The next week of school goes by swiftly for Jazmine and consists of homework that she wants to stay on top of so she creates a huge schedule with Cindy, and Riley, Hiro, and her helping Thugnificent deliver packages, hanging out with Huey (much to her delight). It was a pretty good week despite the fact that she didn't see much of her parents and whenever she did they weren't together at the same time as her.
It's Friday and school's ended by now and she's currently sitting next to Huey on the sofa half-heartedly watching Riley playing his basketball game and listening to Riley taunt Huey. Its interesting to say the least considering that Huey has been trying to read this new book he got this week and Riley knows that he will not play.
"See how I just slam dunked on Kevin Love's bitch ass? That's what imma do to you nigga."
"Humph," Riley shrugs with a smirk as he continue to ramble. "That's all I do, I be scorin' on these gay ass niggas."
"Riley do you even know how gay you sound," Huey remarks and Jazmine burst into laughter at the sight of Riley's sour face, "Talkin' about scorin' on gay men. I didn't know you got down like that," Huey mocks.
"Nigga shut up! You just takin' away from the fact that you couldn't beat me if you tried. Not even dressed in a pair of faded grey slippers and a green house coat." Huey raises his eyebrow at Riley and Jazmine continues to laugh because that's exactly what Mr. Freeman wore yesterday morning as he chased Riley outside with his legendary belt.
The teen had barely made it out the door without tripping on his pants that he most likely rushed to put on and fruitlessly tried to get in Huey's car, but the older teen refused to unlock the door which resulted in Mr. Freeman beating Riley for not telling him that he had been suspended for pouring baby oil on his history teacher's classroom floor.
Mr. Hamilton is in his mid forties and often lectures about how at least 80 percent of the students at their school will be incarcerated in the next five years. It was the talk of the school Thursday afternoon that the poor man walked in and slipped on the floor which resulted in the ambulance being called. He is strict and overly paranoid, but Jazmine still thinks that maybe he didn't derserve a concussion.
She thinks back to last year and how she saw Mr. Hamilton watch Laura and Lexus fight over a boy named LaMarcus who apparently had been dating them both. Obviously both girls found out about each other and Jazmine can't really remember the rest of the story, but Cindy who knows all the school drama said that LaMarcus was also seeing a girl named Marissa at the prep-school across town. Mr. Hamilton didn't even try to stop the fight or call for help despite being an authority figure.
The curly haired teen girl also remembers how he once tried to berate her for wearing shorts that he thought were too short and violated school policy. She can still remember being on the brink of tears as he called her out in the middle of the hallway. Although he did not get as far as telling her that he would report her when Huey stepped in.
Huey walked up to the history teacher who was known to as Cindy says to 'try' people and said something that Jazmine couldn't hear, but the way Mr. Hamilton scurried off a second later proved that it was anything, but polite. Even better was that he didn't even report her to the principal. With all that being done Jazmine thinks that he did deserve it. Just a little.
"Oooh!" Riley cheers loudly at the sound of the buzzer going off and winning his game and Huey sits his book to the side.
"Alright, I'll play you."
"What?"
"What, are you scared now?"
"Nah, I ain't neva scared nigga. Imma win, like I said. Plus this the new 2k and I kno you ain't play this one yet." Huey grabs the second controller and they pick teams and do other miscellaneous things before jumping into the game. Within the first ten minutes Huey has scored four times.
"Are you scared yet Riley?" Jazmine gloats because she knows Huey won't and Riley looks irate.
"Shut yo light-skin ass up Mariah," Is all Riley says trying to keep his concentration.
11 minutes later the score is 25-106 with Huey being in the lead. Jazmine begins laughing and Riley stands abruptly and throws the controller down.
"Man fuck this shit! You cheatin' ass nigga!" The buzzer goes off on the game signaling the end and Riley picks up a pillow and throws it at the TV as well as the throw blanket and flings it somewhere. Jazmine continues to laugh and Huey just shrugs before picking up his book and going upstairs.
"So, how does it feel Riley?"
"Shut up," He replies and Jazmine takes off running and he begins to chase her around the sofa and kitchen table.
"Hey, hey, hey! Don't be runnin' round my got damn-YOOUCH!" Jazmine and Riley stop and look at each other worriedly before running to see what happened to the elder Freeman. Apparently Mr. Freeman had slipped on the game controller cord and they both move to help him stand. When he's back on his feet he whacks Riley in the back of his head with his rolled up newspaper.
"What you do that fo' Grandad?" Riley asks as he rubs the back of his head, his ears turning slightly red.
"Why is this in the middle of the hallway?" Mr. Freeman asks pointing to the cord that Riley ripped out of the console.
"Because Riley was throwing a temper tantrum over a game he lost," Jazmine supplies.
"A game? You almost paralyzed your grandaddy over a game?"
"It wasn't just a game, Huey was cheatin'. He a hater and a cheater."
"He did not," Jazmine defends.
"Did to, he ain't even played this game before so how he won?"
"He's used to the other one's plus he's just that good."
"Nuh uh," Riley says crossing his arms.
"Uh huh," Jazmine says crossing her arms as well.
"Nuh uh."
"Uh huh."
"Nuh uh."
"Uh huh."
"Nuh-"
"Shut AHUP!" Mr. Freeman says making the two supposed teens stop acting like two little kids.
Suddenly the doorbell rings and everyone stops and stares at each other. Someone begins to knock on the door and Mr. Freeman breaks his stare first opting to open his front door. Robert opens the door and the three other occupants in the hallway can't see who it is because of the way and Mr. Freeman is holding the door and his body is taking up the space left.
"My God…" Robert says his mouth dropping open at the girl standing in front of him.
"Who is it Grandad?" Riley asks impatiently as always.
"I can't believe it," Grandad continues.
"Yooo, who's at the door?" Riley asks once again as he moves forward to see.
"What are you doing all the way here sweetie pie?"
Jazmine's eyebrows rise in more curiosity than before. It has to be a girl because Mr. Freeman only refers to Cindy and her as sweetie pies.
"You won't believe who's here boys."
"Man, Grandad-" Riley's irritated words abruptly stop as he see's who's standing outside his door. This is enough for Huey to move from his position on the stairs and begin walking the rest of the way down. Mr. Freeman finally opens the door wider and Huey halts in his steps at the sight.
"Melanie," Huey says staring directly at the girl on his doorstep.
"Huey," Melanie says back and her voice reminds Jazmine of luxurious silk. Even though it's cool outside tonight her voice and the smooth smile that graces her jovial face holds a warm tone that complements her milk chocolate skin and long black hair.
As she walks fully inside of the house the bright streetlight creating a pseudo halo above her head. Once inside Jazmine admires her fall-esque outfit a pair of dark blue jeans, black combat boots tied in perfect knots, black shirt with three buttons at the top, two of which are unbuttoned and a dark tan buttonless sweater. And to top it all off an oversized black fedora a adorns her head in the way Jazmine has always found cute on all the models she sees in Cindy's mom's fashion magazines.
Melanie smiles at all three Freeman's before pulling a smiling Mr. Freeman into a hug and Riley who similar to Huey doesn't really like people 'hugging up on' him. It's a real hug, not like any of the half hugs Mr. Freeman usually makes Riley give people. She then walks a few feet forward to presumably hug Huey and he surprisingly envelopes her in a hug before she could even attempt to.
They hug and Jazmine gets the feeling that he wants to squeeze her tighter by the way his left hand clutches behind her back, but he doesn't. The hug doesn't last long, but they share a lingering look as they pull away and it's all intense and Jazmine feels like she's intruding in on an important family moment. She had never really felt this way around them, not even when Aunt Cookie and Mr. Freeman's old friends visits. Huey and Riley would always act normal:Indifferent. And Riley would joke around with Jazmine like usual and Huey would read and comment every now and then as usual.
However, this time Jazmine knows it's different, it just feels different. Jazmine watches as they all start conversation and learns that Melanie is from Chicago which would explain why everyone's so shocked to see her.
"My mom and uncle agreed to let me go somewhere different for my junior and senior year of high school. We all agreed that I will stay with my Aunt Georgia and she lives not to far from here. Plus, I've always wanted to travel outside of Chicago so why not here?"
"Hey, Grandad, would you let me go back to Chicago? I think I need to travel somewhere other than here for a second."
"No boy, unlike sweet Melanie yo ass ain't responsible."
"What? I am responsible Granddad, you don't be sayin' that when you send me to go pick up more of yo orange juice. I even offer to do it sometimes."
"And don't I always catch you hanging with that Gangstalicious rapper?"
"But-"
"The answer is no Riley."
"If Huey as-"
"Huey asked the same thing and I told him no too," Mr. Freeman says matter-of-factly.
Huey wanted to go back to Chicago? Jazmine's eyes flicker over to the boy, but he looks as if he's in some sort of trance.
Melanie chuckles and there's that warmth again. "I miss this," She says with deep fond and the tenseness from Robert and Riley's shoulders disappears and they have small content smiles on their faces at her words. "Well, I just wanted to stop by and say hello-"
Abruptly Jazmine's phone ring and a shock of fear runs up her back and clenches her chest as she prys her phone out her back pocket. Cindy's name flashes across the curly haired teen's phone and she quickly send the call to voicemail. As Jazmine slides her phone back into her rear in pocket she sees three faces staring at her.
Three faces look as if they had forgotten she was here, but one face in particularly looks at Jazmine in curiosity as if she too just noticed Jazmine was here. Anxiety rises within her at her awkward position , she wants to leave, but fears that she'll embarrass herself further.
"Hi, who are you?" Melanie asks as she walks closer to Jazmine.
'I should be asking you the same,' Jazmine thinks to herself, but instead of saying that she decides to be polite. "Jazmine."
Melanie just nods at her before stopping and reaching her hand out to Jazmine, "I'm Melanie. I'm a family friend of the Freeman's." Jazmine shakes her hand briefly not really knowing what to say.
"Nice to meet you," Jazmine tries and it doesn't sound as awkward as she thought it would be.
"Okay, I have to go now, my mom wants me home for dinner."
Melanie nods and turns back to the Freemans and they start talking about something Jazmine has no clue about and she feels awkward maneuvering between them seeing as they are still crowding the front door.
Jazmine opens the door to the accepting cool air and walks outside, closing the door behind her. She pauses for a moment before walking across the street and into her house.
After taking a long bubble-bath and not watching the house across the street from her bathroom window Jazmine dresses in her comfiest pink pajamas, fuzzy socks and lies down on her canopy bed. A moment later she grabs her phone and calls Cindy back.
"Hey, Jazzy," Cindy greets happily and it makes Jazmine smile a bit.
"Hey, Cin," Jazmine replies and forces herself not to keep looking across the street at Huey's window. His light is off and he's probably in bed too. Sometimes, most times...all the time she wonders what he's thinking about as he lays in bed.
Is he alone or does he allow the girls he 'sees' to sleep with him. Huey usually always lets Jazmine sleep in his bed while he sleeps next to her on top of his soft covers. It's always been like that ever since they were thirteen and her parents went to the district's annual attorney gala.
Flashback:
Jazmine eyes open and all she sees is darkness. Seeking out some sort of light Jazmine stops moving as her eyes finally starts to adjust and she realizes she's in her bed in her room. She scratches her messy curly hair as she tries to remember how she got up here.
She sits for a moment and remembers that as soon as she arrived home she did her homework, talked to Cindy on the phone for a while even though the two girls had just seen each other less than five hours ago. After hanging up she went upstairs and immediately fell asleep, but the sun was still out then. Searching her bed for her phone she finally finds it and checks the time and its 11:27.
Grabbing her remote she tries to flip on her Barbie TV and it doesn't work. Shaking the remote and hitting it against her palm the way she's seen Riley and Mr. Freeman do many times. It still does not work. Climbing out of bed she tries to turn on one of her lamps and that doesn't work. Coming to the realization that the power is off Jazmine slides on her Nike slippers that Riley got her for Christmas, grabs her phone, and goes downstairs.
She contemplates going down to the basement to see if she could somehow fix the power, but she's afraid of going down there and one look outside shows that the whole neighbourhood is without power except for one house that is. Taking her house key Jazmine heads across the street to the Freeman residence.
Jazmine knocks on the door two times before going inside. She sees Huey sitting on the sofa watching the news and he raises an eyebrow in typical Huey fashion as she sits next to him in her normal spot. "Power's out. And my parents are gone to that gala thingy," she says without prompting and they just sit in comfortable silence with Jazmine playing a game on her phone and Huey watching the news.
Her stomach growls and she ignores it, not trying to bring too much attention to the fact that she skipped dinner. The strawberry blonde's stomach eventually stops and she continues to relax next to Huey until he suddenly stands and walks in the direction of the kitchen and Jazmine doesn't make any moves to get up, waiting for Huey to come back. Huey's gone for almost fifteen minutes before returning with two large bowls of salad.
One that is just a plain salad and the other with lots of shredded rotisserie chicken and cheese. Huey also sits down a bottle of ranch and Jazmine smiles happily and takes the fork and bowl before beginning to douse her salad in creamy ranch and then stuffing a large forkful in her mouth. Huey motions forward to the napkins that he sat on the coffee table as well and Jazmine's heart swells at how considerate her bestest best friend in the world is.
They eat and finish their salads Huey taking both of their bowls and the ranch bottle back into the kitchen and the mulatto girl follows and helps him wash their dishes. Once they are done Huey turns the TV off as well as all the downstairs lights and Jazmine looks out of the front door window and notices that power is still out and her parents are still gone. She really doesn't want to go home.
"So are you coming or what?" Jazmine turns around and looks at Huey as he stands halfway up the stairs. He sounds tired. Figures considering that not everyone goes to sleep early in the day and wants to be up late at night.
"What?" She asks and from what Jazmine can see Huey just rolls his deep brown eyes and continues up the stairs.
"Come on, Jazmine." The curly haired pre-teen hurries up the stairs behind her best friend and pauses in the doorway of his and Riley's room. Huey gives Jazmine a look before beckoning her closer. She adheres and creeps past a knocked out Riley and to Huey's bed, he motions her to sit down and she hesitates before sitting.
Jazmine does not know why she's being so weird about this she always lies on Huey's bed next to him while he reads, does homework or whenever she's talking about her day, but why does she feel so nervous now.
Huey continues to stare at her with his with deep mahogany eyes and Jazmine eventually pulls the covers back, gets underneath and lies down.
"Relax Jazmine," Huey says and she tries her hardest to do so. Sensing her still tense form Huey lies down next to her on top of his covers. Jazmine looks at him as he stares at the ceiling.
"What Jazmine?" Huey asks finally.
"This feels weird."
"Why?"
"I don't know maybe because I've never been on your bed with you," She says more quietly.
"Jazmine, we're always on my bed," Huey replies and she knows she probably sounds ridiculous to him right now.
"Yes, but I'm like in your bed, under the covers and we're sleeping together."
"And?"
"Isn't this what boyfriends and girlfriends do? And we're just friends."
"I thought we were bestfriends?"
"We are, you are my best friend," Jazmine says sitting up a little to defend Huey's title as her best friend. "You're my bestest friend in the whole wide world," She proclaims seriously.
"So best friends do special things with each other."
"Like sleeping in a bed together."
"Yes, like that."
"Oh, like when you sometimes let me sit in your lap and read with you and when you give me hugs when I'm really sad?"
"Yeah," Huey says. "So are you going to sleep anytime soon?" He says still looking up at the ceiling.
Jazmine yawns and gets more comfortable, "Yeah, I'm tired." She allows her body to relax in the sheets that are so comfy and smell so clean and like Huey.
It's comforting and Jazmine soon doses off oblivious to the maroon eyes staring at her, watching the way her petite body gently rises and falls until the revolutionist falls victim to his own tiredness and delves into a comfortable sleep.
End Flashback
"What's wrong?" Cindy asks in an almost sing-song voice.
"Nothing, just." How can she put in words how she feels right now? "The Freeman's had a visitor today, her name is Melanie. She's... okay."
"Alright, then why do sound so down?" Cindy asks not seeing the connection.
"She's from Chicago and they were so happy to see her and I guess I'm justnot used to that," Jazmine rushes out.
"Of course not, I think we sometimes forget how unbothered and threatenin' McHater and Reezy can be. Even Mr. Freeman ain't one to be played with when it comes to people. And seeing them actually happy to see somebody sounds like a fuckin' dream."
"I know."
"Still. Is that all that's bugging you, their reaction?" No, not so much Mr. Freeman and Riley, but Huey's reaction is what bothers her, but she doesn't mention this of course, not feeling the need to sprout attention where it is not needed.
Jazmine eyes wander back to her window and look out at Huey's dark window and she silently wishes to be underneath his soft and clean sheets feeling his presence next to her as she falls asleep. She's craving it.
"Yeah, maybe its nothing."
Hey lovelies, what do you think about Melanie? Does Jazmine have reason to be worried or not? She was pretty triggered, huh? Anyway, thank you all for reading and commenting it means so much to me!
Plus I've been receiving comments about confusion from the last chapter and to clear things up I did the time jump because nothing happened. That was just a little innocent sleep over. Trust me when something exciting comes up I will definitely not be doing any skips, jumps, alley-hoops, none of that. We will get there in due time. It'll be worth it.
Until next time,
~T.