ATOMIC, benny watts

three- speed chess

Bob and I were standing rather awkwardly in the corner of the kitchen while Beth and Cleo were preparing the food or whatever, out of the corner of my eye, I found myself watching the conversation between Hilton, Arthur and Benny.

"You didn't tell me that I couldn't get high." Bob mutters harshly, nursing his now full glass to his lips, chugging down some of his alcohol once more.

"How was I supposed to know? I've never met these people." I say in a hushed voice.

"You could've called." He groans, going to the counter to refill his glass, at this rate he'd be drunk by the time we left to go home. And a drunk Bob could never make it up the stairs.

"Drink your juice and be quiet." I say, gesturing for him to go and follow everyone else over to the little makeshift coffee table.

We sit next to one another, taking our seats on the floor, beside one another.

"Great. Now that we have everyone. Let's do a simultaneous." Benny says, his eyes falling on Beth's directly.

Did they have something going on?

I didn't know them well enough to ask, but based off the tension between them, it kinda felt like it. And from the looks of it, both Arthur and Bob had managed to pick up on it.

And if we were playing a simultaneous with Beth? I was going to be obliterated completely. There was no way I'd ever be able to beat her.

Really.

There wasn't.

Bob nudges me and whispers "What does that mean?"

Benny glares at him "it means, that Beth here, plays all of us."

Cleo interjects "Er, not me. I don't even know the rules." And she settles down into her seat, Bob looks her over for about five seconds before deciding he's not going to bother playing either.

"Same here, say, what was your name again?"

"Stop it." I hiss towards him, watching as he lit up one of his cigarettes. The last thing I wanted was Bob embarrassing me in front of a bunch of chess players and a French model.

"Cleo. And I guess we'll spectate." She winks in his direction, which causes him to chuckle a bit, before he leans in and whispers in my ear "Bob Dylan never fails to win.."

Beth rolls her eyes, looking at Benny once again. "Well, do we even have enough boards? Enough pieces?"

He nods "Yeah, in the closet-"

"I brought one of my boards." I add calmly, gesturing to the pristine looking board sitting on the kitchen counter where I had put it.

"Great. We can set them up all here on the floor." He adds, clapping his hands together eagerly.

Beth seems unsure for a few seconds, but then finally agrees to it, giving a simple okay as an answer.

Hilton interjects "Time control?" He asks, just wanting to give himself a fleeting chance against the monster of a player that was Beth Harmon.

"Let's play speed chess." She says, not bothering to look towards anyone else other than Benny.

Had this not been the goal the whole time? I thought I'd been invited here to play speed chess. I had quite literally brought a whole stack of cash just because of it. Or had Arthur lured me here to meet his pals?

Because it was starting to seem like that.

"That'll give us an edge, we can think on your time.." Benny says shrugging

This was more or less starting to feel like I was caught up in the two's personal drama and business. To be honest, I didn't know what the fuck was going on between the two of them. I turn to Arthur, mouthing "what's going on?"

And I only get a just as confused shrug in response. Great.

"Mhm. I wanna try it." Her nose scrunches up a bit, and I can't help but to yawn, starting to grow irritated with the back and forth. I mean seriously, I had come to play chess.

"Yeah but you're not so good at that, remember?" He whips around to look at me and says "Sure you should play? Wouldn't want Beth kicking your ass too badly would we?"

"Oh no, I'm great. Just tired of hearing your mindless and desperate attempts at flirting." I groan, picking up my own drink and saying "I came to play chess, not watch a soap opera."

Hilton and Cleo both chuckle, and I know Bob is stomaching back his usual laugh.

Benny however goes silent, not saying anything for a moment, and now avoiding eye contact with me. So Beth takes the opportunity to raise the takes. "I'll bet ten I can beat you."

He was a gambler, so he hesitated for a moment before saying "What if you throw the other games to focus on me?"

"What if I kick you in the crotch?" She says, which causes Bob to nearly fall over, and everyone else besides Benny to laugh.

"I like her." Bob says, clapping his hands together generously. "You're almost as funny as Viv over here." He snickers again.

"Can we please get on with the games?" Arthur asks, starting to grow uncomfortable with the whole ordeal.

"I'll bet ten on the three of them too." Beth adds quickly, gesturing towards Arthur, Hilton and I.

"Okay...that's your money."

"It will be."

I didn't know what was so infuriating about watching his all, maybe it was the fact that I felt like I was watching two people who desperately needed to fuck someone amble around chess as if it was chutes and ladders.

"Let's play. Please." I say, standing up to and grab my chessboard from the counter, while everyone else begins to set up for the game as well.

And soon enough we were off, Beth starting with Arthur, then Hilton, Me and finally Benny. I almost messed myself up, on the first move, only I managed to recover, choosing the pawn that seemed more reasonable.

Hilton was first down, stumped with how she'd managed to beat him so quickly.

Then, down went Arthur, I wasn't quite surprised with that one, although I'd expected it to be either him or me.

So now, it was between Benny and I.

More time passes, and I'd gotten so caught up in the drama with my remaining bishop, I literally let my guard down, allowing Beth to gain access to my king once and for all.

"Good game." She says, smirking a bit. "You lasted longer than I thought." She whispers before quickly going to pounce onto Benny once more.

Although, she still emerges victorious, and Benny works over $40 to her.