Music And Silence- A Reylo AU

Chapter 13- Stereotypical Seaside Escapades

The weather was breezy on Saturday morning, and the sun was out, but it was dry and not too cold; the decision was made to spend the day doing typical seaside activities- arcades, ice cream and fish and chips. Weymouth was well known for having sand sculptures along the seafront, so they headed there first. They were impressive. Rae preferred the artistic designs rather than the ones taking scenes from much-loved TV programmes or films. Many sculptures involving people had overly large limbs or hands, which annoyed her. Her favourite was a scene that reminded her of an old TV advert for Guinness- a wave crashing onto the shore, but the wave's crest was horses charging to the ground- it was beautiful.

"I like this one," Ben said, standing behind her.

She turned to look at him, "Yeah, me too."

After the sand sculptures, they headed for the arcades. Rae eyed up which 2p machine had the best tat in it that was close to the edge and exchanged a few pounds for a tub of coppers. Everyone was happily engaged in different locations and on other machines around the arcade. After an hour, Rae still hadn't acquired her desired cheap keyring. She must have put at least £5 into the machine, and there was no way this keyring was worth that, but she'd had her eye on it and spent so much what was a little bit more. No, Rae, no, have some self-discipline and walk away.

"Win anything?"

Rae turned around to look at Ben leaning against the machine on which she'd failed.

"Would we call it winning, even if I did have a 'prize' to show for it?" she said dejectedly, using her hands to insert air commas around the word prize. "How about you?" she asked, nodding towards his odd body language as he clearly held something behind his back.

"Had some luck on the claw machine," he replied, pulling a plush, cuddly toy wolf from behind his back.

Rae smiled, "Ah, nice."

"Some real luck," he said as he pulled another two from behind his back with his other hand: Star Wars plush toys, a Yoda and an R2-D2. Now, Rae's face dropped in shock.

"No way. No one ever wins on those things, and you won three. Seriously?" Ben grinned back at her proudly. "Master of the claw, although you do look a little ridiculous, a man of your size holding three teddies."

Ben grinned again, "I'm gonna bask in my glory for a while, but if I could use your backpack once we leave the arcade?"

"Oh, I dunno about that; it'll cost you," she joked.

"Well, you'll get your pick of my booty as payment," he said, waving the teddies at her. "What were you trying to get?"

"Just some shitty key ring. Probably could've bought a bulk of them online for the amount I've chucked in that machine."

Ben leaned over her shoulder to look at the key ring she'd been trying to get.

"It's so close to the edge."

"You see, that's what I thought, but £5 later, and the thing has barely moved," Rae responded, scrutinising the coins and the keyring on top. Ben thrust all three teddies at her and headed to the change machine. He returned with a tub of coppers.

"It's a waste, honestly," Rae said as he strolled back to the machine she leaned against. He gave her a look, and she stepped aside. Half a tub later, the keyring finally fell. Despite herself, Rae squealed with glee and scooped it out of the collection tray along with a handful of coins.

"Oh god, look at it, it's fucking awful."

The keyring Ben had won was an extremely poor rendition of Thor; his facial features were a blurry mess, and his hammer was almost fully detached.
Ben smiled at her.