Huey was still exhausted. Granddad woke him up early to get the drug test done. When they came back home, he spent all day doing the chores that Riley should have been doing. This included clearing the driveway, vacuuming, mopping the floors, doing laundry, cleaning the dishes, and he was even subjected to dusting all the furniture in each room. Finally he got a break to relax from the work but he still had to hear Riley laugh and make fun of him. If he wasn't so tired he would gladly kick his ass.

It was almost eight at night and he was alone in the house. Granddad and the Dubois left to go to a special dinner and Riley went to a party. He was bored out of his mind and lounged on the couch flipping through channels. As usual, nothing good was on and he settled for the news. They even talked about the same stories for days. Any breaking news weren't really breaking at all. Granddad never turned on the heat so he was freezing even in just a hoody and sweats pants. There was nothing else to do except go to bed. He was walking up the stairs to get ready to turn in for the night when someone rang the doorbell a few times. He cursed under his breath and went back down the stairs. Opening the door revealed Caesar.

"Caesar? What are you doing here?" They fist bumped and he let his childhood friend in.

"Came to check up on ya. I heard you were back in town."

"What's been going on?" Huey went back to the living room and they were talking. Apparently they had a lot to catch up on. Caesar was going to a community college for education. He had hopes of being a music teacher in Brooklyn. In his spare time he was a DJ at a night club outside of town and he sold mixtapes online.

"How did you even find out about what happened?" Huey had to ask him.

"From Riley. He talks shit all the time. The attorneys for the court in Arizona couldn't get a hold of you on campus so they traced your family lines and called your granddad. Riley overheard him talking and told me and Cindy."

"So everyone in town knows what happened?"

"Sorry, man. I get why you wanted to hide it but it can't be hidden for long in this town. White people spread rumors like wildfire in these parts."

Whatever happened to keeping quiet like he remembered back in Chicago? Huey felt enormous guilt for putting Granddad through this. There was more knocking at the door.

"Let me guess, that's Cindy," Huey got up and walked to the door.

"Could be. That girl is always following me around. Not that I mind of course."

Huey shook her head and was once again greeted by a blast of cold air when he opened the door. No way in hell was she stupid enough to come down here. Jazmine stood at the door, shivering, because she wasn't wearing anything appropriate for winter.

"What are you thinking?" He exclaimed. "Get inside!"

She stepped through the threshold and Huey slammed the door behind them. Luckily Granddad had a coat rack and he grabbed one of his thick coats off and wrapped in around Jazmine. She was wet from her short exposure to the snow and her entire face was red and he couldn't tell if it was out of embarrassment or the cold. Probably both when it came to Jazmine.

"Huey, what's with all da noise?" Caesar walked into the room and stopped when he saw Jazmine. "Whoah! Is that lil Jazzy I see!" He grabbed her in a bear hug and picked her off the ground. "What are you doing here?"

"I t-thought t-that I would see everyone." Her teeth chattered as she tried warming up. "I-it's so nice t-to see you." She couldn't even talk.

"Caesar, I need to get Jazmine something to warm her up." Get the hint, Caesar! Huey was trying to send telepathic thoughts to his friend so he could leave them alone.

"Alright, I'll be watching TV." He winked at him and strutted away.

Close enough, Huey was fine with that and led Jazmine upstairs. In his room, he found a sweatshirt of his and handed it to her. "What are you doing here?"

"Huey, I've decided that I'm not going to sit back and wait for you to show up when you can. If you want are going away for a while then I'm going to spend as much time with you as I can and I don't care what you say, or my parents, or your grandfather. All I want is to just be near you." She looked at him with defiance in her eyes as if she had found a newfound strength." She stepped forward and kissed him. This was a really, really pleasant surprise. Her soft lips, still inexperience, were perfect nonetheless and he pulled her closer and relished the moment while it lasted. When he pulled away, he noticed that her face was flushed. This girl was too damn adorable for him to handle.

"We need to talk later." He muttered in her ear.

"About what?" She looked at him with so much innocence in her eyes.

"It's something important. If we can kick Caesar out then we can talk."

She just nodded and he planted another kiss on her lips. He enjoyed her softness and her scent.

"Geez, that was quick," Caesar snorted at them and Jazmine blushed with embarrassment. They all talked for a while. Conversations about college, friends, jobs, and future goals filled the silence that was there before. Eventually, Caesar left after an hour of nonstop talking. And Huey was always told that he never learned to keep his mouth shut.

That hour felt more like five and at long last he was alone with Jazmine. She looked good sitting on his couch. She was curled up beside him and the sweatshirt fit her well, along with her jeans. It took all he had to not push her down and take her.

He had his thoughts interrupted by her. "What did you want to talk about?"

What was it again? He was enthralled with his fantasy that he had almost forgotten. "Oh, I told Granddad about us."

"What about us?" She asked cautiously.

"That we wanted to get married one day."

"What did he say?" Her eyes were as big as saucers.

"He'll give us his blessing as long as we talk things out. And if I asked Tom for permission."

"Oh, I forgot about Daddy."

"Yeah," he scratched his head. "But Granddad wants us to be happy but he's worried we're too young for marriage. He wants me to make sure that this is really what you want. He doesn't want us to look back on this with regrets."

"I understand." She reached for his hand. "I'm not going to lie, I'm not ready for marriage right now."

Huey's heart began to sink. She continued on. "But I do love you, Huey. I have since we were old enough to learn what love really meant. This doesn't change my answer one bit. What I'm trying to say is if we went to a justice of the peace right now I wouldn't be ready. Once we get through all these hurdles and family drama then we can start planning things seriously." The fingers intertwined and he rubbed his thumb across the back of her hand. This must really be bad times if Jazmine is actually making more sense than Huey. She was really smarter than she looked.

"What do you think we need to plan?"

"Well, there's the issue of where we'll live, are we both going to go to school or are going to make it official after we graduate. If we live in Arizona how are our living arrangements going to be? Will the campus provide us with an apartment for married couples or will we move off campus? That is if you don't get kicked out. On top of that how are we going to afford the apartment? If we go down to Texas, will we live with Cindy or get our own place? Are you going to school there? There are too many questions to be answered."

Damn was she ever right. Even he hadn't thought that far ahead. "So, what will you call this?"

"My answer is still yes if your offer still stands."

"It will as long as you need it to."

"Then we're engaged. But let's not get married for a while."

"Of course not," he offered her a small smile and she leaned in to kiss him. They weren't rushing into anything and they were doing what was the right thing. He kissed her back.

"There's still time until Granddad and your parents get back."

She stood, pulling him up too and they climbed the stairs up to his room. He smashed her against him and lay on top of her on his bed. He looked down at her with her face still red, her lips were parted and swollen, and her green eyes were beautiful. She glanced at him and they were glazed over with need for him. Those were the eyes he knew he wanted to wake up every day to.

They were getting dressed afterwards and were satisfied with what little time they had. That day apart did a lot to them. Huey was watching her as she drew his hoodie over her head. She looked beautiful right now, below him, and even on top. The things she could do to him made him almost shiver in excitement for next time.

Walking over to Jazmine, he scooped her up and kissed her making her gasp in surprise. She was laughing when he pulled away but he still heard a door shut and voiced downstairs.

"Come on, everyone is back," he tugged her wrist to the door.

"Jazmine!? Are you here? We saw your car," Sarah's voice rang out through the house. When they neared the top of the staircase she broke free of Huey and ran down to her mother's arms. Sarah obviously missed her daughter and had tears in her eyes. Huey noticed that Granddad wasn't in the room and soft snoring confirmed he was in his recliner sleeping already.

"Why didn't you tell us you were coming home?" She asked and pushed a strand of Jazmine's hair behind her ear.

"I… wanted it to be a surprise," she glanced over at Huey. It was somewhat the truth but for right now, it wasn't beneficial for either of them to tell her parents they were together.

"We missed you so much," Sarah hugged her again.

Tom did the same but when he pulled away, he had confusion written across his face. "Why are you wearing Huey's clothes?" Tom glanced at Huey who looked away from him, pretending he didn't hear.

"Oh! That's because I forgot to bring a coat." It was going to be hard not to lie to Tom who, as a DA, was used to dealing with liars all the time.

"You forgot to bring a coat to Illinois during winter?" Suspicion laced his voice and Sarah looked between the two of them.

"Yeah because I left really early and was tired so it must have slipped my mind. Plus it wasn't as cold in Texas this morning so I forgot. I noticed you guys weren't home but there were lights on over here and it turned out Huey was home so he let me borrow his jacket."

"Why didn't you use your house key or the spare on outside to get one of your coats you left behind?"

She looked at Huey for a brief moment but he shrugged. "Well it was getting cold and I guess it just got to my head and I didn't think about it."

Tom looked at her seriously for a second before busting out in laughter and grabbed Jazmine in another hug. She almost melted right there with relief. "That's my Jazmine, always taking the difficult way out. At least you had Huey watching you."

Huey's shoulders relaxed from their tense state and he let out a breath he was holding. Hiding this from Tom was going to be harder than they thought.

"Come on, Jazzy, let's go home." Sarah pulled at her daughter's arm.

"Oh, so soon?"

"Well, it's getting late honey and Mr. Freeman is pretty tired. Besides, I think Huey needs some rest too. He looks exhausted from having a long day. Now that he's back, Mr. Freeman has someone who will help out around the house so he's been busy."

"You can come back tomorrow to give Huey his clothes back and move your car out of their way."

Tom and Sarah moved to the door with Jazmine in tow. "Goodnight, Huey." Jazmine turned around to wink at him before closing his front door.

It was going to be another night alone for him. He woke up Granddad and got him to go to bed. Before turning off most of the lights, he saw the Dubois household and the light in Jazmine's room was on. Climbing back up the stairs, he left a small light on for Riley if he was coming home tonight.

An hour later, Huey was in bed but wasn't sleeping. He hadn't heard Riley come home yet but he doubt he could over Granddad's snoring. Sarah was right when she mentioned that he had a long day but he couldn't go to sleep. The sheets still smelled like Jazmine and the sex they had earlier and it certainly wasn't a bad smell but it kept her on his mind. He was going soft for her, the Huey a month ago wouldn't act like this even around Chantale. Jazmine didn't smell like weed though, she smelled like coconut and it was refreshing.

He started thinking about marriage. Jazmine wasn't a girl that he thought he would end up with. He always imagined a confident black woman who took action against white supremacy and would fight for power for her people. But how would that work out, he thought, to do that all day then come home to woman that was the same way. He wouldn't be able to escape that. Jazmine was like a retreat for him. For a few precious hours he could talk to her and it wouldn't be about politics or issues going on across the globe. Before that would annoy him endlessly but now, it was nice to get away from all of that and talk about something else.

Huey closed his eyes and pictured himself in the future as a politician, he would probably work all day and argue with old white men about the court system and black culture they couldn't understand, and at the end of the day he would come home to a wife who wasn't interested in talking about that all the time. She would probably talk about the animals she saw or the rescue mission she had to go on. She would probably break down and cry over the abused kitten they found left in a mud puddle or the starving, flea ridden dog tied down with heavy chains with no shelter. She would probably make him watch crappy movies but spend the time with him making fun of the movie with him. Maybe she would read one of his fiction books and discuss it with him. She might even have company over but make him a special vegan dish.