hellur.

Soleil stood on the sidewalk, tapping her foot as she waited for Raj to respond to her text message. She texted him about ten minutes ago, asking him if he were currently in a session. Which she believed that he was, because of the wait.

The pair had been indulged in their own lives since their reconciliation, however, they still kept in contact, making sure to check on the other. Soleil could admit, it felt a little weird to not be hanging out with him every day like she used to, but she knew it was for the best.

If they planned on getting into a relationship, she wanted their relationship to be healthy, not built off of a trauma bond. She was happy that they had come to an agreement, she didn't want to risk ruining their relationship — especially since they've known each other since she was high school, and were apart of each other families.

In the midst of Lei responding to another text message, Raj's contact name popped up on the screen as an incoming call. She swiped her finger across and put him on speaker.

"Hello?" she answered, stopping in place.

"What's up? I just got out the session," he replied, shuffling could be heard in the background.

"Okay, come downstairs," Lei told him, before hanging up, not giving him a chance to respond. Raj looked at the phone with a confused look, but slid it into his pocket.

He attached his camera to the tripod, before turning his attention onto Aria. "I'll be back," he said, backing up. She nodded as she started to clean up the props. Raj walked out of the glass door and got onto the elevator, pushing the button to go to the lobby.

He waited a minute as the elevator descended down, before the doors slid open as he finally made it to the lobby.

Raj walked out of the building, stepping onto the sidewalk. He saw Lei a few feet away, leaning against a car he didn't recognize. She greeted him with a wave and a heartfelt smile, he couldn't hold back the smile that grew onto his face as she did so.

They hadn't seen each other since their talk, and to say the least, it felt good to finally lay his eyes on her. He didn't want to be too pushy when it came to seeing her, because she knew that she needed her space.

However, there were times when he missed physically touching her. It killed him a little inside to not being able to cuddle and lay up with her, especially since he had grown used to it almost every night. He had to readjust to her not being there, instead only seeing her through FaceTime calls.

"You like it?" she gestured to the wolf gray, Kia K5 that she was leaning against. Raj stopped in his tracks, his eyebrows raised in surprise as his mouth fell agape.

"Wait, hold on," he started chuckling, waving her off as he turned around, pacing back and forth. "This you?" he turned to face her again, pointing at the car.

Lei cheesed, nodding in response. "Yup, I just got it!" she squealed, dancing a little dance. "I wanted to show you first,"

"Wow, this bitch nice as hell." he continued to stare at the car in awe, now approaching her. "Congratulations ma, I'm happy for you." he held his arms open to embrace her.

"Thank you," she replied, giving him a hug. She quickly pulled away, before clasping her hands together. Raj slowly licked over his lips, pointing at the car.

"You gone take me on a li'l ride? I got a couple minutes to spare until my next session," he grinned, she blushed and walked around to the driver's side, as he got into the passenger's seat.

"Now don't make fun of me, Siraj." she warned him, as she inserted the key into the engine and started up the car. "It's been a minute since I've drove, and I'm still trying to get over my fear of being behind a wheel."

He reached over and grabbed her hand, leaning onto the middle console. "You know I would never do that, I'm glad you stepping out of your comfort zone." he assured her.

She took a deep breath, and placed her hand on the stick shift. Before she shifted the gears, she looked over at Raj, noticing he hadn't put on his seatbelt. "Um, sir?" she raised an eyebrow, gesturing towards his body. "This hoe ain't moving until you put that seatbelt on,"

"My bad, my bad," he said, grabbing the seatbelt and putting it on. After he did, she shifted the gears and pulled off onto the street.

"So, how did this happen?" Raj questioned her, messing around with touch screen on the dashboard. He was quite curious as to how she was able to buy herself a car, especially since he knew she wasn't working at the moment.

"Um," she hesitated for a moment, focusing on the road. "The payout from my brother's life insurance policy," she told him, causing Raj to stop fiddling with the screen and glance over at her with a shocked expression.

"Oh...word?"

"Y-yeah, he made me the beneficiary on the policy — which surprised me because I didn't even know that he had life insurance in the first place, until I was cleaning out his things. I found it stashed away in a li'l file cabinet he had in his closet." She explained, turning on her signal to turn.

"I've been sitting on it, because the moment I started the process for the payout, would've made it real. I'm getting money because my brother died," she scoffed, half shrugging.

"I understand," Raj responded, knowing the feeling all too well from when his father passed away. Though his mom was the beneficiary on the policy, she still split the money between him and his sisters. "Money can never replace his presence, or help make you feel better about him being gone."

"Right," Lei said, approaching a stop light. "I do think it's funny though,"

"What is?"

"Even now that he's gone, he's still making sure I'm straight. Xahir has always done things for me on the sly, and I never notice or find out about it until after the fact. That's how he always been," she slightly chuckled, watching the cars pass as they continued waiting at the red light.

"If it's one thing Xahir gone do, it's gone be him making sure his baby sister good." he rubbed over his goatee, staring out of the window. Lei hummed, the car falling silent afterwards as they continued waiting at the red light.

"It's good that you got yourself a car though, Soleil." he broke the silence, peeking over at her as she chewed on her bottom lip.

"Yeah, my therapist is gonna be proud." she lightly laughed, Siraj raising his eyebrows in surprise. "She helped me create a list of things I want to do, or fears that I want to get over. Getting behind a wheel and even buying a new car was on it."

"Y-you're going to therapy?" Raj asked her, taken aback from the new information. She hesitated for a brief moment as she continued to stare straight ahead, before she finally looked over at him, nodding her head. "When did you start going?"

"A week ago," she cleared her throat, tugging at her seatbelt. She finally pulled off as the light turned green, she could still feel Raj's piercing gaze on her. "Decided that it was time for me to start going,"

"So, the conversation we had...did it result from that?" he questioned, now curious if her going to therapy played a part in what she told him.

"No," she swallowed hard, licking over her lips. "I just, you know, finally understood and realized what our relationship was becoming."

During thanksgiving break, Lei spoke to Keia about what had happened. She needed advice from other than her family, though Selah told her exactly what she needed to hear, she needed to hear it from someone else to make it stick.

Keia agreed with Selah, and advised Lei that her relationship with Raj was more of a trauma bond, rather than an actual healthy, bond. Despite the pair having genuine love for one another, the relationship itself was rushed due to their attraction to each other. Within the first month of them talking, Lei caught feelings for Raj based off of the simple gestures and favors he was doing for her.

Though she didn't have any regrets about having sex with him, she wished that they would've taken their time to really get to know each other, especially since they had been dealing with other people before their relationship. Lei had fell headfirst in her relationship with Elias, and reflecting back, she could see how her catching feelings quickly, made her severely misjudge his character.

"Oh..." Raj mumbled.

The rest of their car ride went by smoothly, they continued to make small talk about what been going on in their individual lives. Lei could admit, there was some small tension and awkwardness that she felt on her end. However, she hoped that it would be a feeling that would pass eventually as they continued to work on their relationship.

Lei shifted the gears in park, as she parked on the side of the street in front of Raj's building. Raj unfastened his seatbelt and opened the passenger door, letting one leg hang out.

"You wanna hang out tonight? I don't got shit going on after Mena come get Semaj," he asked her, checking the time on his phone to see how long he had until his next session.

"Um, actually, I have plans. We got invited to this bonfire on the beach," Lei explained, pulling down the visor, to mess around with her lashes that were beginning to bother her.

"Who is we?" Raj pressed her, curious as to who she would be stepping out with.

"Me, Keia, Jojo, and Isidro." she told him, picking at the inner corner of her eyelashes. She heard as Raj hummed, causing her to look over at him as he held a slight annoyed look on his face. "What's wrong?"

"Weirdo, huh?" he spoke in a flat tone, Lei playfully rolling her eyes as she shook her head.

"Stop calling him that, he's a nice guy, you know. You just gotta get to know him," Lei shrugged, closing the visor.

"I'm not interested in getting to know him, that's your friend. I just...don't like the way he be looking at you, Soleil." Raj truthfully spoke, Lei tilting her head in confusion as she turned her body towards him a little.

"How does he be looking at me, Siraj?"

"The same way I look at you," he finally looked over at her, his eyebrows furrowed. "I'm not stupid, Soleil. We were friends once a upon a time, and now look at us."

Lei stared back at him with soft eyes, before she reached over to grab his hand. "And you're right, there was definitely something that could've sparked between us if I wasn't messing around wit' Elias at the time, but nothing went further between us because I told him I didn't want to lead him on. He was fine wit' that and told me, he was cool wit' us being just friends, he's messing around wit' someone else and he really likes her, Siraj. You don't have to worry about him, we're strictly just friends." Lei tried reassuring him, understanding how he felt.

He looked away, licking over his lips, as he ran his hand over his waves. Lei let go of his hand and gently grabbed his chin, making him look at her. "Do you hear me?" she pulled him a little closer.

She could see as he tried holding back a smile, his eyes darting between her eyes and her lips. "You know you wanna smile," she teased him, laughing.

"I'll take your word for it," he said, before leaning in to kiss her. They kissed a few times, until Raj felt his phone vibrate. He pulled away and checked his phone, seeing that Aria was texting him, informing him that his next client had arrived. "I gotta go, my next session boutta start."

"Okay, I'll text you later on." She said as he got out of the car.

"A'ight, see you later." he replied before shutting the car door and walking towards the building.

Lei dragged her feet through the sand as she sat in the folding chair in front of the huge bonfire. Keia sat next to her, the two girls watching as the boys played a game of football nearby.

The sun was setting, painting the sky a bright reddish-orange color. There was a slight breeze, the temperature beginning to drop as nighttime would soon fall.

"So, do you think you'll be able to drive to Miami?" Keia grinned, holding a can of pineapple Faygo in one hand. Lei shot her a look, causing her to crack up. "Don't look at me like that, it'll be good for you. Put a few miles on your car, and see how it really rides."

"I know, I know." Lei slightly groaned, digging her toes deeper into the sand. "I already hate sitting in the car for a long ass time, but driving? I don't know sis,"

Keia nodded as she took a sip of her soda, "I understand, I was hoping that it'll help make you more comfortable on the road. If you don't want to though, it's fine. We'll just treat Jojo as our chauffeur." she started snickering at the last part, as Lei joined in.

The trio made plans to go to Miami the weekend before Christmas break. Since the semester would be ending soon, and with Keia and Joziah returning home for the rest of the year, they wanted to do something fun to make up for the time they would be apart.

Lei turned to look as she saw Isidro and Joziah approaching, their bodies glistening with sweat. "Y'all had fun?" she smirked, as Isidro sat next to her on the other side.

"I'm tired as hell," Joziah heavily breathed, walking over to the cooler to grab a bottle of water. He grabbed another one, tossing it over at Isidro, before taking a seat next to Keia. "Y'all tryna go to that café down the street after this?"

"Yea' cause these s'mores ain't gone do a damn thing for me," Keia said, reaching down to brush off some sand on her leg. She sat back, and glanced around the bonfire, some of their friends engaging in their own activities and conversations. She saw a familiar face approaching their group, causing her to reach over and lightly tap Soleil on the arm.

Lei raised an eyebrow as she looked at Keia, who was staring behind her. She looked over her shoulder and saw Elias and his friends approaching them. She instantly sucked her teeth and got up, figuring he was coming to bother her.

Isidro watched her with a confused look, before seeing a guy jog after her. "Leave her alone, Elias!" Keia frowned, growing irritated that he wouldn't leave her friend alone.

"Shut up, Keia. How bout you leave me alone," he snapped back, continuing to follow behind Lei. Isidro immediately got up and followed behind them, now aware of who Elias was.

"Boy fuck you, when it comes to my friend, I'ma always have something to say. Now go away," Keia got up as well, Joziah following suit.

Elias reached forward and grabbed Lei's wrist, making her snatch away from him, splashing the rest of her drink in his face. "What the fuck, Soleil!" he cursed, taking a step back, wiping his face.

"Why won't you leave me alone?! Stop fuckin' harassing me!" she yelled at him, throwing her now empty cup at him. A few people redirected their attention towards the pair, hearing Lei's voice over the music that was playing in the background.

Isidro stepped in between the two, slightly pushing Elias back. "You need to walk away," he warned him, before returning his attention back onto Lei, with a concerned expression.

"Who the fuck are you? Back the fuck up, this ain't got nothing to do wit' you." Elias sized him, before wiping his face with his slightly damped shirt. "What, you fuckin' him now too, Soleil?"

Before Isidro could respond, Lei whipped around and got into Elias's face. "Why do you fuckin' care!? You're the one who cheated on me! I can do whatever the fuck I please! What you need to worry about, is going to get checked since you don't know how to keep your dick in your pants!" she snapped, pointing her finger in his face, a few 'ooh's coming from the crowd.

"The only one who need to get checked is you. How you fuck Kelz the same night we break up? To get back at me, right? You fuckin' hoe, and then you wait until your brother die to go fuck on his best friend." Elias bitterly laughed, holding his arms out, a few of his friends mouths dropping agape at his response.

Everyone turned to look at Lei, waiting for her rebuttal. However before anyone else could speak, a loud smack erupted. Everyone's eyes growing wide, their mouths falling agape once again.

"Daaamn!" One guy shouted, jumping up and down as he held a fist to his mouth, the forceful punch that Isidro threw knocking Elias to the ground.

Joziah grabbed Isidro by the shoulders and quickly pulled him away, Elias's friends now cursing and shouting at him, in defensive stances.

Lei stood there another second, unable to move as she stared down at Elias in shock, a couple of his friends tending to his aid. Keia grabbed her hand, snapping her out of her trance, before also pulling her away.

The group continued walking down the side, following behind Joziah and Isidro. "Where we going?" Keia asked Jojo, realizing they weren't stopping yet.

He glanced back at them, gesturing his hand in the air towards the restaurants across the street. Keia simply nodded, and looked over at Lei. "You okay, babe?" she questioned her, tucking her hair behind her shoulder.

Lei nodded, locking arms with her. A slight smile stretching across her face. "He knocked the fuck out of Elias ass," she started giggling, Keia joining in as they high five each other.

"Scared the shit outta me, I did not see that shit coming." Keia continued cracking up, the music from the beach drowning out as they walked further away.

"Neither did Elias's face," Lei joked.

"Betchu' he'll leave you alone now,"

"I doubt it, he'll probably start harassing me even more—"

"Why didn't you tell us, Soleil?" Keia stopped her, unlinking their arms, placing her hand on her hip.

She let go of a profound sigh, running both of her hands through her straight hair. "I didn't want you guys to worry, I know how y'all are. Y'all would beat him the fuck up every day if y'all could. It never went past anything other than him just constantly messaging me on social media, even after I block the accounts he make." she explained.

"I didn't even tell Siraj, because I know he wouldn't hesitate to jump on Elias about me. I just been trying to avoid confrontation, Keia." she shrugged, adjusting the shades on her head as the frames were a little tight.

"Well, I think you should consider telling him Soleil. You're someone he's romantically involved wit' and plus, you know...he would want to know if someone is harassing you." Keia replied.

"I know, I know. It's just, I don't know—" Lei paused, unsure if she wanted to drag Siraj into the situation. "I'll think about it, but for right now, we'll say the situation is handled."

Keia gave her an uneasy look, but nodded in response. "Okay, but you still should've told me, at least. We're best friends, and I refuse to stand by and let a fuck nigga play wit' you." she pointed her thumb behind her in the direction of the beach.

"I know, I appreciate you, Keia. For everything, if I didn't have you by my side, I'd probably lose my shit." Lei slightly chuckled, but still serious.