25 – Checkmate

When they returned to the cabin, Felicity entered the main room with a shiver, rubbing her arms and dancing in place. "It's freezing in here. I could never get used to the temperature changes in this place. It's like winter."

"I'll get a fire going. How does a cup of hot chocolate sound?"

"It sounds wonderful," Felicity said. "Give me fifteen minutes to thaw out in a hot shower, and I'm there." So saying, she hurried toward the bedroom for a warm set of pajamas.

While she was in the shower, Ben moved about the kitchen getting the hot chocolate ready. He set a pan of water on the stove to heat and went to get the marshmallows from a cupboard when Felicity's voice floated out into the kitchen, raised in mid-song. He grinned to himself. She sings in the shower. He couldn't tell what the song was, some drippy pop song from the radio, probably, but she sounded cute singing it. He turned to another cupboard to get the mugs.

They only had about a week left of their trip. The past week had flown by in spite of the long drives and monotonous highways between cities. Being home is going to suck after this. What did he have to look forward to? Finding some crummy job to pay for his credit card charges and next year's college expenses. That was going to take up most of his time. He knew he'd have to see his father. His mom and dad would probably get in an argument and she'd get all upset, and Ben would have to watch her deal with that.

His friends would be glad to see him, at least. They'd probably go shoot some hoops up at the high school, catch a pick-up game of football at the park or something. He and Felicity could—

Ben halted in mid-thought. Until that moment, he hadn't thought much further ahead than the next day or two of their road trip. He hadn't wanted to spoil it by dwelling on what waited at the end of it. His friends were, and had always been, part of Palo Alto High School's undisputed "in" crowd. Everybody knew that. Ben himself had always taken his popularity for granted as something that came with being good at sports. He hadn't cared about it much, then, and didn't, now. But he'd seen how some of the popular guys used to pick on the kids that weren't. Jason left them alone. Eric had always been more interested in the cheerleaders than anything the smart kids were doing. Kurt was a different story.

Kurt spent an entire month making friendly overtures toward a shy freshman girl with freckles and glasses. The other guys teased him about it, but Kurt just smiled and shrugged it off. Ben got to thinking he actually liked the girl until the day Kurt turned her down flat, loudly and obnoxiously, in front of the entire lunchroom when she asked him out. The girl fled the room in tears and didn't come to school for the next two days. Felicity hadn't been in school that day, now that Ben recalled the episode. He wondered what she'd think of him and his friends if she'd witnessed that scene.

What will they think of her?

Ben shook his head and went to a kitchen drawer for spoons. Who cares what they think? he thought, vehemently shoving that worry into the back of his mind.

Felicity came into the kitchen, showered and clad in a pair of blue flannel pajamas. "Hey, your water's boiling over."

Ben jerked into the present and grabbed the handle of the pan without thinking, singeing his hand. He snarled and seized a potholder, yanking the pan off the burner. Water sloshed over the sides of the pan and fizzled on the hot stovetop.

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," he spat, then regretted how it came out. He scowled. "Sorry. I was just—just thinking."

Felicity took the hot cocoa mix from the counter and began spooning it into the mugs. "About what?"

"Nothing. Nothing important." They'll never take her seriously. They're gonna think I'm messing with her, like Kurt did with that girl. Ben's lip curled into a sneer at the thought.

"Ben, what is it? You look really upset—"

"It's nothing," he repeated, feeling prickly. He liked his high school friends. They'd been through a lot of crap together. What he didn't like was the thought of having to justify his relationship with Felicity to them. Or even that he felt compelled to.

And that was a whole other issue. His relationship with Felicity was so new, so intense, so everything, that he wasn't even sure what to feel about it himself, let alone how to explain it to someone else. I should tell her some of this stuff. She should know. He opened his mouth and closed it again. Tell her what? It was easier just to let things be what they were, hope for the best, and worry about Palo Alto when they got there. I've changed some since high school. Maybe they have, too.

He realized she was staring at him with a mixture of hurt and confusion, and snapped to attention. "I'm sorry. I'm just being an idiot." He came up behind her to take his mug and kissed her on the cheek.

She gave him another doubtful look. "Are you sure you're—"

"I'm fine," he interrupted, flashing a grin. "Quit asking."

She dimpled at him then, causing him to bend close for another kiss. Later, he promised himself. I'll deal with it later.

- - - - -

"Look, an old chessboard," she said, pulling the carved wooden board from a cedar trunk resting near the wood stove.

"Yeah? What else is in there?"

Felicity set the board in her lap and withdrew a pouch of game pieces. "Just a bunch of extra blankets and sheets. Have you ever played chess?"

He laughed, with that tone of surprise as if the idea were inconceivable. "Chess? No. No chess."

"Do you want to learn how?"

Still sounding amused, he came to join her on the floor. "Sure."

Felicity laid the chessboard between them and set up the pieces, explaining how each one was placed on the board in relation to the others, and what moves they were allowed to make. "The king only gets to move one space at a time in any direction. The queen gets to move in whatever direction she wants, for however many spaces, either straight or diagonally."

"Doesn't seem very fair that the king only gets one move and the queen can do whatever she wants," Ben grinned.

Felicity smiled back. "White goes first." She moved a pawn one space ahead. "Your turn."

Ben considered for a moment, then set out his knight. "Did you play a lot?"

"When I was younger, my dad and I used to play chess all the time," she admitted. "Not so much when I got out of middle school. I always had so much homework, and when I didn't, Dad was away at some meeting." She advanced another pawn.

"Your dad must have been busy a lot," he mused, moving out another piece.

"Yeah. I always admired how hard he worked. I thought anybody that worked that hard must be really dedicated, really love what he does. I wanted to be a doctor because he made it look so important…so rewarding, you know?"

"Yeah, that must be cool."

Felicity looked up at him, but his eyes were on the board. She looked back down at the pieces again. "I'm still not a hundred percent sure I see myself as a doctor. Sometimes I think I should have stayed with art. It's hard…making that commitment. I don't always know if I'm doing the right thing."

He gave a soft, wry laugh.

She looked up again. "What?"

Ben shook his head, still studying the chessboard. "It's just funny to hear you say that."

"Why?"

"You just seem like you've always known what you wanted," he shrugged.

They fell into absorption in the game for a while. Felicity explained the movements of her pieces as they played. She was surprised and pleased to find that Ben was winning. "You're good at this." She eyed him in suspicion.

He grinned. "Maybe I just learn fast."

Felicity felt herself blushing for no particular reason and looked back down at the board. She made a hurried motion with her queen.

Ben made another move.

Felicity thrust a bishop forward on the board.

Ben took it with his knight.

With her ears burning, and not quite certain why, she moved out one of her knights.

Ben sent his own bishop forward. He scowled in deliberation at the board. "Check. Is this check?"

Felicity took a better look at the board. "Ah…that's checkmate. You won."

He beamed at her, sitting back with a self-satisfied look at his handiwork. "This is good. I like chess."

Felicity gave him another hard stare. "Are you sure you never played chess before?"

Still grinning, he shook his head. Then his grin faded.

His stare sent shivers up her spine. Felicity swallowed.

Ben rose into a crouch and moved forward across the board, scattering chess pieces. He laid one warm hand against her cheek and kissed her.

Felicity's heartbeat surged. His mouth felt soft against hers. Her shivers multiplied. He raised his other hand to her face, cupping it between his palms. She heard the clatter of more chess pieces rolling away across the floor as he pressed forward. His hand slid around behind her head, threading into her hair. Felicity raised her hands to his face and leaned backward, following his motion.

The two fell back onto the floor with a thump and rattle of chessmen. Ben caught her just before her head would have hit the floor, laughing softly. Felicity smiled between kisses and reached her arms around his torso. I can't believe this. I still can't believe I'm kissing him. I feel like I must be dreaming.

She felt his hand slide out of her hair and trail down her side, warm even through her flannel shirt. Felicity shivered again.

He reached for her hand, drawing away and pulling her onto her feet as he stood up. "Why don't we go make use of that nice bed I didn't get to use last night?"

"You mean—You mean you—we…?"

"We are just getting comfortable. That's it," he assured her. He took her other hand and held them both between his. "I'm going to make a fire, because your hands are freezing, and we're going to climb under those blankets, and we're going to enjoy being together, and there will be no poetry. Okay?"

She dimpled at the disarming grin on his face. "Okay."