Music And Silence- A Reylo AU

Chapter 15- Back to Normal-ish

Everyone was packing up the cars, cleaning the house and ensuring they didn't leave anything on Tuesday morning. Rae had a small sports bag, so packing didn't take long; miraculously, her bikini and towel were dry after her evening swim. She was tired, never a morning person at the best of times, but her conversation with Phoebe and the roiling of emotions had kept her tossing and turning for hours. A glutton for punishment, Rae had been checking her phone every time she frustratingly couldn't get to sleep, seeing how much time had passed and, therefore, how little time she had left to sleep. Ironically, as she'd been checking her phone around 1 am, she'd received a text message that finally allowed her to sleep: a text from Corey.

Corey: Hey, so just finished work, and I've managed to wrangle this Friday evening off if you're free. We can have some drinks and then...

Rae: Absolutely. I can meet you straight from work.

Corey: Cool. Meet at the Intrepid Fox? Say at 8 pm?

Rae: Perfect.

Decision made, Rae knew what she wanted, and she would not be deterred by her friends confusing her; she loved them, but they could mind their own business, and finally, she'd been able to sleep.

Bag packed and laptop fully charged, she intended to avoid all conversation on the journey home and work; the big meeting with StarKiller was on Friday. It would almost certainly go beyond working hours, and she wanted to ensure she was fresh and reasonably punctual meeting Corey. Rae grabbed her belongings and headed downstairs for a cup of tea and some toast before the long car journey. In the kitchen, Hux, Ben, and Phoebe stood around the kettle with mugs of tea or coffee.

"Morning, sleepyhead, the others have left already," Phoebe said.

Rae merely grunted.

"Not a morning person?" Hux asked.

"I didn't sleep well," Rae responded, turning on the kettle.

"Here, gimme your bag. I'll put it in the car; as soon as you've got yourself tea and food, we'll go," Hux said, moving towards Rae and taking her bag. Out of the corner of her eye, Rae watched Hux leave. Ben looked at her and then followed Hux out to the car.

"You OK?" Phoebe asked, putting a hand on Rae's shoulder.

"Yeah, perfect. Corey texted me late last night. Got a date set for Friday," Rae said without looking at her friend while making her tea and toast. She felt Phoebe remove her hand and her quiet judgement on the information she'd just shared.

"Ra..," Phoebe started.

"Don't Phoebe. I know you mean well, but it's my life. I like Corey. Ben is my boss, and he's ....he's, he's too quiet- aloof even. He's utterly....utterly....... I'm not interested, so please leave it alone."

As Rae turned to Phoebe, Hux and Ben were in the doorway. FFFFUUUUCCCCKKKKK!

It wasn't that Ben wasn't those things, but Rae certainly hadn't wanted him to hear. Ben was looking awkwardly at his feet, and Hux was pulling that awkward face, half-smile, half-scowl grimace he pulled. Rae gulped her tea; it was too hot and burnt, but she couldn't exactly spit it back out. Tea finished, she grabbed her piece of toast and headed out the door past everyone staring at her, attempting to maintain an iota of pride, given her little rant. She plonked herself on the backseat behind the driver's seat. Laptop out and headphones in with her angry, extra heavy playlist on- BMTH, Rammstein, Slipknot, Korn and Bury Tomorrow mostly going round and round on repeat; she was going to work and had no intention of being conversed with awkwardly by anyone!

Rae got lots done in the car; she'd been in the zone and entirely focused on creating potential alien looks for the perfume advert. Why was it that the go-to was always blue skin? Why was blue preferred over all the other colours? Most of the mutants in X-Men had blue skin. She'd worked the mutant idea into some of her sketches; it was a striking twist instead of just alien. After a while, the particularly angry playlist became too much, and she was agitated. By the time they reached the end of the M3, her creativity was spent. Rae closed the laptop and put on something a little mellower instead, one of her favourite albums as a teenager, The Crow soundtrack, and she dozed off, only waking when the car's motion stopped, and she opened her eyes to see they were home. She scrambled out of the car, half asleep in a typically un-lady-like manner. Hux and Phoebe were kissing each other goodbye, and Ben had her bag. Uuuuuhhhhhh. She begrudgingly trudged over to him, arm out to accept her luggage.