After meeting - Rey, was it? - he finished his shift in a daze. A few more customers came in, but he paid them little attention. The majority of his thoughts involved a replay of every gleam of her eye and every stupid thing he had said.

He kept walking by the stack of vinyls she had asked him to hold onto. Besides Lana Del Rey's Video Games that sat on top, he had no idea what other music she listened to. He was tempted to look at her choices, to know more about her. But the longer he avoided peeking at the stack, the more he felt like doing so would make him some kind of a voyeur.

You would've seen them if you had rung her out, he thought. She might not even come back. What do you have to lose?

He decided against it, figuring that it would be a great topic of conversation if she did, in fact, return the next day. And if not, then he would put them back where they belonged - and at that point, it wouldn't matter what she liked.

The next day at school was even more painful than usual. Ben was a classic "underachiever in an overachiever's body" according to his parents. It meant he was inherently intelligent but had zero interest in broadcasting it. He was the get-1500-on-your-SAT score without ever turning in homework type of smart. The kid teachers expected to bust when he left his headphones in. Of course, they'd soon find themselves nodding in agreement with his insightful responses.

Naturally, this made school quite boring for him. Before, he went because it was a great way to escape his parents and their fighting. Now, he went simply because he didn't have much else to do. That - and how close he was to graduation. Call it spite, but Ben didn't want his parents to have another failure to rub in his face.

Most school days normally played like a movie montage for Ben. He wore his headphones like armor as he walked down the hallways in a fog. His aim was always to get from point A to B without any human contact.

But, today was different. He still had Cold War Kids drowning out the nails-on-a-chalkboard discord of his peers. Yet his eyes scanned the halls for something.

That was a lie.

He was actively scanning for her. In his head, he knew it was unlikely that he would bump into her now. Months of school had passed and he had only met her yesterday. But still, he silently hoped for the opportunity to see her again. Even if only to ask her if she would be swinging by his work that afternoon.

With each passing period, he became more discouraged. By lunchtime, he had given up hope. His disappointment ruined his appetite, and he decided to go for a run around the track to clear his mind. Usually, he hated running the track. In comparison to his morning runs out in nature, the monotony killed him. Yet it beat watching the minutes drag by inside the library, his normal hideout.

On his final lap, he caught a glimpse of white with bouncy brown hair. He swallowed and jogged toward her direction. You can do this, Ben. She practically invited you to talk to her yesterday.

He stopped in his tracks when he saw Finn trailing behind her. It was a bad idea from the start, but Finn's presence only reinforced Ben's insecurities. With a shake of his head, he headed back to the track with new weight in his step.

"Hey, man! What's new?" Poe greeted Ben with a smile as he walked through the door that afternoon.

"Can't say much of anything. Not that that's bad," he shrugged.

Poe placed a hand on Ben's shoulder and looked him in the eye. "Look, I gotta ask you a favor, Ben."

"Uh...sure?" Ben didn't know why Poe bothered to ask. He was the boss. Ben was the employee. He was almost positive that he didn't really have the option to say no - no matter what came out of Poe's mouth next.

"I gotta leave you up here by yourself today. My dad called and said he's got a collector friend coming by to look at his personal collection later this week. Only problem is, I have no idea where I put his personal collection. I'm gonna need to be down in the basement the rest of the day now that you're here."

Ben found it funny that Poe seemed so worried. He left Ben by himself almost all the time whenever he went down the street to talk to his mechanic friends. Still, Ben knew better than to talk back to his boss, no matter how cool he was.

"Yeah, that's fine. Or...if you want - I can look for your dad's collection?" No matter how low-key the shop was, the solitude of the basement was even more alluring to Ben.

"You'd do that? It's pretty messy down there…"

"I really wouldn't mind." To Ben, getting paid to be by himself was the greatest shift he could ask for.

"Doesn't get better than you, Ben!" Poe thanked him with a light punch to the arm.

Ben had just finished clearing a path to the light switch. It wasn't an easy feat since he had to use the flashlight from his phone to help him see what he was moving in the first place. He sighed with content when he heard the crackling of the fluorescent tubes.

"BEN!"

Poe's voice carried down the stairway.

He didn't know how many times he had to tell him that he didn't mind working in the basement. "YEAH!?"

"COME UPSTAIRS!"

Ben grumbled. In all his time working there, there was never once a reason for Poe to carry on a shouting match with him. What was so important now?

"NOOOOOOW BENJAMINNNN!" Poe practically sang.

If it were anyone else, he would've been annoyed. His legal name was just Ben, in honor of one of his parents' friends. He was definitely NOT a Benjamin.

He raced up the stairs, easily skipping one at a time.

"Where's the fire, Poe?"

"Benjamin, huh?" He turned to see Rey smirking at him. She stood there in a white crop top and ripped khakis. Wasn't this girl ever cold?

"Just Ben," he muttered under his breath. He suddenly became conscious of how sweaty he had become when cleaning downstairs. He wiped his forehead with the sleeve of his black flannel.

"This lovely customer said you were helping her yesterday. I said it couldn't have been you since you never help anyone..." Poe joked. "But - she knew you by name AND described the employee as cute but broody so...I guess it really was you."

Both Ben and Rey's eyes widened. Ben's in shock and Rey's in horror.

"Oh was that last part classified, princess? My mistake." Poe excused himself for a smoke break, which earned him a death glare from Ben. You don't smoke! his eyes seemed to say.

Ben heard him exit through the back, but still hesitated to turn his attention back to Rey.

"I came back for my records," she started.

"Uh, yeah. Of course. I'll grab them for you." Ben went behind the counter to grab the items he'd been carefully avoiding.

He placed them down softly and tapped the counter twice. "Here you go. Did you need to look through them again before I ring you out?"

"No. Once I make up my mind about wanting something, I'm pretty set on it."

If Ben didn't know any better, he might have thought that Rey was flirting with him. But he did know. Knew that girls like Rey were not interested in guys like him. Plus, she had Finn, who Ben was almost sure was her boyfriend.

He reached to grab the first record in her pile when he felt her fingers brush his. He dropped his hand like it was on fire. She placed the record back down on top of the others.

"I'm actually going to take another look around the place." She turned and headed for the back wall. "I was in a rush yesterday," she continued.

Ben quickly recalled how on edge he was with her there during his last shift. If that was her in a rush, there was no way he'd make it out of this encounter alive. Not without embarrassing himself. Not without knowing how long she intended to spend in the shop today.

He took out his phone to text Poe.

Where are you? You don't even smoke.

I'm just down the street.

Can you come back? I really need to get back to finding your dad's stuff in the basement.

What you really need to do is talk to that girl.

I thought you liked me, Poe. You know I don't "talk". To anyone. Especially not to her.

Ok, then don't. Just stare at her while you pretend to do work. Seemed to work for you yesterday.

Were you spying on me?

It's called MANAGING, Ben. See you later. I'll be back to close.

Fine.

When Ben looked up, Rey was back at the counter, adding another vinyl to her stack.

"You listen to Iron Maiden?" he noticed.

"What kind of English girl would I be if I didn't?" She responded with a smile. The playful look in her eye from yesterday was back.

"A little predictable, I guess -"

"You monster!" she exclaimed.

"- but...commendable," he finished.

"Oh. Well, thank you."

She returned to her perusal of the shop and Ben began to thumb through her choices. Besides Lana Del Rey and now, Iron Maiden, she had quite the mix. Ariana Grande. The 1975. A Day to Remember. J Dilla. Bloc Party. The Animals. Leonard Cohen and Gary Clark, Jr. She wasn't like the high school girls that usually came into the shop. Most went straight to the top 10 wall and pulled down any given shrink-wrapped album. For them, the goal wasn't the music, but a staged photo to post to their social media accounts.

"I see you're judging me again," she called out.

"Honestly... I'm uh...impressed. You pass."

"Pass what exactly? Your litmus test of cool? I hope I get a trophy for it. Or at least a blue ribbon?"

"How about a Resistance Records sticker?"

"Aren't those free?"

"Well yeah...but you can have two."

"Lucky me. So hey, I've got a question for you."

This was never a good sign. He felt his body go into fight or flight mode and reached for his can of root beer. He took a slow sip.

Without acknowledgment, she continued. "Why do you work here?"

"I like it here. I like the access to music. I like how quiet it is. I like that no one, except for you, talks to me too much."

"Ha. Ha. No, I meant more like... Why do you work at all? Finn said your family is rich. Like...super-rich. Is this is a rebellion thing? A punishment?"

Why was Finn talking to her about him? He wasn't a topic of discussion for the populars. He was Ben Solo. He flew under the radar.

"Not that it's Finn's business, but yeah...my family is rich."

"Ok…"

"But I'm not," he clarified.

"Well, that doesn't make sense," she pushed.

"I don't talk to my parents. Haven't in almost a year."

"Oh, shit, I'm so sorry." She let out a low whistle. "That was pretty rude of me then."

"It's fine."

"So…" she started. Her eyes searched for anything to fill the silence.

He matched her discomfort. "So…"

"Can I help you with that?" She pointed to the milk crate he had been sorting while she was browsing. "I feel really bad now and it's the least I can do."

No one had come into the shop for the past hour, and he was sure Poe wouldn't mind the free labor.

"Sure. Right now I'm just sorting by genre. Then I'll alphabetize the genres by the artist."

"How about I alphabetize what you've already sorted? I get the feeling you're a stickler about genres."

Ben found himself laughing. It was a foreign sound, but it wasn't uncomfortable. "You're probably right."

The next couple of hours flew by. They worked through the crates in comfortable near-silence. She talked without limit and he listened. They found out that they lived near each other. Skated around discussing their pasts and childhood scars. It was like working with Poe, but Ben acknowledged that he liked listening to her much more.

A bell alarmed them both.

"Hope I'm not interrupting anything," Poe suggested with a wink.

Ben was on one side of the counter and Rey was all the way across the room. It was clear there was nothing to interrupt, but both looked guilty nonetheless.

"Thanks for watching the shop, Ben. I can close up. You go home."

"Are you sure?" Ben didn't hate closing, but it was tedious by nature.

"Yeah. Go before I change my mind."

"Thanks, Poe." Ben left to grab his things from the employee lounge.

Rey stood there awkwardly. Poe smiled as if he had a secret and raised his eyebrows. "Ben."

Her voice raised in confusion. "Ben?"

Poe smiled again. "Ben."

Rey grabbed her bag of vinyls off the counter when she saw Ben return to the floor area. She smiled, happy to be heading out. The conversation with Poe was odd, to say the least. Ben grabbed her school bag from the customer cubbies and handed it to her. "See you tomorrow, Poe," Ben said with a small nod.

"Bye. Nice shop you've got," Rey offered up.

"Bye, princess."

"Yeah. Don't call me that."

Poe chuckled and Ben grinned as he followed her out the door.

"Will I see you at school tomorrow?" she asked.

"How do you know I go to school with you?"

"Finn," she shrugged, not at all embarrassed like he knew he might be if caught in the same situation. "I may have asked him about the rude record shop boy yesterday."

The thought of her asking about him gave Ben a small boost of confidence. "I bet your boyfriend enjoyed that."

"Boyfriend? Hardly," she scoffed. "I suppose courtship might be a more proper title if anything."

"Well, he's a bit of a dick."

"Eh. You're not wrong. But what do you care, Ben?" she teased.

He flushed, and confident Ben retreated. "I uh, just thought that as a patron of the shop I work at, you...you should know."

"Huh. I appreciate it. I can look after myself, though."

A gust of wind reminded them that they should be on their way. Rey turned to Ben. "Walk me home?"

"I thought you said you could look after yourself."

"I can. But who's gonna look after you?"