Authors Note: This was already published over on Archive of Our Own under my profile there for the first 4 chapters. I was inspired by another fic, Road Trip by Aleksandrieal and there was some initial drama due to a misunderstanding, which has been resolved privately so I will no go into depth on it now. I do not wish to rehash the drama, however, I do acknowledge my inspiration behind the plot idea for this story, which while inspired by Alek's fic, it is not the same story as it's not centered around the same plot. I also do recommend that you go and check out Alek's fic on AO3. I will share a link at the end of this chapter for you to follow.

Chapter 1: Bite the Bullet

Stone Temple Pilots blared through the speakers as Padme entered the crowded trendy LA bar. As she made her way to the bar in the center of the room to order a drink, Padme typed away on her phone, hoping to find a flight at a more reasonable rate. She took a seat and ordered a drink and groaned in frustration. This cannot be happening to her. Out of all the things to go wrong, a clerical error is what derails her plans, and her schedule. Padme cursed the airline for overbooking her flight and then bumping her at the last second. Why oh why do last minute flights have to be so expensive? Perhaps she shouldn't have taken this business trip but there wasn't anything she could do about it now. The cheapest next flight out to Philadelphia available was three weeks away and it would still cost the entirety of her weekly paycheck. It was not a real viable option because she had to be back home before then.

Her two very good friends were getting married and she was in the bridal party. It was a wedding that she was both looking forward to and dreaded at the same time. Mainly due to the best man, the brother of the groom and her one time best friend, Anakin Skywalker. One fight, senior year in high school, blew up a lifetime of friendship.

Padme had been psyching herself up to face Anakin at the wedding for months when she was asked to take Nina Alavar's place on a headhunting trip to LA two weeks before the wedding. Padme readily accepted without question. Her hope was that the distance would give her the space and distraction she needed to calm her nerves.

What she didn't expect when she looked up across the crowded bar was to be faced with the reason behind her nerves. It might have been ten years since they last saw each other, but Padme would recognize him anywhere. They had grown up together, and had been practically inseparable since they were three years old. Anakin Skywalker was in LA, in the very same bar as her, flirting shamelessly with a very attractive blonde playboy bunny, not even noticing that she was only steps away from him.

In a panic, Padme quickly dialed Obi-Wan's number and ducked down.

"Hello There."

"What is your brother doing in LA?" Padme hissed.

"Oh dear," Obi-Wan sighed. "I was hoping that Los Angeles was a big enough city that the two of you wouldn't run into each other."

"What is he doing here?" she asked.

"He had a meeting with CalTech. I didn't think to mention it when you talked about your trip to Satine. I figured since he was driving and you were flying that you might miss each other entirely."

"He's driving?" Padme asked, an idea beginning to form in her mind.

"Yes, Padme, are you alright?"

"Yes, I'm fine, just shocked. I'll catch up when I get home," Padme said, and hung up.

She turned back to the other side of the bar to watch her former best friend. Though he wore a simple black t-shirt and stonewash jeans, it did nothing to hide the fact that he obviously worked out. It was neither here nor there, as her mind conjured the ways she could convince him to take her with him back home to Philly.

Padme frowned as she noticed the definite playboy bunny appeal of the blonde and she couldn't help but feel disgusted at the sight of Anakin, of all people, flirting with her. As the bartender handed her another drink, Padme noticed Anakin lean forward, placing his hand on the woman's thigh. Padme swallowed a large sip of her drink before getting up to approach Anakin. She needed the liquid courage to help her face her ex-best friend.

The blonde trailed her fingers down his arm and whispered in his ears. Anakin responded with a smirk as the blonde slowly stood up and walked away, and turned to look over her shoulder. Padme was halfway there when Anakin drained his own glass, set it down on the bar and followed the blonde.

Nonplussed, Padme panicked slightly, she needed to catch him before it was too late. Following her childhood friend, Padme had to squeeze through the crowds before she saw him enter the bathroom after the blonde.

Sagging against the wall, Padme's stomach dropped at the thought of what he was doing. The Anakin she had grown up with didn't go to bars to hook up in dingy bathrooms with playboy bunnies. Suddenly ten years felt like ages. A person can change a lot in ten years.

Fifteen minutes passed with no sign of either the blonde or Anakin emerging from the bathroom and Padme was losing her patience. With a huff, she checked her phone. At the sound of a door opening, she looked up intime to see the blonde walk past her, as though she were invisible. A moment later, Anakin left the bathroom, adjusting his clothes. When he looked up, he froze, looking like he saw a ghost. Padme merely raised an eyebrow at him.

"What the fuck are you doing here?" he asked.

"What? I can't walk into a bar?" Padme replied.

"I meant, what are you doing here, in LA?" Anakin corrected.

"Coincidentally, the same reason as you, according to Obi-Wan," Padme explained.

Anakin cursed his brother and brushed past her.

"I need a favor!" Padme explained, chasing after him.

"What do you possibly need from me?" Anakin demanded cooly.

"I was supposed to fly out tomorrow but I got bumped and there aren't any available flights back to Philly. Obi-Wan told me that you were driving and I was hoping that I could hitch a ride with you," she hurriedly explained.

Anakin turned to her with a skeptical look. "You want me to chauffeur you across the country?"

"That's not what I said…"

"But it's what you meant."

Padme rolled her eyes. "I'm just asking for a ride. We're going to the same place. You're my only option if I'm going to make it back in time for Obi-Wan and Satine's wedding."

"You're going to that?" Anakin asked in disbelief.

"I introduced them."

"He's my brother! I'm the best man…"

"Anakin…"

"Fine!" Anakin snapped. "I'm only doing this because I owe Obi-Wan. You're paying for food and gas."

"Thank you," Padme said in relief. She reached into a purse and pulled out a card. "This is my hotel, you can pick me up from there," she scribbled her phone number on the back before handing it over.

Anakin took the card, glanced at it and pocketed it. "Yeah, whatever." He turned away, "See you around eight, or nine," he said as he walked away from her.

Padme watched him approach the bar and order another drink before she turned to leave, her purpose for coming here complete. Now all she had to do was to survive the ride home in one piece.

At half past eight the next morning, Padme was in the middle of checking out when she felt herself being crowded. Turning, she was about to tell the asshole crowding her to give her space. It was an asshole, just one she knew all too well. Anakin hovered behind her, dressed in dark jeans, a charcoal henley with the sleeves rolled up and the top buttons undone, a silver chain just visible underneath. A pair of aviator Ray Bans were hooked on his collar and he wore an Air Force ballcap.

"You almost done?" Anakin asked.

Padme ignored his hovering and signed the receipt, accepting her credit card from the receptionist. "Yes," she answered.

Anakin bent and retrieved her suitcase and laptop bag while Padme shouldered her purse and grabbed her coffee cup.

"You are not bringing that into my car," Anakin said, indicating the coffee.

"Are you kidding me?" Padme said as she followed him out front to his waiting 2019 Ford Mustang Bullitt. Anakin stored her suitcase in the trunk while placing her laptop bag in the back seat by his own backpack.

"Rules for riding in my car. No food or drinks, I control the radio, no feet up on the dash or the seat, no smoking, don't touch any of the controls, take your trash with you, no backseat driving," Anakin stated as he slid into the driver's seat.

"Anakin, I need my coffee," Padme insisted.

"I don't care, drink it on the sidewalk," Anakin told her, starting the engine.

"You're ridiculous," Padme told him, reaching for the passenger door handle, finding it locked. "What the hell, Anakin!"

"No food or drinks in my car!" Anakin insisted, giving her a pointed look and casually revving the engine.

"I hate you!" Padme snipped.

"Now you sound like my sister," Anakin pointed out.

"Asshole!" Padme growled and proceeded to chug the rest of her coffee, tossing the cup in the trash. This time when she reached for the door handle, it was unlocked. "You are unbelievable," she huffed as she buckled herself in.

"It's my car and you're the one who begged me for a ride so deal with it." Anakin tapped at an app with his phone for a moment before setting it down in the cupholder, the sound of Avenged Sevenfold's Hail to the King blared from the speakers as he pulled off into the street, fingers tapping against the steering wheel.

"Speaking of Ahsoka…" Padme began.

"What about her?"

Padme glanced at him. "How is she?"

"You talk to Obi-Wan, doesn't he fill you in on my family?" Anakin asked testily.

"We tend to avoid the subject," Padme admitted.

"Good."

"I occasionally see Ahsoka at your mom's when I visit my parents. I try to say hi and she just flips me off," Padme informed him.

"That's because, unlike my brother who chooses to remain neutral, my sister is absolutely loyal," Anakin explained.

"That's childish," Padme said evenly.

"Is it?" Anakin challenged.

Padme sighed as she turned to stare out the passenger side window. She couldn't help to remember the feisty kid that would shadow her and Anakin everywhere, always hanging over her older brother and enthusiastically including Padme in everything, talking a mile a minute. That all changed with one fight in senior year. Padme often finds herself missing the Ahsoka she knew.

Anakin glanced over at her briefly. "Ahsoka's fine. I doubt she'll give you a hard time at the wedding."

Padme turned to him. "I wasn't worried about that," she said.

"Good." Anakin gave her a wry look. "Although, my sister tends to thrive on chaos so who knows what she has planned," he said thoughtfully.

"Gee I wonder where she got that from," Padme remarked sarcastically as the music switched over to Shinedown's Oblivion. Reaching behind her as Anakin began to turn onto the interstate, she plucked her kindle from the pocket of her laptop bag. Propping the device on her knees, she opened up to the last page of her ebook.

Padme immersed herself into the autobiography she had started on the flight into LA. Anakin's playlist acted as background noise while she tried to focus, but her mind was too distracted to let the words she read to sink in. Every so often, her eyes would flicker over to Anakin. He was always just so comfortable behind the wheel, less so if someone else was driving. Even as kids, he had a certain taste for cars so she wasn't surprised by the car he drove. It was just a weird sense of Deja Vu, being in a car with Anakin again. He kept his speed as fast as he could legally drive without getting a ticket and had such an ease behind the wheel that she envied. Of course, this was Anakin, who taught himself to drive his mom's old Honda when he was fourteen and took it for a joyride, only to be brought home by the cops with a stern reprimand. This was the same Anakin who, the first thing he did when he finally got his license when they were sixteen was to drag her out for a ride and proceed to scare the shit out of her by doing donuts in an old parking lot while laughing like a maniac.

The first car he ever bought was an old junker, a broken down mustang slated for the junkyard. Anakin spent a year fixing it up, working every side job imaginable to pay for parts. He drove that car throughout high school. Padme wondered what had happened to it as she glanced to her left again as Metallica's cover of Turn the Page started and Anakin started to sing alone. It was another feeling of Deja Vu. Padme had forgotten the sound of his voice. Anakin was a good singer and had an ear for tune but never bothered doing anything with it.

Padme bookmarked her kindle page, setting the device down and just watched him. His fingers unconsciously tapped the steering wheel along to the tune and he appeared unaware of his audience. Padme knew differently, she looked him over, knowing that he was aware of her attention. Unlike the scrawny teenager who wore baggy jeans and hoodies everywhere, Anakin at age twenty-eight was the opposite. The baggy jeans were gone in favor of a more snug fit and the henley he wore was tighter than anything he ever wore in high school. He definitely wasn't a scrawny kid anymore. She couldn't help comparing him to Dwayne Johnsan, and started to imagine what he would look like shirtless. No wonder the blonde playboy bunny from the bar last night was so receptive.

Feeling slightly irritated at the thought, she looked away a moment before glancing back. His entire focus was on the road. Padme noticed the twenty-four hour stubble on his jaw, the same shade as his hair, which fell in loose curls against his neck underneath the ballcap. Padme had an overwhelming urge to run her fingers through his hair and tug.

The song switched to Smells Like Teen Spirit without her noticing and Anakin was tapping the steering wheel and nodding his head along to the tune, singing along, fulling immersing himself into his own little music bubble. Padme couldn't help but to chuckle as she remembered how she and Anakin used to do the same thing as kids.

"What?"

Padme shook her head. "Just… Whatever happened to that old junker you had in high school?" she asked.

Anakin furrowed his brow as he considered what she meant. "Sold it years ago. Some collector out west, I think," he told her. "Why?"

"No reason. Just thinking about it," Padme said.

"We had some fun in that car," he chuckled.

"You had fun scaring the shit out of people," Padme countered.

Anakin gave her a sly look. "I lost my virginity in that car," he said wistfully.

"Ugg, really?" Padme scrunched her nose at him. "I did not need to know that," she said, turning away. Though the thought just wouldn't stop festering. "With who?" she asked before she could stop herself, turning back to him.

"Jamilla Quinn," he told her, throwing her a smug smirk.

Padme gaped at him. Of all people he could have named, it had to be her ! "You had sex with that bitch? What the hell!" she snapped.

Anakin just shrugged as he focused on the road. "I was eighteen and she was just there. It's not that big of a deal."

"You're an asshole, Anakin Skywalker. Just when I didn't think you could sink any lower, you exceed expectations. I hope she gave you a disease," Padme told him scathingly.

"Why do you even care who I have sex with?" he asked.

"I don't," Padme said with a shrug.

"Sure seems like you do."

"I don't."

"If you say so."

"Just drive." Padme said, crossing her arms, glaring at the road, internally seething at the fact that her best friend literally slept with the enemy. Jamilla Quinn always went out of her way to make her life miserable and Anakin knew this! The Anakin that she knew couldn't stand the bitch just because of how she treated Padme all throughout school. How could he do this to her?

Anakin briefly glanced at her, his grip on the steering wheel tightening a little. "Honestly, I'm surprised you didn't already know. Word got out enough that even my mom heard about it. She came home from work one night to give me a box of condoms and a lecture about safe sex," he told her.

"She should. Jamilla Quinn's a huge slut," Padme said petulantly.

Anakin scoffed and shook his head. "It really bugs you that I fucked her," he noted in disbelief.

"I really don't care what you do, Anakin."

"Could have fooled me," he said.

"If you want to degrade yourself, that's all on you. I just thought you were better than that," Padme said with a dismissive shrug.

"Oh that's rich coming from you," he scoffed. "Considering you went to prom with Rush Clovis."

Padme scoffed and turned to him. "That's different!" she defended herself.

"How?" he demanded in disbelief. "I fucking hated that guy!"

"Well at least I didn't fuck him!" Padme threw back at him.

"That's not what he said," Anakin informed her.

"What?" Padme hissed.

Anakin glanced at her. "He told all of his buddies on the football team that he fucked your brains out. He said, and I quote: that he made you squeal like a pig ," he informed her.

Padme gaped at him, disgusted by the information thrown at her. "Clearly he lied," she said coldly. "...And you believed him?" she demanded and got pissed when he merely shrugged in response. If she had something to drink, she'd dump it in his lap.

"I ended up laying him out right before graduation. Broke my hand on his face," he informed her.

"Is that why his face looked like a balloon at graduation?"

"Yep."

"Good."

Another twenty miles later, neither had said a word to each other since airing out some leftover high school drama. Both were quiet, Anakin keeping focus on the road and Padme turned away from him to watch the scenic view of the road they were on. When Vertical Herizone's Everything You Want started to play, it got Padme's attention. The entire ride so far, it seemed like Anakin's taste in music hadn't changed and yet here was this one song that she wouldn't have thought he'd listen to enough to add it to a playlist.

Turning over to look at him as the lyrics played out, she noticed that Anakin wasn't enjoying himself as much as he had before. He appeared to studiously refuse to look in her direction and his entire body seemed tense. It was the first time since getting into the car that he wasn't relaxed behind the wheel. Even his jaw seemed to be clenched tightly.

"I didn't know that you liked this song," she said, trying to break the ice. If anything that only seemed to make him even more tense as he gripped the steering wheel a little harder.

He didn't even look at her as the song played and she wondered if it was her or maybe there was something specific about the song itself. "Anakin?"

He didn't answer, instead he made an abrupt turn into a rest stop, pulled into a parking spot at the far end, cut the engine, got out of the car and slammed the car door. Padme watched him walk off into a grassy area, out of earshot of any other travelers.

"FUCK!"

Padme jumped when she heard him yell. Not knowing what had upset him, Padme slowly exited the car and approached him. "Are you okay?" she asked.

"For fucks sake!" He snapped. "Can't I have just one fucking moment to myself?"

"You want some space? Fine. You don't have to be such an asshole about it!" she snapped back. She didn't give him a chance to reply before she walked away.

They spent at least half an hour at the rest stop. Between Anakin needing to blow off some steam and then the two of them taking the time to have something to drink and a quick snack, followed by a bathroom break, they needed that thirty minutes before getting back on the road. It was a needed break if they were to survive off of Anakin's no food and drink in his car policy.

They were back on the road and a couple hours later, they pulled into a diner for a late lunch where Anakin proceeded to flirt with their waitress, earning him a free slice of pie for his efforts. Padme swore that he did it just to annoy her and much to her frustration, it worked. They kept conversation to light topics to the background of his playlist until Padme fell asleep.

Padme awoke from her nap as Anakin was pulling into a Best Western in Durango Colorado. She checked the time and google maps on her phone and furrowed her brows in confusion. "Why are we stopping? We have plenty of time to keep going?" she asked.

Anakin cut the engine and opened his door. "I don't know about you but my back is killing me. Besides, I drive across the country often enough for work. I've got the entire drive mapped and timed out. Is it really going to kill you to stop here for the night?" he said as he rounded the car and opened the trunk as Padme gathered her laptop bag and his backpack from the backseat.

Anakin pulled her suitcase out first and handed it to her. He then pulled out a well worn military issue duffle bag instead of a suitcase. He slung the duffle over his shoulder, the muscles in his arm flexing, and closed the trunk. He accepted his backpack from her and carried it by the handle at his side as he led her inside the front doors.

"Checking in. Registered under Skywalker," Anakin said as he approached the reception desk.

The receptionist typed on her computer before looking up. "I, yes, looks like you requested a room change from single to double."

"Last minute change in plans," Anakin quipped with a side glance at Padme.

"Right, room 227, enjoy your stay, Mr. Skywalker," she said, sliding two keycards over.

"I'm sure I will," Anakin said, accepting the key cards with a wink.

Padme rolled her eyes as they walked over to the elevators. "Do you have to flirt with everything with a pulse?" she snarked.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Anakin said.

"You know, if you're going to fuck her in a bathroom, you should probably get her name first," Padme snarked when the elevator doors closed.

"I have no intention of fucking her in a bathroom," he stated calmly.

"I'm sure you don't," she said drolly.

"You seem awfully interested in my sex life. You're starting to sound a little jealous."

"I have no interest in your sex life," she said coolly.

"Sure you don't," he said placidly. "Because it sounds like you'd rather it was you that I was fucking."

Padme glared at him and spluttered. "You're delusional!" she snapped. He raised an eyebrow at her as the elevator doors opened and they stepped off.

"And twenty minutes for a quickie in a bathroom? That's just excessive."

"You timed it?" He asked in amusement as they walked down the hallway to find their room.

"What were you doing in there that took twenty minutes? Because I know it doesn't take twenty minutes just to have sex."

"It does if you want to enjoy yourself."

"I call bullshit," Padme scoffed.

Anakin looked at her. "Alright, I'll bite. How long do you think it should last?" he asked.

"Five minutes," Padme said, thinking back to the few times she had engaged in public quickies in college.

Anakin just gave her a dumbfounded look. "That's just sad," he said.

"And you're an asshole," Padme threw back at him.

When they reached their room, Anakin dropped his duffle at the foot of the bed closest to him, tossed his cap to the desk and proceeded to pull his shirt off over his head. "I'm taking a shower, why don't you find somewhere to order in from," he said.

Padme had to avert her eyes away from his very chiseled chest and the two silver rectangles hanging off the silver chain around his neck as he sat on the bed he chose to rummage through his duffle. Padme grabbed her phone and began to open up her UberEats app. She was momentarily distracted by something being shoved in her face.

Anakin held out a credit card for her as he set his phone and wallet down on the bedside table.

"I thought I was paying for gas and food," Padme reminded him.

Anakin rolled his eyes. "I don't know what your situation is but I've got the trip budgeted out. Just use my card," he said.

Padme narrowed her eyes. "I can afford to pay for dinner," she retorted.

"Do whatever you want, I don't care," he said, dropping the card beside her.

Padme glared at him as he walked into the hotel bathroom, noticing a long surgical scar on his back before he shut the door behind him. Padme frowned, confused. When did Anakin ever have surgery? It was almost distracting enough from just how attractive her former friend had become. Picking up the American Express gold card embossed with his name, Padme wondered what he had done in the ten years since they last spoke. As she heard the shower run, Padme tried not to think about what a naked Anakin looked like, if a shirtless Anakin was temping, this image was worse. Then she remembered the blonde playboy bunny and the temptation was gone.

When Anakin returned from the bathroom in a pair of sweatpants and a white tank that did little to hide his physique, the silver chain with the two silver tags out and on display, he pulled a laptop out of his backpack and lounged on his bed with it.

"Dinner is on the way," Padme informed him as she grabbed the pajamas she selected.

"Good," he said as he set to work on something with his laptop.

"When did you have surgery?" she asked as she stood up.

Anakin looked up at her in surprise. "What?"

"I saw the scar when you went into the bathroom," Padme explained.

"Oh," he said, turning back to his laptop, typing something up. "That was about four or five years ago."

He wasn't interested in talking about it any further so Padme dropped it. Instead, she just walked into the bathroom to take her own shower.

Their take out arrived when she got out of the shower. Anakin met their UberEats driver at the door and handed off a cash tip, despite the fact that she had already tipped the driver in the app. Padme sat cross legged on her bed and grabbed the tv remote to find something to watch. Anakin handed her her dinner before he sat down to eat, setting aside his laptop.

Padme selected A Star is Born with Lady Gaga to watch. It was one of her current favorites. She hummed along to La Vie En Rose and caught Anakin looking at her oddly. "I love this movie," she explained with a shrug.

"It's a good film," he agreed.

As she watched Jackson Maine go backstage to meet Ally, she turned to Anakin. "Have you ever been to a drag show?" she asked.

"Yeah, Ahsoka dragged me to one a few years ago. It was an experience," he answered.

Padme laughed. "Your sister dragged you to a drag show? I wish I could have seen that."

Anakin shrugged. "It's not really that big of a deal. I have no problem supporting the community."

"Supporting the community?" Padme questioned.

"LGBTQ+, you've heard of it…" he stated before taking a bite.

"I have. One of my friends from college is a member. I'm just surprised at how you termed it."

"I'm just an alley, not a member. If that's where you were getting at," he told her.

"I didn't think that at all," Padme laughed.

"Sure you didn't," he shrugged. "But in all seriousness, I'm just playing the part of the supportive big brother."

"Ahsoka," Padme said, surprised. "I didn't know. Good for her."

"She came out in high school," he informed her. "Well, not so much as came out but got caught out." he rubbed the back of his neck. "I kinda walked in on her making out with another girl in her class. That's when she confided in me that she was bi. She is completely out now but it took a bit for her to feel comfortable telling others."

"And I'm sure that you had a big role to play in her feeling comfortable being herself," Padme said softly. Anakin was many things, but he was at best a very dedicated big brother to his adopted sister from the moment Ahsoka came to the Skywalker house.

At first glance, Anakin and Ahsoka didn't look anything close to being related. Anakin was a tanned, blue eyed, blond Caucasian male while Ahsoka was a biracial girl with a caramel skin tone and blue eyes. When Shmi had taken Ahsoka in and adopted her, not much was known about her parents beyond that they had left her as a baby at a firehouse. She had spent the first eight years of her life being passed from home to home until she found a permanent one with the Skywalkers. Anakin had been open and supportive to Ahsoka from day one and the two had created an unshakable bond. She had a close bond with both Shmi and Obi-Wan but it was different between her and Anakin. Padme had been fond of the girl as well and despite Ahoska's animosity towards her in the past ten years, she still felt that fondness.

They finished their meal and disposed of their trash. They settled into their respective beds, watching the movie together. Much to her surprise, when Ally performed Shallow on stage for the first time, they both quietly sang along. An ice broke between them as they enjoyed a movie together like ten years apart that never happened. By the time the movie was over, they both were asleep.

Here is the link to Alek's fic(no spaces): archiveofourown works/44241280/chapters/111254962

and you can find mine here(no spaces): archiveofourown works/48772078/chapters/123032389#main

So what do you think the fight in senior year was about that ended their friendship?

I strongly recommend that you listen to each song I mentioned in this fic so far, especially Vertical Horizon's Everything You Want. It kinda gives some insight to one of the scenes in this chapter if you do.

Oh, if it wasn't clear. To serve the story, Anakin and Padme are the same age. Other age differences are: Sola is 10 years older than Padme. Obi-Wan is 8 years older than Anakin. Anakin is only 5 years older than Ahsoka.