Page 233 of Daddy's Pride

MONDAY 5:02 PM

Um, I don’t mind it. That’s all I’m trying to say.

MONDAY 5:03 PM

Good to know. :) What’s your other nickname?

MONDAY 5:03 PM

My roommate Tyler calls me “O.”

I’m not actually sure if that counts as a nickname, or if he’s just being lazy, tbh.

*To be honest.

Um, in case you didn’t know what that meant.

Was that rude to assume he didn’t? Because my parents would throw a fit if I used any acronyms or slang when texting them, and Gay Daddy was old too, right?

Well, not that old. He’d said he was only thirty-five. And sure, that was older than me—like, way older—but I’d Googled some thirty-five-year-old celebrities just for like, some context, and none of them looked old.

MONDAY 5:05 PM

I do know what it means, but thank you for explaining anyway. That’s very thoughtful, sweetheart.

MONDAY 5:05 PM

Thank you, Daddy.

I blinked hard after hitting send. I mean, yes, he’d said I could call him Daddy, and I’d already been calling him Daddy in my head—well, Gay Daddy—and he still hadn’t actually told me his real name, so… so it wasn’t weird?

I bit my lip. Okay, it was weird.

But really, was it any weirder than me just texting him all of a sudden like this?

Oh, I’d had a reason for doing that. I’d almost forgotten about it, but maybe if I just quickly sent him my actual question, he’d sort of skip over the weirdness of me calling him “Daddy.”

MONDAY 5:07 PM

Actually, um, not to bother you anymore but I just had a quick question because you said you liked your job and I wondered what it was?

But I’m not asking to be nosy! And obviously you don’t have to tell me if you’d rather not. I just… I think I might fail out of my classes. I want to be a vet, but if I can’t because I fail college, then I’ll, um, I’ll need to find something else that I like to do and I’m not sure how to do that.

My heart was suddenly pounding, my throat feeling weirdly tight. I had no idea why I’d thought this would be a good idea. If I’d said any of that to my roommates, they would have just told me I needed to get laid. If I’d dumped it all on Hannah, you know, back when we were still dating, she would have gone off about how tough her classes were, like it was some kind of contest. And there was no way I could ever mention to my parents that I might be failing. After “no whining,” my dad’s other favorite phrase was “real men handle their own problems”.

So why on earth did I think it was a good idea to unload it all on a stranger?

I rubbed my chest. He’d read the messages, but wasn’t typing back yet. And shit, he was a stranger. Just because I’d turned his other messages into some kind of weird emotional security blanket didn’t mean he wanted to hear all about my problems.

MONDAY 5:11 PM

I’m sorry. Obviously, none of that is your problem. I’m not trying to whine about it. I just thought, since you have a job you like, that maybe you’d have some tips on, um, figuring out, like, everything.

But if not, that’s fine! Or just, if you’re busy.

It’s fine.

Sorry.