Come On To MeReylo School’s Out, June 2022Prompt: ChaperoneDivorced dad Ben Solo steps in

Come On To MeReylo School’s Out, June 2022Prompt: ChaperoneDivorced dad Ben Solo steps in last-minute to chaperone his daughter’s field trip.~> 24 Hours Before the First Day of School“Second grade is much too young for a class trip, you think?” Rey perused the schedule of available tour opportunities. This being her first year teaching at Chandrila Elementary, she wanted it to pass without any major incidents. An off-site museum visit with a few dozen seven-year-olds, she thought, presented a better chance for disaster than actual learning.Rose Tico, the other second-grade teacher, sipped her coffee. “Those trips aren’t about the kids,” she said. When Rey stared her down for clarification, she added, “This school is full of single female teachers.”“How is that relevant?” Rey asked.From her chair opposite Rey’s in the teacher’s lounge, Rose pointed out several of their peers milling about the room. Rey followed her friend’s gaze, hopping from woman to woman. One scrolled through a dating app, clearly visible from where Rey sat. Another, at one of the booths, thumbed through a wedding magazine. Rey knew she was single.“Hey, Rose,” she said, “remember feminism?”Rose laughed softly at that. “Remember how we all chose teaching as a profession because it’s so lucrative? One can be feminist and also desire companionship.”“Is that so?”Rose wrapped her fingers around her coffee mug. “I work hard for my money. If a nice man wants to spend his on me, who am I to complain?”“Okay, fine,” she spoke in a low voice, “we’re all looking for love. How does the field trip play into it? We all stalk the same park ranger?”“Close to seventy percent of all parents with at least one child attending this school are divorced, separated, and/or widowed,” Rose said. “All Chandrila parents, according to the last census, currently live in the top five percent of affluent ZIP codes in terms of annual income.” Rose ticked the next points off her fingers. “These men have no wives, these men have money, these men need some lovin’.”Rey shook her head slowly. “Never before have I heard such archaic logic. In this day and age, really?”Rose shrugged. “I know how much I make a year, and I know how much repairs on my car cost,” she said. “I find a lonely daddy with deep pockets, I don’t care what year it is. Ooh!”The student rosters had Rose’s attention now. As teachers in the same block, the two women would co-teach one large class. Rey looked to where Rose pressed her fingers in the students G through M. “Brigid Hux moved up to Grade Two,” Rose sang, then shot Rey a dirty side-eye. “Her father’s off limits.”“Is he gay?”Rose’s silent, feral reaction all but screamed mine.Rey backed off, and worked out the math in her head, counting the days to Christmas break.~*~Rose came up with the idea of a class trip to the children’s museum on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving Break. Two important points supported her proposal. For one, the museum offered a slashed group discount rate for the holiday week, and their latest exhibit on the space program was too amazing to miss. “Okay, that’s really two points, but they count as one since they concern the museum,” Rose told Rey as the permission slips went home. “Most employees tend to cut out early on the eve of a holiday, and you know all these daddies want to stretch the four-day weekend even further.”Rey wanted to laugh at the wicked glint in her friend’s eyes. “What makes you think all the dads will volunteer to chaperone this trip?” she asked. More mothers volunteered for classroom parent days. “Think about it, Rey. Divorced dads, at home eating Doordash Thanksgiving dinners. Most of these kids spend this holiday with Mom.” Rose gathered her lesson plans. “This field trip could be the only day this week the dads get to spend time with their babies.”“So let’s spend the entire field trip distracting rich daddies from their parental responsibilities,” Rey said, “and make the day all about us.”Rose slung her purse strap over her shoulder. “Wear something nice tomorrow. Alluring but not slutty. The principal notices. And stay away from Mr. Hux.”~*~Rey wore a nice pantsuit for the class trip. Ballet flats for walking. A jacket for the cold. Her choice of attire far surpassed Rose’s in terms of practicality, she thought. Her colleague looked rather fetching in her three-inch heels, considering they paired with her form-fitting sweater dress. Not really an outfit for the job, especially in this weather, but it gave off the illusion of modesty. At least the heels added to Rose’s height, and the six-foot-plus Mr. Hux didn’t have to bend too far down to look the teacher in the eye.One look at the man–impeccable suit, handsome face, Ivy League collegiate ring–and Rey understood. If Rey were looking, she’d have glanced twice in his direction. Their forty students lined up before the bus, two by two, and boarded. Rey supervised at the front with Mr. Finn, father to John, Junior. Handsome and polite, but Rey noticed him making eyes at another chaperone, Mr. Dameron. Two more scratched off the “list,” not that Rey intended to benefit romantically from this trip.She watched Rose step forward in line, next to Mr. Hux, and turn an ankle. Mr. Hux caught Rose and kept her from hitting the pavement. Rose thanked him repeatedly and gladly took his arm when offered. “Lean your bad side on me,” he told her as he helped her into the bus. “You know, I’m an orthopedic surgeon. You should let me have a look at that.”“How thoughtful.” Rose caught Rey’s eye and winked. Rey bit her lower lip and looked away. It wouldn’t surprise her if Rose turned cartwheels at the end of the day after everybody dispersed.Let Rose enjoy it as it happened. If the final chaperone didn’t show in the next three minutes, they might have to cancel. By law, they needed one adult for every seven students attending. The only other option would be to grab a volunteer parent here to assist with another grade. A sharp car horn alerted Rey to a sporty Porsche parking in the visitor’s lot. Out of it stepped a man far too big for the car’s interior. Unbuttoned black suit jacket flapping behind him in the breeze, to match the movement of his wavy dark hair. Long tie, tailored pants, shiny huge watch to suit the thick bear paw removing his Ray-Ban sunglasses. Scowling like the world let him down, but once he picked up on Rey staring at him he beamed wide.Dimples and delightfully crooked teeth. Like bullets to her heart trickling heat to points south.“I am so sorry to be late. Traffic,” he said. Instantly forgivable, but also confusing. “Ben Solo. This is the bus for the children’s museum?”“It is. I suppose I’m sorry, too,” Rey said, and checked her roster. “We had down Bazine Solo as the last chaperone.” She couldn’t let a stranger on the bus, even a hot one.Away with the smile. Hello, rueful twitch of the lip. “Yes, I’m a last-minute replacement. I hope it’s okay. My ex had an unexpected appointment arise, one of priority,” he said. “The Takodana Day Spa had a cancellation.”“Uh, sure.” Rey glanced into the bus. The kids were restless. Rose sat up front while Mr. Hux knelt on the bus floor, inspecting her ankle. “It happens I have a spare waiver form,” she said, “so I just need to see some identification…”It came in the form of a young girl’s cry. “Hi, Daddy!” hollered young Breha Solo from a back bus window. Mr. Solo waved. Rey didn’t hear the daughter’s greeting.Two other words played loud on repeat in Rey’s head. My ex.~*~The kids liked the planetarium presentation. Rose, by Rey’s perception, liked sitting next to Mr. Hux and using him for support while she limped from exhibit to exhibit. On a rare moment she caught the teacher alone, she couldn’t resist. “Be careful not to switch feet. He seems observant,” she whispered.“Please,” Rose said. “I actually did hurt myself.” Then she grinned. “Isn’t it great?”Rey liked how Mr. Solo–”Please, call me Ben.”–engaged with the kids and let them explain everything to him. The man knelt before his daughter and her friends, got down to their level and listened. Such a heartwarming sight, and magnetic.Rey didn’t miss how a few moms, here with their homeschooled kids, fixed on him as they walked past. Rey became suddenly territorial as a result, and approached Ben to remind him of the group lunch.“Right, thanks.” He stretched to his full height in front of Rey. Her line of vision hit him in the chest, specifically at two shirt buttons straining in their holes. The plackets curved and teased flashes of smooth flesh. He’d forgotten to put on an undershirt. Mercy.It almost took her memory. Rey was about to follow the group into the cafeteria when her heart stopped. “Oh, shi–” she spotted a few kids, “ sugar .”Ben turned back to her. “Something wrong, Ms. Johnson?”“I left my purse in the planetarium.” Silly of her, distracted by Ben Solo that she’d walked off without it and noticed an hour later. “You go on with the class. I won’t be a moment.”If not in the planetarium, then the front ticket desk for lost and found. She hoped, anyway. Rey mentally listed all the banks and companies to call, just in the event, when she heard breathing behind her.“I’ll go with you.” Ben fell into step beside her. “Two sets of eyes in the dark might work better.”Rey knew where she’d sat, but she accepted the man’s help. Another show was underway in the planetarium, but Rey crept to her chair and found her bag. She met up with Ben at the back entrance but he pulled her toward two seats in an empty back row.“We have a few minutes,” he whispered, guiding her to sit. “The kids are supervised. I didn’t get to hear the whole show last time for all the noise.”“I suppose.” Emotions warred within Rey. She worried for her class, but the idea of a short hooky with a handsome parent tickled her. Their seat reclined back to a near horizontal position, too. A nice simulation for future fantasies, she thought.The recorded narrator droned on and on about the various constellations visible in this hemisphere. Ben leaned close to her and whispered. “Are you liking Chandrila Elementary so far?”“I am. Your Breha is a delight to teach.”“She gets it from my side of the family,” Ben said, giving a soft laugh. “But I appreciate the praise. She likes you.”Rey flushed hot at that. It boosted her pride to know her kids enjoyed having her at school.“I like Breha.” Once more with feeling.“Breha was telling me the other day that she would like to have you over for dinner one night,” Ben said. “Not this holiday weekend, of course, but maybe sometime before the break. I told her I would bring it up with you. It’s… sort of why I asked to stay.”“Yes,” Rey cut in. Dinner sounded wonderful. Rey loved dinner. Who didn’t love dinner? So much about dinner to love, from the cutlery to the many beverage options…“That is to say, that would be nice.”“Great. I have your work email, so I’ll be in touch about it.” Ben then stood and offered his hand to help Rey to her feet. Rey let herself lift with help from Ben’s large hands. Fingers as thick as the jumbo chalk she used for sidewalk drawing during recess. Scents of spice and coffee rolling off his body as she moved close for him to guide her out of the dark……and right down a path she’d teased Rose for taking. Hypocritical of her, yes, but gorgeous man great with kids… Plus, this way she stayed away from Mr. Hux, which was what Rose wanted all along.~a/n: So, originally I planned a multi-chapter story based on the School’s Out prompts, but I had trouble piecing together a long story. Sorry about that. These prompts will therefore be one-shots.Try to imagine, here, that Rey visits Ben and Breha for that dinner date and the grown-ups hit it off. Rey, once cynical about using her position to find a mate, finds Ben too irresistible to avoid. Ben volunteers at school every chance he gets, becoming popular with Breha’s class and her teacher. By the end of the school year they are engaged.  -- source link
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