The college feud || a Reylo fan fic!

8) I am Leia's son

Bens POV:

He wasn't early, but he definitely wasn't late.

after finally getting his shit together and transferring colleges, he now found himself sitting in a prestigious chemistry lab, turning the pages of the thickest book he had ever seen absentmindedly. the door had swung open a few minutes earlier but he didn't bother looking at who had arrived after they sat at the complete other end of the room. he did not know anyone at this university.

well he knew one person

but he wouldn't see her around. somehow he felt kind of disappointed about that but it was growing weaker. after she hadn't shown up to any self defence lessons his hope had startled to dwindle, alas, he had gotten on with life without the girl he had known for a summer. not even.

snapping his eyes back up to the front he noticed a small man standing in front of him. he looked to be in his early 30's however his hair was balding and the neatly pressed sweater he was wearing had some sort of stain on it.

"hello everyone! welcome to a new year and for most of you a new course. I am Mr. Popham and I will be your chemistry lecturer for this one year crash course in chemistry" his voice seemed to have a slight nasal tone to it and Ben found himself almost falling asleep but caught himself when he was marking the roll.

"miss Rey Kenobi"

"here"

ben's eyes snapped up to the sound of her voice almost instantly and sure enough in the corner of the room was her. it was Rey.

he couldn't believe his eyes, was he mistaken? he hadn't seen her for a few months but he knew that smile from miles away. sure enough her eyes flittered to his and it was probably only a second or two but to ben it felt like an eternity. her lips had slightly parted and a tinge of pink had spread over her cheeks, no doubt he was blushing wide eyed at her but all too soon she ripped her eyes away from him and swept her hair over her shoulder so it covered her face. he sat in silence for the rest of the roll call, answering in a small voice to indicate his presence when he was called.

he seemed to let a breathe out at the realisation that she was alright.

(Flashback to the last night he saw her)

he had awoken with his right arm dead and limp laying across his body after realising that he had slept on his couch. his eyes slowly opened and he sat up when he realised that Rey had fallen asleep at his place but somehow his house felt deathly silent. sure enough he walked into his room and she wasn't there. after searching around the house, his chest beginning to tighten, he realised she had left him either late last night or early this morning. she left no note, she was off with the wind and he felt empty almost. he went to her Instagram and was about to send her a message asking if she had gotten home safely but erased it after not wanting to be 'that guy'. he just lived.

after what felt like days, the first lecture had ended and he soon realised that he hadn't taken in any information at all. this was going to be a very long year if he managed to be distracted by her every lesson. he had to shake her from his head as he drove home for his first shift at his mums café. the last he had heard from Leia was that Rey was focusing on college and didn't want to be distracted this year which hopefully meant she quit or at the very least asked for less hours. Leia only gave him a knowing smirk almost as if she knew everything that had happened between him and Rey even if she didn't know any of it....

Rey's POV:

she couldn't stop thinking about the look in his eyes when they had met each others gaze. he had looked relieved and his soft brown eyes looked warm and almost reminded her of home. it took all her strength not to run up to him and hug him and thank him for that night, but then again- he didn't want her, there was no point in hoping anymore. instead, after the lecture ended, she scraped her chair back and walked right out of the classroom knowing that his eyes were on her.  she hurried home and threw her work uniform on and driving straight to work knowing that she was doing the 5-10 shift or otherwise known as the closing or graveyard shift.

when she opened the café door the warmth felt lovely on her exposed skin that was still adjusting to the chilly bite of the wind. just as she was about to clock on Leia walked into the room.

"Hey Rey, sweetheart. I need to go do some stuff for the city council but Han is in the back office if you need anything" she said with a smile.

"oh ok, who am I closing with tonight again?" Rey asked curiously because she hadn't done a close shift in a few weeks and the roster changes like crazy.

"Oh yeah! my son is starting his first shift here tonight and since I don't think it will be busy I thought it would be a perfect time to train him, is that alright?" she asked ducking back into the room.

Rey was surprised. this kid was really trying to pick his life back up again, after what Leia had told her, Rey wasn't actually that bummed about having to train someone.

"Oh no that's fine, what time does he start?" she said with a warm smile.

"he starts at 6 so the store will be sort of empty" Leia said to Rey as she was putting her apron on. Rey agreed and Leia left her to finish getting ready.

~~~~

the first hour had gone relatively fast and smooth, so far no one had thrown their drink at her which was always a good sign. the evening rush had occurred so now all Rey was doing was clearing the tables and wiping down the work bench that stood right beside the coffee machines. she threw the loose coffee bean grinds that had escaped into the bin before turning around to the sound of the door opening. her body froze as soon as she saw who was at the door.

Ben walked in, his eyes never leaving hers as she stood behind the counter dropping the cloth she had used to wipe the bench with back on the table.

"what are you doing here" she said almost harshly but with enough curiosity that it sounded like an honest question. he seemed to sort of fumble.

"Uh I'm here to be trained" he said almost slowly.

"no, I'm training Leia's son" Rey said quickly regretting her words instantly.

"I am Leia's son" he said finally dropping his hands to his side. Rey felt a wave of embarrassment flood through her and a wave of heat rose up through her body when she finally connected the dots. she let out a little sigh.

"of course you are"

they stood there in awkward silence before she shook her head and took a deep breath in.

"So have you been registered in the employees 'clock on' system yet?" she asked while retying her loose apron back up. he shook his head and Rey motioned him to follow her.

after setting his fingerprint up in the system, Rey gave him a tour of the place, never fully meeting his eyes and trying her best to act like she didn't know him, and she showed him how to make their most popular drinks and how to properly clean the equipment as the end of their shift neared. it was only when Ben was calculating their stores average customer count and Rey was doing the float that she finally gave into her little act and let the wave of guilt take over her senses.

"Hey im really sorry about leaving and not saying thank you or anything. I mean you had helped me and I ended up leaving you god im such a hypocrite.." she began to ramble on until she looked up at Ben. he had stopped what he was doing and his eyes went soft and his breathing became more frequent.

"No Rey, it's alright, I understand.... really, I do" he said dropping his eyes to her lips. Rey seemed to let a breath she didn't know she was holding out and burst into a smile.

"It's just, I failed my engineering course and I got so stressed out over the break that I completely forgot about it all and i'm so sorry. can we just....start over?" she asked him while fiddling with her fingers. 

"i'd like that" he said smiling up at her.

A/n

hey guys!

im so sorry for not updating for like 3 or 4 months. I have been super stressed out and my creativity comes in waves (whether its with my edits, paintings or my stories) I always seem to lose interest in at least one of these things for a period of time but I finally had an idea for this book and im so excited. I will probably write another chapter tonight, but thank you so much for sticking with me

- Trini x