Every Kind of Way

31.

She capped them and picked them up in the perfect timing, almost colliding with her dad when she stepped into the hallway. He gave her a bright smile with two oversized bouquets in his hand.

"Hey daddy," she softly smiled, "I get two bouquets?"

"This one is mine and this one came as we were pulling up. It's from Nooney. You want me to put them in your room?"

"Yes. Right over here," she pointed to her bedroom and eased in behind him to discreetly drop the tests in her purse.

She wasn't surprised that Sanchez sent flowers over because he'd been leaving her voicemails in the middle of the night. It was like he purposefully waited until he knew she was sleep to call her and talk to her voicemail. He was either talking about his day or telling her how much he wished they weren't where they were. He ended each one wishing her a good morning as if he knew she'd listen to them rather ignore them.

It be a blatant lie if she said they didn't make her miss him more and more each day, but the decision was for her. She had to keep reminding herself that because he wasn't the only one struggling with the fact they were no longer together. Each night she'd prefer being smothered or squeezed by his heavy weight than cuddling with a bear given to her by him. Throughout the day she wanted to shoot him a text and see how fall camp was going or if he wanted to come over and nap. It was hard and the fact he was trying to reconcile only made it harder.

"You excited to be a graduate? You coming back home now?" her dad fired off two questions.

Asha laughed, "Of course y'all want me to come back home. I'll think about it."

"That's enough for me," he put his arm around her, "I'm proud of you Dulabug. You've always put your best foot forward with school and now look at you. I'm kind of surprised you didn't double major or minor in anything."

"Because I knew better than to drive myself crazy. I don't love school that much," she scoffed. 

"Let's go Ms. Mitchell. You have a stage to walk!" Sydnie entered the room with a smile similar to the one Ashton sported.

Thirty minutes later, her and the girls were in the respective seats with the rest of their fellow graduates awaiting their name. Since it was the summer ceremony it wasn't as large as winter and spring but it was a good number of them. The stands were also pretty filled with what seemed like all their entire families. It was only right. They were college graduates and that was pretty damn big. School wasn't for everyone yet they pushed through four or more years of extended education.

Like most ceremonies all applause and praise was supposed to be held to the very end, but no one listened. Each name called was followed by cheers and even the graduates were cheering knowing they weren't supposed to. It was a while before either of the girls name were called because the all were near the end of the alphabet, Victoria being the last, and Asha the first.

"Bachelors of Science in Public Relations, Advertising and Marketing, Asha Mitchell," her name was finally called.

She crossed the stage as the sound of her brothers and family screaming made her heart warm. She shook hands and smiled for a photo before she was on the other side and back to her seat. She shamelessly recorded Jema and Victoria make their way across the stage as graduates moments after her.

Once their tassels were turned and the arena filled with cheers and whistles, everyone made their way outside for more photos with their family. Asha immediately spotted her grandparents and ran over to give them hugs.

"My baby!" Grandma squeezed her and then pinched her cheeks full of excitement, "You look so beautiful."

"Thank you. Hey, Granddaddy,"