Page 21 of Juice

When it was my turn to walk across Jude and I stepped up the stairs and made our way to the front where the deans were standing. Once my degree books were placed in my hand a wide smile broke out across my face. After taking a quick picture the two of us left the podium.

Instead of going back to my seat I meandered back over to the stands and walked Jude up to where my family was.

“We sliding?” Julius asked as he picked Jude up and sat him on the side of him.

“Nawl, I’mma wait until they dismiss us.”

“Bet.”

Leaning down I pecked him on the lips before turning and going back to my place. At this point graduation was over with for me but I wanted to stick around so that I could get some pictures with my classmates. We’d been through some tryingtimes during this program and life was getting ready to separate us.

Unlike myself, the majority of them had already landed their full-time jobs in our field. My last hospital rotation was at the children’s hospital so as soon as I got cleared for graduation I applied for a PRN position there.

I had secured the degree but let’s keep it real, there wasn’t a job out there that was going to pay me what I made hosting. So, while I had no plans on using my degree full-time, I still planned to work here and there.

On top of that I had a swimwear line that was dropping in a few weeks that would keep me busy. Since being with Julius my plans of moving out of the state had changed for sure. With me being attached to him I’d been able to make enough money to take care of my whole family.

As soon as the ceremony commenced, I took pictures with my school friends and said my goodbyes. Before we parted, we made plans to link one last time before everyone left the city.

Julius had gotten a sprinter for everyone to ride in so once I was done, we left the auditorium and went back to the house for the party.

As soon as we made it home, I changed clothes, put Jude on his swim trunks, and started celebrating. Julius had invited a shit load of people so there were folks running in and out of the house. I’d been in and out of the pool playing with Jude for a minute and I was getting tired. I decided to leave him out there with Julius while I took a break.

Locating my mama and my granny in the living room I ambled their way and plopped down on the couch.

“Congratulations, Riah.” My granny, Mariah beamed.

Leaning down I wrapped my arms around her and kissed her on the cheek. “Thank you, granny.”

“Now what kind of doctor are you? Cause you ain’t been in school that long and this the only graduation of yours I done been too.”

“Mama, Nariah got her bachelor’s and her PharmD at the same time.” My mama spoke up.

“Umph. How she do that?”

“It’s the program I went through granny.” I laughed.

“Oh, that must be nice.” She shrugged.

“Granny confused as hell.” My sister whispered.

“She is.” Sliding down I rested my legs on the coffee table. “Mama y’all taking Jude back home with y’all?”

“If I can pull his ass out of that pool I will. When y’all leaving again?”

“I think we fly out at like six. I gotta ask Julius to be sure.”

“How long you gon’ be gone sister?”

“Just the weekend. Hopefully you’re still here when I make it back.”

“I don’t know.” Lariah pouted.

Julius had gotten booked to perform in Miami, so we were flying down to spend the weekend there. Initially I wasn’t going to go but the event he was performing at was huge and I wanted to wear my swimsuit so the buzz about it could start.

What started out as a simple idea had morphed into a whole line. I remember asking Julius if he thought I should take it serious, and he said he did. There had been plenty of times where people would inbox me inquiring about what I had on. So when I saw how much of an impact I had, I decided I might as well put that money in my own pocket.

My lineJurniwas very precious to me. Julius and I had flown to Korea a few times so that I could meet with the designer. I had a feeling the first drop was going to go crazy, and I couldn’t wait.

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