"Oh! Look at this one Oewe!" Retana says as she points out yet another trinket at a local kiosk along the streets of Mos Espa.

"Come on Rena, we don't have all day to shop." I say using her nickname that I made for her, she hates it but it's easier than saying 'Retana' all the time. "I have to get these supplies back before dark so we can have fun this weekend."

Giving me a puffed up face and crossed arms to show her displeasure she says, "Jeez Oewe, you're always like this. It doesn't hurt to stop and smell the roses you know."

"I will try to keep that in mind, for the future R-E-N-A." saying her name slowly and then giving a small laugh at the end to lighten the mood, which doesn't seem to work as all she does is turn her head away showing more vexation.

"Will you honestly never grow up?" Rena asks as she starts walking away from the small street side store.

"Would you have me any other way?" I ask as I start walking beside her and poke her arm to continue the joke.

"Sometimes Oewe, sometimes…" she says as she turns her head and trails off with her sentence. I thought I saw her blush a little.

"Ok, tell you what. When I come back from dropping off the supplies I will get the necklace you pointed out. How about that?" I ask as we continue walking along the market and buying things off the list little by little.

"REALLY, REALLY, REALLY?!" Rena asks with both excitement and a hint of disbelief in her voice, and for a good reason.

"Yes, for real this time; I've saved up enough to spoil you this time I suppose." I say recalling all the times I promised her a gift and then couldn't buy her one at the end of the day due to all the things we would buy.

"Yay! You're the best Oewe!" she continues as she grabs on to my arm and squeeze as tight as she can, not letting go as if to signify she won't let go of the promise either.

I turn back to the store clerk and finish paying via the payment screen which is standard at all of these little market stores. It's a nice way to know you get your monies worth but sometimes the produce isn't all that great. But on a desert planet such as ours, beggars can't be choosers as the saying goes. We live with what we can get our hands on and make the best of it.

After hours of shopping and looking at all the different things Mos Espa had to offer us, Rena pointed out a local restaurant that she likes. Naturally we stopped in to get a quick meal before I left to drop off the supplies at my house. Once in our seats and orders taken we had a bit of time to plan out what we were going to do for the weekend. Several ideas were thrown around and put on the table so to say. But this is the norm for when I make the trip here. We can never really decide on what to do and just go with the flow most of the time and let life take us where it wants to.

"So it's settled then! We will go to a movie when you get back from dropping off the supplies and then you will stay at my house for the weekend. And tomorrow we will go back to the store and get the necklace that I wanted!" Rena says laying out our weekend like it's a 'to-do list' instead of a fun filled weekend of friends.

"Haha, don't worry so much about it. You will get the trinket I swear. But what about the last day then? What will we do?" I ask knowing she hasn't put that much thought into it. Unfortunately I haven't given it much thought either. If I were called out now it would look bad.

"Hmm-," she thinks out loud knowing she had been caught in her almost perfect plan, "how about we, um, I don't know! Where are your ideas at hmm Oewe?" Rena asks not knowing how to get herself out of the hole she dug herself into but also calling me out on my bluff.

Giving a small chuckle and glaring at her maliciously letting her know that I forced this on her, but also trying to buy some time I said, "Oh now you want my insight hehe, ok here's a plan for ya!" I exclaim as I notice our food coming out to us; perfect timing.

Staying on the edge of her seat waiting for an answer, I could tell she was holding her breath with excitement knowing I was about to come up with a plan. That's when our food was set in front of us and I proclaimed "Thanks for the meal; let's eat!"

Rena's jaw dropped open with shock. It took her a few seconds to recover and ask, "That's your plan? Eating? Ugh men!"

She finishes with that statement giving me a look of disgust but I could also make out a hint of a lighthearted smile growing on her face, showing me even still that she accepted this is who I was and was okay with it. We finished our meals in just under half an hour. Realizing that the suns were setting I looked at my pocket watch and saw what time it was.

"Oh shoot! It's really late, I need to get going so that I can get back into the city at a descent hour!" I shout as I tip the waitress, pay the bill and grab my things then head almost at a full sprint to my speeder bike.

"Oewe! Don't make me walk home alone! Come bac-!" Is all I made out before I got out of ear shot from Rena.

Feeling bad about leaving her I told myself I would have to be extra nice this weekend if she was to forgive me this time. So before going directly to my bike, I stopped back inside the market and bought the trinket Rena was looking at earlier. It was a necklace with an Onyx jewel shaped into the form of a crystal pendant. With small white dots shining from the crystal, it looked as if the entire universe was inside this single jewel. I knew then and there I had to buy this for her. With the last bit of credits I had, I bought this single pendant for Rena and shoved it into my pocket before running at a sprint back to my speeder.

I came into view of my speeder and double timed it to get back even a few seconds earlier. I secured everything onto either the bike or in my backpack and jumped on the speeder. The familiar hum that I enjoy so much came to life as I pressed the on screen display and let me know the speeder was ready to make tracks. I threw it in reverse and pulled out faster than ever not stopping to even check behind me.

I punch down the accelerator and head out towards the never ending desert of Tatooine. Remembering back to the start of the day my mother, Elena, told me there were increased 'Sand People' sightings recently. Which meant that the back roads were really dangerous right now. They did cut off a significant amount of time to my route but ultimately I wanted to stay safe this weekend. Nothing was going to stop me from giving this present to Rena. However I also wanted to stay safe because that bad feeling was still lingering around. Normally I'm all about taking risks and living to the fullest, but when I'm all alone I like to take the safe path. That being said, I stuck to the main road. Sure it would take longer but as the saying goes, 'better safe than sorry', right?

Authors Note

Ok! So here we go. This is the most recent chapter, and even it went through some changes. Not major changes like the intro or the first chapter, just small grammatical and slight dialogue. With that being said, I'm going to go straight into the next chapter tonight and edit it some more tomorrow night.

Then this weekend I have to work but the week after I have more off days than this week so I can really bust out a few chapters. Expect only 1 chapter every other week and 1-2 the other week.
But with this, only one more AN will be published in the chapters. After chapter 3, you won't see another AN until the end of the volume. This is where I will explain the story where there might be any confusion and give a quick recap. I will also let you know just what exactly is going on and what to expect chapter release wise. Along with what you can expect to find in vol. 2!