Page 86 of Swiped By My Dad's Best Friend
“He seems like a good guy,” Kev said. “He rushed into that ER like he was ready to perform life-saving surgery if needed.”
“Yeah, he’s got a real”—Daddy—“herocomplex,” I said. No way was I sharing my kinks with these guys. “His heart is in the right place.”
“So, it’s serious?” Simon asked.
“Yeah.”
“Thatguy though?” Aaron asked. Obviously, he hadn’t gotten his juvenile reaction out of his system yet.
“What’s wrong, Aaron?” Kev said. “You jealous? You think Cooper should date someone like you?”
Aaron sputtered, face going red, and I laughed it off. Most of my frat bros had my back, that was the important thing. There would always be people who couldn’t understand why I’d choose to date someone so much older than me, not to mention homophobic and biphobic assholes who judged me for other reasons. The fact was, Trace made me happy. Having a Daddy satisfied me in ways I barely comprehended myself. I couldn’t let people like Aaron tarnish that.
“I’ve only got so much brain power,” I said. “Simon, are you ready to make good on your promise to help me with screen work?”
Once I’d gotten my phone back and Trace helped me check notifications, I’d returned calls to some of my friends. Simon had offered to help me out, and I wasn’t too proud to take him up on it.
“Just tell me what you need,” Simon said. “I owe you.”
“We haven’t won any prize money yet,” I said. “I might not be able to help you at all.”
“Dude, you nearly broke your head slaving away on these projects,” Simon said. “And don’t try to say you would have either way. You had to take on more work just to make us eligible to win that cash. Even if we lose, even if the frat votes to do something else with it, I’ll always appreciate what you tried to do.”
“Yeah, man,” Kev said. “Simon is way smarter than me, but I’ll help too. Whatever you need.”
I took a seat on the couch and opened my backpack to pull out books and folders. “My laptop is up in my room.”
“I’ll grab it,” Kev said, taking the stairs two at a time.
Simon looked at the spread of schoolwork now covering most of the coffee table. “You’ve got your work cut out for you.”
I nodded. “You regretting that offer to help?”
He laughed. “Nah, I can handle a challenge.” He picked up a bundle of stapled printouts from the top. “Poly Sci essay. Piece of cake.”
I snorted. “Glad you think so.”
“It’s basically just reading this analysis and then summarizing, right? With a bit of commentary thrown in.”
“Yeah,” I said.
“Can you read?”
I chuckled. “Sort of? I can read, but my concentration is crappy. I’m trying to read it a little at a time.”
He nodded. “Maybe we should start with something simpler. You got anything that’s not massive amounts of reading?”
“I’m supposed to be doing a digital marketing project,” I said, digging through my pile until I found the project summary. “Basically, I need to create a three-pronged digital marketing approach for a fictional business. We’ve been learning about social media advertising, so that’s a no-brainer, and I guess…other options are like, a branding campaign, newsletter marketing, website presence. It’s all digital, you know? The idea is to create a proposal that works best for the business, so I have to do a little industry research.”
Simon nodded along, taking my laptop from Kev when he returned. He opened it up, letting me type in my password before taking over.
“Any ideas about what business then? This shouldn’t be too hard. You sound like you’ve got a good grasp on the digital marketing options.”
It was my best class to date—partly because I’d grown up with digital marketing in my face. But talking about the parameters of the project had gotten me to thinking. Maybe I could kill two birds with one stone.
“Yeah, maybe. Can you type landscaping industry into the search bar? Narrow it to the Midwest.”
If I could evaluate what other landscape architects were doing in the region, perhaps I could tailor my project to help Trace compete better against this Legacy company. Trace had said he didn’t have a lot of money, but that was the beauty of digital marketing. You didn’t need a huge budget to start. And knowing how much of a Luddite Trace was with technology, it may not have occurred to him to try.
