"'Is the Queen of Chess out for a King?'" Beth quoted to a few days later, a leg thrown over the arm of his couch, going through the piles of papers and magazines that had come out about their dinner excursion, reading out their favourites to the other. It seemed that people couldn't get enough of the two of them.
"Oh, that's a good one," Benny said, from the cushions beside her, laughing as he went through the pile whilst going over a game. When Beth had offered a match, he'd gently turned her down, since he felt that he'd just get his ass beat anyway and wouldn't learn much if he was nursing his wounded pride and he knew her style almost as well as he knew his own. "Hey, how about this: 'The Champion Couple.' Former US Chess Champion and current US Champion Benny Watts and Elizabeth Harmon, respectively, were seen out at New York's prestigious Four Season's restaurant the previous evening. While the two kept a tight lip, it was obvious to anyone with a pair of eyes that the two had a deep romantic chemistry and had eyes only for each other. Is the world ready for this dynamic duo?'"
Beth scoffed, rolling her eyes at the ceiling. "Dear God, they actually pay people to write crap like that? And I thought playing chess for a living was hard." She leaned over him, getting to the last of the sandwiches from their favourite corner deli. Benny tried not to notice her hair tickling his shoulder or her arm over his. He really tried. He should get a gold medal in 'Trying Not To Be Affected By Beth Harmon.'
He was a pro at it now. Externally, at least.
"I agree," he told her, moving a bishop on the board. "Bet I could do a better job blindfolded with 'All You Need is Love' on repeat."
"Hey, I like that one! But yes, you could do a better job." She tossed the pile aside, eyes taking in the board with a few precise glances, a hungry and challenging look. "I miss playing you," she told him quietly, balling up her wrapper in her lap.
"What, you miss doubling pawns and rook-bishop mates? Come on, Harmon, you're joking," he told her, moving a pawn lightly.
"No," Beth agreed with a chuckle, "I don't miss that. But the tournaments I've done lately, the guys I've been up against, none of them have the challenge that you brought to the table, none of that flare and begrudgingly engaging charm. And it's not just because you were US Champion, it's because you understand the history, the delicacy. They all just charge ahead; even me, sometimes. But not you, never you. I miss that."
Benny's smile was of a rare sort, gentle and understanding and tender. "It goes both ways, Harmon. There's no one out there quite like you."
Beth gave him an exaggerated grin. "I should hope not: it would be terribly weird to walk into a complete double on my self. Although, I suppose they'd be helpful for picking out clothes."
"And you'd be able to hold an intelligent conversation," he teased, capturing black's exposed bishop deftly. Good score.
The sound of the telephone ringing cut through the room, tinny and echoing.
"If anyone asks," she said in a saccharine sweet voice, "I'm planning our wedding invitations. Are we going for the red, or the blue?"
"Why do I agree to spend time with you again?" he grumbled as he made his way to the phone, picking through the chess books left open like flapping birds and the cushions that seemed permanently glued to the floor.
"Because, Benny dear, I'm just so sweet to you. And I buy the donuts."
"Yeah, and proceed to get crumbs all over my floor." Benny picked up the heavy receiver, smirking at Beth as he did. "Hello, this is Benny Watts, former U.S. Champion and actual buyer of the donuts, what are you bothering me for?"
Beth shot daggers at him.
"You call that a greeting, cowboy? It's Jolene. I'm house-sitting for Beth while she's having this vacay with you and she was meant to leave me a list of stuff to take care of and I can't find it, so put her on."
"Sure, I'll get her." Benny held out the phone, trying to contain his eye roll of disapproval. How had she even gotten his number?
"It's her magnanimous holiness, Jolene for you, milady."
Beth git up with an affronted sigh. "She forgot the list, didn't she?"
"She did indeed."
Beth picked up the phone. "Jolene, I told you where the list was before I left," Beth admonished, jumping up onto the counter space by the sink, swinging her heels back and forth into the cabinets. Benny sat back down, the couch still warm, staring at the board but with his mind in the conversation. He was glad that they kept in touch like they did, glad Beth had a female friend outside of their crazy chess world, someone she could talk about normal things with and do normal things with. Although they'd been told not to, she'd likely informed her if their relationship's real status, and, despite the USCF's dire warnings, he was happy that she had at least one other person in her corner who knew the truth.
But did she really have to do it now?
"Did you check by the phone?" Beth asked, absently twirling her watch around her wrist. Jolene said something that made her laugh, the one he didn't hear often, the one that felt like a treasure on the occasions he was able to coax it out of her. "Why, Jolene? Because, it's easy to see things you put by the phone, it's not going to get knocked over easily, or get wet like your crazy suggestion by the fridge. I really couldn't have made it more obvious if I had a neon arrow pointing to it and a hula dancer waving some palm fronds at it... What, it was a funny mental image!"
Beth let out a long sigh, catching his glance and throwing him a pleading, please let this be the end of it tilting of her head.
"You found it? By the phone? My, I wouldn't have expected that. Was that all? Jolene, I'm not doing this now?...Why, because he's in the room! You're so nosy."
"Why am I friends with nosy people?" she asked him, pulling the phone down under her chin.
"Was that rhetorical, Beth, or do you want an actual answer?" Benny teased, enjoying seeing her squirm.
A blush crept over her cheeks, and she grumbled quietly into the phone, "Jolene, I love you, but you have your own love-life, stop trying to rootle through mine. Anyway, there's enough food for the weekend and if you need anything there's money in the flour jar, okay? I'll tell Benny you said by. Okay, see you Monday," she said, returning the phone to the cradle and sinking into the couch beside him. She seemed particularly riveted by the nearby cracks in the ceiling.
"Sorry about that," Beth said without looking at him, "Jolene likes to go on. Once she gets started, it takes a minor miracle to get her off the phone."
"It's not a problem," Benny said, because he didn't want her to think there was one. "It's nice to know I'm not the only one who can rile you up."
Beth clocked him on the arm. "That's what you're taking from that? You know, you two would actually get along pretty well, you know, once you got over all the teasing and the vying for the award of best snarky comment."
"Hey, I've got plenty of those, Harmon, I don't need any more. She seems, nice, you know. Totally over-opinionated, but nice," Benny said, since he knew how important Jolene was.
"You're telling me. Over eleven years of friendship and she still makes me want to knock some sense into her. But she's all the family I've got now, and I wouldn't trade her for the world." She swiveled to face him, features clouded by uncertainty. "You know, Jolene's getting married, in the summer. You should come. As my guest. That is, if you want, although I'm sure the offer of watching people make idiots of themselves would be incentive enough for you," she rambled, finally catching her breath.
"You're really inviting me? To your best friend's wedding?" Benny asked, caught off guard by the invitation.
"Why wouldn't I? Someone needs to help me eat all that free cake, and who better than you?" Beth said, eyes not on him but the board. She couldn't help it: if there was a game out, it would always end up catching her attention. He was the same.
"So, is that a yes?" she asked.
"You, me and a room full of cake? What could go wrong?"
"How do you tie shoes?"
"You can't be serious!" Beth said, dragging her phone over to the couch, still in her pajamas. "Benny, it's five! In the morning! And you're asking me this now?"
"Do you do bunny ears? I bet you do bunny ears."
"What's going on? You sound distracted," she noted, getting comfy, pillow squished in her lap.
"I have a big interview coming up. But I'm standing here, keys in one hand, phone in the other, and for the life of me I can't remember how to tie my shoes."
"And you called me?"
"I called you."
"Because?"
"Because your number is the easiest to remember: I call it all the time. And because you're the smartest person I know, and you'll talk some sense into me so I won't show up there a driveling mess and make a complete fool of myself on live television," Benny stated, as if it should be entirely obvious to her.
"Hey, take a breath, Watts. Calm it. You're not going to make a fool of yourself on live television. Maybe on the way in or whilst you're getting your hair and make-up done, but certainly not while the cameras are on, I guarantee it," Beth stated confidently, eager to soothe her friend's worries.
"How can you be so sure?" he asked her, voice uncertain in a way that seemed to put her off-balance.
Beth smiled, glad to be the one supporting him for a change. "Because I know you, and I know you'll do a good job. You've got great social skills, you can string engaging yet charming sentences together and some of your jokes are even tolerable, in small doses of course. You see, you've got a lot going for you, Watts, all you have to do is stop stressing and realize it."
"I know, I know, it's just..."
"What?"
"I don't want to make you look bad," Benny admitted, forcing the words out with a palpable effort. "We're a thing now, or, at least, to the rest of the world we are. If I mess up, it could have negative repercussions on you and I don't want you to suffer that kind of scrutiny: people turn their nose up at you as is. You shouldn't have people wondering on your choice of...male companion."
"While that's mighty sweet of you, I'm a big girl now, Benny: I can take care of myself and my media representation. Besides, so long as it doesn't affect my chess or my ability to play, then let them say what they want. Let them gossip. They're all wrong, anyway. So watch them chase their tails for a bit, see where it gets them," she said with a mischevious grin.
"You're a menace," Benny replied, something in his tone shifting, settling.
"I never claimed otherwise. So, you good? Do you want me there? I'm sure I could get a flight out..."
"No, no, I'm good," he cut in. "I guess it's just gonna take some time to adjust to the whole thing. I've always been 'Solo Man,' even when I had Barnes as my second," Benny admitted quietly.
Beth offered him a little truth.
"It's not easy for me, either. But it's not like we've got any say in the matter. Are we still going to that gallery opening in two weeks?" she asked, deciding that since she was up she might as well be productive, so she sorted through the laundry as she waited for his response.
Benny said, "Absolutely. I'll be the one behind the potted plants, trying not to get mobbed by people I don't wanna talk to."
Beth laughed, musical and bright. "I'll be the one standing in front of all the art and pretending to actually know something about curving lines.
It was quiet for a beat. Then her friend rasped, "No, Beth, you'll be the one people can't take their eyes off."
Unable to think up an appropriate response, Beth muttered a quick, "Good luck with the show," and hung up.
Why was her heart pounding so hard in her chest? And why did she not mind one bit?
Author's Note: Happy 2022! Thank you for sticking with this Hartts shipping gal. I'm not giving up on this, I promise. There is more to come.
With love and greatest gratitude, Temperance Cain.