A/N: Chapter title inspired by the song "Yesterday" by The Beatles.

Chapter 3: Yesterday

When she'd had the passing thought at the end of spring break that Ben might like her, she'd had no idea there would be an opportunity to test the theory so soon afterward.

The last stretch of spring semester started with a vengeance. Final projects and pending exams took up most of their free time, but the group of friends still met for lunch almost every day. It had become their routine by now, and whenever they had time, they trekked over to The Shaggy Dog for a change of pace.

"Guys, I still can't believe the way Episode IX ended," Poe was currently complaining around a mouthful of sandwich. He paused to swallow, then continued. "I mean, I realize they had to wrap up an entire saga, but—"

"Wait, wait, wait!" Rey cried, clapping her hands over her ears. "Don't spoil it!"

"Have you still not seen it?" Poe replied incredulously. "Aren't you, like, the biggest Star Wars nerd on campus?"

"One of them, yes, and no, I've been too busy to go see it! I had that paper due this week, remember?"

"Excuses, excuses."

"I haven't seen it, either," Ben piped up.

Poe rounded on him. "What's your excuse?"

"I had a project in one of my poli sci lectures."

"Ugh." Poe dropped his face into his hands. "You guys are killing me."

Ben turned an arched brow on Rey. "Well, should we go see it and put Poe out of his misery?"

She smiled. "Sure."

"I'll look up some movie times and text you later." He glanced at his watch. "Hey guys, we've gotta start heading back to campus if we don't want to be late…"

…

Later that evening, Rey's phone pinged with an incoming text. Turning her attention from her laptop, she picked up her phone and looked at the screen.

There's a few Episode IX showings this weekend, if you still want to go.

She quickly pulled up the message and tapped out a response. Yes! What times did you find?

There's a 3:40, 6:20, and 9:00 on Saturday.

She contemplated those options, weighing out the subliminal messages that each might send. But before she could reply, another text came through.

The 3:40 might be pushing it for me. If you want, we could get dinner and then go to the 9:00, as long as that isn't too late for you.

Her eyebrows rose. Dinner and a movie, huh? A slow smile crept across her face.

Sounds good to me!

It was a moment before her phone pinged again. Great. I'll swing by your dorm and get you on Saturday. Is 6 okay?

The smile turned into an all-out smirk. And he was picking her up.

See you then! she replied, then tacked on a smiley face and sent it too.

…

At a quarter to six on Saturday afternoon, Rey was nearly in a panic. Rushing back to her closet for the third time, she pulled out another hanger and trotted back to the bathroom to hold the shirt up to herself.

"Rey, what on earth are you doing?" Rose finally asked, coming to lean against the doorframe.

"I want to look nice, but not like I tried too hard." She held the previous shirt back up and cocked her head. "This says 'I tried too hard', but this says 'I didn't try hard enough'!"

"Rey, this is Ben we're talking about. He's seen you pre-coffee, in your pajamas, before you brushed your teeth and combed your hair for the day." Rose frowned. "And since when do you care so much?"

Rey could feel her cheeks heat with a telltale blush.

"Since the beach, huh?" Rose deduced. She sighed. "Rey, Ben likes you. Just be yourself and go have fun! And stop worrying about those shirts; just wear what you've already put on. You look gorgeous."

Rey started to argue, but her phone trilled in her pocket. Forgetting the shirts, she pulled it out to read the incoming message. "He's here!" she wailed.

Rose snatched the shirts from her. "Go on!" she shooed. "Go downstairs and meet him, and go have fun! I'll probably be over at Finn's when you get back, but text me when you're back safe, okay?"

"Okay."

Grabbing her purse on the way out the door, Rey hurried down the hallway and took the stairs at a trot. Ben was waiting in the lobby when she came around the corner, hands in his jeans pockets as he stood looking out the window. When he heard her approach, he turned, and his lips curled in a genuine smile.

"You look nice," he observed in a rumbling tone.

She smiled breathlessly. "Thanks."

He offered her his elbow. "Shall we?"

He drove them to dinner first. They'd laughingly agreed on going to The Shaggy Dog, where they split a Reuben sandwich with a turkey melt, and he picked up the tab before she could make a grab for it. Then they went to the theater, where she had her debit card out and ready, but he reached past her to pay for their tickets before she could insist that the cashier take her money instead. When she tried to scold him, he brushed it off.

"Would you stop complaining and let me treat you for once, you hobgoblin?" he shot back with a teasing smirk. She rolled her eyes, but put her card away with a small smile.

During the movie, he even rested his arm on the armrest. Rey had heard of this move, and knew what it ordinarily meant, but… this was Ben. He was sweet, the type of guy to pay for a girl's meal and movie ticket whether it was a date or a friendly outing. The type to invite someone along to help her shoot her shot; the type to carry someone on his back when she was scared. He was also big, and needed more space than the average human being. She bit her lip and kept her hands knotted in her lap, determined not to ruin the evening by misjudging his intentions and overstepping boundaries. She would simply enjoy the outing for whatever it was.

He drove her back to Falcon Hall afterward, dissecting the movie with her as they climbed the stairs and walked down the hall to her door.

"But anyway," he concluded, leaning against the wall. "For all of its faults, I still enjoyed it."

"So did I." She smiled up at him. "Thanks for taking me."

"You're welcome." There was a beat of silence. "Um, Rey?"

There was something about the way he'd said her name that gave her pause. She stopped trying to unlock her door and faced him. "Yes?"

"Look. I… I really like you," he blurted in an uncharacteristic rush. He stopped and took a fortifying breath before speaking again, more slowly. "I enjoy spending time with you, and… I want to see where this goes. That is, if you want."

She froze with her hand on the doorknob, staring at him as she processed what he'd just said. Her heart was pounding in her chest. He was looking at her with such a mixture of affection and agony…

"Would it be okay if I kissed you?" he breathed.

Everything in her wanted to scream, Yes! To grab him by the collar and haul him down, crush her lips against his, and kiss him senseless right there in the dormitory hallway. To tell him that she'd been waiting on him to do it for hours, for weeks, for months if she was honest.

But she couldn't.

A sense of panic gripped her, squeezing her throat and tightening her chest with each breath. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't shake it.

"I, um… I want to see where this goes too," she managed lamely. "Let's… let's see what happens, okay?"

A thin furrow formed between his brows, but he smiled and nodded anyway. "Okay. Well. It's late, so I'll let you get some rest. Goodnight, Rey."

"Goodnight, Ben."

He nodded again, then turned back down the hall and left.

As creeping tunnel vision began to black out her peripheral sight, Rey stumbled through the living room to her bedroom. She closed the door and collapsed against it, sinking to the floor while she pressed her fist into her sternum. Her hands were shaking.

Slow breath in.

Slow breath out.

Tears pooled in her eyes as her lip began to quiver. She wanted Ben Solo badly. But more than anything, she was terrified of being hurt again. This was an old monster, one she'd been fighting for many years, but why it had chosen this moment to rear its head again, she didn't know. Her ex… She hadn't told any of her friends about her ex, the only boy she'd ever dated before moving away to attend college. She hadn't told them anything about her whole life before college.

Faced with the tangible reality of her reciprocated feelings, the scariest, most hopeless of questions began to rip through her head. What if things didn't work out? What if they went their separate ways, and she ended up losing him and all her friends? What if… what if Ben ended up hurting her like her ex had done? What if he lied to her, or tried to take advantage of her as he had?

She knew these thoughts were irrational. Ben wasn't like him. Ben was a good guy, and he would never treat her like that. But she still couldn't shake the feeling of panic. She couldn't risk losing people. So she leaned against her door, tears streaming down her cheeks, breath shuddering as she forced herself to slowly inhale and exhale until her chest began to loosen again.

When she could stand without fear of losing consciousness, she stripped and made her way to the bathroom, cranked on the shower faucet, and sat on the fiberglass floor as hot water cascaded over her shivering form.

…

Ben was quiet the next day. He was still friendly toward her, but he kept a careful distance. She could tell that her reaction had hurt him, which only made everything worse. But she couldn't find the courage to explain herself, to tell him that she'd dearly wanted to accept his offer, but she physically couldn't. She wished she could crawl under a rock and hide, or travel back in time and stop the disastrous date from ever happening in the first place, but she couldn't do those things, either.

The end of the semester kept everyone busy with studying and final exams, so their group of friends didn't go to lunch as often as had been their habit. She only saw Ben a handful of times before classes let out for the summer, and then everyone was moving out of the dormitories and heading home. Rose and Paige had graciously invited Rey to stay with them at their family home for the summer months, which saved her immensely on rent and utilities, although she drew the line at accepting free food. The sisters had looked at each other and agreed to her condition, and Rey felt like she'd somehow lost an argument.

The summer passed in a series of sunny spells and scattered showers*, which suited Rey's mood just fine. She'd finally confessed—in part—what had happened after the date with Ben to Rose and Paige. They'd both sympathized with her and did what they could to get her mind off things. It helped, but she still found herself thinking about him in her moments of solitude.

She was perhaps the only one who was ready for fall term to start, if only for the sake of having things to do that might keep her distracted from her personal problems. A week before the academic year was slated to begin, Rey and Rose moved into their new dorm room, picked up their textbooks, and ran through their schedules. This semester looked busier than the previous one, but Rey welcomed it.

As it turned out, their friend group had managed to share their lunch block again, although they likely wouldn't have time to make any long treks to The Shaggy Dog anytime soon. The on-campus cafeteria would have to serve as their meeting place this semester. When Rey got out of her morning classes, she walked to the engineering building to join them.

But to her surprise, as she rounded the corner, she saw that Kaydel and Tallie were there, too. Kaydel was standing close to Poe, who had a casual arm over her shoulders; the two were talking in undertones, but then rejoined the general conversation as Poe laughed loudly at something that was said. Tallie was right beside Ben, beaming and giggling and looking up at him for his reaction.

But Ben had spotted Rey approaching. He gave her a closed-lipped smile, then averted his eyes. Finn gave her a wide grin, and Poe whooped in greeting.

"Hey! Long time no see! You're looking tan. What did you do all summer?"

"Hung out by the pool," Rey replied simply, hefting the strap of her bookbag as she came to stand among them.

"I wish I had your skin tone," Kaydel confessed.

Rey scoffed gently. "You're gorgeous just the way you are, Kaydel."

"I second the opinion," Poe interjected with a roguish grin.

Kaydel playfully shoved him off. "Come on, we'd better go or all the tables will be taken," she said, and led the group into the cafeteria.

They had to drag a couple tables together to make enough room for everyone. Rey noticed that, whether by accident or design, Ben wound up at the opposite end of the long table from her. Tallie quickly claimed the seat next to him, and kept up a continuous stream of chatter in his ear for the entire hour. He gave a brief response every few minutes, which seemed enough to sustain her.

Rey frowned and looked away.

It became a pattern over the next several weeks. Kaydel and Tallie joined them for lunch most days, with Kaydel sitting next to Poe, much to Poe's delight, and Tallie focusing her attention on Ben, constantly talking and touching and flirting with him. They always pulled a couple tables together to fit everyone, and each day, Ben managed to sit at the opposite end from Rey.

Rey came to enjoy Kaydel's company. She'd turned out to be an intelligent, calm, level-headed girl, and she was good for Poe in many ways. But for the life of her, Rey could not understand Ben's budding interest in Tallie. And he was interested, she could tell. For all Tallie's efforts, he had finally started to respond, turning to face her more fully when she spoke, cracking a genuine smile here and there, and even surreptitiously watching her when she left her bag at the table to go get lunch.

He never looked at Rey anymore. He never spoke to her anymore, or even smiled her way. It made her feel ill.

One day over lunch, Kaydel and Poe announced they'd officially started dating. Finn teased that that had been obvious, but the rest of them congratulated the new couple and wished them well. But then a few weeks later, Ben and Tallie were late to lunch. They walked into the cafeteria after everyone had started eating, hand in hand and grinning breathlessly.

Rey's appetite deserted her.

She observed them while she pretended to eat the rest of her lunch. To all outward appearances, Ben really did seem happy. He seemed more like himself, like the open, comfortable Ben from the beach and not the reserved, stressed-out Ben from school. He smiled more easily, and even laughed on occasion. He rested his arm along the back of Tallie's chair, and she snuggled happily into his side.

If Ben was happy, then Rey would endeavor to be happy for him. But in the safety of her mind, she could acknowledge that it wasn't going to be easy.

…

She kept her head down for the rest of the term, focusing on her studies with renewed vigor. Her classes were challenging, and if she wanted to get into PA school at Anoat, she had to have excellent grades. She started begging off lunch with the group most days, preferring instead to grab a quick bite before heading to the library to study. She saw Rose in the evenings back in the dorm room, and sometimes Finn, if he was over visiting Rose. Occasionally she would share dinner with them, but then it was back to reviewing. On the weekends, she picked up shifts at the coffee shop, and pulled out her notes when things were slow.

It wasn't until Poe texted her, begging her to come to lunch so Kaydel could get to know her better, that she agreed to compromise and join the group at least once a week. Otherwise, she kept her distance. She really had no need to sit across the table while Tallie practically crawled into Ben's lap, and watch him smile and give her a big, smacking kiss on the mouth for her efforts.

Now that she'd gotten through the large freshman lectures, Rey's class sizes had diminished to the point that she'd started to recognize faces. She began talking to several people in her courses, and by midterms, she'd even formed a study group with a few of them. It helped to have people to talk to who knew nothing of her other friends. She could escape for a while with them, and dive into the nearly-fantastical depths of ecology and genetics.

But she also spent a lot of time on her own. Mostly, she studied—in the library between classes; in her room in the evenings; on the weekends between making cappuccinos and iced concoctions. When she could no longer focus on her studies, she read. And when her eyes would no longer focus on her books, she walked. She walked all over campus—along the broad brick paths, through the botanical gardens and greenhouses, past the stacks in the library, and up to the highest floors of the tallest buildings to look out the windows at all the places that were too far to walk to.

One evening, she happened to walk past the campus chapel. It was a small building just off the main courtyard, and to her surprise, there were still lights on inside. Glancing at her watch, she wondered who might be inside at this hour, but decided that whoever it was, they probably wouldn't mind if she sat in the back row and minded her own business. It had begun to rain, but she wasn't ready to go back to the dorm yet.

She let herself inside, quietly closing the door behind her, and stepped into the sanctuary. There was an older man seated at the piano near the altar. The plinking sound of keys emanating from the instrument filled the sanctuary, and Rey felt herself starting to relax as she listened to the intricate cascade of notes.

She slid into the very last pew, but as she sat upon the aged wood, it creaked. Loudly. She froze just as the pianist looked up and spotted her.

"Hey!" he cried across the sanctuary, standing from the piano in a rush. "Who are you? What are you doing in here?"

To her shock, she recognized him. He'd been in Ben's family photo at the beach house.

"You're Luke Skywalker," she blurted, ignoring the way he was storming down the steps and along the aisle toward her.

"It's Dr. Skywalker, actually," he grumped, coming to a halt before her. He scowled down at her. "Do I know you?"

"No."

"Why are you in here?"

"I… I saw the lights…"

"You shouldn't be in here." He backed away from the pew and made a motion with his hand, as if to command her to leave.

"Wait, please!" She leaned forward on the pew, beseeching him. "I'm sorry to intrude. I just wanted to be alone for a while. Can I just… sit back here? And listen while you play?"

He eyed her suspiciously. His eyes were an icy blue, a sharp contrast to Ben's warm brown eyes. There was nothing in him that resembled Ben. She bit her lip.

"Fine," he finally grumbled. "But be quiet. I'm working on something important."

"What are you working on?"

He glared at her. "What did I just say?"

She made a motion of zipping her lips, then sat back in the pew and listened as he went back to the piano and resumed play. He played with incredible skill, and before she knew it, she'd been swept up in the music, losing all track of time and thought.

For the first time in several weeks, she felt like she could breathe again.

She stayed until he'd finished playing, and waited by the door to walk out with him. "You play wonderfully," she commented quietly as he shut off the lights and locked the door.

"I ought to, after several degrees in music theory and performance and a lifetime of practice."

She bit back a smart retort. "May I come and listen to you again?" she said instead.

"If you wanted to hear a piano being played, maybe you should've majored in music," he snipped.

She frowned at him, and after a moment, he sighed. "Fine. You can sit and listen. But no talking."

"Thank you, sir." With a respectful nod, she headed back to the dorms.

…

The months passed. Fall faded into winter, which thawed into spring. Rey spoke to Paige about joining her research lab at the beginning of the following academic year, to which the elder Tico sister replied that it was a great idea, and that she'd speak to the head professor on Rey's behalf. The study group Rey had joined continued to meet. She'd formed friendships with a few of the girls in it, and they occasionally met to go shopping at the local mall. She'd even started casually dating a guy from one of her classes. It wasn't the romance of the century, but Andy was cute, and he treated her well. He didn't get along so well with her old friends, though, and so over time, she found herself spending less and less time with them in favor of meeting Andy for lunch between classes and for coffee before her evening study sessions. They hung out in their dorm rooms and watched movies on the rare occasion they had a free evening, and even shared a few kisses during those dates. But nothing ever went farther than that. It just didn't feel right.

In between classes and working, Rey went to the chapel to listen to Luke play. After a few months, she'd slowly worked her way up to the front of the sanctuary to watch him. And eventually, he'd begun to show her things, slowly teaching her the fundamentals of music and piano. Toward the end of spring, she'd started venturing to the chapel on her own, to practice the lessons he'd instilled in her. She had a long way to go before she sounded anything like Luke, but she was picking it up quickly. He'd even said as much—although the compliment had been delivered in a backhanded manner true to form. Playing the piano was cathartic, filling the space with music that no one but she would ever hear. She didn't have to perform for anyone, and yet it helped her not to feel so alone.

Because even after all this time, despite all the friends she'd made and the relationships she enjoyed, she still felt oddly bereft.

…

She was accepted into Paige's research lab and worked through the summer to get used to the job, so when her junior year began, it merely felt like the continuation of her sophomore year. The classes were harder, the workload was heavier, but she was just that much closer to PA school.

She ended up decreasing her hours at the coffee shop so she could dedicate more time to her increased coursework. Microbiology and physics required a lot of time to study, but she still made time to go to the chapel. She'd had more time to practice over the summer, and she could tell she'd improved. Luke's wiry brow had twitched up when he'd heard her play for the first time this term, and the memory of it still made her grin. That had been tantamount to an exclamation of praise from any other teacher.

She rarely went to lunch with her old friends anymore. She still saw Rose and Finn regularly, and stayed in touch with Poe and Kaydel through them, but she had no desire to… to see anyone else. Besides, she and Andy were still together, and he really didn't care for Poe or Ben. Andy had offered to take her on a trip the following summer, and she was looking forward to getting away with him for a while.

By the middle of term, Rey had started her own small research project in the lab. It was nothing compared to Paige's thesis project, but it gave her a sense of pride, to have something all her own. She set up her experiments, recorded her data, and drafted the beginnings of a research paper to present at the end of the project.

Exams were completed, winter break passed, and spring semester picked back up where everything had left off. Population genetics was more statistics than it was biology, and Rey struggled through the material, often asking Paige questions between data collections. But that too passed, and then it was finally, blessedly summertime.

Andy proposed a trip to the beach—not Naboo, thankfully, but Mon Cala—and pulled his sporty little Subaru around to pick her up on the day of their departure. The trip was fun enough, but spending so much time alone with Andy had only driven home the fact that Rey felt no spark with him. There was nothing to yearn for. There was nothing to be afraid of, if it all suddenly went pear-shaped.

It wasn't long after they returned to Chandrila that she sat him down and faced the unpleasant task of breaking up with him. He took it well, almost as if he'd been expecting it, and wished her the best of luck. And that was that.

…

She returned to campus for her senior year of undergrad in an oddly melancholic frame of mind. She didn't normally give herself over to bouts of depression, but she couldn't help but feel like she was missing something. Like the past four years had been stepping stones leading to her ultimate destination, but upon reaching it, she realized she'd left something important behind. But whatever it was had already sunk out of reach.

A few weeks into term, she asked Rose and Finn if she could tag along with them to lunch, hoping it would help to see her old friends again. They readily encouraged her to come with them.

Poe saw her coming, and stood to engulf her in a bear hug. "Welcome back, stranger!" he exclaimed, sitting her back on her feet. "How've you been?"

"Busy," she replied, as Kaydel stood to hug her too.

Rey pulled up a chair and sat beside Rose. She noticed that Ben and Tallie were at the far end of the table. Tallie seemed to be trying to get Ben's attention, but he'd folded his arms over his chest and was studying the table with a distant expression.

"So where's what's-his-name?" Poe asked.

"Andy?" Rey stabbed her fork into her salad. "We, um, broke up."

At that, Ben looked up. "I'm sorry it didn't work out," he offered quietly.

It was the first time he'd spoken directly to her in years. She held his gaze for a moment as she tried to determine whether he was sincere, and why he'd chosen to speak to her at all. But he was as impervious as ever.

Finally, she simply settled for a shrug. "It's okay. We weren't right for each other. I'm honestly not very torn up about it."

"Well, he's the one missing out," Poe assured her.

"Yes," Kaydel agreed. "It's good to have you back, Rey."

And it was good to be back. The girls in the biology program were nice, but these people were like her family. She hadn't realized how much she missed them. Being back with them made her feel like she belonged again.

But something still felt incomplete.

The year was spent finishing coursework and preparing for their post-graduate plans. Histology and vertebrate anatomy rounded out Rey's requirements for graduation. Between classes, she asked professors for reference letters and sent applications to PA schools around the country. She still went to the chapel to play the piano whenever she could spare the time, but between studying for exams, finishing her research project, and working at the coffee shop, it wasn't nearly as often as she wanted.

Her twenty-first birthday was approaching fast, but she had no special plans other than perhaps to watch a few episodes of her current Netflix show before turning into bed early. However, that changed when someone—ahem, Rose—let the news slip one day at lunch.

"It's your twenty-first birthday on Friday?" Poe cried, drawing the attention of a few nearby tables.

"Yes, Poe," Rey hissed. Did the entire cafeteria need to know?

"Why didn't you say something? We gotta celebrate!"

She was given no choice but to take the night off, get dolled up, and go out for the evening. Poe led the way to The Shaggy Dog, where she discovered Kaydel had reserved one of the back booths for their group. There was even a Happy Birthday! banner strung up above the table. Rey smiled as warmth bloomed in her chest.

Poe pulled her into a sideways hug and squeezed her tight. "Happy birthday, baby Rey! Welcome to the Legal Club."

She was shuffled into the middle of the horseshoe booth, with Poe on one side and Rose on the other. Convinced that he was going to get her drunk on the very first night she was legally allowed to drink, Poe kept ordering her drinks, ranging from beers to bombs to things she'd never heard of and certainly wasn't planning on imbibing. When she wouldn't drink them, they got passed around to anyone who would, with Poe and Tallie consuming the majority of them.

Poe was an enthusiastic drunk, becoming even more boisterous than before. He had the table rolling with laughter at his shenanigans, until a giggling Kaydel finally took mercy on everyone and made him drink a glass of water next.

Tallie clung to Ben, growing more and more affectionate as the night wore on. Her behavior, however, seemed oddly incongruent compared to his increasingly surly attitude. Rey endeavored to ignore them in favor of enjoying the others—and occasionally making sure Poe didn't spill his drink in her purse—but it was hard for her not to notice some things out of the corner of her eye.

Tallie had draped herself over Ben's shoulder, and had taken to stroking his hair as she whispered drunkenly in his ear. He barely acknowledged her as he picked up his half-finished beer and took a swig. After a minute, she pressed closer, and a frown twitched the corners of his mouth.

Another round of appetizers arrived, sufficiently distracting Rey from the amorous exhibition at the end of the table. Kaydel made Poe eat some of the pretzel bites, to "soak up some of the alcohol." Rey took a couple of the loaded potato skins, while Rose and Finn shared a few of the quesadilla wedges.

Suddenly Ben stood from the table. "We're gonna go," he announced flatly, as Tallie slid out of the booth to join him. "Happy birthday," he added almost as an afterthought, not quite meeting Rey's eyes as he put his arm around his girlfriend's shoulders and steered her through the pub to the door.

Rey swallowed the sip of beer in her mouth and put the bottle down. It didn't really taste right anymore.

…

Rey wrapped up her research project ahead of time, and took the next few weeks to finish the accompanying paper. She told herself she wasn't avoiding going to lunch with the group after the spectacle that had been her birthday; she merely wanted the paper done and off her plate. She submitted it to her professor for approval, then it was onto studying for midterms. After completing her exams and giving herself a break from studying, she finally decided she had no more excuses, and walked to the cafeteria to join her friends.

But when she walked in, Ben and Tallie weren't there. Neither was Kaydel.

Rey sat down next to Poe. "Where's the other half of our group?" she asked, tearing open her vinaigrette packet and drizzling it over her salad.

"Oh." He leaned across the table to include Rose and Finn. "Ben and Tallie broke up," he whispered.

Rey's fork paused on its way to her mouth.

Rose gasped. "What happened?"

Poe shrugged. "I don't know. Kaydel thinks things have been rocky for a while. I guess they finally decided to end it. Kaydel's with Tallie right now, but I dunno where Ben is. He split right after lecture."

Rey lowered her fork into the salad bowl, lunch forgotten. She hurt for her friend. She wanted to find him and comfort him, but she knew she couldn't. It wasn't her place anymore.

"Man, that sucks," Finn said. The others nodded wordlessly in agreement.

It was a comfort to know that at least the boys had managed to share a dorm room this year, so Ben wouldn't be completely alone. That night, Rose texted Finn to check on him.

"He's okay," Rose read off Finn's response. "He's a bit quiet, but other than that, he seems okay."

"Well, that's good," Rey said from her spot on the couch. "Any word about Tallie?"

"No." Rose dropped onto the other end of the couch and pulled the throw blanket over her legs.

For some reason, the urge to apologize rose up within Rey. "I'm sorry things didn't work out for them," she murmured.

"Me too," Rose agreed.

…

It was another week before Ben showed up to lunch. He joined them sporadically over the next few weeks, slowly becoming a steady part of the group again. He was still quiet, but it seemed like a peaceful, contemplative quiet. They largely left him to his own devices, including him without forcing him to interact. He seemed to appreciate it, although he never said so.

Kaydel split her time between the group and Tallie. She didn't speak of her friend in Ben's presence, but Poe had shared with the others that Tallie was healing, albeit slowly. Apparently she hadn't seen it coming. The whole situation made Rey's heart hurt with empathy.

The last term of undergrad ended up feeling nostalgically like their first term. Their original group was back together, if a little worn and worse for wear. They found opportunities to walk over to The Shaggy Dog when they could, especially to celebrate good news like Rey's acceptance into Anoat's PA program, Poe's decision to go to flight school, and Finn's commission for officer training in the Navy. Rose and Kaydel had both accepted jobs in their fields of study, and Ben had decided to go on to grad school to pursue his PhD in mechanical engineering.

Before they knew it, graduation was upon them. After walking across the stage to receive her diploma, Rey tossed her cap into the air with her biology friends and dozens of other graduates. She met up with Rose, Finn, and the others outside the stadium to exchange congratulations and take photos. Poe and Ben went off afterward to spend time with their families, while Rose and Paige invited Rey and Finn to join them for dinner to celebrate.

"We're still on for a movie later, right?" Poe had asked before he'd left. "Our room, nine o'clock?"

After dinner, the girls changed into more comfortable clothes and trooped over to Crest Hall. Finn ushered them inside, pausing to give Rose a peck on the lips.

"Who wants popcorn?" Poe called from the kitchenette.

"Give that to me," Kaydel quickly intervened. "Last time, we nearly had to evacuate the whole building."

Ben emerged from the bedrooms with several pillows in each hand. Rose helped Finn spread out a quilt on the floor. Popcorn and drinks were distributed, and everyone settled in as Poe pulled up his streaming service.

Rey wasn't sure how it happened, but she ended up sitting next to Ben on the couch. He'd claimed the corner seat so he could extend his legs out to the side of the blanket pallet. He casually stretched one arm along the back of the couch and slouched into the cushions.

Rey knew she couldn't spend the entire evening perched on the edge of her seat, and so, ever so cautiously, she leaned back into the couch. She could feel the heat emanating from him, could smell the faint scent of his familiar cologne when he shifted position and got comfortable again. Under the guise of getting more comfortable herself, she settled in further, pulling in a careful breath and letting it out slowly.

Halfway through the movie, his arm came to rest over her shoulder. She shifted automatically to give him more room.

"Sorry," he whispered, and started to pull away.

"You're fine," she murmured back, and gave him a small smile over her shoulder.

And so he left it there. She shifted again, leaning into his side, and he wrapped his arm around her more securely. He let out a little sigh, and her heart squeezed.

God, she'd missed him.

A/N: "Sunny Spells and Scattered Showers" is the name of a music album by the band Solas.