Haircut (Beth Harmon X Benny Watts)

Epilogue

"Where's Benny?" Harry asked. He pushed his sunglasses up to his nose and looked around.

I took a sip from my Gibson. "He'll be here any minute now. The interview is taking a little longer."

Harry smirks. "Could've guessed that. Probably to busy talking about himself."

Annette slapped him on his arm. "Don't be mean, Harry."

"He's just telling the truth, Annette." Matt said as he took a sip of his coke. Mike and Collin grinned I'm agreement.

"And besides, Annie, I'm allowed to talk to him like that."

"And why's that?" I asked, ready knowing the answer.

"Because we're the male version of you and Jolene!"

We all bursted out in laughter. Harry had changed in the last year. The scared teenage boy had dissapeared a little, and he learned how to use sarcasm. What magically matched Benny's sarcasm. They became friends all of a sudden, what drove me crazy at first, because Benny would come at four AM. But I got used at it.

The others started a discussion about a local upcoming tournament. I tried to listen to them, but I was too nervous to pay enough attention to follow it.

I leaned back in the chair and looked at the faces of the people around me. It felt like they grew 5 years older in the last year and a half. And I still felt like the same girl.

I did learn how to drink one gibson or glass of wine instead of 6. And I haven't touched a pill since Las Vegas. All thanks to Benny and Jolene ofcourse.

Moving in with Benny and selling the house was one of the scariest, but also one of the best choices I ever made. Now I have trouble falling asleel when I can't hear a roaring city next to me. But these afternoons are worth the sleepless nights in the Lexington Hotel.

Or every other hotel we slept in, when we went to tournaments together. We've never been asked if we wanted separate rooms since the US Open. The King and Queen of chess, is what the headliner said in the issue of our final game. It had a photo on it with me kissing Benny on stage.

"Are you guys participating, Beth?" Collin asked me.

"Depends if you're going to play or not. You almost beat me once and you beat Benny twice. Don't want to lose my title." I smiled at him.

"Beth Harmon. Are you scared?" Mike asked dramatically.

I rolled my eyes at him. "You wish."

I'd built a great relationship with the family Wilson. Shopping with Mrs Wilson. And playing chess with Collin and Mr Wilson. They always reminded me of Mom, when I was having a hard day.

"Don't worry, I'll beat you one day." Collin laughed.

The hot summer sun was already setting, but Benny still hadn't arrived. I wasn't worried though, I knew he wasnt going to miss this moment.

"Have you been to Townes lately?" I asked Matt.

He sighed. "Yes, we went to him two weeks ago. He's almost done with his rehabilitation. I'm glad we managed to put him in there. He looks a lot healthier. But the pills aren't the problem anymore, it's his guilt that he's still dealing with."

I nodded. I went to see Townes once in his white room at the rehabilitation center. He was sober and playing chess, when I walked in. But when he saw me, he started to cry. We had an awfully long talk, with a lot of apologies and empty promises. It was good that Benny was waiting for me in the car, because I was 100 percent sure that I would have driven myself to pieces.

I didn't forgive him yet. And I wasn't sure if I would be able to forgive him ever. But he didn't feel as a threat anymore, not when I saw him cry.

Collin sighed. "Townes will live. But not in our lives. We help him through this rehab and then he's on his own. Well, ofcourse he still has his boyfriend."

"And that's enough." Harry added with a slightly annoyed tone. But after a few seconds a smile appeared on his face. "There he is."

Benny walked up to the table. He was wearing worn-out jeans and the black blouse, that I gave him for Christmas. He wasn't wearing his hat, so strands of blonde hair were falling in front of his eyes.

I managed to cut his hair twice in the past year and half. We always had a huge fight before it, always nagging how cutting his hair reminded him of the grey times. Gosh, he was such a child sometimes.

"Hey, guys." He pulled a chair from another table and sat down next to me. He bented to me and kiss me on my cheek. "And hey, you." He whispered.

"Did you have struggles with deciding what your better side was?" Harry asked with a smirk on his face. Annette immediately rolled her eyes. I was always scared that Annette would leave, when Beltik changed, but she still loves him with all her heart.

Benny laughed. "Of course not, my right side is better."

We all laughed. After a few seconds Benny's hand met mine under the table. He looked at me and smiled. And I nervously smiled back.

"But now you're finally here, can you tell me why asked to have dinner together, instead of assuming we were going to have dinner?" Matt asked.

Benny and I shared a couple of looks. He knew ai was nervous, and I knew he wasn't at all. So before I could even say anything, Benny pulled my hand, I'd been hiding from everyone, from under the table.

The simple ring on my finger shined in the setting sun. Everybody looked absolutely shocked, except for Benny, who looked prouder than ever.

"You're engaged?!" Annette was the first one who was able to say something. But she was quickly followed with cheers and laughs from the others.

"What, how, since when, why didn't I know this?" Harry asked excited.

Annette carefully took my hand an inspected the rings, while Benny answered all the guys answers.

"It's beautiful." She said amazed.

"Jolene helped me choose and set the whole thing up." Benny's smile grew even wider. " She's also the one who's organizing our wedding."

"And my maid of honor." I smiled.

"Wait, wait, wait. My head is blowing up!" Matt said as he shook his head with a smile.

"I can't believe it!" Mike added.

"Me neither!" Collin said.

"Well, you're all invited to the wedding of course." Benny said with a smirk. He played with the ring around my finger.

I smiled at the people around the table. My best friends and the people I loved the most. Only Jolene was missing, but she would be here soon too, after coming  back from her holiday.

Maybe I did grow older in the last year. Maybe I did learn more. I knew there were still scary roads up ahead, but I wasn't going to face them alone, ever. I found my people back and that was more than I could ever wish for.

Benny pulled my hand to his lips and placed a kissed on the ring. He smirked at it proudly.

"Now I can call you my real queen."

~the end