Chapter 32- You Know We better Off as Friends.
Jazmine's POV
"You did what?!" Cindy exclaims in the middle of the park. Even though it's becoming cold outside because it's the middle of November there are still many people around. The leaves in the fall have always been so pretty to me. So I took a walk and had Cindy join me.
I shhh her, "Stop being loud, you're making people stare. And you heard me the first time."
"I know, I just can't believe it. You were gon let Huey hit it in the bathroom?" She looks at me in astonishment.
I shake my head in embarrassment, "Me either."
"I just mean that's some nasty shit I would do but you? All while Logan is looking for yo ass, damn you a pimp Jaz." Cindy laughs a bit and I glare at her.
"Alright my bad, but what's going on with you guys?" She becomes serious.
"That's the thing, everytime I feel it's going great with Logan here comes Huey. He appears out of the blue and sets me back." I tell her frantically.
"So, do you want Huey back?"
"Um no?" Cindy looks at me with a yeah right expression, "No." I say more firmly.
"Are you sure? Because your actions tell a different story." She comments.
"Look what happened between Huey and I, didn't really mean anything. It won't happen again because I like Logan." I make it clear to my unbelieving friend.
"Ok girl whatever you say. Just don't mess that fine young man up for the next. And I mean fine!" Cindy teases.
I smile, "You seem to have forgot you have a boyfriend."
"It's not me who you need to worry about. You're the one stepping out on your little boo." She comments slyly.
"Hey! We aren't technically dating so he's not my boo. I just need to figure out what I'm going to do about Huey that's all." I needed to do it quickly or it would only create more problems down the road.
"My advice would be to tell his ass to stay out of your life for good but I already have a feeling you're not going to do that. So instead you need to set some boundaries ."
"Boundaries?"
"Yeah you know like y'all ain't together anymore and he gotta understand that, you need to tell him that. And that he can't just pop into your life whenever he feels like it. He's got to respect that you're moving on." Cindy seriously tells me.
"Alright Boundaries." I clasp my hands together, "I can do that." I nod my head. That doesn't seem so hard.
"Good because you don't want Logan thinking you're messing with your ex behind his back."
"True," I agree, "I'm going to set up a meeting with Huey as soon as possible, somewhere public too so he can't make any moves."
"Well I don't know if that's going to save you, remember a club is pretty public too." Cindy jokes.
"That's not fair. He cornered me." I defend.
Cindy puts her hands up, "I'm just saying, you don't want a repeat."
"That's not funny." I speed up walking away.
"Wait Jaz!" She calls after me, "Come on, you just going to leave me like that in front of all these white folks?" She continues to be loud. I almost laugh, Cindy is white too, they probably think she's crazy.
"What y'all looking at? I know what I said." I snicker, my best friend is really too much sometimes.
The Next Day.
I asked Asia to tell Riley to ask Huey to meet me at a local donut shop to talk. I still have his number blocked because I don't think it's appropriate for us to be contacting each other whenever we want… From what Asia told me he had agreed. So I'm at the place now waiting for him to arrive and finally he shows up. Not that it was a long wait.
When Huey walks in, immediately my stomach starts to toss. 'This is going to be harder than I thought.' He sees me and walks to the table.
"Hey." He greets.
"Hello Huey, please take a seat." I say formally. He raises an eyebrow but sits down anyway. I made it awkward already. Yeah I can't look at him, I need to look everywhere but him. I grab my menu and hide my face behind it.
"So how are you?" He questions.
"Good, you?" I respond. This is sad I'm not even reading anything.
"I'm alright."
"That's nice, how's work?" I'm still damn near nose deep in the menu.
"The same. How is school?" He asks.
"Well it's-" I'm interrupted by him pulling the menu down from my face.
"I'm up here." Huey tells me. I realized I was being rude.
"Sorry about that, school has been keeping me busy as usual." He nods.
"Jazmine, you know I hate small talk. Can we cut to the chase? Why am I here?" He inquires. So right to it? Okay.
I fold my hands in front of me, "Right well. I think we need to set boundaries."
Huey raises an eyebrow, "Boundaries?"
"Yeah. Rules between us."
"What? What are you talking about? You're speaking like a business person." He looks at me weird.
"That's how this needs to go." I reply straightforwardly.
"Huh? So you can't be yourself around me anymore."
"Well I'm afraid that If I'm not firm, you'll try to kiss me again or something." I say honestly unfolding my hands.
"You kissed m-"
I interrupt Huey, "It doesn't matter who kissed who. It just can't happen again."
He snorts, "I'm not going to kiss you Jazmine… unless you'd like me to." I roll my eyes.
I shake my head, "No thank you."
"Alright then, are we good?"
"I'm serious Huey, we can't do that anymore. I'm kinda sort of seeing Logan." I say and he scowls.
"I can't say I'm surprised because it's always the ones they tell you not to worry about." Huey states and I'm a bit taken back. And I think he can tell because his face relaxes.
"My bad, I didn't-"
"No, no it's okay. You are entitled to feel that way because that's how it looks." I can't lie, I did tell Huey that Logan was nothing more than just a friend and now he's becoming more.
"Let's not talk about that….Look, Jazmine I agree with you we can't keep doing this. Going days, weeks without speaking then bump into each other and try to act like everything's good." He says sternly.
"Yeah it's not going to work. We should just agree to be friends." That's just how it's going to be now.
"Come on Jazmine, I can't just be friends with you after everything."
"Then either that or we agree to stay away from each other." It's such a shame we can't handle being friends.
"I guess so." No, I don't want him just gone.
"Buttt our best friends are still dating after all. We should at least try to be cordial." I try to find some type of medium.
"Yeah or... how about we start over?"
"Being just friends?" I question and Huey nods.
"Let's try it." He says sincerely.
"Deal." I put my hand out for him to shake and he takes it. We don't make a move to let go of each other's hand, it's like we are stuck. I find myself gazing a bit then Huey clears his throat and I pull away.
I push a hair strand behind my hair awkwardly, "Uh I say we set rules."
"Rules? Seriously, we're adults and I can respect that you're talking to someone." See that's a good thing about Huey he's mature, no matter what the situation. I admire that.
"Okay, great."
"So what do friends talk about?"
"Anything, really."
"Well what made you change your hair?" I blinked when Huey asked this. I wasn't expecting him to say that.
"Um I thought it would make me feel better." I respond honestly. I think back to the day at the hairdresser when I made the decision to get my haircut into layers and highlights. Bunches of girls changed their hair after a breakup but never did I believe I would be one of them. It didn't do anything to help though, I still felt the same.
His eyebrow arches, "And did it?"
"Not really… But what about you? What's with the peach fuzz look you have going on?" I joke. It was definitely more than peach fuzz but I didn't want the compliment getting to his head.
Huey sucks his teeth, "I've been keeping busy, haven't had time to shave."
"It seems like I'm always busy between work and school." I comment.
"Yeah I heard you didn't pass last year, I'm sure you'll get it this time though."
"Thank you." I smile at him.
For the remainder of our time there we catch up a bit. I learned that Huey is working at his car shop from morning till it closes now. Before it was just the day. Soon after talking we both have to leave. He walks me to my car.
"We should do this again when you're free that is." I suggest. I actually think something good came out of this meeting after all. Because I surely didn't believe it would go this well at first.
"Yeah, we should." Huey agrees.
"Well hopefully it's soon." I smile slightly. He nods, hands stuffed in his pockets. 'Um how do I say bye?' I decide on a hug, that's how I always say goodbye no matter who it is. That's just how I am. I raise my arms but at the same time Huey puts out his hand. Both of us awkwardly pause and I switch my arms to mimic him but I guess he's confused because then he puts his arms down. Fed up we just fist bump.
My cheeks heat up and I force a laugh, "Uh well see you."
"Later." I jump into my car and Huey walks away in almost a hurry. Yeah this is going to take some getting used to on both ends.