Chapter Text
“Double fuck!” Rey dropped her backpack and large Hello Kitty tote bag with a huff. She had practically jogged across campus to get to the guest lecture on time. Holy stars, she’d made it.
Her hazel eyes widened looking at the empty hallway. Instead of a crowd of unruly art students, there was only one other person waiting in the hallway and he didn’t look like he was there for the same event. She dashed back to the main entrance of the Illium School of Fine Art building. Flyers for art openings, bikes for sale, campus safety hotlines. She scanned for official postings. Zip, zero. Don’t panic, don’t panic.
She caught a glimpse of herself in the display window outside the ceramics studio. Dear god! She paused to pull her hair out of the braids she always wore at work, pleased her chestnut hair fell in waves around her face. Rey straightened the neckline of her soft gray wool sweater and yanked off the children's library staff lanyard, stuffing it into the pockets of her jeans. She raced back to the door of the large lecture hall.
She whipped out her phone and texted her best friend, Rose.
Reybees: Where r u
Rose8me: ?????
Reybees: the dickshit’s lecture
Rose8me: doesn’t start for half hour
ReyBees: well F me sideways
With a sigh, she slid against the wall. Letting the tension roll off her, she took a moment to meditate. Be in the present. Be in the present. Be in the present. Damn, she was too hungry to think straight. With shaky fingers, she tore off the wax paper of a peanut butter sandwich and took a massive bite before she realized her water bottle had leaked in her tattered lunchbox. She opened it to find waterlogged pretzels and an orange floating in water.
Shit. Shit. Shit.
She tried to carefully pour the contents into the trash but the orange fell on the floor, rolling slowly down the hall.
The stranger laughed, looking up from his pristine macbook.
She surveyed him quickly. 30’s, expensive European-looking shoes, nice blazer, nice wide shoulders, nice everything. Damn. "Am I amusing you?"
"Slightly." He didn’t look up from his screen.
Rey squinted at him. He was too well dressed to be a student and she didn’t recognize him from art openings. She worked weekends at the Art Library and knew all the faculty visually, if not by name. This guy was probably a university bigwig. PR or some overfed, unnecessary branch of bureaucracy. "Are you here to see this a-hole?"
He continued to type. "I am."
She guessed he was only here because his favorite Starbucks was too crowded. "Have you heard about his work?"
"Yes, I have." He stretched a long arm to grab her orange. "Still want this?” He rolled it back to her.
She pursed her lips, trying to decide. She was starving. The food was supposed to last her until tomorrow morning. She had planned to save the orange for breakfast. "Sure."
He paused his work, as though remembering something. He reached into his black Prada nylon messenger bag. After a moment, he pulled out 2 Cliff protein bars, tossing them to her. "Peace offering?"
Her stomach lurched. "Are they vegan?"
He shrugged and looked back down at his screen. "Check the wrapper."
She frowned at the wrapper before taking a bite. "Thank you."
The lecture hall door opened and Hux, her department head, peaked out. "Hi Rey. Oh hey there, Solo, I didn’t realize you were already here. Come in and get settled."
His dark eyes flashed to her for only a moment before he stood up and strode purposefully inside.
Rey inhaled a third of a protein bar and tucked the rest in her tote bag. Her stomach clutched. She took a long sip of water from her old Gatorade bottle. Over time, she had learned to eat slowly, even when she was starving. The aching pain behind her eyes dissipated. She would try to dry out the sandwich and pretzels on the radiator.
☾
Her face lit up when her friends, Rose and Finn came in, arguing about their thesis show. Finn had taken the first slot in the gallery schedule but Rose was advocating for them to show together. Rose had long-term plans to for their off again, on again relationship.
Rey hugged them as though they hadn't spend their entire morning together in an endless critique. "Do you think there will be food?"
"It's lecture, Rey. Not an opening," Rose reminded her.
Finn sighed in simple irritation. "Hux requires his class to attend. It's gonna be packed."
"Oh my god, I talked to him." Rey whispered.
Rose scanned the hallways. "Where is Solo? Is he, like, totally handsome?"
Finn bristled, standing a little taller. Even though they were not currently defining themselves as a couple, he still expected to be the center of Rose's universe. "He’s a monster, Rose. He's closing his uncle’s art gallery."
Rose rolled her eyes. "Galleries aren’t meant to last, dummy."
"You sound like Hux," Rey muttered.
Poe arrived, bike helmet in hand. "They’re interviewing Solo for the painting job."
"He’s not even a painter!" Finn complained.
Rey rolled her orange between her palms. "I’ll quit school if they hire him."
The doors to the lecture hall opened. Rey squinted. It seemed darker than usual inside.