Huey Freeman's Guide to Dating

Chapter Nine: New Normals

Step Nine:

Continue going to therapy, enjoying your dates,
and pursing your hobbies. 

You'll know who to choose when the time comes. 

For now, just have fun.

Dating was fun, a little too fun actually, which made it that much harder to choose between the guys she was seeing.

Isaiah picked her up for fun dates on Fridays, Grady almost always found interesting things to do after school, but Shawn was the guy that she liked the most, always making her day the moment she saw him.

Jazmine wasn't sure if it was because she'd met him first, or if it was because he was always so creative with their dates, seeming to always know the perfect spots to take her to, the crazy fun places she needed to try.

This weekend, they were going to a ballet exhibit the Museum of Arts had opened in Chicago. Jazmine had casually mentioned it to him on one of their dates, politely trying to make conversation, and he'd surprised her by going above and beyond to make that happen, managing to snag front row seats to the showcase they were having on opening day.

And that wasn't all.

He'd shown up at her doorstep with Garrett's popcorn, her new addiction thanks to the fun trip with Huey, Caesar, and Cindy. He'd been super polite, making it clear he was just in the neighborhood to assist Ms. Ebony with floral estimates for her wedding, but Jazmine wouldn't have cared if he'd straight up said he'd swung by to surprise her.

Because as much as she hated to admit it, she was really starting to have feelings for Shawn.

He was kind, doting, fun, patient, and ultimately, incredibly handsome. Jazmine never felt stressed or out of place with him. Every date with him was just...right.

Unlike some of her other experiences, Shawn just got it. And so did Isaiah and Grady, for the most part.

So, after some of the awful dating experiences she'd had the past two weeks, dating some guys with sense was an absolute relief.

One guy asked her to pay for a meal he'd invited her to have with him. Another hadn't even made it out of her inbox before asking for...explicit photos. And another guy had called her another girl's name on the first date.

Four times!

So it wasn't like dating three incredibly sweet guys was bad. It was just stressful.

Extremely stressful.

Because the thing was, eventually she'd have to choose.

And despite the therapy, the confidence boost from the makeover, and making sure she had active hobbies to look forward to each day, she was still nervous.

That's why she was relieved her mom was finally here in Woodcrest, visiting for Spring Break. She normally had the best advice, and it was always easy to fix things after they sat down and talked.

Dr. Heat was a great therapist, and her dad was, well, her dad....but neither one of them were her mom.

And lately, there was a lot she needed to talk to her about.

Because despite the great results from Huey's book, Jazmine was more confused than ever, especially after distancing herself from him after he'd tried to make things right.

Jazmine knew it was petty, especially since she'd sort of smoothed things over with him, but she was still super angry with him, to the point that she'd deliberately come to school way later than usual, skipping the classes he normally passed by.