❝If their relationship was a house of cards, it had crumbled from the day it began.❞
Chapter 27 | if only
It is a peculiar feeling to give your heart to someone, and then let them crumble it. It is odd when that person crushes it, and you realize they never cared for you as much as you did for them. Then again, maybe they did. One simply can never know.
"Wait" Will cautiously asks, pleads and Aera tries to control herself, to make herself stronger than she is. Most people bought it. But sometimes it is just so hard to be someone you are utterly not. Aera Clayor has never been strong. So why did people always think she was?
Why must she always pretend she is?
Gritting her teeth, she turned around to face Will. Ana had moved a few feet away, and was talking to a friend of hers. A calm expression on her face, it was as if she was giving Will and Aera space. Space to talk about their problems without her hovering them.
"What is it?" she asked coolly, her eyes falling onto Will's once again. The green in his eyes sparkled, and Aera wished she could say she had never felt something for him. It would be so much more simple. If only she had never felt anything for him.
If only.
"I'm sorry" Will said once again, his expression pleading. Aera swallowed, how many times was he going to say that? Would he never cease? It was driving her even more mad. It was making her heart crack a bit more. At times Aera had silly crushes.
Didn't we all?
She had those serious ones as well. The one who would cling to her memories years later, and make her clasp her pillow tightly to her chest. A expression of longing evident in her face. She had the crushes she could never forget about, and she had the ones that were a distant regretful memory.
However Will Wilson hadn't been her crush, he'd been more. And he'd been the first person to be more. And for what? Just so he could go and lie to her every damn day. If their relationship was a house of cards, it had crumbled from the day it began.
Destined for doom.
She swallowed, and turned away. "I told you we were done" she mumbled, and he clasped his hands tightly around hers. Pleading her not to leave. Will had never been a romantic, he thought it silly and pointless.
If he liked someone, he liked them. It was that simple, no need to add spice to it. But when he'd read that stupid letter from Luce. He'd thought to himself that he could see the appeal of romance. Maybe love wasn't over. Maybe it wasn't dead.
Maybe he could find it with someone other than Ana.
No, no that wasn't it. Aera wasn't a replacement for Ana. She was Aera, and he was Will. And he'd ruined something before it was even his. If only he could go back, back to that day and fix everything. If only he had started this off the right way, maybe he could've kept her.
"I'm sorry" he said once again, weakly this time. And Aera sighed, he looked so utterly defeated. It was quite difficult to conjure up the foolish and fickle emotion of anger when someone had that look on their face. She pushed it away. He'd lied to her, and he'd broken every inch of the trust she had ever had for him.
"I don't forgive you" she gritted out, and Will just slumped against the back of the bench. He felt a few eyes regarding him, a bit wary and judgmental. If only they could get some semblance of privacy. But with his million 'friends,' and his popularity, that was never something that happened.
He could already taste the rumors on everyone's tongues.
"C-Can I explain myself?" he asked, more like begged. Someone coughed near them and someone next to them laughed at Will's words, and Will groaned. Standing up he faced those stupid and foolish high school students. He suddenly whistled a long and clear sound, and everyone's eyes turned towards him.
But then again, most of those eyes were already on him. Gripping onto the ledge tightly, he yelled. And he never yelled. But if only people could mind their own damn business. He voiced just that, his voice loud and clear as it rang through the courtyard. Somewhere in the courtyard Luce lifted his head, to stare at the two of them. Then he looked away, Will yelled at them all "For once, can everyone just mind their own damn business!"
At that they were all silent, and one of his friends, rolling his eyes, turned his attention away. The rest followed in suit. Luce had never looked back up. And Ana had smiled at him encouragingly. Will had smiled back. He would rather be somewhere else, but he doubted Aera would let him take her anywhere. Plopping back onto the bench, he turned his attention back to her.
She regarded him with the same precise cool expression, one of her brows raising she said "I guess we have to talk now that you've made a big commotion out of it all." she said, and Will smiled. His teeth twinkling in the sunlight, "I excel at making commotion" he said.
She didn't laugh as he had hoped, but she did sit down. That was somewhat encouraging. He wanted to reach forward and grasp her hand on his, but he resisted. His hands were sweaty anyways. She waited for him to start, her eyebrows still arched perfectly.
"I-I didn't mean to hurt you" he began with and Aera looked very much skeptical. He sighed "It wasn't my intention, I-I just didn't know what overcame me. Plus you looked at m-me like that, and I thought-" he stopped, and Aera's frown deepened.
"What'd you think?" she asked, and Will was very hesitant. He sighed, what did he have to lose now? "I know you thought I wrote those letters, I-I know that was the only reason you agreed to date me." He suddenly snapped, his fingers and Aera looked more clearly at him. A bit startled.
"And snap, when Luce told me, it all made sense. Why you would look at me with that adoring look, when I had done nothing to deserve it. It just clicked, you thought I was someone I wasn't" He said, a tremor to his voice. Aera tried to object, but he didn't let her speak.
He went on, "And I thought to myself that I actually liked you, and I liked you for who you were. Not any other reason, and I-I don't know why. But it-it just somehow led to this. And I never had bad intentions" he scratched his hair, his mind flitting to Luce. "For you that was."
Aera grasped her hands tightly together, it was hard to say mad at someone when their expression was so pleading. And damn her, but she believed Will. "You still lied to me" she finally said, and Will merely turned away, his expression somber.
"I know" he said, he didn't try to justify it, he didn't do anything. He just accepted it, as if he knew it was the brutal and honest truth. Which it was. Aera sighed, she got mad easily, that she knew. And she tried to avoid confrontation, so she could remain mad. But the mere moment someone showed a hint of remorse, she forgave them.
As long as they meant it, she forgave them. And sparing Will a pitying look, she sighed. It was clear he meant it, he seemed to mean it very much. She swallowed, she'd known Will since she was young as well. She knew most everyone in this town, it was a small town.
But Will had always been her friend, sure he was insanely rich, popular and quite good looking but he'd never been a cruel person. In some odd aspect, he reminded her of her dad. Her dad had been like him in high school, and he'd been insanely happy too. Football player, ladies man, all around. He had wanted Aera to feel that same happiness.
But Aera had never been her father.
And Will, maybe his intentions were pure, he had let her feel the happiness, her dad so desperately wanted her to have. But this wasn't the happiness she wanted, it was a detached type of happiness. She saw them flit all around her, the people, the parties, the laugher, the memories. But in the end her life had never felt like hers.
If she was the Aera her father wanted her to be, she would have never forgive Will. But she was not that Aera, she was the person she had always been. A little clumsy, a little shy, forgiving, and most definitely not the type who cared about money, or popularity.Brushing back, a lock of her light hair, she turned to Will.
"I forgive you"
The smile that instantly lit up his face made her realize why it was that everyone loved him. Their was just something so good about him. Their was a certain sparkle of pureness and innocence about him. The type of innocence that comes around from a golden heart. Not from anything else, just the sparkle that
comes from a good person.
"D-Does that mean you still want to be together?" he asked, some semblance of hope visible in his tone. Aera hesitated, as much as she wanted to deny it, the only reason she had ever liked Will was that she thought he'd written those letters. But he hadn't. So what did that even mean?
"I-I think we'd be better sep-separate" she stuttered out, visibly flinching as Will's expression shattered. The glimmer in his green eyes disappeared, and she clung to the bench. Hoping that it would somehow ground her. It didn't help.
"But you forgave me?" he questioned, his tone defeated. Aera pried her fingers from her bench, and clung to his and he turned to look at her. She didn't know what to say, he looked utterly crushed.
"I'm sorry" she said, and Will chuckled bitterly. He squeezed her fingers, once, twice and then pried them off hers. "It's alright" he paused "Thank you for forgiving me. It's more than I had hoped for." he said. She sighed happily, there was some semblance of light back into those emerald eyes of his.
"Be happy" she mumbled under her breath, but he caught the words and smiled sweetly at her. His eyes momentarily flashed over to Ana, and a sharp glint of pain overtook him. Turning back towards Aera, he stuck out his hand, a half hearted smile on his lips. "Friends?" he asked, and Aera looked down at his hand which was stuck out towards her. She reached over and shook it, flashing him a smile back.
"Friends" she confirmed.
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hope y'all like will a lil more now 😭