Chapter Text
It was a busy morning for Rey. She woke up late, forgot to feed her fish, had to go back up to her apartment to get 1. Her wallet so she could drive, and 2. Actually feed her fish. After climbing ten flights of stairs, twice, she was finally ready to make the seven block trek to the coffee shop.
Every morning Rey went to the same coffee shop. She discovered it after going out exploring the town one night. Rey was new to the area and decided to find a small group of local twenty-somethings and tag along with them for a night, and by tag along, she really just followed the group for a while. That was the first night she was caught “tagging along”. One of the guys noticed her at the first bar they went to, when he saw her at the second, he invited her to join them.
That was the first time Rey felt actually invited into a group, the first time she felt like she could be wholeheartedly herself. She and Finn were very good friends now, besties as he often called the two of them.
Rey also met the met the owner of that little coffee shop, The Canteen, that night. Jessika Pava, a beautiful, powerful woman that Rey felt some kind of a connection with. She’d never tell anyone that though, it sounded too corny, but after that first night together, Finn could just tell.
It wasn’t that Rey showed her emotions, it was more of Finn’s empathy that allowed him to just understand anyone he came in contact with. It was really only a problem when he went to animal shelters. Finn stopped going to shelters alone after he tried adopting six dogs once.
That first night Finn saw Rey looking at Jessika with amazed eyes, as she watched the store owner move around the bar with grace and power, her smile wide as she both took orders and gave orders to workers. Finn knew Rey was really gone when she broke out into a grin after hearing Jessika call out an order for a well known costumer.
Maybe it was the dim lights reflecting off the large windows surrounding the shop, maybe it was the sweet indie music playing, or perhaps it was the jumbled mix of low voices from the crowded bar. Either way, Rey knew she was extremely attracted to the goddess walking towards her.
“Hey Finn! I see you brought the Squad!” Jessika said pulling Finn in for a hug.
“Jessika, this is Rey, Rey this is Jessika, yadda yadda, you guys get the point,” Finn said gesturing, “I actually just met Rey tonight and may I say, she’s pretty cool.”
Rey gave a little wave as Jessika swung an arm around Rey for a - hopefully - non threatening half hug. Rey broke out into a grin, for the second time that night, caused by a beautiful woman that Rey was starting to get a ridiculous crush on.
“Hi, yeah, I’m Rey,” she said as she half hugged back.
“Jessika, I’m the owner of this coffee shop- turned- bar at night,” she while attempting to display her cafe/bar. She started to walk away before turning back to Rey, “hey would you want to hang out with me tonight? I could use a little help back here and you look strong enough to handle a rowdy crowd.”
Rey nodded excitedly and followed Jessika, Finn giving her a little thumbs up and winking in support before he disappeared into the cluster of people. For the second time that night, Rey felt at home. She may have been surrounded by strangers, but she felt like they were all her friends.
“Ok, so, all you gotta do is stand back here,” Jessika said as she pointed, “hand me glasses and put away the ones I hand back!”
“Gotcha.”
Jessika chuckled a bit when Rey jumped up to sit on the counter in front of the cabinets. Rey started handing and taking glasses from Jessika, blushing a little every time their hands brushed, Jessika looking back every time, smiling at Rey’s blush before returning to her work.
The two of them talked all night long, Jessika asking questions about where Rey was from, Rey asking questions about Jessika’s favorite things, both getting closer and closer to asking the other to come home with them.
“I love your smile,” Rey said after a period of silence between the two. Jessika was turned around to hand a glass to Rey, smile wide, but after Rey’s comment, Jessika’s smile turned into a surprised smirk as she attempted to stutter out a response, both her’s and Rey’s blushes growing.
“Jessika!” another girl called, interrupting Rey’s moment of confidence and pulling Jessika away from her.
Jessika broke out into another smile, pulling one off Rey’s face, as Jessika hugged the girl who has just walked in. The two moved to the side to continue chatting as Rey was left alone to watch in her own self-inflicted misery.
“Oh hey Rey! This is my roommate Karé Kun, we went to school together,” Jessika said turning back to Karé, her arm around the other’s waist.
Rey faked a smile as she said hello, and moved away to try and find Finn. She found him sitting along the side, staring into the dancing group of people.
“What’s up?” Rey said bumping Finn with her shoulder. He too looked as melancholy as Rey felt.
“Huh? What?” Finn said, Rey pulling him out of his daze.
“So who you looking at?” Rey asked, trying to lighten her and Finn’s mood.
“Oh, nobody… Why’d you leave Jessika?” Finn asked turning to Rey, giving her his full attention.
“Karé Kun. Is it the cute guy in the middle there?” Rey asked, looking off into the crowd at the man dancing in the middle.
“Karé Kun? She’s just Jessika’s roommate, and he’s sexy, not cute, cute is a puppy swimming, not a very hot professor dancing, that is sexy.” Finn gazed longingly.
“Umm… they were definitely not acting like just roommates and you should go talk to him or dance with him… or, well, just something instead of staring at him creepily.”
Glares, that’s all Rey got from Finn, and that was the only response she needed. Finn, the guy she thought was outgoing and confident, was stumped by a cute professor.
So much for confident, he gets flustered over a guy dancing, Rey thought.
“You know that little blush across your cheeks is kinda cute, it makes you even less threatening than the puppy you look like,” Rey teased, poking Finn’s cheek as she talked.
“Oh shut it, you turned completely red every time Jessika looked at you,” Finn teased back, “I thought the ridiculous smile was the most she was gonna get out of you, but then you turned beat red.”
Rey thought about telling him to go talk to him, but she knew he’d just tell her the same. Jessika was a goddess, the kind of woman that you stay in bed with all morning and look at the way her hair spreads across the pillow; she’s the kind of woman that you cook for even though she can definitely cook for herself; she’s the kind of woman that you fall for, hard, and Rey knew that was exactly how Finn felt about the ‘sexy professor’.
“Hey I think I’m going to go home for the night, have fun watching your cute professor.”
Rey stood up to leave, patting Finn on the shoulder, feeling as though she’d grown closer to this stranger that she’d met only hours before. It was strange that she could meet someone and feel so comfortable, now if she was thinking about Finn or Jessika, that was a different subject altogether.
“I’ll come with you? I don’t mind walking you, and you know, I enjoy talking to you,” Finn said as he stood up, taking one last look at the attractive man now talking with others at the bar.
Rey and Finn left The Canteen, Finn saying bye to many people along the way. Rey stopped once to give a quick hug to Jessika, who was still talking to “her roommate” while she hugged Rey.
The two of them walked “the long way” to Rey’s apartment. They talked about anything and everything that came to their mind, at first about their favorite things or their home towns, briefly landing on their parents, before finally moving to and landing on the bar.
“I really liked her,” Rey said out of the blue.
“I know. She liked you too,” Finn reassured Rey.
“but the way she was with Karé Kun,” Rey said snootily.
Finn chuckled a bit, “Listen, I’ve never seen Jessika invite anyone to hang out behind the bar with her, or hold a conversation while working, and never ever would she let someone sit on the counter. You know they make food there, and now your butts been there too.”
Rey laughed, “Okay so she might like me, but she was still talking to Karé when I hugged her bye, she didn’t even say anything to me.”
Rey looked down and lightly kicked the gravel on the ground, Finn let out a loud hearty laugh.
“She didn’t tell you? She hates goodbyes, I’m surprised she even let you hug her,” Finn tried to explain, “Jessika always said that goodbyes were like sealing your doom, I guess it stuck with her from her college days, she used to meet people, say bye and never see them again.”
“Oh yeah, she told me about that. She told me about her squadron with the infamous Poe Dameron and Snap, whoever that is… I really don’t know who either of them are, but apparently you do…” Rey said noticing Finn’s face.
Finn told Rey all about the old squadron and their adventures in college. They had tried to pull a prank on the dean of students that went sour, their punishment was either being kicked out of college or joining ROTC. Naturally they picked the second option. Poe Dameron, the infamous Poe Dameron, got really into it and actually joined the military to become a pilot. After that they started calling themselves the original squadron. That’s also why Finn had never met him, it was before he had met the others at The Canteen.
When they finally reached Rey’s apartment, Finn deeply understood Rey, and Rey understood Finn. Rey could tell that night was the beginning of a beautiful friendship, and hopefully a beautiful relationship.
That wonderful night was about a month before Rey’s hectic morning. It was a Monday morning, strangely foggy for early spring, and Rey was just not having it. She had planned on meeting Finn to get some coffee before he went to his internship, but after waking up late and basically forgetting everything she needed to do, Rey wasn’t so sure Finn would still be there waiting.
When Rey walked in, though, Finn was sitting at a table, smile wide as he saw his best friend. He had a table with a perfect view of Jessika Pava, hard at work.
She looked exhausted. Her dark hair pulled into a low messy bun instead of flowing freely, the bags under her eyes darker and deeper than usual, and yet, her smile was still bright. Rey loved that smile, it was easily the best physical feature of Jessika.
Rey sat down and took the coffee mug from Finn, she asked, “Hey, what’s up with Jessika? She looks more tired than usual.”
“Apparently her roommate, you know Karé Kun, well, she brought someone home with her last night, on a Sunday.” Finn said, getting closer like he always did when he was gossiping.
Rey didn’t understand what Finn meant by “on a Sunday” at first, but as it dawned on her, Rey noticed the blond haired woman entangled with an equally beautiful woman at the end of the store, lightly kissing and quietly talking together.
It was like a moment from a movie, Rey realizing that her fears of Jessika being with Karé were completely irrelevant, and before her brain could think of some negative, Rey got that wave of confidence again, that small burst was all it took.
Rey got up, her chair sliding loudly across the floor, marched over to Jessika behind the counter, and grabbed her soft face, slamming their lips together. She could feel her heart beating loudly, their heads turning slightly as the two fell into tandem each other.
Rey felt her worries melt away, all the thoughts of Jessika not actually being interested, all the late nights up with Finn talking about how much having a crush sucked, but right now, having crush was wonderful. Especially since the person Rey had a crush on, was happily kissing back. When they heard the loud cheer from Finn, Jessika chuckled a bit and broke away, smiling wide at Rey.
That smile is for me. It’s because of me. Rey felt giddy. She too couldn’t help but to smile as she looked at the girl she liked, she really liked.
Yep. Just like a movie. Rey thought.
Rey decided to stay behind the counter with Jessika, completely unable to keep her hands off of the girl she just kissed, jumping up and sitting on the counter, occasionally pulling that girl, her girl, into another kiss.
I just kissed Jessika Pava. Rey broke out into a smile again.