ALONE

-TWENTY TWO-

The morning she woke up with tears dried to her cheeks, and knots in her stomach so tight it hurt. Mea had gotten ready fast redoing a messier version of yesterdays bun, and changing into the other clothes she'd brought.

"Hey." Rey said still decked out in pjs and a sleepy voice. They needed to leave for school soon.

"Morning." She said timidly.

He smiled at her. "We're skipping school so we can set up your place and then Ill drive you to work."

She agreed thinking about how stressful going to school would have been. "Thanks." Again. Timid.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. Ill get ready and we will head over."

He left her with a dent in the couch to keep her company.

Fifteen minuets later they were in his car back to her new place, Cheeto having a heart attack in her cage. As they pulled up she looked at the small house and her heart skipped. She was alone again.

Mea plugged in her phone to the jack and played some music. It echoed threw the small space. "Where should we start?"

He did a full circle and stopped facing her with quirked brows and a mischievous smile.

"What?" she asked.

He laughed, "Nothing. Ill carry all the heavy stuff to were you want it, and then you can work around it."

She nodded. "Alright that works for me."

Some of Now, Nows music played as she put the kitchen together. Dish after dish until the cabinet was full and the boxes were empty. She went to the front room to find an empty space with her yellow couch and a small tv sitting on an old suitcase. A rug was between the two like an ocean, and it felt nice. Following where she thought she might find the rest of things she walked up the creaking stairs to the loft and found Rey. He stood on her bed hanging an old tie dye sheet with 'love battery' written on it off the roof like a canopy. All her books were set around her bed just like they were at her old house, and the rest was on her desk for her to go through. She smiled as he struggled to get it to hang, and then he looked back at her and jumped. "I didn't know you were here." He jumped down and she hugged him.

"Thank you so much. I really love it." she said to him smiling sadly.

"Ain't nothing but a chicken wing." He laughed at himself.

Avoiding the awkwardness that hung in the air, she went over to the desk and turned on her radio. A generic song droned threw the speakers and filled the small room. She took at the ornaments and set the box aside, not wanting anything of it. The rest she sorted threw and put away, leaving her new place filled. "Lunch is on me," Mea said turning around to find Rey much closer than she'd assumed him to be.

He smiled down at her. "Alright, Ill grab my keys, and we will head out." He reached around her to the desk and they jingled. He was looking intently in her eyes, and she couldn't help but laugh witch lead him to laugh. He was so serious in that moment and Mea wasn't good at serious. "Your beautiful." he whispered to her as they walked out to the car.

They went to McDonalds. It smelt like grease and salt, and the restaurant dinged and buzzed with business as they stood in line.

Food in hand they sat down and ate, and talked about school and her job. He offered to drive her to work later and she obliged. Then he got quite. "Mea?"

"Yes Rey," she sipped the delicious coke from the cup.

"Be my girlfriend?"