That same night, it was Huey who didn't want Jazmine to leave.
He had spent the evening trying to convince her to spend the night but she said she wouldn't have been able to get away with it since her parents knew she was across the street. She left, obviously, promising she would text him later.
After Jazmine left, Huey spent the next few hours contemplating everything. They weren't together but they were exclusive. And obviously sexual. Not that being not sexual was a deal breaker with Huey, at least not with Jazmine it wasn't. He hadn't expected anything from her in the first place. Despite that he didn't expect anything from her, he was eager for more. He had been so turned on and she had barely touched him, he had barely even seen anything. So if that connection was there then, what would it have been like later?
He wanted to do something for her. He figured that she would appreciate going on dates but he just wasn't sure what she would prefer. As much as he hated to admit it, he was gonna have to go and ask Riley what to do. Riley would at least take a girl out before he tried to get with her. Who would've ever thought Riley would have to give Huey advice on taking a girl out on a date. It wasn't that dates weren't nice, they were. But Huey didn't really believe in them. It was a waste of money and it usually lead girls on and that just lead to issues later down the line.
Huey was knocked out of his own thoughts when he heard his phone buzz. He picked it up
Immediately, thinking that it'd be Jazmine. Except it wasn't.
I got a free crib rn, you wanna come thru?
Huey bit his bottom lip. His fingers hovered over the keyboard, so ready to reply to her. He hadn't messed with this girl since the beginning of the year since she had gotten a boyfriend. Either they weren't together anymore or she was trying to get back at him for something. Normally, he wouldn't have even hesitated to reply yes. But he couldn't just think about himself.
As his fingers hovered, Jazmine popped up in his mind. But if he did go through with it, Jazmine wouldn't ever know…
He dropped his phone immediately, wanting to punch himself. Jazmine wasn't just any girl. Huey got up and left his room to go to Riley's. After wandering around the house and checking outside, it was obvious that his brother wasn't home. So instead, he went to the basement where his granddad typically spent his evenings.
"Hey, Granddad?" Huey asked, standing by the steps that led to the basement.
Robert glances back from his recliner, his old-time music playing quietly, "Whatchu want boy?"
Huey shrugged sheepishly, "Riley's not here so I figured I'd come spend some time with you."
"Oh, so you can only spend time with your old granddaddy when your nappy headed brother ain't around?" Robert chuckles to himself and shook his head.
"No but I wanted your advice. Or not your advice but just to talk to you about some stuff."
Huey would be lying if he said that he wasn't as close to his Granddad as he used to be. What used to be days spent with him turned into hours, then minutes. The only reason he and Riley even hung out was because of the crew and the fact that they lived together. Of course, Huey knew he was slacking with how much time he spent with his granddad. He felt bad about it now that his granddad was actually commenting on it to his face.
"Well, me and Jazmine started talking-" Huey started, only to get interrupted.
"You and cutiepie? You're dating cutiepie?" Robert said, almost gushing at the news.
"Talking. Talking isn't dating, Granddad?" Huey started to pinch the bridge of his nose, knowing he'd be on the receiving end of a rant.
"Well then what is it? Either you together or you not together? I don't know what y'all youngins are doing nowadays. Can't commit to nothing. Back in my day, if we weren't together then we wasn't nothing. All this noncommittal 'talking' stuff y'all do. Don't make no damn sense," Robert started.
"Grandad lets not do this again. You're telling me there was no point in time between being friends and telling everyone you were together?" Huey asked, his eyebrow arched.
"No. We was friends. Then we dated. None of that in between mess. You either together or not together."
"Okay Granddad," Huey sighed, "anyways. Me and Jazmine are talking. And I guess it's exclusive. Just a few minutes ago some girl had texted me saying that she wanted me to come over. I almost said yeah but then I remembered Jazmine."
"Ohhh, I see where this is going now. Lemme tell you something, boy. You ain't supposed to let a good woman go. The right one in your court can make you the best man you could ever be. But get caught up with a hoe and it's just headache after headache, problem after damn problem. I'ma tell you, man to man. Pussy is pussy. I know you a young player, just like I used to be. Out there running game, ooooh ooh was I a ladies man! But being a player is how I lost your grandmother. I know you've seen me try to find someone. Lady after lady… no one could replace her. Not even now.
You can get sex anywhere. You could go and reply to the young honey that messaged you but then what about cutiepie? Is that young honey going to give you more than what Jazmine can?"
There was a bittersweet look on Robert's face. The two sat in silence, Huey unsure what to say and Robert remember back to the days where he was with the love of his life. How he would've loved to grow old with her. He wished he had a grown up with someone telling him how to appreciate the woman he loved so that he wouldn't lose her. He spent his whole life trying to replace someone that couldn't be replaced.
Robert sighed, suddenly looking so much older than he did just seconds ago. "All I'm saying is I know, I know it's nice to talk slick and get into them panties but it's also nice to be with somebody where you can share something special."
"Me and Jaz have been friends forever, I don't wanna mess that up for something that may not even be serious," Huey replied, trying to explain how frustrated he had been over the whole situation.
Robert chuckled, "If it wasn't serious you wouldn't be talking to me about it. It's something in us men that makes us scared of commitment, but it don't got to be a scary thing. It's a beautiful thing and it's apart of life… Regardless of what you do, don't hurt cutiepie. Consider her feelings."
Huey nodded to himself, "consider her feelings." It was common sense but hearing it come from someone he trusted and knew had good intentions helped a lot. He was going to always consider her feelings. He knew it'd be hard and something to get used to since. Huey did what he wanted to do when he wanted to do it. "Thanks Granddad."
"No problem. Now don't bring home no damn grandbabies, or I'll beat your ass," Robert chuckled, joking but also being serious at the same time. All Huey could manage to do was snort and nod his head. If only Granddad knew what the past few weeks had been like.
The oldest Freeman excused himself to go back upstairs to his room. He didn't want to go back to his phone, half scared that he'd text that girl back and end up in her bed tonight. Did he really lack that much self-control? How pathetic of him to even be contemplating something he knew he shouldn't do for so long. Young Huey would've scolded Older Huey for being such a dumbass nigga. At the same time though, he wanted to talk to Jazmine. He wanted her to be right next to him, really, but he would take what he could get.
Once he checked his phone, he still had no messages from her. Usually, he would text her with no hesitation but it was different now and he didn't want to seem clingy. But since he had talked to Granddad and Jazmine hadn't texted him yet, he decided he had one more issue to cover.
Caesar.
The thing that had been nagging at him ever since Riley told him about the two going out. He didn't think that Caesar would ever pull any underhanded shit and try to snatch Jazmine away, but if he didn't know they were a thing then he wouldn't be the one to blame. At the same time, Huey had to make it clear to Caesar to fall back. Because Caesar was one smooth ass nigga. He was the type that a girl wouldn't even know he was trying to get with her until he wanted her to know. Huey thought that doing things that way was a waste of time too, but Caesar was the type to go for longevity in a relationship so it usually worked out in his favor.
So he texted his best friend and told him he'd meet him at their usual place in the park to chill. It'd be a chill thing, Caesar would most likely bring some weed. Huey would swing by Taco Bell before he got there and pick up some food. It was a routine for them for the longest.
Huey put on some ball outs and a t-shirt and headed downstairs to leave. It was almost 9:30 and Riley was still nowhere to be found. As loud-mouthed as his brother was, he always knew what Riley was doing, even if he didn't want to know. Huey shrugged and put on his shoes and left, locking the door behind him. As he walked out, he glanced at Jazmine's house. Hopefully, they'd hang out some more tomorrow.
As Huey walked he was on autopilot. As Huey ordered the food from Taco Bell, he was on autopilot. He was on autopilot all the way up until he saw Caesar as he was approaching the park table he was sitting on.
"Wassup? You brought food," Caesar smirked.
Huey nodded his head, placing the food down on the table to dap up his best friend before sitting up on the table next to him.
"It's been a minute," Caesar referred to the fact that they hadn't been to the park in a while as he pulled a blunt out of his pocket. "What's the reason?"
Huey watched him bring up his lighter and spark the blunt. "Riley had told me how you took Jaz out a while back."
Caesar took the first hit, coughing a bit, before passing it to Huey. He nodded, "Yeah but she didn't see it that way though. I was basically just like if she sees it as a date that's cool but if we just chilling then that's cool too. It was nice."
"I bet. She's nice to be around," Huey said quietly. As they talked, they passed the blunt back and forth.
"Why do you ask?" Caesar turned to look at his friend.
Huey shrugged, "Why were you tryna take her out?"
"Jazmine is a catch. I think we both know that. You told me you weren't tryna get with her. I wanted to show her something different, she messes with lame niggas." Caesar chuckled. Huey had to agree, the few guys that she had been with over the course of high school had been pretty lame, to say the least. "Did that change?"
"Yeah. I think so," Huey nodded but stumbled to correct himself, "not I think. It has changed."
"Really? That's craaaazy. So that's why you hit me up. So, how'd that happen?" Caesar didn't need more of an explanation than their relationship changed. He wasn't going to go all out beforehand, but he knew now that he needed to fall back completely.
"Well, the other day I went to her house. You know, to tell her about Melina. And I had kissed her. Then the next day she came to my place and we just talked about it and decided we'd try it," Huey tried to make it sound as nonchalant as possible.
"That's good. I hope you know you can't do no lowdown player shit to Jazmine. She definitely don't deserve it," Caesar warned. In his opinion, nobody deserved the games that Huey played but especially not Jazmine. "But I can't believe that my man Huey is actually in a relationship. That's crazy."
"I wouldn't say a relationship," Huey sidetracked.
"Nah nigga. Y'all together. Even you can't see it right now," Caesar laughed. Those actual words had scared Huey a little. They were together. He wondered how that would change things for them and for the group.
"I guess we are. But… I should take her out and shit. Right? I don't wanna be cliche or nothing. I just don't know what she'd like." Huey admitted to his best friend. At least with telling Caesar, there wouldn't be ten jokes along with the advice like there would be with Riley.
"You don't gotta overthink that part. Most girls just like spending time with a nigga. Doesn't matter what. Jazmine seems like she's real simple too so you don't have to go all out just to hang with her or anything. Just ask?"
"Shouldn't I know though?" Huey laughed at himself. Finally getting hungry, he grabbed the bag of Taco Bell and started eating.
"You should but all the fucking and ducking you be doing, I don't blame you for not knowing." Caesar joked, sending both of them into a laughing fit.
Huey had been worried at first on how this conversation could have gone but he was happy to know that there was no bad blood between them and that Caesar knew what was what. With that out the way, he could really focus on the developing 'relationship' with Jazmine and what it could possibly be. They smoked, talked, and ate well until after midnight until they finally decided that they should both go back home.
Sorry it took long to upload, school is over and now i work so thats my excuse. I wanted to add in the conversation w Granddad. Mostly because while older men do have solid advice (sometimes) it often centers around what a woman has to offer and what she can do for a man. Never the other way around or vice versa. Idk, food for thought? But i covered a few things so let me know what you think about this chapter