On the day that you turn 18 everyone is given the first words that their soulmate will speak to them. When you receive yours, it says ‘Welcome to Starbucks. Can I take your order?’
I check the mailbox for the third time today, still finding it empty. When was it supposed to get here?
“Just be patient,” my mom say when I come back through the front door.
I groan, flopping down into a chair at the kitchen table.
“How long did yours take?” I ask.
“I got mine at midnight,” she replies. “The night before.”
“Well, why can’t mine be that early?” I question.
“Not everyone gets theirs at the same time,” she assures me. “How about we go to Starbucks and get some pumpkin spice to help with the waiting.”
I nod, then go get my sweatshirt from my room.
We drive over to Starbucks, which isn’t too far, but it’s far enough that we have to drive, we can’t walk.
“Good morning, what can I get for you today?” the barista asks me when i walk up to the counter.
“Two pumpkin spice lattes please,” I answer.
She nods, and then turns to make the drinks.
When we get back home, I check the mailbox again, and it’s still empty.
“Your eighteenth birthday isn’t technically for another two hours,” my mom reminds me.
I roll my eyes. “Is that how it works? It’s the exact time you were born?”
She shrugs. “I’m not sure. How about you go watch some TV. I’ll call you if I see the mailman come by.”
It seems strange, not doing anything on a Tuesday. But everyone is given their eighteenth birthday off of school, work, whatever. Because it’s a very important day.
I just don’t understand why it’s taking so long.
I must have fallen asleep, because I open my eyes to my mo shaking my shoulder gently.
“It’s here,” she says, holding out a small white envelope.
I take it quickly, ripping it open and digging the small piece of paper out from inside it.
“What does it say?” she asks.
“Welcome to Starbucks. Can I take your order?”
“No, really, what does it say?” she asks, leaning over to look at the paper for herself.
“That’s what it says,” I say with a groan. “That’s the sentence I hear the most often, why does it have to be something like that?”
“Well, we do go there almost every day,” she says. “That means you’ve got a bigger chance of finding them sooner.”
We do go there pretty much every day. The thought calms me down a little.
But I still can’t sleep when I go to bed that night.
“Good morning, welcome to Starbucks. What can I get you?”
“Welcome, what would you like?”
“What can I get for you?”
“Welcome to Starbucks. It’s a lovely morning, isn’t it?”
“We’ve got a discount for students today since it’s finals week. Are you a student?”
“Nothing like caffeine on a morning like this.”
A year and a half has gone by, and I still haven’t found them. No one’s said the greeting the exact way that it’s printed on the small piece of paper that I always keep in my pocket.
My heart skips every time I walk through the doors, excited by the possibility that this might be the time that I find my soulmate.
But even though it’s gotten very close a couple times, they’ve never said the right words.
One morning, I’m late. So late. I’ve got a class that starts in ten minutes, and it takes eight to walk there. I don’t have time for coffee today.
The disappointment that runs through me during the entire lecture makes me want to cry, but it’s nothing compared to the though of never finding my soulmate.
I trudge out of class, and across campus to another, only to find out that it’s been cancelled.
Well, that’s something good that’s come out of today.
I walk down the street, not really sure what to do with the extra time that I’ve been given, and I see a sign for a Starbucks just around the corner.
Might as well, what can it hurt?
I walk through the door, and a bell rings, echoing in the empty space.
It doesn’t really phase me. Most everyone on campus is in class now, and those who aren’t wouldn’t be out of bed yet if they were smart.
I step up to the counter, then ring the bell after a few seconds of waiting.
I hear a crash in the back, and then someone’s footsteps getting closer.
“Welcome to Starbucks. Can I take your order?”
