Ancient History (South Rock High, #1)

by A.J. Truman

He was the reason Britney Spears invented the word toxic. He was the reason why people willingly cried along to Adele songs.

One of the many things I loved about history was that it was one long story. The present was confusing and made no sense. Only when we looked back did we see the narrative logic of our lives.

History can repeat itself if we aren’t careful. Those who don’t study history are doomed to repeat it. The same conflicts, the same short-sightedness, the same mistakes.”

The universe was a nasty ass bitch who loved to mess with me. Because not only was Hutch here, but he was still freaking gorgeous.

Shock, anger, disgust, (and joy?) twisted in me. The entire cast of Inside Out was having a field day in my head.

In ancient cultures, the sharing of food was symbolic of unification. And in modern times, Skittles were delicious.

The phone was hot in my hand. My screen wasn’t the only thing glowing. Our conversation came to a pause, and I didn’t want it to end. That was the thing about Hutch. He was like a bag of chips: you promise yourself one chip but blink and wind up eating the whole thing.

Loneliness just becomes another layer of clothing you wear. You don’t even realize it’s on.

The world around us shut off. Time stopped. We were high school lovers. We were adults. We were everywhere in between, infinite dots connected on the same timeline.

“And I would cheer you on at all of your quiz bowl tournaments. I’d bring handmade signs and brag to everyone in the audience that I was your boyfriend. When your team won, I’d jump up and scream FUCK YEAH.” “And then you’d get banned from attending all future quiz bowl tournaments.” “It’d be worth it.” I would be the biggest quiz bowl groupie in history.

Complaints like this were the quickest way to get under my skin. Nobody took history seriously. They thought math, English, and science were the only valuable subjects. A lack of taking history seriously was why we had Holocaust deniers and anti-vaxxers.

“Amos, I know I broke your heart before, but if you give me one more chance, I’ll never break it again.”

Was I willing to die to have great sex? The answer was yes, apparently.

“You make me laugh, Famous Amos.” He cracked a cheshire cat-esque smile, which made my pants tighten. It was good to know that despite all my raging anxiety about climbing a tree, I was still horny for sex. Something to look forward to if I made it out of this alive.

He went to his nightstand, where he produced fresh lube and condoms. It was a Christmas miracle!

“Is this what you want?” “Do you know that humans were able to evolve because of fire? Fire allowed humans to stay up late and communicate. My fire for you has continued to burn. That’s a long-winded yes for you.”

“Good. They made the right call.” “They wouldn’t have if you hadn’t gone full Erin Brockovich for me.” I didn’t understand any of his memes. Hopefully, I would learn.

Damn. He was right. We were far from the hallway, farther from the bedroom. Even gay men hated asking for directions. My back was almost up against the sliding door that led to his patio.

“The bubonic plague was a rough time for the world. Things went dormant. But the theme of history is that humans are resilient. We always bounce back stronger. Out of the darkness of the plague came our final unit of the year, the Renaissance, which gave birth to artistic beauty and scientific advancements that propelled humanity forward.”

“You’ve been holding onto a raincheck for ten years. This time, we’re going to right the wrongs of the past. Amos Bright, will you go to prom with me?” Every single student leaned forward in their chair, hanging on my answer. If only I could get them to be this engaged with our regular lessons.

He turned back around, and I admired his ass in those pants. I loved sports.

Hutch looked over his shoulder at me, and I wanted to remember that face forever. Pure joy radiated off him. I gave him two thumbs up. He winked back at me. Someone was getting lucky tonight.

Before we could continue our telepathic foreplay, his players dumped the water cooler of Gatorade on his head. Hutch’s white polo shirt became see-through, so really, we all won tonight.

“You want to watch us dance?” “Damn right. I want to see you two get the happy ending you never got in high school. I feel so grateful to have lived long enough that my gay son can go to the prom with the man he loves. There was a time when they wouldn’t allow gay men to even teach kids.” This guy. I was two seconds away from becoming a pile of tears.

“I think I just got pranked, but also gay rights, so I’m not sure.”

“Hello,” I said flatly. “I’m a friend of Hutch’s.” “Bullshit. You two are boyfriends.” Damn, Bud was like the king of PFLAG.

“You know, I suspected there was a connection between you two.” Aguilar poured himself a drink while Clint did us all a favor and loosened his tie. “I remember when I brought Hutch around that first day. There was this feeling in the air.” From what I remembered, Aguilar was one hundred percent oblivious.

“Having a near death experience showed me I had to start living.” “With your doctor?” “We can’t choose who we love. Love is love is love, according to Manuel Lin-Miranda.” “It’s Lin-Manuel Miranda.”

“Sarita and I have a date scheduled for this week.” Pop raised his eyebrows. “And I already cleared it with my doctor that I can take Viagra.” “Dr. Kumar is your doctor!” “And she very much approves.” Pop broke into a hearty laugh.