Page 23 of Keeping Secrets

"I can’t do what you do," Travis told him.

“You don’t have to. We’ll write up the questions and answers together. You can make flashcards, whatever you need to do." He looked at Travis sternly. "Just don’t let anyone see them."

He nodded. "Scout’s honor."

"Have Ted whip us up a couple baskets of Parmesan fries and then we’ll sit down and hash out this week’s list of questions."

Travis relayed the order to the kitchen and mixed up a couple of mocktails while he waited on the fries. For Scot, cranberry juice and sparkling water with just a bit of lime simple syrup. For himself, their house kombucha with an extra kick of ginger.

Once they were settled at a booth by the front window, Scot pushed a stack of index cards and a handful of pens across the table.

"Ready?"

"I guess."

Scot put his chin down and gave Travis a level look. "I said, are you ready?"

Travis hated this. He hated that Scot’s health had deteriorated to the point that he needed to hand off his beloved trivia night to someone infinitely less competent. He hated that acting as the MC would force him into the spotlight. He hated the stress that he carried, which turned what should be an easy task into yet another mountain that he had to climb.

But this was Scot. The man who had saved his proverbial butt more than once. The man who had acted as a mentor and father figure since Travis was in his late teens. And he was asking so little.

"Ready." Travis put as much energy into his voice as he could. "What are you thinking for this week?"

"Seems like ancient Rome is coming back around."

Travis pressed his lips into a thoughtful expression to keep from laughing. "Yeah?"

"Yeah. Everyone online. This is my Roman empire, that is my Roman empire. I bet people would enjoy some questions about the real Roman empire."

"I love it. Ancient civilizations. Go."

His eyes narrowed slightly as he wondered whether or not Travis was taking this seriously. Then he decided to let it go and said, "We can start with civilizations that fell to the Romans. Did you know that there used to be a number of Celtic tribes on the Iberian peninsula?"

"The what now?"

Scot sighed. "First question: Which four countries make up the Iberian peninsula? Write that down. Bonus point for the name of the English territory located on the peninsula."

Travis jotted that down and then looked back up at Scot. "And the four countries are…"

Another sigh. "France, Spain, Portugal, and Andorra."

"There is a country called Andorra?" Travis frowned at Scot, half-convinced that he was messing with him. Scot just gave another long-suffering sigh.

"Yes. There is a country called Andorra."

"If you say so." He finished writing down the answer and leaned back to take a sip of his drink. "And then Rome?"

"Not quite yet." Scot sat up straighter, warming to the subject. "Next we’ll ask them to name three civilizations on the Iberian peninsula that predated the Roman conquest."

"This feels like it’s getting a bit niche."

"I can think of three people off the top of my head who come to every trivia night and will be able to rattle off at least half a dozen. Let’s say half a point for each one."

"If you say so. Do you think that I should make a list of potential answers, or…?"

"There are too many. I’ll be there."

Travis nodded. He was grateful that he would not be running his first trivia night alone and more grateful still that Scot was up for attending, if not MCing. But it also made him nervous to know that Scot would be watching him fumble his way through the questions.

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