Chapter Fourteen: Happy New Year's To Us
"Are you sure you'll be okay by yourself?"
Jazmine said nothing and kept watching the television. Tom sighed scratched the back of his head. It had been almost a week since their fight, and she hadn't said anything to him since. As frustrated as he was, he decided he wanted to put aside their differences and try to work things out and repair the broken relationship. Jazmine wanted to do no such thing.
"Well, I'm leaving to go to the New Year's party," he tried. She blinked her eyes and turned the channel. He opened the door and headed out. "I love you, honey," he said before closing the door. She rolled her eyes and kept looking at the screen. She looked at her phone's clock, which read 10:35, and decided to go to her room.
After her long shower, she went downstairs to get some ice cream. She went in the freezer and grabbed the whole carton and went back to her room. As she sat in her bed with her computer and the Rocky Road pint, she heard a knocking. She looked up for a second, but soon disregarded it. She heard it again and this time she got up to investigate it. She went over to her window and saw another rock hit screen, which made her jump back. She opened her window and saw Huey standing in her backyard. "Huey?" she said.
"Let me up!" he yelled to her. She threw her makeshift rope out the window and within minutes, he was in her room. "Hey."
"Hey," she repeated.
"How much time do we have?"
She looked at her digital clock on her nightstand. "I don't know, probably a good two hours… maybe more," she estimated. She looked back at him and she smiled. "Do you think you can work within those limits?" she said, rocking side to side.
He smirked. "More than enough time." He walked up to her and picked her up and she wrapped her legs around his waist. She giggled and kissed him, moving towards the bed. He took off the computer and the ice cream and placed them on the side of the bed. He then placed Jazmine on the edge of bed and took off his shirt.
She whistled and clapped. "Whoo! Sexy!" she said, giggling. He shook his head and climbed on top of her and scooted her further in the bed. She lifted her arms up as he took off her oversized shirt. Huey started kissing her from her ear to her neck, where he gave her another hickey right above the first one. Jazmine let out a small moan and he kept sucking.
"Wait." She sat up in her bed and sat there for a second.
"Something wrong?" Huey asked, sliding off of her.
She looked to her door. "I forgot to turn the alarm on," she said, getting out of the bed and getting the pint of ice cream.
"Are you really thinking about an alarm at a time like this?" Huey wondered, raising one of his eyebrows.
"I know, but I also have to turn off all the lights downstairs because if I don't, my dad feels obligated to come in my room and tell me how I'm wasting electricity and if you're in here…" she explained to Huey.
"I'll go turn it on; you just stay right there." Huey grabbed the ice cream from her and left out of the door.
Jazmine sat on the bed, waiting for Huey to come back. She was playing with her hair when his phone vibrated. She looked over at the shining screen but she ignored it when it went away. It vibrated again, to notify again that there was text. She thought it could be something important from Riley or Mr. Freeman, and she grabbed the phone to see the sender.
Clarissa: Happy New Year, Huey! Hope it's a good one! ;)
Jazmine stared in disgust. How did they have each other's number? And why the hell was she texting him? "That sneaky little bastard," she thought out loud. She hit the reply button and tried to think of a good response.
Huey: I'm with my girlfriend right now, so could you not text me?
She smiled. Hopefully she would get the picture and would back away from Huey for the time being. She heard footsteps on the stairs, so she quickly hid the phone under her pillow and laid on it, looking as casual as possible.
"Sorry I took so long; I forgot where your alarm system was," Huey said, rubbing his neck. Jazmine grunted in response. Huey closed the door behind him and locked it. He got back onto and next to her. As he went in for a kiss on the lips, Jazmine turned her head when he got close. "What's wrong?" he asked.
"Nothing. Maybe I'm not in the mood anymore," she replied, shrugging her shoulders.
Huey sat up. "Five minutes ago, you wanted to take me where I stood. What changed when I went downstairs?" He tried to look in her eyes, but she avoided his gaze.
She rolled her eyes and got up. "I don't know. Maybe you should ask that whore Clarissa if she'll give you some. I heard that she's real thirsty for you Huey," she yelled. She got the phone from under the pillow and threw it at him.
"You looked through my phone?"
Jazmine put her shirt back on. "It rang while you were downstairs and I thought it could Riley or someone telling you something vital, so I opened it. And guess who it is? Clarissa Fucking Faulkner," she looked at him. "I can't believe you."
Huey shook his head. "You're blowing this out of proportion."
Jazmine scoffed. "I'm blowing this out of proportion?" she yelled. "How about you're not taking this seriously? You know how much I hate her, you know how much she hates me, and you know how she treats me like crap and you still text her?"
Huey scoffed. "And how do you think I feel about you and Rashad having each other's number?"
"Don't you fucking dare try to spin this one on me, Freeman," she pointed. "You know I have his number and you told me don't ever text that guy, and thought I was being a good girlfriend by doing that! And you don't even tell me you have her number and she texts you? Rashad got the message and doesn't send me things anymore!"
Huey felt stupid for bringing him into the argument. It was kind of a low blow for him. "Jazmine, I—"
"No, fuck you!" she screamed at him. He backed up a little. She never raised her voice at him. "I defended you stupid self! I yelled at my father to give you a chance! He said all this bad stuff about you and I, being the stupid lovestruck girl I am, I defended that you changed and you actually do love me!" She lowered her voice and her face started to get red and hot. He knew she was about to cry. "I gave you everything, Huey. I have nothing else that I could possibly think for you. I feel like… I'm giving the most and I'm getting nothing in return." Her voice started to crack. "All we do is either sit at home or have sex, and I thought it would be more in a relationship than that. You've never told me you loved me or anything with love in it. And I'm starting to believe that it's because… you don't."
Huey stepped towards her. She was crying uncontrollably and her knees looked as if they would give out any minute. He got closer to her and she looked up at him. "Jazmine, I do love you. I loved you since we were thirteen."
She smiled but it quickly faded into a scowl. "You fucking liar! You're only saying that because I called you out on it!" she yelled. He sighed. He couldn't win with her. "I can't stand you, Huey! I hate you! I hate you!" She started to hit his chest while crying. He enveloped her in a hug. "You suck!" she yelled, still hitting him.
"Stop being so insecure, Jazmine." She looked up at him. He wiped her eyes. "Are you done?" he asked. She slapped his chest one more time and nodded. "Good. And Jazmine, I don't want Clarissa. I want you. You're ten times better than her, okay?" She smiled at him. "What?"
"Say it again."
"I don't want Clarissa?" he said confused.
"No, the other part, dummy," she giggled.
He smirked. "I love you."
"Again," she asked another time. His phone vibrated in the floor and they both looked at it. Jazmine kicked it under the bed and looked back at him and wrapped her arms around his neck. "Again."
He picked her up and she instinctively wrapped her legs around his waist. "I love you." He placed her in the front of bed.
"Again," she moaned.
He lied on top of her and looked in her jade eyes. "I don't want to say it anymore; I want to show you," he breathed. She nodded and lifted her arms as he took off her shirt.
"Wait," she said. He stopped where he was. "Arms up," she instructed. He did as he was told and she lifted his shirt over his head. "Good, now we're even," she smiled. He interlocked his fingers with hers, lifted her and went down to her bellybutton. He trailed kisses from her stomach to her lips. She opened her mouth to let his tongue dip in and she moaned when she felt his hand disconnect with hers and go up her thigh.
"Stop teasing me Huey," she whined, biting her lip. He pulled her back up and she was sitting in his lap as he tried to unhook her bra, but was unsuccessful. "Third time and you're still not good at this," she laughed. She put her hand on top of his and went through the motions of taking off her bra.
"Maybe you should stop wearing them when we meet up," he suggested sarcastically.
"That can be arranged for you," she returned. She threw her bra on the floor and lied back down.
"I'd like to see that," he smirked and sat up. He slipped her out of her panties and kneeled on the floor. She looked up and moaned when his tongue entered. He loved to hear her moan; it was like music to his ears. Jazmine wrapped her legs around his head as he started to go faster.
"Huey," she squeaked out. She grabbed a pillow and bit on it as hard as she could, because she knew her end was coming. Her breath was getting shallow and faster, and when he added his finger, she forgot to breathe altogether. "Huey!" she said a little louder. Just when she knew she was about to burst, he stopped.
"You okay?" he joked, standing up. He licked his lips in the sexiest way that Jazmine forgot how to inhale again.
"In more ways than one," she let out. He chuckled and climbed on top of her. She pulled back the sheets and they both slid back on the bed. He kissed her lips and climbed to the nightstand. "Bottom drawer, under my things," she panted. He opened the bottom drawer and dug under all of her school junk to find the hidden box. Jazmine smiled and pulled him closer to her body when he pulled out the condom.
Huey looked over at the nightstand to see the alarm clock. "Huh, it's 12:00 already," he noticed. "I guess Happy New Year then." He gave her a kiss, and then went to fumble with his belt.
"Happy New Year to you too.
Riley was on the couch playing the Black Ops, trying to beat the level, but failing miserably. Usually, he would be at a party somewhere getting faded, but he only knew about one, and that one was known to have a shootout there, and he wasn't taking any chances tonight. When he failed again, though, he considered going for more action.
"You still at home?" Cindy asked going into the kitchen. "Ain't someone havin a big-ass party somewhere?"
"The only one I know is Tommy's."
Cindy turned her head. "Tommy? 'You most certainly gone get a bullet in the chest' Tommy?" She shook her head. "I'm glad yo ass didn't go there. I don't wanna a dead baby daddy to deal with. No, thank you."
"You welcome, C," he said smirking. He went back to his game and started mashing buttons. He threw the controller down as he lost another level. "Dis some bullshit…" he muttered. Cindy came and sat by him with a bowl of… something. He sniffed it. "What is you eatin?"
"Oatmeal, fried shrimp, and barbecue sauce. You want some?" she asked, motioning the bowl towards him. He pushed the bowl back to her.
"Hell naw, girl. That shit looks worse than Mrs. Dubois's throw-up peach cobbler. And that shit was god awful," he shook his head. He picked up the controller again. "You better go wash yo mouth out after that, 'cause yo breath gon be on fire. You gon be like a dragon."
"Nigga, shut up," she pouted. She ate her creation quickly and went upstairs to go brush her teeth, but not before blowing her breath on Riley. He covered his nose with his hand and gagged. She smiled and went on her way.
"Make sure you brush good!" he yelled. She flicked him off and he smirked.
As Riley tried to figure out what to do next in his game, he didn't notice Cindy sneaking around the house with a Nerf gun. "Hey Riley," she said in a sing-songy voice. He looked up and ducked just in time to see a dart flying his way. He dropped to the floor and covered his head. "It's real life Modern Warfare, bitch!" Cindy yelled.
Riley smirked and pulled out his secret arsenal of weapons from under the coffee table and pulled out his own gun. He knew too many times from Huey that he needed to have a spare in secret places. "You think you slick for runnin up on a nigga, huh?" he said out loud. He searched out the room for her, but came up empty.
"Someone would think that you be betta prepared with an older brother like Huey. You shoulda took pointers from him," Cindy remarked from the bottom of the stairs. She aimed at the dining room and waited for Riley to show. "Come on, Reezy. If this how you play CoD, then it's no wonder why you suck."
Riley shook his head, trying to get the negative thoughts out of his head. She just better be glad they were playing with Nerf guns and not the BB guns the brothers usually fought with. He backed into the dining room and saw Cindy sitting down. They both fired two shots before Riley ran back into the kitchen. Cindy got up and went to the living room, expecting to see Riley somewhere. She went to couch and looked behind the sofa for good measures before she sat down. She turned around to see Riley pointed his gun at her. "Shit," she sighed.
"Yeah, you can't fuck with a real G. Imma beast at this shit," he smirked. She raised her hands and sat down on the sofa, followed by Riley. "You did good, tho. You almost got me."
"It was betta than sucking at the video game, right?" Cindy retorted. Riley rolled his eyes and smiled. He grabbed the controller on the table and restarted the game. "Lemme show it's done my nigga."
"White girl, drop my remote!" He tried to wrestle the controller out of his hands. She hid it behind her back. He reached behind her, but clumsily slipped and almost fell on top of her if he didn't brace himself on the arm of the couch. He looked down at Cindy and inched closer to her, but moved away when the front door opened. He jumped away from her and stared at the TV while Cindy grabbed the controller and started the game.
Granddad walked in to the hallway and headed to the kitchen. "Hey, boy. Cindy," he said, yawning. Both kids acknowledged him and went back at looking at the screen. He put his keys on the counter and rubbed his eyes. "Where's yo brother?" he asked.
Riley shrugged. "He ain't been out his room since you left Granddad," he admitted. "I think he went to sleep early."
"Well, I'm gonna follow him. Don't y'all make a lot of noise down here. Happy New Year," he said before heading up to his room. When they heard the door close, they both let out a sigh of relief and looked at each other.
Cindy got up. "Well, I don't wanna be loser and go to sleep early too, but it's kinda late." Riley got up as well and held her hand. "What?" she asked. He gave her the kiss that he wanted to give her earlier without interruptions this time. Cindy broke away and her eyes fluttered.
"Happy New Year, bae," Riley said. Cindy nodded, still dazed, and went upstairs. He smirked. He couldn't believe he still had that effect on her.
Huey took the covers off of his body and got out of the bed. He walked over to the bathroom and closed the door. He turned on the light and went to the toilet and he opened the top and he went the restroom. His bathroom looked unusually bright, and he rubbed his eyes with his arm and tried to adjust to the light. The color was unfamiliar to him, the white replaced by pink stripes. He shrugged and finished his business and flushed. He washed his hands and turned off the light. He got back in the bed and closed his eyes.
His eyes shot open as he realized he wasn't in his own bed.
He sat up and turned on the lamp on the dresser. Sure enough, he was still with Jazmine, who groaned and dipped her head under her blanket. "Light off," she whined. She poked her head out and looked up at Huey. "What time is it?" she asked.
He looked down at his watch. "4:15." He got up and searched for his shirt. "I was supposed to be home hours ago." He saw a shirt near the bed and picked it up. "Isn't this my shirt?" Jazmine stretched over and yanked the shirt out of his grip.
"It was your shirt. You left it over here a long time ago when you spent the night," she said, pulling the shirt over her head. "You have your own drawer of shirts over there." She pointed to the bottom drawer of her dresser. She looked down at her side and found some of his clothes. "Boxers, pants," she said as she threw them in his direction.
"Thanks," he said, putting them on. "Panties," he stated before throwing them at Jazmine. "Bra?" he asked, picking them up. She shook her head and pointed to her dirty clothes and he shot them in. He went to her drawer of his clothes and pulled out a random shirt.
"I'll wash your shirt if I find it. It'll be in there next time," she yawned. He nodded and came back to sit on the bed. "I wish you could stay a little bit longer," she pouted and stared at her hands in her lap.
He lifted her chin up with his finger. "I'll be back before you know it, okay?" he said, rubbing her cheek with his thumb.
"Okay," she nodded. He leaned in for a small kiss and got up. "I love you, Huey!" she said, smiling.
He went over to the window and smirked. "I love you too."
He climbed down the blanket rope and ran to his house. As he left the backyard and tried to cross the street, he saw Tom's car pull up in the driveway. He dove into the bushes and brought his knees to his chest. He heard Tom on the phone with someone as he walked up to the front door.
"Sarah, don't do this…" he drunkenly said. Huey's eyes widened as he listened to the conversation going on. "I'm just saying you could do better," he let out. Huey shook his head. Did he just really quote Drake? "Oh ha, ha. You could better than me. You know, I gave you a whole lot and you didn't return nothing. I stepped up when Jazmine was born. I wasn't like those other niggas who leave when they knock a girl up. You fucking suck, Sarah. And I mean that both ways!"
Huey did not have to hear that.
"Hell yeah, I'm drunk!" Tom yelled. Huey then heard a thump and Tom groaning. "Since when do you give a fuck about Jazmine?"
Huey dug a peep hole in the bushes to watch Tom. He was sitting on the front porch, still on the phone. The normally clean lawyer looked much dismantled with his shirt untucked and his tie undone. He looked drunk beyond repair and he was glad Jazmine wasn't around to him.
"How much better than is he?" Tom asked quietly. "I still love you, Sarah. I hope you know that. Jazmine? She's just like you, even the sneaking around with the Freeman kid is like you. She's growing up and you're going to miss it. I hope he's worth it." Tom got up and threw his phone in the bushes where Huey was. Huey backed up and caught the phone.
"Hello? Tom? Where did you go? Hello? Tom!" Sarah yelled in the phone. Huey ended the call and sat the phone on the ground. When he was sure Tom wasn't coming back outside, he made a mad dash to his backyard. He opened the back door, which was never locked, and quietly snuck up to his room and got in his bed and immediately fell asleep.
Huey sat down on the couch next to his brother, who was playing NBA 2K12 on their shared PlayStation. He yawned and grabbed the newspaper sitting on the coffee table. He read the first article and opened it up.
"Where was you last night?" Riley asked, still mashing buttons on the controller.
"Like it's any of your business where I was," Huey retorted. He turned the page and looked at Riley. "Since when are you so concerned on my whereabouts?"
Riley shrugged. "Damn, nigga I was just wonderin. You gettin all defensive and shit." He lost the game he was playing and threw the controller. "This game a fucking cheat."
"Maybe you're just not good at the game," Huey offered. Riley shot him a look and Huey shrugged. "I'm just saying."
"I'm just sayin'," he mocked. The doorbell rang and Riley motioned towards it. "Go get the door, Huey McHater."
Huey rolled his eyes and got up to get the door. He opened the door and he saw Jazmine standing there. "Hey," he said.
"Hey," she repeated. She dug in the pocket of her dress and pulled out his phone. "Here, you left this under my bed last night and I wanted to give it back to you before I go to my grandmother's house today. I found it this morning after Clarissa texted you again."
Huey raised an eyebrow. "Did you reply back?" Jazmine smiled and nodded happily. "What did you say?"
She put the phone in his pants pocket and patted it. "I told her to fuck off." She crossed her arms and shrugged. "She hasn't replied since and that was three hours ago." Jazmine interlocked her fingers with Huey's and looked in his maroon eyes. "I think she's mad." She leaned in for a kiss.
"Aren't you scared that Tom is going to see us, since he's so anti-Huey?" he asked, leaning in as well.
"Tom who?" Jazmine smiled. She planted her kiss and looked back at Huey.
"So now I have a badass girlfriend who curses out other girls and doesn't care what her dad says?" he wondered. She nodded. "I could get used to that."
She kissed him another time before letting go. "I gotta go now. Text me later, okay?" She blew him a kiss before turning around and walking to her house. Huey smirked and went inside his own house. He sat on the couch and changed the channel to the news. He was approached by Cindy and Riley who had big smiles on their faces.
"What do you two want?" he asked, not even giving them a glance.
"Nothing," Cindy said in a singsongy voice. She skipped and sat down next to Huey on the couch. She swung her legs around and looked at Huey. He shot her a glare. "What?" she asked in her innocent voice.
"What do you want to say?" he sighed. He didn't like this stupid game.
"I don't wanna say nothin."
"Don't play dumb with me," he said, shaking his head. "You and Jazmine always do that little game when you have something to say but you want somebody to bring it up. I know her too well to know when she's doing that."
Cindy squealed and gave him a hug. "You're in love!"
"Excuse me?"
"You're soo in love with Jazmine and it's so cute!" she said. Huey slightly pushed her off of him. She laughed. "The more you act like that, the more I believe it's true."
"That nigga in love."
"I know right?" Cindy answered.
Huey shook his head and got up. "Don't you too have something better to do than mess with me?"
Cindy and Riley looked at each other. "No."
Huey sighed and walked to the stairs. "Well find something to do!" he yelled at them. He went into his room and sat at his computer to read about the news, even though he wasn't really interested in what happened. Even he couldn't deny this.
He was in fact, definitely, certainly, unquestionably, positively, undeniably, without a doubt in love with Jazmine Dubois. And he wasn't afraid to admit that he actually liked it.