Dandelion- Jess Mariano

♡Chapter 46: Solution♡

Elijah throws open the blinds to their dorm room with a grin, as Parker groans. She covers her eyes with her pillow, trying to continue getting sleep.

"Nope, you have to get up." Elijah says, pulling the pillow away. "You have a guest." He says, and she glares at him. After waiting for her for a minute, he gets impatient. He starts to toss her books and clothes on her bed, keeping her from falling back asleep.

She finally tosses the blankets off of her, giving Elijah a dirty lol as he stands in front of her, looking proud. "Fine, fine." She says, pulling on her outfit, as he puts gel in his hair on the other side of the room. "I hate you." she says, as he grins at her.

He laughs, knowing she was kidding. "You love me." He says, pushing her farther out the door, and Parker freezes at who she sees sitting in front of her on the couch. "Oh right, I forgot about that." Elijah says, remembering why he woke her up in the first place.

"Chris?" She says, in disbelief at the man sitting in front of her on the couch in her living room. "What are you doing here?" She asks, and he looks up at her, smiling, seeming a bit nervous.

"Your friend let me in." He says, and Parker spins at Elijah, pulling him by his arm back into their room.

Turning back towards Chris, Parker smiles, but it looks strained and forced. "Excuse us for a moment." She says, and Chris nods as she closes the door behind them. "What. The. Hell." Parker says in a low tone, trying to avoid Chris hearing them.

Elijah, looking innocent and confused, tilts his head at her. "What? He said he was here to talk to you, I thought you were expecting him or something." He explains, having good intentions, but executing them very poorly. "Who is he?"

"That would be my biological father." Parker says, sitting on the end of Elijah's bed. After hearing Elijah mutter 'oh shit' under his breath, she laughs a bit, as she adjusts from the shock of seeing her biological father on her couch. "Don't worry about it, I know you meant well." She says, and he nods.

He sits next to her on the end of the bed. "Do you want me to tell him to leave?" He asks Parker, and she shakes her head.

"No I should talk to him." She says, standing up and starting to walk towards the door. "Thank you though."

Elijah nods, staying where he is. "Text me if you need me to call and save you." He says, and she laughs, nodding before pushing open the door to face Chris again.

_____________

"So you still haven't told me what you're doing here." Parker says, taking a sip of the coffee she was holding. She was sitting across from Christopher in a restaurant, a small one he had seen as he drove in to meet her.

Christopher nods, trying to figure out how to start his explanation. "I'm sorry for just dropping in like this, unannounced." He says, and Parker smiles, letting him know there were no hard feelings. "I have recently acquired some... Considerable amounts of money." He says, sounding proud, but looking a bit uncomfortable with admitting this to Parker.

Parker smiles, confused as to why that would cause him to come visit her. "Good for you! Have you told Mom yet?" Parker asks, the name still feeling a bit unnatural to say.

Chris shakes his head, cutting into some pancakes the waitress had just given him. "Not yet. I was heading that way, but I was passing through the area and though I should come talk to you." Chris explains.

"I'm confused though," Parker mentions, deciding not to skirt around the topic. "What does this have to do with me? Not to be rude, but we aren't very close, and I didn't expect you to come say hi on a whim." She says, and Chris looks a bit taken aback by the blunt tone, before quickly recovering.

He clears his throat, sitting up a bit. "Right, well you are my daughter, and while I may be your father, I know I'm not your dad." He says, with a knowing smile. "I know that title falls to a specific diner owner. But I still have a sort of responsibility to be here, and to help you if you need me."

Parker smiles at the comment about Luke, but still didn't understand how this related to the large amount of cash he just got. "That's good to know..." She says, trying to encourage him to get to the point.

"Right. So the money, I feel as though I don't need it all. I bought all I could have wanted to get with it, and set aside a college fund for Gigi." He explains, and Parker's eyebrows furrow together, trying to decipher where this was going. "And I want to know if there was any way I could help you out, pay for something? College? Textbook?" He asks.

Parker's eyes widen in surprise, shocked that he was offering this to her. They didn't keep in touch, or talk much other than at Christmas, and even then he left abruptly. "Oh um... I'm not sure. I have my tuition figured out.." She could swear Chris almost looked disappointed, and so before she caught herself, she added to her statement. "Maybe I can think of something. I'll let you know?"

"Right, yes of course. Take your time." He says, and they stay eating together for a few more minutes. "So do you want to do anything today? I saw mini golf down the road a ways if you wanted to do that?" Chris offers, and Parker doesn't want to say no, so instead tries to come up with an excuse.

She grimaces a bit, feigning regret as she spoke. "Actually I think I have something going on this afternoon..." She says, and under the table, she texts Elijah. 'Okay save me please, I need an excuse.' She types.

"Oh it's okay, just skip the class, I'm sure one won't hurt anything!" He says, and suddenly they hear a voice from next to them, looking up.

"Hey!" Parker looks up and sees Jess, standing above, smiling at her. Her eyes widen, and he takes the moment to explain. "I forgot one of my bags, and I wasn't too far away, I thought I could just come back..." He says, but at that moment, Elijah bursts in, there and excited to save Parker with what he thought was a great idea.

He bursts in, and being so focused on saving Parker, doesn't realize Jess, standing nearby. "Babe! We're going to be late for our double date!" He announces, sliding in next to Parker, slinging an arm around her shoulders and placing a kiss onto her cheek.

Chris watches this with an amused look on his face. Parker smiles at Elijah, and then looks up at Jess, who seems to be frozen in place. But it looks as though he got a shock, as he suddenly jolts into action, quickly leaving the diner. Parker struggles past Elijah, who looks utterly lost and confused.

"Thank you, you did great." Parker says, offering a light kiss onto his cheek, before racing out the door, leaving Chris and Elijah together, confused and baffled at the situation.