12. BRYCE

My hierarchy of needs were all satisfied from being a princess and having a Daddy host a tea party to get to know some of my stuffie friends. It was a trial run for him meeting my other princess friends, and I think he was going to do well. But Cristian had come on too strong earlier at the cafe, I didn't know if Daddy even wanted to meet the rest of them.

I wished I could've spent all day and night with him, but I knew he'd have to leave. And at least he left with pieces of me all over him. So much glitter.

It was around six when I was alone again, but never really alone with an imagination as active as mine. It was also perfect time for the group chat to blow up with questions about how it had been, as well as Cristian's comments.

— I wish he could've stayed another night. I told them.

— He's hotter in person. Cristian added.

— And when do we get to meet him? Hugh asked.

— Well, when do we get to meet him? Not you Hugh. I don't think he'd be able to handle you right away. Jai sent with several laughter emojis.

— Nobody is meeting him until he's ready. Cristian ambushed us, so that doesn't count. I sent.

— And yes, to reiterate, he knows about Wednesday and Friday, but from what I know, he's usually super busy and scheduled anyway. I just hope that doesn't get in the way of us hanging out more. I added, my insecurities resurfacing with him gone. My gut told me to stop the thoughts, but my brain was not co-operating.

The group reassured me as best they could. They'd also continued to deep dive information on him and send me the headlines. It was a lot to take in. I couldn't relate to what I was reading and the man I'd met and spend the night with. They were two different people.

— If he even wants to continue seeing me, there will be rules on when and if you all meet him. I told them.

— Not mentioning money and those headlines is rule one. I'll think of the others when I can.

This is what it was always like when any of us had a date, and I didn't want to fall into the trap of getting carried away. It was an easy trap.

— He also told me that he played D&D when he was younger too.

—But don't worry he's not joining us.

—I'm just saying that it's another way we connect.

Before Everett left, he'd made my bed and cleaned the tea cups and pot away back into the box under my bed. It was yet another way he was caring and the opposite of the man responsible for laying off a company he bought out several years ago. The disconnect between that information and the reality of my experience with him was night and day.

— When are you going to see him next? Jai asked.

I stared at the question. We'd spoke about setting a time or date to see each other again, but never put any dates down. That added to the internal stress.

— And if he ghosts you, we know where he works. Hugh said, already gearing up to do something dramatic I feared.

— Not sure. I'm gonna wait for him to ask. I don't want to come across as desperate.

Just as the spiral was ready to begin, I recalled the plan. He left his suit here, and I let him wear my clothes home. We had to see each other again.

Grabbing his suit, I undressed out of the dress and put his clothes on. They smelled exactly like him. I got all cozy in them before snapping a couple pictures. I sent them all over to him with the caption. ‘How do I look?'

He texted me back immediately with a mirror selfie of him lifting the t-shirt up to show the glitter trail I'd left in his body hair. He captioned it, ‘ Much better than I do in it. What about me?'

All of my anxiety melted away, but curiosity piqued as I examined the picture. He was in a bathroom and it was huge. I zoomed in on the products around the sink and the shower in the back. It looked like there were jets in the walls, I bet it felt like a human car wash in there. And I was desperate to try it out.

— Not that good then. He texted again.

— I was inspecting your picture. I think I'd consider it a thirst trap.

The way Everett lifted his shirt to show off his slutty hip bones and cum gutters in all of that man fur. I wished I'd given him head again before he left. He hadn't manage to empty his balls all over me like I'd wanted.

— I'm adequately hydrated. Thanks to all that tea I drank. He sent.

— No, a thirst trap is a picture you see that makes you want to ride someone. And I want to ride you.

He was typing up a storm from the way bubbles at the corner of the screen were unmoving.

— Oh. Well, I suppose that was the intention. I really liked spending time with you, and wearing your clothes. It's weird because I usually feel my belt around my waist, and these clothes make me feel naked because there's no tightness to them. I like the tightness. Wink wink. And I hope to feel it some more. Let me know your schedule, I want to fit inside your schedule at every possible opening.

I saw the flirtation in his texts, but I didn't know how much of it was intentional. He even used the word wink over the emoji. There was something about that which had me hot under the collar of his shirt. And as I began to sweat, the cologne soaked into his clothes began to musk in the air.

— I also want to do more than have sex with you. I don't want you to think I'm only interested in sex. In case that's how my message came off.

So, he was flirting. I laid on my bed in his suit, my breathing becoming labored as I pulled a pillow into my arms and looked at the ceiling. I recalled the sensation of his body on mine, but unable to replicate it with my pillow. My toes curled as I turned on the pillow, squeezing it between my legs. I re-read his texts before responding.

— Pick a day and on that day, I'm all yours to do with as you please. Play with me however you want.

— I'll see what my week looks like, and then I'll let you know. Maybe you'll accept my invite to my apartment, or perhaps we can go somewhere together.

— Daddy's choice. I'm just a princess, waiting to swept of my feet.

—Then prepare to be swept away.

I understood how people become absorbed and obsessive with the people they were seeing. The rush of happy hormones flowing through my body in the moment of seeing his messages had me ready to open a window and scream my excitement to the city. I didn't want a noise citation though, so I kept the scream internal.

With his comments about my week, I knew I worked Tuesday this week for a student party, that meant I only had Thursday and Sunday fully free. I couldn't wait nearly an entire week to see him again.

Amongst my other freelance work, I mixed tapes for local drag queens and even helped with the production of their music. I wasn't lyrically inclined, but I could create a catchy beat. That type of work wasn't steady at all, and often revolved around the production and airing of the reality drag TV shows, but they shot during early summer and aired in the new year, so work for that had dried up significantly right now.

I occupied my time with new mixes for my set and getting some of them uploaded to social media where people streamed. I didn't have a huge following, but enough for people to be interested locally, especially as I was most visually noticed as the DJ guy who wears a dress and tiara.

Over the next two days, it didn't feel like there was an entire city between me and Everett because we kept in constant contact, texting each other and snapping pictures at each other throughout the days. His pictures were mostly of his view, or the multiple times he'd find glitter on himself despite washing and rewashing himself.

We'd also agreed on Thursday evening, meeting at his apartment, for him to surprise me. Which meant Wednesday's princess hang was necessary to discuss all things Daddy, and all things princess. It was the first time we were all back together as a group.

We were all meeting at Cristian's place in Williamsburg. He lived alone ina cozy studio apartment on the third floor of an older building with exposed brick walls and large windows. His space was filled with plants, books, and artwork—most of which were his own fantasy drawings. It had a bohemian feel, with an earthy color palette and bronze metallic accents. But my favorite part of his place was the corner dedicated to princess costumes, complete with a mannequin displaying his latest dress.

We arrived at different times. I was first, bringing the pizzas. Two, one cheese and another pepperoni. Hugh arrived after me, in his dress, and with two bottles of white wine clinking around in the bag on his back. Jai arrived the latest, which was just after I'd changed into my dress. He brought mini brownie bites and other smaller desserts.

Princess Wednesdays were the best. They were an elevated tea party, except the tea was wine, and we never used the good tea party porcelain.

Once we were all ready, we gathered on the bean bags with our poofy dresses and our stuffed teddies tucked to our chests. Pizzas were in the center of the floor, our cheap gem-adorned plastic wine glasses were being filled, and we had a pick of coloring crayons and sheets to choose from.

"Princesses," Princess Lysa aka Cristian said, raising a wine glass. "We've had an exciting week so far. Let the catch up commence."

We cheered and sipped wine. My immediate thought to it was how Everett would react. I wondered if he'd spit it right back out because there was no way this bottle was over five dollars, especially since Hugh had brought it.

"I've decided I'm no longer interested in finding a boyfriend," Princess Zahra aka Jai said. "I heard that when you stop looking or wanting something, it'll come to you."

"In that case, I'm no longer interested in becoming a Broadway superstar who has fans flocking the stage door waiting to shower me in flowers and ask for my autograph," Princess Mari aka Hugh said, flicking fake hair over a shoulder. "Let's see if it works."

"I don't actually thinks it works like that," I told them. "I met him at work, and I was mad at him first. He got my attention by being so close. Otherwise I'd have been absolutely hopeless." And it was true, none of us were doing anything to find partners. We'd been through the apps, the clubs, and we were over them. Hugh was probably still into it given he lived for the drama of being a topic of gossip.

As the tea party got into full swing, we chowed down on pizza and drank wine while cartoons played on the TV. These playdates every Wednesday were much needed, especially after adulting most of the week. I'd had my mental fill of playing with Everett as Daddy over the weekend, so I was mostly at ease.

Cristian provided all the coloring sheets and crayons. On them, outlined figures of men. We were drawing our ideal Daddies, including what type of person they were. It was easier for me to draw my ideal Daddy now because I think I'd actually found him.

He was tall, a little taller than me. With a blue crayon, I gave him the brightest blue eyes, and with a brown and grey crayon, I went in together to give him his unique salt and peppery hair I was desperate to rub my glittery fingers through for fun. I drew and colored to the best of my ability, a navy blue suit. Around the edges, I added in all the things he was. Funny. Smart. Caring. And an arrow pointing to his crotch with ‘ thick' beside it.

I finished before everyone, so I went back to my page with some glitter glue pens. I knew how much my Daddy loved being covered in glitter, and if I had anything to do with it, he'd never get rid of it ever again. I added dots and stripes to his clothes and even some of it in his hair, which made him a little more grey than he actually was.

In little princess space, my feelings were huge, probably much more than they were when I was in adult mode. Little me was obsessed with the way Daddy accommodated for me with a tea party of his own, and he'd gotten to know all my teddy friends too. It was special moments like that which I'd been searching forever for.

"Me first!" I said. "I wanna show you all my ideal Daddy."

"Thick!" Cristian giggled, closest to me as he noticed the word scribbled large with both crayon and glitter pen. "I hope you didn't need sewing up after."

"Ahhh." We all chuckled.

Once we calmed down, I returned to presenting my piece of art for them. "He's probably six-three, he's got a natural dominance to him, he's funny, but not like he cracks jokes all the time, he's just someone who always makes you smile. Oh, and yes, he's blessed in that area." I winked at them.

They applauded me with finger snaps.

We didn't always draw our ideal Daddies, but when we did, we usually drew whichever celebrity was our man crush of the week as our future, hopeful Daddy. We went around the circle, showing off the drawings we'd done around the stencil bodies. Cristian's were always the best, he was the artist, his were always so much better, even as a little princess, he took pride in the art work he was creating.

Show and tell was always fun. During the week, we spoke as adults and caught up with each other, but this was our weekly little catch up. Much different to the Fridays when we only regressed a little to play in the dangerous dungeons and rescue Daddies, rather than them rescuing us.

"I have a new plush coming soon," Cristian said, pulling out his phone. "A reward from adult me." On the screen, a slightly blurred image of a green-blue long-necked monster with an adult-sized human sitting on it. "It's from an anime I watch. It's a zabre dog, they're not a dog though. It's an animal the main character rides."

"All adult Jai has done is work," he grumbled and pouted. "But at least he's going to have the weekend free, yay."

"Oh, adult Bryce said thank you for the samosas." They had been absolutely divine, as they always were.

"Did adult Bryce have anything else to say?" Hugh asked, going in for the final slice of pizza. "Like, what his plans were tomorrow?"

I giggled. "I'm not allowed to say. It's a secret. Well, I'm allowed to say that I'll be having a sleepover."

"I miss sleepovers!" Cristian said.

"It's going to be fun, I think, I hope." The nerves, even in little princess space were all coming out because I wouldn't have my things with me.

Jai was the first to squeeze me in a hug. "I'm jealous. It'll be fine."

We all came together in a big princess hug pile. Hugh being the last one as he was munching on pizza. And the moment a single crumb fell from his lips and onto our princess dresses, we panicked as a collective. Our gorgeous gowns were prized possessions, and Hugh was a messy eater. But I wouldn't change my friends for anything in the world.

These hangs also used to be sleepover nights, but that's when they were on the weekend. Everyone was far too busy during the week to keep the sleepover part. It was fine though because I preferred my bed at home, and I was still clinging to the distant smell Daddy had left behind from his stay.

I didn't know where I'd be without my princess support system. Maybe I'd be panicking alone about my date night tomorrow.