Rey rapped her finger nails on her faux mahogany desk and checked the clock again. He was an hour late. An hour late! Where was he? She was going to kill him, and this time it wasn't an empty threat. she was going to take.him.out. It was only 10am on Monday morning and Rey was already threatening to murder her boss of two years. What an excellent start to her work week.
She smiled sweetly at Hux who sat in the chair in front of her desk with his legs crossed and a displeased look on his pale drawn face.
'I'm sure he'll be here soon Mr Hux, probably just stuck in traffic!'
'Yes, I'm sure that's it.' Hux said with a smarmy smile.
In order to avoid any further contact with Hux Rey began to type noisily on her keyboard.
I want to murder my boss. I want to murder my boss. I want to murder my boss.
She typed it over and over again until she felt somewhat better.
Another twenty excruciatingly long minutes passed before the infamous Ben Solo finally strolled into the office and parked himself in front of Rey's desk. Rey stood up and glared at Ben which was no mean feat giving the height difference between them.
'Sir, Mr Hux has been waiting rather a long time, but I'm sure you have a good reason for your tardiness?' She said through gritted teeth.
Ben gave her that slow smile that made her want to punch him.
'Nope. I would just rather have me teeth fucking pulled out than spend a minute of my time with this sniffling weasel, no offence.' He said gesturing to Hux.
Rey groaned inwardly. Great. Fucking great. Just what she needed. Another cock fight right in front of her desk. Could Ben Solo ever just keep his big mouth shut?
Hux stood up. He did not look happy, but then Hux never looked happy. Rey doubted he even knew what a smile was let alone how to put one on his face.
'Why don't we reschedule for a time that's better for everyone?' Rey said plastering another sickly 'I'm so tired of Ben Solo's shit' smile on her face.
Hux took one last angry look at Ben, nodded briefly to Rey and left. Rey dropped her shoulders and puffed out some air.
'Well that went well. Tell me Sir, do you enjoy making my life a living hell or is it just a convenient bonus for you?'
'Just a bonus and I've told you to call me Ben, Rey.'
'I'll call you 'Ben' once you've qualified to be considered a friend to me, Sir.'
Ben rolled his eyes at Rey and entered his office. Rey picked up her pad and pen and followed him into the room without knocking.
'Rey we've discussed this, you need to knock when you enter my office.'
Rey shut the door behind her and turned around to face her boss,
'When I knock you ignore me and I have a pad full of messages for y.....'
Rey stopped talking at the sight of her boss standing shirtless to the side of the room with a freshly pressed blue shirt hanging from one of his enormous hands.
Rey has never seen her boss shirtless before. Of course she knew Ben worked out, but there was a difference between knowing someone worked out and seeing the fruits of that labour laid out before you on a very attractive platter. Rey licked her lips and stammered.
'Well come on then Rey! Spit it out!' Ben said as he put on the shirt and did up the buttons.
Rey cocked her head to the side, the way he did up his buttons was very....nimble....she had always thought of Ben as more of a 'Hulk Smash!' kinda guy. She wondered what else he could do with those agile fingers...
'Rey I don't have all fucking day here, say what it is you want to say and then get out.'
A brief moment where she didn't see Ben as a total and utter ass and then that mouth of his had to ruin it.
'Your mother called.'
'Pass.' Ben said as he sat down at his large desk and frowned at some apparently displeasing papers. How he found anything on that pile of garbage he called a desk was beyond her. Ben refused to allow her to tidy it even though she had all but begged to be allowed to do so. It had gotten to the point that the dirty desk was haunting her very dreams.....Rey shook her head and got back to the matter at hand.
'Well I'm afraid I'm contractually obligated to pass on ALL of your messages not just the ones you feel like listening to Sir, so you will hear what I have to say, your mother called, she wants to know if you will meet her for lunch today?'
'No.'
'Okay....she said you would say that, so she gave me permission to pick a date from your diary at random, I've chosen this Friday, I hope that works for you?'
'It doesn't.'
'Very good. Okay next item on the agenda is to reschedule your meeting with Mr Hux?'
'How about when hell freezes over?'
'I'm afraid that won't work for Mr Hux, how about next Tuesday?'
'How about never?'
'Next Tuesday it is! Well, well Sir, you are in a productive mood today aren't you! Shall I continue?'
Ben pinched the bridge of his nose.
'If you must continue can you at least do me the decency of bringing me a cup of coffee?'
'And what's the magic word?'
'Now.'
'Nope. Try again.'
'Please.' Ben said through gritted teeth.
'Now that wasn't so hard was it? I'll be right back with your coffee and the rest of your messages.' Rey said as she turned to leave the office.
'I'll wait with bated breath.' Ben replied.
Rey presses her lips together. She knew she shouldn't push him, but she couldn't help it. It was so much fun. She turned around to face him once more.
'Well if you would prefer Sir, you can get your own coffee?'
'You know I can't Rey. You know fine well that you are the only person capable of making me a decent cup of coffee.'
Rey put a hand on her chest, 'Sir! What a compliment! To suggest that I am more talented than a country full of plucky baristas! Why it's enough to bring a tear to my eye...'
Ben glared at her and stood up from his desk. He stalked towards her. Uh oh. Now she had done it. This time he was really mad. So why wasn't she scared? Instead she just felt....giddy.
'You know that isn't the reason Rey, the reason for your ability to make better coffee is because you have chosen to hide my special blend imported from Morocco and only you know the whereabouts of its secret location and I refuse to drink the slop this office calls coffee!'
'You really think I have the time to go around hiding coffee Sir? Berating you is a full time job you know.'
Ben towered over Rey.
'Tell me the location of my coffee!'' He demanded.
'Never. That coffee is my insurance policy. I plan to hold it ransom should you ever pluck up the courage to finally fire me.'
Ben backed off and looked somewhat...hurt? No that couldn't be right. Ben Solo didn't have feelings. Did he?
He walked back to his desk and sat down.
'I would never fire you Rey.' He said without looking at her. 'I know our....relationship is somewhat volatile, but for what it's worth, I think you're a damn good assistant.'
Rey's mouth full open at the unexpected compliment.
'Thank you Sir.' She replied.
'Now will you tell me where my coffee is?'
'Nope.' Rey said with a smile as she left the office and laughed out loud as she closed the door and heard Ben groan loudly and mutter about infernal women.
**********
Rey was determined for Ben to attend the scheduled lunch with his mother that Friday and she was prepared to do everything in her power to make sure he went through with it even if that meant dragging him to the restaurant herself.
Rey liked Mrs Solo. She was warm and kind and always asked after Rey's health. Rey wanted Mrs Solo to like her in return and she knew if she could get Ben to keep this appointment it would make Mrs Solo very happy. So Rey made sure that was no way Ben could forget about meeting his mother.
On Tuesday, she arranged for an alarm to go off on his phone every thirty minutes reminding him of the event.
On Wednesday, she rang him every twenty minutes and left a voicemail reminding him of the meeting.
On Thursday, she went old school. Ben entered his office at around 10.30 and exited it at around 10.31.
'Rey what's with the post-it's on my desk?'
Rey didn't look up from her screen.
'Just a little reminder about your luncheon with your mother, Sir.'
'Rey, one post-it would have been sufficient. There are what looks to be one hundred post-it's stuck to my very expensive, one of a kind, rare oak wood desk!'
'Actually there are one hundred and six there would have been more, but my pad ran out.'
Ben's nostrils flared.
'I am going to write a memo to the office supply manager, you are cut off Rey! You shall never be allowed post-it's in this office again!'
Rey shrugged her shoulders and returned to her typing.
Friday morning arrived, and Rey nervously awaited Ben. He was late, as usual, and she had no idea where he was. She knew he was out of bed at least because she had rang him at 8am with a 'wake up don't forget to meet your mother call,' which had been met with a choice amount of sailor worthy swear words to which she retorted that he better not kiss his mother with that mouth when he met her that afternoon!
Rey wondered if Mrs Solo would come back to the office after the meeting. She would like that. Mrs Solo always joined in when Rey poked fun at Ben. It was fun to have a conspirator. She didn't like the idea of Mrs Solo seeing the state of Ben's office though. What would she think of Rey then allowing her son to work in a waste dump! Rey slammed her palms down onto her desk.
'That's it! I'm cleaning that pigsty!' She said out loud and then marched into Ben's office.
Rey hummed while she worked, dusting shelves and polishing obscure ornaments that Ben called 'art.' Eventually there was only the desk to tackle. She stood before it with her hands on her hips.
'Desk prepare to be cleaned!' She said as she began to rifle through contracts and dry cleaning receipts, both of which seemed to be treated with the same careless attitude by her messy boss.
As she cleaned she wondered if Ben was still seeing his latest squeeze, what was her name? Tail? Lol. She might as well be called Tail, because that's all she was to Ben! A bit of tail. Rey has lost count of the amount of 'girlfriends' she had met over her two years in Ben's employ. It was like a revolving door or leggy blondes, all boobs and no brains. Rey rolled her eyes, then something flashed into her vision and caught her attention.
Ooooh shiny!
Rey moved the take out containers and old newspapers under which she could see a piece of what looked like a circle of metal. She plucked the ring out of the chaos and examined it.
'Well hello! What are you doing here my pretty?' She said out loud.
The ring was breathtaking, a simple gold band with a large purple gem stone...maybe an amethyst? Surrounded by a ring of smaller stones she assumed where diamonds. She stared at the ring. Why did Ben have this? Even more perplexing, why would he leave such a precious object on his disgusting desk? The ring whispered to her.
Wear me.....
But she couldn't. That would be wrong.
Wear me.....
'Quiet you sparkly temptress!' Rey said putting the ring down on the bookcase behind Ben's desk.
She shredded a few more papers and put a few more wrappers in the trash can. Every so often her eyes were drawn back to the ring. Maybe she could try it on. No one would ever know right? Rey picked it up and placed it on her finger. Oooooh. Nice. She stretched out her arm and admired the ring at arms length. Gorgeous. She caught sight of herself in the blank computer screen.
'Well say hello to the future Mrs Solo!' She said out loud, 'look at that sparkler!'
Rey chuckled and shook her head. What had possessed her to use Ben's surname?! She didn't even like the guy let alone want to marry him! Rey was still chuckling as she tried to slip the ring back off her finger, but it wouldn't budge. Probably just needed a little twist....she tried again and again....and found to her dismay, that it was stuck. Holy crap. This beautiful probably cost a fucking fortune ring was stuck on her finger! What was she going to do! Rey did the only thing she could think of, she pulled. She pulled and pulled and pulled. Nothing. She found a bottle of water in the mess posing as a desk and poured some on her finger and pulled again. Nada. She found a half eaten sandwich in the garbage dump this man called a workstation and rubbed some margarine around the base of her finger and pulled again, zilch. Alarm bells went off in Rey's head. Oh god. She was going to prison. She was going to be arrested. Should she run? Should she hide? Maybe she could climb onto this tip of a desk and never be seen again? Apparently it would even be able to provide her with sustenance. It would probably be months before Ben even noticed she was missing. Rey put her head in her hands. What on Earth was she going to do?
'I want that report by noon Phasma or you can pack up your fucking desk!' Came the unmistakable booming voice of her boss, Ben Solo.
Oh shit. shit. shit. shit. shit. shit.
**********