chapter three: how to make a friend
Rey is comfortable being alone.
This long road trip doesn't phase her.
She can't remember how she ended up in that tiny Arizona town, exactly, but she remembers a maternal voice telling her she'd be right back — and then she never was. Somehow Rey's birth certificate ended up in state custody, and she was placed into the foster system when she was five. She doesn't remember much about that time, and it's probably a deliberate amnesia. Dark feelings swirl inside her when she thinks about those years. She does remember running away from her foster home when she was eight, and spent the next two years surviving by herself on stolen food and hiding in a junkyard.
Mando reminds her all the time that there's no logical way she should have survived those circumstances. She can't really explain it. She was driven by a savage, rebellious need to stay alive — so she did. She doesn't know what would have happened if a certain bounty hunter hadn't rolled into town in his warm, comfortable, well-stocked RV. Sneaking onto it was easy peasy. She stayed hidden for hours and hours, until eventually he discovered her long after they'd left Arizona.
But even after she'd planted herself in Mando's life, she'd mostly been alone. He wouldn't take her on his pickups every day, so she'd putter around his trailer, tinkering with things, messing with the engine. He didn't appreciate that very much, even though she always managed to put it back the way she found it. She knew how to entertain herself, to endure hours and hours of no one to talk to, to having nothing but her own thoughts and whatever her hands could do.
So Rey isn't bothered by the silence, even when she drives out of cell range and her music tries in vain to buffer the next song, only the noise of the road beneath her tires keeping her company.
And she loves driving, so that part isn't hard either. The scenery is alternately boring and then interesting, so she occupies herself with imagining how the take-down of Han Solo might go. He's probably a crafty fellow to have eluded capture this long. It amuses her to think how she might outwit him.
Eventually she stops at her halfway point somewhere in Idaho, finding a cheap little motel where she can crash for the night. The room they give her is dingy and she'd never want to see a UV light inspection of the place, but it'll do. Rey isn't squeamish about these things. She's gotten herself to fall asleep in less sanitary conditions than this.
She strips the comforter off the one of the two queen beds and discards it, stretching out on the (hopefully) clean sheets, propping her arms up under her and digging out her phone. Cell reception is spotty out here. She tries to load a paid search site to see what else she can learn about Solo, but her loading bar never budgets past three-quarters and eventually it gives her a network error message. She lets the phone fall and flops her head down, sighing.
Her stomach aches. It's a combination of bad road snacks and genuine hunger. She saw a 24-hour trucker diner next to the motel when she pulled in. Maybe she should find some real food and then crash so she's well-rested for tomorrow.
She double checks that her room is indeed locked before she leaves, walking the short distance over to the diner.
It's almost midnight, so there are very few patrons. A couple truckers and a young family with overly tired children grouching about the food.
Rey snags a table by the window, leaning her head into it to gaze out into the opaque country darkness. She can't shake this feeling creeping over her skin that there is more to this gig than she expects. She's had feelings like this before — and a more superstitious person might call them premonitions. Mama Maz had been full of observations about Rey while they were waiting for Mando. She said Rey had The Sight, a rare and powerful gift that allows her to see glimpses of the future, and glimpses of a person's soul. Rey laughed it off at the time, and she still thinks its a bunch of hogwash. She does get these tingly feelings sometimes, or strong suspicions, or insight into people she shouldn't have, but these things are easily dismissed. She only believes in what she can work on with her hands.
She tells herself this, but the feeling remains. The sense that everything in her life is about to change.
The waitress is heading her way when Rey spots movement outside. A woman has gotten out of the passenger side of a big rig stopped for fuel. The driver yells at her from the pump. She waves at him, pulling a duffel bag out of the cab, and heads towards the diner. The driver jams the nozzle into his gas tank and starts striding after her. His body language is aggressive. The girl notices his pursuit and breaks into a run.
Rey is on her feet before she is quite aware she's done it, anticipating as the woman wrenches the diner door open and stumbles in. The driver is already hard on her heels, barreling in after her.
"Where do you think you're going?" he snarls, trying to grab for her wrist.
She flits away from him, looking around wildly.
The waitress has gotten to Rey's table by now, but Rey isn't paying attention to her. She waves at the girl and conjures a huge smile.
"Hey!"
The other woman waves back and hurries over. The truck driver frowns at them.
Rey catches the woman in an embrace. "I was starting to worry you wouldn't make it. It's so late! Saved you a seat, though. Who's your friend?"
The woman is trembling, but she manages to fake a big smile when she pulls back from Rey. "Ah, not a friend, just a helpful stranger." She turns to the trucker. "Thanks again for the ride. I -really appreciate it."
The driver's frown hasn't faded, though he clearly looks more confused than suspicious. "Thought you said you were headed to Tacoma?"
"I am. My friend—"
"I'm Rey," Rey interrupts, extending her hand to the man cheerfully.
He ignores it.
The woman adapts quickly. "My friend Rey texted me saying she was on her way home too, and when you said we needed to stop for gas I figured I'd find out how far along she was. We just got lucky, I guess, that our paths were crossing at the same place. I figured I'd save you the trouble and ride the rest of the way with her."
"Thanks again," Rey adds brightly. "You really saved the day."
The driver looks angry now, like maybe he knows he's being played, or maybe he's just furious his quarry got away. His fists ball at his side.
The waitress lifts her brow in his direction. "Are you staying to eat? Can I get you a table?"
"No," the driver snaps. He throws one more silent glare at the other woman before turning to head back out the door.
The three of them watch him stomp across the station back to his truck where he dumps the handle back on the pump and gets back in his rig.
The woman releases a huge breath of air, pushing her fingers against her temples and closing her eyes for a minute. "Thank you, God," she says so softly Rey almost misses it. Then her eyes open again and she gives Rey another hug. "And thank you so much. You might have saved my life."
Rey disentangles herself from the other woman's arms and motions to the seat across from her at the table. "You're welcome. I can recognize a bad situation when I see one. Sit with me, I'll buy you some dinner."
The waitress slides another menu down onto the table and leaves to give them some time to look it over, promising to bring some water in the meantime.
"I'm Jannah, by the way," the woman says shakily.
She looks to be in the mid-twenties, only a little older than Rey herself, with beautiful smooth umber skin and a sweet little gap between her two front teeth. Her hair clouds around her head, held back by a bandana. She's wearing big hoop earrings and a boho sweater which both belie her stressed-out expression.
"Nice to meet you, Jannah," says Rey, giving her a more genuine smile now.
"I'm sorry to involve you, I just had to get away from him."
"Hitchhiking is a risky business." Rey knows the dangers are not as rampant as people believe they are, but assholes still drive the roads, same as nice folks, and apparently Jannah found her way into the cab of one.
"I know, I know," Jannah laments. She swipes her eyes with the back of a hand. "I was desperate, and he was nice at first. He only started to get creepy and handsy there towards the end. I knew I had to get the hell out of there."
"Lucky he had to stop for gas, then."
Jannah nods. "I didn't have a plan. I don't know what would have happened if you hadn't intervened."
The waitress brings back some water and Jannah seizes hers, guzzling it like she hasn't had a drink for days.
Rey orders two hot chocolates for them as well. Chocolate is good for the soul, she knows, and it's way too late for coffee.
Jannah swipes a hand over her eyes and blinks back some sudden emotion. "Are you alone here?"
Rey nods. "On my way to Seattle, just taking a break for the night."
"Seattle, huh? I've heard it's gloomy because it rains so much."
Rey shrugs. "Sunny places can be gloomy too, depending on your circumstances."
Jannah agrees with that by the wide-eyed nod she gives, her gaze turning to study the pattern on the chipped laminate tabletop. "I know that all too well. Hey — listen — I know this is really forward and you only just finished helping me out, but do you think I could ride with you tomorrow? You don't have to take me as far as Seattle if you don't want to, just any big town or city will do."
Rey considers. She hadn't planned on company, but it isn't like this disrupts her routine. Besides, she isn't about to leave this other woman stranded here at this highway pitstop, not even really big enough to be a town. So she smiles again and nods.
"Sure, you can ride with me. I can take you to Seattle if you want. I don't plan on going by Tacoma, though."
"Oh, that's fine," Jannah hurries to explain. "I'm not going to Tacoma, really. I just said the same place the truck driver was going."
After that they order some food and fall easily into conversation. It's natural, like they've been friends before. Neither of them have family, really. Rey barely touches on Mando and Dyn, explaining them only as some guy who took her in when she was young, and another orphan. Jannah is a foster kid too, shuffled around the system over and over again until she finally aged out.
"So what are you running from now?" Rey asks, even though she knows it's definitely not her business.
But they've talked so easily this far, and Jannah doesn't flinch at the intrusive question. She looks at her plate and swirls her fork around the under-seasoned mashed potatoes.
"An abusive relationship," she says tiredly.
Rey waits, brow creasing in concern. The woman before her is beautiful, the sculpture of her arms suggests strength, and this brief conversation has revealed someone highly intelligent and kind. How does someone like that end up in an abusive relationship?
"I've been with her since I left my last foster home," Jannah explains. "She was completely strong and confident and ruthlessly ambitious, all the things I wanted to be, and I felt more powerful when I was with her. At first. I didn't see how disturbed she was because I was just lovesick and kind of high off finally taking charge of my own life. But I didn't really, I just let her take charge of it. Over time I started to see how incredibly controlling she was. I couldn't do anything without consulting with her first. I couldn't make friends because she would get jealous of everyone. Everyone. I couldn't have female friends or male friends, friends my age or even old people at work. She isolated me so that nobody else could influence my life. Phas— that's what she wanted everyone to call her - she would gaslight me if I ever started to bring up objections to her treatment. And then it started getting worse."
Rey's stomach turns. "Physical?"
Jannah nodded. "I don't know, Rey, I think she's got some undiagnosed issues. Real, legitimate issues. She would never go to therapy and would fly into a rage if I ever suggested it, but she had a rough childhood too and I think it really messed her up. She didn't used to be like that, but there at the end...she threatened to kill me and herself if I ever left."
"But you left anyway," Rey observes. She has had to endure a lot of things in her life, but nothing like that, and she can't imagine the strength of will it takes to extricate oneself from such a web. She is in awe of the woman before her.
"I had to leave. When she said that...things had already escalated so much, I knew it would never get better again after a threat like that. So I'm going into hiding. I'll disappear. She's terrible with technology so I don't think she'll be able to track me down. Besides, I'm off social media forever anyway."
Rey knows it is easier to find people than Jannah believes, but it requires skiptracer skills that it sounded like this Phas person does not have.
"What will you do in Seattle?"
"I just finished a degree in social work," Jannah explains. "One of the few good things she gave me was helping me pay for school. I don't have any loan debt. I cant start fresh. I just want to help kids like us. A kind and understanding case worker might have made all the different for me growing up."
"That's the best goal I've ever heard," Rey says sincerely.
Jannah smiles at her plate. Rey smiles too, warm soft feelings for this girl nursed to life by this conversation. She's never really had a friend before, so this is new and different, but she likes the sensation.
"Come on," she says when the waitress brings the check back for Rey to sign and tip. "The room they gave me has two beds. You take the other and we'll leave when we wake up."
"Deal!" Jannah grins, and Rey decides that her gap gives that grin an adorable effect.
"What about you?" She asks as they walk back to the room. "We've thoroughly exhausted my life story. Why are you going to Seattle?"
"It's...well, it's not complicated, but it's an unusual answer," Rey says hesitantly, and then laughs. "You're probably gonna think I'm lying."
"Try me."
"I'm looking for someone. To arrest them."
Jannah's eyes widen and she pauses in her step. "Wait, you're a cop?"
"No, no. Not a cop. I'm a...well, it's called a fugitive recovery agent. Essentially, a bounty hunter."
Jannah does laugh then, a surprised howl that makes Rey laugh too. "Nah, you're lying. That's not a real thing."
"It is," Rey insists. "We're hired by bail bond companies to track down people who skip bail."
They are back at the room now, so Rey lets them in and flicks on the light. Jannah sets down her bag, excuses herself, and heads straight for the bathroom. Rey kicks off her shoes and goes to the bed she already stripped down, letting herself fall onto it, momentarily closing her eyes. She didn't feel it before, but now the weariness of her travel is catching up to her.
Jannah emerges after a minute, wiping her hands on a towel. "Listen, I'm not done hearing about this bounty hunting nonsense you're trying to make up - oh, you're tired. You're not off the hook, but we can resume the conversation in the morning."
Rey waves gratefully at her. She rolls over and crawls up to the pillows. "Make yourself comfortable. Excuse me if I pass out. I either can't sleep at all or I sleep like the dead. Right now it looks like it'll be the latter."
Jannah nods. "Get your rest, it's still a long drive tomorrow. Will it bother you if I get ready for bed?"
"Definitely not. Do what you need to do." Rey yawns and clicks off the light nearest her bed. She vaguely listens to the sounds of Jannah winding down for the night — putting her hair up in a silky wrap, changing her clothes, brushing her teeth. Right. Teeth. Rey forgot. She's so tired, she can't summon the strength to do it now.
The noises are comforting, soothing that part of Rey's heart that hungers for people. It's nice to hear someone else living in the same space. As she drifts out, she pretends it's Mando getting ready for bed long after she and Dyn have already gone to sleep.
A/N: Don't worry, our favorite boi Ben will be coming in soon, we just have to set the stage for him.