Falice

21 Years

Inspired by Mamma Mia
•••

Charles sat in a booth across from his two closest friends, Chic and Hermosa. The two were called to meet him at Pop's as soon as possible because he had news to share.

"Okay, so what is it?" An anxious Chic asked. "What are you dying to tell us?"

"Yeah, I didn't get out of bed for you to beat around the bush."

"Alright, so you know how I don't know who my father is? I'm pretty sure I found him."

"You what?" Chic and Hermosa both gaped. "Well, who is he?" Hermosa added.

"That's the thing. I'm not entirely sure. I just narrowed it down to three guys."

Charles spent years wondering who his father was. He had attempted to ask his mother numerous times before, but she always wound up changing the subject, so he gave up on that approach.

He was helping her clean out the attic one day when he found an old diary that belonged to her. "I found this," Charles placed the book on the table. "In here, she documented the days from before I was even a thought. One of these three guys is my father." Charles tapped on the cover. "And I want my dad to attend my graduation, so I invited him." Charles was graduating from college and he wanted both of his parents there.

"Which one did you invite?" Chic asked.

"All three," Charles gritted his teeth unsurely.

"What did your mom say about this?" Hermosa, astonished, rose her eyebrows.

"She doesn't know," He confessed.

"You're crazy, man." Chic shook his head in disbelief.

"I think he knows," Hermosa agreed with him.

"So who are these guys?" Chic got back to the topic of his father.

"First, there's FP. He's a mechanic from Toledo who came to town years ago for who knows what. There's also Hal. He's a writer from New York who came on a business trip. The third one is some guy named Edgar. He's a psychologist from San Junipero."

"Woah, and these three guys are all coming for tomorrow?"

"Yes," Charles nodded. "They think my mom invited them though so I really need to figure out which one is the one."

•••

Charles sat at the front desk while his mother was in the back in her office with two of her friends, Mary and Hermione. She spent a lot of time and money fixing the place up for her business. She had always dreamt of pursuing her passion in writing and that's what she was doing.

Charles leapt up from his seat when he saw three men walking towards the building. He rushed out to greet them.

"This place looks way better than it did the last time I saw it," Hal said out loud. FP glanced at the man but kept to himself.

"Uh, hey, welcome to The Register." Charles stopped them from going inside. "You three must be here for the graduation ceremony tomorrow."

"You must be the graduate of hers," Edgar said.

"That's me," He ushered them away from the building. He led him to the side of The Register, away from the windows.

"Is your mother here? I want to speak to her."