AUTHOR: zeplerfer

August 6th, 2014 – Bring Your Parent to School Day

Arthur waited to hand out the flyers until the last class of the day, hoping to improve the odds that his young students would actually remember to deliver them to their parents. Even with a few reminders throughout the week, there likely would be some parents that wouldn't learn about Bring Your Parent to School Day until the night before, the same way they learned about urgent homework assignments on the eve of the deadline. Six year-olds just weren't the most reliable messengers.

"Be sure to give your parent or guardian these flyers," he explained carefully. "I need a few volunteers to sign up to talk about their jobs."

The children chattered happily amongst themselves, each vying for attention as they described what their parents did for a living. Arthur heard the usual assortment of jobs mentioned, until some particularly loud bragging caught his attention.

"My dad has the best job in the whole world," a girl named Emily said eagerly.

Arthur returned to his desk and tried not to look as curious about Emily's father as he felt. He had seen the young man before when he came to pick up his daughter from school. It was unusual to see a man pick up his child, especially one so young. He would need a flexible job to be able to arrive at school in the early afternoon.

"Is he an astronaut?" a child asked.

"Or a firefighter?" another chimed in.

"Nope." Emily grinned. "He's a stripper."

Arthur dropped the leftover flyers onto the floor and stared at the girl in shock. Before he could intervene, the other children began pelting Emily with questions.

She seemed pleased by all of the attention. "It's a really fun job! He plays around on poles and people give him money," she explained.

"Okay class, that's it for today," Arthur said loudly, distracting the children with the only thing more interesting than playing around on poles. He was already dreading the angry comments he was going to receive from their parents.

"But the bell hasn't rung yet," one child replied in confusion.

Fate smiled on Arthur and the bell chose that moment to ring. He breathed a sigh of relief as the children emptied out of his classroom. "Emily!" he called, catching the girl before she left. "Would you mind bringing your father here for just a moment?"

Arthur had a few minutes to think about what he was going to say, but his preparation fell by the wayside as soon as Emily's father walked into the room looking slightly confused, a little worried, and devilishly handsome. Arthur gaped and completely forgot what he was going to say.

"Hi! I'm Alfred, Emily's father," the young man said with a firm handshake and a brilliant smile. If Arthur didn't know he was a stripper, he could have mistaken the man for a model or an actor. "Is everything all right?"

The ability to English escaped Arthur. "Uh... Bring Your Parent to School Day next week. Jobs. Talking about jobs." He shoved a flyer in Alfred's face.

"Okay..." The young man read it quickly and gave Arthur a confused look. "Thanks for the heads up, but I don't think I can volunteer."

"Come on, Daddy!" Emily pleaded. "Please?"

Alfred knelt down and smiled at his girl. "Sweetie, you know my job isn't very interesting. I'm a student just like you."

"But what about the pole dancing at night?"

"What?" The young man's eyes widened as his face turned red.

"That's what Grandma and Grandpa say when they think I'm sleeping."

Alfred glanced up at Arthur and his blush deepened. "She doesn't know what she's talking about. I work at Campus."

"So she's right," Arthur said without thinking. He covered his mouth a second later, realizing that he had given away too much. How many straight men would recognize that 'Campus' was the name of a gay male strip club? As an awkward silence filled the room, Arthur glanced down and tried to get to the point. It was easier to speak in complete sentences when he wasn't looking at Alfred. "She told the whole class."

"Oh my god," Alfred buried his face in his hands.

"You'll come talk to us, right Daddy?" Emily asked eagerly, bouncing on her feet.

"I'm sorry, honey. I don't think the other parents would appreciate that," Alfred replied gently. "I don't think Mr. Kirkland would appreciate it either."

She pouted. "Why not?"

"Because pole dancing is something for adults."

"Adults like Mr. Kirkland?"

"Yes," Alfred began, "I mean, no. I mean, only if he wants to. It's for consenting adults. Say... why don't we go get ice cream?"

"Yay, ice cream!" Emily cried as she raced toward the door.

"Can we pretend this never happened?" Alfred asked with a bashful smile.

"Of course," Arthur replied, even though he was certain that images of the handsome young man would fill his dreams.

"Great!" Alfred turned to follow his daughter, but he gave Arthur one final glance from the doorway. The young man pursed his lips and then grinned, like he had come to a sudden decision. "Although, if it did happen, I perform on Fridays and Saturdays."