High Class

"Heeey good lookin'~ Wha'cha doin'?"

Aleks looked up from the glass he was cleaning as the drunken man stumbled towards him. His breath reeked of alcohol and he could hardly keep himself standing. He leaned on the bar, uncomfortably close to the young bartender.

"Can I help you...sir?" He asked, moving to the other side of the bar. The drunk followed him.

"Yeah," he slurred, "gimmie a night with you." Reaching into his pocket, the man slapped a 20 dollar bill onto the bar and pushed it closer. Aleks shook his head.

"High class whore, are ya? Fine." The man stacked another 20 on top.

"Apparently, you're mistaken sir. I'm not a whore. Just a-" "Hey!" He stopped mid-sentence as a well dressed man walked up. He hopped over the bar and draped an arm across his shoulders, leaning close to his ear.

"Play along unless you wanna be that guy's date for the night." He whispered, just loud enough for Aleks to hear. Turning to the drunken man, he grinned.

"I'm terribly sorry, my friend, but you seem to have the wrong idea here. He," he motioned to Aleks, "isn't a whore, or even a high-class whore. Though he is a high-class man, if you catch my drift." He paused and laughed, then resumed talking. "This wonderful young bartender here, is my boyfriend."

The drunk stopped, looked the two of them over, then added 2 more 20's to the pile of cash sitting on the bar.

"I'll take both 'o ya for the night. Eh?"

Aleks leaned his head back against the wall of the bar. Looking to his left, he saw Rudy, the man who helped him, talking to a cop, explaining the story.

"You see officer, I walked into the bar, and saw that man," he motioned to the drunk, sitting in handcuffs in the back of the police cruiser, "hitting on this poor bartender. He looked so uncomfortable that I had to help him. So I went over and claimed he was my boyfriend. Then that... savage, tried to pay us for sex. So I did what any self respecting man would do."

The officer looked at him, raising an eyebrow. "And what exactly is that?"

"I knocked his lights out."

"Right." The cop cleared his throat. "Well, consider this a warning. Another incident like this and I'll have to mark you down for disorderly conduct. We clear?"

Rudy gave a firm salute. "Transparently, sir!"

The officer rolled his eyes and went back to the car, driving off with the drunk man. Rudy looked around, then noticed the bartender sitting against the wall. Walking over, he sat next to him.

"Sorry for the trouble with the cops. You just looked so weirded out by that guy that I had to do something." Aleks waved a hand dismissively.

"It's fine. If it weren't for you, I'm not sure what would have happened tonight." He leaned over and pecked Rudy on the cheek, then stood up and stretched.

"It's been a long night," he offered a hand down, "come inside, I'll get you a drink. On the house."