Rewrite:25/03/17

"Enjoying your book?" Beau asked politely, drumming his fingers against the chair... Highly disturbed that the beast... Angela... was looking so intensely at him... Like a piece of meat ready to be butchered... Was that her intention? Beau didn't know... He didn't want to know...

Angela snapped back in disbelief upon hearing Beau speak, angry that she had let herself be caught...

"Yes... the book..." she chocked her cheeks burning like acid, her heart rate palpitating with each breath... It was only because of Beau's concerned look did she noticed that her claws were digging... a little too deeply into the book cover...

"What are you doing?" she screamed at herself... Immediately she loosened her grip, disgusted by her own behavior...

"Why are you getting so so flustered about... about him? What's wrong with you? Pull yourself together!" she snapped, sinking deeper into her armchair...

"Yes this book...Its very interesting..." she said, attempting to sound casual.

Beau nodded and turned quietly back to his book... although Angela did get the impression he wasn't telling her something... Three whole seconds later he finally spoke...

"An interesting observation... Considering your book is upside down..." he coughed finally looking her in the eye.

Angela looked down and to her utter mortification the book was indeed upside down... Quickly she tried to flip it over only to clumsily drop it onto the floor and when she bent over to retrieve it, she did it with so much force, she tore the cover straight off and all this was done under the watchful eye of a highly amused Beau. Angela swallowed her urge to scream out in frustration. Thank God her blushing was invisible under all the fur...

Beau couldn't help but smile at this beast... and not to mention her dumbfounded expression... The whole spectacle that transpired before him was... Interesting... and also unexpected... He really didn't expect this sort of clumsy, careless behavior to come from her... It was almost comforting... In some really bizarre way...

"You uh... Do you need help?" he offered reaching down to pick up the broken book.

"No..." she said fiercely a fiery sort of determination in her eyes. Hurriedly she picked the broken book up and slammed it on the table. Her ears pressed firmly against her head. She stayed like that. Refusing to look at him... A tensed silence passed between them and Beau was starting to feel increasingly uncomfortable.

"Why don't we do something else? Something that can help us... Get to know each other better!" he suggested though he mentally cringed at how stupid that sounded. Angela turned to look at him, her emerald eyes piercing. The look on her face indicated she wanted to do nothing more but to flee the room and yet she dryly said.

"And what would you suggest?"

Beau grimaced, and looked around the library for anything that might help him. Anything at all... He heaved a sigh of relief. He found something. Scrambling out his armchair he ran towards the fireplace and grabbed a dusty wooded box off a dustier mantle.

"How about this?" he said as enthusiastically as he could. Angela looked at the wooden box. Her expression blank and Beau couldn't tell if she was eager... or ready to swat it out of his hands.

"That?" she finally said. Her eyes clouded with a swirl of emotions Beau couldn't decipher.

"Do you not play chess?" he finally asked... A little crestfallen...

"No I... I played... But..." Angela's tone broke off and her eyes finally looked up at him.

"I'm just not very good..." she finally. Beau shrugged. He was looking for a distraction, not a competition... Though a worthy opponent would be nice for once. The other village boys never cared for chess, the adults scoffed at him, the girls stared at him funny when he offered and he had defeated his father at the tender age of ten...

"Its alright. I'll take it easy on you." He grinned before gesturing at the black or white pieces. Angela stared at him, before pointing to a white pawn.

Systematically, Beau started setting the pieces. Form the corner of his eye he noticed that once or twice Angela lifted her hand like paw, as if she wanted to help him... But when their fingers accidently touched, he couldn't help but shudder and they both withdrew quickly. Angela a little faster, her arm disappearing into the confines of her cloak... Her face downcast, her ears pressed against her head. Beau decided not to say a word, and continued to set the pieces.

"Well then! Lets start... You have the first move." He declared cheerfully as if nothing had happened. Angela turned sharply.

"Do you really... Do you really want me to do this with you?" she asked uncertainly, unsure if Beau was trying to trick her... After all...

"Why not?" Beau shrugged before quickly trying to justify himself, seeing how her eye narrowed...

"I mean its just a game of chess...Its been ages since I played and... Well... You're not afraid of losing are you?" he joked... Though really he thought he was taking a gamble here...

Angela allowed herself a fraction of a smile..."No... But are you?"

Beau managed a lopsided half smile... Although he was afraid that what would happen if she lost and she got angry at him... Like he said, he was taking a gamble.

"Absolutely not... "

With extreme circumspection, Angela slowly turned to face Beau. Maintaining a weary distance so he didn't feel...put off by her... They were close... Its been so long since she been so close to another human being for years... It was so incredibly terrifying...

"Where do we begin?" she asked softly.

It was half an hour later, and Beau was sitting on the edge of his seat, his face scrunched in an annoyed grimace and his eyes never leaving the chessboard while Angela sat there rigidly, her eyes studying Beau with a twinge of gleeful triumph...

Finally...

"You're really good..." Beau mumbled in a desperate attempt to hide the fact he was losing... And losing terribly... For the first time in a very long time...

Angela simply shrugged.

"I'm alright..." she said simply. "But are you ever going to move?"

Beau looked at her before moving a pawn, and then scolded himself when her knight devoured it.

Beau bit the inside of his cheek.

"So... do you want to tell me anything about yourself?" he asked nervously, trying to distract a smirking Angela. Whose smirk quickly disappeared when he asked her that... Quickly replaced with a narrow eyed glare.

"There's nothing you need to know about me..." she said softly.

"Oh come on, there must be something..." Beau urged while also trying to form a plan to salvage his remaining chess pieces from Angela's army. He moved his last rock trying to protect his...

"I like books..." Angela interrupted. Before concealing a grin as she moved her knight devouring Beau's rock. Much to his horror...

"Favorite color?"

There was a pause.

"Green..." and Beau, looking into Angela's striking emerald eyes, wondered if it had anything to do with... No, it couldn't possibly be because of that

"Well... I like blue."

"Oh..."

There was another uncomfortable pause.

"Checkmate." Angela suddenly declared with a smirk and Beau immediately leaned forward to check the board. His eyes widened. He couldn't believe it. This animal... This beast... actually beat him... Him... He had lost... He had never lost before...

Angela watched in silent glee as she watched Beau absorb his failure... The look on his face was priceless... As if he had been slapped in the face. She recoiled slightly however, when the expression on Beau's face-hardened and when his hands curled fists.

"Oh no..." she thought. He was angry... Angry at her... That hadn't been her intention... She lowered her ears and recoiled even more when he suddenly turned to look at her.

"Good game." He said simply. "But I demand a rematch!" and his face broke into a determined grin as he started resetting the pieces. Angela raised a confused eyebrow. So he wasn't mad at her then... She shook her head. Why was this boy so confusing...

"A rematch?" she asked.

"Yes! And this time... I won't lose." Beau replied with a smile before it broke apart as he noticed how Angela was eyeing him.

"You don't mind right?"

Truth be told... Angela did mind. She was certain she had far exceeded her quota of being sociable for that day and wanted to do nothing more than to retreat back into the safety of her quarters... and hide under her blanket for an hour. But then again... This was the first time anybody wanted to really spend time with her... Spend time... with her... An ugly, monstrous beast... It felt... strangely... nice... and she wanted to hold onto this strange feeling a little longer. After all… She hadn't felt it for over ten years…Gingerly, Angela shook her head.

"No I don't mind..." she said softly before smiling a little.

"And this time... Don't take it easy on me..." she said silkily.

Beau looked up in surprise. Was Angela... teasing him? So she did have a sense of humor... Who would have guessed?

"All right, I won't." he said with equal silkiness. "But that means you will surely lose."

Angela chuckled darkly.

"We'll see about that..."