Katie, my eighteen year old daughter, is an attractive young woman, who, aside from having a 4.0 GPA was into acting in school plays and was a keen photographer. Having not dated much, when it came to the opposite sex, she was shy and inexperienced. I knew she was curious about sex because I'd caught her reading spicy books like Anne Rice's Sleeping Beauty Trilogy. Also, I figured that if she was anything like me, that when home alone, she was probably surfing porn sites while masturbating.
Although now a college freshman, due to a paper she had written in high school, she had been selected to attend an out of state three day literary symposium. Initially my wife was going to travel with her to the conference, but the dates happened to coincide with those of an out of town soccer tournament for our son to which she had previously signed up to chaperone. Since Katie was not comfortable traveling alone I was asked to accompany her.
We flew to our destination, rented a car, took an hour and a half drive to the college town where the symposium was being held and checked into our hotel. We had a large single room with two queen size beds. The conference was not due to start until the next day so we went out for dinner then went back to the room to unwind from the long travel day and rest up for the next day's festivities.
As we prepared for bed I had taken off my street clothes and was down to a pair of shorts and a tee shirt. Katie came out of the bathroom wearing her pajamas and was turning down her bedding. When, out of the blue, I heard her quietly ask "Dad, can I see your thing?"
I stood there shocked and dumbfounded. I had to take a moment to think about what to say next without totally destroying our relationship. I looked over at her and it was obvious she was embarrassed, humiliated and emotionally destroyed by what she had just asked and would have given anything to take it all back. She seemed to know my response was probably going to be less than comforting. I took a breath and responded "I'm glad we have a relationship where you feel confident enough to ask me a question like that but can I ask why you want to see it?"
Her face was buried in her pillow; too embarrassed to even look at me. I went over, sat next to her on the bed and rubbed the back of her shoulder. After waiting for her to calm down I asked "Do you really want to see my penis?"
With her face still buried in her pillow and with a muffled voice she said "I was just curious."
"Can you elaborate for me?"
"I just wanted to know what one is like so that I don't embarrass myself when the time comes."
"That sounds fair enough and I'd be happy to show it to you and give you a little "birds and bees" lesson, but the problem is, if your mom ever found out, I guarantee she'd totally NOT understand and have a total meltdown.
"That's why I asked now. We're 1,000 miles away from home! No one will EVER know! I know you'll never say anything and God knows I never will."
"I guess that's fair." I responded.
"Do you still want to see it?"
"I don't know anymore."
"Look, this has been a long day and we're going to be here for a couple of more days. Let's just get some rest, go to the conference tomorrow and see how we feel tomorrow."
The next day's symposium lasted the whole day. I spent the time trying to read a book and trying not to dwell on what might happen later that evening. That evening we found a good restaurant within walking distance of the hotel and had a nice dinner. We kept talking around the previous night's awkwardness all during dinner. When we got back into the room I could tell Katie was nervous as hell, not wanting to relive our previous night's debacle. As soon as we got back to the room Katie immediately went straight into the bathroom and stayed in there for a very long time. I went ahead and changed back into my sleeping shorts and tee shirt. When she came out of the bathroom she was already in her pajamas and started to turn down her bedding and crawl into bed.
"So Katie, do you want to continue our talk from last night?" I asked.
"No." She said emphatically.
"OK, no pressure, just know I'm here for you" I said.
"It's just too embarrassing. I just wish I'd never said anything" she said.