"Come in," he heard Sema say from the other side of the door.
He took another sharp breath before heading in, prepping himself on what he was going to say to her. However, anything that he formulated in his head, fell dead at the sight when he entered the room.
Sema was laid on the side of the dude that Dave recognized as the other victim from the police report. He knew Rich from he and Sema's double date with Rich and Aja. He also knew that Sema's brother had passed and she hadn't mentioned another male family member, so who was he to her?
Sema almost looked as if she had seen a ghost when her eyes landed on Dave. She sat up quick as the look on her face settled into a cold stare.
"Dave...what are you doing here?" She questioned.
His eyes switched from her to the dude she was laying beside. He studied his features for a moment before switching his attention back to Sema then back to the dude, trying to spot similarities. They didn't look alike at all though. Who is this? He thought to himself. He didn't even respond to her, just continued to look back and forward between the two.
Sema rose from her spot on the bed. "Hey, I'll be back," she told Darius.
He gave her a small smile and nodded. Before she could walk away, he grabbed her hand. Bringing it to his mouth, he placed a sweet kiss upon it. The action shocked her and she looked to Dave to see him mugging. Clearing her throat, she awkwardly pulled her hand away and hurried out the door, grabbing Dave's arm for him to follow. He jerked his arm away from her and didn't tear his mug away from Darius as he backed out the door.
He didn't even give Sema time enough to speak first. "How you know him?" He questioned, making her frown. She folded her arms over her chest and looked everywhere but him.
"Mind your business, won't you? We are not together and I don't know why you're concerned right now, because you made it perfectly clear you weren't concerned about me the last time I saw you."
"I came all the way over here to check on ya ass after I saw the news, so I must be concerned about you. Now, I'm concerned because I walked in the room and you was laying in bed with this random nigga and he was kissing ya fuckin' hand and shit."
"Like I said, we are not together so don't worry about what I have going on. Not that it's your business, but I'm not doing anything with him. You on the other hand, have a lot of damn nerve," she told him, now glaring at him. "I recall coming over to your place to try to fix thing between us and you weren't hearing it from me. And must a remind you that you had a bitch there too? You acting real pot-like right now." It dawned on him that she didn't know it was her cousin, and he hadn't told her that nothing was going on with them either.
"Look...that wasn't what you think," he started to explain before Sema cut him off.
"Save it. An explanation isn't what I need right now. I'm fucked up from earlier, okay? I don't need this right now."
"You don't need this is or you don't need me?"
"It doesn't matter, Dave! I can't do this right now. Sema started to walk back into the room but Dave grabbed her hand.
"But you need him, right? You about to go back and lay up with him and let him kiss on you while I'm tryna be here for you? Wow man."
"Damnit Dave! It's not about me laying up with anybody. It's about my peace right now. I just told you I can't handle this. Please don't be selfish right now. You don't know what I went through with that officer." She couldn't help but to tear up. It was the cop situation and her and Dave's situation combined.
"Out of all of the people for you to say that shit to, I shouldn't be one of em. I know exactly what you went through. I used to sell drugs. I done had more guns pointed at me than all of the people you know combined. Dirty ass cops came in my house, planted drugs, pointed a gun at me, and took my daughter. It's different from you because you never lived your life and that's something you ain't had to go through. I was 12 the first time I stared down a barrel. I'm relating to you right now more than that nigga that's laying in that bed in there." Tears continued to pour down Sema's face and she had to catch her breath before speaking again.
"I'm not saying that you can't relate. I'm just saying I can't deal with you right now, Dave. I can't deal with our issues right now. That's why you can't comfort me right now. But I need someone right now and he does too. I will talk to you in due time but right now I need you to go."
Dave couldn't even say anything. He just nodded and released her hand. She gave him a small, forced smile and was about to turn to go back into Darius' room when she noticed Zoe coming down the hallway.
"Zoe!"
Dave snapped his head around to see Zoe coming up behind him. He stepped to the side and ran a hand down his face because he knew within the next few minutes the situation might get messy.
"Sema!" Zoe sped up to walk straight into Sema's arms. The two hugged for several moments before they separated. They both had tear stains on their face. Zoe glanced at Dave for a brief second before focusing on Sema again.
"How are you feeling?"
"I'm not doing that well. Honestly, I'm just about to go bsck in with my friend and try to relax. I just stepped out to talk to my- I mean um Dave. Dave, this is my cousin Zoe." Zoe and Dave quickly shared a look and looked away but Sema caught the awkward exchange.
"Um, okay. I'm missing something, I see."
Zoe sighed before sleeping. "I didn't want to bombard you with this, knowing what you went through earlier but I guess now's gotta be the time. Dave lives across the hall from me. We've been hanging together as friends. I didn't even know he was your ex until like an hour ago and he didn't know I was your cousin."
"And you were the girl back in his bedroom when I came over?" Sema finished her sentence and chuckled bitterly.
"No...I mean yes. But not in that way!"
"Wow," Was the whisper that rolled off Sema's lips. She began shaking her head and backing away. "But it wasn't what I think, huh?" She directed to Dave.
"Sem, it's no-," he hadn't managed to get his whole sentence out before she slipped into the visitor's restroom. She had only managed to get a couple steps in before her breathing became erratic and she started feeling dizzy and her vision went black.
- - -
Darius flipped through channels as we waited for Sema to return. Suddenly, his iPhone ringtone sounded and winced as he reached over to get it off the table. It was number he wasn't familiar with but he answered anyways.
"Hello?" He answered.
"Darius! Oh thank goodness your number is still the same! I saw the news." His whole body stiffened. He could recognize his ex's voice anywhere.
"Aeris?"
- - -
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