Jazmine sniffled, letting a few tears fall as soon as she was sure that Huey wasn't going to come back to the room. Why was she such an idiot? He wasn't her boyfriend, he didn't owe her anything. He didn't owe her explanations about anything, best friends or not. Anything that he did tell her was a courtesy, nothing more. She was stuck pining over someone who didn't want a relationship, let alone with her.
Why was she so stuck over him?
She sniffled loudly, trying not to wince at how much it hurt her head to do so, and tried to calm herself and stop herself from crying. She needed to move on, she needed to forget about Huey like that. It just sucked because she knew now that he wanted her, but that didn't mean that he felt for her the way she felt for him. She was so upset and torn up about everything that she ended up crying herself to sleep.
When she woke up, she felt slightly better. She downed the rest of her Gatorade, got up to go to the bathroom and fished out some ibuprofen from Cindy's room. Everyone was obviously downstairs talking. She could hear Riley's loud mouth more than anything, but she was sure everyone else was still downstairs. The worst part is she could hear Huey, which is what she was fearing the most. She felt like staying up in the room until someone came to check on her and tell her to join everybody else. She slowly walked down the steps, trying to put on a normal face and act like her stomach wasn't doing flip-flops.
"Finally, the princess has awakened," Caesar joked as he noticed her come down the steps. Riley kept gabbing away, talking way too loud for no reason. Huey didn't bother to look her way and kept talking to Ming and Hiro.
Jazmine smiled, "Ha ha, very funny Michael." She felt a little better. Caesar was always able to put a smile on her face. It was just in his personality, it's not like he knew she was feeling shitty.
He checked his imaginary watch, "No lie, we were up at like 8 and it's almost 2."
Jazmine rolled her eyes at him, flipping him off playfully. "Where's Cin?"
Caesar pointed in the direction of the dining room, "there's some extra food in the kitchen too, made you a plate."
"Better be happy they told me I couldn't eat it cause I was ready to demolish that plate, Jazmine," Riley said from his spot on the recliner.
Jazmine ignored him, thanked Caesar and went to warm up her food before sitting down at the dining room table. Cindy looked just as worse off as she did if she was being honest. "You look terrible,"
"So do you," Cindy snapped, taking a bite of her pancakes, "so let's not talk shit now."
"Snappy," Jazmine raised her hands up in defense and started eating. "You have fun last night?"
"Yeah, of course… maybe I overdid it, just a little bit. We gotta start cleaning soon though. And it doesn't smell too bad in here, right? I mean the windows have been open for a few hours now. But I should be good by the time my parents get home. Guess what though?"
"Yeah, it really doesn't smell that bad. I think we have to walk out and come back in to really see though. And what?"
"Ya girl got some diiiiiiiick last night," Cindy said proudly.
Jazmine rolled her eyes, "I hope you wore protection. Who was it?"
Cindy leaned in closer to Jazmine, a huge smirk on her face. "Of course I did, does it look like I'm trying to have a kid? But with Trey, one of the guys on the varsity team. Shit, I didn't expect it to happen at all but it did. It was good, too."
"You gonna keep messing around with him?" Jazmine wondered for a second about Riley, considering how much Cindy liked him.
"Maybe for a little bit, I don't see why not. He's been flirting with me hard as hell lately," Cindy took a sip of her orange juice and looked at Jazmine seriously, "How was your night last night?"
"You ask that like you know something," Jazmine tried to hold back a smile and looked up at the ceiling. She lowered her voice a little, so no one overheard. If it was any of the guys, they probably would have tuned out after hearing Cindy say she got dick, but just in case. "It was great, just really confusing. I was drunk as hell, but Huey had brought me up to the guest room. Apparently, I told him to go fuck the girl he was making out with. Then this morning we got into an argument over I don't even know what. I just know, I need to get over him."
Cindy clicked her tongue multiple times and shook her head, "what a mess. This was supposed to help you guys, not make it worse. I think you guys would be great together, but Huey's a fuckboy. I think he just needs to see how great you are. Until then, do you or just mess around." Cindy shrugged nonchalantly.
Jazmine didn't really have much to say to that. It was so like Cindy to say something like that. At the same time, doing that felt wrong. If she was so right for Huey, why should she wait for him to realize that? At this point, it didn't matter, who knew how long Huey would be pissed off at her? No matter what argument they had, he had never blatantly ignored her like he did when she came downstairs. He didn't even bother to look at her. Suddenly, she was worried that she had finally messed up their friendship. All over a crush. She felt like crying again but held it back. "You have a fair point," she shrugged, messing over her food as she ate it slowly.
"Just… don't worry about him too much, okay Jaz? I'm the same way with you know who but in the end, he's just a boy. I'ma go take a shower if I'm not down in twenty minutes I fell asleep and you need to come to wake me up."
"You got it," Jazmine gave her a thumbs up and finished up her food, washed her plate and hesitantly headed into the living room. Ming was already cleaning up a little bit, probably so she could say she did her share and leave early. She probably had work later on and everything was already running behind schedule. Riley was fun to talk to but he looked unapproachable as he held his phone in his face and his earphones in. Huey wasn't even being considered, which meant Hiro was off the table until he wasn't with Huey but Caesar was sitting on his own against the wall, scrolling on his phone so Jazmine sat down next to him.
"Hungover?" Caesar put his phone down and glanced over at Jazmine.
She groaned loudly and nodded her head, "Yes. I'm an idiot, I don't know why I drank so much last night."
"Let's just be glad you didn't get alcohol poisoning. That why I stick with my weed, I'm feeling good." He laughed at himself and Jazmine couldn't help but laugh with him.
"Michael shut up, you know I don't smoke."
"For now, but if you ever want to, you know where to find quality shit." He chuckled, pulling his dreads up in a bun on the top of his head before wrapping his arm around Jazmine's shoulders. He obviously lowered his voice, "So, wassup with you and Huey?"
Jazmine blushed and turned red and she had to be grateful that Cindy had a relatively big house. That and Huey and Hiro seemed so entranced in their conversation that there was no way that they were paying attention to anything else. "What are you talking about?"
Caesar sighed softly and shook his head, "You can't fool me. I just wanna tell you that I think you're better off not messing with him. Huey's my nigga and all but you're my friend too. You're a good girl Jazmine, don't waste it being stuck on Huey when he's not trying to settle down. Don't be that girl that's sitting down trying to change a dude who doesn't wanna be changed."
Jazmine felt her heart stop for a second. Hearing it come from Caesar, Huey's best friend, hurt a little. There really was no point in fantasizing or daydreaming about a relationship with Huey. She knew she could trust him, he would never steer her wrong if he could help it. She glanced over at Huey sadly.
"Don't stress over it Jaz, you'll be straight," Caesar pulled her into a side hug and she reciprocated.
She thanked him then stood up to do something to occupy her mind and the only option available was to clean. She started by lighting one whole pack of incense, strategically placing them all over the house. Some windows upstairs weren't open, so she opened those up. She grabbed a garbage bag and helped Ming clean up the trash.
Eventually, Ming started barking orders at the boys, delegating tasks to everybody and then went upstairs to rush Cindy and tell her to hurry up so she could get down and start cleaning too. Soon enough everyone was cleaning and all the trash was gone, the dishes were clean from breakfast, the walls were clean and the floor was vacuumed. The boys started pushing and moving furniture back in place while Jazmine replaced the burnt out incense with new ones and periodically sprayed around the house.
Once everyone was done, everyone was plopped down on the couches, exhausted. Ming had left to go to work and Hiro was getting ready to leave, it was almost 5:30 and because the windows had been open, it was hot as hell inside the house.
"Brooooo, it's hot as fuck in here can we please close the windows?" Riley whined, kicking at Cindy to make sure she replied to him.
"Nope, these windows are staying open all damn day. No discussion." She didn't even bother to look at him, just kicked him back twice as hard. She was so absorbed in her phone and Jazmine guessed she was talking to Trey with that knowing smirk she had on her face.
"You want a nigga to get naked, don't you?" Riley countered back.
Jazmine saw Huey roll his eyes. She felt like rolling her eyes too, everybody was hot, not just him. They had all the fans in the house downstairs facing them, so they were working with what they had.
"You already took your shirt off, go head Riley," Cindy stopped looking at her phone to stick her tongue out at Riley.
Actually, all of the guys had taken their shirts off earlier in the day. Jazmine considered them lucky, at least they could take their shirts off. Not that she couldn't but she definitely didn't want to. Cindy didn't have a care in the world though, she was in some Soffe's and her bra.
Riley kept complaining, not bothering the read the room and how annoyed everybody could leave.
Cindy sucked her teeth and snapped, "You could just leave! We're done! Go head and go home, damn. All that bitching like you're a damn baby. Shut the fuck up."
"The fuck you acting funny for, McPhearson?" Riley shot up from his laying position and ready to argue.
"Nobody is acting funny, Freeman."
"Oh, you start talking to that Trey nigga and now you talking reckless," Riley shot back at Cindy. Huey stood up from his spot on the couch and walked over to Riley, urging him to get up.
"Let's go, Riley," Huey pulled at him until he finally stood up. Riley sucked his teeth and snatched his charger out the wall before storming off with Huey. Huey said a vague goodbye to Cindy and Jazmine but told Caesar he was going to go home. Once they left, Caesar whistled loudly.
It took a few minutes until after they left but Caesar stood up, "Well, I'ma leave too. Want me to walk you home Jaz?"
Jazmine looked at Cindy, she seemed like she was in a mood now. If things really were that bad, she could always come back later. Besides, she really wanted to take a shower and relax in her own bed for a little. Cindy noticed her looking at her, "You can go Jaz, I'm good."
"You sure?" Jazmine asked, just to be sure. Cindy nodded and went back to her phone. Jazmine just sighed and told Caesar yes before running upstairs and grab the overnight bag she had packed. She would just have to tell her parents that Cindy got sick or something, so they weren't suspicious. She stopped by in the bathroom to tidy herself up a little bit then headed back downstairs.
"I'll see you later Cindy," Caesar waved on his way out.
Jazmine said her goodbyes, giving one last happy birthday hug and telling Cindy to text her if she needed her and left out with Caesar.