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Rey loves her friends dearly, but, good Lord, their wedding vows are terrible.
Disco lights spin over the reception hall as the newly-wedded Finn & Poe Dameron shimmy & sway on the dance floor. The burnt-orange velvet of Rey’s groomsmaid dress hangs heavy on her shoulders as she sips white wine at the bar, ruminating alone as the party surges around her.
Of course it wasn’t the emotional display she had any qualms about – which is a good thing, since, as Finn’s “Best (Wo)man,” she was supportively well-stocked with tissues to hand to the blubbering groom at the altar. Finn and Poe’s love is as intense and palpable a bond as she’s ever seen between two people, and she is overjoyed for them. But still, she thinks: the promises they made to one another at the ceremony?
Pure nonsense.
Rey plucks a limp petal from her bouquet as she swallows another healthy swig of wine. She sardonically mutters to herself,
“I promise to wake up with a smile for you, every morning, every day, for the rest of our lives,”
“You do?”
Rey startles at the deep voice over her shoulder. Swiveling around on her stool, a man—big, BIG, where did he come from?–- smirks down at her.
“I, I’m just…” Rey sputters, “those vows,”
“and I promise,” the man recites in mock-seriousness, holding her gaze, “to take you to Disneyland for our anniversary every year.” His laughing eyes linger on Rey as he angles his enormous body to sit beside her.
“I’m sorry, that’s just absurd!” Rey practically shouts, hands flailing, “What if they get sick? Or what if something happens at work, or they can’t afford to fly to California that year? They vowed it! In front of me and you and, like…God & stuff! If a flight gets cancelled, does that make the whole thing void?”
He appraises her, amused, while running a hand through his hair. Soft black waves. “And are they going to count to make sure they actually kiss one hundred times every day?” Rey barks a laugh, loud and delighted. Somewhere across the hall, a guest clinks silverware on a champagne flute, and others quickly join; the telltale chiming noise rings through the banquet hall. Rey & her large conversation partner gamely clink along. The grooms begin to sloppily make out on the dance floor as the crowd whoops and cheers. Rey whistles heartily.
She laughs again. “Those two? They’re disgustingly inseparable. After living with Finn for years, I think that’s one vow I’m actually not worried about them keeping,”
Her companion looks her up & down, from her loose-twisted hair, to the train of her long velvet gown. The attention is arresting. “So you're Finn’s roommate…Rey, I take it?”
Blushing, “Yes, that’s me,” she gives him the same once-over. Immaculate navy suit. Well-trimmed nails. No ring. “And you are…?”
“Ben,” he offers, along with his hand. His palm is warm and smooth as it wholly envelops her grasp. “The Damerons are old friends of my mother’s. Poe actually works for her,” Rey follows Ben’s gesture toward the woman in question: a one Senator Leia Organa, who is chatting boisterously at her table. Rey recognizes her at once, a realization zipping through her.
“Wait, you're Ben Organa-Solo? You’re Leia and Han Solo’s son? Small bloody world! I used to work at Han & Chewie’s garage!”
Ben’s brows shoot up, incredulous. “No shit! You’re the girl I've heard so much about?” His eyes narrow, suddenly guarded: “So I suppose you’ve heard stories of me.”
“Grumblings, more like,” She slips her hand up to cover her gasp of embarrassment, “Sorry, I didn’t mean-”
“It’s fine,” he says.
“No, no, I only meant– you know how grumpy your dad can be, yeah?”
“Oh, I know. Gruff hardass.” Ben swallows. “Was he nice to you, though? Han Solo?”
Rey blows an incredulous chortle, “He’d never say so in a million years. Thinks he’s some tough old scoundrel.” Rey leans in to whisper, “but secretly, he’s just a big old baby at heart." She shrugs. "And anyway, I held my own around the shop. I guess that helped.”
“I’m sure it did, groomslady,”
Rey snorts at the nickname, rolling her eyes. She regards Ben with sincerity once more. “He just missed you, I think,”
Ben sighs. “I know. Don't worry about it. Things are getting okay now,” is all he says before the bartender approaches. Ben orders sauvignon blanc, same as Rey. They both sip silently for a moment, watching the celebration unfold around them. The grooms now giggle as they feed one another heaping gobs of cake. Rey notes that her friend Rose has found her way into the lap of a rather flustered redhead. So it goes.
Rey returns her attention to the man beside her. “Ben Solo. You’re not how I expected you.”
“Yeah? And how, exactly, did you expect me?”
She scrutinizes Ben’s open, angular face. His serious eyes betray feelings she immediately recognizes: Barely-guarded hope. Want.
“You’re very…” warmth sweeps over her, before she ultimately chickens out: “...tall.”
He huffs. “Okay, sure, groomslady.”
“And!" she waves a freckled arm again, "you’re here being quite pleasant talking about silly wedding vows with a total stranger! I'd never guess that Han Solo’s 'very serious' son would be a guy who attends old-friend-of-the-family weddings with his mum, nevertheless has an actual opinion about them to chat about.”
“Quite pleasant, hm?” he considers, voice deep, “You're right, though. About the vows. It’s the serious part, not just a sentimental thing you want to say in front of people. That’s what the rest of the wedding is for,”
“Exactly!”
“Exactly.” Ben, in good spirits, raises his glass to hers, clinking them together. The desire to lean closer strikes. Neither of them resist.
“And what kind of vows would you say, Rey?”
She stutters, “Oh…there’s nobody…”
“In the future. Hypothetical.”
“Hypothetically?” She chews her lip, he nods. “Traditional vows. All the way.”
“You mean, ‘To have and to hold, in sickness and health,’ and all that?”
“Yes,” Her words come out soft, as if she’s been guarding them as precious secrets for a long time. “I appreciate the honesty of it: admitting upfront that married life will be good sometimes and really shitty sometimes, and we’re going to try to love each other the best we can, but most important and above all else you will never, ever, ever leave me alone,”
The last thought left Rey’s mouth one millisecond before she realized she’d voiced it. Her wide, panicked flush meets Ben’s gaze, full of understanding for the deep fear she’d revealed out loud.
Ben is so close now that Rey feels the warmth of his steady breath. His fingers brush hers, “You’re not alo–”
“LADIES, THEYDIES, AND GENTLEMEN!” booms the DJ over the loudspeaker, “It is my utmost p-pleasure to introduce to you all: the newly-wed Mr. & Mr. Dameron!”
Ben leans in to murmur in Rey’s ear, sending shivers down her exposed neck, “Isn’t the first dance supposed to be the first time they dance at the reception? They’ve been grinding on the floor this entire time–”
“Shhh--”
The conversation is quickly drowned out by thumping percussion, stereo blaring: “BOOTY BOOTY BOOTY BOOTY ROCKIN’ EVERYWHERE!”
Ben nearly chokes, aghast: “This is their song?”
“Hush! Ben, it’s tradition!”
Though the raunchy song blasts loudly overhead, Finn & Poe’s dance is surprisingly sweet, the couple lost in each other’s eyes. Rey can’t help but beam as she regards Finn, her best friend, all weepy while Poe cups his cheek lovingly, singing “I found you, Ms. New Booty,” with tears running down his face.
Through her delighted laughter, the sight of the swaying couple stirs something deep within Rey. “These two are going to stay together forever." She looks back to Ben, "I know we talked shit about their vows, but that doesn’t matter. They’re meant to be.”
“This” he gestures at the scene, “is how you know they’re soulmates?”
Rey rolls her eyes, “Don’t be an idiot, Ben. No, I mean…I’ve been there the whole time, since they got together. I saw them all nervous & giddy at first. They’ve gotten through some really tough shit over the years. I’ve seen them upset with each other. But at a certain point in the relationship, when they knew they loved each other and decided to be together forever, that just seemed to...inform how they went about it, you know?”
“Not at all. Explain it to me,"
“Well, Finn & I were kids together. I’ve fought with him over everything, and I know how he gets when he wants something. It’s just…” the music shifts to an upbeat number, and the happy grooms remain locked in their blissful embrace.
“They do agree on the things that matter. And of course they fight over dumb stuff, sure. The color of the curtains, or where to go for dinner, or leaving socks on the floor. You know, whatever. But when it comes to important things? It just seems...it matters more to them to have a good relationship at the end of the argument than always trying to get their own way. Because they know they’re going to stay no matter what, and they want to make it work.” Rey sighs, wistful. “Sorry, I just–I think that’s really special.”
Ben pauses in thought. “So…when they promised, for all us unsuspecting witnesses, that they will always have their twin orange Lexus hybrids, they know that’s just a stupid thing that doesn’t matter, and not the actual promise their entire marriage is based on?”
“Oh no. You must never joke about the matching Lexuses,” Rey deadpans, eyes gleaming.
“I suppose you’ll have to teach me more,” Ben smiles. “Dance with me?”
- - - - - -
Eighteen months later, Finn Dameron dabs his eyes with a handkerchief as he holds Rey’s bouquet. She, meanwhile, is beaming giddily at her groom. His rich voice resonates through the whole chapel, but his words are only for her.
“I, Ben, take you, Rey, to be my lawfully-wedded wife,”
She knows this is supposed to be the serious part.
“to have and to hold from this day forward,”
She knows these vows symbolize a binding lifelong covenant, that she and her husband must work every day to sustain.
“for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer,”
She knows that in the life ahead, she and Ben will face calamity and despair,
“in sickness and in health,”
grief and heartache and loss. Rey knows this. Rey has always known this.
“‘til death do us part.”
but here in her white gown, professing these serious vows in front of all their friends and family,
“I promise to love and comfort you, honor and keep you, and forsaking all others, I will be yours alone as long as we both shall live.”
she can only grin.
And when she wakes up the next day, blissfully-sore and naked next to the love of her life, she thinks to herself,
Huh. Maybe that promise about smiling for my husband every morning wasn’t as stupid as I thought.