Chapter Eight
I inhale a deep breath and let it out as I open the door to the philosophy classroom. Walking in, I place my essay on the large mahogany desk up front before making my way over to my seat.
"Hey, shoe lace," Trent greets and I toss my notebook down on the desk next to his, sending him a cheeky smile.
"Hi, tent."
His eyebrows go up in surprise. "You remember?"
"That I groped you? Yeah, I remember." I plop down in my seat and shake my head. "I'm so sorry about that by the way. I don't know what I was thinking." I shake my head again before reaching up and running a hand through my hair. Trent drops his hand flat on his desk and opens his mouth to reply, but then squeaking of chalk against the chalkboard snaps everyone's heads forward as Professor Collins starts the lecture. I open my notebook, writing the date in the top right corner, while Trent leans over in the corner of my eye.
"Who said I didn't like it?" The words are brushed up against the tip of my ear and the heat of them travels down the back of my neck while Trent slowly leans back in his chair.
****
"So I was thinking..." Trent starts as we all begin to pack up our things.
"Yeah?" I inquire when he doesn't automatically continue and pick up my notebook.
"Since the holidays are coming up and after finals we get to go home for winter break," I nod walking ahead of him down the risers, "and since we go to the same grocery store that must mean we live kind of close, so I was wondering," Trent pauses again and catches the door before it closes, holding it open for me. "If you needed a ride back home?"
I raise my brow at him. "Is this your way of trying to find out where I live?"
"Pft, what?" He sputters. "No." I let out a laugh and continue to walk past him towards the exit of the building.
"I didn't mean it like that," he says once again catching up to me and holding open the door. "I was just thinking that carpooling is... better for the environment." He sends me a wink and I shake my head before stepping outside.
"Well, how considerate of you, but I have my own car." The cool December wind whips past us and I hug my notebook closer to my chest in response.
"Ah, well, suit yourself." Trent grins as we walk down the steps and onto the pathway. "When all the polar bears are dying in Antarctica, I'll know who to blame."
"Hey!" I yell defensively. "Don't blame me for killing the polar bears. Everyone contributes to global warming."
"Well," he shrugs, tilting his head from side to side. "It's the little things that count, like carpooling every once in awhile, but I guess you don't want to do that so some biology major you are."
My mouth drops. "The study of biology and the environment are two different things and I already told you I'm only majoring in biology to become a physical therapist."
"Well, what about the physical therapy of polar bears?" He folds his arms across his chest and I slap a hand to my forehead before sliding it down the rest of my face.
"You're really annoying, you know that?" I turn to face him once more and a grin stretches across his lips.
"That's not what you were saying on Saturday." My mouth drops again, but I quickly close it. Trent continues to stare back at me with his green eyes dancing in amusement and his grin still in place. After a few seconds, I finally let out a frustrated breath.
"Goodbye, Trent." I wave my hand and he chuckles as I walk past him.
"Goodbye, Vanilla." I shake my head and continue to walk down the pathway while biting my lip to contain a smile that's threatening to spread there.
****
"Ugh, I can't. I'm done," Stephanie says slamming her book closed and throwing her pen across the room. "Finals can officially suck my—"
"Stephanie!" Savannah yells and shoves her arm before she can finish her sentence while we all laugh. My chuckling only makes it harder to concentrate on the scribbled words on the notebook in my lap, but I force them away refusing to be distracted.
After a few minutes, Megan sighs. "Yeah, I'm done too." She closes her notebook and shoves it off her lap.
"I can't believe the semesters already over," Stephanie says lying back on her bed and staring up at the ceiling.
"I know, it really flew by," Megan agrees before picking up her phone.
"I feel like we've been in college forever." Stephanie groans throwing her hands out and a small chuckle falls past my lips again before the silence returns. A few more biology definitions later, Stephanie sits up. "Let's go get some food."
"I'm down for that." Savannah nods closing her laptop and they all stand up.
"You're coming too." I hear Stephanie's voice before my notebook is ripped off my lap.
"But," I start to protest, but Stephanie holds her finger up.
"No, buts we've been studying for like two hours." I give her a look and she sighs. "Fine, maybe only you've been studying for two hours, but whatever you still need food." She grabs my hand and pulls me up from the bed.
"We'll still study after, right?" I send eyes around to each of them while throwing on my coat.
"Right." They all respond in unison, leaving me to not believe them, but they drag me out of the room before I can say anything else.
****
Startled, I quickly sit up in my bed, and suck in a few deep breaths in attempt to steady the rapid up and down movement of my chest. My heart continues to heavily thump against my ribcage and the sound echoes inside my ears. I glance over at the alarm clock on my night stand and seeing it's already five in the morning I quickly throw back the covers of my bed with shaky hands and grab the nearest sweatshirt I can find before nearly sprinting out of the room.
I don't give my brain time to catch up before I throw open the dorm building door and run outside. Once I'm slapped in the face with the frigid morning air I stop and take in a few more breaths seeing the sky is still dark. I start walking down the pathway not knowing where I'm headed, but the adrenaline coursing through my veins just seems to carry me down the pathway. My socks seem thin against the cold cement and I curl my hands inside my sweatshirt to stop them from shaking. Before I know it I'm standing in front of the student lounge already betting that it's not open, but seeing a faint glow of light I walk over to the door. Gripping the metal handle, I push down on it and when it turns all the way down it takes me a minute to realize that it's actually open. Not wanting my toes to freeze anymore than they already have I quickly rush inside, close the door behind me, and lean my back against it. I close my eyes, cloaking myself in darkness, as I take in a deep breath and slowly let it out.
"Lacie?"
My eyes wrench back open only to find Trent sitting at one of the tables across the room with his laptop screen glowing over his face. I nod unable to speak as my hands once again begin to shake beside me, now from both the cold and leftover adrenaline. Without a moments hesitation, Trent quickly jumps out of his chair and comes over to me. He gently puts an arm around my shoulders and ushers me back over to his table before sitting me down in the chair beside his. The coat that was draped around the back of his chair gets thrown over my shoulders before Trent sits down, drags my chair over to his, and sandwiches both of my hands between his. He leans down and breaths on them, warming them up for a few seconds before looking back up at me.
"Your lips are blue," he whispers making me roll my lips inward before relaxing them again. My gaze falls back down to my lap and I curl my toes in attempt to get feeling back into them. My eyes flicker back over to Trent's, seeing that he's still holding my hands, and he slowly lets them go now that they're warm.
"What are you doing here?" I ask tucking a fly away hair behind my ear, but then thinking that my hair probably looks like a mess, I reach up and tug it out of the ponytail it's in.
"I was pulling an all-nighter trying to get this stupid essay done," Trent says turning back to his computer. He clicks a few buttons as I finish retying my hair before snapping his laptop shut. We sit in silence for a few minutes and I look down, picking a piece of lint off my plaid pajama bottoms. "So I know why I'm awake at this unruly hour." I glance back up at Trent as he leans back in his chair. "But... why are you?" I bite my lip, drumming a finger against my thigh, before looking back down at my lap.
"I, um, had a bad dream..."
"What was it about?" He asks softly bringing my gaze back over to his and he leans his forearms on the table, giving me his undivided attention.
"Well," I start while tugging on my sweatshirt sleeves. "You know those dreams where you're running away from someone, but yet it's like you can't move your legs. Like you know in real life you can run faster than that, but yet no matter how many times you internally yell at yourself, it seems like you just move slower—like it slow motion. And then when they finally catch you, you try to scream, but no sound comes out of your mouth. It's like you lost your voice and you panic so much that it's like you can feel your blood pumping throughout your entire body and it's just so agitating and—and frustrating." I drop my arm down on the table along with my gaze.
"Well," Trent says after a few seconds. "Want to know what I do when I have a bad dream?"
"What?" I ask tilting my head to the side.
"I picture Zack in a coconut bra and a hula skirt." My eyebrows pull together in confusion, my mind trying to picture the image, before a laugh escapes my lips.
"Do you really picture that?"
Trent shakes his head smiling. "No, but I thought it'd get you to smile." I bite my lip at this and glance at the windows at the other end of the room, noting that it got lighter outside.
"Well, thank you," I say softly, allowing my eyes to fall back on his before trailing them in a slow circle around his face.
"No problem." He sends me a small smile before pulling his phone out of his pocket. He checks the time, scratching the end of his jaw before stuffing it back in his pocket and standing up. "I bet in your dream you were running away from your finals."
"Yeah." I nod letting out a quick laugh before standing up as well. I feel Trent's jacket slip off my shoulders and I quickly catch it before going to hand it back to him.
"You sure you don't want it?" He asks and I shake my head.
"No, you need it more than I do." I gesture to his t-shirt and he nods slipping it on before picking up his laptop. We walk over to the door and even though Trent's holding his laptop, he opens it for me, and I nod in a 'thank you' before stepping out. The cool air sends a shiver down my spine, but my eyes focus in on the sunrise as it pokes out from behind the buildings. It's light purple with few areas of pink. "Well," I sigh. "I guess this'll be a good time to get my run in seeing as I'm not falling back asleep anytime soon."
"Do you want a buddy?" Trent asks making me turn my head over to him and a small smile tugs at my lips.
"Yes, actually, I'd like that."