Six years ago, Rey Adams thought she had finally life figured out. Having broken away from her past, her life is irrevocably altered when she meets, a man who is the first person to treat her with kindness and respect. Six years later they're engage...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
One box down. One more to go. I can do this.
It hadn't been the first time Rey muttered the last four words to herself that morning. Those simple words had become rather encouraging to help her get through the simplest of tasks: like tearing another strip off the roll of Scotch's packaging tape to seal yet, another cardboard box shut.
With every sound of the sticky adhesive tearing from the roll Rey felt a piece of her heart go along with it, encouraging that proverbial lump in the back of her throat to expand even more in circumference. As Ben carried each box away to the back of her Suburban, Rey had to force her eyes to look away as it served only as a needless reminder of why her life had turned upside down.
After what should've been considered to be a pathetic exchange of saying 'hello' after her arrival that morning, she and Ben hadn't said more than two words to the other within a ten-minute time span. Oddly enough the sound of Ben's deep voice, breaking the prolonged silence became somewhat comforting to distract her from her thoughts: even if it was rather brief.
Regardless of them working in companionable silence for the last hour or so, Rey somewhat began to welcome his company. It felt unorthodox, really, for her to admit such a thing when she had spent the last six years loathing him in silence. Strangely enough she was grateful for him being there for the sheer fact that she wasn't alone – although she didn't dare speak the words out loud.
"Is this the last of them?"
At the sound of Ben's subdued voice, Rey blinked from her trans-like state of staring at the three, medium-sized boxes stacked in a haphazard pyramid. She glanced up from her cross-legged position on the floor in front of the small designated office space to acknowledge Ben towering above her. Seeing him made her realize it had been the first time since her arrival that Rey allowed her eyes to meet his.
Within that moment Rey realized that Ben had actually taken the initiative to shave that morning. His once five o'clock shadow had been replaced with that of a clean-cut face, revealing the trivial amount of beauty marks that blemished his right cheek and underneath his lower jaw. His hair was significantly smoother, silkier even that further enhanced how the layers of his hair fell around his face.
And damnit, it never failed to aggravate Rey even more when she subconsciously mulled over how handsome he was.
He's a womanizer, Rey. She reprimanded. Being attractive is what they do best and allowing them to get into your head is the next step. Even then she had to admit that Ben's acute awkwardness seemed far off from that of a typical sweet-talker; which only made it that much harder for her to ignore him all together.
