A life is time, they teach you growing up
The seconds ticking killed us all
A million years before the fall
You ride the waves and don't ask where they go
"Standing Outside a Broken Phone Booth with Money in My Hand" by Primitive Radio Gods
That weekend proved to be particularly stressful. Rey isn't sure why keeping her action figures and Pound Puppies stored in the closet instead of on the floor by her bed is imperative to the Senator having a smooth visit, but she obeys.
Maz looks frazzled enough.
On Monday Rey waits outside the home with the other children, watching with a frown as a sleek black car pulls into the long driveway. She hasn't forgotten what Luke said the other night, about the senator being his sister. And she wonders, if she's Luke's sister, if that makes her—
Rey's suspicions are confirmed as soon as Senator Leia Organa steps out of the car. Rey recognizes Ben in the way this woman carries herself, in the way her warm brown gaze sweeps over the sight in front of her and takes note of her surroundings. In the way the corner of her mouth pulls into an almost smile. Maz walks out to greet her and the two women shake hands.
The next couple of hours are incredibly boring, considering all the hullabaloo that lead up to them. Rey isn't overly impressed with who she suspects is Ben's mom. All the senator does is walk around, talk, and ask questions. Rey distracts herself by staring at Organa's bodyguard and the gun holstered to his hip. It looks kinda cool, and Rey commits herself to trying to draw him later. Ben might think it's interesting.
She is so deep in her thoughts (markers would be fun for this project but pencils would be more precise for lines) that Senator Organa has to tap her shoulder to get her attention. She bends down so that she's looking Rey eye-to-eye and holds out her hand, introducing herself.
Maz's furious look from over the senator's shoulder prompts Rey to shake it. Leia smiles. "You must be Rey. I've heard so much about you." She leans in a little closer. "I hear you're a family friend."
Rey's mouth drops open a little bit and suddenly she feels incredibly shy. This only makes Leia smile more fondly. "Luke showed me some of your drawings earlier today. You're quite talented."
Rey only remembers to say 'thank you' because Maz is mouthing it frantically over Leia's shoulder.
Rey is spreading her Pound Puppies back out across her side of the room where they belong when she stills, mind puzzling over her odd day. If the senator is Ben's mom, then she's sent her son away. And maybe that means Ben was left behind just like her.
Tuesdays are painting days.
Rey isn't sure how she feels yet about painting. She prefers bending over a sketch pad with markers or charcoal or pencils—less messy. Besides, whatever she manages to paint always seem to pale in comparison to what Ben can do. He may denounce colors and their use, but with them he creates portraits of places Rey would love to adventure off to.
Today she settles herself in their usual corner. She pulls out the small set of paints that Maz had gotten her for Christmas the year before and waits for Ben to slide onto his stool next to her.
But he never comes, and soon Luke is clearing his throat at the front of the classroom, the other students quieting and giving him their attention. Rey bites her bottom lip and peers around, because Ben has never missed a class in the whole year that Rey has been coming here—
Something is wrong.
She shoves her paint set back into her backpack and softly exits the classroom, not noticing Luke's eyes swivel in her direction when the door closes behind her.
She checks the kitchen-office first, because maybe he's making a pot of coffee and lost track of the time, or maybe he has his headphones on and didn't hear Luke tell him class was starting soon—
But he's not there.
Feeling herself grow antsy, she marches room to room and thoroughly checks each of them. Ben isn't in any of them, of course, and Rey realizes with a sinking feeling where he must be. She wanders to the bottom of the staircase that leads to the upper level. The level she's never been in, has had no reason to go in.
She squares her shoulders and places a small hand on the railing, pulled forward by some feeling of protectiveness. She needs to find Ben Solo and draw him pictures of puppies swearing, or Beavis and Butthead, or—
Rey reaches the top of the stairs and looks around, taking in the small living room with its entertainment center and a TV that's playing the local news. There are art projects everywhere, half finished sculptures and drying paintings representing a smorgasbord of Luke and Ben's work. Before Rey can get too distracted, she hears music.
Following the music will mean finding Ben. Hitching her backpack up her shoulder, she walks through the living room and into a hallway on the right. There are three doors. She guesses one leads to Luke's bedroom, one leads to the bathroom he must share with Ben, and the other…the other is slightly cracked with soft light shining from underneath.
She gently pushes it open and is reminded starkly of pushing open another door a year ago. Except she doesn't find Ben flinging paint at a bedsheet, but stretched across his own bed, lying face down.
His room smells like teenage boy. She's been around enough of them by now to recognize that particular musk. In one corner a red lava lamp sits on the floor, casting an eerie glow about the rest of the room. There's a massive Doom poster stretching across one wall and a Stephen King novel sitting on his bedside table. A stereo sits on a bookshelf, much nicer then the paint splattered one he keeps downstairs. Melancholy music pours out of it.
She glances back to Ben. There's a fist sized hole in the wall right next to his bedpost. And on the bedside table, next to the Stephen King novel, is a small framed photo of what must have once been a happy family. A much younger Ben smiles out at her, teeth missing, with a handsome couple standing behind him. Rey has never seen the man in the photo, but she instantly recognizes the fond smile and warm brown gaze of Senator Organa.
So he was left behind, just like her.
Rey looks back at his face and jumps, realizing that his eyes are open, watching her. He raises his head enough to mutter, "Fuck off, kid." But there's no real malice in his voice.
She stands still for a long moment before dropping her backpack and sitting cross-legged on the floor. She pulls out a sketchpad and a black marker, tilting the paper toward the lava lamp in order to take advantage of its light. She's not sure how long she sits there, drawing and listening to the music.
She draws a tree. A black hulking tree with two figures sitting in its shade.
When she is done she looks back up at Ben and notices that he's fallen asleep, his head cradled on his arm and facing her. As if he'd been watching her.
When she's finished she silently puts her things away and stands, determined not to wake him. She also likes to just go to sleep when she's sad, sometimes.
She places the drawing in front of the framed picture of a broken family and creeps from his room, footsteps silent.
A/N:
Once again, thanks everyone for reading and reviewing! Would love to hear everyone's thoughts on this chapter, I know it was more angst then fluff this time. Poor Ben and Rey :( This is it for '98. See y'all again in '99! We'll be meeting some more of our beloved characters next time!