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She had split up with him. Ben was laying on his bed, looking up at his posters on his bedroom wall. Thinking about her.
She had split up with him for the fourth time since they started dating and this time it was for real. She had said so herself, "I can't be with you anymore -- for real", before closing the door in his face.
She had split up with him three days before winter formal. He had been looking forward to it -- wanted to dance with her. How could she do that to him?
Ben didn't go to the winter formal. He was sitting at home, staring at the two tickets in his hand and wondering with whom she was dancing. Maybe Snap? Maybe Hux?
"She's playing games with you, man -- you deserve better," was what Poe told him right after the winter formal. But Ben couldn't stop thinking about her.
"Look kid, this will not be the last time you will get your heart broken. But I promise, you will get over it", was what Han told him after a few days of Ben moping around. But Ben thought about her nevertheless.
"Sweety, you are wonderful and she doesn't know what she is missing", was what Leia told him a week into Christmas break. But Ben still thought about her sometimes.
Ben watched movies and played video games with Poe. His dad and uncle Chewie showed him how to play poker (to his mothers disapproval). And somewhere in between he realized he'd stopped thinking about her.
When he went back to school after Christmas break there was a new girl in his class. Brown hair and eyes, lovely freckles and a smile that could drive away even the darkest clouds.
"Hey Ben," Poe was saying after class, standing next to the new girl. Leave it to Poe to make friends with everyone on the first day. "Have you met Rey?"
"No. I haven't", he said, answering her smile with a shy one. And in that moment he knew, that he couldn't and wouldn't stop thinking about her until the rest of his life.