All Roads Lead to Starbucks

Chapter 2

"Your test results are in," the nurse said.

I had been sitting in this white, fluorescent lit room for two painstakingly long hours. The whole place smelled like bleach and grape medicine. There wasn't much to do in this room. There were a couple magazines about health and what Justin Bieber's new haircut looked like, but other than that, there was nothing.

Without anything to do, my brain had started to wander. I started thinking about what it would be like if my dad took me in, if I could have a real, loving family. People to ask me how my day was and sit at the dinner table with me.

But with that being the positive side of things, there was always a negative. What if my father didn't take me in? What if he did take me in but was some drunk or abusive man? Was I wrong to find out who my father was?

My mother had never really cared for me. She was gone early in the morning and out late at night. I remember as a kid when I had sat in the house all by myself and read fairy tales. I loved that no matter how bad the situation was, there was always a happy ending. I had believed I would have a happy ending too, but then I realized I don't live in a fairy tale.

I used to believe that story about wishing on an eyelash to make your wishes come true. I pulled out almost all of my eyelashes for a year, wishing my mom would come home early or she would get married and I would have a family. But when none of those wishes came true and I got made fun of at school for having no eyelashes, I gave up.

This had been going on for two hours. I looked up now to find Beth talking to the nurse about something. Beth had come with me to the doctors office. I had asked her too. I didn't want to go through this alone, and although I had only met Beth a few hours ago, I felt like I could trust her.

Plus, I thought I had found a soft spot on her heart. She had agreed to come with me without a second thought.

Currently, Beth and the nurse were speaking in hushed tones in the corner. I caught them sneaking glances at me but pretended not to notice as I tuned into their conversation.

"Are you sure that's who her father is?" Beth said softly, probably hoping I wouldn't hear. "There isn't some mistake? Maybe the test got messed up, maybe, oh I don't know. This doesn't seem right."

Beth seemed rather upset. This didn't make the anxious butterflies in my stomach get any smaller. This is it. I knew it. He's the town drunk isn't he? Or maybe he's a homeless man? What if their assumptions about him being dead were true?I knew I was wrong to try and find my father, I should've just gone into foster care for a year. Is it too late back out?

I knew I wasn't going to like the answer but still I asked, "Who is he?"

"Honey," Beth said slowly. She and the nurse shared a knowing look. The butterflies in my stomach continued to fly crazily.

"Your father is Henry Stuarte." Beth grimaced slightly, probably expecting me to react negatively.

However, I had no idea who that was.

"Um, who is that?" I said. Why is Beth acting like I was going to freak out and throw a tantrum or something?

The nurse, who looked like she was in her mid-thirties, looked me up and down, then said, "Hun, don't you watch the news?"

I thought about that. I guess I never really did watch the news. Watching T.V uses electricity and electricity costs money. I'm not sure why we ever kept our old T.V anyway.

The nurse continued talking, "Henry Stuarte is the owner of Starbucks, a.k.a the largest coffee company in the world. He's a very wealthy, very famous man."

The butterflies in my stomach turned into birds and the last thing I saw was the floor getting closer and closer.