I Went on a Blind Date Because I Had No One to Celebrate the 4th of July With and Met a Person I Had No Idea Existed — Story of the Day

Spending the Fourth of July alone wasn’t part of the plan. With everyone else busy, I ended up on a blind date with someone I didn’t even know existed. Little did I know, this meeting would change everything, revealing more coincidences than I ever expected.

It’s not that I was always the life of the party or loved being the center of attention, but I always had someone to spend the holidays with.

Whether it was friends, boyfriends, or family, I never spent important days alone. But there's always a first time for everything, and for the first time, I had a holiday spent alone.

All my friends were either with their families or partners, and my mom had gone somewhere with a friend. I was sitting at home, bored, trying to figure out what to do.

I was too old to just go out and party with strangers, and I wasn’t really in the mood for it.

From outside, I could hear the cheerful shouts of people, and almost every window had a flag hanging.

When I was in college, the Fourth of July was one of my favorite holidays, and maybe that's why I felt so incredibly lonely that day.

I decided to text my neighbor, Lindsay, who had ditched me and gone to the lake with her boyfriend.

@Me: I feel so lonely :(

@Lindsay: Don’t even think about texting your ex!!!

@Me: But everyone ditched me, and now I’m stuck here in my apartment while everyone else is out having fun :’(

Lindsay sent me some link.

@Me: What’s this?..

@Lindsay: It’s a site for anonymous dating. You can't see the person’s photo, but you can chat with them. Find someone and go on a date already, for God’s sake.

@Me: Sounds not great, I’ll pass.

I replied and put my phone down, but after wandering aimlessly around the apartment and staring at the ceiling, I picked up my phone again and registered on that stupid site.

I scrolled through profiles, adding no one, until I saw that someone had added me. His name was James.

I looked at his profile. He was a marine biologist, which caught my attention because I loved the ocean.

I even had two aquariums at home. I added him, and immediately got a message.

@James: Hey! We have the same birthday!

I checked his profile again, and we really were born on the same day, in the same year.

@Me: Nice!

@James: What are you up to?

That’s how our conversation started. I told James that everyone had ditched me for the holiday, and he said the same thing happened to him, even his dad went fishing with a friend and didn’t invite him.

We chatted for a while about work and the ocean. James told me a lot of interesting things for my aquariums, until he finally said:

@James: Let’s meet up.

I paused for a second because I didn’t even know what he looked like, but I thought it was the holiday, there’d be a lot of people out, and I had pepper spray in my bag.

@Me: Sure :)

James offered to pick me up, but I felt safer going on my own, so I told him not to bother. He sent me the address of the place where we were supposed to meet.

Calling a cab on a holiday wasn’t easy at all, but I managed, and soon I was waiting outside the venue, looking at every man walking by. Although I didn’t know why, since I had no idea what James looked like.

Suddenly, a man approached me, a brunette with blue eyes.

"Hi, are you Jess?" he asked.

"Are you James?" I replied.

"The downside of anonymous dating – first meetings are always awkward," James said with a smile.

"Even if it’s not anonymous, first meetings are always awkward," I said.

"True," James replied, opening the door for me.

At first, the conversation was a bit stiff, but then we both seemed to relax, and it got easier.

"I only filled out that profile because I moved here recently and hardly know anyone," James said.

"Where are you from?" I asked, and when James mentioned his hometown, I was surprised.

"I'm from there too, but my mom and I moved shortly after I was born," I said.

"Too many coincidences, don’t you think?" James asked.

"Maybe it’s fate," I joked, though I probably meant the cocktail inside me.

Suddenly, I noticed something oddly familiar on James's wrist – a bracelet. How had I not noticed it earlier? A brown leather bracelet with half of a heart charm engraved with the letter "J."

"It’s the only thing I have left from my mom," James said, probably noticing my gaze."They divorced when I was a baby, and my dad didn’t even keep a single picture of her," he added.

"This is so strange," I said, removing my own necklace from around my neck. It was the exact same, half of a heart with the engraved letter "J." "It’s the only thing I have left from my dad. My parents also divorced when I was a baby," I said.

"This is too many coincidences," James said.

"I know, right?" I said, then took my necklace in my hands and pressed it to his bracelet. They fit perfectly, together forming a whole heart.

"What the...?" James said, clearly confused.

"I don’t know, this is too weird. Do you think our parents knew each other or something?" I asked.

"It doesn’t explain that we were born on the same day," James said.

"Do you know what time you were born?" I asked.

James nodded. "You?" he asked.

"10:02," we both said at the same time.

"What the...?" James shouted.

"This can’t just be a coincidence," I said.

"Maybe our moms gave birth at the same time. Maybe they were friends," James said.

"I... I don’t know. This is starting to freak me out. I’m beginning to think you’re some kind of maniac and you want to kill me," I said.

"I’m not a maniac," James said.

"All maniacs say that," I replied.

"Maybe you’re the maniac," James said.

"I’m not a maniac," I answered.

"All maniacs—"

I interrupted him. "Yeah, yeah, I get it, but this conversation is going nowhere. I feel like I’m in some movie," I said.

"Do you have a photo of your dad?" James asked.

"No, my mom threw out all his photos after the divorce. The only thing I know is that he worked as a mechanic," I said.

"Just like my dad..." James said quietly.

I frowned. "I’m calling my mom. It looks like she’s got something to tell me," I said."I’ll call my dad," James said.

We both stepped outside, hoping it’d be quieter so we could talk on the phone.

But outside, it was anything but quiet—there were tons of people, loud music, fireworks going off, and people shouting and laughing, while everything I knew about my life slowly started to crumble.

Mom picked up almost immediately. "Hello, Mom? Where are you? We need to talk," I muttered.

"I told you we were going to the cabin by the lake," Mom said.

"Yeah, but this is important," I said.

"Are you dying?" Mom asked.

"What? No," I said.

"Then it can wait till tomorrow," she said and hung up. I turned around and saw James, who had also finished his call.

"My mom said she couldn’t talk today," I said.

"My dad said the same," James replied.

Then it hit me. Back when I was in school, my mom and I shared our locations with each other, so we wouldn’t worry if someone didn’t pick up. I checked her location, and my frown deepened.

"Everything okay?" James asked.

"Mom said she was with a friend at the cabin by the lake, but I just checked her location, and she’s literally on the other side of town. Why did she lie to me?" I said.

"Do you want to go to her?" James asked. I nodded.

We got into James’s car and drove to the address where my mom was. It wasn’t easy, many streets were blocked, and there were plenty of drunk people on the road. It felt like the apocalypse had begun, but eventually, we made it.

It was some kind of motel. We got out of the car, and I spotted my mom’s car in the parking lot.

"She’s definitely here," I said.

"Let’s ask someone which room she’s in," James suggested, and we headed toward the reception. But then he stopped.

"What’s wrong?" I asked.

"That’s my dad’s car," James said, pointing to a blue jeep in the parking lot.

We exchanged a confused look and quickly went to the reception. For 20 bucks, they told us which room my mom was in and mentioned she wasn’t alone, she was with some guy, probably James’s dad.

We headed toward the room where my mom was and both knocked on the door.

Mom opened it almost immediately, but when she saw me and James, she quickly shut it again.

"Mom, are you kidding me? I saw you!" I yelled through the door.

"I don’t know what you’re talking about. I don’t have any children," my mom replied from the other side.

"Is this some kind of joke?" I yelled.

"I can break down this door," James said.

A second later, the door opened, and I saw some guy standing there. "No need to break anything, come in," he said.

"Dad, what the hell are you doing here?!" James yelled.

"We’ll explain everything," James’s dad said.

"Yeah, you better. But I don’t know how you’re going to explain that I go on a date with a guy and find out we were born on the same day, at the same time, in the same place," I said. "And then there’s this," I added, showing my necklace and raising James’s arm to reveal the bracelet.

Mom covered her face with her hands. "I was so afraid this would happen," she said.

"What’s happening?!" I screamed.

"Say something!" James yelled.

Mom lifted her head and looked at us. "How can I say this gently… um... well... you’re brother and sister," Mom said quietly.

"WHAT?!" We both yelled in unison.

"This is some joke... you’re definitely just messing with us," I said.

"We only met today because James moved here, and I knew there was a chance, sooner or later, you’d meet," James’s dad said.

"So, we’re what... twins?" James asked.

"Yes," his dad said.

"What? How did this even happen?" I asked.

"Our divorce was tough, and we couldn’t split you up, so we decided each of us would get one child," James’s dad explained.

"Are you insane?! How did you even come up with this?! How could you agree to it?!" I screamed at Mom.

"Do you think it was easy?! Knowing my child was out there somewhere without me, and I’d never meet them! But I had you, and that made it better," Mom said.

"Normal people just do joint custody, not this circus you made," James said.

"At the time, it seemed like the only option," Mom said softly, approaching James. He stepped back.

"Son, not a day went by that I didn’t think about you, my little boy, and now you’re a grown man," Mom said, stroking his cheek. James hesitated, then hugged her tightly.

James’s dad, well, my dad, stepped up to me. "Jess, I know you’re angry. Those half-hearts were my idea. I wanted both you and James to have something from me and your mom," he said. He seemed to expect me to hug him, but everything felt so wild.

"Are you kidding me? You think you can just tell us this and everything will be fine?! You’ve been hiding us from each other all our lives!" I screamed and ran out to the street.

I sat on the motel steps, watching fireworks in the sky. I heard footsteps and then saw James sitting next to me.

"Hey, sis," he said.

"How can you be so calm about this?" I asked.

"I'm not calm at all, but I didn’t know my mom for my whole life, and now I see her, and I’ve got a twin sister. This is shocking, but it’s not all bad," James said.

"We could’ve started dating," I said.

"Glad it didn’t come to that," James replied.

I rested my head on his shoulder. "Tell me everything’s going to be okay," I asked.

"It will be," James said.

And we sat on the steps, watching the fireworks, though neither of us had any idea that day would turn out like this.

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If you enjoyed this story, read this one: I hadn't spoken to my younger sister in years, but when she showed up for our Fourth of July celebration, I never expected her to bring chaos into our family. What started as a joyful announcement soon spiraled into a battle for inheritance, secrets, and shattered trust.Read the full story here.

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