Chapter 26

In just another moment, Ian noticed that I was standing right there, eavesdropping.  I tried to pretend that I was zoning out, but I don't think it worked.  Lucky for me, though, Ian didn't point out the obvious.

I inched up to him.

"Hey-so how'd the interview go?"  So it looked like he wasn't even going to mention the phone call.  I shouldn't have listened in anyway...

"Oh, I think it went good.  I hope.  He was quite hard to detect..."

"I'm sure you did great, Jez.  You'll get that job for sure!"

"How will I know if I did?"

"You should get a phone call if you got the job."

"Speaking of phone calls..." I couldn't help it.  I had to mention it.

"Yes, what about phone calls?"  Of course Ian was going to give me a hard time.

"What do you need to do soon?"  I sucked in a deep breath, hoping that me asking and putting it out in the open that I listened in wouldn't make him hate me...(though, he must have already known that I heard part of his phone call).

"Jez, this isn't the perfect time to talk about that.  I'm sorry, but we'll have to go through that later..."

I frowned deeply.  I wanted to know what he was talking about, but I didn't want to know badly enough to budge it out of him.

"Jezabelle, let's go home."

Before I could ask about the car, he touched my hand and he took us back home.

He took us into the living room.

"Um...so why didn't we come home in your car?  Surely you don't want your car to sit in the science facility's parking lot all night..."

"While you were having your interview, I brought it back home and teleported back.  When you were done, I wanted to leave as soon as possible."

"Why?"

He shrugged.  "Well, Jez, I'm sure you need to unwind after your interview.  I figured we could watch a little tv."

"Yes, that would be fine."

I sat on the couch and flipped on the tv to Lilly's Life in Jersey.  But then Ian came to sit on the couch too-I thought he'd sit next to me (nice and close), but he awkwardly sat way far away from me on the other end.  I decided to point it out to him (I was acting silly, but I really did want him to sit closer), "Ian, why are you sitting way over there?"

He moved his moved his arm from the arm of the chair up and down.  "I like the coziness of sitting on the edge.  The arm of the sofa is so soft."

I nodded, disapointed. But you could consider me an 'edge' if you sat close enough to me...

I am starting to think that he only likes me for a friend!  He's just too good for me: can't I just get that through my head already?

I dropped the subject, and we watched tv show after tv show.  Some of the shows I watched were pretty good.  I was really beginning to like Max's Brilliant Mind.  There was a marathon going on, so we watched a lot of the episodes.  I know it sounds like a weird tv show, and that's because it is.  But, it's weird in a good way.  Max owns a business-a bowling alley, and it's about all of his totally fail moments.  I was laughing during a lot of the moments of the episodes...

Randomly during a commercial, I blurted out, "Iwanttomeetmyparents."

"Sheesh! Alright, breath Jez.  Breath!  Alright, I'll google it tomorrw, alright?"

I nodded.

Eventually, I pulled myself away from the television and snuggled into bed.

As I quickly pulled the sheets to my body, my heart was thudding so hard.

While I was watching tv, I was thinking through seeing my parents, coming up with numerous scenarios.  But, then I was with Ian, and distracted by the tv.  Now, I was alone in my room, it's dark, and the only thing with me is my mind.  My thoughts began running wild.

What if the DNA test went wrong?  What if they don't recognize me?  I mean, really, how would they be able to recognize me?  It's not like we could prove it so easily...sure Ian could take along the DNA samples as proof, but how would my potential parents understand any of it?

My thoughts were going wild-there's more of those negative thoughts where that came from.  With how I was thinking, there's no way they'd accept me or believe it-but I still had to do it.  I still had to do it even if it was probable that I would fail.

After all of the negative thoughts (and trust me, there were more), I started to go through various scenarios as to how it could go.  So really, I was just implementing all of the negative thoughts into the possible reality.

By the time I fell asleep, I was sure that anything and everything would go wrong.

When I woke up the next day, I didn't want to leave my bed or do anything.  I pulled my legs close, and looked down at my bed.  I was so incredibly nervous to meet my parents.

I started to think through a scenario.  I tried to fight it and think of something else, but it was no use.  The thoughts just kept flowing.

I was walking up to a crappy shack, and Ian wasn't beside me, but I heard him say 'Jezabelle, you can do this by yourself.  You don't need me with you.'  'No, Ian!  Don't leave me!'  But then, he was gone.  I continued to walk up to the house, and I tripped over a few stones, and a my arm started to hurt so bad, I clutched it tight.  I almost screamed in pain, but I realized that I hadn't yet even rung the doorbell-if there was a doorbell, screaming in pain would just make me look bad.

I walked to the door, and I looked for the doorbell, and I pressed it.  A spider ran up my finger.  This time I couldn't hold it in and I screeched.  My supposed parents opened the door and looked at me in disgust.  'Who the fuck are you?'  My father asked.  'Oh, it's me!  Your long lost daugher.'  With that, they both through their heads back and laughed at me!...

Suddenly, my thoughts were interrupted.  I heard Ian get onto my bed, but I wasn't willing to look at him.

"Hey, Jezabelle.  You nervous?"

I didn't look at him, but I continued the scenario in my head.

...I looked down at the ground, extremely embarrassed that my own parents wouldn't accept me. 'But..but...I'm your daughter!  I have the DNA to prove it.' They both raised a skeptical eyebrow, and I showed them the DNA shreds in two small ziplocs.  'See?  This is your DNA, dad, and Ian tested it...You're my father.  Our DNA is similar.'  'Yeah?  And how can you prove it to me?  I'm not gonna understand how to test that DNA for myself-who on Earth is this Ian person?  Why should I trust that the experiment he conveyed was correct?  How can you trust him?'  I looked to his left, realizing that-how could I trust him?  How did I know anything?  I mean, he's obviously hiding something from me-he never told me what he said on the phone.  He had said he'd tell me later, but will he?  And if he does, will it be the full truth?

Tears started to flow in my eyes as I continued the scenario, and I let myself fully collapse on my bed.  I covered my eyes-I didn't want Ian to see me like this.  I glanced at him, and I noticed that he was laying right next to me.  As I met his eyes, he put his arm over my stomach comfortingly.

He whispered, "Jezabelle, everything will be okay.  They're your parents.  I'm sorry, I shouldn't have even told you that there was even a possibility that my testing and comparing could be wrong.  I'm ninety five percent sure that Rachelle and Alexander Evans are truly your parents.  That's a pretty good chance right?"

I whispered back a hollow "yes".

"Well, good, Jezabelle.  Don't you worry, they know that you were missing, and they'll be ecstatic when you meet them.  I'm sure they'll be very glad to have such a nice, wonderful, beautiful daughter."

I smiled at his compliment, but at the same time I was confused.  With how he had been acting it didn't seem like he liked me, but generally friends don't say that about each other.  But, then again, this is Ian we're talking about...

"So what do you say, Jez?  You ready to google your parents?"

I wiped away my tears, and forced a smile on my face as I sat up.  "Yeah, now is as good a time as any.  Let's get this over with.."

"Jez, don't worry.  Your parents will love you!"

As Ian went to turn on his laptop, I changed into some clothes.

Ian started searching for my father, and sure enough, he found his address, wrote it on a slip of paper, and put it in his pocket.

"Alright, Jezabelle.  I think I found your father's address..."

"But...why can't we just call first?  Wouldn't it be better to do that?  I don't know, I think it would be less weird than seeing some random people on their door step claiming to be their daughter, and the other being a...friend."

"Well, I think it would be best to walk onto their doorstep."

"But..."

"Yeah, I know it will be scarier, but if they just see you..."

"I see what you're saying.  Perhaps they may be able to see a resemblance?"

"Hopefully, yes."

"Ian, what do you mean hopefully?!"

"Jezabelle, there's nothing to worry about!  You'll be more than happy to be doing this."

He turned off his laptop and stood up.

"Alright, are you ready to go?"

I made myself smile.  "I'm as ready as I'll ever be."

"Alright, let's take the car again-same scenario as yesterday."
I nodded, disappointed.  Just as he told me a while ago-teleporting just never gets old.

We went into his car, and Ian took out the slip of paper and set it on the dashboard.  Luckily it wasn't that warm out and the windows weren't open, otherwise this method wouldn't work so well.

"What, Ian?  You can't memorize the address?"

"Yup.  I have such a terrible memory.  You wouldn't want to walk up to some random person's house and claim to be their daughter, right?"

I nodded, looking amusing.  But, inside, I was just talking lightly because I was so nervous.  I was feeling way more nervous than I was before my interview.  I was positive that Ian could hear my heart thumping.

After my initial jokes, I spent the rest of the time looking out the window, but it wasn't much longer.  It turns out that my parents live in the same town-just on the other side, so they actually weren't too far away.

Soon, we arrived at the house and I was astounded to say the least.  The house was big and modern, situated on a gigantic lot.  This house was pretty much the exact opposite to what it was in my daydreams- and hopefully the outcome will be the opposite too- and...my parents were rich!  So my mom does presentations for lucid dreaming.  Okay, but how does that roll in the dough?  But what about my dad...

I quickened my speed, suddenly excited to meet my parents.

Ian caught up.  "New found confidence, huh?"

"Yeah, I guess so...this house is amazing, so hopefully they are too..."

When we made it to the front door, my initial confidence was starting to lift away.  My heart went back to thudding, but this time it was even harder in my chest-I didn't even think that was possible.  I held onto my chest hard, annoyed by my heavy breathing.  I couldn't ring the door bell just yet-not with me suffocating like this!

"Jezabelle.  Ring the door bell, there's nothing to fear.  The worst is almost over."

I hesitated, and found the doorbell, and pressed on it.