When Sarah left to go to work, Jazmine moved her lazy day at home downstairs to the couch and watched trashy TV for the rest of the day. Her layout of snacks on the coffee table looked as though she was going to throw a party but, she had no intention of sharing her food with anybody. She had three various kinds of chips, two different kinds of dip, strawberries and pineapples, and grape soda on the table in front of her and she had been mindlessly snacking all day.
She was determined to make this a stress-free day and to cast her cares aside so she was limiting her contact with the outside world. she put her phone on 'do not disturb' for Huey and Emmanuel, so she wouldn't have to deal with them and had been texting Cindy back and forth explaining what had happened since school had ended on the day before.
She intentionally left out most of what had happened when Huey came over late that night so that Cindy wouldn't start a fight with Huey at school and cause more problems. She was going to tell her, she would just rather tell her face to face… or even when things settled down.
She was about to take a swig straight from the bottle of the grape soda when the doorbell rang. Jazmine picked up the remote and turned the TV all the way down so hopefully they would assume no one was home. School was still in session so she just assumed that anybody that was knocking at the door was either trying to sell something or was a Jehovah's witness.
Jazmine felt as though her relationship with Jesus was strong enough and she wasn't really in the mood to have a conversation about it.
The doorbell rang again and Jazmine continued to look at the door with no intention of moving. She jumped when she heard banging on the door.
"Ayy Jazzy, open up the door. I know your light bright ass is in there!"
Jazmine contemplated just staying hidden with hopes that he would just leave. But, she knew he would be relentless. She moved the blanket off her lap and made her way to the door… just in time to hear him start kicking at her front door.
She unlocked the front door and snatched it open. "Riley why are you kicking my front door!?"
Riley's foot was pulled back and in position to kick her door again. He put his foot down and shrugged.
"If you would answer the door when I knock we wouldn't even be having this discussion," Riley pushed passed Jazmine and walked in to the house and headed towards the living room, "Dang Jazzy I don't know how you so skinny. You super fat for all this."
Jazmine rolled her eyes as she closed her front door and followed Riley into the next room. She flopped on the couch as he picked at the bags of chips that she had finished. She unmuted the TV assuming that Riley was only here because he had skipped school and knew that if he went home his Grandfather would give him a whooping.
Riley sat down with Jazmine, grabbed the remote, and turned the TV off. Jazmine turned to him with a mouth full of food.
"Fwhat ish yor pwoblem?"
"My problem is that you and my brother are acting mad weird."
Jazmine swallowed. "What are you talking about? I'm not acting weird," Jazmine subconsciously leaned in close, "How is Huey acting weird?"
Riley made a face and slid over on the couch towards the armrest. "Ew Jazzy, ya breath smell like hot Fritos and onions."
Jazmine rolled her eyes. She brought her hand up to her mouth and blew to see if her breath was as bad as Riley was making it seem. She sniffed and made the same face he had.
"Whatever, answer my question. How was Huey acting weird?"
"Man, that nigga was stomping around the house this morning, exhaling all loud and shit, fogging up the windows. Then he come downstairs and head straight out the door not saying, 'good morning' or talking about the dumb shit that Trump been doing, nothing. Now, I'm not trying to sound gay or nothing because you know I love bitches but I care about my brother."
"You know that doesn't make you gay but go ahead."
"Don't interrupt me again or I'm leaving," he cleared his throat, "Anyway, on the way to school I was gone ask him what was up but the nigga had turned the radio all the way up. So, I let him mope because I'm not about to be begging him to talk to me about his feelings that's dead. But, then at lunch Ceez, Cin, and him were sitting down looking all sad and shit. I used my detective skills to detect that you wasn't there. So, I offered to leave school and come see how you was doing. So, how you doing?"
Jazmine rubbed her arm uncomfortably. She knew Huey would be upset but she didn't know he'd be THAT upset.
"Honestly, Riley me and you brother had a fight last night."
Riley rolled his eyes at her as he smacked on a pickle from the jar that was on the table. "What could y'all have possibly been fighting about this time? Did he tell you that Unicorns weren't real again?"
Jazmine glared at the side of his face. She looked around the table for something she could throw and settled for the empty cup that he had apparently drunk from before deciding to start on her layout of snacks. She chucked the cup at him and he spit the pickle out onto the table.
"Dang Jazzy," he choked out the words, "I was just playing."
"Stop playing then!"
He rubbed his head where the cup had hit him. He grumbled some words and gestured for her to continue.
"No, it wasn't about unicorns. He told me why he had stopped talking to me for all these years."
Jazmine paused for dramatic effect and waited for Riley to gasp in surprise at her revelation. He looked at her and shook his head.
"So, what you mad at my brother for?"
"Because said he was doing it to protect me!"
"Man, that nigga lying like shit. I mean," Riley stroked his chin in thought, "I guess he could put it like that but, why you not mad at ya pops?"
"My pops? What does my dad have to do with anything?"
"Oh shit," Riley started cackling, "that nigga so noble… but I ain't," he cackled some more and calmed down enough to tell her what he had to say next.
"Jazzy I hate to be the one to tell you this," Jazmine scoffed and Riley nodded, "you right Imma enjoy this."
"Will you spit it out already!"
"Ya daddy the one that split y'all up. He told Huey it would be safer for you if he stayed away and Huey dumbass believed him and actually did what he said. Shit, I thought you knew and ya pops had told you the same thing and you was doing it too."
"Are you sure? How do you know?"
"Because I was there, duh."
*Flashback*
Riley was waiting at the top of the stairs with his BB gun for the perfect opportunity to shoot Huey. He thought that he could just beat him up all the time but he had something for that ass. Pause.
He readjusted the gun looking for the perfect shot. He was trying to not hit Jazmine in his attempt to hit Huey because he knew it would be World War III if he hit his 'beloved'. Yuck.
He listened to them talk and watched the apparent more-than-friends love developing between Huey and Jazmine.
He heard somebody opening the front door and ran back to his room thinking it was Granddad. He said the next time he saw the BB gun he was gone burn it.
When he heard Tom's bitch ass voice he came back out of his room without his BB gun. He crept down the stairs a few steps just to make sure he could hear everything. He was nosy and he wasn't afraid to admit it either.
"I can and I am. I know you care about Jazmine but I need you to care about her safety right now and know that while you continue to do the things that you do you I won't allow you or Michael to have contact with her. It's about her safety Huey."
Riley peeked his head from behind the wall that kept him from being seen and saw Huey with his head hanging low.
'What is this nigga thinking'
Huey rotated his shoulder as though he was stretching it out.
"You understand why I'm asking you to do this right, Huey?"
"Yes, I will stay away from her just to keep her safe."
Riley shook his head and went upstairs.
"That nigga stupid," he muttered to himself.
*End Flashback*
Jazmine was didn't move after hearing Riley relay what happened that day. She was deep in thought feeling all kinds of emotions as she had been feeling the night before. Anger, confusion, betrayal, regret, but her over all feeling was anger at herself and her father.
"Jazzy you alright, like do you need to talk. You know I'm here for you if you need to talk."
"No, Riley I'm okay you can go if you want to. I'll work things out with your brother later."
Riley noticed that Jazmine looked on the verge of tears and made his decision.
"Nah, I think Imma stay," he picked up the remote and started flipping through the movie channels.
Jazmine smiled at him he really was like a little brother to her.
Huey and Caesar were walking out of the school talking about the homework that they had just gotten form their chemistry teacher and how they were most likely going to work on it together. Which likely meant that Caesar was going to be copying the math answers from Huey while Caesar did the written part.
"CEEZ!" They both turned around at the sound of Cindy's voice and waited for her to catch up to them. She patted Huey on the back and stood up on her toes to kiss Caesar on the cheek.
"Huey, did you text from Jazmine?"
"No, I haven't heard from her since last night-"
Huey was cut off as a fist flew straight at his face from his behind him knocking him to the ground.
"What the hell Freeman!"
Huey got back on his feet quickly and stepped to Emmanuel ready to fight. Emmanuel shoved Huey and Huey shoved him back.
"What's going on Emmanuel? Why you pull a bitch move like that on my man Huey," Caesar asked ready to jump in if either one of his friends decided to make this fight unfair. He knew Huey could handle himself on his own.
"Huey told Jazmine to not go on a date with me Friday. That's the only explanation that I can think of," Emmanuel spat at Caesar while never taking his eyes off Huey.
"Or maybe she just didn't want to go with you anymore," Cindy yelled from behind Caesar.
"Yeah whatever, just watch your back Freeman."
Huey narrowed his eyes as Emmanuel walked away. He contemplated retaliation in his head.
'Fuck it.'
He walked up to Emmanuel and tapped him on his shoulder.
"What!"
Huey pulled his fist back and hit Emmanuel with all the aggression that had been built up for him since that day on the porch. Emmanuel hit the ground with an 'oomf' that caused most of the parking lot to turn around to see what happened. Emmanuel was unmoving but still breathing by the way his chest heaved up and down.
"Damn son, you just got knocked the fuck out!"
Caesar went over to Cindy standing over his laid out body and dragged her away from the scene following Huey who had left after delivering the punch, not even waiting to see the impact that it had had.
"What babe, Riley wasn't here so SOMEBODY had to do it. Wait," Cindy got loose from Caesar's grip and ran up to Emmanuel, still knocked out and kicked his leg, "next time be a man."
Cindy walked back over to Caesar and held her arm out for him to link with.
"You satisfied now?"
"Yes, for now." Cindy smiled up at him and then looked at Huey. "He hasn't gotten everything he deserves yet, though."
Caesar nodded his head. He wasn't sure whether she was talking about Emmanuel or Huey but either way she was right, this was not the end.
A/N: Caesar was right this is not the end. I apologize for my hiatus but the first weeks of school were hectic and I'm still getting adjusted but I am back in business. I would like to take this opportunity to thank all those who have read my story from back when my chapters were like 400 hundred words long until now. Thank you for being patient with me and I really appreciate it.
P.S.: To the person who commented about the presence and presents thing you're right. I was trying to be funny and failed.
P.S.S: Please Please Please Review. They make me so happy and I need happiness in my life right now. And they encourage me to post the last review I got was four days ago and it made me go ahead and start writing. So again please review with criticisms judgement, and praises.