Am I Dreaming?

Trent

     I know that, even though he'd been charged and expelled, I will still see Trent around town. Knowing this, however, does not make it any less creepy that he was standing where I usually walk, looking like he was waiting. My brain is absent. My thoughts are filled with him. With questions.
"I ponder of something great, my lungs will fill and then deflate. They fill with fire, exhale desire, I know it's dire, my time today."
Lost with the music from my headphones I begin to walk to school.
"I have these thoughts so often I ought to replace that slot with what I once bought, cause someone once stole my car radio and now I just sit in sile-."
The music stops. I roll my eyes. "Stupid phone battery." I mutter.
I froze. I see him leaning there as if he hadn't moved since yesterday. Same clothes. Same stance. The only thing that was different was his cigarette. He sees me and makes his way over.
I calm myself and regain composure. You can win this, Lauren. You're smarter than him.
"Ah, so you decide to let me talk to you today, eh princess?" He sneers. "You cost me 500 bucks when you interrupted Oliver's lesson."
"Sorry, Trent," I say, as calm as I can. "But you did that to yourself."
He grabs me by the wrist and pulls me into an alleyway. Ripping my bag off of my back, he shoves me in front of him.
"I will not lose to a girl." He says. He punches me, hard, in the face. Blood pours from my nose. I take a kick to the rib cage and begin to fight back. I elbow Trent in the gut and then in the face, instantly bruising his cheek. Trent notices the wrap on my knee and kicks it. My knee gives out and I collapse. He kicks my back and sides repeatedly, until... footsteps.
"I've got a migraine and my pain will range from up, down, and sideways..."
Oliver!
"HELP ME, PLEASE!" I shout. Trent shoves his grimy hand in my mouth. I bite down as hard as I can and he holds back a yell as he pulls his hand away.
"OLIVER!!!!!"
The singing stops. So do the footsteps. Trent pulls me to my feet and shoves his lips against mine. I almost gag. I try to push him away, but he
pins my arms to the wall behind me. He kisses me harder, his lips ashy and his body smelling strongly of smoke. I silently beg Oliver to do something. Just as I squeeze my eyes closed, Oliver punches Trent in the back of his head, clearly furious. He begins kicking Trent viciously until he falls unconscious. I kick his limp body once, too, for good measure.
Trent was taken into custody that night. He will no longer be a problem. Oliver hasn't talked to me since then, though, and it's been 3 days. This morning I get up early and walk to his house so I can sort things out. I meet him on his porch.
"Before you start," he says. "I am very aware that you did not want to kiss Trent."
"Is that why you haven't talked to me?" I say, slightly annoyed.
"I know. I'm sorry. It just made me so angry to see you with him. It made me afraid of loosing you... of loosing us."
I close the distance between us and grab the caller of his shirt and look into his eyes.
"You will never loose me." I say as I press my lips against his. My hands slide through his hair as his find my back and hold me close.
"I love you." He mumbles, and kisses me harder.

•••

Love. A word I've only ever said to family members is now something I feel for Oliver. I remember a quote from my favourite book;
"I know that love is just a shout into the void, that oblivion is inevitable, and that we're all doomed. That there will come a day when all our labour had returned to dust. I know that the sun will swallow up the only earth we've ever known. And I'm in love with you."
Powerful love. That's what Augustus and Hazel Grace had. What I want. I love Oliver like that. He went from my friend, to my best friend, to my boyfriend because of 3 horrid life experiences that I wouldn't trade for the world. I couldn't imagine my life without him.

Trent is out of the picture for good. Oliver and Lauren are officially a couple. What could possibly go wrong now?
First song quote: Car Radio- Twenty One Pilots
Second song quote: Migraine- Twenty One Pilots
Book quote: The Fault in Our Stars- John Green