When the Stars Align: A Modern Day Reylo AU

Chapter 13

When Rey awoke the next morning to her alarm, Ben was already gone. He had left her a note on the island in the kitchen.

Rey,

I had to get an early start to the day. I enjoyed our time last night. I look forward to seeing you again soon.

Ben

Rey got her stuff ready for high school. She took off for the day feeling happy and relaxed.

The next few weeks flew by, thank goodness. Rey and Ben had been spending so much time together. They were talking and laughing and fooling around a lot. Rey still hadn't been ready to have sex though. They were learning so many things about one another. Rey learned that Ben left his parents when he was young because of the pressure they put on him. His mother was a well known politician and his father was a high ranking official in the military. He had escaped them and starting going by a pseudonym. He quickly changed his name back when he got into college and had starting making a life for himself.

Ben had learned that Rey had some traumatic experiences that she felt comfortable talking to him about. She also talked about what it was like to be on her own, like totally on her own, so young.

He talked about trying to reconnect with his parents, Rey had encouraged him to. She talked to him about wishing she could connect with her parents. He finally reached out to his mother and set up a time to meet with her.

"Please, come with me," he asked Rey.

"Ben, don't you think you should do this alone?" She asked him as she was cleaning up the coffee shop. He came everytime she worked a shift so they could walk home together. Sometimes they went to her place, sometimes they went to his, sometimes they went their own ways.

"No," he cried out, "I can't do this without you. I need you to be there," he said, his eyes looking so sad.

"Ok, I'll come with you," she agreed.

A week later they were walking hand in hand into The Bleu Cellar to have dinner with Ben's parents.

"Mom, hi," Ben said as they entered the restaurant. Hearing him call her mom and seeing the look in his eyes made her fall even harder for him.

"BEN!" she called out, embracing her son so hard. "It's been too long," she said, holding his hands in hers. "Who is this?" she asked, adjusting her eyes until they settled on me.

"This," he paused, "is Rey. She's my girlfriend," he said confidently. She was a little taken aback. It wasn't that she didn't think of him the same way, it was that they never talked about a label.

"Hi, Mrs. Organa, it's a pleasure to meet you," she said.

"Where's dad?" Ben asked his mother.

"He'll be here," Mrs. Organa said.

Mr. Solo showed up about 20 minutes later and they got a table. The evening went on pleasantly. They exchanged pleasant conversation. The topic of where Rey went to school came up and Ben told it matter of factly and both his parents seemed to be ok with it.

At the end of the night, Ben and Rey left hand in hand with smiles on their faces.

"Thank you," Ben said as they were walking back to their apartment.

"For what?" Rey said.

"Everything. For making me call them, for coming with me, for giving me confidence, for being you, for being my girlfriend," he said.

"Speaking of which," she said, "We never really had that conversation," she mentioned with a sly smile.

"I didn't know we needed to," Ben said, suddenly worried.

"I'm kidding," she said, smiling, "we didn't."

He kissed her passionately and they finished their walk back to the apartments.