A Star Wars Reylo AU: The Taming of the Professor

Forty

Rose stood with her arms crossed and her foot tapping away in annoyance when Rey joined her behind the bar. Rey hadn't talked to her in days, which was unfair. She didn't want to trade relationships. She wanted to keep her friendships in tact and expand the one she had with Ben. But it was going to be a lot harder than she had anticipated. 

"I'm sorry," said Rey. "I'm coming home tonight." 

"Are you?" said Rose, her face twisted in disapproval. 

"Yes! I told you I wouldn't move out and I meant it. Would you rather he comes to our place?"

"I know Finn is trying to deal with this, but I think that might break him. He said he's getting better at not twitching and having meaningless conversations with Ben. That's a start." 

"Fine. This isn't completely fair, though. Finn spends a lot of time at our place. If you spent as much time at his apartment as he does at ours, it would seem like I never saw you, either." 

Rose's eyes narrowed, but she nodded. Seemingly happy with Rey's commitment to come home more often, her face brightened. 

"Tell me everything." 

Rey was glad the bar was dim, because she was sure she her face was all but on fire. "No! I'm not going to tell you everything. Or anything." 

"Well," said Rose, jabbing her finger into a bruise Rey had tried to cover with concealer above her collar bone, "tell him to keep those marks in the swimsuit zone."

"He felt bad about that." 

She had no intention of relaying Rose's advice. It hadn't ever occurred to her to question whether a mark like that was acceptable or not. She'd spent some time in the more troll-infested areas of the internet researching the subject, and decided to try to cover it for work. Ben didn't seem sorry that he'd done it, but rather that it made her uncomfortable enough to try to hide it. If Maz would stop pumping heat into Shots like she did her house, Rey could wear a normal shirt and it wouldn't matter.

"Be careful, my friend," said Rose. "I know I gave you a hard time about moving like a snail, but I didn't mean you should jump in head first and hope you don't break your neck when you hit the ground."

Rey waved a dismissive hand. "I've been careful all my life. I'm done being careful."

Rose snorted. "Fine. But promise again that you won't move out." 

"I promise!" 

"And I think it's a great idea to let Ben and Finn around each other for a few minutes at a time. We have to train them, you know. If Finn doesn't try to kill Ben and end up dead himself after one minute, the next time we try two. Then three. Eventually, double date." 

"I've never been able to convince Ben to tell me what happened between the two of them." 

"Finn over-reacted. He felt like Dr. Solo was too hard on him. I know you don't see it in him, which is normal and fine, but your professor is pretty harsh. Just not with you. You he bends over backwards to please." 

Rey felt bad about whatever it was that had actually happened. She was sure she'd never get the actual story from either of them, but she did hope for a day when they could be together for more than a few minutes and not have it be weird. She shrugged, not falling into the bends over backwards trap. Rose smirked at her when she didn't respond. 

"Hey, what are you planning for your birthday?"

Rey blinked. "Nothing."

"What! So you don't have any plans or you're not planning anything?"

"Yes." 

"Yes, no?"

"Yes. How did you know it's my birthday?" Rey never told anyone about her birthday.

"Maz has a copy of your ID in her office. I was curious." 

"You're a little stalkerish."

"I've heard that before. So. What are we going to do?"

"I usually spend the night doing homework. Maybe splurge and spend $2 on coffee instead of the cheap stuff. You know, excitement around every corner."

Rose rolled her eyes. "What is Ben planning?" Rey shrugged. "You didn't tell him, either, did you?"

"No. It's really not a big deal."

"I bet he'll want to know." 

"If it comes up, I'll mention it."

"Because normally, people ask for information like that in a conversation. 'How was your day? Did you hear about that awesome bar down near campus? Oh, and when is your birthday?'" 

"If it doesn't come up, it doesn't matter."

"That's a dumb rule. I bet a lot of things that matter a whole lot more haven't come up between the two of you yet, either. Did you find out about his toothpaste?"

"Crest."

"Whew. You dodged a bullet there. What if it had been Tom's? You'd have to reconsider."

"I know. I'm feeling pretty lucky."

"And the other things?" 

"I'm not having this conversation with you." 

Rey turned away and busied herself with straightening a row of glasses. The band started their set, and people flooded in, saving her from Rose's questions. All through their shift, Rose seemed almost gleeful, chattering about all of the things Rey had missed in the past few days. Rey couldn't always hear her, but Rose didn't seem to care. She could write like that - touch her fingers to the keys and pour out her thoughts in rapid succession. 

Finn picked them up after their shift. Rose left them alone for a few minutes to talk to Maz. "How are you?" he asked, his tone neutral. 

"I'm good. And happy. And thankful you're trying so hard. I don't imagine it's easy to have to worry about running into Dr. Solo at you girlfriend's apartment." Months ago that statement would have sounded utterly absurd. 

"It's not so bad. He doesn't stick around very long. Maybe you could pass me some safe topics. Or just not leave me alone with him." 

"I'll try. Rose has plans, you know." 

"Rose always has plans. We just need to survive them."