When the Stars Align: A Modern Day Reylo AU

Chapter 9

After they had moved her things in, which took all of 30 minutes, she was both excited and nervous for what was to come next.

"Well that's all of it," she said.

"Really?" Ben asked, knowing the surprise in his tone was probably insulting.

"I know, it's not much, but it's all mine," she said, her smile never wavering. "I'm going to blow up my air mattress and make my bed, maybe you could work on getting the TV plugged in and set up, the cable guy is coming Tuesday, after school, but for know I can use the DVD player," she said.

She went into the bedroom and blew the bed up, put the sheets on, and laid her large blanket on top. She hung up all the clothes she owned, and went out to check on Ben. He had the TV set up and was working on the DVD player.

"So, I need to go get a couch and an entertainment unit and then I need to stock up at the grocery store," she said to Ben. "You don't have to come with me," she added.

"I want to," Ben said back.

"Why don't we take my truck," Ben offered, "That way we could maybe pick up a couch that we can bring back today," he said.

"Sure," said Rey, "That sounds great."

She followed him out to the parking lot. She definitely didn't picture him in a pick up truck, but he walked her to his relatively new Toyota Tundra that had all the package options one could think of. It was black with black leather interior. It had a moonroof and a digital display in the front. It was so much better than her beater.

"I figure we could look at that discount furniture store over on Bainbridge Street," she said as he opened the door for her. She was glad there were running boards so she could actually get in the truck.

"I'd like to purchase you a housewarming/birthday gift as well," he said.

"Please," she pleaded, "You definitely don't need to do that," she said again, feeling the red flush in her cheeks.

He didn't answer her with anything except a smirk on his lips. They drove in relative silence, he clocked on the radio after a few minutes, old school Linkin Park came on and she smiled. This was her type of music. She didn't know what made her do it, but she reached out and took his hand that was sitting on the middle seat. He smiled, without taking his eyes off the road, and took her hand gently back.

They arrived at the furniture store, and she jumped out of the car excitedly. She had about $1,000 give or take to get a couch and entertainment unit. She wanted to keep at least a month's rent on hand, just in case. She had that tucked away in a lock box in her new apartment. She planned on never touching that unless she had to. She brought with her $1,200 in cash to get her furniture and do her grocery shopping.

She entered the store and headed to the section that held couches and loveseats. She wasn't opposed to a loveseat, since she didn't have company over very much. She started looking at what they had, Ben was perusing also. There were a couple of options that appealed to her. She liked a brown leather loveseat, a beige fabric couch, and a really cool looking tealish fabric couch that she couldn't stop looking at. It was on clearance too, probably because no one wanted a teal couch. It was only $450 dollars after the discount and then the clearance.

"This is the one," she said, excitedly.

"This one?" he said, double checking.

"Yes, I know, it's full of... character..." she decided on, "but so am I!" she said, confidently.

"Well yes you are," he replied, smiling again. "I've found a couple of entertainment units over here," he said. She walked over to where he was and started looking around. She noticed he wandered off, she chose a basic entertainment unit that was only $100. Total, she was only going to spend $550, which was significantly below her budget. She was saving on the delivery too, thanks to Ben. Ben and the salesman loaded up the couch and the entertainment unit while Rey paid the lady at the front desk. She was thrilled.

"Off to the grocery store," Ben said as they climbed back into the truck. This time, she slid into the middle seat, right next to Ben. She was feeling good and was unusually attracted to this man for reasons she couldn't quite put her finger on. It was as if she was always connected to him, and her whole life was leading up to meeting him. It just felt right.

She did her grocery shopping while chatting and laughing easily with Ben. The small town they were in only had 2 grocery stores. She saw some girls from her high school there. They didn't know or acknowledge her, really. She was grateful for that.

Back at the apartment Ben said, "You collect the groceries, I'll start unloading the furniture." Rey collected the bags from the back seat and headed into the apartment. Ben came in carrying pieces of something that was definitely not her couch.

"What is that?" Rey asked curiously.

"Happy homecoming," Ben said smiling. He put the pieces into her bedroom, they were the pieces that made the bedframe for her new bed.

"WHAT?" she said, in disbelief.

"It's a king, fit for a queen," he said, smiling. He started to put the bed together and Rey went out to the truck and started to unload the entertainment unit. She brought it in, set up her TV on top of it, and set up her DVD player. She started to unpack her DVD collection as well, and the many books she had collected through the years as well. It was coming together.

She and Ben went back out to carry in the couch and grab the mattress and boxspring for the bed. About an hour later, the apartment had food, a couch, and a bed.

Rey was exhausted, "Let me order some pizza and we can watch a movie," Rey suggested.

"Sounds perfect," Ben agreed.