The Mentor - A Reylo College AU

6 - Spurs

The motorcycle hummed as Ben glided into a spot by the Fine Arts Building shortly after he left lunch, blowing off Rey in the process. Other students looked at him as they passed him, still straddling the bike while removing his helmet and shaking his hair out. The girls looked at him with curiosity sparking in their eyes while the guys with them looked annoyed or even a little jealous, both reactions bringing a decent amount of inflation to his ego. He knew being 'the motorcycle guy' at a small school such as this one made him seem like an arrogant asshole, but that bike was sometimes the only thing that gave him any sort of dopamine hit, so of course, he had to bring it with him.

The Fine Arts building was bustling as morning lectures were letting out and students were preparing for afternoon studio classes. Peaking into the painting room, Ben spotted Rey sitting in front of a well-loved easel covered in paint from the many students before her and organizing her supplies in the small tower of drawers that would be hers for the semester.

"Psst," Ben whispered to get her attention, her head swiveling in his direction unsuspectingly. Rey's face dropped in shocked apprehension, her eyes getting large and her eyebrows raising as Ben was probably the last person she was expecting to see after the way he left the parking lot not long before. Pulling his mouth into a small smile, Ben lifted his hand in a cautious wave, and after a pause, her shoulders visibly dropped as she relaxed and returned the sentiment before going back to her organizing.

Ben was floored by her simple beauty in the soft, filtered light of the northern exposure windows surrounding the room. The whisps of hair that had escaped the clip on the back of her head shone in the fluorescent lights, and her face, primarily free of makeup, glowed as she worked. He was confident those supplies set her back a touch financially, which was evident in the care she was taking to unpack them. It took effort for him to turn down the hallway towards his class when he would have much rather stayed in her presence, watching her paint. There were very few things to him that showed the actual inner workings of a person than watching them create something with their hands.

A few classmates had found seats in the photography studio when Ben made it to the windowless room. He didn't know if it was a bad idea, still, he elected to sit in the same seat as the previous year. He had learned that the location of the chosen seat provided him with some coverage from the Professor and his endless comments and quick access to the darkroom to get his preferred station.

It was wholly his fault that he was stuck in a 100-level photography class as a second-year photography major. The only reason he failed was his inability to attend an 8 am class the previous year. Failing that course and having to retake it was his not-so-subtle wake-up call to quit drinking so much and stop staying up so late.

-

The overbearing stench of her perfume reached his senses before she came into view, but it gave Ben a second to brace himself before Voi plopped herself into the chair right next to him again.

"Oh my gosh, if I would have known we had class together-"

"Save it Voi," Ben grumbled, drawing a cloud of dark swirls on his open notebook, his jaw aching from how tightly he clenched his teeth.

"You mind if I sit here?" Voi leaned on the arm of the chair towards him, encroaching well into his personal space.

"Once again, You're already sitting." He leaned away from her, still refusing to look at her fluttering her eyelashes at him. It probably worked on other guys, but it annoyed him.

"Alright, class. Is everyone here for an intro to film photography? If you're here for calculus, you're in the wrong place," the professor chuckled, earning an eye-roll from Ben. He'd always hated this pretentious snob, the two never agreeing on Ben's photography choices. The professor always wanted him to push himself by changing things that weren't true to his style, resulting in Ben receiving a lesser grade when he didn't make the changes. "I'm Professor Abrams. Here is the syllabus; please make sure you read all of it so you're not blindsided by policies later on. Right, Kylo?" Ben rolled his eyes again, still staring at his notebook, which was filling up with dark scribbles, not looking up at the professor, who thought he was some kind of comedian. "Right, Mr. Solo?"