Twelfth Night | Reylo AU

Nine

The air was frozen lace on Rey's porcelain skin, delicate and cold, like winter waves on sallow sand. The sky was washed with grey, watery light illuminating thin patches to brilliance. In some moments she was staring at her boots on the frozen sidewalk, and in others transfixed to the interplay of cloud and sun above. She sighed a heavy sigh, her warm breath paling the numbing air as she exhaled.

Rey's brain felt as if it had been on a treadmill, wanting so much to press stop. Once again, she didn't manage to sleep at all the previous night, due to Aubrey's rather bizarre idea to make a grilled cheese at midnight and set the smoke alarm off. At this point, she was considering moving out.

Rey shivered as she felt a snowflake drift under her collar and onto her neck, causing her to wrap her fur coat around herself even tighter. She was currently sandwiched between her classmates in a long line, waiting for the minibus driver to open the doors and let them in. Rey craned her neck and peered down the line, seeing Kylo standing at the very end, burying half of his face in his scarf. She waved at him enthusiastically and shuffled towards him, being careful not to slip on the icy pavement.

"Hey." Rey said, nudging his shoulder.

Kylo side-glanced at her and huffed. "Hello, Miller."

"Are you looking forward to the show?"

"The one we're about to see? Not particularly."

Rey rolled her eyes. "Oh come on, you big party pooper. We never go on field trips. I'm sure you'll have great time."

"I'm sure I'd enjoy myself a whole lot more if I didn't have to be dragged out of bed at six in the morning for this." Kylo said, pulling his hood on and crossing his arms.

"You're such a damn drama queen." Rey scoffed jokingly. "Just loosen up for a change and embrace the beauty of theatre. The school payed a lot of money for this trip."

With that, the bus doors folded open and the line of students began to shuffle forward and into the vehicle. Once Rey was inside, she shrugged her coat off and began looking for an empty seat. She could see that there was a seat next to her good friend Amie, who was gesturing at Rey to sit beside her, but she decided to take the available seat next to Kylo- for the sole purpose of bothering him.

"Can I help you, Miller?" Kylo asked, unraveling his earphones and placing them into each of his ears.

"Nope." Rey responded, though she knew that he wasn't listening. "I just thought I'd grace you with my intangible presence."

It was only ten minutes into the journey, but Rey had already grown tired of the silence. She glanced at Kylo, who had his eyes closed and was bopping his head lightly to the music from his earphones.

"Hey." Rey said, prodding him gently, causing him to open his eyes and turn to face her. "Can I listen?"

"Uh... Sure?" Kylo said, yanking his earphones out his ears and hesitantly passing them to her. When she placed them into her own ears, she was immediately taken aback by the volume of the music. She jolted up in her seat slightly and fumbled with the volume buttons on Kylo's phone, turning it down and earning an amused laugh from him.

When Rey could finally hear the music at a bearable volume, she couldn't help but wince at the slow piano song that was playing.

Kylo chuckled at her facial expression and reached for her ears, pulling the earphones out of them.

"I didn't like it." Rey stated simply, leaning back in her seat.

"I could tell."

"It was so... Depressing." Rey said, twisting her face into a look of disgust. "I mean, I'm not surprised. You're not exactly the jolliest person I've met."