Austin Carlile Is My Father? (#Wattys2015)

Fifteen Yard Penalty; Unnecessary Roughness

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Austin

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"Shayley Bourget?" Sienna asked, her eyebrow quirked. 

"The same." Austin replied, his mood unreadable. "How do you know him?"

"I personally don't know him." Sienna mumbled. "I only met him like...once or twice. He was friends with my mom-"

"Were they more than friends?" Austin asked, his mouth in a bitter frown. 

"I don't know." Sienna sighed, looking at her hands. Austin didn't know what to think. How could Lucy had known Shayley? The last time Austin saw Lucy was in high school. How could Shayley- "Why?" 

"Excuse me." Austin grumbled, standing up, tugging at his hair and grabbing his sunglasses. "I'm going for a walk." 

He picked up his phone and in the reflection, he saw Sienna's eyes welling up in tears. He knew he should say something comforting to her, maybe explain his confusion and slight anger, but he knew he wouldn't be able to control his emotions once he started talking about Shay and Lucy and the possibility of them being together. 

Austin shoved his phone in his pocket and walked off of the bus, traveling aimlessly to distract him from his twisted thoughts. 

His birth town was a quiet place. Small. Everyone knew everyone so it wasn't possible that Shay moved in his old hometown without Austin knowing. Could she had gotten in contact with him when she found out that he was in a band with Austin? Possibly. But that wouldn't make sense. 

Austin made a noise of dismissal in the back of his throat and found himself walking towards the small pay phone that was at the corner of the venue. 

Austin grumbled something incoherent and grasped the phone, flicking through his contacts on his iPhone. 

When he found the one he was looking for, he dialed it on the pay phone after inserting a couple of quarters. 

"Hello?" Asked a familiar voice. Austin felt a lump in his throat as he clenched his fists. 

"Shayley?" He mumbled, his eyes cast downward. 

There was a slight pause that sounded like Shayley was shifting his phone around. "Austin?" He sounded about as surprised as Austin felt, seeing how he didn't think he had the balls to call his old band member and friend up. 

"Yeah," Austin replied when he finally found his voice "how are you doing?"

"How am I doing? Shit, man, I could ask you the same question." Shayley laughing making Austin's teeth sink into his lip. "What's all of this I hear about you having a kid and all?" 

Austin swallowed hard, now remembering his anger again. 

"Shay, I think you already know about that." He growled. "You know, Lucy Francias?" 

Shayley was silent on the other end making Austin's blood boil. 

"Lucy? How do you know her?" Shayley asked, shocked. Austin shook his head and rolled his eyes. 

"I know her because her daughter is my daughter." Austin snapped, clenching the phone tightly. 

"Oh, shit. Really?" Shayley gasped. "Oh my god. Yeah, Lucy was my ex girlfriend's best friend." Austin's hand stopped gripping the phone so tightly and sighed. 

"So you didn't date her in any way?" Austin asked softly. Shayley laughed at the thought.

"No, no. I only spent some time with her when she was feeling pretty down." Shayley gave a sigh. "And uh, yeah. Nothing happened. I gave her kid a little CD with the acoustic versions of some songs I was working on. It was before I met you, of course."