Author's note- Hello all. I know I said I'd update last weekend but I got busy and I'm warning you guys right now that it'll only get worse. A sistah's got two midterms to study for (one is physics... -_- Nuff said.) and I've got the Algebra 2/Trig Regents exam (-_- again) and I'm sure that I've got two projects coming up. Junior year ain't no joke. So...yeah, it'll be tough stuff for me to squeeze in some time to sit down & knock out a chapter, but I'm not gonna leave ya'll hanging. Anyways, enough about me. I want to say thank you for all of the reviews and alerts and favorites. I really appreciate it. You guys are the best :)

P.S-The italics are a flashback

Disclaimer- Ya'll already know.

"I cannot fucking believe you! We have a stupid, insignificant fight and you go out and do that! And to make it worse, I don't hear it from you I hear it from your best friend- don't touch me, Huey!"

Huey recoilled from his girlfriend- ex-girlfriend now?- as though he had been given an electric shock. He let his hands fall to his sides, feeling helpless. Fucking Caesar, Huey his told his so-called best friend that he would tell Jazmine what he had done, but that asshole went and did so before Huey could. But he wouldn't blame Caesar. Huey recognized that there wasn't much that he could say at the moment, that he couldn't find any excuses to justify his actions. Not to say that he did justify what he did; he was in the wrong and he knew that and he regretted what he did. He just couldn't convince Jazmine of that. He watched as she leaned against the tall oak tree, their tree, and wrapped her arms around herself, worrying her bottom lip, blinking profusely and taking heaving breaths. Huey knew that she was trying, with everything in her, not to cry. No, she wouldn't let him see her in such a vulnerable state. Not after hurting her the way he did. Huey sighed, running a hand through his big hair. He had really fucked up epically this time.

"Jaz, it was a mistake. A stupid, drunken mistake. Baby, I'm sorry." Huey was swearing off any and all types of alcohol considering the fact that he's such a stupid fucking drunk. Never a-fucking-gain.

But Jazmine was shaking her head, her curly hair moving with the movement, at him, at the whole damn situation. The gesture let Huey know what was coming next: Jazmine was washing her hands of him, breaking up with him, denying him a second chance- and not necessarily in that order.

Huey shrugged, his mouth opening and closing as he tried hard to form a coherent sentence that would get Jazmine to understand that he was sorrier than he had ever been about anything and that the fact that he had betrayed her trust and their relationship for a drunken one night stand that he couldn't even really remember and some girl from one of his classes named Francesca (Frankie for short) made him want to shoot himself or something because that kind of pain had to be better than this. But Huey wasn't too good with expressing himself and his feelings- he never had been- and his apologies always felt stiff falling from his lips, especially when he wholeheartedly meant them. He felt awkward and lost and, he didn't want to admit it, afraid. He was afraid of losing Jazmine to some stupid shit he'd pulled and the only thing running through his mind was 'how can I fix this?'

Huey went to take a step closer to Jazmine but stopped short remembering that she didn't want him near her. A sigh escaped from him and his shoulders slumped, feeling a defeat that he couldn't remember ever feeling. "What can I do to make this better, Jaz?"

"I don't think you can."

"Huey."

He quickly dropped his hand from her arm and Jazmine could feel her hands start to tremble and shake. She could practically hear the way her heart was stomping around in her chest. Her breathing was irratic- oh, goodness; she wasn't having a panic attack was she?

"Jazmine."

Jazmine looked up at Huey-she had forgotten he was so tall, her head barely came to his shoulders- and what little breath she had was gone. He looked...different, more mature, than he had the last time Jazmine had seen him. Jazmine shook her head. Jazmine had to remind herself that a lot of things had changed since that day at the hill. "Hi."

"Hey." Huey's eyes searched Jazmine and she knew that he was in the same boat as she was: there was so much to say, where to start?

Huey looked at Jazmine and, damn, was she a sight for sore eyes. She had told that him that he could see her 'soon' a few nights ago, but he didn't think that it would be this soon and without warning. Huey almost took a step closer towards her, this was the closest he'd been to her since that day at the hill, the day they broke up and he needed, ached, to close the space between them. He almost did before his gaze dropped down to her left hand. It felt as though a bucket of ice water had been dumped over Huey's head. Oh. Right. How could he have forgotten?

"Here's your, uh, purse." Huey held out the clutch that had fallen out of Jazmine's clutch just a few moments previously when Jazmine collided into him, his eyes train somewhere to his left.

Jazmine tried to catch his gaze again, but Huey didn't look back. With hurt tracing her features, she took the small black clutch back. She tried to ignore how Huey had snatched his hand back when their fingertips grazed each other. "Thank you."

Huey nodded in response. "Uh, wh-what are you doing here?", Huey asked, cringing a bit and rubbing at the back of his neck when he realized he sounded a bit rude.

Jazmine struggled for words. "I'm with," Jazmine started off, but thought better of it, asking, "How are you?''.

Huey caught her hesitation. She must have been there with Caesar.

"Uh...", Huey trailed off. The awkwardness was absurd. Things shouldn't have been the way that they were. "I'm...good."

''That's good." Jazmine bit the corner of her bottom lip. She didn't know what to say that wouldn't involve her telling Huey that she still wanted him and only him.

They fell into a silence so unlike the comfortable ones that they used to share, Jazmine biting her bottom lip, her tell-tale show of nervousness that Huey remembered noticing within days of meeting her, and Huey with his hands shoved into his pockets, adopting a laissez-faire policy because he was 'this' close to touching Jazmine, any part of her, and it wasn't acceptable, simply because Jazmine wasn't his to touch.

"Look, Jaz-"

"Well, well, well. Look at what we have here. How come I wasn't invited to this little reunion?"

Jazmine's eyes grew twice in size, her gaze bouncing from Caesar to Huey and back to Caesar. How long had Caesar seen them talking? He wasn't upset, was he? But Jazmine noticed the slight grin on Caesar's handsome face and she felt her eyebrows furrow in confusion. It was no secret that there was no love lost when it came to Huey and Caesar and it was no secret that she had been the cause of it. At least, that was what Jazmine had always assumed. She hoped that with Caesar's slick mouth and Huey's general dislike for his former friend, that there would be no blows thrown like the last time.

Huey had noticed Jazmine's eyes widen slight panic when Caesar walked up to them. He couldn't tell if it was out of nervousness or fear. The thought of it being either irritated him to no end. He watched as Caesar wrapped a possesive arm around Jazmine's waist and planted a kiss on her temple. Huey looked away, clenching his jaw. Such a cute couple.

Caesar smiled down at Jazmine and pulled her even closer. "I was beginning to think you fell in or something." Jazmine smiled phonily, something that Huey could easily tell because her eyes stayed flat and Jaz always had been a bad liar. Caesar looked at Huey then and he had to refrain from punching the smug look off of Caesar's face. It was the same look Ceasar had been wearing the last time Huey had had the ultimate displeasure of being in his company. Huey's hands balled into fists in his pockets. He wouldn't knock Caesar the fuck out like he had then, after Caesar decided to rub in the fact that he had Jazmine. No, it wasn't the time or the place. "Freeman." Caesar had managed to sound pleasant, but Huey saw right through it. They had been best friends at some point.

Huey straightened and gave the other man a nonchalant nod, determined to get it through to Caesar's dumb ass that he wasn't affected by his display. "Michael."

Caesar faltered, scowling and it made Huey smirk. He knew that Caesar despised being called by his given name for whatever reason, so much that he had asked his mother to regard him by his last name only. It may have been childish, Huey admitted, but he gained a sense of satisfaction at ruffling Caesar's feathers.

Jazmine slightly shook her head, her eyes closing as she did so. There went her hope for this to not turn out badly.

The tense moment didn't last long, though, when Caesar suddenly smiled brightly, shaking his head as though he had heard a good joke that Jazmine and Huey hadn't. "I forgot how funny you were, Huey. I must admit, if there's one thing that I miss about you, it's that wild sense of humor of yours."

Huey chuckled, a chuckle filled not with amusement, but the biting sarcasm he was known for. "Well, I can't say the same. My life has been much more enjoyable without you in it."

Jazmine looked up at the light fixture hanging over their heads. God, this had to be some type of karmic payback for something that she couldn't remember doing.

Caesar waved a hand at Huey's words. "Psh, come on, Huey. I can't believe you're still mad about that. We can't let bygones be bygones?"

Huey looked over at Jazmine then, brown eyes boring into green. They both knew what Caesar was referring to and they both wondered what things would have been like for them if it had never happened. Huey's gaze flicked down to Caesar's hand on Jazmine's waist. Jazmine could see his eyes grow hard and cold at the sight. Jazmine wiggled her way out of Caesar's grasp. She didn't think he noticed.

"I should go, uh, I've got a friend waiting for me," Huey said completely ignoring Caesar's request, his eyes locked onto Jazmine's. A friend? Jazmine briefly wondered if this friend of his was a woman. Was he on a date or something? She couldn't help the rush of envy that flooded through her being at the thought.

Jazmine took a small step forward before she caught herself. She couldn't hug him, what was she thinking? "It was nice seeing you, Huey."

Huey nodded, running a hand quickly through his afro. "Yeah, you too." Huey turned to Caesar and opened his mouth to say something. He promptly shut it when he realized that what he wanted to say wouldn't be polite. "Michael."

Caesar smirked, putting out a hand for Huey to shake. "Nice seeing you, Freeman."

Jazmine watched as Huey regarded Caesar's hand with distrust before he shook it, hand firm and eye contact strong. He dropped it after a moment and, with another look Jazmine's way, Huey walked away.

"Dang, Huey, you can't hold the door open?"

Huey looked back at Stacy, his neighbor that lived down the hall from him, struggling with the heavy door to their small, dingy apartment building lobby. Huey backtracked to her and grasped the iron doorknob so that she could get in. He let the door slam closed and walked over to the stairs, because the elevator only worked when it wanted to and made his way to their floor, Stacy muttering about bad attitudes ruining a good night behind him.

Huey couldn't fucking believe what had just happened not too long before. He remembered Caesar's smirking face and no amount of calming breathes could keep him from wanting to punch a wall or something.

"You better not. You know Dupree is gonna raise your rent again," Stacy warned. Huey hadn't realized that he had said anything out loud. He glanced at Stacy with her dyed fire red hair, who was suddenly walking up the creaky wooden steps next to him, her heels making what Huey thought was way too much noise as she did so. "What's wrong with you anyway?"

"Nothing."

"Somethin'."

Huey rolled his eyes and exhaled harshly, exasperated. Stacy had been on his case about why his "panties were in a bunch" since he had returned to their table back at the restaurant. He wasn't too keen on telling her that it was because he had just ran into his ex, who he also happened to still be in love with, and her fiancé, who he used to be friends with but was now, possibly, the biggest dickhead he knew. Huey made a mental note to talk Stacy into having takeout the next time she suggested having dinner like she did so often, if only to avoid the total mind fuck that had occurred. "Stacy, just leave it alone."

They reached their floor faster than Huey had realized and Stacy rolled her eyes, fishing her keys out of her purse. "Fine, be that way."

Huey watched as she put her key into the lock and opened her door. He waited until she was in her place before he walked over to his own across the hall. He had just turned the lock when Stacy's creaky door squealed open and she stuck her head into the hallway. "Hey, Huey?"

Huey glanced over his shoulder. "What?"

She smiled toothily and Huey was reminded why he had asked her out on a date when he first moved in. Which hadn't worked out at all; he was just trying to forget about Jazmine despite his not being over her and Stacy had just broken up with a boyfriend. They quickly realized that they were better suited as friends and they were okay with that. "Whatever it is, it'll be okay."

Huey sighed, shaking his head. Stacy meant well, but Huey never had been optimistic. ''Thanks, Stace. Have a good night, okay?"

"Yeah, you too."

Caesar pushed open the door to their apartment and stepped to the side, letting Jazmine walk in ahead of him. Jazmine promptly kicked off her heels, pushing them to the side of wall in the hallway. She shot a glance to Caesar and saw him toss his keys onto the wooden table and shrug off the jacket of his suit. They hadn't said much of anything to one another since dinner had ended and they'd separated from Jamison and Lauren. Jazmine was reluctant to say anything about the whole running into Huey thing, which had been on her mind since it happened. She didn't want to upset him and start anything that could be avoided.

Jazmine had taken two steps foward fully intending on making her way to the bathroom to get out of her dress and take off her make-up and get into bed when Caesar's hand grabbed hers, pulling her flush to his chest, his hands resting low on her back.

"Where you goin'?"

Jazmine tried not to roll her eyes; it was the fastest way to convince Caesar that she had an attitude and make him defensive. She sighed lightly instead. "Caesar, I'm tired."

Caesar smiled down at Jazmine, much more sincere than he had been earlier with Huey. "Give me a kiss before you go."

Jazmine paused, studying Caesar before she smiled softly. This almost reminded her of when she and Caesar first got together. It almost was enough to make her forget about the fact that she wasn't in love with him. Almost.

Jazmine tilted her head upwards slightly, wishing that there was more of a height difference, and met Caesar halfway, their lip pressing softly together and their eyes closing. After a moment Caesar intensified the kiss and Jazmine let him because it felt good and it was sweet and she knew that if it weren't for all of his faults and her feelings for another man, Jazmine really could have loved him and been happy.

Caesar raised his hands to cradle Jazmine's face and for the first time in a long while, she felt cared for and appreciated. She enjoyed it while she could because Jazmine knew, she knew that once she and Caesar seperated, reality would slap her in the face and the reality was that she and Caesar would never go back to the way they used to be, no matter how much they ignored the facts and wished, and wished, and wished that they could.

Jazmine slowly pulled away from Caesar when oxygen became a necessity. Caesar stared into Jazmine's eyes and she wondered if another woman could appreciate his dark brown eyes the way that she knew she didn't.

"I love you, J."

And Jazmine smiled because it was expected of her and all she did these days was what was expected, rarely what she wanted, and she lied, because she knew that the truth wouldn't be appreciated and who really, honestly, liked to hear the truth about things they'd been, for the longest, lying to themselves about?

"I love you, too."

Hmm, Jaz made me a little sad at the end. I hope you enjoyed that. Expect some Cindy & Riley next time and the whole Huey, Jazmine and Caesar situation from a couple of years back will be thoroughly explained . I'll try to update as soon as I get the chance. And drop me a review, please. :)