almost made her cry remembering why her hangover was not the only source of her pain. It was the person that she hung out with all last night, drank with all last night, danced in the club with all last night, and eventually slept with all last night.

Jazmine breathed deeply, held it for a long moment, and then let it out. Coming up with a very deep resolve, she swore that starting last night it would be the last time she would drink. Even though dozens of drinks ago, dozens of late night parties ago, and dozens of nights ago she spent going to several clubs with her best friend, making up for the lost time she spent during her childhood and early adulthood studying and being so innocent, she wanted to have all the fun in the world. She was tired of being the square, the uptight goody two shoes. She wanted to prove to everyone she had a bad side, a little devil hidden inside her angelic personality. Last night, her promise sounded so good, but she knew it would be broken, just like it was last night and the night before that, and before that, and so on and so on.

Finally adjusting to the pain that had no immediate recourse, Jazmine stood up, threw on her purple robe lying on the end of the bed and stepped ever so gently into her all white bunny rabbit slippers. She didn't care that as an adult she still wore the same slippers that she did at sixteen. Now that she was well on her way to being a veterinarian, having almost finished all of her classes at medical school, interned for several hospitals and shadowed very successful veterinarians, she figured she should forget those stupid people, always talking about nothing but a bunch of bull. Ever since she was ten, people always judged her because she laughed all the time, because she smiled all the time, because she liked to listen to pop music and not much R&B or rap, or because she loved animals, because she was always a kid at heart, and because she had long, curly strawberry blonde hair while other black and mixed girls were secretly so jealous and they had to dye their hair to try to match hers, and of course they barely succeeded if they did not fail. It was by the time she graduated high school when she realized it was no use trying to fit in, which most likely prevented her from making more friends. But how many of us really had them anyway? Ones we could actually depend on?

Jazmine wanted to laugh at every single one of them, stick a finger in their face that almost touched their noses and curse at them, even if she used "dang", "heck" or "dumb butt" instead of their more horrible, degrading forms. She spent so much time reminiscing about her past she realized she had walked in a circle in front of her bed, going nowhere. At that moment of realization, her heart sank, the headaches returned, and a giant wave of nausea came and went, feeling like her stomach cartwheeled several times and finished with a triple backflip.

The bed.

That dang bed.

That dang, stupid king sized bed that was now drenched with sin, the sin that she and her lover, the co-conspirator of their affair created.

That's what triggered the suffering, the pain, and the headaches. Thinking about that bed caused recollections of last night flashed before her eyes, one by one. As she reached the last picture to help put the pieces together, she recoiled, stumbling backwards with a loud gasp. Her hand shot up and covered her mouth, surprised by how loud her voice rang and bounced off the walls of her bedroom. It wasn't a dream like she thought.

She remembered the horrible, horrible deed she had done last night.

She cheated on him.

She cheated on Huey Freeman, her husband of barely a year.

She went against her vows she said to him at the city hall and afterwards, that she didn't love anyone else but him.

He probably didn't know she was in the city of sin. And how ironic was that: she committed a sin in the city of sin when she promised she would never commit a sin with her husband.

She lied effortlessly, and quickly told him she would be at some health care convention for about a week, or some last minute public health care meeting, something like that. Whatever it was, Huey only nodded and gave his approval to go.

Whatever it was she said, she knew she was wrong. She lied. She committed an irresponsible act of infidelity, and there was no way to take it back.

It hurt. It really, really hurt.

And it hurt so bad. It hurt so, so bad.

But at the same time, it also felt good. So, so good.

So, so, so, so good.

She had her reasons. There was somewhat of a method to her madness. He hurt her every night. Not physically through hitting or some other act of violence. Huey would never do that. It was due to a huge deficiency of emotional support, the refusal to actually spend quality time with his wife.

Instead, he always had to dive right into a law book or spend all his time at the office going over dumb cases or helping with paperwork or attending some dumb convention, mingling with people he would probably never see again.

And it wasn't like Jazmine never tried to talk to him about it. Every time she inquired about spending time with her, he would say yes, but would never follow through, always coming up with some stupid excuse.

Her hands ran down her face, pulling fiercely on her light, wheat brown skin. Thinking about Huey and why she always felt so isolated from him almost made her weak at the knees. She sniffed several times, hugging herself while thoughts of guilt and anguish flooded her memory banks.

Her bottom lip drooped, then it shook, and then trembled. Sniffles turned to whimpers. Whimpers turned into soft cries. Soft cries grew louder into a depressing wail.

So caught up in her sobs, she jumped when a comforting hand grabbed hold of hers. She must've woken them up from crying so much.

She turned to face the source from where the question came. The eye contact was hard to make and maintain at first, but once it was steady, her pain began to subside. Face to face, she gazed deeply into the eyes of the person who was the object of her affair.

Cindy McPhearson.

Staring in her eyes, those baby blue eyes, they always made her feel so good, so calm, so…loved. Jazmine felt so mesmerized staring at Cindy's long, natural blond hair that came down to her shoulders even though the top of her head was covered by a red scarf, and her pretty smile that could light up a room, and her smooth, sexy legs that she chose to expose since she took off her jeans a long time ago. Just seeing her in her white tank top and baby blue panties, even that was kind of sexy.

Cindy hopped on the bed and sat behind Jazmine. "You aight, boo?"

"No, Cindy, I'm not," she sighed, slapping her hands on her thighs. "I feel so horrible…I mean, I'm married, and I…I cheated on my husband!" she pouted and shook her head twice.

Cindy placed her hands on Jazmine's shoulders, starting to massage them. "Jay…"

"And not just cheated like a typical girl cheats on a guy, but with…another woman!" her arms went up in the air, then came down by her sides.

"Jay…"

"That's like, second degree cheating or something! Then to make things worse, you're going out with my husband's brother, and you're cheating on him…with me!" she palmed her forehead. "So that's like…voluntary third degree cheating!"

"Relax! Just relax…it's okay…you're just going through denial right now. I did the same thing when I realized it."

"Denial? I'm not in denial! I definitely know for a fact I'm not a bi chick! I'm not! I just can't be!"

Hyperventilating, Jazmine took a seat on the end of the bed, arms folded across her chest. She shook her head to move a few curly locks of hair that fell over her eyes. She couldn't believe what had happened. It felt so fun, it felt so good, it felt so right last night. But now, she wanted to throw up all over the place. This was not the first time they ever went out together, had fun together, or even partied all night together. But it was the first time they woke up together darn near naked in bed, and not just because Cindy joined her after sleepwalking and ending up in bed on accident. They engaged in foreplay, and she knew for sure they had sex. She tried her best not to remember, not because it was disgusting because it was great, but because of how unfaithful she was.

"Relax, hun," Cindy cooed, drawing out the word 'relax' in a low, sweet whisper that gently tickled Jazmine's ear. She put her chin on Jazmine's left shoulder and wrapped her arms around her friend, her best confidant and who she believed to be her lover. "You just gotta face the fact that you like women as much as you do men."

Jazmine shook her head rapidly. "I can't. It's like…this is all a dream, it's gotta be! But…it's not. Everything we did actually happened. And it's like…I hated doing it it, but at the same time, I loved it."

"Welcome to the "accepting who you really are" club," Cindy said. She patted Jazmine on the shoulder. "But you don't need to be feelin' so bad about it. You had your reasons for doin' what'chu did."

"What?"

"I'll prove it. Tell me the last time he said he loved you?"

"Um, I think…well-"

"Or the last time he held your hand, or gave you gifts, or not even gifts, just showed how much he loved you?"

Jazmine kept her mouth shut while she thought long and hard. The silence scared her, maybe even Cindy, too. She couldn't think of any recent dates any of those things occurred.

"It's been so long that I can't think of anything to say."

"See what I'm sayin'? And you can't feel bad for being attracted to the same sex. It's in your DNA, like me."

Jazmine started to sob, her face all crumpled up like a balled up piece of paper. "I just feel so confused, Cindy…I've got all these feelings flowing all inside me and I just want to explode. How do I tell my friends, my parents, and Huey?"

"It's okay…" Cindy rubbed her back, softly kissing Jazmine a few times on the nape of her neck. The mulatto girl sighed not in contempt but in a mixture of relief and longing when she felt Cindy squeeze and hold her tight.

"And girl, if that nigga knew how to take care of home, he wouldn't have to worry 'bout why his girl always leavin' town."

Jazmine chewed on her bottom lip. She was definitely in the wrong, but she was human, she could only ask him or try to get him to do these minimal things for so long before she had to go somewhere else. The weird thing is it was with another woman, not another man. "But before, I only left to get peace of mind. This time, it was for you."

"God, I feel so terrible, but at the same time I feel so good," she said, stopping to close her eyes, feeling so in the moment. "It's like…out of everything else, I wanted to be here with you. You're the only one besides my mommy I can talk to about anything," Jazmine turned her head and left her head rest under Cindy's chin on her upper chest. Her steady heartbeat sounded so relaxing as if it were some sort of lullaby. Jazmine placed her hand over Cindy's that was on her left elbow. "I missed you, Cee. You're so important to me."

"I missed you too, Jay. You real special, you know that?" Cindy said in a whisper that matched Jazmine's.

Jazmine could not conceive how well Cindy could read her mind. It was like she was telepathic by how on point she could sense every emotion she felt deep in her heart.

And she knew Cindy could feel how fast her pulse raced through her hand. As if she read her mind once again, Cindy kissed her softly on the cheek. "You know I'll always be here for you, no matter what. And if you worried about Riley, you ain't got to be 'cause he ain't gone trip about us. He already knows what I do on the side."

Jazmine's eyes almost shot out of her head. "What? He knows? You mean he knows about you, and…"

When Jazmine pointed at herself, Cindy chuckled. "Naw, not about us, silly!" she kissed Jazmine again. "He don't know about us, y'know, me and you bein' here or even bein' together on the DL. But he knows I like to go both ways. After a while, he figured it out. Too bad it was 'cause one night he busted in on me with a chick in the bed, right when I was 'bout to bust a big one, too. But he ain't bug out or nothin'. All he said was, long as it ain't no other nigga and we still do what we do, he don't give a shit."

Jazmine wanted to crack up from how nonchalant everything sounded. There was no way Cindy was telling the truth. "Wait. Have you two ever…ever…" she waved her hand, gesticulating with it as if trying to come up with the right words to say. "Um, you know…decided to…" she paused to swallow nervously. "Do um, that thing two guys and a girl or two girls and a guy do?"

Cindy smiled. "A threesome?" she chuckled. "Naw…I mean, don't get it twisted, I always wanted to do one since college, but yo, one time he did watch me and another girl get busy."

"Oh my gosh!"

"But it wasn't so bad, 'cause it was just my man watchin' us, not some stranger, nawmean? In the end, it was all good."

For ten minutes, the two girls lay next to each other side by side, this time with Cindy on top for that spooning session, reminiscing about childhood and recent events. Jazmine loved whenever she stroked Cindy's smooth, silky hair and she would turn her head a little to the side so she could see her smile. It was always the little things she adored to do for people, something she wished she could do with Huey. She always wished to play with his long, bushy afro or just lie down together in bed, just hold each other, not even needing to say a word because they could nonverbally say how much they love one another.

Before Jazmine knew it, time flying by so fast because they had so much fun, it was already six o'clock in the morning, a few hours before her flight departed back to Woodcrest where she had to return home, back to where her heart would turn as cold as ice, unable to express her love, or receive love from the only man she ever truly loved.

Jazmine took one last look in the bathroom mirror, almost finished combing her hair out with her pink pick so it would all stick out into a huge, orange, kinky mass. She loved how luxurious the whole room was, with the pretty marble floors, and the pure white infinity tub that felt like she was completely immersed in the water with a TV right there to watch whatever you wanted and a radio to listen to Usher or R. Kelly or even Maxwell talk all sexy, and the fabulous shower that was so huge that it was big enough for two and even had seats in it. Busy reveling in how amazing just the bathroom was, she watched the news on the in-mirror TV with some blonde lady cheerfully standing in front of the weekly forecast who announced it would be sunny with a high of about ninety degrees and quite a bit of humidity. Jazmine wanted to laugh at her. Who would be so happy about it being so hot as heck in a few hours? She straightened out the collar of her purple blouse, and smoothed out the few wrinkles left in her black dress pants and matching black coat. Her black heels clicked and clacked while she paced back and forth, worried about facing Huey again, worried about what her future would be like now that she finally came to terms that she may be bisexual like Cindy.

"Hey sweetie," Cindy popped up behind Jazmine with one of her trademark smug expressions on her face. She looked so nice, even in her plain white tee shirt, light blue denim shorts and blue and white Air Forces. Her legs looked so good, so smooth. Jazmine tried her best not to lick her lips like she was the female LL Cool J. "Almost ready?"

Jazmine set her pick down in her small toiletries bag, then turned and faced her. Luckily they were the same height, a modest 5'5", so in a way, they felt like equals. Jazmine felt her heart glow in delight. She was totally grateful Cindy was not only her host, but her way of getting to the airport. "Yeah," she grinned. "And thanks again for hooking me up with the plane tickets."

Cindy flashed a witty smile. "Yo, you ain't gotta thank me. That's just how I be with the people I'm cool with, especially you," she said, then followed up with a wink.

Jazmine knew her face was tomato red. She sighed, looking down at her feet. Her hands went in her pockets, knowing what else was on her mind besides Cindy. "Guess I gotta tell Huey the truth. It's the right thing to do. But I'm gonna feel so horrible, and I know it'll make him so upset. You know how he feels about…you know…H-word's."

Cindy laughed. "H-word's? You mean homos?"

"Cindy!" Jazmine's face twisted up in disgust told Cindy everything she needed to know about how she felt. "That's so not PC! I was talking about," she cringed while she whispered, "Homosexuals…"

Cindy rolled her eyes. "Girl, please. The only PC I'm worried about is the one I got at the crib that I gotta take to the Geek Squad tomorrow 'cause of all them viruses on it."

Cindy stood by her side as she packed everything into her pink suitcase lying on the bed. After about ten minutes of jam packing everything inside, she put it down and lifted the handle so she could roll it while they walked towards the front door. Jazmine laughed with Cindy after she told a joke. All of a sudden, her giggles transitioned into a few tears that fell from her eyes. They stopped right in front of the door, Jazmine holding onto the door handle for dear life.

"Jay, what's wrong?"

"Cindy."

"Yeah? What's up?"

"I know this is gonna sound awkward but…" she paused. She knew it would be hard to say, but it was from the heart. She had to. "…I want to thank you. After what happened last night, I feel so…liberated after talking with you. I feel so…free. And so I feel so fortunate."

Cindy raised an eyebrow, curious, expressing without words for Jazmine to continue.

Jazmine grabbed Cindy's hand. "I feel fortunate to have you in my world, because I've never felt a feeling so right, and I've only felt that feeling with you."

Cindy looked away as she too started to cry. "C'mon Jazmine, you ain't gotta get all mushy on me 'n shit like an episode of Full House. Only thing missing is that corny ass music in the background."

Jazmine delicately clutched Cindy's chin and turned her head so they were face to face. "I'm serious. And no one's ever reciprocated the same kind of love for me like you, and…I…I love you so much."

"Oh girl…I love you too," Cindy hugged Jazmine, patting her back several times. They separated, then stared at each other before they experienced the deepest, most intense kiss they ever had together. After almost a whole minute, Jazmine broke it and watched Cindy mouth "wow" before she decided to speak.

"Jay, I been waitin' to hear that from you for forever. And best believe we gone be tighter than weave glue til the wheels fall off, you hear me?"

"Yeah," Jazmine opened the door and stepped out into the hallway with Cindy hot on her heels. She turned to face her, stopping her in her tracks. "But um, one thing."

"What?"

"Weave glue? Couldn't you have said super glue or something?"

Cindy shook her head, watching Jazmine walk down the long hall to the elevator and press the button to go down while being lectured about how ghetto that remark sounded. Before she went inside the elevator with Jazmine, she groaned after hearing one of Jazmine's chastisements about how ratchet 'weave glue' was and to just use extensions instead.

Cindy made one last retort before their descent down to the first floor lobby began.

"Jay…you know I always gotta keep it hood twenty four seven, even if I don't even wear weaves!"

Jazmine grinned. If there was one thing she loved to hate about Cindy, it was her honesty. And that was one of the many reasons why she loved Cindy so much, and why she would love her for the rest of her life.

The End.

"I'm living my personal life the way I'm happiest. [...] My sexual orientation is mine, and the person I'm dating, to know."
-Raven Symone