Rey worked at Hoth's Ice Crème Shoppe on the Takodana Boardwalk every summer. She had worked there each summer for the past three years.

When normal people came home from college for the summer, they generally spent their days lounging on the beach and partying into the wee hours of the morning. Rey, however, did not.

Rey spent her summers working as much as she could to save up money for her following semester of college so she could work minimal hours while in school.

Rey knew she was more than capable of finding another local job that was closer to her field of interest, mechanical engineering, however she had grown quite attached to her Hoth family.

Rey had met her closest friends, Finn and Poe, when she began working at Hoth's. Finn and Poe went to a university four hours south of her college, so their time together was generally limited to summer break and holidays. Finn's Aunt Maz owned Hoth's, so he had familial obligations to remain on the staff roster. Poe and Rey followed suit by the laws of friendship, as Finn swore up and down that his ice cream slinging skills depended heavily on his best friends.

Rey enjoyed working at Hoth's Ice Crème Shoppe. She loved the guaranteed relief from the heat every day that she worked and the unlimited supply of free ice cream. She loved Maz and Finn and Poe and the giant, plastic ice cream sundae bench that sat outside the front window of the shop. She even loved the stray orange cat, which they had ceremoniously named BeeBee, that waited at the back door most nights for scraps of food.

Rey, however, did not love working with Ben Solo.

Ben Solo began working at Hoth's last summer.

He was arrogant and moody and downright rude.

Unfortunately, despite Rey's constant pleas, Maz would not fire him. In her words, she "owed a favour to his father, and didn't have the heart to go back on her word." She promised that he was "really a good kid". Or a good tall, gangly man-baby. Whatever. Poe and Finn were also no help for her case, because they had gone to high school with Ben. Poe repeatedly tried to explain to Rey that he was really an okay guy, he just had a tendency to be incredibly blunt by spewing out his unfiltered thoughts. As if that was an excuse of some sort.

After meeting a wall of utter resistance from those three, Rey had begrudgingly made countless attempts to establish a civil acquaintanceship with Ben. However, Ben seemed to be hell-bent on driving her mad.

For example, Ben's first day of work at Hoth's..

Rey bounced back and forth on the balls of her feet as she impatiently waited for the new employee to come in for his first shift. She had never met him before, and she was eager to see who she would be spending her summer with. Maz was a wise woman that had a knack for recruiting only the best staff, so she trusted her judgement.

Her eyes darted up as the door chimed to signal that someone had entered. A tall, young man had walked in, and he was shuffling up to the counter with a bored look upon his face. Rey gave him a discreet once over, and thought to herself,

Well, he's cute

She gave him her biggest smile and stuck her hand out as he reached the counter.

"Hi! You must be Ben! I'm Rey."

Ben stared at her hand with an unimpressed face and shrugged.

"There's really no point in playing the friendly game here. I don't plan on sticking around too long."

Rey's smile fell as she mentally crossed out her prior assessment

Actual asshole

"By the way, you have a huge chocolate stain on your shirt. It looks kind of gross. You should probably take care of that."

King asshole of asshole land

And yet, despite Ben's words, he had stuck around. Rey suspected it was because no other manager would put up with him. Maz could really be a pushover sometimes.

What drove her even more mad was the fact that Ben was almost pleasant when working with Finn and Poe.

For instance, last year..

A sweaty, loud line of beachgoers had flooded Hoth's, trailing out the door just as predicted for the mid-afternoon rush.

Poe and Ben were double-fisting ice cream scoops, filling cones and cups at unrivaled speeds. Poe and Ben often worked the scooping area during rushes, because they had a strangely flawless work flow.

Finn manned the register, punching in numbers and taking wads of sweaty cash.

When Ben was not working, Rey usually tag-teamed scooping with Poe. However, Ben had a rude habit of insisting that Rey cover all other areas of the shop (soft serve, restocking, wiping down tables) while he was working because he could scoop faster than her.

Rey rolled her eyes as she stood near the soft serve machine and watched Ben laugh at a joke Poe had just told. Honestly, the biggest Ben response HER jokes ever received was an unflattering sneer.

"Rey! I've gotta run to the washroom. Go help Ben?"

Rey shot Poe a disbelieving look, as he very well knew that she and Ben did not work well as a scooping team. However, Poe simply grinned and said,

"Just kill him with kindness."

And so Rey had stalked over to Ben and picked up one of the scoops that Poe had been using. Ben's face fell as he glanced over and saw that Rey had replaced Poe.

"Really? I could just do this faster myself."

Rey was about to shoot him a withering glare but, remembering Poe's words, she gave him a toothy smile instead. Instead of addressing the customer that was waiting to be served, Ben grimaced as he stared at Rey and blurted out,

"Ugh. You have something in your teeth! Gross. Can you take care of that before we start losing customers!?"

The aforementioned glare settled onto Rey's face as she quickly ducked down and looked at her reflection in the glossy steel of the ice cream freezer, only to find that her teeth were spotless.

Overall, Ben was never blatantly cruel to Rey. If he crossed that line, Poe and Finn had offhandedly stated on multiple occasions that they would take care of it. Instead, Ben chose to carefully toe the line on a daily basis, seemingly doing everything in his power to make her loathe him.

Rey's lungs burned and her legs ached as she pedaled hard, racing her bike down the side streets that led to the Takodana Boardwalk. It was her first day back at Hoth's and she couldn't wait to see Finn and Poe.

Her tires squealed in protest as she braked hard and left her bike behind the shop. She strolled in through the back door and swiped a clean apron off of the wall, heading to the front of the shop with a smile on her face.

"That'll be five dollars."

Rey's smile melted off of her face at an alarmingly fast rate as she heard his voice. She peered over at the cash register to seen none other than Ben Solo standing there, handing a towel-clad customer their change.

She bit her tongue and took a few deep breaths as he turned to stare at her, their silence punctuated by the squelching of the beachgoer's wet flip flops.

"I thought you weren't going to be home from university for another two weeks, Solo?"

Ben shrugged.

"Sorry to burst your bubble, sunshine."

Rey rolled her eyes and stalked past Ben, eyes zeroing in on the paper schedule tacked to the wall near the office door, while Ben called after her,

"I asked Maz if I could work today and she switched the schedule! However, I do wish she would have put me with Finn or Poe instead…"

Rey closed her eyes and took deep breaths again as Ben interjected before she could even investigate the cruel piece of paper. She sighed,

"Lucky me…"

The early afternoon passed by, quite shockingly, without incident. Ben and Rey communicated minimally, only speaking out loud when absolutely necessary. Even the announcement of their respective bathroom breaks was nothing more than a huff and a glare.

At five o'clock, the shop door chimed and Poe strolled in. Rey heaved a sigh of relief as a large grin spread across her face. Poe sauntered up behind the counter and threw an arm around Rey, giving her a playful grin.

"How was your first day back, sweetheart?"

Rey stole a glance at Ben, who quickly turned away as they locked eyes, and grumbled,

"Fine. Just fine."

Poe smirked.

"That's my girl. I promise tomorrow will be better, it'll be me, you, and Finn!"

As if on cue, the door chimed once more and Finn bustled in. He squeezed Rey in a bone-crushing hug and ruffled her hair, despite her protests, before heading to the back to grab an apron. Poe then addressed both Rey and Ben while straightening his shiny new 'Assistant Manager' badge and said,

"Well guys, you can both go home now!"

Rey pouted, wishing she had been scheduled to work the evening shift instead.

"Thanks Poe. Call me later if you guys don't stay open too late!"

Rey exited out the back with Ben trailing a few steps behind her. She had long since given up on attempting to exchange pleasantries with him, hence why she hopped onto her bike without so much as a 'goodbye'.

Ben, however, seemed to have different plans.

"Rey."

Rey's feet froze mid-pedal, and she planted one foot back on the ground as she turned to look at him.

"…..yes?"

"Um..."

Ben hesitated, running a hand through his hair as he glanced down at his feet. Rey, meanwhile, grew impatient with the short yet awkward silence.

"What is it, Ben?"

Ben glanced back up at her, an unreadable expression on his face.

"Nevermind. Um, your hair looks like a bird's nest right now. You should really do something about that if you're going to go riding around in public."

Rey's eyes widened and then narrowed as the corners of her mouth turned downward into a frown.

"You're such a dick!"

Two weeks.

Ben Solo had not spoken to Rey in two whole weeks.

And in those two weeks, Ben and Rey had worked together for 8 out of her 10 shifts. And yet they had managed to avoid using any words at all for the entirety of those shifts.

Poe and Finn had caught on to Ben and Rey's new hostile dynamic and took advantage of it to the fullest.

"Rey, can you please ask Ben to make a chocolate sundae?"

Rey glanced at Ben, who had not looked up to acknowledge her nor Poe. She stared at him for a few more moments, before sassily stabbing an ice cream scoop into the chocolate bucket in front of Ben and stalking away.

"Ben, could you please go help Rey grab a new box of cones from the back? I don't think she's going to be able to reach them."

Rey stood on her tiptoes, the pathetic stool underneath her feet rocking precariously as she wiggled her fingers in an attempt to reach the blue box on the top shelf. She almost kicked Ben in the face in surprise as he drug both her and the stool two feet to the left without warning, and proceeded to casually reach up and swipe down the box of cones.

This silent standoff had made Rey's current situation all the more miserable and frustrating.

Just three minutes ago, she had entered the walk-in freezer to grab a new bucket of strawberry ice cream.

One minute after that, she had heard the untrustworthy freezer door slam shut. She had whipped around to see Ben standing there, gawking at the door in horror. Her jaw had dropped as she remembered the rusty, broken handle mechanism on the outside of the door that Poe had promised he would get fixed last week.

Currently, they were both still standing there, staring at the door.

"REALLY?"

Rey clapped her hand to her mouth as she broke the silence, silently cursing herself for being the first to give in. Normally, she would have expected Ben to smirk. However, he was still staring at the door in horror.

They both rushed to the door in unison and began banging their fists on it, yelling for Poe and Finn. Unfortunately, it was the after-dinner rush, meaning that Poe and Finn wouldn't even be near the back of the store to hear them for at least another ten minutes.

"This is your fault."

Rey's head whipped around to stare at Ben incredulously.

"Excuse me?!"

"I came back here to see what was taking you so long. Three customers were impatiently asking for strawberry and I had to lie and tell them you were an incompetent new hire that probably got lost looking for the walk-in freezer."

Rey crossed her arms and attempted to frown, but her mouth refused to cooperate as her teeth began to chatter. She settled for turning away from Ben, shaking and glaring at one of the frost-covered walls instead.

She stood there shivering for a few more moments before she felt something soft being draped over her arms. She looked at her shoulders to see a black zip-up sweatshirt dangling from them.

Ben's black zip-up sweatshirt.

Rey spun around to look at him, but he had already turned to face the opposite wall.

"Thanks…"

He acknowledged her with a dismissive 'mmph'

Despite being the President of the Ben Solo Anti-Fan Club, she slowly put her arms inside the arm holes of the sweatshirt and zipped it up.

It was very large on her.

She looked ridiculous.

And, unfortunately, it actually smelled quite good.

Poe had let Rey and Ben go home after he finally freed them from the freezer approximately eleven minutes later, partially because he felt bad but mostly because the boardwalk had essentially cleared out after the rush ended.

Ben had left the shop without so much as a word to Rey, who was still wearing his sweatshirt. Rey awkwardly rocked back and forth, putting her hands in the pockets of the sweatshirt as Finn and Poe glanced at her curiously.

Her fingers brushed across a wallet. Ben's wallet.

Approximately two minutes later, Rey found herself pedaling quickly in the direction that she knew Ben walked home every day.

"Ben!"

Ben wasn't too far up ahead and yet he did not stop walking, although Rey was almost positive that he had heard her.

She grumbled as she pedaled faster and cut in front of him before skidding to a stop on the sidewalk. Ben stumbled slightly as he came to a halt and looked down at her with an annoyed expression.

"What do you want, Rey?"

Rey gave him a sour look as she fished his wallet out.

"Idiot."

His eyes softened momentarily as he took his wallet from her hands. Rey's fingers twitched as Ben's fingers seemed to linger over hers for just a millisecond too long. Then, his eyes trailed down below her face.

"Are you staring at my chest?!"

Ben scoffed.

"You're still wearing my sweatshirt."

Rey huffed in response.

"You stalked out of work like a damn madman before I could even take it off!"

Her fingers shook slightly as she angrily began to pull down the zipper. Ben's hand shot out and covered hers as he muttered,

"Just keep it for now. It's chilly tonight and you live further than I do."

And with that, he quickly pulled his hand away and side-stepped past her, continuing on his journey home.

The following month and a half passed by almost peacefully. Rey worked enjoyable shifts with Finn and Poe, and almost amicable shifts with Ben.

Amicable, meaning they had graduated to speaking in single words and short sentences for the most part.

Ben's neutral demeanor took a turn one Thursday afternoon as the door chimed to announce the arrival of a new customer.

Ben visibly stiffened beside Rey at the scooping area as the red-headed man walked toward them.

"I'll take care of this one. Can you go and grab some more plastic lids?"

Rey shot him a quizzical look before shrugging and heading to the back.

"Hux."

The red-headed man gave Ben a smug smile as he appraised Ben's ice cream-stained apron.

"Ben! What a surprise to see you here. When you said you spent your summers at home working, I never imagined you were working in such a very COOL place."

Ben glared at his college friend Hux. College friend was a very loose term, which Ben roughly defined as a forced acquaintance that was in all of his classes, whom he could conveniently copy notes from. Hux was the last person he would ever imagine coming to the beach of all places.

Ben had planned on ringing him up himself, because he didn't want Rey to have the unfortunate experience of meeting Hux. However, his plan failed miserably as two giggling teenagers entered the shop at the precise moment that Rey came back out with the lids. She strode over to the cash register without hesitation.

Ben's eyes narrowed as he watched Hux out of the corner of his eye while scooping an awful cotton candy and chocolate chip concoction for the two loud nuisances on the other side of the counter.

"And who might you be?"

Rey raised an unimpressed eyebrow at the red-headed man as she wiggled the nametag on her shirt between two fingers.

"Barbara," she deadpanned.

Hux looked momentarily confused before he chuckled and handed her a ten dollar bill.

"Rey? What a gorgeous name."

Rey tried to hold back a snort as the man ran a hand over his snobbily-styled hair. She punched in the price for the sundae that was sitting on the counter beside her and grabbed the man's change from the cash drawer.

Hux's hand shot out as Rey went to hand him a few wrinkled dollar bills and he leaned in with intentions of pressing his lips to the back of her hand.

"Back off."

A larger hand clamped over Hux's before he could touch Rey's, squeezing quite hard judging by the pained expression on his face.

Hux pulled his hand away and shot Ben a dirty look. Then, he looked from Rey, to Ben, to Rey, and back to Ben again. The dirty look was replaced with a devilish grin.

"Ben….Ben….is THIS the girl you're obse-"

Ben's face flushed as he quickly picked up the ice cream sundae and the crumpled dollar bills and shoved them into Hux's hands, smearing whipped cream on Hux's linen shirt in the process. Ben blurted out "BYE!," whilst Hux's face turned an angry red as he spun on his heel and stalked out of the shop, sundae and money in hand.

Ben and Rey did not address the elephant in the room for the remaining two hours and thirty seven minutes of their shift.

Later than evening, Rey found herself gliding down the boardwalk on a late night bike ride. She slowed down to a stop, planting one of her feet on the ground, as she gazed at the still-lit Ferris wheel looming at the end of the pier.

"Stalking me?"

Rey was shaken out of her momentary stupor by the voice that spoke. His voice.

"Really, Solo?"

She turned to her right to see Ben grinning at her from the bench that he was sitting on. Grinning. Actually grinning. She couldn't help but take a mental note that this was probably the first time he had ever actually smiled at her.

Ben shrugged and patted the empty space on the bench beside him. Rey quirked an eyebrow before slowly approaching, leaning her bicycle against the railing before apprehensively taking a seat where his hand had been resting just moments before.

Rey's mind whirred as she sat beside him, the air between them buzzing with a strange current. She wondered if he could feel it, too. A few more seconds passed before she finally broke the silence.

"So...is this a truce?"

Ben heaved a dramatic sigh as he turned to look at her.

"Are you still wearing my sweatshirt?"

Rey's eyes widened and her cheeks burned as she looked down and realized she had grabbed Ben's sweatshirt instead of her own before leaving the house. Although, she had actually intentionally chosen his, reasoning that it was more comfortable for a bike ride. It's not like she had been planning on having a late night meeting with said sweatshirt's owner on the damn boardwalk.

Ben chuckled, yet another Ben-reaction that Rey had never been an immediate audience to.

"It's fine. We may be mortal enemies, but I wouldn't want you to freeze to death on these breezy summer nights."

Rey proceeded to roll her eyes at his comment.

"Says the guy who started this war!"

Ben's brows furrowed at her comment as his jaw slackened slightly.

"Excuse me?"

Rey shrugged as she matter-of-factly said,

"You made your distaste for me and my chocolate-stained shirt very clear on that sunny afternoon last summer."

Ben frowned as he protested,

"I was having a bad day!"

"Seems like you have had over three hundred bad days since since then…"

Ben let out a huff.

"I literally HEARD you complaining about me to Maz in the office the next day!"

Embarrassment settled over her features as Ben continued.

"And then you proceeded to complain to Poe and Finn, which I ALSO overheard. Because you're terrible at whispering."

Rey crossed her arms over her chest.

"But I was complaining because you were RUDE!"

Ben gritted his teeth in frustration.

"I was RUDE because my father had just DIED and my overbearing mother had FORCED me to take on a summer job to distract me."

And with that, Rey's face fell and her eyes softened.

"Ben…I didn't kn-"

Ben cut her off, a serious look crossing his face.

"Look, Rey. I'm not that great at making friends. Or acquaintances, for that matter. The last thing I wanted to do was work at a goddamn ice cream shop, but I figured working with Finn and Poe would be a safe start to keeping my awful moods in check. Plus, Maz insisted. She wouldn't take no for an answer. The moment I walked into the shop and looked at you, you took my goddamn breath away. So you know what I did? I fucked it up as soon as possible, because I wasn't initially planning on staying in town all summer and I knew getting to know you would wreck those plans."

"Ben…"

"No. Listen. So after my first day at work, I went home. I realized I was a Grade-A asshole and I wanted to make it up to you. It wasn't your fault that I stumbled through the door with a shitload of baggage. So I came into work the next day, when I wasn't even scheduled, just to apologize to you for being such a jerk. That's when I heard you complaining about me to Maz."

At this point, most of the colour had drained from Rey's face. Ben continued,

"That really bummed me out, and I vented in a true Ben Solo fashion by being even ruder to you the following week. It didn't help that you didn't even bother to wait until my days off to gripe about me in loud whispers to Finn and Poe. I may have started us off on the wrong foot, but you didn't waste any precious time trying to get me fired."

Rey stared down at her feet, biting her lip.

"I'm sorry, Ben. About this…about your father…about-"

"Don't apologize, Rey. You're….amazing. But I've got issues. I don't blame you for treating me the way that you did. I don't deserve kindness from someone like you."

At that, Ben sighed and stood up. He turned to walk away, but was stopped as a small hand gripped his and pulled him back down onto the bench.

He glanced over at Rey, who was stoically looking out at the dark, tumbling waves of the ocean. She did not turn to look at him as she loosened her grip on his hand slightly, but left her fingers curled around his.

They sat there in silence for another twenty-two minutes, hand in hand, until Rey sighed and mumbled that she had better head home. She had sped off on her bicycle before Ben could interject.

Rey lie in bed that night, staring at the ceiling, eyes wide as the fleshy gears in her brain spun incessantly.

When she had finally rolled over to succumb to sleep at four o'clock in the morning, she found herself unconsciously tucking her face against the soft sleeve of the black sweatshirt that she was still wearing.

Rey rubbed the sleep from her eyes as she pedaled to work for her eleven o'clock shift, her body protesting the minimal amount of sleep she had gotten the night before.

The hours she spent sleeping could hardly be considered rest, as her dreams were occupied by a particular raven-haired somebody.

Her stomach lurched with unease as she remembered she was scheduled to work with Ben that morning. She had no idea what she would even say to him.

It became apparent that her need for proper words was not necessary when she entered through the back door of the shop and heard Finn's cheerful voice coming from the front of the store. She quickly darted up to the cash register, panting slightly from a mixture of exhaustion and anxiety.

"Finn?"

Finn turned around and smiled as he handed a customer their change.

"Morning Rey! Yikes…long night?"

"Morning…erm…where's Ben?"

Finn shot her a quizzical look.

"You almost sound... disappointed to see me here instead of him. You feeling okay?!"

Rey shrugged.

"I…don't know."

Finn raised an eyebrow.

"Well then. You will be pleased to hear that Ben called Maz this morning and told her that he was heading back to Alderaan University early this year. Apparently they needed an RA to fill in for the rest of the summer."

Rey's jaw dropped.

"He…left?"

Finn gave her a suspicious look.

"You're definitely under the weather. You're not even smiling about this."

Rey ignored his comments and asked,

"When is Poe coming in?"

"In about an hour…why?"

She stuck out her hand.

"Excellent. Give me your car keys."

Finn looked at her incredulously.

"What!?"

Before he could protest, Rey had swiped the car keys from his pocket and was sprinting for the door.

"Sorrymissionbensoloiknowitsconfusingloveyoubye!"

Rey spent the next forty-five minutes impatiently drumming on the steering wheel and changing the radio station every five seconds.

She even considered running a clunky, blue station wagon off the road out of sheer desperation.

When she parked Finn's car in the campus parking lot near the residence building, she stepped out and realized she hadn't quite thought her plan through. She had no idea which room was Ben's. She didn't even know which floor he lived on.

Her initial problem was short-lived within three minutes of her ungracefully bounding down the residence hallways, eyes trained on the door plaques that identified the rooms' occupants.

-SMACK-

Rey's brain rattled as she unknowingly barrelled into a solid mass standing in the centre of the hallway she was currently speeding down, her body swaying backward as she began to lose her balance.

"Rey?"

Ben's arms shot out to grab Rey in a semi-embrace as he helped her regain her balance. He slowly lowered his hands, admittedly reluctant to let her go.

Rey looked up at him sheepishly, before her expression darkened.

"BEN SOLO! WHAT MAKES YOU THINK YOU CAN JUST LEAVE IN THE MIDDLE OF SUMMER WITH ALL OF THAT...THIS...OUR...UNFINISHED BUSINESS!?"

Ben bit his lip to keep himself from smiling, although it didn't quite work.

"IS THIS FUNNY!? ONE DAY YOU'RE FINALLY DROPPING THE TALL, MOODY, AND ARROGANT ACT AND SAYING NICE THINGS TO ME AND THE NEXT YOU JUST UP AND LEAVE WITHOUT SAYING GOODBYE?"

It took all of Ben's willpower to hold back a snort.

"THIS. IS. NOT. FUNNY. I LITERALLY WANT TO PUNCH YOU IN YOUR STUPIDLY HANDSOME FA-."

And with that, Ben Solo gave in. He gave in to the longing that he had fought against since the first day he met her. He gave in to the magnetic pull that he could no longer resist.

Rey's eyes widened in shock as she was cut off by lips crashing against hers. Soft, warm lips that triggered an electric current throughout her entire body. Large hands grazed the small of her back, pulling her closer and deepening the kiss. Rey's hands had a mind of their own as they tangled themselves in Ben's soft locks.

Ben groaned and pulled back slightly, breathing heavily as he leaned his forehead against Rey's.

"Been meaning to do that for a while…"

He nervously ran a hand through his hair as he glanced at Rey, who was in a temporary state of shock. She brought a hand up to touch her lips as she looked up at him.

"….but you left."

Ben gestured to the forgotten duffle bag sitting on the floor beside him and spoke with a lopsided smile on his face,

"I was actually just heading to my car to drive back. I drove here this morning to decide if I wanted to accept the position. My mind was a mess last night and I had convinced myself that you would be better off without me around. Ten minutes after walking into my dorm room I realized I already missed the hell out of you and-"

This time Ben was cut off as Rey's lips eagerly met his, her hands wrapping around the back of his neck as she smirked into the kiss and spoke against his lips,

"I seriously did like ninety the whole way here."

Ben chuckled as he unexpectedly scooped her up bridal-style, grabbing his bag as well, and headed toward the doors to the parking lot. Rey laughed and wiggled mock-protest, before giving up and resting her head against his shoulder with a content smile on her face.

Ben came to a sudden stop before they reached the doors.

"Ugh. Rey, you smell like a box of ice cream cones."

Rey lifted her head from Ben's shoulder, her face painted with feigned-offense.

"Excuse m-"

Ben grinned and silenced her inevitable comeback with yet another kiss.