Inevitable, A modern day Reylo AU

Chapter 3 - Not So Ancient History

It had been a fantastic week.  A fucking fantastic week.  Still riding high on his success at signing Blutech, he'd been shocked when two other new clients had suddenly crawled out of the woodwork, having heard through the grapevine that he was now representing such a prestigious client.  It had been a whirlwind of long nights, but he was absolutely loving it.

Rey was still away in Seattle, and would be flying to Denver on Sunday, where she'd be away for another week.  They'd texted back and forth a few times, with her telling him that she was busy, but lonely and bored in the evenings, trying to use the time to 'think about things'.  He wasn't quite sure what that meant, but sincerely hoped that she was okay.  When she'd received that phone call during their dinner last week, he could see that she really didn't want to go to Seattle, but felt that she had to.  Hopefully, in the not so distant future she'd be able to work things out so she'd be home a bit more often – for her sake as well as Finn's.

He and Finn didn't normally hang out, so he was surprised when he'd received his text, asking if he wanted to grab a beer after work.  He'd said sure, and they agreed to meet at a bar downtown that was relatively close to both of their offices.

Finn was already there when he'd arrived, nursing what looked to be a pint of Guinness.  He slid into the booth across from Finn, dropping his briefcase on the seat beside him, and placed his drink order with the server who seemed to magically appear out of thin air.

"How you holding up?"  Ben asked him.

Finn shrugged.  "Ech.  As well as can be expected, with her gone so long.  It will be almost a month – except for that one day she was home – by the time she gets back."

"That's got to be hard."  Ben commiserated.  "I'm not sure how well I'd cope with that."

"Yeah."  He muttered.  "That's the problem.  It is tough."

Ben's beer arrived and he took a healthy sip.  "Does she call you?"

"Most nights."  Finn responded.  "I can tell she's trying to keep things light, but something's bothering her.  She seems..... distant."  He was quiet for a minute.  "Have you noticed that?"

Ben shook his head. "Sorry, I haven't.  I do know that she's been travelling a lot, but she's seemed fine in between."

Finn looked up at him, deciding to just spit it out.  "Do you think she's travelling so much to stay away from me?"

"What?!  No.  At least I don't think so.  But the important question is, why you would think that?"

"I don't know."  He sighed.  "I just think that something seems off, so I wondered if she'd said anything to you."

"Sorry.  No.  Not a thing."  Ben replied.  Then, a bit hesitantly, he asked.  "Did you two argue the night before she left?"

Finn nodded.  "I was really pissed that she agreed to go – again.  And I told her that.  She wasn't very happy with me."

Ben's lips pursed together in a line.  "I'd say its probably just that you're still in the middle of your spat.  I'm guessing that she left the next morning, so you didn't get a chance to really talk it out?"

"No.  We didn't get a chance to do that."  Finn's voice was strained when he'd answered.

"Then you probably shouldn't worry too much.  Once she gets back it'll be almost Thanksgiving, and I don't think she's going anywhere till early December, right?  So you'll definitely have at least 3 weeks together."  Ben was trying to be encouraging, but Finn still couldn't shake the feeling that something was off.