Our final destination

Hour One: Shoulder Pillows

They ascend shortly after Rey's rather embarrassing babbling, and soon she finds herself falling in and out of sleep. Whether it be the lack of other options, considering her phone is dead and she regrettably left her computer at her apartment, or possibly her utter lack of rest the past week, she doesn't know.

She had met Finn at the start of University, and through some miracle she was able to make her first friend in the United States. They had bonded through their experiences in the foster care system, both equally amazed that they were granted the scholarships they had, and were accepted into university to begin with. He introduced her to the friends he had already made, and they too hit it off. Rose was now her roommate, and Poe, ever the charmer and overall hellion, was their go to drinking buddy during their more... senseless times in grad school.

Finn had majored in film and media studies, and decided to move to LA after he graduated last year; Poe got a job offer shortly after so the two booked it across the country to their exciting starts at life.

Her trip had been wonderful, but due to some unfortunately timed papers Rose was forced to hang back, leaving Rey in the hands of her two very exuberant friends who, without Rose's stern motherly guidance, got her totally shitfaced.

Rey doesn't regret it, lord knows the week was definitely needed. Being able to blow off some long overdue steam was always nice, but as her eventful trip caught up with her she grew more and more tired; eventually passing out cold.

You see one of the many problems with sitting in the middle seat in an packed airplane is that in the event that you do fall asleep, more times than not you end up falling over onto one of your fellow passengers.

That is exactly how Rey wakes up. Leaning over onto the "for the love of all things holy" stranger, practically nestled against his shoulder.

Oh god! This seriously cannot be happening!

"Oh! I am so so so sorry. I just must've fallen asleep and I didn't mean to invade your personal space!"

Here we go with the rambling again...

He turns his head toward her and Rey expects him to grumble something about plane etiquette but instead he just sends her a smirk and goes back to writing in a leather bound journal.

She dare turns toward him as she wipes around her mouth thanking the universe that she didn't drool.

"How much time has past?" She asks him, regretting it immediately.

You're supposed to be engaging with him as little as possible so you don't say anything stupid! What is this?!

"Well we've been in the air for about an hour now, but if your inquiring about how long you've been asleep on my shoulder, I'd say about forty minutes," He responds, smirk still flecked across his face.

"I'm so so sorry about that, I normally don't sleep with strangers and their arms..." She pauses glancing down at said arms, and pushes down a blush because seriously how can someone have biceps that attractive. His face lights up in a full blown smile, crooked teeth and all. Reflecting on her sentence and realizing her wording mistake Rey quickly adds, "I mean, I usually don't sleep on planes. I actually don't sleep well, anywhere... sorry. You could've woken me up or something, I wouldn't have minded." Now she is blushing.

"Coming from someone who also sleeps like shit I would have felt bad if I woke you up. Even more so from a deep sleep, if your snores were any consolation."

Oh yes definitely blushing, Rey sheepishly grins and rubs her face with her palms, and he just watches her, stupid grin still on his face.

"Considering I've heard you snore, I feel I deserve a name at least,'" he adds.

"I'm Rey."

"Like ray of light?" He inquires, and she is taken aback. Most of the time people will relate her name to Ray Romano, or Ray Charles. 

"I suppose yes, but with an E. And your name?"

"Ben."

"Well hello Ben, thank you for lending me your shoulder to sleep on, it was a quite comfy piece of real estate." She says, resisting the urge to run her palm into her face repeatedly.

"My pleasure."

He goes back to his journal, and Rey can't help but glance over at his elegant cursive as she takes her earbuds out, cursing her sleep deprived self for not plugging in her phone last night.

He glances up from his work again, probably noticing her stares, and just looks at her.

Rey doesn't understand how this man can make her so flustered, or how his eyes alone can render her speechless. She has never been the type of person to fall head over heels for just any John Doe she meets, but man is she fucked because somehow she can just feel her heart beating out of her chest.

"It died."

He probably doesn't care.

He lets out a hum before turning back to whatever he was writing, and because Rey currently has no control as to what comes out of her mouth she says, "what are you working on, if you don't mind me asking?"

Ben takes a second to respond, and she almost wonders if she didn't speak loud enough over the thrumming of the plane but he eventually responds.

"It's a book. I've had this idea for a novel for a while but put it off for... reasons and I figured it was finally time for me to get it out of my head. I'm actually moving to New York, starting fresh..." he pauses and Rey almost feels bad for asking at all because his expression shifts but he continues, "I needed to get away, you know?"

And Rey, she does know. It's precisely the reason she applied for Colombia, and every other college in the US. Too many memories were held in London, things she was trying to push down and forget.

"I know the feeling," She says, and there is something in his gaze that makes her heart clench because he looks at her as if he knows exactly what she feels, something she hasn't even come to terms with.

Stop it! You're making him out to be something he's not, you just met him. Change the subject to something less... deep.

"What is it about? Your book I mean," she tumbles out taking the advice of her inner brain for once.

"Well um, it's... complicated."

"As long as your willing to explain it I don't mind. We're here for another five hours and I have nothing to do."

A smile slowly spreads across his face and Rey's heart... well it just about jumps out of her rib cage.

He launches into his explanation and the conversation comes easily after that. She thinks it's funny, just how passionate he gets on the topic, and Rey actually finds herself becoming interested in the story. Of course it also helps that she gets to willingly look at his wonderful features as he speaks.

A/N: Ah! Somehow I've found myself writing more and more of this. I'm super excited to see what's to come!

Also, be warned that there is practically no canon compliance and that their characters in the movie are probably not recognized in their AU selves at all. I'm just seeing where the wind takes this story so I apologize for the lack of character relation.

Please give this a ⭐️ if you liked it, and be sure to comment :)