daddy's girl ❥ luke hemmings ✔️

28. "her real dad"

LUKE

Waking up the next few weeks proves to be fucking amazing because Sophie's always right next to me. I usually plant a kiss on her cheek, tuck her in even more, and quietly exit the room with the promise of coming back 'home' early. Then I step out into the hallway of the hotel, a wide smile stretched across my lips because life surely can't get any better than this.

A lot of people have been noticing my cheerful mood lately, and not just the guys. Michael knows why and I think he's told Calum and Ash, mainly because whenever they hear Sophie call me Daddy, they give each other knowing looks and even smirk at me once she's out of the room. That's normally counteracted by me leaving the room myself and flipping them off, though I can't argue with the fact that hearing Sophie call me Daddy is one of the best things ever.

Which, fortunately enough for me, is very often.

"You are such a perv," Michael chuckled. We were supposed to be in the studio brainstorming lyric ideas but instead we were hitting a pink balloon back and forth in the den of the tourbus, trying not to let it touch the ground. "Making your girlfriend call you that, and all. Who knew Mr Luke Hemmings could be so kinky?"

"Oh, shut up." I murmured, and all he did was laugh at my annoyance.

He knew how weird it was for me to hear the word Luke come out of Sophie's mouth. It just sounded so surreal, so sudden, as if it wasn't even my own name. She'd have to say it a dozen times in a row just to get my attention.

I remember just a few years ago when everybody tried to get her to stop calling me Daddy and start calling me Luke instead, myself included. Now I'm somewhat thankful that she never listened. It's times like these that I'm happy she's so stubborn.

Another thing that I'm happy about is how open we are to each other now. She's not shy around me anymore and although she never really used to be, she's developed this attitude where if she wants something, she'll get it, and if she wants it from Daddy then she sure as hell will get it. The only problem is that she doesn't know how to ask.

"Daddy?" Sophie murmured, standing at the foot of our bed, clutching the place below her stomach. I was half asleep and she was wearing an oversized hoodie so in the dim light of the room, it was hard to tell.

"Yes, princess?"

"It hurts," she mumbled. At this, my eyes snapped open because I had the default assumption that she had started her period. I went into full dad-panic mode because I was well aware of the fact that we had no period essentials stocked anywhere- chocolate, chick flicks and napkins included. Not to mention the entire boxset season of Friends. That was apparently a must for whenever Sophie was going through her time of the month.

I was just halfway through slipping my sweatpants on and reaching for my car keys when her small hand shot out, taking a hold of my wrist. Again, full dad-panic mode ensued and I thought the pain was too unbearable for her to even utter a single word, so naturally I hurried up.

"I'll be back with all the things you need, baby, okay?" I kissed her forehead, slipped a pair of converse on my feet with the laces undone because all they did was slow me down. "Just wait for Daddy."

"Daddy-"

"I promise I'll be back soon," I even got as far as inserting the key into the lock when Sophie took a gentle hold of my hand, fingers wrapped around it as she guided us to the bed.