hi icy gang.

"Christmas is too far, come back now." Soleil pouted, as she was on FaceTime with her sister, Selah. She was currently at the outlets, shopping around for fall clothes since the temperature in Florida was dropping — just a tad bit.

"I wish I could Boop, I miss you so much. This adulting thing is ghetto, I need to be around you so I can have a break from it." Selah laughed, as she slicked her edges down in the mirror.

Lei adjusted the AirPods in her ear, giving her a funny look. "What's that supposed to mean? You calling me childish?" she started playfully mugging, her sister laughing harder.

"No! It's just the kid in you is never going to die, that's all." she said, grabbing her scarf and tying it around her head to let her edges set. "Why do you think kids love you?"

"Bitch that's what childish mean!" Lei laughed, Selah joining in once again.

"I'm serious Boop! You're in touch wit' your inner child, you were able to have a normal childhood and actually enjoy it, that you still do the things you loved as a kid. Xahir and I grew up a li'l too fast, we thought we were grown and had a lot of responsibilities to take care of — including you." Selah explained, picking up the phone as it leaned against the mirror and walked into her bedroom, to find something to wear for the day.

"Well, you know I always know how to have a good time. When you come back, I'll have a whole day planned just for us — doing childish things." Lei smiled, as she got into line with her stuff. "You're always in mommy mode, it's time for you to tap into your inner child as well — especially since you have one. You don't want Kinsley growing up, thinking her mom is a hardbody that doesn't know how to have fun." Lei preached referring to her five year old niece.

Selah deeply sighed, throwing her head back. "I know," she groaned, walking into her closet. "Kinsley reminds me so much of you, always looking for stuff to get into, wit' her li'l busybody ass. She really misses you,"

Lei pretended to dust her shoulder off, as Selah started cracking up. "I tend to have that effect on kids," she grinned.

"Girl whatever, but listen I'm about to get dressed so I can hurry up and head out to this li'l business party. You be safe, okay?" Selah said.

"Will do, I love you, have fun."

"I love you too! Byeee!"

"Byeee!" Lei replied in the same drawled out tone, before hanging up the call. Once Lei was done paying for her stuff, she walked out of the store, seeing Siraj sitting on the bench, texting on his phone.

"I still don't know why you waited out here," Lei teased him, smirking as he got up, grabbing his shopping bags off the bench as well.

"Cause man, being in there make me uncomfortable." he chuckled, as they started walking in the opposite direction. "Last time I stepped foot in Victoria Secret the women were staring at me like why is he in here?"

"Well from my experience working at Victoria Secret, sometimes when women bring their man in, and go to the dressing room, we already know what they be doing." Lei told him, Siraj's eyes going wide as he looked over at her.

"Wait, women really be trying on lingerie in the store? That's nasty as hell," he scrunched up his face, as Lei nodded her head, laughing.

"I just told you people be fuckin' in the dressing rooms and that's what caught your attention?" she kept laughing. "But yes, they use to do that. My store actually didn't allow it anymore, once women use to switch out their underwear."

"Ew, what the fuck."

"But seriously, you don't be picking out lingerie for your girlfriend? What you be wanting to see her in and shit," Lei questioned him, adjusting the bags on her arms.

"Nah, I mean I'll tell her what colors I'll like to see her in but usually I just give my woman the money for allat. Let her surprise me, it's sexy when she modeling the shit for me — rather than me picking it out and already knowing what it is." Raj shrugged, pausing as Lei came to a halt, looking across at the bath and bodyworks store.

"I guess that makes sense," Lei replied. "I'm bout to go in bath and body, are you coming in or does being in there make you uncomfortable as well?" she smirked as he smacked his lips, glaring at her.

"Nah I'm boutta go in there," he nodded his head in the direction of where the Nike factory store was.

Lei playfully rolled her eyes, starting to walk away. "You are such a nigga, alright. Meet back here," she said before they officially parted ways.

When she walked into the store, she headed straight to where the candles were. She was obsessed with bath and body candles, especially when fall approached. She loved the way the scent of candles made her house feel all homey.

She started going through the different candles, smelling each one by one. Shortly after, an associate approached her with a smile.

"Finding everything okay? Are you looking for anything specific?" she asked Lei, eyeing the two candles in her hand already. She held open a carrier bag, so that she was able to put them in.

"Thank you, and yeah I'm pretty sure I'm gonna end up

getting the same candles I always get. You guys having any promos?" Lei questioned her, holding the carrier bag on her arm with the rest of her shopping bags.

"We are actually, ten dollars off our three wick candles. And also, our body care products are buy three, get three free." she explained, Lei slightly groaning.

"Sometimes I hate coming in here, I always end up spending more than I intend." Lei half jokingly said, as the girl laughed.

"Girl who you telling? It's bad that I work here, I'm always leaving here wit' something." she replied, Lei giggling as she returned her attention back onto the different candles. "Let me know if you need anything, okay?"

"I will, thank you." Lei thanked her, grabbing another candle, beginning to smell it. "That smells good as fuck," she mumbled to herself, reading the name of it.

As she was putting the candle into the carrier bag, she felt a presence besides her. Her heart dropped a little, as she could smell the familiar cologne over the other scents in the store.

She took a step back and shot Elias a distasteful look. "What? You fuckin' following me now?" she mugged him, sizing him up.

"Nah, I'm here wit' my brothers." He nodded his head, towards the entrance where his brothers were indeed standing outside, clowning around. "You here by yourself?"

"No, and not that it's really any of your concern, I'm here with Siraj." she told him, not wanting him to get any ideas that she was. After the stunt he pulled at her house weeks ago, she didn't trust him at all.

"Y'all messing round or some?" he raised an eyebrow, stuffing his hands in the pockets of his hoodie.

"No, I'm not like you. Messing wit' different people, even if we was, so the fuck what? Why are you in my face?" Lei frowned, now fully turning to face him, placing her free hand on her hip.

"You don't find this weird, Soleil? That nigga didn't give a damn about you up until a month ago. He only hang out wit' you because he feels obligated to, y'all weren't even close before your brother died, now all of a sudden he actin' like some type of bodyguard for you." Elias said.

Lei took a step closer to him, pointing her finger in his face. "Don't you ever speak on my fuckin' brother again, you only feel this way because you can't run Raj away on some scary shit. Approach me again on some silly shit, and I'll make sure I'll turn his ass loose on you." she warned him, before stepping around him to go to the other side where the body care was.

Elias scoffed, shaking his head as he walked out of the store.

Lei grabbed a few more things, and got into the checkout line, her mood falling a little sour from being bothered by Elias. She hadn't seen him much around campus or heard from him since their breakup. She thought atlas he got the idea that she was done with him, so he would stop harassing her.

Once she was done checking out, she walked out of the store, seeing that Raj was standing against the wall, mugging someone.

She followed his gaze and saw Elias mugging him back, walking away with his brothers. He ripped his focus away from Raj and onto her, simply shaking his head once again.

Raj looked away, and saw Lei was standing besides him. "Was he fuckin' wit' you?" he pointed at him with his thumb, Lei lied and shook her head 'no', not wanting Raj to confront him. "You really gone lie? I just saw him come out of the store, Soleil."

"And? He didn't say anything to me, I didn't give him the chance to." she lied again, turning to walk in the direction of where the parking lot was. Raj gave her an uneasy look, following behind her but he didn't say anything else regarding the situation.

"Anyways, you didn't get anything from Nike?" she asked him, noticing there wasn't any new shopping bags in his hand.

"Nah, they didn't have anything I like — how much did you get from bath and body, Soleil?" he tilted his head, eyeing the new three bags she carried.

"They had a sale, Siraj." she whined, throwing her head back. "I love their candles, I got you some." she cheesed.

"What?" he glanced over at her, as she nodded her head. Lifting up the bag that held his candles. "Soleil, you didn't have to do that."

"I know I didn't, but I wanted to. Your house gotta be smelling good,"

"You saying my house stank?" he furrowed his eyebrows as Soleil cracked up.

"Nigga I never even been to your house!" she playfully nudged him away. "I'm gonna assume it doesn't though, because you always smell good. A nigga that keep up his appearance and his hygiene, have a clean house."

"I know, I'm just fuckin' wit' you. Thank you though, ma. That's really thoughtful of you," he threw his arm around her, as she sported her usual giddy smile whenever she was in his presence. "So how much did you spend though?"

"Don't worry about it nigga, cause I'm not allowing you to pay me back. Damn just accept my generosity for once,"

"What them people on the commercials be saying? Shut up and take my money," he joked, both of them bursting into laughter.

"You're such a dork bro, I'll block you so you won't get the chance to." she teased him as they finally approached his car. He opened the backdoor, letting her sit her bags in the backseat as he did the same.

"It's okay, I'ma just sneak and hide money in yo' room." he half shrugged, walking around to the drivers side. They both got into the car, Raj starting the engine and turning on the A/C, since their little cold front passed and it was now beaming outside.

"You hungry?" Raj asked Lei, backing out of the parking space.

"I can definitely eat, I'm in the mood for five guys." her mouth practically salivating for a good bacon cheeseburger. "I think I'ma get Keia and Jojo something too,"

"Nigga total gone come up to bout $60,"

Lei tried stifling her laughter, as she went to text her best friends, asking what they wanted. The car ride to the fast food joint was rather quick as it was just one up the street from the outlets.

Raj pulled around to the drive thru, waiting behind a car as they ordered. He lowly rapped along to the song that was playing on the Bluetooth to himself while Lei occupied herself on her phone as per usual.

Every minute or so, he would sneak glances over at her. His curiosity peaking once again, lately the two had been hanging out more than usual. While they have, Raj wanted to know more about Lei, as he only knew basic information about her.

"Soleil," he called to her, she hummed, ripping her attention away from her phone. "I don't think I ever asked you before, what you in school for?"

"Early childhood education," she told him, resting her arm down on the middle console. Raj gazed at her with a baffled expression.

"You wanna work wit' kids? In what aspect?" he questioned, finding it cute that she genuinely loved being around children.

"I kind of want to open my own daycare like my mom, but there's also a side of me that wants to become a teacher." she explained, briefly glancing at her phone as she saw a text message from the group-chat.

"So, like have you tried talkin' to your mom about working there for some experience? I be forgetting your mom owns a daycare, need to talk to her about getting Semaj in there." Raj replied, pulling up to the speaker box to order, letting his window down.

"Welcome to five guys, can I take your order?" A voice spoke through the speaker.

"Uh, yeah, give me just a second." he told them, glancing over at Lei.

"No problem, just let me know when you're ready."

"Okay so. Get two bacon cheeseburgers — you know what? Can I just..." Lei paused, realizing it was too much of a big order for Raj to remember. She gestured her hand over at his open window instead, he slightly laughed and nodded his head, leaning his seat back a little bit.

Lei unbuckled her seatbelt and hover her body over his to lean out of the window. "Okay we're ready," Lei said, waiting for the voice to speak again.

"What can I get you?"

"Okay, let me get two bacon cheeseburgers, one with lettuce, mayo, ketchup, mustard, grilled onions and tomatoes." she began ordering, looking down at the screen of her phone to read off her best friends orders.

"Alrighty, and for the second one?"

"For the second one, A1 sauce, lettuce, pickles, and grilled onions."

"Okay, anything else?"

"Yeah, then also let me get a BLT, with only mayo, pickles and tomatoes. Then lastly, three orders of fries, five guys style, please." she finished ordering, she looked over at Raj who was intensely gazing at her through hooded eyes as he leaned back in the seat, running his hand over his waves.

"You want anything?" she asked him, trying to keep her composure, he declined shaking his head, as he slowly licked over his lips.

"Will that be all for you?" The voice asked her.

"Yes," she answered, getting back into her seat. She reached her hand back to grab the seatbelt as Raj pulled around to the drive thru window. "And to answer your question, I was supposed to start working there once summer started but, you know..." she trailed off.

"I understand, do you think eventually you will?"

"Yeah, I think I want to next semester. I kind of already have my routine down, and it'll throw my whole schedule off if I decide to do it now." she cleared her throat, lightly shaking her leg.

"You nervous or some?"

"What about working at the daycare?" Lei responded, picking at her nails.

"Nah," he lowly chuckled. "Yo' leg shaking again, you only do that when you nervous." he pointed out, gesturing towards her bouncing leg.

Lei looked down at her leg, before tucking her lips to keep herself from blushing. "No, I just don't know how to sit still." she spoke truthfully. Raj narrowed his eyes at her, humming to himself. "Why do you do that?"

"Do what?" he briefly looked at her, pulling up to the window. He reached into his pocket, pulling out his debit card from his wallet.

"You're always pointing out the stuff I do,"

"You want me to stop?" he passed his debit card over to the drive thru cashier, reaching his other hand back to rest it behind Lei's seat.

Lei watched as he kept his attention fixed on the cashier, licking over his lips once more. His medium length eyelashes batting every time he blinked. The brilliantly reddish-orange sunset radiating off of his clear, vibrant skin. Sheepishly, she found herself in awe of how handsome he was.

The cashier returned the debit card back to Raj along with the receipt. "Do you mind pulling up?" she asked, pointing to the empty space near the entrance.

Raj nodded his head, pulling up towards the entrance. He shifted the gears into park, and leaned back into the seat, giving Lei his full undivided attention again. She quickly looked away, clasping her hands together as she took a deep breath.

"You didn't answer my question," he smirked, amused by her behavior.

"What question?" she stared out of the window, fearing if she looked in his direction, she would cave.

"Do you want me to stop?" he repeated.

"Why do you do it? It doesn't matter if you stop or not, I'm just curious." she shrugged, checking her phone to see a text message from her mom.

"I don't know, I'm a person who studies folks behavior, habits, all that shit. I feel like people can say one thing, but their body language says another." he explained, tapping his phone on his lap.

"Hm," she hummed, texting her mom back. "What's your sign?"

"Capricorn," he told her.

"That makes a lot of sense," she slightly laughed, locking her phone, returning her attention back onto him. "Earth signs are observant — when's your birthday?"

"January 10th,"

"Noted," Lei went to her calendar and logged his birthday in. "You know mine?"

"Of course I know yours, it's February 15th. It's easy to remember cause it's right after Valentine's day," he said, Lei grinning.

"Just checking," she side eyed him. A few minutes later, someone came out with their order, Raj passing the bag of food over to her. "I really hope this food doesn't put me to sleep, I really wanna go out later."

"Out where?"

"Supposed to go bowling wit' Keia, Jojo and Isidro." She told him, reaching into the bag to grab a fry.

"Oh, weirdo?" Raj slightly rolled his eyes, as Lei smacked her lips, lightly hitting him on the arm. "What?"

"He's not weird, Siraj. He's actually really nice," she said, as he simply hummed.

The pair made small talk on their way back to Lei's house, as Lei ate her fries throughout the car ride. It was now going on six thirty, and it was closing in to the time that Siraj had to go pick up Maj from Ximena.

Lately, the two haven't been speaking much unless it was concerning Semaj. Ximena decided that she wouldn't speak or acknowledge what went on Raj's life as it had nothing to do with her and vice versa.

Raj chalked up her lack of communication with him, to her still feeling a way about the situation with Lei. However, he didn't care, he couldn't stand that Ximena wasn't sensitive to others feelings whenever she voiced her opinion about something.

She brushed it off as her being blunt, or brutally honest, but Raj always told her that there were ways to be blunt or honest without hurting someone's feelings. Unlike her, Siraj was a gentle soul, and believed everyone deserved to be treated as they were — a human.

Siraj grew up in a household where arguments/disagreements didn't involve yelling, belittling or cursing. Though his parents didn't grow up in a household like his, they wanted to steer away from the typical upbringing in a black household.

They made sure to teach their children that it was possible to get their point across with talking down on someone, or trying to talk over them. They knew how frustrating it was when they were growing up, and they didn't want to their kids feeling the same.

Raj was thankful for the way his parents raised him, as his kindness and gentleness went a long way with many people he'd encountered over the years.