Bad Boy's Baby Girl

Homework Hooker

When I pull up to Maddy's house and find a two storey white-brick house complete with front porch, manicured garden and an actual white picket fence, I can't say I'm all that surprised. It has nothing to do with Maddy, it's just what pretty much every single house around here looks like. I park long the curb, assuming that at some point her parents will be needing the driveway.

I run to the porch and Maddy unlocks the door. As we're taking off our shoes I hear little feet hurrying across the floor and look up to see an adorable blonde-haired blue-eyed boy who looks to be maybe 3 years old running towards us. "MADDYYYY!" He yells with his arms wide open. She picks him up and hugs him tightly saying, "Hiya kiddo!" Maddy has a brother? How did I not know this? Come to think of it, I don't know a whole lot about either of their families. Geez, I'm a shitty friend.

I then see a taller lady in her 50's with greying hair pulled up in a bun and kind eyes. "Hello dear, how was your day?" She asks Maddy. "Good, thanks. Eleanor, these are my friends Charlie and Monroe. Charlie and Monroe, this is Eleanor, our nanny. Although I think we're a bit past that seeing how she basically raised me and Seth."

She holds out her hand to shake each of ours and says, "Lovely to meet you both."

"You as well," I reply.

Just then the little boy, still being held by Maddy, raises an arm and exclaims, "I'm Seth!"

I turn to him and say, "Nice to meet you Seth," I say and hold out my hand to him. He places his little one in mine and I shake it and he gives me a giant grin showing off his little dimples. My heart melts. It makes me wish for a second that I had siblings but then again, I wouldn't have wanted them to go through the same childhood I did so it's probably better that I don't.

Eleanor says, "Well then, shall I go make some tea? It's quite damp out and we wouldn't want anyone to catch a cold."

"That would be great, thanks! We'll just be up in my room," Maddy says as she puts Seth down and he runs away. She leads upstairs and when she opens the door I see the main wall painted with an orange and pink geometric pattern, while the other three are white to match the all-white furniture. There are pink and orange accessories spread throughout the room.

"Welcome, friends," she says with a dramatic gesture. She then sits herself against the headboard and crosses her legs under her. We both join her and I say, "Your little brother is super adorable by the way."

"Yeah, he is."

"How old is he?"

"He just turned 3 in May. I know, the age-gap is a bit weird. A few years ago when my parents started having problems, they decided having another baby might help their relationship. Spoiler-alert: it didn't. I honestly wish they would just get a divorce already."

"That bad huh?" I ask sympathetically.

"I mean it's not like my dad is abusive or anything like that, it's just that they clearly don't like each other. They don't fight in front of us but I'm old enough to notice that they only interact when they have to and how when they do, it feels like they're strangers. They both work a lot more these days and I think it's to avoid each other. Seth is too young to understand right now, but soon he's going to start noticing and it would be nice if they would figure their shit out before that happens, you know?"

"Yeah, that makes sense. Sorry you have to deal with that," I say and lean over to give her a hug.

"Thanks, but honestly, it's alright. I love Seth to death and Eleanor is incredible." Just then, we hear a knock on the door. "Come in!" Maddy yells.

Eleanor walks in carrying a tray and says, "I wasn't sure how you two take your tea so there's some milk and sugar on the side. Do you need anything else?" Maddy looks to both of us and we shake our heads so she says, "Just the tea is perfect. Thank you Eleanor."

She walks out and we all grab a mug and then Maddy looks at me and says, "Alright, spill. I want every detail."

I tell them everything and when I tell them that we're supposed to be meeting at some point this evening to talk they squeal loudly, "Damn girl! What are you going to say to him?"

"I have no idea. Oh also, I forgot. We're doing a project in philosophy and he asked me to be his partner and then when I told the teacher that I was partnering with Cade she asked me if I was sure about that. What's that all about?"

They give each other a look and then Maddy says, "Well, I don't know how true it is, but I've heard that girls pick him and do all the work, hoping that he'll sleep with them if they do."

"And does he sleep with them?"

"I mean I would assume yes. If it got around that he didn't, I don't think girls would keep offering to do the projects. That or they would rat him out to the teachers."

"Hm yeah that makes sense. So he sleeps with girls in exchange for grades. He's a homework hooker. Well," I sigh, "I honestly can't say I'm surprised."

"Does this make you regret agreeing to be his partner?"

"No. I don't think that's his plan in this case. He was actually putting in effort today. And if it is his plan, he's about to get smacked with a big ole reality check."

Maddy snorts and says, "Fair enough. So do you guys wanna stay for dinner?"

Charlie says, "yeah sure."

I say, "Well I have to go feed the dogs, but if I'm meeting Cade later I'll have to come regardless, so I guess I could go put their food out quickly and then come right back?"

"Sounds good to me."

I get up and say, "Alright I'll go now really quickly and I'll be back in like 30 minutes."