Page 61 of Ancient History

He pointed her out, and heads inevitably turned. The three non-speaking gentlemen carried her in her chair to the open space in the center of the caf. Her face was the brightest red I’d ever seen on a human being. Other kids had their phones out to record.

The lead guy kissed his lips and pointed at her. He changed the song on his phone to something current, a love song I’d been hearing on the radio.

The fedora foursome was actually a quartet. They exploded into a choreographed dance that had been thoroughly practiced. It was a mix between boy bands and breakdancing. The cafe went absolutely bananas. I looked to Amos to see if we had to stop it, but he was equally transfixed.

At the end of their dance, the lead guy pulled a rose from his inside pocket. “Ereka Fraser, will you go to prom with me?”

Fucking promposals. Some things never changed. It was the official kickoff of prom season.

Ereka’s face was streaked with tears as she jumped into his arms nodding like a maniac.

The caf cheered them on, and I appreciated that everyone in here was a sap for this stuff.

I had to be the adult. I strolled up to them, gave them a nice golf clap. “Okay, guys. Very nice. You gotta get back to class.”

“Cool cool. Got it, Coach Hawkins.” The lead guy gazed at Ereka, right through me like I was invisible.

“She said yes. Congratulations.” I guided him and his fedora’d friends to the exit. I wasn’t sure the protocol for promposals, but this seemed like the responsibility of caf duty.

The lead guy gave his prom date a wink. She clutched her rose tight, her cheeks as red as the petals. Ah, young love. So wide-eyed. I smiled to myself, happy to have witnessed such a sight. Deep down, I was a sucker for this stuff.

“It’s promposal season,” I said with an eye roll when I returned to the table.

Amos didn’t have any reaction. He stared off into the blank space where the foursome had performed, his usually expressive face muted.

“I can’t believe kids do that,” I said.

“It’s nice,” he said, his voice hollow.

I returned to my seat, but Amos had pushed back so our knees could no longer touch.

18

AMOS

Watching promposals happen on a nearly daily basis hit me harder than I expected. Usually, I laughed them off. Except for the promposals done by queer students. Those rocked! I cheered them on like crazy when they occurred.

But this year, I got a tiny ache whenever I watched a student profess their heartfelt desire via song, dance, or poster to take their fellow classmate to prom. It made me think of the promposal I never got and the prom I never got to attend. Was I setting myself up for another round of disappointment by letting myself fall for Hutch again?

This wasn’t love, I reminded myself. This was car sex.

Even if I wanted it to be more.

Even if the feeling of being cocooned in Hutch’s arms as we (actually) napped brought me a sense of peace I’d never before experienced.

Hutch could get scared again and end this with another text message. That thought refused to leave my mind, despite telling myself that Hutch would never be that cruel again. He had grown. Things were different this time.

But were they?

History repeated itself. That’s what it did with laser focus, like a shark hunting prey.

I became a bit of a grump, admittedly. I told my students that class couldn’t be interrupted with promposals, so warn their dates accordingly. I hated being that teacher, but it was for my own mental health.

A week after that first promposal in the cafeteria, I was grading papers at home. With no roommate, the condo felt extra quiet. Good for concentration, but bad for letting thoughts flit through my mind. I focused on the papers. It was quite incredible the spread of writing capabilities among my students. Some students had truly interesting ideas, and I was impressed by how thoughtful they could be. Others I could tell were doing everything they could just to score an A, no real passion.

I pulled up Tommy’s paper and steeled myself for tossed off garbage. But to my complete surprise, his paper was…incredible? Well thought out. Thought-provoking. Beautifully written with sentences that exploded with passion. He challenged the very notion of what I was teaching.

I was blown away. Had Tommy turned over a new leaf?

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