Chapter Ten

"I'm so glad Rey managed to find BB8," Poe sighed as he cradled the runaway pup in his arms, who was now licking at his face excitedly. "I was so worried!"

"Yeah, that was pretty lucky," agreed Finn, walking beside Poe. Before Rey had called Poe, the two men had been aimlessly wandering down the street from his apartment, calling out for BB8 but not knowing what else to do in order to find her. She'd never gotten out before.

"Thanks for coming with me to look for her. That was really nice," Poe said with a sunny smile, which unexpectedly sent a flush up to Finn's face. Unnerved by the feeling, but deciding to think nothing of it, he gave a shrug.

"It's no problem. We're friends, of course I'd help you."

Silence fell over them as they made their way along the sidewalk, bathed in the orange glow of streetlights. Near the point where they had to part ways to go to their respective homes, Poe turned to Finn.

"You know, I finally got my private pilot license last week and I was just thinking, would you want to fly with me sometime? Since I'm now legally allowed to carry passengers and all."

"Wow, congratulations on getting your license—"

"Thanks!"

"—and I uh…yeah. I'd love to come," Finn nodded after a moment's hesitation, eyes flitting about nervously. This did not go unnoticed by Poe.

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah, yeah, it's just uh…I've never been on a plane in my life," Finn admitted. "But I do want to go. Really."

A wide grin spread across Poe's features. "Well, I'm honored you'll be sharing your first time with me."

/

The beat up Mustang loudly pulled up in front of a white, two story house, located in one of the towns most esteemed residential areas. The house seemed to have been built in the twenties or so, but was kept in peak condition. The huge columns rising from the spacious porch up to an overhanging roof suggested wealth, but a rope swing underneath a nearby oak tree gave a nostalgic, comfortable feeling to the place—at least to Rey, who was staring at all of it with wonder. Kylo, however, seemed unnerved the moment he set foot on the property, and grew even more agitated as Rey urged him on up to the porch.

"Alright, it's time. Go in there."

"No."

"Apologize."

"No."

Shoving Kylo towards the front door of the house yet again, Rey huffed in frustration. "Yes, unless you want me to tell her what you've been doing behind our backs!"

"Do you realize how much you're asking of me?" he snarled. "Pay you back, replace the machine, talk to my parents, tell them about the flash drive—I mean, for fuck's sake, give me some time to—"

"I think I'm being fairly lenient compared to others I could easily tell about this," she reminded him sharply, now resorting to pulling him by the collar with her rather than just pushing him in alone. She quickly found it was like trying to drag a particularly large dog into the vet's office.

"Can you please, for once in your life, act like an adult? You are the most ridiculous, childish, cowardly fuck I've ever had the displeasure of—"
The matter was quickly settled when the door opened behind Rey, revealing none other than Leia. Her jaw was dropped and her eyes were wide.

"Ben?"

He cringed at the name, backing away as Leia approached him. Rey, meanwhile, stood by with her arms crossed, trying to hide a satisfied smirk that threatened to betray her feelings.

"What are you doing here?" Leia asked, bewilderment still evident in her stare. "And with her?"

Kylo stumbled with his words. "I've come to…to…" If looks could kill, Rey would be a pile of ashes on the ground. "Apologize."

"For what?"

"Um…."

"For cutting us off?"

"No. Not that at all," he said firmly, despite Rey shoving him in the arm. "I'm not apologizing for that."

A cold resignation returned to Leia's expression. "Then what?"

"For ruining your business this past week or so," he spit it out last.

Rey tried to amend the situation by quietly suggesting, "Look, can we talk inside or something?"

With some hesitation, Leia invited them in, leading them towards the living area. Rey, still in awe of the material value surrounding her, wondered how anyone growing up in such a place would want to leave it. Especially considering how charming and kind Rey had always thought Han and Leia to be.

Sitting down on an armchair across from the other two, Leia cleared her throat. "Alright, just…start at the beginning."

Not surprisingly, the actual explanation of events came from Rey, whereas the majority of Kylo's input was an excuse for something or another. While they both expected Leia to be angry, she still did not seem to be over her initial confusion just yet.

"Wait…how do you two know each other, again?"

"Not important…"

"Class," said Rey. "He's the GTA, I mean."

This seemed to catch Leia's interest.

"So you must be in Luke's class?"

"He wasn't supposed to tell you I was working for him…" Kylo muttered under his breath. Leia rolled her eyes.

"What did you expect, he's my brother. Of course he told me," she said, then turned to Rey. "Coming here was clearly your idea, so tell me, how did you just happen to figure out my son was behind all of this? If he's really just your GTA, I mean, it just seems a little—"

"Again, not important," Kylo hissed, staring at Rey intently as if trying to keep her quiet with his will alone. It seemed to work.

"I think I've mortified him enough for today," Rey said. But when he wasn't looking, she mouthed towards the older woman: 'I'll tell you later'. A hint of a smile indicated Leia agreed to this, and she shifted to another subject.

"Who else knows about this?"

"No one," Rey answered, glancing at Kylo. "Obviously, he would like to keep it that way."

Fidgeting in his seat, and clearly uncomfortable with even a few moments of silence, Kylo reached into his pocket to retrieve the flash drive, which he tossed towards Leia.

"Here. I'm paying you back for the espresso machine, and whatever else I can scrape together to recompense for the profits lost."

"And he'll remove all of your menu items from First Order," Rey chimed in. His jaw clenched.

"I'll do my best, but it might be out of my control at this point," he said tightly, wringing his hands before rising to his feet. "Now, if there's nothing else I can do as far as damage repair, I'll just be leaving now…"

He only took a few steps before Leia stopped him. "So soon?"

"Well, I doubt you'd want to do any catching up, considering the reason for this visit..." he muttered, hands stuffed in his jacket pockets and eyes looking everywhere except at his mother. She sighed, taking a step forward.
"If anything, it makes me want to know even more. It's still good to see you after so long, even if—"

He cut her off sharply. "Stop. I know you don't mean it, so don't say it. You don't have to lie and pretend to be the all-forgiving mother just because someone is watching. Believe me, Rey is the last person who would judge you for hating me. You two have that in common."

With that, he stormed out, and in a matter of seconds, an engine outside was revving and his car peeled away down the street.

Swallowing, Rey let out the breath she didn't realize she'd been holding. "Well then. I guess I'll be walking home, then."

"No, no, I'll drive you. It's the least I can do," Leia waved her off. "Now, what was it you were going to say earlier?"

/

"Are you serious!? You can't just throw me out now! Stop! I still live here!"

"You already missed one payment, next month's rent is coming up soon, and we aren't getting paid as much as we used to thanks to your bloody honesty, Ren," Hux snarled, tossing more of Kylo's belongings out the door of their apartment. "Now since that Organa woman is threatening to sue First Order for copyright infringement, among other things, we'll be lucky if we still have a job to go to. And even if we do, we've still got to get a new roommate that can actually pay the rent. Simple as that."

"Get your hands off that laptop, I'm not going anywhere!"

Pushing Hux away from his things with a violent shove, Kylo turned to Phasma in desperation. "Phasma, come on, you have to give me a couple of more weeks, I'll find another job and pay you back."

"We've already given you a couple of weeks," she said stonily. "And you did kind of fuck up the entire business…."

Kylo practically exploded at this. "The business was already fucked, you incompetent pricks! I was trying to save it, unlike you, and if I didn't do what Snoke asked, I was going to be fired anyway! I just got caught—and then, if I didn't do what Rey asked, you'd all be threatened with a lot worse than a lawsuit, which probably won't even happen—"

"Rey?" Phasma repeated, raising a brow. "What does that little café girl have to do with any of this?"

"Who the hell is Rey?" Hux asked annoyedly.

"She's that girl we met at the party who was babysitting his drunk ass, remember?"

"Oh yes…why don't you try and move in with her, Ren?" Hux said in a sarcastic drawl. "Seems like she's quite accustomed to putting up with your nonsense."

Fists clenched at his sides and blood boiling in his veins, Kylo was barely containing his rage. "You know what, just fucking forget it, I'm going."

Haphazardly shoving his clothes, electronics and other items into bags and suitcases, he threw them outside with his other belongings before turning back to his roommates with an eerie gleam in his eyes.

"Just one last thing."

The first item to be destroyed was a floor lamp in the living room, which Kylo picked up, swung, and smashed against the wall. Next, he swept his arm over the counter, clearing it of every one of Hux's overpriced, empty wine bottles, which fell into pieces on the tile floor. This was followed by the dishes in the kitchen sink, which were slammed against the fridge and broken one by one. As Kylo's rampage continued and broken glass littered the floor, Phasma and Hux stared in silent horror before slowly breaking out of their shock enough to try and stop him.

"Get out, get out! Get the fuck out!" Hux screeched, pointing furiously towards the door. Kylo, panting from the exertion and looking at them with a crazed expression, was already on his way out.

"You'll have to pay for all of this!" Phasma called after him, but he just let out a hollow laugh.

"With what money? You don't have anything on me anymore. Fuck you and goodbye."

/

It was hard to fit all six or seven bags into the vintage two-seater Mustang, even with the trunk space. But as he finished forcing everything into place, leaving barely enough space for him to drive, he wondered what all he'd have to sell just to have enough room to sleep in the vehicle. Living in his car did seem to be the only option now.

"Why don't you try to move in with Rey"…ridiculous, she lives in a dorm, probably has a roommate who would throw a fit about me being there, or some RA who would report me. But it's just temporary, maybe no one would find out…if she'd let me, he thought as he started to drive. You know what, she should let me. She's the one who got me into this shit in the first place. If she didn't blackmail me, I'd still have a job and an apartment, and wouldn't have to fucking humiliate myself by apologizing to Leia.

Cruising through the parking lot behind Rey's dorm building, he found a spot to park and wait.

It's a work day for her, and it's almost eight. She should be coming back any minute now.

It was later than he expected when she finally arrived. Half an hour later, in fact. That's odd, he thought. Stepping out of the car, he caught up behind her just as she slid her student ID through the slot by the building entrance. When she sensed his presence, Rey let out a startled yelp.

"Oh my God!" she gasped, the door partially pushed open by her foot as she gawked at him. "What on earth are you doing here?"

"Well, Rey, I got fired," he started off bluntly. He had no time for niceties today.

"Fired?"

"Yes, fucking fired, because of your endless list of demands—"

He was cut off as the door alarm started to obnoxiously ring from being held open too long, and Rey yanked him inside. Her demeanor changed instantly.

"Oh no, you don't get to blame me for this. It's your own fault you got fired, for everything that you did—"

Rolling his eyes, he seethed, "Why does nobody understand this, I only did it because I was afraid of getting fired in the first place!"

"Then again, looks like I have nothing to do with it, you were screwed either way," she snapped back, narrowing her eyes. "I'd blame your shitty boss if I were you."

"Well, he's not going to help me with the fact that I'm now homeless, is he?"

Rey blinked, lip curling in disbelief as she slowly realized what he must be implying. "Is that why you're here? What, do you think you're going to move in with me? Into my dorm? Are you insane?"

He was already inching closer. "I have nowhere else to go."

"What about to your house, you fucking moron?" she shrieked, causing him to stumble back until he was pressed against the door. He groaned with exasperation.

"I can't just go live with my parents, you don't understand—"

Eyes hardened, she reached around him to open the door before forcing him back outside with a determined thrust of her arms. "Well, you'd better find a friend or something, because you're not staying here!"

"But I don't have any—" The door slammed in his face, and the automatic lock clicked, keeping him shut out for good. "Friends…" he finished under his breath to himself. He thought of banging on the door (or maybe breaking it down), but he knew there was no use.

I shouldn't have even tried with her.