Broken (a novella)

2

Rey was nervous. She couldn't stop her knees from trembling as she finally walked up to the small, albeit well-kept house that matched the address on the slip of paper in her hand. For such a dark, mysterious guy, Kylo's house looked innocent enough. The lawn was green and had been recently cut, and even though the boards on the front porch were a bit weathered, they were white and clean. There was even a porch swing on the front of the house, like something one might see in the south, for gazing out over some vast prairie. It was out of place here in the suburbs of their small town, even though the houses weren't very close together at all, and the house across the street looked deserted.

Nevertheless, Rey walked up the front steps of the house and knocked nervously on the door. She was about three minutes early, but then again, she liked to be a bit ahead of schedule. Chewing on her fingernails nervously, Rey was very startled when the door opened. The man on the other side looked a bit old, with grey hair on his head and a few wrinkles on his face. However, she couldn't help but feel that he must be Kylo's father because they had almost identical facial features. "Mr. Solo?" she asked quietly.

The man smiled. "Call me Han. You're Rey, right? I'm Ben's dad." He held out his hand. Rey shook it firmly, and his smile widened. "Nice, firm hand shake. I like you. Come on in."

Rey followed him into the house, and stood in the entryway while Han shouted down the hall. "Ben! Rey's here!"

He returned to her side and crossed his arms, appraising her thoughtfully. "You're a very pretty young lady," he complimented her. Rey blushed.

"C'mon, dad," Kylo groaned, entering the room. He wore only a white V-neck and a pair of dark wash blue jeans. His feet were bare, and Rey could smell fresh cigarette smoke on him. She didn't know he smoked. What a nasty habit.

"Take her on back," Han ordered his son. "You and her have a project to work on, and I'm sick of you getting bad grades because of that Hux kid."

Kylo rolled his eyes. "Hux isn't the problem, dad."

Han smiled. "Yeah, sure."

Kylo rolled his eyes again and began to retreat from the room. Rey stood where she was for a moment before the brooding teenager turned around and sighed doggedly. "You going to follow me? I'm not gonna hold your hand, Rey."

Angrily, Rey crossed her arms and followed him down a hallway to what she guessed was his bedroom. He shut the door to his closet quickly and pointed at a desktop computer in the corner of the room. He himself flopped down on the bed contentedly. Rey continued to stand in the doorway with her arms crossed.

"Well?" he asked confusedly.

"What?" she grouched, taking a step forward.

"You going to start working on the paper, or what?"

"Excuse me?" he had to be joking. She uncrossed her arms and held them at her sides, fists clenched. Her feet took another step in his direction. Who did he think he was, telling her to start writing? There was no way she was letting him have the upper hand here. She'd take a bad grade or two if it meant he got his ass handed to him for being a lazy dingbat.

"I figured you could start on the paper while I brainstorm ideas for the model. Is that going to be a problem?" he asked, crossing his legs and putting his hands behind his head.

"Oh," she said quietly. "Um, that sounds reasonable." Really, she had been expecting much worse. After his behavior in class today, she wouldn't put it past him to try and make her do all the hard work.

"You know what? Screw the paper. We can write that later. I hate writing anyway, and I know you probably do too. Let's just get started on the model. Have a seat." He patted his bed.