Huey Freeman's Guide to Dating

Chapter Ten: Immersion

Step Ten:
Explore their interests.
It's easy to let them immerse themselves into your world. 
But before you do, think about it.

It wasn't like he minded being at the mall.

Yes, he hated the stores, the people, the clothes, the shoes, the amount of time it took Jazmine to browse inanimate objects. . .

But he was far from stupid.

He was well aware of the psychology behind getting the average, everyday person to shop.

That's why he knew that getting someone like Jazmine to spend all their money wasn't hard to do.

And why she barely ever asked him to go unless it was urgent.

So when she'd asked him to tag along and check out the guy she was still interested in (two short days after she'd sworn she would take things slow), he'd begrudgingly agreed, not wanting to spend another day at home watching Granddad act crazy, especially with his wedding fast approaching.

Only now that they were in the food court, not even eating anything, he only had one question.

Why the hell was he here?

Shawn and Jazmine were nauseatingly affectionate for two people who weren't together.

They'd spent three hours sitting in the middle of the arcade just staring at one another, not saying anything.

Nothing.

He could barely focus on his book without Jazmine holding Shawn's hand and then leaning into his side.

Every five seconds, she'd do it again. And when that wasn't enough, she would bat her long eyelashes until Shawn noticed and smiled at her, waiting patiently for her to "casually" rest her hand on his chest again.

Jazmine had laughed at every last one of his dumbass jokes, and had even been impressed by his poor explanation of the socioeconomic structure in America, a structure he'd been explaining to Jazmine since the day she moved to Woodcrest.

But he wasn't mad at it. Nope.

Shawn was only regurgitating information he knew Jazmine wanted to hear.

He doubted he could even spell consumerism.

But what annoyed him even more, aside from the fact that Jazmine hadn't picked up on his BS, was how bright she glowed, just for Shawn.

She looked at him like he was everything to her, like nobody else mattered in that moment but him.

That is, until she noticed Huey's jealous expression and frowned.

He fixed his face quick, giving her a calm, neutral nod, hoping she hadn't thought much of it.

His previous actions had messed things up bad, and no matter what rolled out his mouth, or what he did, he could tell that Jazmine was nervous he would ruin everything all over again.

And if he were being honest, she wasn't the only one that felt that way.

There was something brewing between her and Shawn that was different. Or, at least, for Shawn it was.

He was staring at Jazmine with straight-up adoration, like he wasn't gonna play around when it came to her.

He'd looked at someone like that before, and it hadn't ended well for him.

But Huey could tell that the opposite was true for Jazmine.

Shawn wasn't gonna hurt her. Not anytime soon from where he was sitting.

It would be wrong to ruin that for her, no matter how irritated he was.

After all, he'd brought it on himself.
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Jazmine smiled at Shawn, secretly elated he'd agreed to walk her back home so they could spend more time together.

"I'm glad I got to meet your friends." Shawn grinned, pointing at Jazmine's phone with a perplexed expression. "Even if I met most of them on FaceTime."

"I know." Jazmine sighed, thinking back to their conversation. "Spring Break without most of my best friends feels so wrong!" She groaned. "At least Casey will be back home soon. Caesar and Cindy too."

She smiled, texting something back to Casey.

"What about the one with the afro?" Shawn raised a brow, shaking his head. "I've seen dude about three times, and I ain't never seen dude smile! What's up with that? Is ole boy happy about anything?"

"Rarely." Jazmine shrugged. "He smiles sometimes, I guess."

He smiled a lot more than people thought he did, actually.

It never lasted for long. Maybe a second or two if you were lucky, a few seconds more if you were a miracle worker.

It wasn't often, but there were a few times when his demeanor would shift just slightly enough for her to notice he was smiling, even without ever seeing one in his face.

She just...felt it.

The thing about Huey was the more time you spent with someone like him, the more you realized he cared a lot. He just had a weird way of showing it.

A very weird way of showing it.

"If you say so." Shawn shrugged, playfully brushing his arm against hers. "I guess you'd know better than me since you two are close."

"You'll get used to it." Jazmine smiled. "Trust me."

Shawn nodded.

"So." He popped his lips casually, his attention solely on her."Are you free this Saturday?"

"Yup." Jazmine looked down, thrilled that their hands were intertwined. "I am."

"There's this dope concert I wanna take you to." He held up his phone, watching as her eyes widened, and she nearly forgot to breathe. "I don't know if you know her, but-"

"Mariah." She blinked, fighting the urge to pass out. "You. Got. Me. Tickets?!" She squealed loudly. "To see Mariah Carey? The woman responsible for everything I am?"

He chuckled. "Yeah, I might have hooked you up with some good seats. If you wanna go, that is."

"Yes, yes, yes!" Jazmine hopped up and down, so excited she didn't know what to do. "I'll be there, I promise! I can't wait!"

"Me either." Her murmured, leaning closer, the air between them suddenly different.

"Yeah." She managed, trying to stop herself from flushing red. "Right."

He leaned forward, as if moving in to kiss her, but in a nervous motion, Jazmine quickly darted her head to the side. His lips landed on her cheek, and he smoothly pulled away, not seeming to care that she'd totally ruined everything.

"I........" She stammered, struggling to explain herself.

Thankfully, he shook his head, seeming to understand why she'd done it.

"It's okay." Shawn gave her calm shrug. "I get it. It's still too soon."

But it wasn't okay.

Jazmine was starting to wonder if her love life would ever be okay again.
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