Vanilla And Cocoa

Chapter 37 "Graduation: Morning"

I took a look and rolled my eyes when I saw it was an easy fix. I finished braiding her hair into a crown and smiled. "You look great. Can you sit down for two seconds without stressing?"

"Wow, she simultaneously made a situation worse and then fixed it. Amazing. Truly an icon." Drew commented.

I glared at him and prepared a retort but a teacher interrupted me. "Get in your places. We're going on in five."

All of us looked at each other and grinned. Justin patted Zay's back as fixed his shirt. "Showtime."

"See you on the other side."

-

A call of my name. The view of a sea of people. The weight of a diploma of my hand. The shaking of hands. A glimpse of familiar faces in the crowd. The moment gone. Another name. Another diploma.

-

"You fell!" Izzy cackled, clutching her stomach like a lifeline.

Drew's face was red as he tried to get her to stop laughing. "It's not funny. Zay, make her stop."

Zay looked like he was going to choke if he was forced to shove his laughter down any longer. "I dunno. It was pretty funny."

"Chris!"

"I think I see my mother. I think she wants to take a picture. Come on, Orlan." Chris gave an amused smirk as he tugged his equally humored boyfriend behind him.

"Traitors!" Drew yelled.

"Okay, okay. Break it up. I think Drew has suffered enough." I said, finally deciding to give the poor boy a break.

"Oh, man." Izzy breathed, wiping a tear from under her eye.

Zay inhaled a calming breath, failing a few times because of his laughter, and smiled. "I'm going to see if I can fish my family out of this humongous crowd. We're still on for tonight, right?"

"Absolutely." Zay pulled Justin into a hug and patted his back before walking away.

"Izzy!" We turned just in time to see a little boy jump into Izzy's arms.

"Hey, squirt. Where's mom and dad?" She asked happily.

The little boy euthiastically pointed and Izzy flashed a smile in our direction. "Guess it's my turn to go. Drew, you're coming, right?"

"Yep! See you guys later." We were rewarded by hugs from them both before they left as well.

I slowly turned to Justin and raised an eyebrow. "Soo..."

He smiled. "So?"

"What now?"

His smile faded slightly and he glanced up briefly at the ceiling before meeting my eyes. "About that, I-"

"Justin!" Merissa burst through the crowd and launched herself onto her older brother, wrapping her arms around his waist.

He gave me a look that meant we'd talk about it later and picked Merissa up with a complaint of how she was getting too old for him to keep picking her up.

I watched as my mother emerged from the crowd and she greeted me with a warm smile. I met her halfway and hugged her. She squeezed. "I'm so proud of you."

"I'm glad." I pulled away but froze at the person standing nearby.

My mom squeezed my hand and stepped back. My dad was holding a bouquet and a nervous smile. "Congratulations."

He held out the bouquet and I slowly took it from him. "Thank you..."

We stood in awkward silence until Justin placed one hand on my lower back and extended the other to my father. "Nice to meet you, sir. I'm Justin Delarosa."

My father seemed surprised and shook his hand. "Oh, yeah. I remember seeing you the last time I saw Destiny. I apologize we didn't get to exchange introductions then. I was a bit preoccupied."

"I know. I just wanted to tell you that have full intentions of dating your daughter once everything has settled." Justin's words were filled with confidence and I felt myself smile.

My father seemed to like his confidence, too, as a smile bloomed on his face. But he shook his head to get rid of it. "I don't know think that's my job anymore."

"While that may be true, the job of a parent is never over until you cut them completely from your life. You did the right thing by coming here today," I glanced at him and he smiled sadly at me. "At least, your parent is genuinely trying. I can see it in his eyes."

I pushed down the guilt swelling in my stomach and vaguely heard my mother tell me that we should go. I slowly stepped past my father before I stopped and spun to face him with tears in my eyes. "Thank you for the flowers and for coming, even though, I told you not to," I had a hard time pushing the next words out of my mouth. "...I'm free tomorrow if you want to get lunch or something. But, if you let me down again, you're dead to me, alright?"

His smile grew and I ducked my head, willing the tears out of my eyes. "I understand."

I ignored the warm pulse in my chest and briefly gave him a hug before running away into the crowd.

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This was so rushed omg what a mess

Next chapter will be better probably