Chapter Text
It was the group’s last movie night together before the “Stay at Home” order went into place. They were all gathered at Finn and Poe’s apartment celebrating their last time together for the foreseeable future.
“I’m gonna tell him,” Rey said resolutely. She was staring blankly at the front door as she held Bebe, Poe’s orange corgi, in her arms.
“Tell who what?” Poe asked. “Rose just said Ben and Hux would be here soon because they’re finished shutting down the office. Are you even listening?”
“I’m going to tell Ben that I love him.”
Rey lived by the philosophy that you should tell people that you love them before it’s too late. You never know what might happen in the future, so you need to take charge of the now and not leave feelings unsaid. Sure it caused her middle school boyfriend to break up with her after she said those three little words “too soon”. But this wasn’t middle school. This was Ben, her gorgeous, understanding, thoughtful best friend. He wouldn’t leave, would he?
Rose, Finn, and Poe all look at Rey a little slack jawed. Rose is the first one to come to her senses with a, “Finally! It was getting exhausting watching you two pine over each other.”
“This calls for a round of shots!” Poe shouted. He quickly turned around and starting getting everything ready.
“There’s no need to shout when we’re all standing within three feet of you, Poe,” Finn scolded his boyfriend. “And maybe it would be better if Rey were clear headed when she makes her confession of love.”
“Yeah, Finn’s right,” Rey agreed. “I don’t want him to think I’m saying it just because I’m drunk.”
“Knock knock, we’re here,” Hux announced as he strolled into the apartment followed by Ben who was angrily glaring at his phone.
“Hey, Ben, could I talk to you for a second?” Rey asked. She gently set Bebe down on the ground and made her way through the kitchen and to the living room. Ben grunted an affirmative and followed Rey towards the living room.
“Where’s my phone?” Poe whispered patting down his pants until he found it in his back pocket. “I need to record this.”
“What is happening?” Hux asked as he grabbed a beer from the fridge. All he got in response was furious shushing from the other three who were all very obviously trying to eavesdrop, and in Poe’s case record, the conversation happening in the other room. Hux decided he might as well listen in as well.
“Ben, I love you,” Rey said.
“I know,” Ben responded not even looking up from his phone.
“Oh, um well… yeah, so I- um.”
“Are you two deciding which movie to watch in here?” Poe asked coming to Rey’s rescue.
“Didn’t we decide on ‘It Chapter 2’ last week?” Rey asked, happy to be given an out from her conversation with Ben.
“What about the new zombie apocalypse movie?” Finn whined. “It looks really good.”
“You can watch the news after we leave,” Hux joked.
“Oof, got’em,” called Rose who was still in the kitchen popping popcorn.
Rey went to sit down in her usual seat on the couch and quickly pulled Finn to sit beside her in what was Ben’s usual seat. Finn caught on and didn’t put up any fuss. After, Poe retrieved the remote he sat beside Finn taking up the rest of the couch.
Ben finally looked up from his phone and was confused to see his usual spot beside Rey taken. He took the oversized bean bag that Poe and Finn usually shared.
Ben had to leave as soon as the movie was over because “some idiot forgot to grab their laptop and monitors.” As soon as the door closes behind Ben, four sets of eyes snap to Rey.
“Rey, I’m so sorry, I really thought-“ Poe started.
Rey cut him off with a wave of her hand. “It’s no one’s fault. Just because I love Ben doesn’t mean he’s required to love me back. Please don’t bother him about it. I’m going to head home, eat some ice cream, follow several new male Instagram stars that regularly post shirtless photos, look at the local animal shelter website, then sleep for approximately 12 hours. I’ll be fine.”
“Wow, why didn’t you tell me you had the perfect break up recovery plan?” Poe asked. “I needed that when I broke up with Zorrii.”
After securing promises from all her friends that they wouldn’t harass Ben and promising in return that she would call them if she needed anything, she left to walk back to her own apartment. The bus was only running at “essential hours” so Rey had three miles to walk alone with her thoughts. If Ben hadn’t left in such a hurry, he probably would have given her a ride home, he would have insisted that it was too dangerous for her to be walking that far alone at this time of night.
And with that errant thought her mind was now swimming with thoughts of Ben and his rejection. His ‘I know’ echoed through her head. Of course he knew. Of course he noticed when the poor little orphan that worked in his father’s garage made heart eyes at him. He was Ben Solo, founder of First Order Enterprises. He could have any girl he wanted, from gorgeous model to some sexy genius that could afford to go to college (unlike Rey), so why would he settle for her?
Okay, stop Rey. Think, you have bigger problems right now. There’s a pandemic going on for kriff’s sake. She still had a job, so thank goodness for that, but the hours were going to be cut down a bit. Han decided he was going to close the garage, and just have customers come to his house and he would work on them there. (Rey had asked him if it was actually legal to operate his business from his private residence and he had quickly changed the topic instead.) It worked the dual purpose of skirting around any government regulations and giving him more time to work on personal projects. He told her she could just show up around 10am and leave whenever they didn’t have any more work to do. Actually, knowing Han and his proclivity for impossible projects, she might end up working longer hours than usual.
Okay, see nothing to worry about. She was going to be fine except for not being able to see her friends. She was somehow already having separation anxiety after only leaving them twenty minutes ago. Maybe she should look into getting a dog. Poe and Finn had Bebe, Ben had his Rottweiler Kylo, Han had his huge St. Bernard Chewie, and even Hux had his cat Millicent. She should do it. She was going to do it. Han had said dogs were always welcome at work. Were animal shelters even open during the pandemic? A quick google search told her that her local shelter wasn’t open to the public, but she could still adopt. She shoots off a quick email to the animal shelter about be interested in adopting before jogging up the stairs to her apartment.
Rey wakes up at 9am to several notifications on her phone. The majority of them are from her friends asking in several different ways if she is okay. The latest notifications catches her eye though. It’s an email back from the shelter saying they can set up a virtual tour of the shelter to, in their words, “help her find her new furever friend.” She laughs at the cute pun before confirming that 11am will work for her virtual appointment. She then replies to all her friends’ worried text with her good news.
Rey: I have a virtual appointment at the animal shelter to get myself a dog!!!!
Poe: It’s like that old saying: best way to get over a guy is to get a dog
Rey: That’s not the saying
Poe: And yet, it’s better advice than the original
Rey: …true
Finn: That’s so exciting!!!!!
Rose: !!!!!!!!
Hux: Send pictures when you get it
Poe: I’m so jealous though!!!!
Hux: Poe, you have a dog.
Poe: And…? Maybe Bebe wants a sibling
Finn: Bebe is an only child and you know it
Poe: How about we ask Bebe?
Poe: gfthvbggfvjy
Rose: ?????
Poe: That totally means yes
Finn: I just watched you boop your dog’s nose with your phone. You do not need another dog
Poe: Agree to disagree
Poe: Rey, ask them to boop all the doggo’s snoots so you can see their reactions
Rey: Solid advice. What else should I look for in my new pupper?
Hux: Ask if any are house broken
Rose: If they get along well with other dogs
Hux: Or cats
Finn: How energetic/ how much exercise it needs
Poe: If it can do any tricks
Hux: Guess you forgot to ask that one yourself Poe
Poe: what are you talking about? Bebe won me over with his best trick – loaf
Rose: So when he just lays down
Poe: HE LOOKS LIKE A LOAF OF BREAD AND IT IS ADORABLE! I WILL FIGHT ANYONE WHO SAYS OTHERWISE
Hux: Are they fixed? Also, any pre existing medical conditions
Poe: Do they like being dressed up or will they attempt to murder you for trying to put a hat on them?
Hux: I told you that Millie doesn’t like clothes
Poe: And I told you that I didn’t believe you actually tried
Rose: Yeah, but you could have stopped after your first attempt
Rey put her phone down and opened up her laptop to research what she would need for her new pet. She started filling up a cart at her local pet store. She could edit the sizes after she picked out the dog.
By the time 11am rolled around, she was a bundle of nerves. She opened up the link to the zoom call that the animal shelter had emailed to her. Immediately a smiling blonde appeared on the screen. “Hi, I’m Kaydel one of the volunteers here at the animal shelter. I’ll be taking you through your virtual tour and hopefully we can find you a new best friend. Now, Rey, it says here you are looking for a dog, correct? Did you have any preferences toward breed, size, or age?”
“Um, could you start with the ones that are having trouble being adopted or have been there the longest?” Rey asked. Growing up in a foster home, Rey knew what it was like to be unwanted and picked last. She wanted to give one of these dogs a chance she didn’t have.
“You must have a big heart,” Kaydel cooed. “Most people that come in will only look at the puppies. I have three dogs that fit that description, but don’t feel bad if none of them seem right for you. There are twenty dogs at this shelter and I’m more than willing to show all of them to you. First up, we would have Bella.” Kaydel turned the camera so that Rey could see a small shivering Chihuahua with a completely gray face. “We think she’s about ten years old, but we have no way of knowing. Stop me if you want to know more or see how a dog reacts to something.”
Rey thought the dog was cute, but it would probably be best if she could get something a little smaller. She imagined taking this dog to work with her and it getting stuck in some small place that she couldn’t reach. “Go on to the next one.”
“Next, we have Ringo.” The camera moved over to an underweight brown dog lying in the back of the cage. “He has diabetes, so he will require more attention and money than the others. The last one having trouble being adopted is Tiresias, but we’ve been calling her Tire. She’s only a year and a half blue heeler, but already has severe vision loss and will likely be completely blind in the future. She’s already been adopted and returned twice so please be very sure before adopting her.”
“Why was she returned?” Rey studied the cute black, brown, and blue dog that was jumping up and down in the cage.
“She’s a very high energy dog, but is a little hard to exercise her because of her vision. She also doesn’t like new people, and has been known to snap at people who she hasn’t been properly introduced to yet, but she hasn’t actually bitten anyone yet.” Rey knew this was her dog. They were just too similar, unwanted, afraid, abandoned when they didn’t fit a perfect mold, and funnily enough Rey had been known as a biter when she was a child. “The last family also reported that she had severe separation anxiety and couldn’t be left alone. Blue heelers as a breed are known to get very attached to one person.”
“She’s perfect!”
“Are you sure? Would you like to see a few others before deciding?” Kaydel asked turning the camera back to herself.
“No, I’ve decided. What’s the next steps?”
After Rey ends the call with Kaydel, she pulls up her email again to start filling out the paperwork. After that was finished and sent back, she decided to update the group. She debated using the group chat that included Ben, but after a moment’s hesitation pulled up the one from this morning instead.
Rey: I’ve picked out a dog and get to pick her up later today
Poe: I’ll drive you!!!!!
Poe: I want to see the puppy!!!!!
Rose: Send pics when you get her
Rey: Poe, I will take you up on that offer to drive me
Poe picked Rey up a few hours later. They drove to the pet store first and a worker brought Rey’s order right to the car when they pulled up. Next, they drove to the animal shelter where Rey texted Kaydel that she was outside. A few minutes later, Kaydel walked out with Tiresias.
“Okay, first, she needs to here you talking and smell you,” Kaydel told her.
Rey crouched a few feet in front of the dog and started cooing, “Hiya Tire, aren’t you a little cutie? Yes, you are. I’m Rey. I’m gonna be your new momma.” She slowly reached out her hand and let the dog sniff at it. “Yes, that’s a good girl. I’m not gonna hurt you. Yes, you’re a good girl, aren’t you?” When Tire had gotten a good sniff, she started to nuzzle into Rey’s hand.
“Well, it looks like she like you,” Kaydel commented with a smile.