It could be...or it could be something different.
Bear in mind he's a young cat in a house hold with many humans. You've been the best "cat dad" ever. But from the eyes of a teen with a good dad, their dad is "OK", but they're branching out and want to hang out with the "cool people" (aka the ones they don't know as well).
I got along with my parents really good. But when I was 13-14, I was suddenly kind of not loving the idea of dinner with them, shopping with them, etc. I wanted to hang out with new people.
This is probably WAY personifying cats but I figure it's worth throwing that out there.