Author's Note: Back again with another chapter. The first couple months of school were hella busy. I had my nursing practicums to focus on, and I had just survived them. Whoo, feels good to be free...for the moment. But how was school for you guys? I hope yours were less stressful than mine. Let me know how it went.
Anyway, this chapter may be a filler, who knows. Tell me what y'all think *shrugs*.
Disclaimer: You know the drill.
Opposites Attract
:*´¨`*:.•.¸¸.•´¯`•. +/- .•´¯`•.¸¸.•..:*´¨`*:
Chapter 10: Patience...
It has been a couple days since the event and things seemed to have been stagnant between the two girls - the Freeman boys had noticed that. The girls would always cross paths but not speak one word to each other. It was coming to a point where they felt uncomfortable coming to their apartment as the tension was too thick for them.
The Freemans once thought that they'd be able to handle the girls living with them, seeing as their place had two extra rooms for them to individually use. But goddamn, did they think wrong.
"Look, I dunno what yall got goin on, but this has got to stop. Your lives are at stake, and the first thing yall wanna do is act petty to each other." Riley stood before the girls, his arms both crossed. They were currently sitting in the couch of the living room, far away from each other. In fact, with how big the distance was, you'd think the girls were clinging to the couch's arm rests for dear life.
Jazmine looked at her nails, uninterested. "What makes you say that?"
Riley gave her the most annoyed side look ever. He didn't think the bitch had this much attitude - damn, fuck the innocent lamb vibe she be giving off. Two days was enough for him to really observe and get a taste of her true color. There was something about her, but he couldn't pinpoint what it was. Deep down, he felt that her innocence was an act. A person couldn't be that much of a goody two-shoes. But he ain't going to say nothing. He just gonna keep watching from the side.
"Girl, I advise that you watch dat pretty little mouth of yours before someone cuts off your tongue." And just like that, Jazmine immediately focused on the conversation with a fearful squeak.
That's what I thought bitch, he thought with a glare. The girl clearly forgot that he was still a gangster and that she lived under his roof.
With a suck on the teeth, Cindy interjected. "Boy, you didn't have to talk to her like that!"
Jazmine snapped her head to her direction. "You don't have to defend me. I can handle this myself. Like I always do."
The blond snorted, "Girl, bye. You and me both know that you wouldn't be able to do shit without me always having to come to yo rescue."
"...That's funny because if it was really the case, your Mom wouldn't have been sleeping with my Dad, now would she?"
Riley just stood there, with his mouth wide open. Well...damn. That escalated rather quick. He didn't expect this little girl to have the balls to bring up the Mom into this predicament. That shit could get a nigga killed in the streets, he could confirm to that, he'd seen that shit happen. He motioned for the girls to calm down, "Now y'all should chill an-"
Cindy shot up from the couch, glaring daggers to the feisty lamb. "You take that back. I ain't letting you disrespect my Ma like that."
Jazmine also stood up, her glare matching Cindy's, with just the right amount of intensity. "Pfft, please she was the one that disrespected my parent's marriage. And she disrespected you as well Cin, you know that. You said so yourself."
"Jazmine..." Cindy said, in a warning tone - a tone that Riley was familiar with. It meant C-Merph was this close to popping off, he never thought he'd witness that about to happen between the best friends.
"I'm mad that this has been happening for the longest time and you didn't tell me sooner about it. But you know what I'm even mad about? The fact that this Mom of yours made you go through shit - she welcomed you into prostitution, and you're over here defending her. You both may be related by blood, but that is not a mother."
At that moment, Cindy just went off. She charged for Jazmine with a series of hits, but the lad retaliated with a few kicks of her own. She even threw a cushion to the blond's face, taking that little moment to jump her with a surprise of a couple slaps.
Riley just remained in his spot, letting the girls go at it. He couldn't believe it. Those two were the bestest friends, how the fuck did it come to this? Don't get him wrong, he was going to let the girls let off some steam. Hell, he was even turned on seeing two fine girls like this. But the minute he heard Huey coming in, he knew the fun was going to be short-lived.
"What the hell is going on?" he roughly shouldered past Riley, and went to separate the girls from each other. They were so engrossed in the fight, that they hadn't even noticed Huey's presence. Jazmine, who was straddled on Cindy, was grabbed by the hips and thrown on the couch. "That is enough!"
All was heard in the air were the girls' panting, catching their breaths. His murderous eyes dared them to even think of defying him, and girls did nothing but gulp. They wouldn't be stupid enough to even utter a word.
"I don't know what the hell happened between the two of you, but this has got to stop. Whatever is going on, get over it. We have bigger issues to worry about. We have a crazy guy on the loose for our asses. You guys are going to have to tolerate each other because all you will have is each other. Since you guys are bringing your business into our house, is there anything you both would like to say?"
The girls shook their heads. "No.."
"Then keep your business outside of this house. We don't need unnecessary drama."
Agreeing, Riley nodded. "Word."
Huey turned to him, "And you, why the hell didn't you stop the fight?"
"...The fight was hot dawg." Huey deadpanned. Riley shrugged, "...What? You can't deny that McHater."
The oldest Freeman's mood darkened. It had only been two days and this much craziness had already happened. He was starting to wonder if having this many people in the household was a wise idea. "It's Monday today, don't you guys have school or something to do?"
Getting up from the ground, Cindy sarcastically snorted. "Well, I dunno Afro Samurai, what d'ya think?"
Jazmine widened her eyes, realisation hitting her hard as bricks. "Oh my God, we have finals coming in a few days and we didn't even study for it!?"
Ever so slowly, Cindy covered her mouth, worry evident in her face. "Fuck...we fucked."
Riley looked at the both of them strange. The thought of going to school shouldn't even cross their minds, with how one of them got kidnapped just a couple days ago. "The fuck, yall are more concerned about school than your lives?"
"School is our lives," the girls both chorused.
"Bruh.." Riley face-palmed. "We ain't about to let y'all go out alone. Not after what happened."
Cindy agreed with him on that part, but at the same time, she was not about to let her school marks get affected by this mess. It wasn't something to play about, this was their finals. "But Reezy, we can't just notify our school on short-notice that we can't make it. It doesn't work that way."
Jazmine grumbled, "...Fine, we'll just stay."
With her back facing the strawberry-blond headed, Cindy waved a stubborn no to her with a mere finger. "Hell nah. I don't give a fuck if that motherfucker is after our asses. School before anything. I ain't letting some nigga get in between our money and school. Fuck that."
The boys couldn't help but be impressed by Cindy's unwillingness to give up - especially Riley. It did something to him to see her this passionate about school. She may not look like it, but she was another Jimmy Neutron. Ask her what is the circumference of the Earth, and she'll answer it within seconds without pulling out a calculator. He smirked to himself. That girl was meant for greatness.
He was about to give in, but Huey beat him to it. "Alright. Go get ready or else we'll change our minds."
The girls immediately left for their rooms. Riley was about to go straight to his bedroom, until he noticed his brother gesturing to join him out at the balcony. He did as told, making sure to close the balcony door behind him. "Okay McHater, whacchu want?"
Briefly eyeing left and right for any eavesdropper, Huey proceeded to speak. "I'm going to drive the girls to school, and I'll need you to stay at home and keep guard for any intruders. The guns are under the bed. Got it?" Riley slowly nodded. "Look at this rate, we still don't know what is Dewey's next plan. He might at this rate try to come and pull some shit."
Riley rolled his eyes. He was tired of that faggot's bullshit. "Yo, I say we go straight to him and kill da mothafucka. Let's be real, we'd be doing the gang a favor anyway. Nobody fucking likes him. We all want him dead."
"It doesn't work that way Riley. Okay, let's say we strike him, then what? He still has his boys who'd shoot us at that moment. And we'd lose. We gotta do this carefully. I know someone from the inside who can update me on his plan. In fact, I'm going to meet up with him after I drop off the girls."
Riley looked down, " I dunno man, just be careful. Everybody hates the nigga, but that don't mean they gon play as a double-agent and get themselves killed."
Huey snorted. If only he knew. "Trust me. I know that person won't snitch on us."
The cornrow-headed boy lifted his hands up, surrendering to the argument. He still wasn't convinced 100% that it'd work. "Aight, if you say so..."
Flashbacks - a couple nights ago...
Her mind lost into the abyss, she absentmindedly glared a hole in the wall adjacent to her. The memory of Dewey kidnapping her replayed in her mind. "Cin, too much has happened to me today. I even lost the strength to cry."
That was the truth. She didn't know what was worst; the possibility of her Mom's health decaying, her Dad's inability to show loyalty or the fact that Dewey had kidnapped and threatened her. Jazmine DuBois breathed hard, struggling to keep her anxiety at bay. She was torn with the choice to either face her current demons or to just run away. Her mind opted for the first option, but her heart was settling for the second one.
From the corner of eye, she could see her best-friend pacing back and forth. And Jazmine knew exactly what was up - she knew her well enough that she wanted to speak out about something.
She took another breath before speaking out, "Look Cin, tell me what you know."
Cindy McPhearson jumped, slowly turning to the strawberry-headed girl with wide-eyes. "Jazz, what do ya me-"
"My Dad is lying to me about something, my mother is in the hospital right now, struggling for life as we speak. Dewey kidnapped me and basically marked me. At this point, I doubt anything you say can faze me." Cindy cringed, not realizing how much the girl went through during her absence. "All I need is for my best-friend to just be honest with me. It's just the two of us here, so you don't have to worry about any eavesdroppers."
They were all alone in Jazmine's place - in her bedroom to be exact. The boys requested that they'd pack all their things while they'd wait outside. Between them, they were already done with that - in fact, they had went as far as to even pack their school supplies so that they could study for finals. This was the perfect time for the truth to come to light.
However, Cindy was starting to have second thoughts - whether she should tell her homegirl everything. "Girl, too much has happened and I dunno where to start."
Jazmine sadly smiled, "Cindy, I'll always be there for you. Nothing is going to change that."
And that sentence made Cindy come to her final decision. She was going to tell everything to her. She was going to tell her how the death of her father had led her into prostitution at the age of 15 years old, until now. She was going to tell her how her mother was even the one that presented her to a pimp and started all of this mess. She was going to tell her how that was how she met Huey and Riley. She was even going to tell her how her mother was the one that made Tom unfaithful. She was even going to tell her how she sold her body to yet another pimp, in this case Dewey.
But she was never going to tell Jazmine about her and Huey. Never would she. She'd keep it as a secret and take it to the grave.
This friendship was the only positive thing in her life, and she'd be damned to let some boy ruin that. She knitted her eyebrows, meaning every word of it.
End of Flashback...
Cindy laid on the bed, staring at the ceiling. She knew the little lamb didn't mean harm - she was only concerned for her safety, which was incredibly off-putting, considering how she just got kidnapped a couple days ago. The girl wore her heart on her sleeve, Cindy thought with a snort, then winced and rubbed her cheek. Damn, the girl hit her hard. Her hits have obviously improved.
She couldn't even get mad at Jazmine for saying all those things. She was spitting facts, after all. Her own mother led her into prostitution and all she could do was just watch her own daughter destroy herself. That was really all she did. Cindy wanted to cry, but she lost the ability to do it a long time ago. Whenever in pain, she'd either laugh it off or take it all out with her fists.
A click of the bathroom door was heard, and there came out Jazmine all wrapped up in her towel. It was obviously awkward between the two. They had their own rooms to use, but Cindy's temporary room happened to be the one with its own bathroom. They had no choice but to take turns and share, which seemed like a good idea at first. But now, both girls wished that it wasn't the case.
Jazmine wasn't afraid to show that, with how she made a quick beeline to the door and left for her bedroom, not even acknowledging her presence. Cindy glared at the spot where Jazmine was a few seconds ago. So that is how it's gonna be like, huh? Aight, I see you bitch.
On that note, Cindy got up from the bed and went straight for the bathroom, closing the door. She let her bathrobe slip away to the ground, taking in every little imperfections she had. She hadn't looked at herself in the mirror for a long time. It pained her to see all the bruises and marks that decorated her body.
There was that one mark that'd never fail to catch her attention - an x that was cut on her dragon tattoo.
It held a lot of history. It'd take her years for her to confide Jazmine all the events that went down as the gang's prostitute. She first needed to accept the fact that she was forced into being - like this.
Sighing, she did a few twists to the shower handle until she was satisfied with the water's temperature.
:*´¨`*:.•.¸¸.•´¯`•. +/- .•´¯`•.¸¸.•..:*´¨`*:
Meanwhile, Jazmine was now in her temporary room, sitting at the edge of her bed. She fortunately got a room that showed a beautiful view of the morning sunrise. She watched the sun illuminating the neighbourhood. It was the only thing that managed to keep her nerves at bay.
"Enjoying the view?"
She jumped in surprise, her hand clutching to her chest as she felt her heart ready to pop out of her ribcage. "I don't expect you to be the type to creep up on people," she huffed and puffed for dear life. "..Especially with how I just recently got kidnapped."
As dumb as it may sound, she couldn't help but admire how Huey looked at that moment. It was the first time she got to see him wearing a black wife beater. It took all of her strength to not stare at him for too long. She could even follow the trace of his abs from under his shirt.
She clicked her tongue, mentally kicking herself for almost drooling. 'Why am I suddenly becoming like Cindy? I swear, she made me become a pervert, geez.'
"I'm not. It's the first time that I see you so serious. But considering the situation, I don't blame you."
She looked down, closing her eyes. She wanted to breakdown at this moment. She still recalled the moment she found her Mom on the floor, helpless. "A lot has happened to me. I don't want to get into too much details, but let say, me getting kidnapped just made everything worse."
Huey snorted, "Whoever said getting kidnapped would make any situation better?"
"I guess," Jazmine sighed. She couldn't even get mad at him for the sarcasm. "...But I have a question."
Curious, he leaned against the doorway and folded his arms. "Yes?"
"The first time that you've gone through a traumatic event...what did you do to keep your calm?"
There was a moment of silence, as Huey seemed to be conflicted on what to say, before she felt him coming to her way. She proceeded to mentally kick herself, regretting asking such thing.
"Look, I'm sorry Huey. You don't have to an-"
"My first rough patch got me into smoking," he sat down, joining her at the edge of the bed. "4 years went by, and here I am now, not even able to stop smoking for at least a day."
Jazmine was in utter shock, and she tried so hard to keep her mouth from hanging. It was so unexpected of him to open up to her. "O-oh."
"You have to understand that we are all humans. No reaction is going to be perfect. In fact, you're reacting to this situation better than anyone I know. If you need to let all of your emotions out, do it now. Cry, smoke, do something if you need to. But remember that the moment you let it get to your head, you lost yourself."
"...Huey, have you ever lost yourself?" she hesitantly quipped, preparing herself for the possible digression. It was the first time that he's ever spoken in a somewhat empathetic tone.
Jazmine observed as he was internally fighting whether he should proceed opening up to her or not. "...Honestly, no. I think it's just because I've adapted myself through many disappointments. That's life, really."
She closed her eyes, lowering her head into her hands. "I'm afraid of that. In just a day, I went through a few major disappointments. Imagine a week from now? I don't know if I can handle this. Will I even be alive then?"
"Like I said, the minute you lose yourself, you might as well die." he repeated, his stare focused on the window.
She wanted to laugh, but kept it to herself. "Too late for that. But thanks for the pep-talk."
He gave her a quick, cautious side-eye. He chose not to comment on her behaviour, to which she greatly appreciated. In his little style, he had made her feel a bit better. He remained calm and collected throughout the whole time. It used to drive her insane from how quiet he'd be, but now she took comfort into that. His presence already spoke so much to her.
Silence upon the two, Jazmine took her time observing the environment - impressed. She hadn't expected the Freeman brothers to live in a decent looking house. You can already imagine the shock she felt when she first stepped foot into their house. "Nice house by the way."
Huey shrugged, taking that as his cue to get up and go. "Thanks."
The guest room itself was in mahogany colour, one wall adjacent from her possessing a fireplace. The other walls either had nothing or art pieces (pictures of the ocean, flowers, random things of the norm). But one picture caught her attention. She had noticed it first thing when she had moved into the room, but totally forgot about it with all the drama that was happening.
Curiously, she pointed towards a picture frame. "Hey, what's that picture over there?"
He stopped his track, his eyes carefully following her finger, until they both fell upon it. He immediately went towards the said picture, and didn't hesitate to take it down from the wall and flatly placed it down on the night table. "Something you don't need to know."
She jumped from how quick he switched back to his cold tone. There went his empathetic self. "I-I'm sorry."
Turning his back from her, Huey went for the door, then stopped. "By the way, you've been in that towel for 15 minutes now. Keep it up and you'll catch a cold."
Jazmine ever so slowly looked down on herself, sweat-dropping. Her face was no doubt flushed in crimson. She hadn't realised that she was just in a towel this whole time. It barely even covered her cleavage, heck she was even surprised her twins hadn't popped out at this point. She greatly thanked God that she was sitting down, or else he would have probably seen her ass - with how short this towel was. Her hand went for her hair, taking in the dripping wet curls. Her hair hadn't even been dried yet.
So this whole time, she looked like a fucking wet poodle in front of this man. She was practically almost naked in front of him! "I'm sooooo embarrassed. Why didn't you tell me sooner?!"
He shrugged, "I wanted to see how long it'd take for you to notice."
She wanted to cry at this point. "Oh come on!"
"Mariah Carey, stop with the crying and get dressed. I'm driving you guys to school."
She pouted, throwing a pillow at him. "You basically saw me almost naked. What do you mean "stop with the crying"?"
As smooth as he was, Huey deflected that pillow with a hit, like it was nothing. And before he left, for a millisecond, he did his small, signature smirk that never failed to warm every part of Jazmine's body. "If it makes you feel any better, there wasn't much to see anyway."
Rather offended, Jazmine gasped scandalously. "Get out!"
:*´¨`*:.•.¸¸.•´¯`•. +/- .•´¯`•.¸¸.•..:*´¨`*:
The drive to school was super awkward, even Huey had to hold himself from cringing. None of the girls were talking to each other. There were both looking away, doing anything to avoid possible conversation. Jazmine continuously used her phone (a new phone that Huey had given her, in order for the four-eyed guy to not track her) and as for Cindy, she just watched the world passing through her window.
Even though they were a few minutes away from school, Huey couldn't stand this anymore. "Remember what I said back in the house, you guys have to talk to each other sooner or later. You live together. Granted, it's not going to be forever, but you are going to tolerate each other for a while."
They both hmm'ed and continued on to their activities. Huey rolled his eyes, shaking his head. He gave up. They were going to learn the hard way.
He parked by the curb, thankful that they were finally at the destination. He could clear his head after they leave. "If you guys need anything, just use the phones we gave you. If you see him anywhere in sight, don't hesitate to move. Got it?"
The girls both nodded, and left for their day in school to begin. They watched as Huey drove off to God-knows-where, the wind blowing through their hair. Cindy took her time observing Jazmine. Usually, she would have her hair in cute puffs for the longest time. It was a first time in a while Cindy got to see the true length of her curls. They tremendously grew. Her curls were popping and were out for the whole world to see. They were thick, luscious and long. They sat right above her boobs.
For once, the McPhearson decided to put her pride to the side. "Hey, you changed up your hair."
The mulatto blinked, taking in what her ears had just processed. Did Cindy speak? "Oh- thanks. Couldn't find my elastic bands, so I just let my hair down."
"Nice. You should keep it like that more often."
"...Thanks?"
Cindy disgustingly irked, unable to play nice and fake. "Look girl, lemme just keep it real with you. I know you ain't mad at me, and I ain't mad at you. We are angry at the situation we are in. Why can't we get back to being best-friends and get on with this shit?"
"Cindy, my Mom is in the hospital right now. I haven't heard news of her for days. Tell me, how the hell am I supposed to resume to my old happy self? How?"
"..."
"Nothing, right? Exactly." Seeing her best-friend get stung from such attitude made Jazmine feel bad. Granted she was mad, Cindy was still a sister to her. She had never been this rude to her before. She sighed, "Look, I'm sorry for acting out like this. It's just, too much has happened and I guess I'm trying to adapt to...this situation. Just be patient with me."
Cindy wanted to run up to her, and hug her. But she knew she wasn't ready for comfort yet. She needed time to figure herself out. Hesitantly, she nodded in agreement. "Aight, but you can't be like this forever. You gotta stay strong for your Mom."
Jazmine didn't say anything. She didn't want to. She just left and joined a group of classmates who witnessed the two girls getting dropped off by the notorious bad-boy. A part of her wanted to scream at Cindy, for not letting her know sooner of her father's unfaithful ways or of the early signs of her mother's sickness, or the critical financial situation the blond was in.
Who knows, maybe if Cindy had said something, Jazmine could have done something to help.
At the time, she had her father who was a lawyer. He could have helped her get out of prostitution with connections. And she would have lived a better life.
Her Mom maybe would have been divorced and maybe happier, and who knows, healthier?
Her Dad for all she care, could go rot in hell.
So much could have been avoided if Cindy had just trusted her enough to say something.
Jazmine did say that she wasn't mad at her per se, but she was hurt.
All she could ask for at the moment, was patience...
Author's Note: Oh-uh, Jazmine is slowly losing her shit. The real question is, will this help her change for the better or for the worst? Find out on the next few chapters. I still do shout-outs. Here:
Shout-outs
Guest: Here is the chapter my friend :)
Pinapples: First, I'd like to say that I like your username. It's cute and creative. Pineapples happen to be one of my favourite fruits :3 Furthermore, I'm glad you like it. I like me some fluffiness, but I'd like to focus on the strength of the girls' friendship and the complexity. I don't see a lot of fics here that focus on that. Thanks!
SpicyWifey: You are asking so many questions XD! With time, you will get the answer. But I think this chapter will answer some of the questions now. If not, at least hint it out. And as for Huey and Jazmine...you are going to have to watch it grow ahah. You are making me want to spill the tea girl haha! Hope you like this chapter.
Guest #2: Really, it has been 2 years *sweat-drop*. Damn, I feel like the story should have been done by now aha. But thanks, I'm glad that you enjoy the story. Hopefully, you will continue to like it.
KateyBee42: Bruuuuh staaaaaph haha. Your predictions are very close to being correct. But I'm not going to say much. Just continue reading the story and watch the truth be unfolded. Damn girl, I can't front tho, you were soooooooo close. Hope you enjoy this chapter :)
RabbitMelody: I'm sorry that I've been keeping you waiting :( Updating is not my forte. But I'm trying to change that desperately! I hope you enjoy this chapter and thanks for the major support :)