“Matty can you turn the music down, I can’t hear myself think.” as thirty something Lauren brushes her blonde mane, Matty grunts back “Yeah. Hey are you working today?” Lauren shouts back “Ya, going into the office for three hours to write two pieces that are stuck in my head for my blog and then I have a hair appointment.”
“Hold on L someone is at the door.” He heads to the door “Lauren there’s a girl here to see you.”
“Who is it?”
“Egg, she said her name is Egg?” he softly laughs while walking towards the back of the house. Lauren walks to the door as she eyes a petite girl with a brunette bob and an emerald nose ring “Hi, I’m Lauren can I help you?”
“Hi Lauren, I’m Anna Mancini, you donated an egg eighteen years ago and well, I’m it!” with an awkward smile. Lauren is slightly stunned and feeling lightheaded “Um, do you want to come in?”
“Sure, thank you. Sorry to come so early and unannounced, I’m a senior at North Morris High in Laguna Beach, I have a bad case of senioritis and I’m skipping school to come to see you.”
“Uh oh, I hope that’s okay?”
“No worries it is, I’m all caught up with my studies and basically it’s ‘smooth sailing’ until I graduate.”
“Okay, good.” Lauren adds quickly. Anna nervously asks “Am I catching you at a bad time?”
“No, I was just on my way to the office for a couple of hours, would you like to come with me? Some people bring their dogs so I’m sure it’s not a problem.” Anna laughs “Oh my god sorry, I didn’t mean for it to come out like that!”
“No worries I knew what you meant, and sure!” excited, Lauren responds “OK, cool. Let me grab my bag and we can be off!” As the girls walk to Lauren’s car Anna awkwardly utters “So what do you do?”
“I’m a writer.”
“Cool! I want to be a painter, well I am one but I would love to make a living at it!”
“Nice, can I see your work sometime?”
“YEAH, of course, I would love to show you!”
“Will your parents be mad that you’re here?”
“No, they’re cool. They trust me.” She smiles at Anna. Anna’s nose is crinkled up while looking at Lauren “We have the same shaped eyes.” Lauren sticks out her long neck and peers in “What do ya know, we do. Your eye color is hazel, so pretty.”
“Thank you, yours are too, brown?”
“Yup. Wow I can’t believe we live so close by to each other, what a coincidence!”
“I know, right?”
As they both walk into The Laurel Canyon Ledger office building. Lauren sees Joe, the sales manager, casually leaning himself against the reception desk. “Hey Joe, this is my new friend Anna!” as she winks at her “Well hello there Anna, it’s nice to meet you!” Anna shyly smiles while looking at the large male adult “Hi.”
The girls are walking to Lauren’s cubicle, Anna brightly chirps “I turned eighteen yesterday!”
“Happy Birthday!”
“I wanted to meet you the second I became an adult but my annoying parents insisted on having a dinner and a cake.” Lauren chirps back “I’m honored!”
Lauren sits in front of her computer and Anna plops down on the swivel chair and starts to swivel around “What do you write about?” Lauren contently smiles “I write announcements for birthdays, wedding, engagements, births and anniversaries.” Anna chimes in “Cool!”
“What do you like to do Anna when you’re not painting or in school?”
“I like to play with my little brother Milo, he’s three. I like to bake, read, watch movies and hang out with my friends.”
“Are any of those ‘friends’ a special someone?”
“I think my friend Adam is smokin’ hot!”
“Nice!”
“So who was the guy who answered the door?” Lauren replies with ease “Ahhhh that would be Matty, my spirit twin.”
“Cool, I never heard of that before.”
“So, OK Anna I have to write an engagement of a same-sex couple and both of their names are Mary. They usually write out what they want to say but this couple asked me to put my own spin on it in the beginning, with their approval of course, you wanna help?”
“Sure, that sounds fun. Hows this? Mary Mary, how I love how our garden grows!” They both erupt in laughter.
Walking back to the car two hours later, Lauren turns to Anna “Are you hungry?”
“Starving!”
“OK then, let’s feed that belly.” both with ear-to-ear smiles as they hop in the car. Anna casually states “This is so easy, the conversation, my demeanor, it comes so naturally. I was so nervous. But, I always had a good instinct about meeting you, that never wavered.”
“I’m very glad to hear that. I know what you mean and you’re right, it does come naturally!” a care-free and at ease Lauren continues “Oh, and you never have to be nervous around me, please don’t. Feel free to talk about anything, my ears will always be attentive.” Anna smiles unabashedly “So what are you in the mood for, burgers, sandwiches, salads…?” Anna chirps “Sushi!”
“Ahhhh a girl after my own heart, Sushi it is” They’re delightfully dipping their colorful round fish in green gold and soy sauce. Lauren is blissfully content filling her stomach with taste-bud-popping goodness “So tell me about your mom and dad!” Anna looks up while thinking “My dad Brian is so cool, he is a writer as well and a musician. He’s Italian and Latino.”
“Wow that’s a nice ethnic mix, do you have a picture of him?” Anna pulls out her phone, Lauren is peering in “Oh my he is so handsome!”
“Thank you, I love my mom too.”
“OK then.” Lauren softly laughs, Anna responds nervously “No, my mom is so loving and attentive, it’s just my dad is my best friend!” Anna puts her phone up to Lauren’s face “Here’s my mom!” Lauren is looking at a face of an Indian woman with sea blue eyes. “Oh MY Anna, she is beautiful!”
“I know, she is! She was born in Mumbai. She is a child psychologist. So tell me about your parents, oh and why did you donate an egg, thank you by the way?”
“You’re very welcome! OK well let’s see, my dad died when I was eight, cancer, and my mom was a fashion model in the late seventies early eighties and now she is a fashion show designer, and humanitarian. She organizes a lot of women’s foundations. Oh, wait for it…!” she pulls out her phone and sticks it in Anna’s face “Oh my god Lauren your mother and I have the same exact nose!”
“I know right!”
“I can’t wait to meet her! If you want me to, that is.”
“Of course, I would like that!” Lauren looks up while pondering “OK, so the donor egg question. Well, I was just starting my first year of college and I read an ad a couple, your parents, were looking for a donor and would pay twenty grand, and as a poor college student I was enticed, plus I thought it would be so cool to give life to a childless couple.”
“Cool, what did you do with the money, if you don’t mind me asking?”
“No, not at all. Books, tuition, and I bought a car!” with a bright smile, the two girls bust out in laughter. Lauren softly asks “Anna, did your parents tell you anything about me?”
“Yes! They said you were a beautiful smart college student studying psychology at USC. That’s one of the reasons I had a good instinct about meeting you.”
“Thank god for those instincts!” while winking at her. They get up and exit the restaurant. As they’re walking to the car Lauren excitedly asks “Oh, I have a hair appointment, do you want to come along? We can make it a spa day, my treat!”
“For sure!”
The girls are lounging in black puffy chairs while getting their toes and fingernails primped. “Oh my god Lauren what happened to your big toe, it’s crooked with a blue tint?”
“Yeah I know, thanks for the reminder. My first boyfriend dropped a 75-pound dumbbell on it by accident, and it’s permanently blue.”
“Ewww, ouch!” Anna let’s out an uncontrollable quiet giggle.
“So, Anna what kind of hairstyle are you thinking about?”
“Hmmm platinum blonde with black tips on the ends!” states with a jutting confidence “Oh, I don’t know, I don’t want to get in trouble with your parents.”
“Oh, no it’s cool, my mother and I talk about me having that same color, a change-up since I’m graduating, it’s fine!”
“OK, oh, where are you going to college in the fall?”
“An art school in LA”. Lauren smiles at hearing the location.
Lauren walks out of the massage area, stunned while looking at Anna “Wow, you look beautiful!”
“Thank you, do you really like it?”
“Yes!”
“Oh, can you take my pic so I can text it to my mom?” passing Lauren her phone “Sure, oh who does she thinks you’re with?”
“My friend Julie, I think. Don’t worry I’m going to tell her all about you when I get home. We already talked about this before I turned eighteen. She’s gonna be so happy for me that I know where I come from biologically!”
Lauren is looking at Anna in awe, she puts her head down and gently weeps “Lauren, what’s wrong?”
“I’m…I’m just so happy you came into my life, I thought about this off and on for eighteen years, ever since I made the donation. And if anything were to come of it, I was just hoping to be your friend and be there for you for however long you wanted me, and give you whatever you wanted or if you needed anything, whether it be money, emotional support, anything!” Anna is teary and quickly springs up from her seat “Awwww. I want us to be more than friends. Like sisters, family!”
“I would like that!” the two tightly embrace. They’re walking back to Lauren’s car, Lauren stops “Hey, Egg?” Anna smiles while turning her head towards Lauren’s face “I have a confession to make, I hope you don’t mind me saying this but It will not take me more than a week to fall head over heels in love with you, kiddo.” as she ruffles Anna’s blonde and black bob. Anna is beaming from ear to ear “Fine by me!”