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Very few truly unbelievable things have happened in my life. This is one of them.
So this happened on a regular weekday. Must have been a Wednesday or a Tuesday.
My only child, Jessica, and I were sitting on the couch, in my living room. We weren't talking, just watching TV, feeling disinterested in anything and everything. She wasn't doing enough housework, she wasn't cleaning up her messes, I was running short of my patience with her.
She was in her usual bitchy attitude. Ever since she was a teenager she rejected me, refusing to tell me about her personal life, trying to disengage. She wanted nothing to do with me, and, to be honest, it hurt. Even though I was the parent, and I was supposed to be the one supporting her, rather than the other way around... it hurt. Especially when she graduated high school and then immediately ran a thousand miles away, and didn't answer my calls. That town didn't work out for her, and she came running back home to me, with no money left. That was six weeks ago.
Jessica, by the way, is very young, only 18 years old. She's always been very good looking. She doesn't have a classic hourglass movie figure but she's very lovely nonetheless. She was a volleyball player in high school, and she is very striking, 5 foot 10 and athletically built. She has surprisingly large breasts, which she hides underneath loose hoodies. Her hips, thighs, and butt are quite remarkable, years of training have made her very shapely, which is something I've noticed whenever she wears yoga pants, like she is right now.
She had just shaved her legs, they glistened in the living room lighting. She always did have nice skin... creamy with just a hint of caramel. I may not be a looker, or a good dad for that matter, but at least I didn't mess her up in the genetics department. She usually wears her straight, light brown hair in a cute ponytail, but tonight it was down, and she had been fiddling with it absentmindedly.
"There's nothing good on" she said. I glanced over at her. Her face was full of resignation and boredom. "Why don't you have any good channels? This is all sports and garbage."
"Kiddo, you are welcome to pay the cost of an upgraded cable subscription. Once you can afford one." I responded, and pointed at the cable box. "This alone costs me a hundred dollars a month. One thousand two hundred dollars a year, every year, and I've had it for coming up on ten years now, so that's-"
"I get it! I get it, sheesh." Jessica turned away from me. "It's not my fault the economy has gone to shit. It was your fucking generation that let that happen, by the way."
"The economy doesn't matter. You could work at any restaurant, any department store. They aren't closed when the economy is bad. You do have those skills remember? You have held down a job before."
"They aren't hiring me Dad. I've tried. Believe me I've tried. But for some reason they don't want me! So the only thing left for me is the fucking RideShare app. And when you average out the pay and the cost of gas, you get seven measly dollars an hour, dad! Seven! A house costs fucking five hundred thousand dollars. This shit is completely fucking impossible. The world has gone to shit."
I sighed. She had a point. But at the same time, she was counting herself out, and not looking for opportunities right in front of her.
"You could work at Arrow. You could work at SuperBurger."
"And earn what? Thirteen dollars an hour instead of seven? Wow, such an enormous upgrade. You earn ten times that for sitting on your ass in an office."
It was true. After many many years working at construction companies, I had finally landed an executive role, and was making over 200 big ones a year. I could afford to support her, I just didn't see a reason to keep doing that while she contributed absolutely nothing. She had only been at the house for six weeks, but we were already getting tense and tired of each other.
"Well, maybe I don't know how things work now. How are your friends supporting themselves?
Jessica paused to think. "Um, well, three of my girlfriends are in college, one is working for work, and one is..." She trailed off.
"And one is, doing what?" I asked.
"Well, the other girls say she has gotten into sugaring. And she posts on Facegram all the nice outfits she's been able to buy. I'm sort of jealous to be honest."
This was an awkward development, I thought. I asked, "Wait, what is sugaring, sweetie? This is a new term for me." I feigned ignorance to see how much she knew.
Jessica sat up, and fidgeted with her hair. "Um, well, apparently it's when you have a sugar daddy. And the girl is called a sugar baby. So, basically the baby sells time alone, to her daddy, and they do, you know, naughty stuff, and she gets paid."
Her phrasing stood out to me. I asked "So, who's the daddy?"
Jessica gestured with her hands as if I was missing the point. "Her daddy? What kind of question is that? Like, it's her dad. Her father. Duh."
I leaned forward and put my elbows on my knees, to conceal my shock. "So you're saying you're interested in that sort of thing?"
Jessica leaned back and crossed her arms. "Well, I kind of wish I could do it with someone else, but this is what everyone is doing, this is how it works... Tons of girls are doing it, to help pay for college and stuff. And besides, it can't be that awful."
"Okay. So, hypothetically. Just to think about it. If you become my sugar baby, I'd pay you well for your time."
Jessica stared at the TV and flipped channels, pretending to not be interested. "Like, how well?"
I braced myself. "I would pay you sixty dollars an hour." I threw a silly grin on in case she looked over in shock. But she didn't look over, she kept gazing at the TV.
