Chapter 33
Rohan sat on the bleachers. Jalen to his right, Mikal on his left with a comic book, and Nathan in his lap, coloring on an app he’d downloaded on his phone for her.
On Mikal’s left, Vega sat with Omari, reading the words she recognized on the program to him, while Landon sat in front of them to be a little closer so she could take pictures, leaning back against Jalen’s legs.
It was ten in the morning and the weather was still nice.
He was glad the school had scheduled graduation earlier in the day, considering it was outside.
Kodi’s class had over three hundred graduates, and they were all seated on the turf field.
She hadn’t been hard to find since they were seated in alphabetical order by last name, and the program listed them all.
The ceremony began ten minutes ago with opening words, the Pledge of Allegiance, and now the salutatorian was speaking.
Jalen had informed Rohan that even though Kodi probably wouldn’t say it, she was a little upset.
The current salutatorian had only beaten her grade point average by two-tenths of a score, and the valedictorian by four-tenths.
Nathan held up Rohan’s phone to show him the picture she’d just colored, and before he could respond and tell her it looked good, she backed out of it and chose another one.
“Dad, can I sit down there with Landon?” Mikal asked.
Rohan turned to look at Mikal at the same time Vega did.
“If you want to,” Vega responded.
“Sure,” Rohan replied simultaneously.
He’d gotten so used to Landon and Kodi calling him dad whenever they went somewhere, and the two thought some woman was hitting on him.
So now, when he heard it, it was like an automatic reaction.
Jalen laughed as she shook her head while he and Vega chuckled because Rohan knew Mikal was speaking to Vega. It was just a reflex.
She slid down to the bench below them, and instead of sitting beside Landon, she situated herself on the teenager’s lap.
“You have to get up when they’re about to call Kodi’s name so I can get some good pictures,” Landon informed her, but mostly, didn’t mind.
“I will,” Mikal responded.
They’d finally started calling the students’ names.
Each row stood and lined up on one side of the stage and walked up to collect their diploma as their name was called.
When Kodi’s row lined up, Mikal slid off of Landon’s lap, so she could stand to get ready to take pictures.
Kodi was ninth in line, and when her name was called, they all cheered loudly.
The twins stood and jumped up and down on the bleacher Mikal was standing on. Rohan and Vega both kept hold of them.
Kodi turned to wave at them since they weren’t sitting too far up from the field.
It was one reason they’d arrived an hour early when Kodi had to be there.
So, they could get good seats. He could hear yelling from down the way as well when Kodi’s name was called, and knew it was Trent, his mother, and Alynn.
They’d shown up when the ceremony started, his mother texting him and Jalen to let them know they’d arrived. Once Kodi was back in her seat, and the ceremony carried on as normal, the twins and Mikal returned to what they’d been doing previously.
They only had a couple of rows left to get through, and then the closing speech before it was over. Nathan turned to Jalen and tapped her on the shoulder.
“Can I have some juice?” she asked.
“You had two juice boxes before we left, and I’m sure you’ll want some when we go to lunch. So, no more juice right now, but you can have some water if you’re thirsty.”
Nathan shook her head before looking up at him. “Rohan, can I have some juice?”
“Nathan, Jalen just said no,” he responded.
“That means you’re going to say no to, right?” Nathan asked with a pout.
“Yes, I am.”
The six-year-old sighed before turning her attention back to Jalen. “Okay. Can I have some water?”
Jalen reached into the small backpack she’d brought and pulled out a water bottle.
She handed it to Rohan, and he opened it, giving it to Nathan.
She took a couple of drinks before passing it to Omari after asking if she wanted some.
When Nathan took it back, she handed it to him, and he replaced the cap.
Once the ceremony was over, they went onto the field to meet up with Kodi. Everyone congratulated her before they took more pictures. They were going to lunch, and later that night, Kodi was going to a graduation party one of her classmates was hosting.
After taking pictures, they went to the parking lot.
Rohan, Jalen, and the girls got into Jalen’s vehicle while Vega got into his rental, and his mother, brother, and Alynn got into his brother’s car.
They’d rented a section at Kodi’s favorite restaurant for the occasion and headed in that direction.
After they finished lunch, they went to Jalen’s apartment. His mother, Trent, and Alynn went home. Once they arrived, the girls headed down the hall to their rooms to put up everything they had and take their shoes off. He sat on the couch with Jalen while Vega sat on the loveseat.
“To think I could have missed this,” he said, shaking his head. “Missed her graduating, her college acceptance.”
“We’re glad you didn’t,” Jalen replied. “I know it means a lot to her to have you here for this moment. To have you here when she received the acceptance into her first-choice college.”
Rohan couldn’t begin to truly understand how Vega felt. However, he knew that if he were in the situation, he’d feel the same. Vega had taken it better than Rohan was sure he would have. He himself would have been pissed, and there was no guarantee he wouldn’t have said something to Valerie.
Vega hadn’t spoken to her at all outside of when she’d popped up at Mikal’s birthday party. He commended him for that.
Kodi was the first one to come back down the hall, and she sat on the loveseat beside Vega, tucking one of her feet under her.
“I thought that now with school out, I might come to stay with you for a little while this summer. You’ve been coming here, but I want to know what your life in Colorado is like. Maybe Mikal and I can both go if that’s okay with you and Jalen,” Kodi said, looking between the two.
Rohan watched as Vega smiled before turning his attention to Jalen.
“I don’t have a problem with that,” Jalen replied with a nod. “I actually think it’s a great idea.”
As the rest of the girls trickled into the living room, Mikal turned the television on and started a Marvel movie. Nathan complained for all of two seconds until she saw Groot dancing on the screen.
“Dad, Rohan, we’re doing a movie night and snacks since Kodi’s going to her party. You should come,” Mikal told them, eyes still on the television as they were halfway through the movie.
“I’d love to, but I have plans I shouldn’t break,” Vega told her. “We can go get ice cream tomorrow.”
“Okay,” Mikal responded. “Rohan, what about you? You could stay here if we finish late. You never stay over.”
Kids had a way of saying things and making them sound normal, and this was one of those times.
She was right; he didn’t stay over, but it was out of respect for them.
Whenever he and Jalen spent the night together, it was at his house.
He turned his attention to Jalen instead of answering Mikal right away.
“She has a point,” Jalen told him with a smile.
“That sounds like fun, Mikal,” Rohan replied to the eleven-year-old.
When the movie ended, Kodi stood and stretched, announcing she was going to take a nap.
He was sure that she was tired. She’d been on the go for the past several weeks.
Jalen had informed him that Kodi had several classmates who had booked her to do their hair for prom.
However, she’d only taken a few and had done none the day of, instead focusing on herself.
Not to mention, once she’d gotten her acceptance letter in April, she’d been planning everything she needed to buy to take with her, and everything she needed to do before then.
“What time are you going to the party?” Jalen asked.
“I’m going to leave at eight. I’ll probably call an Uber in case you need your car,” Kodi told her.
“If you aren’t going to drink, you can take mine,” Rohan told her.
“Really? Thanks, and I don’t drink.”
Kodi went down the hallway as Omari asked Rohan if he’d draw with her.
When he told her he would, she skipped down the hall, returning with a long piece of craft paper and her coloring box.
Nathan wanted to join and pulled Landon along, which then turned into all of them sitting around the kitchen table, drawing on different sections of the paper.
At some point, Landon drew different flowers, and the twins were excited to color them in, bouncing around the table as Landon drew them all around the paper.
When six o’clock rolled around, he stood to head home and pack a bag.
He told Jalen to order whatever they wanted for movie night, and he’d pick it up on his way back.
As he slid behind the wheel of his vehicle, Rohan smiled to himself.
He’d felt it for a while, but he always enjoyed the feeling he got around them.
As if he’d extended his family, and in reality, he had.
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Jalen and Rohan were putting away the leftover pizza after they’d finished the first movie.
The girls had gone to take a bath before they started the next one.
She suggested they do so since it was going on nine, and she was sure at least the twins would be asleep by the time they got into the next movie.
Once they were finished, they returned to the living room. Jalen sat on the couch with her elbow propped up on the back of it. Rohan pulled her feet into his lap.
“I thought that for your birthday next month, I could take you somewhere for the weekend,” he told her.