A/N: Thank you so much to my beta hithelleth who is absolutely amazing.
Ben Solo wasn't sure what made him finally change his mind since his last visit with his father and decide to come home, but he had booked the first flight out of New York to Texas as soon as he had known his father would be back in town.
Han Solo was a truck driver, driving coast to coast and rarely home for most of Ben's life. Now that Ben was permanently in New York City, he would meet up with his father if Han bothered to call him with a little bit of notice. Each and every time, Han would beg Ben to come home and his response was always the same. Work was busy, he couldn't get the time off, weather was too unpredictable in the winter, but in reality, he was just comfortable in New York and didn't want to face the demons that would greet him back in Texas, where his mother had retired to live with his father, who would never retire.
Growing up, Ben spent in his childhood being shuffled between his mother's place in Washington DC and his father's home in Corellia, Texas. As a child, he never knew how to define his parents' relationship, but to be fair, they never seemed to be able define it themselves. He knew they loved each other, but they fought more often than not. When given the opportunity to get away from both of them, he had headed straight out West for business school and then back East to go in to investment banking and hedge funds, something his mother was continuously disappointed with. It was his career, not hers, he always reasoned. Just because she couldn't brag about all the good he was doing in the world like her colleagues' offspring, it didn't mean he needed a lecture about how he disappointed her and how she felt about his profession. It was almost better to ignore most of her phone calls and just talk to her through his father on random trips to town. With his father, at least he could pretend to have a conversation; usually it was meaningless talk about sports or cars or complaining about politics, keeping the topics to things they could agree on.
The last time had been different though. Ben could see the weariness in his father's face as he had asked him to call his mother, maybe even stop by in the future. Han had said he'd be back at the house the following Tuesday, so that Friday night Ben had booked a non-refundable flight and figured he'd just show up and surprise his parents. If nothing else, his mother would be home. His father wasn't always the best at keeping promises or even keeping a strict timetable at all. Which was how Ben found himself sitting in the airport playing mindless games on his phone while waiting to board.
And just his luck, the weather was bad in some part of the country which delayed his flight. Originally, he'd planned on arriving around dinner time, but at this rate, he might not even make it to Corellia by nightfall. Of course his father had settled to a large ranch in the middle of nowhere in Texas, which was one of the many reasons Ben rarely visited.
Not only did he have to fly, but then he'd have to rent a car and the shortest route took about 3 hours from the airport. Nothing like a late flight and long drive for him to realize what a mistake he was potentially making.
Finally the passengers were called to board the plane.
Once seated, he ordered a jack and coke, and settled back for a nap, hoping for a smooth flight. Since he hadn't checked in any bags, he headed straight to rental car counter to get the most basic car he could. He was in such a daze he didn't realize just how late he was and about 2 hours into the drive, he realized just how late he'd be arriving and knew that would only create tension in the house. No, he reasoned, it'd be better to just get a room at the next exit and show up first thing in the morning after everyone had their coffee.
He pulled off the road and headed to the first basic chain hotel he saw. After checking in, he asked where he could grab a bite to eat and the front desk clerk pointed down the road and said there was a bar that served food not too far. It wasn't a dangerous walk to the bar, but the clerk warned him not to walk back at night due to people speeding. He mumbled his thanks and headed out.
As it was still early, there weren't many people in the bar yet, just a few others finishing up their dinners and some old timers. There was a pool table towards the front and darts against the back wall. Ben grabbed a bar stool near the taps so he was able to get the bartender's attention pretty quickly. He ordered a Jack and coke and a hamburger before glancing around the bar.
As he turned his head, the bartender yelled at one of the men standing over by the pool table who had just lit a cigar. Ben might not have agreed with government turning into a nanny state, but his lungs were infinitely grateful for the indoor smoking ban. The man stomped off towards the exit and that's when someone else caught Ben's eye.
She looked out of place walking through the smoke and settled in the only other empty seat in the bar, which happened to be next to him. She waved over the bartender, ordering a Jack and coke and glancing right back at her phone. He tried not to stare at her, but he kept glancing at her, noticing how out of place she seemed in this town. Where even was he? That didn't matter. No. What mattered was catching the girl's attention. His food arrived shortly and he ate, sipping his drink and trying to figure out which sports teams were playing on the TV in front of him while also trying to man up and talk to the pretty girl next to him. Luckily, he didn't have to make the first move as she knocked in to him when she got up from the bar stool.
"Oh, I'm so sorry!" she squeaked.
"No problem," he said as he straightened himself.
"Say, I haven't seen you around here," she said, smiling and sitting herself back comfortably on the wobbling bar stool.
"Just passing through."
"Of course. No one ever comes to Jakku for anything if they can help it. I'm Rey," she said, sticking her hand out.
He shook her hand gently. "Ben. Nice to meet you. Let me buy the next round."
One round led to several more rounds of drinks, with Rey revealing that she currently worked at the junkyard in town, scavenging through the old cars to part them out and make a profit selling the working parts on eBay. Ben wasn't quite sure how old she was because she mentioned taking online classes in mechanical engineering with her dream of getting far away from Jakku and being able to work on engines. She just wasn't sure whether she wanted to work with cars or planes. Ben told her little about his past, mostly sticking to his present and living in New York. She seemed fascinated by the big city life, but was adamant on not going too far from Jakku, which Ben couldn't understand why. The town seemed dead, even the bar crowd was thinning out and it was still quite early in the night.
With the drinks flowing, Ben had enough courage to challenge Rey to a game of darts. A determined look came across Rey's face. Ha! Ben knew she was never one to back down from a challenge. Luckily for Ben, he had spent a good deal of his childhood with his father in bars and had perfected darts over the years. Sure, he was a little rusty, but he couldn't have lost that much of a touch, could he?
Well, he was proven quite wrong when Rey trumped him, though it was still a fairly evenly matched game. She slammed back the last of her drink - he wasn't even sure what number drink he was on, let alone how many she had - and reached her arms around him and kissed him, pushing him back a little forcibly. He steadied himself by wrapping his arms around her and returned the kiss. If the bartender hadn't cleared his throat at that moment, Ben wasn't sure how long they would have continued to kiss or how much further they would have gone.
He noticed Rey looking down at her phone and before his liquid courage could wear off, he grabbed her hand and leaned towards her ear to whisper: "I've got a hotel room down the street. Care to join me?"
She smiled and nodded, letting Ben lead the way back, carefully walking far enough from the road, as neither one of them was in any shape to drive.
A/N - Story Title from the song "Bury It" by Chvrches and chapter title from the song "Lonely Eyes" by Chris Young.