It was a lonely drive home. The last trip was filled with anxiety and even nervousness, but this time he was filled with dread. He wasn't prepared to face his grandfather yet and now it was even more of a mess because Tom was in on it too. Who knows all the people in Woodcrest now knew the thing he was trying to hide from them. He knew the rumors would fly, everyone would now look at Granddad and Riley with disdain. The people who thought he was just a smart kid would now look at him as if he were a delinquent. All he wanted to do was protect Granddad from this.
He had been driving for almost fifteen hours straight, only stopping to fill up gas and if he had enough money, he would buy coffee. He hated himself for drinking it because caffeine was bad for the heart but it was what he had to do.
Finally the familiar streets of Woodcrest came into view. Shiny cars parked in driveway that belonged to perfect people in fancy houses, and neatly trimmed grass. Then there was his house. His granddad's car, Dorothy, stood out like a sore thumb. The grass was left unattended. He mentally scowled at Riley for not helping around the house like he should. It was just after dawn and the sun was beginning to rise. The lights were still on so he knew someone was awake. He parked the car behind Dorothy and got out. The Dubois house was silent, with all the lights off.
Huey tried to remain silent as he walked in the front door. Turning the corner, he saw Granddad in his recliner snoring away.
"He waited up for you," Riley whispered and came out of the kitchen.
They bumped fists and they went upstairs to their old room.
"So is all that shit true? You got caught with a high broad and drugs?"
"Not really. Yes, I was in the room with someone who was doing drugs but they weren't mind and I wasn't using them."
"Damn. Granddad sure was pissed off at you yesterday. So was Tom. They almost got into it and it was the funniest thing I ever seen," he chuckled but Huey rolled his eyes at him. Leave it Riley to be a dumbass in a serious situation.
They heard a door slam downstairs. "Where is he?! Where's that idiot?" It was Tom yelling. Huey and Riley both ran down the stairs to see Tom, still in his pajamas, trying to push past Granddad who was blocking the way.
Upon seeing Huey, Tom began yelling even louder. Granddad's strength didn't hold much longer and Tom broke past him and the next thing Huey knew, he was on the floor with his face hurting and Tom was standing over him.
It only took a few minutes for everyone to calm down and Huey was sitting with Tom in the dining room, holding a bag of ice to his cheek. He had ran home to get materials to help Huey with the case.
"Sorry, Huey. But you understand where I'm coming from." Tom was still glaring at him.
"I get it, Mr. Dubois."
"If you had just talked to me first then this wouldn't have happened."
"I know."
"And don't think I'm mad about being accused of using and distributing drugs. I'm really not upset about that."
Huey was surprised.
"Huey, I've known you since you were a kid. You're a very smart young man and I would like to say that I know you well enough to know that you wouldn't even use drugs or anything of the sort. It's not like you and will probably never be like you to do something like that. With that being said, despite your intelligence, you can be a real idiot sometimes."
That was close to what Jazmine had told him when he first showed up at her doorstep.
"What I'm pissed off is that you went to see Jazmine without even asking for my permission first."
"She's a grown adult, Mr. Dubois."
"Yes she is. But you've met her haven't you. You know how innocent she still is. She's still too trusting in people and naïve about the world. She's still a child in many ways."
He was right. She was too trusting even to Huey.
"You should never have seen her without talking to me first or discussing the trial with your granddad and me. We could have helped you a lot sooner."
"Speaking of the trial, what do you think will happen?"
"I don't know anything right now. What I need you to do is tell me every exact detail of what happened. What day, what time, where, who you were with, and any knowledge you have whatsoever." He reached for a few sheets of paper.
Huey felt as if he had no choice but to tell him everything. He was at a party in the fraternity, he was with his then girlfriend, she was smoking marijuana, they were about to be intimate when the cops raided, and they caught him in the same room when she was still smoking and when they searched the room they also found crack that was in her bag.
"But you never actually smoked it, you just inhaled it?"
"That's right."
"The easiest thing right now is to get a urine drug test. That was only a few weeks ago and marijuana stays in your system for about six weeks at the most. If it shows up without a trace then we can get you out of using the drug. Possession on the other hand…"
"What about it?"
"The police have no way of knowing whose drugs were exactly whose. She could have brought them in the house beforehand. Or you could have already traded it and it ended up in her bag. This very well may be a case where there will be two different sides. The easiest way to get out of this is if someone takes up a plea bargain."
"What are you trying to say?"
"We need to try to convince this girl, Chantale, to plead guilty. But that's probably not going to happen."
"Why not?"
"You said she was an immigrant right? If she breaks the law then she gets deported. And I'm trying my best, Huey, but it doesn't look good."
"How does it not look good? I am a straight A student who is in a politically active fraternity studying to be a congressman one day. The jury will probably eat that up!"
"Imagine if you were a juror on this case. You see a young, black man who is part of a fraternity that wants to legalize cannabis, has terrorist ties, has tabs kept on by major U.S. criminal fighting organizations, and is by every mean of the word, trouble, in the eyes of the justice system. Then you see a young girl who is new to the country, you think she probably doesn't know much, and this young man has been supplying her drugs to make money or in favor of sex."
Huey closed his eyes and thought. Tom was right and if a jury was involved they would probably take Chantale's side. "If she doesn't plead guilty then I want to fight this."
"I want to as well. I'm still very angry with you right now but that doesn't mean that you deserve to go to jail for something you didn't do." He stood up to leave.
"How much do we owe you?"
"It's free," Tom waved him off. "I owe Robert a few favors."
Huey continued to sit at the kitchen table. His ice bag was now a puddle and condensation was making a mess on the surface of the wood. He heard his granddad hobble in and sit across where Tom was at not too long ago.
"Damn, boy, you sure are an idiot sometimes," he sighed and took his glasses off to clean them. Huey was not used to being called an idiot so often in a short amount of time.
"Yeah I know."
Granddad put his glasses back on and looked at his oldest grandson. "You're hiding something."
"No, I told Mr. Dubois everything there was."
"No, you're hiding something else. Come on, spit it out. It's going to come out eventually any way."
Huey sighed and guessed it was either now or later. "Before I left Texas, I asked Jazmine to marry me."
Granddad's vein began to pulse. "Now why would you go and do a thing like that for?! Does Tom know?"
"No, I didn't tell him. Yet."
"You better not say a word to him until all of this is over. Do you understand? You've already screwed up enough and now we can't afford to lose a good lawyer who's working for free." He stood up to scuffle out of the kitchen. He stopped before walking out. "What did she say?"
"She said yes."
"Of course she did. Always knew she would say that. If you had asked her when you were kids she would've said yes then too."
That night, Huey was in bed bored out of his mind. He kept looking to his left as if Jazmine would appear and sleep beside him. Her soft breathing when she slept was oddly comforting to him. He picked up his phone and called her.
"Hey," she answered on the first ring.
"Hey." It was nice to hear her voice.
"How did everything go?"
"Better than expected. Your dad punched me in the face."
She gasped. "Oh my god, are you ok?"
"I've dealt with worse. Riley could punch harder."
"I'm so sorry, Huey. He didn't have to do that to you."
"Don't worry about it. We've put it behind us and he's helping with the case." Should he tell her about the high possibility of going to prison? "Everything is going to be fine, Jazmine. He thinks we have a good chance of winning." He couldn't make her worry any more than she already is.
He could hear her breathe a sigh of relief. "That's really good. Daddy knows what he's doing."
"Yeah, he does. Have you been changing the bandages on your hands?"
"Yeah, the cuts healing pretty quickly so it's ok."
"That's good." He heard a knock on the door and Granddad came in. "Jazmine, I have to go. I'll talk to you later."
"Ok… Love you." She hung up.
"So when's the wedding?" He asked and sat down across Huey.
"Not anytime soon."
"Tom told me what he thought. He called a minute ago and said he already scheduled to have a drug test done in the morning."
"Good, I'm ready to get this over with."
"Let's talk about Jazmine for a minute, boy."
Huey sighed and sat up on his bed. This talk was bound to happen sooner or later. He would rather get this out of the way as well. "Ok, what about Jazmine."
"You didn't ask her just because you might be locked up did you?"
What a stupid question. "No, Granddad. I asked her because I meant it." Granddad was one of the few people he could trust and this is one of the rare instances that he could open up to his father figure. "When I was in Arizona, I couldn't stop thinking about her. When I was with any girl, all I could think is how they couldn't compare to her. I don't want to go through that again and she doesn't either. Trust me, she's happy to be with me even if we're not married. Besides, there's no one to protect her down there. Besides Cindy, she has no one else."
"Have you even asked Jazmine how she felt about this?"
"No," he admitted.
"It sounds like you're doing more for your benefit without even asking her how she feels."
"Granddad, if you heard how she talked and the way she acted then you would see that she wants this."
"Huey, I'm not against you and Jazmine getting married. But you both are still young and while you may be mentally beyond your years, she isn't. She's still a young girl. I see too many young married couples end their relationship because they don't know how to compromise or work things out. Once they hit one little bump, they end it all because they're too young to know better."
"I know, Granddad."
"I've always imagined seeing you two together though. It would be nice to officially call her my one and only granddaughter."
"So you're giving us your blessing?"
"Only on two conditions. First, you sit down with Jazmine and you talk about this. Make sure you hear her out and if she really does want this. If she does, then you need to do the proper thing."
He knew where this was going but he asked anyway. "What is the proper thing?"
"You need to ask for Tom's permission."
Huey's cheek began hurting with the mere thought of asking Tom for Jazmine's hand.
"Well not right now," Granddad laughed. "Not after what happened."
"That might be best."
"Get some rest boy. We have an early day tomorrow."
"Goodnight, Granddad."
He was exhausted from the drive up here and lack of sleep so it didn't take long for him to pass out.
Jazmine couldn't sleep at all after she got the call from Huey. She turned and tossed with worry. After what felt like a quick nap, she looked at her phone for the time. It was almost four. If she hurried and left then she could get to Illinois before it was too late at night.
Jumping out of bed, she changed her clothes and pulled her hair together with a scrunchie that blended in with her color. She threw her pajamas in a pile and picked out jeans and a long sleeved t-shirt. Grabbing her purse, she made sure her wallet was in there and stuffed a few energy drinks in there. Good thing Huey didn't see it when he was here or she would have gotten an earful about how that amount of sugar and caffeine was horrible for her heart. Right now she didn't care, it was enough to get her through the hours of seemingly endless highways and red lights. She picked up the keys and locked the door behind her.