Knock Knock

Chapter 4

Rey blinked. Her first thought was to jump him which was extremely unhelpful but he did look hot in that suit.

'What are you doing here?' She asked.

His face started to turn red.

Uh-oh. He was going to blow.

He came towards her stopping only a few inches in front of her.

'What am I doing here? I own this house! What the hell are you doing here?' he yelled.

Time to get in character. This wasn't the first time Rey had been backed into a corner. Now, how should she play this? Ahhh, yes. Rey blinked up at him.

'I had nowhere to go, the restaurant owner, you might remember him. Fat man? Permanent garlic breath? He kept letting himself into my apartment at all hours and forcing himself on me, when I refused him, he threw me out on the street. Then I remembered you saying this house was empty and I thought maybe it would be okay if I stayed here, just for a few days?'

The look in his eyes while he mulled this information over was exactly what she was hoping for. Appealing to the caveman inside him for protection had definitely been the right decision. So, she had told a little lie about Claude to get what she wanted. Big deal. Ben would never see the guy again.

'Okay. But that doesn't explain how you got all this stuff,' he said gesturing to the room around them.

Crap.

'Well the groceries I put on our account,' she said, avoiding his eyes and moving towards the sofa. She sat down.

'Our account?'

Rey smiled.

'Well Maz, you know Maz, she is delightful, I love her so much, she might have kind of assumed that you and I are...'

'That you and I are what?' Ben demanded coming towards her once more.

Rey swallowed hard.

'Would you like some pie? It's amazing Maz made it herself.'

'No, I don't want any pie! What the hell is going on, Rey? Did you come out here and just start telling people you were my girlfriend to get free stuff?'

Well damn, that was right on the money. Rey shrugged and picked at her fingernails.

'People just sorta assumed and I didn't correct them.'

Ben ran a hand through his hair. He took a deep breath and sat down on the sofa opposite Rey.

'Okay, explain from the beginning.'

'I needed some food, I was starving, Maz wouldn't let me open an account so I said that I was with you and that made things a whole lot easier for me.'

Ben rubbed at his temples.

'So, you told her you were my girlfriend?'

'Not exactly...'

'Well, what did you tell her exactly?'

Rey chewed her lip.

'Well, I needed something a bit more official than girlfriend...'

Then he noticed the coffee table.

'This is...'

Shit.

'This is my mother's coffee table.'

'Yes, it is. I know, it's not really my taste either but everything in here represents a compromise, you know your mother. She can be very insistent.'