What Happens In Vegas
A/N: I do not own Star Wars, the original idea of these characters and the universe they live in. Again, it's just another thought in my mind.
Hey there, Thanks for stopping by. This story is loosely inspired by some events in the movie of the same name, "What Happens in Vegas." I took the main plot of the movie and twisted it to my own story, sprinkling a few good quotes from it on mine. If you've seen the movie, they hate each other the entire time. This is not like that. This is about two people falling in love. Well, sort of lol I wrote this story a month ago and just penned the final arc. So this is a FINISHED story. Silly me, I didn't split them into actual chapters so I'll have to go back and find natural stopping points for each plot. I'd say I can find time to edit and split chapters enough for a new chapter every other day or so, depending on my other priorities/workload. If you stay with me til the end, I hope you enjoy the story! (I want to say it'll be around 30ish chapters). As always, thanks for reading!
(A/N: The few lines in bold in the beginning is from the movie 'Just Friends.' Rey's watching the final scene.)
~I. Introductions~
~i. Rey~
"I haven't been a very good friend to you and I'm sorry, okay? I just... the truth is I'm-I'm afraid to be your friend 'cause I'm always gonna want more. But then I got to thinking that-that I'd rather have you in my life as a friend than not at all. You know what? That's a lie too."
"Why are you back here?"
"Because I want to take you on a date. And I don't care if it's in the day or at night or whenever, as long as it's a real date. And I want to tell you how beautiful I think you are inside and out. And I want to have babies with you and I want to marry you and I love you. Jamie, I always have."
"Liar!"
Rey threw a handful of popcorn towards the television screen. She grabbed another bunch and stuffed her mouth in between sobs.
"You're going to leave her when she gets boring and old and you want a pretty young thing around!"
She continued to curse at the screen while the two main characters kissed, rolling to the credits.
"It's all a lie. True love doesn't happen that easy!" she sobbed before taking a generous gulp of a bottle of sauvignon blanc, foregoing the wine glasses meant to pour them in.
Her best friend emerged from the kitchen, a fresh batch of popcorn in a bowl, sighing at the view in front of her. Rey had been sulking on the couch ever since she arrived a few weeks ago, still devastated about her broken engagement.
"So… I let her into my home with open arms and this is what happens… a crying best friend and a floor full of popcorn," Her best friend said sarcastically to herself.
She noticed the empty bottle on the coffee table.
"Girl, did you finish all the wine?!"
"No amount of wine can numb my pain," Rey spewed pathetically.
"Oh my god, Rey. It's been two weeks. You've got to get over him, he's not worth it!" her best friend, Rose exclaimed.
"I was with Hobbie for three years, I think two weeks is permittable given my predicament," Rey sobbed. "I was supposed to be Mrs. Derek Klivian in six months!"
"Well, to hell with him!" the petite woman held her friend in her arms, comforting her as best she could. "He's an idiot anyways if he didn't see what he had right in front of him. Honestly, we never liked him for you. You deserved so much more, hon."
"If he's an idiot then I'm someone who fell for an idiot. A bloody joke," she quivered her lips.
"No, you're someone who was trying to find the good in him. And that's sweet of you but not everyone has the light inside of them. Especially Hobbie. He's a total jerk."
Rey grumbled as she sat up, wiping her mascara stained tears off her face as best she could. "No, actually," she sniffed. "He was perfect. Had a successful job, came from a great family. Super smart. I didn't deserve him."
"But you weren't yourself when you were with him. You weren't happy."
"It's because I was never enough! I'm never good enough for any man."
"Now why would you say that?!" Rose pulled her into another embrace, caressing her friend's untamed hair. "Don't blow your self-esteem for him. You're a catch!"
"No, I'm not. I'm a hot mess!"
"Well you called yourself 'hot', so I guess that's a start," she managed to get a light chuckle from her grief-stricken friend. "There we go, laughing! We're getting somewhere. Hey, do you want me to get Finn and Poe to show up at his place and junk punch him?"
This time Rey actually laughed. "No, that won't be necessary… yet."
Her friend had been in tears over this jerk of a man for weeks, immediately leaving his apartment after he dumped her and showed up at her doorstep with a couple suitcases and a face of pure heartbreak. Rose was a true friend, her longest known friend in fact, letting Rey stay with her and helping the fragmented soul deal with what to do next, but she still didn't know if her support was enough to mend Rey's broken heart. She was desperate to see her friend happy again.
"Come on. Get up, get dressed. We're going out," she ordered.
"Rose, I'm not really in the best state to go out," Rey pathetically shrugged her arms, acknowledging her sloppy appearance.
"That's exactly why we're going out!" Rose exclaimed "Do you want Hobbie to know that you're crying a freaking ocean for him when he's probably nose-deep in the most boring deposition sipping his $90 whiskey and not even thinking twice about leaving you?"
Rose got her to think about it.
"N-no? Although he did have impeccable taste in whiskey."
"Hey lady, focus!" Rose snapped her fingers at her face. "No! Don't give him the upper hand! Now we are going to get all dressed up and go to Poe's bar with Finn and sing some Pat Benatar until they kick us out for being so off cue and drunk off our asses! Well, not really since our best friend owns the bar and I doubt he'll ever kick us out."
Rey was still apprehensive. She didn't think she'd ever feel some kind of happiness again, or something to fill this deep void in the pit of her stomach. This man she had devoted three years, altered her life and promised her future to had ripped apart ever shed of her dignity. She had loved him unconditionally, changed her life for him, but just like everyone in her past, he left. She wasn't sure if the pain of losing someone she thought she loved was worse than once again being abandoned by someone who told her they cared. But one look at herself in the reflection of her friend's glass coffee table - puffy red eyes, makeup and hair in absolute chaos - she decided no more tears for this man. He didn't get to have the advantage of feeling less broken from this split. He didn't deserve to win. She puffed her chest, patted Rose's hand and sat up a little straighter. With a crooked smile she replied.
"Ms. Benatar awaits."
~ii. Ben~
"I can't believe your dad actually fired you," a redheaded man said. He sipped his beer in disbelief.
"He got drunk for the third time this month at work, so I'm sure that's grounds for suspension," a taller woman who was playing pool with the redhead answered. "You really need to get your act together, Ben. You can't still be this reckless at this point in your life. We're not in college anymore."
"Augh, it's for the better anyway," he scoffed. "My old man didn't want me working for him. He's the coldest guy I ever met!" Ben grunted, leaning back on his stool while watching his friends play.
"Are you kidding me? Han bragged about you every time I went to those parties with you and Hux," his female friend replied.
"Well he did a pretty shitty way of showing me he cared. Always on my case to do shit! Never letting me fly a damn plane the six years I worked for him!"
"I think you'd need a license for that first," she retorted.
"In order for him to get a license, he needs to finish pilot school, babe," his two friends laughed.
"I tried to do it, but every time my dad always found a way to keep me from getting my actual license!" Ben yelled. "It's like he wanted me to fail on purpose!"
"I don't think you getting hammered and coming in drunk to one of your tests had anything to do with your dad."
"It was just the written test! Not like I was going to actually get drunk before flying a plane," he scoffed.
He downed his beer and went to the fridge to grab another one, drinking half of it before he even got back to his seat.
"Dude just forget about all of this. It's a fresh start now. You felt tied down working for your dad? Now you're free. Find another job, meet a nice girl or something. God knows you need someone to balance you out," his male friend, Hux said.
"Yeah, easy for you to say, Hux," he scoffed at the redhead. "You have tenure at the academy."
"Yeah and Ben can't find a girl right now," Phasma explained, "He needs a steady income if he wants to spoil her."
"Right, like I need to waste my time right now trying to get into a committed relationship. Look at my track record, it's not my best suit."
"Like I haven't heard that excuse before," his male friend rolled his eyes.
"Ben we're the same age. Hux and I don't feel like we're weighing each other down. Admit it, you just don't want to be in a commitment. You don't want that responsibility. Maybe that's why your dad fired you."
"Hey now," Ben warned her.
"Look, I'm just saying… At some point you got to grow up. Whether it's your dad or your love life. And don't even think about mentioning Baz because she's a heartless witch who strung you along for five years only to take advantage of you."
"She didn't take advantage of me the whole time…"
"It was long enough."
"Well I don't have a job, or a girlfriend, or a freaking pilot's license. I'm kind of at a slump here!"
"Well do something then because Phas and I are getting tired of you complaining about your dad, or Baz or whatever girl. Oh, and you're drinking all my beer!"
"I have not been complaining that much!"
"Ben, you've come over every night this week and it's all the same. We play pool, you complain about your dad, you talk about how much you miss sex, you drink all his beer. Man up," Phasma said.
"Or get laid. Maybe that will calm you down," Hux joked. "It's been a dry spell for you. I'm sure you can get this sexual tension fixed by some little minx you can pick up at a bar. Just please not Baz."
"Oh piss off," he scoffed, polishing his fourth bottle of the night.
His two friends sighed, pausing their game of billiards to walk over to him.
"Look, Ben. We don't mind you letting off steam. Hell, I was mad when I got fired from Taco Bell back in college and you and Hux helped me out before I got back on my feet. Sure, your dad of all people kicked you, it could be worse. But it's not. You're 30 years old, not 50. You've got plenty of time to decide what you want to do. You've got a roof over your head, some money saved up. Your love life, though may be complicated since your skank of an ex won't leave you alone, is still hopeful. And you've got two amazing friends if I may add," she winked at her boyfriend before continuing. "So just take it easy for a while. When you're ready to get whatever it is out of your system and find a new job or start dating again or move to a new place or whatever you want, we'll be here."
Gwen Phasma was Ben's only true female friend. He had a tough interior – guarded, introverted, and private. His exterior didn't make it any easier to show friendliness – broad shoulders, standing at 6 foot 2, and a disciplined face. Making friends with women was not easy, although hooking up with them was another story. He was a bit of a lady's man, he'll admit, but didn't sleep around as much as one would think. He had a very unhealthy relationship with a woman who wanted him for things other than his personality and that didn't make it any easier to influence Ben's recklessness.
But Phasma was a unique girl that Ben had met in college. She was brought up as an army brat and was as strict as she looked. She wasn't afraid of Ben and when she decked a guy at a bar for hitting on her, Ben knew he could be friends with this person of the opposite sex easily. She was as close to a sister as he got. Fast forward a couple weeks he had a roommate, Armitage Hux, who eventually became his best guy friend as they shared similar interests. Hux and Phasma got together before they all graduated, happy to see his two friends find love in one another. He owed it to them for keeping him sane when he started working for his dad. Also, when stuff went down with his crazy ex. He had always wanted to work for his dad, but in his early 20's he and his father had grown to bicker almost all the time. Nevertheless, fresh out of college he needed a job, so he took whatever his dad gave him. But obviously that didn't last since he was now unemployed for the first time in almost seven years.
Ben went for another bottle after listening to what Phasma had said. She was right. As much as he hated to admit it. He needed to grow up. But something she said struck him. He needed to get this recklessness out of his system. He needed a break. He deserved one more night of fun before he had to face the music and grow up. At the last minute deciding against another beer, he shut the refrigerator door and headed back to his friends.
"Hux, let me make it up to you for drinking all your beer."
"I mean it's only right," his friend snickered. "It's almost St. Patrick's Day and what kind of Irishman would I be without a stocked fridge?! We can stop by the convenience store tomorrow."
"No," he smiled at his two friends. They were a bit confused. Ben hadn't smiled in a week. "I mean, let's go somewhere."
"Like where, to a bar?"
"No… Let's go to Vegas."
A/N: Preview of next chapter: Planning a Vacation
"Hey, even the working man needs a break!" Poe retorted... "Oh I know! Let's go to Vegas! There's plenty of alcohol there."
"Oooh Sin City. Sounds like the perfect place to go crazy!" Rose clapped.
"What do you say, Rey?" Finn asked, her three friends waiting for her response.
"I've never been to Vegas..." she was hesitant... "Oh what the hell, let's do it!"