Between it All

Celebration

Rey awoke to birds chattering outside her window, streams of sunlight illuminating her room. She rubbed her eyes, yawning. Sitting up, she looked outside, noticing the brightness of her room. She had overslept.

The tired scavenger groaned, getting out of bed and throwing on some clothes. Exiting the room, she headed to the central dining room, where breakfast was held.

When she arrived, most everyone was already there. She scanned the room for Ben, expecting him not to be there. Pleasantly surprised to find his neatly-combed mop of hair near the back right corner of the room, she made her way through the throng of people to get to him.

"Hey Ben."

He grunted a "Hi, Rey" in greeting. He had his arms folded over his chest as he leaned up against the wall.

"Where were you yesterday? You didn't come to the meeting."

Ben shrugged, not looking at her.

"Ben, what's wrong?" Rey inquired.

"Nothing," was his curt reply.

Rey sighed with an, "I'm going to get food," and left Ben behind as she headed towards the table filled with food. Fresh fruits and fragrant meats enticed her, and she filled her plate with whatever she saw fit.

She began to eat just as Rose appeared next to her.

"Hi, I'm Rose. I don't think we ever formally met," The raven-haired girl greeted with a smile, looking up at Rey.

Rey quickly swallowed the food in her mouth with a hasty smile and took the hand that Rose had extended to her.

"Rey," The scavenger replied. "Good to meet you, Rose," she smiled.

Rose grinned broadly. "Yeah..." she said, nodding.

Rey continued to smile back, unsure what else to do.

"Um...sorry...do you mind if I...?" Rey flicked her thumb back towards the door, motioning to leave.

"Oh! Yeah, I'm sorry," Rose exclaimed. "Sorry to hold you back."

"No, you're fine, I just have some...stuff to take care of," Rey replied. She smiled awkwardly and waved goodbye to Rose, who watched her with a glimmer in her eyes.

Is she like that with everyone? Rey shook her head with a raise of her brows, walking back to her room.

__________________

At last when night began to fall, Rey decided to get ready for the party. She got up from her chair where she had been reading, right as a thought entered her mind.

She paused, then reached out her mind, sensing to find the tether that connected her to Ben. When finally she did, Rey gave it a little tug, a fogginess in her mind.

Suddenly the mist cleared as a voice appeared in her head.

"What?"

"Do say you're coming to the party tonight...?"

Rey heard Ben sigh.

"Yes, of course," the deep voice replied.

"Now if you don't mind, I would like to get ready. I'm a little busy," he said.

Rey heard the sloshing of bathwater and she immediately shut the communication, her ears hot.

She walked over to the dress that was draped over a chair in her room. Its light blue fabric spilled down the lounge like a waterfall, strips of fabric seemingly pooling on the floor. The dress was speckled with glints of silver that reflected the light like stars.