"What?" Rey asks Poe who has been staring at her for five minutes.
"Is there something on my nose?"
She just returned from her volleyball practice and she hasn't had a chance yet to shower a second time because he showed up the moment she unlocked her door.
He shakes his head lightly before turning his attention back to his coffee.
"Okay."
Feet dangling against the kitchen counter doors. Rose, her roommate, wouldn't be happy to see her sitting on the counter but Rey just couldn't help herself.
"Did you hear, Connix is going to move down the street? She is going to share the house with Abby. They're going to be here every day because Rose likes to have them around. I'm not sure if I like that but what choice do I have."
She tries really hard to get his attention because ever since he is here he hadn't said a word.
"Mhm." Raising an eyebrow she decides to go for a completely different and unexpected topic. Maybe that will make him talk.
"Ben asked me out." Oh there he is. She hides the smile because she knew exactly that this would make him listen. It shouldn't surprise her as much. The jealousy rather prominent for a moment, followed by sadness and oddly enough determination.
"Did he?"
"Yep. Said he was thinking about it for a while now. I haven't answered him yet but I think I'll say yes. Even if it doesn't work out. Just for the fun of it because then I have been out with both my childhood friends."
She keeps her eyes trained on him while she takes a sip from her coffee. This is really bothering him. Something she shouldn't be as happy about as she is.
"I. Well." He doesn't finish the sentence.
Her phone rings.
"Hey Rose." She answers while hopping off the counter.
"Yeah that's a good idea." Rey replies as she walks upstairs.

He buries his face in his hands. He is such an idiot. Snap had warned him. He shouldn't wait too long because it was only a matter of time till she would date someone again. Nothing wrong with it. But he wants to be the one who can ask her out whenever he wants to. Not this tall, pale freak. Well to be fair Ben Solo is a rather nice guy and the three of them had been around one another even since their childhood. He runs his hands through his hair. Why did he let her go in the first place?

"You're staying for dinner?" She yells from upstairs.
"Yeah."
"Okay. I'll take a shower and be down in five."
Ten minutes to get his shit together.

"Rey, remember the fancy dinner I told you about that I have to go to because business and stuff? The one at my bosses' house? I was wondering if you would like to join me? I don't want to go alone. You know how much I hate those things. But yeah it's totally fine if you can't come." He is rambling and he wonders why he is so nervous about asking her. He had asked her out before and she said yes. For some reason this feels different.
"Sure. Friday night right?" She asks while taking a bit from her bagel smearing cream cheese on her nose. He looks at her for a moment before answering.
"Yeah at eight."
"Okay then pick me up at seven thirty. Anything I need to know?"
"Not really." He resists the urge to whip the cream cheese from her nose. Afraid that the gesture would feel to intimate.
"Cool."

Friday comes around quickly.
Exactly at seven thirty he rings her doorbell.
"She'll be down in a minute."
"Rose, I had no idea you're back in town." He hugs her briefly.
"Yeah only to fetch some things. I'm about to head to over to my parents place. I offered to look after the dog while they're in California."
"Ah. Enjoy the time alone."
"Oh no. You two enjoy tonight." She replies with a smile which results in him blushing.
"See you on Wednesday, hopefully. Otherwise it was nice knowing you." Rose teases.
"Have fun." She yells through the house before finally leaving.
"Is she gone now? Good, because I tell you this woman." Rey says walking down the stairs.
"You look beautiful." She is wearing a navy blue dress, a color he loves on her. A choice she made on purpose to show him that she supported him. Truth be told it's also her favorite color but on nights like this she wouldn't make it about herself. She never did.
"Thanks. You clean up nice too." Somehow he is happy about the fact that she is blushing.
"Ready to go?" She nods as she puts on her shoes. She does consider wearing heels but they're height difference isn't much and since this matters so much to him, she doesn't want to make him look or feel shorter. Another decision he notices and deeply appreciates.

"Poe, how are you?" His boss greets him as they are led into the living room.
Rey stands half a step behind Poe, her right hand loosely holding on to his fingers. A habit she had picked up years ago to communicate whenever she feels nervous.
"Good sir. Let me introduce you to my friend Rey Kenobi." They exchange handshakes.
"Ah Miss Kenobi nice to finally meet you. We heard quite the good things about you. Why don't you two go and grab a drink?" The older man points to the bar where some of Poe's colleagues are at.

"You did show up." Rey's fingers had now intertwined with his, leaving Poe very amazed by her move.
"Well I said I would so here I'm. Folks meet Rey. Rey this is Iolo, Paige, Ash and you remember Jess." As soon as Rey has exchanged pleasantries and shook everyone's hand her own had returned to hold Poe's. Her drink in one hand, the other never leaving Poe's, she holds small talk with Jess.

The group chats for a while till Poe's boss asks everyone to sit. He then gives a speech about the last commercial year and how adventures the new contract would be. The rest of the night is filled with good food and chatter.
"So you're the woman." Jess states as she turns her attention to Rey while Poe is talking to someone else.
"Hm?"
"The invisible one. The one that's very present yet no one has seen her. Well excluding me because we met."
"Oh I don't know." Rey doesn't feel comfortable talking with Jess about this.
"I'm sharing my office with him and Ash. He doesn't talk much about his private life he only mentions you or his brother."
"Well we grew up together. I lived a few houses down from his."
"I'm sorry for asking but I'm curious. Did you two ever date or are you actually dating? Because I can tell he cares, maybe too much for his own good." Rey looks at her for a moment not sure if she should be offended or not. But then again she has been asked those questions many times before.
"It's rather complicated." She eventually says stabbing her potatoes.
"Oh now that's a story I want to hear." Rey stares at her now empty plate for a moment before checking if Poe is still talking to the older man whose name she forgot.
She tells her rather briefly that they indeed have a long history as very close friends. The other woman doesn't need to know that they broke each other hearts last year nor does she need to know that this decision is one of the few things she deeply regrets.

"I'm afraid we have to leave, I have a meeting on the phone with clients from Moscow in the morning." Rey excuses them as the table is being cleared and everyone rises to move to the living room for drinks and coffee.
"Of course. It was wonderful to have you here tonight Miss Kenobi. Poe I see you on Monday." They say their goodbyes and head to Poe's car.
"Finally." She giggles as she holds onto his arm as they walk to his car.
"The food was good though."
"Yep. What do you want to do now?" Poe looks at her and for a brief moment she sees it. The look he always had when he was about to kiss her. But it passes as quickly as it had appeared.
"No idea." She replies while undoing her hair. Her dark hair falling around her face in waves.
"How about we finish that stupid movie from the other night at your place?"
"Sounds good. I'm not sharing my Twinkies though." Poe laughs as they get in the car.
"I know where you are hiding them." Poe admits while he turns on the engine and backs out slowly.
"Nah mister I placed them somewhere else after I saw some were missing." Rey looks at him dead serious. He raises his hands in defence.
"Hands on the wheel friend."

"So much better. You're sure you don't want to change? I still have your, now cleaned, laundry from two weeks ago upstairs."
"Nah."
She takes a long look at the man on her couch who is typing on his phone. He has rolled up his sleeves, taken off his tie and has obliviously run his hands through his hair. If she wouldn't have known already that he is a rather handsome man, the rumpled look would have convinced her a hundred ten percent. If she tried hard enough she can remember the feeling of her hands running through his hair. She shakes trying to make those memories disappear and grabs the hidden snacks from the top of the shelf. Joining him on the couch she starts the movie without further ado

Half way through the movie Poe's phone rings.
He checks who is calling before excusing himself.
Rey stops the movie and decides to make herself more comfortable and to keep her thoughts from wandering again. Back to when. Throwing pillows and blankets on the ground she ponders a moment before setting them back on the couch in what she believes is a more comfortable way.

She is standing on the couch inspecting her work when he returns.
"Everything okay?"
"Yeah just Snap checking in."
"Did you say hey from me?" She looks down on him with a teasing smile.
"Of course. His first question was how you're doing then he asked about me."
"I'm his favorite not blood related baby sister." Not that he and Snap were actual brothers but Poe's parents had taken Snap in as if he was their own after his parents had died.
"I think you're the only one he considers as sister."
"Good because otherwise I would have to chase the others down. There can be only one." She says in a mock serious voice before bursting into giggles.
"Silly girl. Now come down here." Unable to resist any longer she runs her fingers through his hair before stepping down.

"Do you remember the kiss that wasn't supposed to happened?" She asks biting her lips after standing in front of him for a while watching him eating one of her Twinkies. Freaking bastard.
"Yeah." He nods slowly.
Too many memories running through both their heads. The kiss that wasn't supposed to happen, the nights together, the relationship no one knew about.
"I wish we wouldn't have agreed on it being a mistake." She admits in a hushed voice while trying to step past him.
Why did she have to bring this up? She could slap herself for allowing her emotions and memories getting the better of her.
He reaches out and grasps her arm gently.
The look again. This time it doesn't falter.
"So do I."
He kisses her.
"We shouldn't." She tries to argue because Gods knows this time there will be no turning back. No pushing it aside as an accident, a mistake. She couldn't do that again.
"Oh no. I've waited way too long to repeat this." He places his hand on her waist and pulls her closer kissing her again.
"This is way better than I remember it." A cheeky smile plays on her lips.
"Can we stop talking now?" Poe asks smiling.
"One more thing." She leans her forehead against his. She decides that's now or never and wants to make it clear where she wants this to end.
"What?" A hint of impatience in his voice.
"I love you, you dork." Rey surprises herself with how easy those word roll over her tongue. Without missing a beat he replies.
"I love you too."
And with that everything feels like how it should be.

The smell of coffee fills the house and Rey wonders why Rose is brewing coffee. If there is one thing that woman hates more than people leaving stuff all over the place, its coffee.
She slowly opens her eyes pulling her blanket all the way up to her chin. The sun is shining on her face and she frowns remembering that she had closed the blinds the day before.
As she hears footsteps on the stairs, she remembers.
Rose isn't making breakfast and she did indeed close those blinds. She slowly sits up a smile forming on her lips.
Some of his old habits apparently never die.

"Good morning." Grateful she takes the offer cup of coffee.
"Hey sleepy head." Poe kisses her before sitting down on the bed as well.
"I could get used to this." A playful tone in her voice.
"Could you?"
"Mhm."
"Rey, we need talk about this. If this is supposed to go anywhere I only want in for the long run. No more denying feelings. No more running away from things. I love you but I can't do this. I don't need my heart to be broken all over again." Both share a long look before Rey replies.
"Neither do I. I'm still asking myself why we broke up. Back then I blamed the distance, the time difference. But I can't find a satisfying answer. Maybe the timing was wrong, maybe we were too naïve, maybe we shouldn't have kept it a secret. I regret that decision deeply. I want this to be the end game."
Placing the now half empty cup on the floor she turns around to look at him.
"End game? I could live with it."
"It might not work out though." She adds slowly.
"Maybe not. Let's test the waters before we make decisions about those things." Poe kisses her on the forehead. Something he did when they first dated to assure her he agreed with her.
"Okay. One thing though. Let's not tell our parents yet because I don't need them starting to plan a wedding, buying us a house and deciding on the names of our kids."
"The summer is going to be hard." She chuckles knowing exactly what he is talking about.
"I don't want outside expectation to ruin this." She adds in a more serious voice.
"Maybe your brother's proposal will keep them busy."
"I count on it. Took him already way too long to ask Kare out."

"Talking about being busy. I have to leave because I have a lunch date with my girlfriend." He gets up and heads for her walking closet where his laundry is; maybe he should leave those here.
"Where are you taking the lucky girl?" She plays along.
"She really likes this Burger place downtown." He reappears buttoning up a blue shirt.
"Burgers, always a good choice." She walks over to her closet grabbing a pair of jeans and a shirt.
"Yeah thought so too."
"The shirt is just a bit too tight for you." Rey points out as she looks him over.
"I'm very much aware of that." With a smug grin on his lips he pulls her closer.
"I need to shower."
"I know." He kisses her.
"Cheeky bastard."
"Ehy."
"We're taking my car." She yells disappearing in the bathroom.

In this AU Shara Bey is alive, Poe and Rey are childhood friends - Their age gap is three years, with Rey being 26. Snap was raised by the Damerons and Ben Solo is just a clever introvert. Also Rey is a Kenobi.