Be With Me

Chapter Fourteen

When Daisy had enough, Finn and Rose sang a few duets and were later joined by Kaydell and Holly for some Disney songs. Rey decided to sing one more duet and led Poe up to the microphone to sing 'Baby, it's Cold Outside'. Even though Rey knew Daisy was looking to outshine her, she still thought it was a great idea Daisy had had and was truly enjoying herself. Rey never had the urge to be competitive or let some rivalry get to her. She saw everything as a chance to enjoy her time with people and try new things. Suddenly, Armitage walked up to her and Poe and stretched out his hand implying he wanted to have a go.

"Daisy, my love," he looked at her and she swooned, "you've inspired me to continue singing and I can't wait to perform with you for the Thanksgiving dinner at your dad's country club. Baby, this is for you." Hux dramatically performed Ed Sheeran's Perfect and Rey thought he was good but Poe, Finn and Ben thought otherwise. They snickered and Rey slapped Ben's thigh and gave the others a stern look of disapproval as she sat back down. Hux presented them with an exaggeratedly romantic performance which was perceived by the boys as something to be ridiculed. Rey felt they were being disrespectful and her and Kaydell got them to stop. Armitage came back to the group of friends when he ended his solo and Daisy flung her arms around him.

"You're doing that for a Thanksgiving dinner?" Poe asked failing to hide a smirk.

"I am," he said proud. "I have multiple songs I want to perform but I only have a 5 minute timeframe. I don't know what to cut yet."

"After hearing that," Ben mumbled, "your throat." Poe burst out into laughter so hard that he tilted back in his chair and almost tipped over. Finn covered his face with his hands but his body movement gave away that he was laughing as well.

"Ben!" Rey scolded him. Hux glared at him but quickly let Daisy comfort him.

"I thought you were amazing, baby," Daisy wrapped her arms around his bicep. "This is how he professes his love. You're just jealous you'll never be as happy and in love as we are." She gave Rey a condescending side-eye.

"OK," Ben snorted.

"He would do anything for me," she said placing her hand on his cheek and gazing into his piercing blue eyes.

"That's right, baby. Anything," Hux agreed. "And she'd bend over backwards for me."

Before Ben could respond to that, Tali reached over, slapped her hand over Ben's mouth to stop him from making an inappropriate comment. When Tali realized how surprising that was for everyone, she slowly pulled him in to her and hugged him as if that were her intention all along. Rose and Rey exchanged a knowing look and subtly giggled at each other while Ben eyed Tali sternly from the side, her hand still covering his mouth. She gently let him go and addressed the couple, "well, that's great. It's nice you two found each other." She smiled and Daisy gave her a sarcastic smile back.

"Thanks. Don't worry, Tali you'll find someone, too," Daisy waved her hand at her superciliously. Tali rolled her eyes and the seemingly happy couple left after letting them all know of their late night plans later.

"Wow," Rose said. "That was hard to watch."

"Are you kidding?" Poe interjected. "That was the best thing I've witnessed in a while."

Ben checked his phone which had notified him of a text message. He looked at Tali who instantly understood the situation. "Hey, Rey," he said gently moving her legs off of his lap. He set her on the ground and stood up, "I gotta go. I have a small yet urgent matter to tend to."

"An urgent matter?" Rey asked. "Is something wrong?"

"No, it's Ari. She, ugh, needs help with something."