Well, you know you should surrender, but you can't let it go, you gotta come on up to the house, yeah

Sylvia kept her hair white throughout the rest of the day. Nick wasn’t sure if this was a permanent style she was going to be keeping or not, but he didn’t say anything, recognizing how much Sylvia wanted to make a connection with her daughter the way she used to be. Apparently all this reminiscing had made her nostalgic for the past. And he didn’t want to influence her opinion one way or another, so he refrained from telling her how cute she looked.

…Unless she fished for compliments.

…

…Which was often.

“I think I like the white,” Sylvia said, checking out her reflection in the elevator mirror as they headed up to the Master’s Suite. “Oh, but I might want to try out another color, too… hmm… maybe a deep forest green? Do you think that would look good on me, Daddy? I’d have to wait until I change out of my swimsuit, though, because the colors kind of blend together in a weird way, heh.”

She had a cute laugh as she spoke, and the relaxed smile on her face eased Nick’s worries. He was just glad to see her looking so happy.

“Maybe I could try something brown,” she suggested. “Then I’ll look like a tree… Oh! WAIT!”

Suddenly gasping, Sylvia’s finger shot out and she pressed the “elevator stop” button. Now, given this was a mystical elevator that magically traveled all across the hotel by teleporting to its destination, there was no reason to design it with a feature that would cause it to jerk and grind in place when it suddenly stopped.

But whoever had built the device clearly felt differently, because a second later Nick’s body pitched forward and he ended up collapsing on top of Sylvia, sending them both to the ground.

“S-sorry!” Nick apologized, scrambling to his feet and helping Sylvia back up. Her bathing suit was askew, but fortunately they’d avoided any major clothing accidents.

Sylvia giggled as she straightened her top. “Gee, Daddy, couldn’t wait until the Master’s Suite, could you?” She teased with a saucy wink. Nick rolled his eyes, knowing that she was kidding. They hadn’t discussed how tonight would go at all, but given Sylvia’s nature, he wouldn’t have been surprised if she was just trying to rile him up.

“Sorry,” she suddenly apologized, pressing another button. “I have to make a stop at the rooms before we head back to the hotel. I didn’t expect we’d be gone all day on the beach!” She laughed.

Nick nodded, understanding that Sylvia might want to catch up with her friends before they turned in for the evening. Frankly, he was a little surprised himself. With how his dates had been going recently, he couldn’t remember the last time he’d just hung out enjoying himself with somebody for hours without any interruptions or drama.

If you had told him that one of his least stressful dates this round, one where time just seemed to fly by, would be his date with Sylvia, then he wouldn’t have believed you. Even if you told him that this morning, knowing what he knew about all the dates before this one.

Sylvia flounced off the elevator and headed for the Garden Suite, and Nick figured she was going to check in with Marley. She didn’t ask him to come with, so that just left him standing awkwardly in the lounge.

It was strange. He felt bored, but at the same time, he really hoped he didn’t run into anyone. Today had been oddly relaxing (minus the stress of having to help Sylvia with her parental problems) and he didn’t want to run into someone else and get dogpiled with drama.

Which was why his blood ran cold when he saw Rose stroll into the lounge with a saunter in her step, looking like she was set on seducing him.

“Oh, well, look who it is,” Rose purred, batting her eyelashes. “Who’d have thought I’d run into you, all alone in a place like this?”

“…Hey, Rose,” Nick said, waving at her. It wasn’t that he didn’t like seeing her, because of course that wasn’t the case. But Rose always brought drama.

Rose had a sly look in her eye, and he could tell the wheels in her head were turning the way they always did. She licked her lips and approached, running her fingers along his cheek.

“You’re on your date with Sylvia, right? But she’s not here? You poor dear, you…” she crooned, putting way more throat into her voice than she usually did.

Nick could see the game she was playing, and tried not to indulge her. “What’s up, Rose?” He asked, trying not to sound exasperated. He enjoyed Rose’s company, he really did, but the way she acted sometimes could be grating. Especially when he was trying to spend time with Sylvia today.

“Oh, nothing much, just getting a nice cup of tea before I head to bed,” Rose replied. “Vivian enlightened me on the greatness of tea today, so I just thought… …No, it’s alright, we don’t need to talk about all that.”

She shook her head and pulled out a folded sheet of paper from Nick didn’t even want to know where.

“You know, it’s really a pity,” she said sadly, shaking her head. “I haven’t been able to make much progress on my bounty sheet this round… at least, not compared to last time. And it’s such a shame, too, I was really hoping to get something nice…”

Nick didn’t know what he should say to that. Luckily (or unluckily, depending on how you looked at it) he didn’t have to because a second later Sylvia popped in, interjecting herself into the conversation.

“Well, look who it is,” Sylvia said, hugging Nick’s arm possessively while resting her cheek on his shoulder. “Having some fun without me, you two?”

“Oh, no, nothing like that,” Rose assured, smoothly transitioning to acknowledging Sylvia’s presence as if she’d always been there. “I was just passing the time, keeping Nick here company while you were off doing… what was it again?”

Nick really wished Rose could stop provoking people. Especially when one of those people was Sylvia, who tended to respond to provocations by doubling down and escalating the situation.

“I just wanted to check in on Marley, see how she’s doing,” Sylvia said calmly, behaving with surprising maturity given the circumstances. “I told her that she and Carly could go pick out a plant today, while there’s still time.”

Nick had almost forgotten about that. The date had been seriously derailed by their time on the beach, that was for sure. Although Sylvia seemed to have made her peace with not being able to get all five plants she was allowed to this round.

“Well, you two enjoy yourselves,” Rose hummed, giving Nick a wink as she slid past him and headed for the kitchen. “You certainly look like you’re ready to have a good time, after all!”

It was only then that Nick realized Sylvia had changed out of her bathing suit, and into something a little more casual. Nick had thrown a shirt on to preserve his modesty, but with Sylvia that wasn’t exactly easy to do.

Thankfully, she just looked “cute” and not outright seductive, which was always nice.

“Bye, Rose!” Sylvia waved at the blonde, almost dragging Nick to the elevator.

Nick hoped that the rest of the night wouldn’t be as awkward as that last minute and a half ended up being.

Nick could tell that his hopes were destined to be dashed the second Mary opened the door with her face looking as pale as it did.

“O-oh! Nick, and… S-Sylvia, you guys are here! And… s-so early!” Mary stammered out. Nick couldn’t remember the last time he’d seen her try this hard to smile. It was kind of unnerving.

Good thing Sylvia had changed from her orange hair, because that would just compound the awkwardness.

“Something the matter, my girl?” Sylvia questioned, wondering why Mary looked so fidgety. She was more perceptive than people gave her credit for, and could see that something was up with the other woman.

Mary’s eyes widened and she shook her head. “The matter? Oh, of course not! What could ever be the matter?” An awkward laugh echoed through the entrance hall as she continued to not meet Sylvia’s eyes.

Nick frowned. Mary was a bad liar and everybody knew it. But she was being an exceptionally bad liar right now.

“Mary-” Before he could ask what was going on, though, she cut him off.

“Don’t!” Her voice was high-pitched with desperation, and her eyes widened in panic. She looked at Nick with an alarmed expression on her face, and shook her head.

“Please, just… just don’t,” she begged him. Then she turned to Sylvia and pleaded the same thing with her, much to both of their confusion.

“Don’t what?” Sylvia asked, scratching her cheek.

Mary bit down on her lip. The look on her face was one Nick recognized. He’d seen it before back when they were in school, it was Mary’s “I-know-a-secret-but-I-can’t-tell-anybody-but-please-don’t-make-me-lie-about-it” face.

Quite a face.

“I… look, um… just… just drop it? Please?” She begged the both of them, leaving them even more confused than before.

Drop it? Drop what? They didn’t know enough about what was going on to drop anything in the first place!

“I… I know something, it’s… it’s a secret,” Mary finally admitted. “But you can’t ask me what it is! Please! I’m begging you! It’s… it’s not a BAD secret, I mean, I don’t think it is… well… um… j-just please don’t ask! Please!”

Yeah, Mary was definitely not cut out for this whole “confession” thing. She wasn’t strong enough to keep secrets. But she’d promised Dakota that she wouldn’t tell anybody what they talked about. Yes, that promise was made before Dakota had her meltdown and revealed a disturbing, painful truth that Mary wasn’t sure how to unpack yet, but… a promise was a promise.

She looked into Nick’s eyes and silently pleaded with him to just let her have this. And Nick didn’t really know what else to say, since Mary was the one who had dragged him into this conversation in the first place.

“…Okay? We… won’t ask,” Nick said awkwardly.

“Is it a dirty secret?” Sylvia asked, channeling Holly.

Mary just stared at her with her mouth dropped open. If only Sylvia knew what kind of secret it was! The religious girl was too shaken to appreciate the irony, though. She just closed her mouth and shook her head numbly.

“I, um, I’ll… I’ll go make… d-dinner,” she stammered, heading for the kitchen. “Sorry it’s not ready yet, I, uh, I didn’t… I didn’t know it had gotten so late…”

She’d spent the last several hours, over half the day, just sitting in a fugue and mulling over what had happened between her and Dakota. So she left Nick and Sylvia alone and none the wiser, and sought refuge in the kitchen.

Once she closed the door behind her, she let out an exhausted sigh.

“Why are you acting so weird?”

Mary nearly jumped out of her cowboy boots. “H-Holly! You’re… you’re here!” She stammered, her eyes shooting over to the smaller girl as her freckled face went pale.

Holly raised her eyebrow, giving Mary an incredulous stare. “Uh… yeah. I’m here. Is that weird? I live here, remember?”

…Right, yes, of course. Mary knew that. Of course she did…

Wait, so I’ve been walking around the Master’s Suite all afternoon, and she’s been here the whole time, what, just watching me? It was kind of a creepy thought, Mary felt. But it was her own damn fault for forgetting about her best friend.

“You’ve been acting real weird all day,” Holly pointed out. “Ever since you got back from church. Which, well, coming from you, that’s kind of weird, but-”

“I’m just thinking about stuff!” Mary blurted out. She desperately wanted to confide in her best friend, and she knew that Holly would keep it a secret if she asked, even though her bestie was a massive blabbermouth, and a reporter, meaning she tattled about stuff like this for a living.

But… Holly would never do that to her. Mary had to believe that, and have faith in her friend. Even as Holly looked at her with a very confused expression on her face.

Sensing something was amiss, but also that Mary didn’t want to talk about it, Holly just pulled up her lips into a mischievous grin and rolled her eyes. “Okay, whatever, weirdo,” she scoffed, and Mary sighed in relief, glad that her friend was willing to look the other way like this.

“Anyway… I need to get cooking,” Mary said, cracking her knuckles and heading over to the stove. “Let’s make something that Sylvia and Nick are definitely gonna like!”

Holly couldn’t agree more. “Yeah, we want them to have as much energy as they can get for all the sex they’re gonna have tonight!” She chortled, and Mary nearly fell over. She clutched the counter to keep her balance, and mentally screamed.

Tonight was going to be awkward.

“Wait, you guys aren’t going to have sex!?” Holly’s jaw dropped in shock. She stared at Sylvia incredulously. “But… come on! It’s, like… YOUR night together!” She exclaimed. “The date wasn’t that bad, was it?”

Mary didn’t even bother raising an objection about the content of this discussion at the dinner table. Frankly, at this point she would have been fine with Nick and Sylvia deciding to screw on top of the food, so long as the conversation stayed far away from her confession with Dakota.

Now, if she was thinking rationally, she would know that there was literally zero chance anybody would ever guess what transpired between the two of them, and that the only reason anybody could sense something was amiss was because Mary herself was acting weird and awkward about it around everybody.

But Mary was far too pure for the guile required to pull off such a façade, and so she just stewed in awkwardness all evening while trying to pretend that everything was alright.

“The date was fine,” Sylvia said, gazing adoringly at Nick. She reached over and gave his hand a squeeze. “Daddy and I had fun all day on the beach, actually.”

“Aww, that’s so sweet!” Holly gushed. But she still couldn’t help feel a little disappointed. She’d been hoping she’d get to watch some fun tonight!

“But we don’t think we’re at that place in our relationship yet,” Nick explained. “Today was really about getting to know each other as people. We had a lot of conversations, and we decided that we weren’t going to try and **** our relationship into any direction that we weren’t sure about yet.”

“I’m not ready for it,” Sylvia confessed. “I’m still trying to sort out my feelings about him. And Daddy definitely cares about me, but I don’t think he’s completely sure what his feelings for me are specifically, either, you know?”

It was surprising to hear such maturity coming from Sylvia. But Nick was proud of her for being so open and honest. And hearing her express herself so clearly, it eased a lot of the concerns he had about her mental state, too. After all, the two of them had spent a lovely day together, playing in the sand, splashing in the surf, and grilling hotdogs for lunch.

Sylvia deserved the chance to take things slowly and understand for herself just what she-

“Of course, Daddy forgot all about my deal with him, about how if a girl asked him for sex, he wouldn’t say no,” Sylvia added, drumming her fingers against her cheek and letting out a long, exasperated sigh. “Can you believe it? I guess now that I’m no longer the host, a promise with me doesn’t mean very much, does it…?”

“Sylvia!” Nick’s face turned red before going pale. “Are- you’re not serious, right?”

“No, I’m just messing with you,” Sylvia replied with such seriousness Nick was worried that her sincerity had looped around into sarcasm, leaving him completely lost.

A few seconds later, though, she laughed, and shook her head.

“We talked about this, Daddy, and we’re not ready yet,” she reminded him, reaching over and patting his hand. “When we are… we’ll get there. And I can’t say I’m not looking forward to it, but… haaaah…”

She let out a long, almost disappointed sigh. “Another round passes by without me making love to my dear Daddy…”

Holly turned to Nick. “…Well, I mean, it sounds like she’s pretty certain about her feelings, so…”

“She’s doing a bit,” Nick said in exasperation. He shook his head. “Sylvia and I need to sort out our feelings, properly. And today was supposed to be about doing this. And…”

He looked over at her. She was staring at him with those big, crystal-blue eyes of hers.

“…I think we’re making progress,” he said, earning him a smile from his date as a reward.

For the first time in forever Nick was really starting to see Sylvia as a woman. If she had come to him tonight and told him that she was ready, and he really believed that she was, maybe he honestly would have accepted her. Maybe they could have been something together tonight. But… she wasn’t ready for it.

When she came to him, though, he had a feeling that he might be.

One issue though…

“Also, there’s the problem with me calling him ‘Daddy’ all the time,” Sylvia said with a sigh, rolling her eyes. “I think we’re well past the point where that’s seen as sexy, you know?”

Holly nodded. “Makes sense, I guess. But if that’s the only sticking point, why don’t we just call up Dakota and have her change the Pet Name to something else, then?”

“NO!” Mary shouted in alarm, startling the whole table.

Everybody turned to look at her, and her face went pale.

Mary cleared her throat and stumbled up out of her chair, a shaky smile on her face. “Who-who wants dessert?” She awkwardly asked.

She couldn’t have made it more obvious that she had something to hide if she tried.