Sticking two hot heads who've had it out for each other since day one didn't seem smart. But yet that's exactly what happens. Roman and Will didn't "click" together, the closest they were to having something in common was their swim team and their n...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
Will's finger slid against the soft page, flipping it slowly as his eyes caught up with every word. Will always enjoyed reading. It didn't matter how old he was or how many books he had read, he never stopped. He solely remembered the sleepless nights with him under the covers, a book in one hand and a flashlight in the other.
It was only 9 in the morning, so with Roman still asleep, he was contentedly wearing his glasses to read. Yes, glasses.
What Roman doesn't know won't hurt him. If the boy knew Will wore glasses, he wouldn't hear the end of it. Roman already made fun of Will for being a so-called "nerd", and adding this would be like adding matches to a fire, and if anyone knew Roman, the fire would spread quickly. The blond began wearing contacts before High School instead of his bothersome glasses. Except now, with his black-framed glasses and the heavy feeling of them on his nose, it felt nostalgic.
In Middle School, Will seemed like such a different reality. His blond locks were once a brown mess. His face rocked his blue bendable glasses that he loved. He had a lot of acne and pimples adorning his face. He wasn't as confident or spoke up much. He was just another skinny awkward tween who seemed to be towered over by everybody. But he was happy with his cat, mom, and books.
So yeah, it wasn't rocket science to figure out he was bullied. Every other guy was hitting puberty, getting taller and bigger. He tried not to mind it much, and it was undoubtedly not the root of his problems.
His dad wanted a son. And Will wasn't the most masculine. He liked cooking breakfast and baking with his mom. He liked spending his allowance on new toys for his cat or books. He hated playing sports, he'd much rather be at the library. And his father wanted him to play with kids his own age. To play sports. To be confident. To be a son— or whatever that meant. So his dad made sure that would happen.
That summer. That goddamn summer. His cat was gone, his mom became non-existence, and all he had was his dad. His remarks, his comparisons, his yelling, his hidden bruises. So Will began working out so he could try out for the swim team, to make his dad proud. He dyed his hair blond, like his father. He got contacts and threw away his blue glasses, like his father wanted. He also hid away his books underneath his bed, leaving them to feel ashamed and forgotten like a married man's mistress.
That's how he lived throughout all of high school, living in the shoes his father wanted. Continuously dyed his hair, going through the pain of digging into his eyes for his contacts, spending early mornings in swimming practice, and acing every assignment to be wanted. It seemed to work a little.
Then he heard a gasp. A loud, dramatic one. He looked up to see Roman's mouth gaped open, with excitement in his eyes.
"What?" He asked, relatively annoyed, but before he knew it the raven-headed boy erupted in laughter.
"Oh god! I knew you wore glasses." Will turned a dark shade of pink when he realized he had them on and tried taking them off, but Roman beat him to it and took them off himself. He observed the simple black-framed glasses in his hand with a mild prescription. "The number of times I could've broken these."
