To Learn to Let Go | ✔

Chapter 14

I ran right for Trent when he came to pick me up that morning. I had him arrive right when my parents would leave for work, that way I wouldn't have to be alone with Adam. I hugged him tight, just as I had the night before, his familiar scent immediately comforting me. He wrapped his arms around me and hugged as tight as he could. "God, I love being able to do this," he whispered against my hair. I smiled to myself and hugged Trent tighter, then I felt him stiffen underneath me. I looked up at him to see his brows furrowed together in anger. I turned to where he was looking and saw Adam staring out the bay window in the living room at us. "Let's go," Trent said and opened the door for me. "Do you like coffee?" He asked as he drove away from my house.

"Yeah," I replied. He took us in the opposite direction of school, but in the direction of our local Starbucks. He pulled up to the drive thru and asked what I wanted. "C-caramel macchiato, grande."

"Hi welcome to Starbucks can I interest you in something to eat this morning?" The perky barista asked.

"Do you want anything?" Trent asked. I shook my head no. "Have you eaten breakfast this morning?" I shook my head no again. "You should eat breakfast, do you like chocolate chip cookies? You seem like you'd like chocolate chip cookies." I nodded. "Yeah, can I get two warmed up chocolate chip cookies?" Trent asked the barista.

"Okay, two warmed up chocolate chip cookies, anything else?"

"Can I get a grande quad shot americano with cream?"

"Okay, a grande quad americano with cream, anything else for you today sir?"

"Yes, and a grande caramel macchiato."

"Okay and a grande caramel macchiato, are these drinks both hot?"

"Yes please."

"Alright anything else?"

"No, thank you."

"Alright you can pull up to the window for your total." Trent drove around to the window and I took my debit card out of my wallet and went to hand it to him.

"No, it's alright babe, I got it." He said, politely pushing my hand back towards me.

"You sure?" I asked.

"Yes, the least I can do is buy you coffee and a cookie," he laughed. When the barista opened the window, Trent handed her his card. She had long brown hair pulled into a ponytail, a half sleeve of floral tattoos, a nose ring, and she was dressed in all black, her nametag said her name was Mandy.

"Here you go, handsome," she winked at Trent as she handed back his card along with the two cookies.

"Thank you, here you go babe," he said loudly as he handed me one of the cookies. My face heated up when Mandy flirted with him. But the look of disappointment on her face when he called me babe made me smile. Mandy disappeared from the window for just a moment and came back with our drinks.

"Here, have a nice day," she said as she plopped the drinks on the counter in a huff, quickly disappearing again into the window. Trent and I laughed as he drove away.

"Should we be afraid to drink these?" Trent joked, lighting a cigarette as he drove away from the drive thru window. It felt nice to just be laughing with Trent, getting coffee on our way to school like we're just a normal high school couple. For that drive to school I completely forgot what was waiting for me at home as we ate our chocolate chip cookies and sipped at our drinks.

"So, u-um, I have a question?" I said nervously.

"Okay, you're scaring me, what is it?"

"Are we going to be o-out at school?" He looked thoughtful for a moment, as if he hadn't considered it before. We were just pulling into the school parking lot and I thought it would be important to talk about this before we got into the building. I knew that Trent had never been with a guy before, I had never been in a relationship before. No one really knew me unless it was as Kyle's punching bag, and Trent was the resident bad boy. There were so many reasons I was nervous about being open about us at school, but I also wasn't sure I wanted to hide it. So, I decided to leave it up to Trent. I was out, and it wasn't a big deal. I didn't want to take the decision away from him.

"What do you think?"

"It's u-up to you, I'm already out so, but this is n-new to you."

"I don't want to hide you like I'm ashamed of you. So as long as you're okay with it, I want to walk into that school holding hands, proudly showing off to the whole school that I somehow tricked the greatest guy in the world into dating me." I blushed as he complimented me so much.

"That is absolutely not true, because I'm dating the greatest guy in the world." Now it was Trent's turn to blush. It amazed me that I could make him blush or get nervous. I never thought that I would have that kind of effect on a person.

We got out of the truck and Trent walked around to my side. He put his hand in mind, our fingers lacing together in a way that was becoming like second nature now. I took a deep breath, preparing myself for the stares and comments we would probably get. With Trent by my side though, I felt safe, I knew they couldn't get to me. We began walking toward the front door of the school, students walking outside already gawking at us as we passed, and I began to feel my throat close and my breath become short.

Trent squeezed my hand. "It's okay, I'm right here." I forced myself to take a deep breath in, holding it for a few seconds before letting it out slowly. "We don't have to do this you know?" He asked.

"I want to." I reassured him, opening the door and heading inside, Trent right behind me and our hands still laced together. As we maneuvered the halls there were even more stares and whispers, a few disappointed looks, some very, very angry ones. A few teachers noticed us, and their expressions were either ones of support or confusion. Some almost went to say something to us and then either thought better of it or decided they didn't want the confrontation. I had never had so many eyes on me at one time, it was one of my worst nightmares. But walking down those halls, Trent's hand in mine, I felt like a million bucks. Trent Rodriguez was my boyfriend, mine, and the whole world knew it. And I was his.

As we got closer to my first period class my anxiety grew and my stomach turned to knots. We would soon see Kyle and his friends, and I was not prepared for whatever abuses they would hurl at us. As we rounded the corner, I braced myself to be thrown into a locker, or have slurs shouted at us, but when I made eye contact with Kyle all I could see was a look of shock on his face. He looked down at Trent's hand in mine, at Trent's goofy grin as we strutted through the halls, and the shock slowly turned to disgust. He didn't approach us though and didn't say anything. A smug grin spread across my face as we approached my first period classroom. I turned to face Trent, giving his hand a tight squeeze before letting go.

"See you at lunch?" I asked.

"Of course, have fun," he said. I was about to turn and walk into the classroom when Trent gently put his hand on the back of my head. I was so taken aback, and my face blushed instantly, I was unsure of what he was trying to do. As I started to panic Trent slowly bent down and placed a gentle kiss to my forehead. "Bye baby," he said as he turned and walked down the hall in the direction we had come from. Once I calmed down, I walked into my biology class with a stupid grin on my face, greeting Ms. Reynolds who was standing near the doorway.

"I saw that," she half whispered as I walked by. I blushed a deep shade of red and quickly made my way to my desk, only to notice the smile on her face as I sat down. I didn't think she wouldn't be okay with it, but it was still embarrassing having your teacher comment on your relationship. I tried really hard to focus on Ms. Reynold's genetics lesson, but I just kept fantasizing about Trent. Not like sexually or anything... okay maybe a little bit. I was mostly just imagining what it would be like to trust someone that much, to be that close to someone. I could already see my walls breaking down around him. He could hold my hand without issue, I was able to hug him. Him kissing my forehead didn't make me panic that much, in just a short time I was making a lot of progress. I was letting him in, and he was proving worthy of the space he was occupying in my heart and in my life. Maybe everyone was wrong about him.

A/N:

I changed the title and book cover, let me know what you think? 

Just a warning that within the next couple of chapters there will be some potentially triggering situations with sexual assault. I will put a warning ahead of the chapter and just before the part of the chapter for those who want to skip it!

Thank you so much to anyone who has been reading this story! I would really appreciate if you would vote for the chapters and leave any kind of feedback!