will myself to find a home, a home within myself
we will find a way, we will find our place
drop the leash, drop the leash...
get outta' my fuckin' face
"Leash" by Pearl Jam
The next day Rey gets out of Maz Kanata's car and is practically in the building before the old woman can so much as blink.
Luke is waiting for her as soon as she steps inside. He smiles at her newfound eagerness and jerks his head toward what Rey remembers to be the painting room. "I teach an advanced painting class on Tuesdays. You're welcome to join us on an easel if you wish, or you can draw by yourself. Up to you!" He walks toward the painting room, and Rey can see a handful of students sitting at easels and preparing their paints and paintbrushes.
Rey suddenly feels very shy. She's never been too good at making friends. Her best friend had always been her own sense of self-perseverance. That's how she'd managed to survive so long without parents.
She trudges into the room behind Luke, eyes taking in the other kids. None of them are even remotely close to here age. Not surprising for an advanced class, but still—
Rey spots him at the back of the classroom, frowning at his easel in concentration. The seats around him are open, as if all the other students had deemed to give him a wide berth. Rey takes this as a sign that she should absolutely sit next to him.
She slips into the seat to his left, feet dangling a solid foot off the floor. She situates herself, letting her backpack slip from her shoulders onto the tile. Glancing at Ben out of the corner of her eye, she sees that's he's already started painting, even though Luke is only just starting the class. His fingertips are stained black and he has headphones on and a CD player tucked into the waistband of his pants.
Whatever he's listening to is loud.
A couple of minutes go by and he still hasn't even noticed her, which is fine with Rey. Watching Ben paint is a much more useful way to spend her time. He's forgone a paintbrush completely and is just using his fingers, tracing out the basic shape of a tree. It's fascinating—
"Stop staring at me." His eyes never leave his work. Rey jerks a little in surprise. When had he even seen her? But that didn't matter. If he wanted her to stop staring, then she would happily continue to do so.
A solid three minutes go by before he makes a point to shift in his seat, his back turned toward her. Rey slips down, pushes her seat closer, and then clamors back on.
Two minutes go by.
Which sheer exasperation, he reaches up and yanks his headphones off, glaring at her. "Why are you being such a creepy little weirdo?"
"What are you listening to?" she asks without missing a beat, effectively ignoring his question. "And is that supposed to be a tree?"
He looks between her and his half-finished painting before taking a deep breath. "Look, I get it. You're Uncle's charity case. But you can't just bother people when they're trying to work, okay?"
"I like trees. I didn't know they could be black."
Ben blinks down at her, all trace of anger gone and replaced with confusion. "I don't like to paint with colors," he says by way of explanation. His unkept dark hair falls into his eyes. "Don't you have something to do? Like art?"
"I have something for you." Rey climbs out of her seat and opens her backpack, rummaging through until she finds what she's looking for. Finding it, she stands up and hands him the thick sheet of paper she's folded in half.
Ben gives her a wary look before swiping it out of her hand, opening it. His expression of shock mingles with indignant fury and Rey lets out a snort.
"This is not funny." He all but shoves her own drawing back in her face. "My ears are not that big!"
Rey lets out gales of genuine laughter now. "Yes they are," she says with a chuckle, then shrugs at him. Big ears are of no real concern to a seven-and-a-half-year-old.
They watch each other for a long moment. Then Ben sighs, looking back down at drawing in his hand. "I guess your lines aren't that bad. Ya know, for a little kid."
Rey feels her cheeks get hot. She hadn't been expecting a compliment, even a half-hearted one. She shrugs again.
"What's your name, anyway?"
"Rey."
He nods. "Cool. I'm Ben"
"What were you listening to?"
Ben looks suspicious. "Why?"
"I liked it."
He stares at her for a long moment and then nods to himself, making a decision. A second later he takes off his headphones and slips them over her head and over her ears. They're way too big for her, and she has to hold them up else they'll slip down her neck. Ben presses PLAY on the CD player. This song has a lot more guitar then yesterday's music and is decidedly less aggressive. Rey loves it. It's much better then the barrage of Disney and Backstreet Boys songs that she hears all the time back at the home.
She gives Ben a toothy grin, and if he's charmed by her missing front tooth he doesn't show it. He rolls his brown eyes at her and turns back to his painting, not seeming to mind anymore that she's watching him.
The rest of the class passes quickly. Rey doesn't notice Luke Skywalker watching the both her and Ben from his corner at the front of the room, deep in thought.
And when Rey gets back to the home that night, she doesn't notice that Ben never gave her back the drawing.
A/N: Thank you everyone who left feedback and kudos! Y'all are awesome. This is it for '97. We'll pick back up next time in '98. If you enjoyed this let me know!
