Shed Some Light

Shed Some Light (Shinedown)

Ben, Jason and Rey stood at the bar, ordering drinks while they waited for the drummer to play. Jason gave Ben another disapproving look when he saw Rey walk in the bar earlier that night. Ben continued to deny that they would ever be more than friends, but Jason didn't believe him. He begrudgingly accepted the fact that she would be there, but only if it wouldn't distract Ben.

"You seriously are going to give these people a heart attack when they realize who is performing at this little hole in the wall," Rey laughed, causing Ben to just shrug.

"It's not Star Killer, I highly doubt it'll be a big deal," he told her. At first she laughed and then she realized he was being serious and gave him a look as if he were crazy. "I've been out of the business for three years, that's a long time in the music industry and I'm not a part of a huge band, it's really not that crazy of a thought," he said, fully convinced people really wouldn't care much about the fact that he was there and performing for free.

"Right, you keep telling yourself that," Rey said as she shook her head as she watched the bartender direct people to set up the equipment. "Have I heard the song you're going to perform?" she asked, having shown up early to listen basically every day. He knew she wouldn't leak anything he could potentially record and for some reason he had become comfortable enough to trust her and expose a vulnerability to her. He didn't understand why he felt he could trust her in such a short time, but he felt some kind of connection to Rey that he continued to tell himself was purely platonic.

Before they could continue the conversation the drummer, Cass, finally made her way up to the small stage she didn't bother introducing herself. It was clear that she was just doing it for fun and likely YouTube views, based on her friend filming the performance for her to post later. Regardless of why she was doing it, Ben found himself captivated. It wasn't as if he was attracted to her, but there was something about the way she played.

Rey refused to admit why she found herself becoming jealous of the way Ben was looking at the other woman. It was completely irrational and she had no right to be jealous over Ben watching another woman, but she couldn't help it. Deep down she knew that it was her attraction to Ben causing her jealousy, but she'd never admit that out loud. "She's good," Rey said, some part of her just wanting to steal his attention from the other woman. Unfortunately, Ben only nodded, his eyes focused solely on Cass, causing Rey to pout a little.

"She's perfect," Ben finally said when Cass was done. They all knew he meant for the band, but that didn't stop the irrational jealousy that continued to build in Rey by his statement. "What's wrong?" he asked, his attention finally on her.

"I don't know if I'd say she's perfect," Rey tried to act nonchalant about her statement. She tried to ignore the confused look from Ben and the knowing look Jason was giving her. "She's good," she said again, not making eye contact. "I'm just saying it's not the end of the world if she doesn't want to be in your band," Rey wasn't sure why she couldn't just stop talking.

"Right," Ben said eyeing her curiously. "I'm going to go talk to her, come on Jason," he nodded his head in Cass' direction. Jason just nodded and followed Ben, leaving Rey at the bar. She sighed before quickly following them.

"Cass, right?" Ben aked as he approached the woman.

Cass was a pretty woman, she had long blond hair, which was curled perfectly, bright blue eyes, and tanned skin. Her body was toned and Rey was pretty sure she had fake breast, not that she particularly cared, but she could tell why she caught Jason's attention. Cass wore a bright pink frilly shirt, short shorts, and matching pink converse, it wasn't the kind of look one would associate with someone in a band with the man formally known as Kylo Ren. Then again, neither was Jason. "Depends, who's asking?" Cass asked as she reapplied her lip-gloss. Ben just chuckled, causing the woman to turn her attention to him. "Oh," she seemed shocked, recognizing the man in front of her.