A Lesson to Learn

Chapter 5

It had been a few days since Rose had convinced Rey to make her online dating profiles. She had had a few matches on one or two apps, and two particularly promising ones (or at least two that stood out among the rest): Anakin Christensen and Kylo Ren.

Anakin was good looking in a cookie-cutter type of way - attractive in a very conventional sense with a slim build, medium brown hair, tan skin, green eyes and a nice smile. His profile mentioned that he was 29 years old, liked hiking but hated the beach (because of the sand), was a big animal lover, didn't love children but was open to talking about it, was interested in science fiction and scary movies, and he worked in the political science field. He seemed educated, nice enough, and like a generally good time. His pictures were full of smiles, friends, and beautiful scenery.

Kylo's profile, on the other hand, left a lot to the imagination. It was barely filled out with only one picture that was taken against a plain wall. His main page bore a caption that said something along the lines that he was 32 years old and looking to seriously date, liked to take part in wild schemes, worked as the boss for part of his family's company but had taken a leave of absence to figure some stuff out, and was confused about the online dating world but figured he would take a stab at it to find his dream girl.

Normally, Rey wouldn't have swiped to match with somebody like Kylo Ren. He didn't have enough information on his page or enough photos to even make Rey feel like he wasn't some kind of bot. But for some reason she had felt drawn to the man in the picture. He was so large that he took up most of the frame, dressed in all black with a pale face peppered with moles, donning honey colored eyes, and long wavy black hair. She could tell he was over six feet tall and had a muscular build under all that clothing. His large lips were drawn into a tight smile and he looked nervous and awkward. Rey had felt both bad for him and also felt for him. She was similarly new to this online dating world and was also giving it a shot to find somebody worthwhile. It was for these reasons (and an odd connection she felt towards the hulking man) that she had swiped right and been pleasantly surprised when she matched with him.

She had only recently matched with Kylo so they hadn't talked yet, but she was hoping he would reach out soon. Anakin on the other hand had already reached out to her when they matched earlier that week. He seemed almost overly confident while messaging - flirting heavily with her and constantly making her roll her eyes at some of his advances. Anakin had just moved to Pennsylvania from New York, so he was new to the Philly area and was hoping Rey could show him around.

Rey had suggested he come visit her at the First Order during work hours and grab a coffee with her. This way they could meet at a public place and if he was a total jerk or creeper then she could ask Poe to help her take care of the situation. It would also help ease her jittery nerves to know they were meeting at a safe location that was conveniently also home turf for her. Rey was hoping it would make her less flustered about the whole ordeal. Anakin came on strong with his playful nature and she wasn't used to this much attention - much less from someone who wasn't just a creeper hitting on her across the register - after so much time alone. It wasn't that she necessarily wasn't into it, but she wasn't completely convinced that Anakin was quite her style. But he was cute and Rey knew not to be too picky without getting to know someone first. She hated when people weren't given a fair chance in a situation.

While she finished preparing herself for the day ahead and for meeting Anakin, Rey looked down at her phone and saw a message from Kylo Ren. It was nothing more than a simple "hi" but she found herself smiling at the phone, glad that he had reached out to her. Hi back :), she typed and hit send before she could reprimand herself for answering back so quickly. Hadn't Rose said something about always leaving them waiting and wanting? Rey felt it was silly to not answer back as soon as she saw a message, especially if she wanted to talk to that person. Dating shouldn't be a complicated game but Rose made it seem like that was all the rage now.