Kristen's Pov
I couldn't believe my ears, I didn't want to. I feel like I don't even know them both anymore. How am I so stupid? Normally, I could piece stuff like this together.
Now here I am, at the hotels bar enjoying my fourth can of Diet Coke. I learned my lesson from last time. I don't want to wound up in Zach's hotel room again. Not at this time of place.
"Are you sure you don't wanna order a Whiskey or Vodka? It's on the house," A bartender asks me.
"I'm okay, trying to cut myself loose from alcohol for awhile."
"Then you probably should've went to Subway instead of a bar," she laughs and I didn't bother to reply. "I'm just kidding around. What got you down in the dumps kid?"
I blow a raspberry, "I don't wanna bother you with my life story."
"Haven't you ever heard the saying whatever happens in Vegas stays in Vegas?"
I raise an eyebrow, "I don't think that applies here-"
"Go on, tell me what's running through that head of yours."
"Fine, let's just say, I just uncovered some unbearable news, and I don't know how to handle it."
She pours a drink for herself and serves another Diet Coke for me. "I can tell you one thing you shouldn't do, drink away your problems with sugary drinks."
"Which is why I'm drinking Diet Coke," I clarify.
"Really?" She question, making a face.
"Sorry," I lower my head, resting it on my hand.
"You know, you kind of remind me of someone," the bartender says.
I take a sip of the soda, "Who?"
"My daughter, you both have that sparkle in your eyes."
I smile at her words, "How old is your daughter?"
She shrugs her shoulder, "No idea, probably in her twenties, I think."
"What do you mean by that?"
"Well before I moved here, I lived in Los Angeles with my husband and my daughter. But things occurred and I had to send her to an adoption center. I wonder every single day what's she up to nowadays."
My jaw drops at the description she just spilled out. "Oh, so you two aren't close?" I question.
"Not at all. I had to give her up at a very young age. I didn't even get the chance to hear her say her first words."
It can't be, can it?
"I'm sorry to hear that. If it isn't rude to ask, can I ask for her name?"
"It was ages ago but I'm pretty sure her name was something with a K like Krista, Kristy, or-"
"Kristen?" I blurt out and she nods her head. I don't believe it. I've been trying to find my birth parents for years. And it turns out that they moved to the Bahamas.
"How did you know?" She asks.
I didn't answer just yet. Taking a sip of my drink, I waited for the right moment to release it all out. "Hey, Mom."
"What did you just call me?"
I roll my eyes, "I'm your daughter, everything you just described right there is my life. Which was hell by the way."
"You must be mistaken. What's your last name?" She asks.
I shrug. "I don't know, you dropped me off at that orphanage so quickly, my foster parent changed it to her last name."
"I-uh-I don't know what to say to you."
Shaking my head, I slap down the money. "You don't need to, your actions explains it all. Thanks for everything Mom."
"You don't understand, I wasn't ready to raise a child. I was just a teenager." She says trying to soften the blow.
Tears roll down the side of my cheeks. "Well I wasn't ready either! Do you know what shit I had to put up with at such a young age. I got bullied, teased, and got beat up constantly. It came to a point where I didn't want to live anymore, but you didn't care. Because you decided to move away."
"Kristen-"
"Stop," I cut her off, "If you're just going to tell me that you weren't ready then explain to me of how the adoption center didn't have any records of you or Dad." She stayed silent and that gave me my answer.
"I was seventeen and I didn't want my Mom to know that I was pregnant so I asked my friend to bring you there. They didn't realize that she wasn't the birth mother until later which is why there isn't any record of me."
I can't believe everything is unraveling right this second. And I thought the whole Zach thing was dramatic. "I get it you were embarrassed by me. I mean who wouldn't? Also how can you hide your pregnancy with that bump on your stomach for the past nine months."
"Funny story actually-" she starts but cuts herself off. "Sorry, not the time. Listen I'm sorry for everything that happened in the past but I want to make things right. Now." She holds both my hands and rubs them.
I flinch at the sudden movement. Everything is happening too fast. "I got to go."