Page 82 of Plaything

Reesia focused on a small stain in the carpet, touching it with her fingers. “That one’s self-explanatory,” she dismissed. At my lack of response, she looked up at me. “What?”

Not knowing how to or if I should tell her, I took another sip of my drink. “Nothing.”

Reesia glanced at the page momentarily before laying on her stomach, her chin resting on her palms, elbows against the carpet. “You made the same face earlier when I said Daddy in the mall,” she recalled.

“I shouldn’t like it,” I explained shyly, barely sparing her a glance.

“Why not?”

I shrugged, “It’s weird. I’ve never even called Charles’ dad, but it still...”

“First of all, the endearment, Daddy, has nothing to do with your actual father, babe. Ew,” she giggled. “It’s like... he takes care of you. It’s a sexy caregiver name,” she struggled to explain.

“So it’s not Freud messing with me?” I clarified.

She shook her head. “Maybe a little,” we both laughed. “I’m the queen of Daddy issues, and if I can call Collin Daddy, you can call them Daddy.”

Feeling tired, I laughed humorlessly, “I’ll challenge you for that title.”

She smirked, “Try me.”

Feeding off her sick sense of humor, I tilted my head, “Charles slut shames me even though I’m a virgin and constantly belittles me.”

Reesia’s mouth dropped open for a moment. “Damn, okay.” She grinned, “My dad got drunk all the time and took his anger out on me.”

My stomach sank as I stared at her. She won.

Reesia and I both stared at each other for what felt like forever. When the corner of her mouth turned up into a smile, I couldn’t stop myself from laughing. It started as a small huff, then grew into a full-blown laugh. Reesia was the same, laughing at something that wasn’t funny by any means.

I didn’t understand why either of us felt the need to laugh. Was it her bluntness? Or was it the fact that we both had horrible fathers for very different reasons? I guess it goes to show that healing and coping were strange.

Catching my breath, I decided to share more, “When I was eight, my dad made me shoot my own puppy,” I admitted.

Again, there was a small pause before we broke out in laughter. Reesia clutched her chest, shaking her head at me as I drunkenly let out a snort as I laughed, making us laugh harder.

“Wait, wait, wait—” Reesia wiped a tear from her eye, “My mom hit me too!” She added.

My body must have stopped functioning—along with my brain because no sound was coming out. I’d always heard about laughing so hard that it hurts, but I’d never experienced it until now.

We were slapping each other’s legs, holding our torsos, and crying as we found humor in the humorless. For the first time in my life, someone understood. Reesia had it much worse than I did, but she knew what it was like. If I told these things to anyone else, they’d pity me, but I didn’t want that—I never wanted that.

“Reesia,” I was unable to form coherent words, but I tried. “Charles had me on a DNR list, so if anything ever happened to me, I’d die.”

She looked between my eyes as she fell on her back, her hands on her stomach as she lost it.

My own laughter hadn’t lightened up any either. That was the first time I’d ever told anyone that. I found out when I turned eighteen and immediately got it changed.

It was minutes before either of us were able to act like humans again. Reesia sat up and chucked a few more times before she sighed, “I needed that.”

For the minutes filled with uncontrollable laughter, I’d forgotten why I was so scared of the man. “Me too.”

“Odette,” Reesia nudged me. “Take it from me; having a Daddy is much better than having a father,” she winked.

Still unsure of the endearment, I gave her a simple nod. I wouldn’t deny that I definitely liked it when Dominic called himself Daddy. However, I didn’t like that I liked it.

Another hour flew by as we drank, talked, laughed, finished the kink list, and played a board game. It was only when I noticed our conversation slowing and both of us struggling to keep our eyes open that I finally stood.

The room literally spun, and I stumbled back onto the couch, making Reesia chuckle, “We’re so drunk,” she deadpanned.

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