Within The Bonds

37: Dad!?

"Who is this guy?" I ask Lindsey in a hushed tone since everyone in the room seemed to know him except me.

Lindsey turns to looks at me with an unreadable expression in her eyes. "You don't know who he is?" She asks almost in disbelief which causes my frown to deepen.

"If I did would I be asking you?" I counter a bit irritated.

"Astoria his is you-" Lindsey is stopped mid-sentence by Fallon, "Linds can you come here for a second?" Lindsey looks unsure for a moment but soon nods in compliance and head over to her sister.

I discreetly glance at the stranger, meticulously studying him. His very familiar eye causes a nagging feeling in my gut. He is standing next to Noah and Liam who are busy conversing with him.

The ringing of my phone grabs my attention, I narrow my eyes at the unknown caller ID but accept the call nevertheless.

"Hello?" I'm the first one to speak as soon as I press accept.

"Hey, it's me, Parker," the person on the other side says.

"How did you get my number?" I ask, my defensive mechanism kicking in almost immediately.

"I have my ways," he replies obnoxiously.

"You know how stalkerish that is?" I point out as I move out of the room and head towards the patio away from anyone else's hearing range.

"Eh," he says nonchalantly.

'Why am I still talking to him?'

"Why are you calling me Parker?" I ask cutting to the chase.

"I thought you said you would love to talk more?" He articulates feign a hurt voice quoting me.

"That's called being polite and having manners," I retort, rolling my eyes at his words even though he can't see me.

"Well that hurts," he grumbles, all the playfulness gone from his voice.

"That's your problem, not mine," I tell him in a casual tone.

"You are definitely a Santos." I frown at his words. "What's that supposed to mean?" I voice my curiosity.

"Never mind that, the reason I called is to ask if you would be coming to watch the game next Friday?"

"What game?" I enquire further.

"The boys team are playing our first game next Friday, you silly girl," he chuckles and I just roll my eyes once again.

"Nah, I have plans next Friday," I say lying through my teeth, but not feeling the least bit guilty about it.

"You sure you don't want to change or maybe even cancel those plans?" His asks haughtily, I can feel the egoistic smirk in his tone which irritates me.

"Yup! Plus, I have no interest in being there either way," I retort truthfully. This guy has an ego the size of Mount Everest and I'm in one way going to add to it.

"Fine, it's your loss," he says and even though he tries to act all cool and unaffected by the situation, I know that I have hurt his fragile ego.

"Um-Parker?" I say with hesitation and uncertainty, "yeah?" He replies almost immediately with an edge of hopefulness to his tone.

"Lose my number, will you?" Saying this I hang up without giving him the time to respond.

Giggling to myself, I head back into the room. Still at the entrance of the room, I notice a heated conversation going on inside between Jack, Xavier, Liam, and the stranger.