There were few occasions when Rey had been afraid to tell the truth. For starters, there was the afternoon when she accidentally backed Maz's station wagon into a light pole, which she claimed to have appeared from outer space inside the parking lot of an Orlando Wal-Mart. That was before her guilt took over later that evening, and Rey found herself breaking down on bended hands and knees, begging Maz for her forgiveness.

Then, there was the mishap when she had thrown Maz's honeycomb, wool-knitted sweater into the dryer: one that Rey's father had gifted her aunt the Christmas before his passing. Not only had it come to be a surprise that Maz's reaction to her confession turned out to be better than she'd anticipated, but Maz had reassured her the garment had never fit properly to begin with. Maz wound up re-gifting it to her after.

But Ben wasn't the bumper to a car with a significantly-sized dent lying smack dab in the center, nor was he a shrunken wool sweater that was thrown into the dryer by mistake.

So, how does one go about fixing all of the lies that'd been told, while not jeopardizing the life of the person whom she'd come to develop romantic feelings for? It was a question she hoped Sabine would shine a little light upon after insisting that she treat Rey to a belated birthday outing; which was spent searching for the perfect costume Rey was to wear to the Halloween dance being held at Mishawaka High within the next coming week.

Since Maz traded in her day-shift hours for those on nights, Rey had more than enough time to kill before she was due at Ben's later that evening. Informing her aunt of the earlier half of her Friday night plans had been the easier of the two confessions she planned to admit, hoping to earn a few brownie points towards her redemption.

It was after Rey admitted her intent to stay the night with him (for convenience purposes of course), since they would be going to the ranch early the next morning, when she'd been most certain that Maz was toying with the thought of strapping her into some modern day chastity belt; even though Rey had been on the pill for the last two years.

It took all but selling Hades her soul to assure Maz that she was wholly aware of the birds and the bees, though her fingers remained crossed under the table when she had to promise not to go beyond the line of holding hands that was marked on her sixth grade abstinence card.

At least it had been the lesser of her frustrations that day, considering her and Sabine had gone to just about every Halloween store in town, and left empty-handed. That was when Sabine declared it time to make an official coffee run to Starbucks, treating Rey to a double chocolate chip Frappuccino, along with Sabine's preferrably hot caramel macchiato, before making their final stop at Halloween Plus in University Park Mall.

"You know, if it comes down to it you could just throw a white sheet over your head and cut out a couple holes for eyeballs," Sabine teased as they both claimed a heavily-cushioned seat next to the window inside the café's half-empty lounge. "You could go as that little ghost from Charlie Brown. It'd be cute."

Rey snickered. Her upper lip curled at the suggestion, considering she'd more than likely trip over her own two feet. "That may make it just a bit too difficult to see and dance in though," she countered.

Plus, she didn't want to look cute: she wanted to look nice. Sexy. Well, as much as the school would allow her without ending up on Hux's shit list like Rose at least. She told Sabine just as much, and watched her friend's brows wrinkle as Sabine took a sip from her grande-sized beverage.

"You could also tie the sheet around you and make it into some toga outfit," Sabine suggested, brow cocked. "You could go as some Greek goddess, or something like Persephone."

"I doubt Persephone would've wore a sheet," Rey snorted, swirling the straw in her drink to blend the whip cream in more with the rest of the cup's content. "But the thought is intriguing?"

"Why don't you just ask Ben to coordinate something with you?" Sabine proposed, giving her shoulders a casual shrug. "I'm assuming since he's part of the faculty that he'll be a chaperone or something."

Rey furnished her a knowing look, appearing less optimistic. The idea had come to her attention periodically since the dance had been announced at school earlier that week. At first, she initially had no intention making an appearance at the informal event when she wasn't able to truly spend the evening with the person she wanted to attend with.

That was before Rose coaxed her into going, and Rey had to come up with more excuses for why her date wouldn't be able to make it; even though Ben would be present in the same auditorium. Because what was Rey supposed to say? Sorry, my date is actually here but I can't make it obvious since he just happens to be a teacher at the school?

"You don't think it would be too obvious?" Rey huffes, her cheeks puffing out as she thought over Sabine's suggestion. "What if someone notices that a student's costume corresponds with that of a teacher's?"

Sabine scoffed at her drink, measuring the likelihood of the possibilities. "Do you really think that anyone would care to put much thought into it though?" She countered. Her eyes levitated to Rey, furbishing a curved brow with the question. "I mean – based on my own experiences in high school, most of the students around me didn't give two shits what the other was doing. But that's also if you weren't a part of some super popular clique. It's easy to be invisible, otherwise."

"True," Rey sighed, cradling her chin in the palm of her hand. "I guess I'm thinking that it may be a bit too obvious if we were to dress as – say Wendy and Peter Pan. I just don't want to draw too much attention towards us if it's something that can be avoidable."

"Why?" Sabine asked, her expression adopting a genuine look of concern. "Are people suspecting that something is going on between you two?"

"No," Rey grimaced, uncertain of the response. "Well, at least none that I know of? But I did tell one of my friends that I was seeing someone, and I'm just afraid that she'll end up putting two and two together at some point before the year is over," she grumbled. "She's a little too observant in that sense."

Sabine nodded, gliding her tongue along the inner pocket of her bottom lip. "What about Ben? Have you talked to him about it?"

"Yes," Rey scoffed and took a much needed sip from the frappe. She enlightened Sabine on the events that'd led up to her current issues, leaving out details the about the heated session with Ben from the other day, of course. She confessed to every fib that'd been told to keep their relationship a secret at home and school. Then, there was his 'no more lies' declaration that recently drew Rey's mentality into limbo.

"That's such a Ben Solo thing to do," Sabine snorted. She shook her head, casually rolling her eyes. "Always acting in ways that can end up causing more harm than actual good. There are times where it's nice to think before you speak: Ben tends to not get that on occasion even though he's fucking smart as hell."

"So what do I do?" Rey asked, her eyes showing her desperation. "Should I just tell my friends and aunt that we're dating?"

Sabine drew in a sharp breath, hesitating at first to respond to Rey's question. She deliberated the issues that existed in such a delicate matter: one that, unfortunately, involved her oldest friend, and the other she'd gained through Ben. Silently weighing all of her choices, Sabine took another long taste of her lukewarm beverage prior to stating the answer she deemed suitable enough to ease Rey's worry.

"Okay, I get where both of you are coming from with this," she started, straining a few of the beginning words after swallowing her drink. "And I'm not exactly sure how much of the truth that Ben wants you to admit, but you could be a little less extra on the pointless details when someone asks about you guys. Like...," she paused, drawing out the word whilst searching for an example, "if someone was to ask where you're going next time when you want to visit him outside of his class, simply say that you have something to tend to in Agriculture and leave it at that. They don't need to know the details beyond it."

Rey arched her brow. "Wouldn't that just make them question it even more?"

"And a book club that's nonexistent doesn't?" Sabine snorted, giving Rey an amused smirk as the remark extracted a look of realization from her. "Obviously, it's important that you don't make these visits a routine habit. Then people will start to question what the hell is going on." Her expression slowly manifested a more solemn appearance. "And this bullshit with him saying that this hurts you more than it does him: Ben couldn't be any more wrong. He has everything to lose, and he's putting that aside because he cares about you, Rey. More than I've ever seen him care about anyone else since – well, since a very long time. This is a very, very dangerous line that you guys are walking right now. Just – please be careful, and choose wisely who you can trust."

Rey considered her for a moment. "I care about him too, Sabine," she whispered, curving her lips into a smile. "A lot, actually."

Rey's phone chirped from an interior pocket of her satchel, alerting the arrival of a received instant message.

"Ben?" Sabine asked, inclining her chin to acquire a fair amount of the caramel-tasting latte, hindering her view of Rey's nod.

"Yeah, just wanting to know if I wanted to see a movie tonight," Rey explained, rapping her thumb lightly along the screen of her phone.

"Oh! We'll be at the mall anyways. You could just meet him at the one there. It's pretty nice...and dark in the back row if you know what I mean," Sabine concluded with a wink.

"I would never do such a thing," Rey countered with a shake of her head, her tone betraying the words.

"Yeah," Sabine quipped after a not so subtle 'pft' eluded her lips. "Oh!" She gasped, slapping a hand above her knee. "Holy shit, I just had a thought. Sorry, totally random, but I just remembered that I have a Red Riding Hood costume at home that you would look amazing in. That's also if you don't happen to find anything at the mall."

Rey grinned redolently, bottom lip drawn beneath an incisor. "Ben would make an amazing wolf," she replied thoughtfully, "I think it's safe to say that a majority of the students don't necessarily consider him being teacher of the year."

Sabine flashed a toothy smile and nodded. "See, he already makes the perfect big bad wolf."

**

"A wolf," Ben scoffed; lowering his chin from the theater's display of 'Now Playing' posters outside University's theater to Rey, a brow prominently arched. "You're really going to make me wear fluffy ears and a tail?"

Rey shrugged and pulled her arms into a fold over her chest. "Well, there was a pretty cute Tinkerbell outfit at Halloween Plus that I almost got."

His other brow rose to meet its twin. "So why didn't you get it?"

Rey cocked her head, converting the innocence on her face to be more expressive. "Because – good ol' Tink needs her Peter Pan to keep her company in Neverland, doesn't she?"

Ben pondered the notion, establishing his revulsion upon the discovery of what Rey had been hinting towards. "There's no way in hell you're getting me to wear tights."

Rey giggled. "Come on," she teased, "it wouldn't be that bad. You're – uh," she blushed, gesturing at the sector beneath his belt, "– stuff would be hidden by the tunic."

"I'm not having my shit on display for the entire portion of the student body to see," Ben grumbled.

"It wouldn't be on display," Rey shook her head and laughed, harder than the previous. "You're being way too dramatic," she accused sweetly.

"I'll chalk up my dignity loss for the night and go with the tail and ears," Ben affirmed, ignoring her eye roll and reverting back to the wall lined with framed, colorful posters of recent movies that'd just arrived in theaters. "Anyways, what movie are you in the mood for?"

"I think I'm officially over my limit of making decisions for the day," Rey wearily expressed with a sigh. "I don't care. I'm happy with whatever you choose."

Ben gnawed at a trivial portion of his cheek, carefully regarding their choices. "Halloween or Venom?" He asked, his eyes deflecting to Rey's once again for the final verdict.

Rey puckered her brows at the selection, perceiving the choice in films as if he was expecting her to make a life-changing decision. Which, compared to having multiple failed attempts of finding a suitable costume with Sabine that day, it was certainly the easiest resolution she'd been asked to make. She cocked her head from side to side, eliciting a long, drawn-out hum over the notion. "Venom."

"Nice choice," Ben concurred. Splaying a hand along the small of her back, he opened the cinema's main lobby door, allowing Rey to be the first to enter its dimly-lit interior.

The raucous music and voices, playing from previews of films that hadn't been released to theaters, in the background mingled with the excited voices of children, excitedly waiting for their chance to see the newest Wreck it Ralph film. It was busy, considerably for a Friday night, and Rey had made it a priority to keep a watchful eye for people she might've recognized from school.

It'd been since her birthday weekend that they'd been able to hang in the public eye together, and making her affection for Ben more public at the fair had been lesser of a risk than at a theater within the same community as their school.

Her fingers grew itchy while waiting in line for the concessions, wishing that she could freely intertwine them with his like the other couples were able to do, and not feel as if she were shaming the person she'd arrived with – even though 'shame' was far from the emotion that Ben was capable of inflicting. But it was important that they keep their relationship status to an ultimate low when being this close to home, and not draw too much attention upon themselves.

Raising her chin askance, she considered his profile, not bothering to look away when Ben took notice of her shameless gawking. His expression was warm and soft; meriting a smile for her reassurance without having to hear her speak of what was troubling her. Rey returned the simple gesture, her knuckles ghosting over the top of his hand. It'd been enough to satisfy her yearning to feel him; except, when her sights settled upon his lips, it was harder to forcefully peel her eyes away and not try to kiss him like she always did.

Of course, that was before she was able to occupy her hands and other senses with the large bucket of popcorn and a pack of Sno-Caps, while Ben carried the drinks.

The screening room for Venom wasn't nearly as crowded as Rey would've guessed it to be. So, she led them up the inclining stairway to the furthest level towards the back of the room, adhering to Sabine's advice and claiming seats where they were able to have a bit more privacy from any roaming eyes sitting in the lower section.

Movie-goers gradually trickled in throughout the duration of early previews and ridiculously lame advertisements. And Rey was finally able to keep her hands and mouth busy pigging out on popcorn paired with pint-sized, chocolate kisses satiated in white sprinkles.

But...

Rey wasn't capable of keeping her attention wholly set on food, or upon Marvel's newest film after Ben drew up the armrest that'd been dividing them, allowing him to feasibly drape an arm over her shoulders. Her head rested comfortably against his chest, fingers happily making themselves at home between the spaces of his free hand that casually resided on the denim covering his upper thigh.

Not willing to pry her head away from its resting place on Ben, Rey levitated her chin so to draw his awareness from the movie down to her, eyes laden with a famine that ceased to be satisfied by any prior ration or sugary-sweet. Considering every occupant seated within the rows ahead of them was utterly focused on watching the movie, it was the perfect moment for Rey to achieve what she'd desired most since she met up with Ben that night.

"You okay?" Ben whispered lowly, eyebrows slightly creased with concern.

Rey swallowed and nodded. "I just wanted to kiss you," she murmured coyly, her flushed cheeks hidden by the corner's darkness.

His brows perked at the admission. "Oh really?" Ben goaded, a smile slowly building at the corners of his lips.

Rey nodded, unashamed of the confession. Her lips parted ever so slightly as Ben lowered his face closer to hers, forcing her neck to recline further back in order to meet his lips.

He granted her a series of short, feathery pecks, each lingering longer than the one before, making it apparent that he was just as much uninterested in the movie as she.

Rey freed her hand from his, holding his mouth firmly to hers as she cupped the submergence of his neck and shoulder. Parting his mouth agape, he welcomed the lingering flavor of salt and butter onto his tongue as she skimmed hers along the crevice of his lips. A hand splayed along the small of her back, he coaxed her closer to him, swallowing the soft whimper that eluded her lips.

"Ben," Rey breathed, her bruised lips brushing over his after the sudden need to gasp for air. Her heart battered against her chest, pulverized by the exertion, stimulating her body with a newfound wave of warmth that wound up settling at her core.

Ben nodded, lowering himself further into the seat in order for Rey to climb comfortably onto his lap, a knee straddling either side of his hips. Her fingers wove through the bottom tresses along the nape of his neck, drawing his chin upright so she could eagerly claim his swollen lips with hers. Having his fingers securely gripping her thighs, he rutted his hips against hers, drawing a sharp gasp from their lips as the significant bulge inside his pants provided the friction she needed to ease the throbbing ache between her thighs.

Rey lowered her hands to his shoulders, feeling encouraged to seek the remarkable pleasure that the previous motion elicited. She again rolled her hips over his, both unable to repress the shuddered moans that their lips couldn't quite contain. Unfortunately, their sounding in unison wound up being louder than they'd likely intended, warranting an irritated 'shush' from a woman seated somewhere within the theater's first few sets of rows.

Embarrassment scourged the tips of her ears and cheeks as Rey remained frozen in place, afraid to glance over her shoulder to see if anyone bothered looking towards them.

"Sorry," Rey stammered, bearing an apologetic look to whomever they'd inadvertently disturbed.

Ben's eyes darted off to the side and back to hers, hands remaining glued to her waist. "I think it'd be best if we continue this later," he suggested, meriting a low chuckle from his chest.

"I think so, too," Rey conceded, admitting silently to herself that the movie couldn't end fast enough.

**

They stumbled through the front door of Ben's apartment, their lips vigorously sealed as Ben guided Rey over the threshold. Raised upon the toes of her Converse, Rey had her arms wrapped tightly around his neck, their mouths fighting for dominance over the other. Having an arm drawn around her waist, he blindly tossed his keys to the side with the other where he guessed the small end table to be in the dark, hearing them slide over the edge of where they'd landed and fall to the living room's carpeted-flooring with a muffled jingle.

She giggled over his lips as he attempted to leave his shoes at the doorway. Not wanting their lips to part, she tried to follow suit without purposely stomping on his toes, though the effort proved to be difficult when neither wanted to pry their mouths away to accomplish such a simple task. So, in an effort to make the notion somewhat easier, Ben pivoted their positions so that Rey was now backed against the wall of the foyer, not minding the thud that she'd made other than the ragged moan that eluded her lips.

"You're going to be the death of me someday, sweetheart," he teased hoarsely, planting a palm to the drywall above her shoulder as they both rid of their shoes in that place.

"In a good way I hope," she murmured, her words nearly silenced as Ben attacked her lips again, groaning his response.

His hands trailed along the subtle curvature of her hips, stringently kneading her ass before hoisting her up without warning. She squealed at the unexpected motion, instincts rendering her legs to tightly fold around his waist, crossing her ankles for extra assurance. He carried her down the short and narrow hall to his bedroom, depositing Rey onto the plush coverlet of his bed. Her thighs released their binding grip around him, though her arms remained grappling his neck, forcing Ben to follow her down.

Rey gave another laugh, not minding the weight of him crumbling down upon her for the moment before he was able to support his weight with a forearm. His lips began to heatedly descend from hers, giving some needed attention to her jaw and neck and collarbone. Rey reclined her head, exposing more of the flesh whilst winding a hand through his hair, the other trailed from his neck to the back of his shoulder.

She mewled contentedly when his lips came upon that tender area along the incline of her neck and shoulder, drawing a gasp from her lips when his hips rutted against hers. His attention remained set on her satisfaction, sucking and circling his tongue over her skin as Rey began to fidget with the buttons of his shirt. It was only after she finally managed to successfully unfasten the last button of his oxford when Ben willingly pulled away. Allowing her hands to help him rid of the shirt, he tossed it carelessly to the side, shortly joined by her hoodie and t-shirt.

A slow, guttural moan passed between her lips as his crashed onto hers. Her thoughts were an erratic frenzy, and her body shuddered at the sudden warmth of their skin-on-skin contact. Disappointment briefly hung at the forefront of her thoughts as the room's darkness hindered her ability to see him bare for the first time, but it was hard to stay focused on the concept when she had a pair of luscious lips feasting upon hers.

Her fingers explored the subtle grooves over the muscles of his chest, relying on her sense of touch to be her eyes, and the feelings that he extracted from her as their hips met again in unison, giving her that brief moment of friction needed to arouse that exquisite ache between her legs.

Having his forearm lodged into the mattress to support his weight, Ben lowered a hand to the satin fabric of the bra that covered her chest. Their lips drifted apart, breaking the kiss as his fingers gave her breast a tender squeeze. A shuddered whimper evaded her lips that'd fallen agape.

Closing her eyes, she focused on the delightful sensation it exerted when he repeated the motion, palming her, pulling her attention from the fact that his thumb was coaxing the thick fabric aside to expose her nipple. She relished in the newfound wave of pleasure as Ben took her into his mouth. Her hands snuggly wove their way through his hair, securing a trivial chunk of his tresses within loosely-clasped fists as his tongue toyed with its peak.

His teeth barely skimmed over its sensitive skin as he pulled away, meriting the same amount of tension to the other. A low moan rumbled from his chest as Rey rolled her hips up against his, her hands giving his hair a slight tug at the roots, pleading within heavy panted-breaths of her longing to have his awareness elsewhere.

His lips slowly curved at the notion to which she was imploring, considering his cock was already painfully swollen from the noises she'd proven capable of inducing at what little intimacy they'd been sharing. But Ben wasn't quite set on making the night solely about their individual wants, or needs. As tempting as it was to drive into her and fuck her senseless he also wanted it to be about her, and easing her towards that level he so desperately craved to share with her at some point in the future.

"Patience, sweetheart," he murmured, veering his attention from the previous task, his lips hovering above hers. "We have more than enough time ahead of us to take it slow."

Rey pouted at the reprimand, her hands relaxing their grip in his hair. "But I want to," she scoffed, bringing a hand to the nape of his shoulder as she swallowed heavily. "Unless you don't want to –."

"Don't," he affirmed gruffly, raising a hand gently to her cheek. "Don't even think about saying that because I want this just as much as you do," he assured. "But it's also something that I don't want us to rush. I want you to appreciate it when that happens."

Rey huffed and nodded. "Okay," she sighed, his reassurance bringing a smile to her face. "You're right."

"Good," he replied shortly. "But there are other things we can do until we get to that point."

"Oh, really?" She teased, raising a rigid eyebrow to his silhouette.

Ben lowered his head to pepper kisses down the length of her neck and shoulder, humming his response, he worked his way further to the knoll of her partially concealed breast.

Rey lowered her hands to the plain of his back, grazing the blunt tips of her nails along his skin to his shoulders as his mouth descended to the hemline of her jeans.

Slowly, the anticipation of what was to come remained as he helped her rid of the garments, sending them over the edge of the bed to join the other lone articles of clothing strewn over the floor. He returned to leaving heated kisses from her navel to the short distance of where the lace presented itself at the top of her panties. He massaged his thumb over the soaked, sheer fabric that covered her clit. Her legs quivered at his touch, unable to repress the cry as he repeated the notion, applying trivial amounts of pressure each time.

"Ben," she whimpered, clenching her bottom lip between her teeth as another moan escaped her lungs. "Please..."

The words were all that he needed to continue. He hooked his thumbs beneath the sides of her panties, slowly urging them from her waist and down her legs. He worked his way back to his mouth's intended destination by bestowing kisses to her ankle, his lips ascending the entire duration of her calf and thigh to purposely draw out Rey's eagerness.

Oblivious to the breath that she'd been holding, she gasped when Ben unexpectedly ran the span of his tongue over the sopping folds of her cunt. A strangled cry escaped her lips as Rey dug her heals into his back after he hiked her legs over his shoulders, securing her hips in place with a vice-like grip with his hands. He lapped at her vigorously with the entirety of his tongue, his mind wholly intoxicated with her luscious flavor.

A moaned throttled his chest when his lips locked securely around her, his pleasure harmoniously in tune with hers. Perseverance keen on bringing her over the edge of no return, he stroked and prodded her incessantly with his tongue, adding in the motion of applying what little amount of pressure needed to her nub with his thumb that would thrust her towards that of which she desperately sought.

A tremor rippled through her body, extending from her toes to her belly to her head as she raked her fingers through her hair. The rapture of the orgasm rendered Rey blissfully seeing tiny sparks, like fireworks bursting over the backs of her eyelids, the blood rushing to her ears easily droning out her cries.

The moment forlornly came and passed quicker than what she would've liked to admit, but the ending result had been worth it when the descent back to Earth concluded with Ben kissing her gently. If that was his way of taking things slowly, Rey couldn't fathom the thought of how he'd make her feel when that particular time in their relationship came.

"So," Ben whispered, teasing the bottom lobe of her ear with his lips, "was it worth it?"

Every fucking minute, she wanted to say. However the words failed to leave her lips as her mind remained comatose momentarily after. But the wait had undoubtedly been worth the struggle it'd taken for them to get to that point, and everything that led up to the moment when she'd been able to crawl under the covers with him, wearing only the t-shirt of his that he'd offered.