The following Friday afternoon Ben's phone chimed with Rey's tone, indicating an incoming text.  He hadn't heard from her in the few days since she'd arrived in Denver.

'Hey Stupidhead, I'm baaaaaack!'

'Hey.  How was your 2nd trip?'  He asked.

'Long – and very stressful – I'll tell you more about it later.  But I need a night out.  Wanna go clubbing tomorrow night?  I feel the need to get loaded and let loose!'

'Not sure about that.  It's not really our thing.'  He replied.

'C'mon, Ben – please?  It'll be fun!  Live a little!' 😁

'Let me check with Kay.  I'll get back to you tonight.'

'Okay – let me know!' 🤞

'I need to talk to you about something.  Can we have lunch together on Monday?'

'You can tell me tomorrow.'

'No – it's a longer convo.  Monday?'

'Sure.  Let's confirm tomorrow.'  She replied.

'Okay.  Talk soon.'

'Bye!'

Ben had been thinking about what his Uncle had told him about Rey's parent's deaths – and what her adoptive father Obi had told him.  He'd tried searching the internet to see if he could find any info on the accident, but without any real details, dates or the location, he couldn't find anything.  There was no mention of any orphaned child named Rey in any of the stories he'd found.  Still, he wanted to make sure that there was nothing to the story that Obi had told Luke, and that Rey wasn't actually in any danger.

He chuckled about her recent spate of texts.  She wanted to go clubbing?  She must have had a really stressful week.  That was not something they'd all done together before, usually opting to just go to a pub or a sports bar for dinner and drinks when they did occasionally decide to go out.

Clubbing.  He wasn't sure how he felt about the idea.  Kay was definitely not into that – too quiet and introverted to enjoy those types of things – so the two of them had never gone to a dance club either.  However, he had to admit, with enough alcohol, it might actually be fun.

Smiling, he grabbed his phone again to call Kay.

****

Rey unlocked the door to their apartment and dragged her luggage inside.  It was still relatively early – only 4:30 in the afternoon, and although it was Friday, she wasn't surprised that Finn wasn't home yet.

After changing, unpacking and starting a load of laundry, she went rummaging around in the kitchen to find something to start for dinner.  Not finding much, she decided on a simple pasta with chicken and a salad, and decided to open a bottle or wine to enjoy while she was cooking.

She'd wanted to do something nice for Finn – wanted to show him that she cared, and that they were still partners in this relationship.  Lately, she'd been relying on him a lot to do the shopping, cooking, cleaning, etc.  While she was away she'd decided that those things were important to her new mindset of attentiveness on him, and that she needed to make sure that she carried her fair share of the responsibilities.

Also, she was not looking forward to the conversation they needed to have.  Although they'd spoken almost every night she was away, they'd really not talked about their argument just before she'd left.  It felt like it was still unresolved and she wanted to clear the air – and to apologize.  She had every intention of doing so over dinner.

She'd just finished her first glass of wine when she heard the apartment door open.  Walking over to him, she gave him a huge smile and wrapped him in a tight hug.  "Hey you."

"Hey.  Something smells good."

She gave him a soft kiss.  "Mmmm hmmm.  I thought I'd cook something – but pickin's were slim."

"Sorry."  He told her.  "I didn't get a chance to go to the market."

Waving her hand at him, she replied.  "Its okay. I found some chicken to thaw, so decided to make pasta and salad.  Want some wine?"

"Sure."  He gave her a kiss back.  "Let me change first.  I'll be back out in a minute."

"Okay.  Dinner's almost ready."

A few minutes later, they settled into their seats and began eating.  After a few beats of silence, Rey took a deep breath, and quietly started speaking.  "Finn.   I wanted to apologize."

"For what?"  He asked.

She flashed him a regretful smile.  "For everything.  For travelling so much, and for not really carrying my weight in this relationship recently."

His eyes widened, at a loss for words.  "I...um....okay."

"You were absolutely right to be angry with me when I left for Seattle.  I have been travelling far too much – and I'm sorry.  First thing Monday morning I'm going to go speak to my boss about hiring an assistant.  One that I can train on all of my systems – so they can backfill for me – and it doesn't always have to be me who travels when something goes wrong."

He put his fork down and looked down at his plate.  When his eyes flicked back up to hers they were shining.  "Rey, that would be awesome."  He took a deep breath.  "I've kind of felt lonely without you these past few months.  Because even when you've been here, you haven't really been here."

"I know."  She told him quietly.  "I've had a lot of time to think over the past few weeks.  And I realized that maybe I haven't really been present these past few months.  And I'm going to change that – starting right now."

His face lit up in a huge smile, and he reached across the table to clasp her hand.  "Me too.  I think that, maybe, we've gotten too comfortable with each other.  I mean, we've been together for two and a half years, and its just been easy to be comfortable with one another.  So maybe this was a wake-up call for us."

She nodded.  "I came to a similar conclusion – so I think you're probably right.  I don't want to lose you Finn.  Let's shake ourselves out of this."

He smiled happily and squeezed her hand again before turning his attention back to dinner.   Suddenly her phone dinged.  She picked it up and smiled at the screen.  "Remember how I told you that I needed a night out, and felt like going to a club tomorrow?"

"Yessssss...."  Finn said carefully.

"Well, Kay and Ben are in for tomorrow too!"  She told him happily.

"Great!  Sounds like fun!"

"I'm really looking forward to it."  She sighed.  "I feel like I need to get loaded and blow off some steam."  Smiling, she held out her wine glass to clink, before taking another sip.  "To us."  She said softly.

"To us."

****

"Uber's here."  Finn called out.  "Are you ready to go Rey?"

"Yes.  Two seconds!"  She replied, applying a coat of lipstick and fixing her hair one last time.  Checking herself in the mirror, she didn't think she looked half bad.  She was wearing a pair of black skinny jeans with a pretty belt and a cropped white shirt.  Her hair was mostly down, with only her bangs swept back and secured in a clip.  She'd added a few curls too.  Wanting to look nice, she'd also worn darker shadow and liner around her eyes, and a brighter lipstick.  Okay, I look like a girl.  Maybe even a pretty one.

Walking to the door, she stepped into her short, heeled black boots and looked up at Finn.  "Wow.  You look kind of nice."

She rolled her eyes.  "Gee, thanks Hon."

"You know what I mean."  He replied sheepishly.

Giving him a quick kiss, she smiled.  "Yeah, I do."

Ben and Kay's reactions were similar when she climbed into their Uber.  "Hi guys!"  She smiled across at them.  "I'm sooo excited!  Are you ready to have some fun tonight?"

"Maybe."  Ben shrugged. His eyes warmed and he smiled at her.  "You look really nice Rey."  

She gave him a genuine smile, before turning to raise a brow at Finn.  "Why thank you Ben.  What a nice thing to say."

Ben looked perplexed for a minute, before Rey explained.  "Finn kind of stumbled over his compliment when he saw me all prettied up."  She laughed.

Finn shook his head and looked over at Ben.  "Women."  He muttered.

"You do look really pretty Rey." Kay stressed.  "Don't let these uncouth brutes say otherwise."

"Hey!"  Ben countered.  "I told her she looked nice!"

"Okay, okay – thanks everyone!  Jeez, I wear a little more make-up and suddenly everyone makes such a big deal!"  Rey chuckled.

Once they arrived at the club, they immediately hit the bar to grab a couple of drinks before claiming a table.  Rey downed her first gin and tonic quickly, and set to work on her second.  The music was good, and the dance floor was getting more crowded as time went on.  She was almost finished her 2nd drink when one of her favourite songs started playing.  Squealing, she stood up.  "I love this song!  C'mon – we have to dance!"   Looking around at her friends, she realized that nobody was moving.  "Seriously?"  She asked.

Finn just shook his head.  "I'm gonna need at least one more before I dance."

Rey looked at Ben, who also shook his head.  "N'uh uh.  I don't dance."

Shifting her gaze the Kay, her eyes were pleading.  "Come on....please Kay?"

Kay looked out at the dance floor, then back at Rey, before shifting her gaze to Ben, and back to Rey once more.  "Um.  I don't really dance either."

"Awww.  C'mon Kay.  Its easy!"  She winked and smiled.  "And it'll get even easier if you finish your drink."

Looking down at her glass, she took a deep breath, picked it up, and chugged what was left.  "Okay, let's go."  She told Rey.

"Squeee!"  She yelped, grabbing Kay's hand and dragging her onto the dance floor.

Ben and Finn just rolled their eyes at each other as they watched the women leave.

Rey was ecstatic to have finally gotten Kaydel out onto the dance floor.  They started gingerly moving to the music, and after a few minutes, she could see Kay relax and start enjoying the beat, blending in with the mass of moving bodies on the floor.  The music was good, and the songs switched between upbeat, sweat inducing tunes to more mellow, easily flowing beats.  It was energetic and definitely fun.

After a few songs, Finn joined them, moving synchronously with her.  A wide smile was plastered on Kay's face as she moved along with them, becoming more daring and pronounced with her body movements.  A few more songs passed, and Rey glanced across the dance floor, watching Ben, watching them.  At that point she decided that enough was enough.  "I'll be right back."  She told Finn, and headed over to their table where Ben was sitting.  Stopping in front of him, she held out her hand.  "Come on, Ben.  Let's go."

He looked panicked.  "You want me to dance?  With all of those people out there?  No thank you."

She shook her head.  "Why are you so stubborn.  Look at your girl out there!  She's enjoying herself – having fun!  But she'd have more fun if you were out there with her.  So.  Come.  On."

"I am not dancing Rey.  And I still haven't finished my drink."  He replied.

"Oh, for fuck's sake – don't give me that as a bullshit excuse.  Just down the fucking thing and let's go!"  She tugged on his hand and gave him a glare.

He glared back, clearly contemplating what to do.  Coming to a decision, he tipped his drink back to drain it, and stood.  "Fine.  But if I make a fool of myself I'm going to kill you."

Smiling hugely, she pulled him onto the dance floor.  "You won't make a fool of yourself.  Everyone out there is drunk – no one cares.  They're all too busy enjoying themselves.  You will too!"  She promised.

When they reached the spot where Finn and Kay were dancing, she let go of his hand.  He just stood there for a few seconds, looking around, not sure what to do.  Rey leaned up to shout in his ear.  "Just kind of stomp your feet a little – and move them back and forth to the music like everyone else is."  When he awkwardly started shuffling his feet, Rey moved forward to grasp his hips in her hands to get him to move them a bit.  "Like this."  She looked up into his still-wary eyes as she moved his hips back and forth.  Her hands were still on his hips as she shuffled a little closer.  "Just relax."   He nodded at her. " And bend your elbows a little so you don't look like a stick!"  She smiled, grabbing his hands and changing their position slightly.

He'd felt so uncomfortable, trying to mimic the movements of the other people dancing on the floor.  Rey's enthusiasm was unwaveringly contagious though, and when she'd grabbed his hips and shuffled closer, he'd suddenly relaxed and felt more comfortable.  He didn't know what to do with his hands though, and his alcohol hazed brain suddenly thought they'd feel more comfortable on her hips too.  But he must've looked awkward, because she'd grabbed his hands and showed him how to hold them as she continued to dance with him.  Once again, his discomfort faded and he smiled at her, dancing with her in front of him, with his hands held in hers.  This was kind of fun!

She watched as Ben slowly relaxed and got into the beat of the music.  He continued to move as she'd told him to, and she gave him a bright smile.  "That's the way.  You're getting the hang of it."  She said as she shooed Kay closer to him and danced herself over to Finn.

Finn leaned over to speak into her ear.  "I can't believe you got the big guy onto the floor!  And he's actually dancing!"

She shrugged and laughed.  "I know!  I think he secretly wanted to – he just needed someone to push him!"

They spent the next half hour on the dance floor, enjoying themselves more than they thought they would have.  Eventually, they all became overheated, and headed back to the bar to cool down for a bit and to have another few rounds of drinks.  After downing them, they all moved back onto the floor to dance some more.

Rey was enjoying herself immensely, having needed to just let loose and dance to the music with friends.  Her stress melted away.  They'd all drank several rounds, and were now getting pretty drunk.  All of them would likely have wicked hangovers the next morning, but if that's what it took for them – especially Ben and Kay - to loosen up and have some fun, she figured that feeling like shit for a few hours was probably a small price to pay.

She turned to glance at Ben again, watching him dance with Kay, and smiled.  A brilliant and successful businessman, he was a bit introverted and shy around new people, but funny, sweet, and considerate with his friends.  He was also the kindest, gentlest, big oaf that she knew.  To top it all off, he was completely unaware of his own appeal.  Rey had already seen countless women ogle him tonight.  Sometimes when they went out places, some even blatantly threw themselves at him.  She used to bug him about it – joking that one day he'd probably find a pair of panties stuffed into the pocket of his suit jacket with a phone number scrawled across them.  Seriously, women everywhere made fools of themselves trying to get his attention.  But he was to this day completely and totally oblivious to it all.

She recalled that when they were all on vacation together six months ago, a woman wrote her room number on her key card and surreptitiously slipped it under his drink when he wasn't looking.  When he noticed, he'd held it up and looked at it in complete bafflement.  "What the fuck is this?"  He'd asked.  Rey had quickly grabbed it, not wanting Kay to see it, and quietly explained that the pretty blonde who he'd been innocently chatting with a few minutes earlier was trying to get him to her room.  When he'd asked why, she'd burst out laughing, before whispering in his ear.  "Because she wants to fuck you, Stupidhead."  He'd just stared at her in shock.  "But why me?"  He'd asked again.  "I don't know."  Rey had teased.  "Maybe she thinks you're hot and wants to climb your tree-like ass?"  After that, Rey had teased him mercilessly for months about being clueless when it came to how women saw him.

She smiled again.  She loved that he was so naïve about his looks – about his body, and his entire being – and thought it was hilarious when women made fools of themselves over him.

They'd continued to dance off and on for another hour or so.  Over the course of the evening, a couple of women had tried to move in on Ben, rudely stepping in front of Kaydel.  Each time, Rey had looked over at Kay, who just rolled her eyes and nodded – their typical communication to indicate that Rey was going to 'save him'.  This tended to happen pretty often – with women usually somehow trying to get Ben's attention – even when Kay was right there.  While Rey typically found it amusing, their behavior tonight on the dance floor had simply pissed her off.  Both women had been exceptionally rude to Kay, and that was one thing that Rey simply couldn't tolerate.

As usual, Ben was clueless as to what was happening.  Tonight, in his alcohol induced bliss, he was even more oblivious than usual – only aware that there were lots of people smiling and dancing near him.  Both times Rey pretty much had to nudge the woman in question out of the way, wrapping her arms around Ben's neck as she stepped in close to him – to make it seem as if she was his date.  The first time, he'd stared at her in confusion, as his hands had automatically gone to her hips.  Rey had continued dancing with him like that, staying that way until the woman had moved away and left them alone.  Leaning up, she spoke into his ear.  "Sorry – she was being rude to Kay."  Smiling, she pulled back and patted him gently on the cheek before letting him go.

Ben had been startled when Rey had suddenly pressed herself into him and wrapped her arms around his neck.  She was close enough that he could smell her scent – something light and floral - and he suddenly felt a little lightheaded.  He'd looked at her in bewilderment for a moment before she leaned even closer and said something to him.  His brain couldn't quite process it though, because something like electricity was still racing through his body at her close contact.  All he could do was slowly nod as she stepped away, and he moved closer to Kay once again to continue dancing.

The 2nd time it happened, he'd been no less surprised, but was at least a little more prepared for the jolt that went through him at the feeling of her pressed against him.  What the fuck was that?  He knew he was really drunk, but he couldn't quite make sense of it.  Shaking his head to clear it, he looked back over at Rey who was once again dancing in front of Finn.  He noticed her head turn as she stole a glance at him over her shoulder and gave him a small smile.

He couldn't stop turning to stare at her.  Something seemed different about her tonight.  It was like she seemed – prettier – than usual.  He knew that she'd taken extra care with her appearance – but that wasn't it.  He couldn't seem to put his finger on it.  However, he knew that he'd consumed a lot of alcohol – 6 or maybe 8 drinks? – and figured that must be why she seemed different.

Eventually, they'd all had enough drinking and dancing, and decided to call an Uber to take them home.  They climbed in to the mini-Van that showed up, and settled into the cozy seats.

Still very drunk, Ben was excitedly talking non-stop, confessing that he'd never danced at a club before.  Rey smiled at his drunken enthusiasm.  He definitely looked good in the tight black Henley and black jeans he was wearing.  Good enough for those two morons to have tried to make a move, even when he was clearly there with someone else.

"How do you get me to do these things?"  He asked Rey, a drunken grin on his face.  Kay was half asleep, snuggled into the crook of his arm.

Rey shrugged.  "Good music and lots of alcohol are usually pretty good incentives."  She laughed.  "The important question is, did you have fun?"

The grin was still plastered on his face.  "I was really self-conscious at first – I don't like people watching me.  But then I thought 'fuck it' and just kind of let go."

"Good for you.  See?  Aren't you both glad you agreed to come along?"  Rey asked, glancing at Kay.

"Yes Rey, it was actually fun.  Thanks for inviting us."  Kaydel just smiled at her sleepily before snuggling back down into Ben's side.

Rey looked at Kay's happy but sleepy smile.  Someone's gettin' lucky tonight.  She thought.  If Ben could keep it up, she giggled.  Looking away, she covered her grin with her hand.  He was really drunk.  Actually, she didn't think she'd ever seen him that drunk before.  He simply might not have it in him.  Looking over at him once again, she let her gaze wander over him and decided that he wasn't the type of man to not have it in him – ever.

Noticing the smirk she was still trying to hide, he questioned her.  "What?"

"Nothing."  She said innocently.

His eyes narrowed, as he focused on her, aware that she was hiding something.  She just shrugged and turned away.  Finn was snoring lightly on the seat next to her, his head lolling to the side with his mouth hanging open.  Reaching out, she gently nudged his chin upward to close it, and sighed.  Well, looks like I'm definitely not getting lucky tonight.

She'd have thought that after their candid heart-to-heart last night that they would've had sex, but they didn't.  They had watched a movie after dinner, cozied up together on the couch, but Finn had fallen asleep half-way through it, and eventually stumbled off to bed.  She hadn't really been disappointed then, but had figured that after their night out, they'd have a little fun when they got home.... But Finn was also really drunk, as well as sleepy, so apparently there wouldn't be any bedroom activities tonight either.

Glancing back at Ben, she noticed he was watching her with an amused smirk on his face too.  "What?"  She asked.

"Oh, nothing....."  He chuckled, his eyes telling her that he knew exactly what she'd been thinking about.

Fuck.  She could feel herself blush.  "Touche."  She told him quietly, causing him to laugh.

"Don't forget about lunch on Monday."  He reminded her.

"Oh yeah... meet at PJ's?"  She suggested.  PJ's was a local pub located not too far from their offices, only a few stops away on the T.

"Sure."

"What's up?  Give me a hint?"  She prodded.

He shook his head.  "Nope.  Don't worry though – its probably nothing.  Okay?"

She narrowed her eyes.  "Fine.  The suspense is probably going to kill me though."

The Uber came to a stop, having pulled up at Rey and Finn's place.  She waved at the driver, opened the door, and climbed out.  "Come on Sleeping Beauty."  She called to Finn, tugging on his arm.  "We're home now."   He mumbled something incoherent, and climbed out, letting Rey guide him.  "'Night, Ben – 'night Kay."

"Like yours, mine is also sound asleep."  He chuckled.  "Good night Rey.  See you Monday."  He leaned forward a bit.  "And Rey – thanks. I....I did have fun."

She smiled softly, struggling to hold Finn up on her shoulder.  "You're welcome Ben.  Don't forget to drink a couple of glasses of water before you go to bed.  See you Monday."  She said, closing the door and heading inside.