Electric Dreams

Budweiser and Beethoven

       She is the Moon , I am the night
     She is fear, I am the fight
      She is the dream , I am the mind
         I am complete when she is at my side.        Dive inside my mind.com

          After  nearly two months of waiting  Ben finally got his new office computer. It was sleek and high tech and hot off the assembly line.
Finally they acknowledged that his  research on an earthquake resistant brick was  commendable and wanted him to further his research.
About bloody time , he thought.
       
         Snoke actually was nice for a change seeing Ben's potential and let Ben keep his used lap top. 

      That evening Ben relaxed  in his black sweats and a black t-shirt  putting a  800 piece puzzle together.  It took him hours,  and five beers later it was finally finished.

          Carefully  picking  up  the completed puzzle , Ben began wiggling it and watched for a piece to fall out.  

       Plunk

        Out popped a puzzle piece and Ben snatched it up.  Here  was his prototype.   He studied it and had an epiphany. Why not tap into the bosses computer and  get more information  that he could use? 
       It wouldn't hurt , right?

      All this work was making him thirsty and hungry .  He skidded in his socks into the kitchen  and searched in the fridge for something good.  Rey would highly disapprove  of his choice of dinner.

         Another beer would be perfect right about now.   Ben grabbed a Bud and a bag of chips and slipped over his hard wood floor back into the living room. 

       What he saw made his heart clench and his jaw to drop.

        His lap top was vibrating wildly, as smoke fumes wafted into the air. 

Suddenly the fire alarm  blared  loudly sending him into panic mode.

The screen flashed and spun  in a dizzying display of color and crazy  codes .  A high pitched squeal  jolted Ben out of his  shocked stupor. 

       He ran over to the table the lap top sat on and bumped his knees , causing the liquid in the beer can to slosh over on to the key pad.

            Another power surge went through the computer and Ben stared at it in dismay.  It  squealed again and before he realized what he was doing , poured the entire contents of the beer onto the keys.

   Gurgle , gurgle,  gurgle........hiiiiissssssss. 

              Pop pop pop

        Ben ran his fingers through his hair in  relief. At least the smoking had stoped.    He grabbed a towel from the bathroom and attempted to dry out  the  soggy  mess.

           So much for his lap top .  What a waste of a good beer. Ben felt more sorry for the loss of the beer than his computer.

*******************

              For once the sky was clear and sunny. Rey disliked a grey rainy  morning.  She liked to start the day off right and sunshine  helped her mood entirely.

                 Laying down on her yoga mat, Rey began her morning routine .  She breathed deeply and letting  go of any negative energy.
            'Damn!'    Enter one very noisy neighbor into Rey's conscience.  What in the hell was he doing last night when the fire alarm went off?

             She wiggled until she found a better spot on her mat and tried again.

       A tall man with thick wavy hair and dreamy brown eyes hidden behind thick glasses  invaded her mind once again.
Trying again to focus , she did a downward dog then followed through with a warrior one. 

        Why was her focus off today? 

           She didn't want to admit it but she couldn't deny it .  Ben Solo had entered her subconscious mind and made himself very comfortable there.
    She couldn't stop thinking of him. There was just something about him that intrigued her and at the same time rubbed her the wrong way.

             She had many men interested in her . Some she had to literally beat off with a broom .  They couldn't take no for an answer.

                        But Ben......

   He wasn't like those other men.  He kept to himself unless she coaxed and prodded him out of his apartment and out of his shell.

   He loved her southern cooking. And she cooked up a storm when he said ' yes' to  having dinner with her. 

        They had talked and talked  about everything.   Sitting on her comfortable over stuffed couch he felt right at home. How weird was that?  He didn't seem to mind the odor of sandalwood incense anymore to her relief.
    She was blown away with his knowledge of  the solar system and  the ocean.

           She was more into astrology and the zodiac, but somehow it worked. 
She began to realize he was a very deep thinker and a man of hidden talents.  Unlike her , who wore her emotions out in the open and was passionate about so many things.

                  He was as different from her as night is to day. 
        The moon and the Sun.
                Oil and water . 
                 Ying and yang.

           Thinking of Ben made Rey confused and  light headed.   She needed to focus on something else.
She quickly picked up her bow and sat behind her Cello.  Maybe playing a complicated song would chase him out of her mind.

          Beethoven's third cello sonata in A major would be just complicated enough to  force her  confused thoughts away from Ben Solo .

          The music was slow and sweet.  It weaved its way around the furniture in Rey's living room and up through the ventilation system. 

               To Ben's apartment.

     He had left the lap top open and the microphone on.  It worked at least. Everything else had stoped working when he dowsed it in beer.

              The screen blipped and stuttered and came to life. 

       An echo of the sonata began playing. But then the echo turned into its own beautiful  kind of music.   Softly sweet and meaningful.
It blossomed and spun a fine gossamer thread of notes.  Each one like  a dew drop on a  silky  spiderweb.

           The  music filtered back down into Rey's apartment and she gasped, thinking it was the radio at first.
But then  it copied her note for note, then made up its own stirring melody.  What was he up to?

   She knew he wasn't home. So what was going on up there?     She continued to play  the emotional duet  until tears came unbidden to her cheeks.  
    She had never heard anything so beautiful. 
      Why was Ben hiding his  musical talent?   She couldn't wait to see him again and ask him why he kept his gift a secret.