late night update, type shit! 💕 take y'all ass to bed after this.

Three days had passed, and Siraj was still unable to get in touch with Soleil. After the first two days of texting and calling her back to back, she end up blocking him to stop him from contacting her.

Siraj was a little hurt, that was she wasn't trying to hear him out at all but then again, he understood. She voiced her concerns about Ximena from the get go, letting him know that she only had once to try her, however he didn't know that meant cutting all communication with him in the process.

Since their argument, Ximena and Siraj hadn't spoken a word to each other. He was angry with her of course, but he couldn't blame anyone but himself for how long he let the situation go on for.

Though, he had told Ximena many times that she needed to fall back and respect his relationships, he was never firm on his word. He let her get away with a lot for the past couple of years, and it was now taking for his best friend's sister to make him realize, he needed to put Ximena in her place.

It was currently Halloween, which meant it was also Blue's birthday. Raj knew that Lei would be showing up to the Halloween party to show face, and he hoped that he would be able to talk to her. But then again, Lei was very good at avoiding him.

Raj pulled into Lei's driveway, he wanted to stop by before he went back to work. His son was currently with Tasha and he wanted to take his free time in between to attempt to talk to Soleil. He hadn't been by her place since the whole ordeal, knowing that she would probably avoid being home so she didn't have to face him.

He got out of the car and locked the doors, approaching the front door. He knocked and waited, deeply sighing to himself as he tucked his hands into the pocket of his hoodie.

He heard as the locks were being fiddled with on the other side, before the door swung open half way. Keia stood in between the crack, leaning on the doorframe.

"Soleil here?" he asked her, Keia shook her head, remaining quiet. He blew out a breath of frustration, slightly throwing his head back. "Keia, I know you only lookin' out for her, but I really need to talk to her man."

"I'm being honest, she's not here. You can come in and check for yourself but even if she was, as her best friend, I have to respect her wishes, Siraj. So please, don't take this to heart." Keia shrugged, Siraj sighing once again.

He nodded and turned around without uttering another word, as Keia shut the door, locking it back. Siraj got back into his car, starting up the engine. He grabbed his phone and went to his thread with Soleil, only to remember halfway through his text that she had him blocked.

He slightly groaned, tossing his phone into the passenger seat, before pulling out of the driveway and onto the street.

Soleil watched from the window of Ms. Jean's house, as Raj's car drove by. She looked away, clearing her throat. Isidro walked into the living room, carrying a pack of chips ahoy cookies.

He plopped down next to her, before opening the package. "So I have a date this weekend," he finally said, as they both took out a cookie.

Lei jerked her head back a little, before a smile crept onto her face. "Really?" she raised an eyebrow, taking a bite out of the cookie.

"Yup," he said.

"That's nice, how'd you guys meet?" she shifted on the couch, tucking her hands into her lap after she popped the rest of the cookie into her mouth.

"She works downstairs in the lobby, we use to kind of flirt here and there, but I wasn't sure if she was on that type of time." he explained, reaching for another cookie.

"Mm, so who made the first move?"

"She did," he grinned, as Lei stared at him with an amused look. "Didn't know women like that existed still, cause Lord knows y'all be subtle as hell, tryna shoot y'all shot."

"Oh shut up," Lei laughed, playfully hitting his arm. "But that's nice, I hope it blossoms into something more eventually."

"Mhm, hopefully." he dusted his hands off, before folding his arms over his chest, watching the movie that was playing on the TV.

"So have you found a costume yet?" Lei grabbed another cookie, taking a bite into it. Isidro smirked, redirecting his attention onto her, before he nodded his head. "Do I get to know what it is?"

"Nope," he said.

"Aw boo, you suck." she scrunched up her face, as he started laughing.

"Nah, but I'm going as Akeem."

"From coming to America?" Lei began laughing, as Isidro's grin grew wider. "Aw I can't wait to see it, you're gonna look so good."

"What you going as?" he reached for his can of coke soda.

"A clown," Lei goofily smiled, Isidro raised his eyebrows as he continued to drink his soda, before sitting it back down on the table.

"A clown, huh? I thought you didn't like clowns?" he said, remembering their conversation about their fears from a few weeks ago.

"I don't, I'm lying." Lei cracked up as he playfully rolled his eyes. "I'm going as Kitana," she started cheesing.

"Whaaat?" Isidro leaned back a little, giving her an amused look. "What you know about Mortal Kombat? Let me found out you a gamer,"

"I am, I blame my brother cause he use to make me play the game wit' him and I kinda just started playing on my own." she replied, fiddling around with her nails. "But yea', I'm going as Kitana and Keia going as Mileena."

"What Josiah going as?"

Lei started laughing once again, grabbing onto Isidro's wrist. "Him and his boyfriend going as," she started wheezing, trying to contain herself. "Peanut butter and jelly,"

"Wooow," Isidro joined in, letting out a loud laugh, as Lei dramatically slapped her knee. "How adorable,"

"What's the matter, Siraj?" Tasha asked her son, as he sat at the island in the kitchen, sporting an annoyed expression. He ended his work early, wanting to have enough time to take Semaj trick or treating before he headed to Blue's party for the night.

Ximena would be tagging along of course to take Semaj, and Raj wasn't sure how the night would go with them at odds. However, he didn't have the energy to bicker with her, ruining the experience of seeing his son enjoy the night of dressing up and showing off his costume.

Thankfully though, they wouldn't be solely alone, as her cousin was also joining them in taking her kids trick or treating as well.

"Soleil's mad at me," he confessed, rubbing his finger across the granite countertop, Semaj's voice could be heard in the background as he played with the dog Tasha had.

"Oh, Lord. What did you do?" Tasha paused to look at him, resting one hand on her hip as the other rested on the counter.

"Ximena," he mumbled, knowing very well his mom was about to scold him on the situation, as he did mention to her that him and Soleil had a thing going on. "She came to my house to check on me Sunday morning, and Ximena came out the bathroom wit' just a towel on."

"Siraj!" Tasha retorted, her eyes slightly widening. "Have you lost your damn mind?"

"Ma, I swear nothin' happened! I was drunk and I called her over cause I was, I-" Raj stammered a little, half shrugging his shoulders. "I was in my feelings about pops, and I just wanted company. Lei wasn't answering so, I called her instead."

"So because Soleil didn't answer, you thought the best next thing was to reach out to your baby mama who you know for a fact jumps at any opportunity to prove the solidarity of her spot in your life?" Tasha raised an eyebrow, wanting him to gain a clear understanding of how bad the situation sounded.

"Well when you put it like that..." Raj scoffed, trailing off.

"Does she know that you and Soleil are messing around?"

"I never told her before that happened, but she definitely knows now." Raj told her, leaning back in the chair.

"How long are you going to let this go on for, Siraj? Every time you attempt to get into a relationship, here she goes doing something to sabotage it like it kills her to see you wit' someone else. And it's like you continue to allow her to do it, are you truly even over her, Siraj? If not, you don't need to be bothering wit' Soleil." Tasha questioned him, moving a little closer to the counter so that she was directly in front of him.

"I am over her, she made it clear she didn't want a relationship wit' me so that alone forced me to move on." Raj shrugged his shoulders, making vague hand gestures.

"Siraj, when you say that, it sounds like you're waiting for Ximena to say she's ready to be wit' you. But for now though, you're just messing around wit' whomever you can until then,"

"I mean..." he trailed off, his eyes darting around at nothing in particular. "That's exactly what I was doing at first, but I really like Soleil, ma. She's like a breath of fresh air, on top of that, the way she is wit' Semaj — her love for him is genuine, she's gentle wit' him. It doesn't feel like she's pretending to care about him because of me. He loves her, he's comfortable around her, she gets him to open up when I'm not able to." He ranted on, a half smile growing onto Tasha's face as she listened.

"And you really want to ruin that? Siraj, you have got to let that past wit' Ximena go. She's got to let it go, this isn't healthy." Tasha preached, holding her hands out for Semaj who ran into the kitchen behind the dog. She picked him up and sat him on the counter, picking through his short curls. "Do you think Xahir would be happy wit' what's going on right now?"

"No...he wouldn't," Siraj sighed, running his hand down his face. "I think I already ruined it, she blocked me. She avoids being home, so I can't talk to her in person. I don't know what to do,"

"Is she going to Blue's birthday party tonight?"

"I hope so, she told me she was but I'm not even sure if she'll up now. She'll do anything to avoid me ma, trust me." he stressed, getting down from the chair and walking over to the fridge.

Tasha clicked her tongue, shrugging. "Well, I'm sorry Siraj, but you can't blame anyone but yourself on this one. I know it may sound harsh, because you were vulnerable and under the influence but still, your actions when you're drunk says a lot. You'll run to her any time you're unable to reach Soleil, and while I understand that you guys are co-parenting and need to have some type of cordial relationship in order to raise Semaj, that's all it needs to be." she began lecturing him, Semaj fiddling with the necklace on her neck.

"You can get mad at her all you want, but she's only doing what you've allowed her to do for so long. If you plan on being serious wit' Soleil, you need to make it clear to her, that you're dealing wit' someone else and she needs to respect that."

"I hear you," he muttered, fixing him a glass of iced tea.

"Do you, Siraj?"

"Yes ma'am," he assured her, putting the pitcher of iced tea back in the fridge. "You told Nana what you going as for Halloween?" he ran his hand over Semaj's head.

"I'm going as buzz lightyear!" Semaj exclaimed, as Tasha dramatically gasped. "Daddy going as Woody!"

"Aww, that's too cute." Tasha cooed, looking between Raj and Semaj.

Hours later, Soleil and her friends were squeezing through the tight crowd of the dancing bodies at Blue's party. The stench of sweat, weed and liquor lingering in the air, that they wanted to go outside by the poolside for fresh air, and in hopes of feeling the night breeze.

As they walked outside, the volume of the music drowned out just a little, but still loud enough to hear. Though it was still a little crowded by the poolside, there was a lot more space for them to breathe and chill without people bumping into or trying to squeeze by them.

Lei departed from her friends, letting them know that she was going to look for Blue to give him the gift she bought. She approached the group of guys that she knew to be friends with Blue.

"Aye, y'all seen Blue?" she asked them, cradling the perfectly wrapped gift in her arms. They started to point until she heard the familiar voice.

"Right here, li'l bit." Blue spoke, causing Lei to turn around to face him. He was covered by an all blue bedsheet, Lei twisting her face up in confusion.

"What the hell are you supposed to be?" she slightly chuckled, as he flipped the sheet over his head, to reveal toothy grin he was sporting.

"I'm Bloo, from foster's home for imaginary friends." he told her, Lei beginning to crack up.

"Oooh! That's clever! You could've executed the costume a li'l better but definitely clever." she continued laughing, passing him the gift. "Anyways, happy birthday my boy. Yo' ass getting old,"

"You ain't have to get me nothin', but thank you, I appreciate you for this and for poppin' out." he smiled, holding his arm out for a hug. "You look good by the way, I didn't know yo' ass was into MK."

"Xahir ass," she playfully rolled her eyes as he chuckled, shaking his finger.

"You right, cause that was his favorite game." he said, sitting his gift down on the table with the rest of the few gifts that were already stacked together. "You here by yo' self, or?"

"Nah," Lei glanced over her shoulder, pointing at her friends who were laughing, waiting for her nearby. "I'ma leave you be though, I just wanted to give you your gift—"

"Wait, wait!" he stopped her as she started to turn around. He slightly turned and reached for someone's shoulder, "I wanna take a pic wit' you real quick,"

Lei stayed put, watching as Blue continued to get the attention of the guy that had his back turned towards them. However, she almost walked away, realizing that it was only Siraj.

His eyebrows raised, seeming to be stunned to see her. Lei cleared her throat, looking away. Blue beckoned her over, as Raj held his camera in his hand, continuing to gaze at her.

Lei obliged, fanning out her fans and posing in front of Blue as Raj snapped a photo of them, still in awe of the costume she was wearing. Though half of her face was covered by the mask that went with the costume, he thought she looked pretty.

"I know that's right bitch! You better serve!" Lei heard Keia egg her on, watching from a distance with the rest of their friends. Lei fought to hold back a smile, as she reached in to give Blue another hug.

Blue raised an eyebrow in suspicion, noticing that she hadn't acknowledged Raj's presence. The two guys watched her walk away, Raj's eyes sneakily traveling down to her ass as it moved under the clothing she wore.

"A'ight, what yo' ass done did now?" Blue turned to Raj, resting both of his hands on his hips, giving him a smug look.

Raj scoffed, shaking his head. "I don't even wanna talk about it man," he said, adjusting the cowboy hat on his head.

He kept his eye on Lei, seeing that Isidro was whispering something her ear, that caused her to throw her head back and start laughing. Raj didn't want to look too deeply into it, not wanting to irritate himself by creating false scenarios.

As the rest of the night progressed, Raj kept his distance from Lei and her friends, as he didn't want to intrude. But even then, it didn't stop him from sneaking glances over at her every ten minutes. Each time that he did look at her, he became more annoyed noticing that the guys around her were trying to talk to her.

Even though she didn't pay them any attention, shooting them down when they did try to shoot their shot, he didn't like how thirsty they were, trying to get behind her as she danced. However, their attempts were unsuccessful as Keia and the rest of their friends stopped them from doing so.

As Travis Porter blasted through the speakers, Lei bent over, shaking her ass. Keia stood on the side, moving her body to the rhythm of the beat as she recorded her.

"I think she need some peanut butter to go wit' all this jelly shaking." Joziah goofily grinned, stepping behind Lei as he rested his hands on her waist, their friends bursting into a fit of laughter.

"You are so damn corny, Jojo!" Keia exclaimed, unable to keep the camera still from laughing so hard.

"Bruh," Raj felt an arm nudge him. He glanced over and saw Blue standing next to him, sporting a funny look on his face. "Go over there and talk to her, you staring hard as hell. Might as well,"

Raj sighed, sitting his cup down, silently agreeing with him. He was unable to enjoy himself, his conscience eating at him to go talk to her and straighten out the whole ordeal. It was high-key bothering him that she didn't even glance in his direction once, except for earlier when he took the picture for her and Blue. It's like he didn't exist in her world.

Usually he wouldn't have been so pressed to get the attention of any other girl, but after practically spending every day with her for the past couple of weeks, he missed her.

Lei sat down in one of the pool chairs, catching her breath after she danced to four songs back to back. She twisted off the cap on her water bottle and began to gulp down the water. Isidro sat down next to her huffing, removing the crown off of his head, as he rested his cane across his lap.

"You hot?" Lei laughed, as he wiped the beads of sweat on his forehead with the sleeve of his shirt.

"As fuck, I haven't danced that hard since I was a jitt," he joked, grabbing the water bottle from his friend as he passed it to him.

Lei continued snickering, twisting the cap back onto her water. Shortly afterwards, as her and Isidro were carrying a conversation, his eyes darted to someone on the side of her. She turned around and saw that Raj was crouching down next to her chair, his attention fixed on someone else for a brief second until he redirected it on her.

She looked away, not bothering to speak. "Can I talk to you real quick?" he said, tilting his head.

"She got a boyfriend bruh! You wasting your time!" One of the guys who previously tried to shoot their shot with her, shouted. A few others nearby beginning to snicker as they briefly watched.

Raj sucked his teeth, scowling. "Yea', it's me, now mind yo' fuckin' business." he started to mug the guy. Both Keia and Joziah raised their eyebrows, loudly sipping from their cups.