𝑐𝑙𝑜𝑠𝑒𝑑 𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑟𝑡𝑒𝑟 , 𝒇𝒆𝒂𝒕𝒖𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒈 @romefm ! — 𝐋𝐎𝐂𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍 : ◜ 𝐂𝐀𝐌𝐏𝐔𝐒 𝐆𝐑𝐎𝐔𝐍𝐃𝐒 , 𝐅𝐎𝐎𝐓𝐁𝐀𝐋𝐋 𝐏𝐑𝐀𝐂𝐓𝐈𝐂𝐄 . ◞
𝑡𝑜 𝑝𝑢𝑡 𝑖𝑡 𝑠𝑖𝑚𝑝𝑙𝑦 , the last week had materialised to be a total catastrophe . it is almost as if these lecturers , fellow students , and campus staff have never seen bruising before — much less river’s grievingly battered mug . jeez . he can’t stand the fussing , and he really can’t stand the concerned observations ( slithered with a sense of judgement , he’s sure ) , and the arbitrary quizzing by randoms of what came to be . at this point , unless you lived under a cave , most of who was who already KNEW what went down between him and hollingsworth’s celebrated quarterback . river remembers , kind of , but he also doesn’t , not really . the male bears no recollection of the vicious words exchanged , nor where he’d been beforehand or what he was even doing . it’s ironic that the induced spiralling of his serotonin levels had the frat boy feeling like he was on top of the world , despite the fact his evening playing host was tragically dwindling from bad to worse . though his evocation is robbing him of any clarity of the what , where , how and when’s , river is and always has been certain of one thing — and that was why . sure , the black eye , severe cheekbone swelling , busted lip & concussed crown captures attention he wishes could dissipate , but if the boy genuinely weighs out the pro’s and con’s , the damage only rewarded him with a desired end goal . no , THE desired end goal . he had roman exactly where he wanted that night . a cosmic sphere of fury and rage pummelling his face uncontrollably , oh , & how he remembers the numbing sensation so vividly . river not only bared witness to a monster he didn’t recognise transcending behind pitch black hues — devil’s work — but he also managed to compel roman to behold the annihilation of his ugly , twisted mind & the power it still holds over him to this day . now if that wasn’t poetic justice , he doesn’t know what is .
river’s train of thought is brusquely interrupted by the raspy timbre of coach hollering at them to take positions . the male is disorientated at first , but eventually finds his place on the expansive field . he’s had to miss a week of practice thanks to the several run-ins that transpired at the party . the second river showed up to practice the next day , coach practically booted him out of the locker room ; ordering the boy to get his act together and fix his damn face with some medical care before returning . three days and several stitches later , and here he is — jam packed with painkillers & raring to go . river’s made the conscious effort not to even so much as look at pierce’s way this morning , he’s been avoiding the other like a plague since their exchange of blows , but at this point , their contact ( however minimal ) on the field could be described as unavoidable .