TeenDad2: It’s been a long day. I’ll be better once I get some sleep.
KnotMyProblem: Is it Bo again?
A sensation itched beneath Gage’s skin, like he’d been stuffed with fiberglass insulation. It prickled and stuck, and no matter how he shifted, he couldn’t get it to go away.
TeenDad2: Sort of. It’s a lot of things.
KnotMyProblem: I know that I’m an asshole, but if you need someone to talk to, I’m here for you. I want to help make things better. What can I do?
The exhausted, grumpy part of Gage’s mind wanted him to tell KnotMyProblem that he could help by keeping his nose out of Gage’s business. The kinder, more rational part of his mind assured him that Knot was a friend, and he was trying to help. Still, the prickling feeling didn’t go away.
TeenDad2: There’s not a lot you can do, unless you can bring my bf home from Munich haha
KnotMyProblem: Your baby daddy?
TeenDad2: Yeah
KnotMyProblem: What’s he doing in Munich again?
TeenDad2: he’s studying at LMU to get his PhD
KnotMyProblem: Uh, so, why isn’t he getting his PhD closer to where you live? You’re in Aurora, right? There are good schools there. You don’t need to waltz off to Europe to get your doctorate
TeenDad2: LMU is THE top school in his field
KnotMyProblem: Okay, so…?
TeenDad2: So when he graduates, employers are going to rush him. He’s already had a bunch of job offers.
KnotMyProblem: … To positions located in Aurora?
Gage frowned.
TeenDad2: No.
KnotMyProblem: TD…
TeenDad2: He’s coming back to Aurora. He is, Knot. I know that you think he’s stringing me along, and that he’s playing me, and that I’m being stupid, but I’m not. He LOVES me.
KnotMyProblem: He’s been gone what, for almost five years? Bo’s almost four, and it takes nine months to make a baby, so…
TeenDad2: I don’t see what your point is
KnotMyProblem: A lot changes in five years. Five years ago, you were a teenager.
TeenDad2: I was eighteen. I was an adult.
KnotMyProblem: Okay, and you’re 22 now, right? Think back to when you were eighteen. How different are you now? How much do you want to cringe when you think about the old you?
The fiberglass prickled stronger now than it had before. Gage shifted onto his side and tugged his blanket over his shoulders, hiding his phone beneath it, like doing so might hide the truth KnotMyProblem was forcing him to realize.
KnotMyProblem: You said your baby daddy is getting his PhD. That means he’s older than you are. In his 30s?
TeenDad2: No. He’s 27. He’s just really smart and driven.
KnotMyProblem: So he was, what, 23 when he knocked you up and promptly fled the country? Trust me… when I was 27, looking back at me when I was 23, I had the same reaction that you do at 22 looking back at you when you were 18. Time changes everything. He’s not the same guy you remember from back then. When you meet him again, you’re going to expect him to be a person that doesn’t exist anymore.
TeenDad2: No, you’re wrong. We talk every day. We’ve grown together.
