It was the worst kind of torture to watch him flirt with her, his hand on her back with fingers splayed like a sweet caress. Ah, and there's the smile! It stretched from ear-to-ear on her face, a tint of rose on her cheeks. In this moment, there was nothing I wanted more than to just be her.

Yet, my life hadn't played out like this. I wasn't born a privileged princess dripping in jewels while sitting on a towering throne. No, instead I was born in the mud and perhaps I would stay there. After being abused by parents for too many years, I finally found a way out when I met Han Solo when working for Lady Proxima and the White Worms. He wasn't that much better off than myself and perhaps it would've been better to leave him where I found him.

But I could never deny the chemistry, the spark that lit a friendship and...something more. Not for him but for myself. Of course, the truth is that I should have told him all of this years ago. It just never felt like the right time. We were always either smuggling something or running from someone to stop long enough to even catch our breaths, much less confess ooey-gooey feelings. Besides, Han loved the ladies too much to settle down with just one.

At least...that's what I'd always told myself. Maybe it was just easier to turn a blind eye to his flings, laugh it off with Chewie and pretend that nothing could ever come of it all. What an idiot I was to believe such nonsense.

Leia was walking away from him now with that perfect smile still in place as he trudged along behind her, begging for a chance. Ha! The entire idea of the Han Solo begging a woman for a date. I would laugh if I wasn't so heartsick right now...

Feeling eyes boring into me, I turned my head slightly to find Luke standing a little too close for comfort. Making a face at him, I took a step to my right in order to create some distance. Luke only grinned, shaking his head at my antics before tilting his head in the direction of Leia and Han.

"You know, you could have had him years ago if you'd wanted," he remarked with a calm air that frankly annoyed me.

I scowled over at my friend, "And who told you that garbage?"

There was a growl behind me and I rolled my eyes as Chewbacca walked past us, Luke smothering a laugh.

"Of course it was you," I muttered under my breath in agitation.

"I don't get it. Why don't you just tell him how you feel?"

A deep sigh elicited from between clamped teeth and I leaned against the snow-encrusted wall, feeling the biting coldness seeping through my clothes.

"We've been friends forever, Luke. I can't just risk throwing all of that away for-"

"-for a chance at love? Why not?"

Luke's sky-blue gaze was locked on me now as his hands gripped my shoulders, turning me around to face him.

"Why not?" he repeated earnestly, "I know it'll make things awkward if you tell him now but...what if you don't and someone else comes along, someone who has the guts to tell him what you couldn't?"

His gaze flicked to Miss-Perfect-Princess then as she continued to saunter away from Han, the little nerfherder following on her heels like a lovesick bantha. The view soured my mood but hardened my resolve enough to grasp Luke's meaning entirely. As much as I hated to admit it, he was right. What if I lost my chance because I was too afraid of the outcome? Besides, even if Han didn't feel the same, at least I'd finally know the truth. I'd finally know how he felt about me after all these years.

I was chewing my lip in thought when it happened - the final straw, the tip of the iceberg. When Han said something charming, Leia stopped and spun on her heel to face him. Her mouth was inches from his - wait, NO! She was kissing him!

I saw blood red and snapped. Launching myself into action, the whole thing happened in what felt like slow-motion but in reality had to be mere seconds, half a minute at most. Before Leia had a chance to react, my mouth was on Han's and my hands locked around his neck in a vice. It was forceful but passionate, the unleashing of ten years' worth of pent-up feelings I'd hidden away for far too long.

In part, I wouldn't have been surprised if Han had pulled back, aghast and disgusted. Perhaps it would have served me right after withholding this secret for so long and springing it on him in such an unexpected way as this. But what surprised me most was the feeling of his lips pressing back on mine with just as much passion yet slightly gentler.

The two of us became lost in the kiss, lost in the feel of each other as my fingers tangled themselves in dark brown locks that I barely could hear the conversation going on behind us.

"See? I told you it would work."

"Fine. But next time, I really am kissing the Wookiee."