Daddy Issues

32 - Lord help you

By the time I wake up, Fake Dan- sorry, Luke- has already left. He told me last night that he volunteers at an animal shelter on Sundays. I know right, is this guy a fucking Saint or something?

He told me that I should sleep in as long as I want, so I don't wake up until around 11. I could have slept longer, but I'm woken up by the sound of tiny paws scratching against the door.

Remembering little Samantha, I get up to open the door to the bedroom and she immediately rushes in and jumps onto the bed. There she runs around in exciting circles making excited noises.

'Hi you tiny creature.'

I sit back down on the bed and she runs to my lap where she flips onto her back again to be patted. I can't help but laugh. Mom really should have let me have a dog. Everything would have at least been better.

'Aren't you a little cutie pie. Yes, you are! Yes, you are!'

She flips back over and starts to jump up to my face, trying to lick me, but I hold her off a little.

'Okay, that's alright now, honey,' I say trying to dodge her little tongue. In my attempts, I look back and my eyes fall onto a note on the nightstand. When Samantha finally calms down a little and curls up in my lap, I lean back to take it into my hands.

Morning Emma,

I hope you slept well. Feel free to use the bathroom and take whatever you like for breakfast from my kitchen.

Last night was kind of weird, but I enjoyed it. I hope you did too and that you feel a little better. If you ever want to talk some more, here's my phone number.

Luke

Ps. Just a reminder to please not steal anything. And don't kill Samantha. Also, she's not allowed on the bed.

I chuckle at the note, signed off by his phone number. Then I take a look at the bed and quickly try to pat away any potential dog hairs.

'Don't tell him I let you on the bed,' I tell Samantha. She sighs in response, like she's been told that many times before.

Then I carefully lean back again to grab my phone. It's almost dead since Luke didn't have a charger that fit, so I'm going to have to do something about that soon. I will definitely add his number. We stayed up for some time last night talking about anything and everything. In the end, I did give him a more detailed description of how and why I got these stupid feelings for Dan. But I didn't go into depth about my mother and I didn't tell him about Jack. That's too personal.

He told me that he's studying psychology which made me ask him if he actually brought me home as some sort of test case. Fortunately, he assured me he didn't. But everything he told me about his studies sounded fascinating and it made me think again of how Dan suggested getting therapy. Maybe it would be beneficial. But it would also be a lot of fucking work.

As soon as I unlock my phone, the calmth that I woke up with disappears. There's a lot of missed calls from Dan. Even one from my mother. I feel bad. He must have been worried that I never came home. Mom couldn't have been, but he must have talked to her about it or something.

He's been texting me too. A lot of questions asking me if I'm okay or telling me that he knows last night sucked but that I shouldn't run away from it. But it's the last text he sent that really gets to me.

Emma, I get what you're doing. You don't want to be home right now. But after what happened the last time, you can't be surprised that I'm worried. Please just let me know that you're alive and well.