Body Language. [Discontinued]

CH. 16

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.