"Settle for me Darling, just settle for me I think you'll have to agree We make quite a pair"- Settle for Me, Crazy Ex-Girlfriend Cast
"Beth? Why are you here in New York?" Benny said, joy apparent in his tone albeit his obvious shock.
"Eh? Ah, no, I'm not Beth." A young red-head girl awkwardly stuttered, as she turned around to look at Benny with her dark green eyes.
"My name is Natasha and I am, well, a big fan of yours." She continued, smiling sheepishly at him as she offered a hand for him to shake.
That was Natasha's first meeting with one of her greatest idols, Benny Watts—she got mistaken as her favourite chess player, Beth Harmon. In a weird coincidence, Natasha looks a lot like Beth in certain angles and they are even both red-haired although Natasha's hair color is a few shades duller than Beth's. Like Benny and Beth, Natasha loves chess and loves joining chess competitions when she can.
However, unlike the two, she is not really a prodigy or an expert with long experience. Instead, she's just a regular chess player with an equal number of winnings to her losses. Yet despite that fact, months after their rather awkward meeting, she and Benny became close friends. Benny would often ask her if she likes to join chess discussions with other chess players—like now.
Sitting cross-legs at the floor, Natasha's full attention is on the re-enactment and discussion of Borgov's games before he fought with Beth or at least, most of the time her focus was on it except for the few times that she couldn't stop admiring the passionate guy called Benny who was explaining all of this to them.
Before meeting Benny, Natasha already admired him. Well, who wouldn't? He was a child prodigy in chess and a rather attractive guy that she would see in the magazines from time to time. However, the few months that they had spent together, made Natasha really make her see him as not just as her idol but as a real friend. Heck, maybe even more than that. After all, Benny was a very charming guy and just plain wonderful that even Natasha's degree in English can't help her put it into words.
Then as if on cue, just as Natasha got lost in her own thoughts, Benny finally finished talking and walked towards her to get a glass of water at the table behind her.
"Hey," he called out to her, his voice as chill and friendly as usual.
"Hi, nice demonstration." She replied, trying to sound casual as she complimented him.
"Thanks." He replied immediately, obviously used to compliments, before taking a big gulp of water.
"Did you enjoy today's show?" He teasingly asked her, knowing fully well how easy she gets entrance when people talk about chess—ironically, not noticing how her attention was not only on the discussion but also at him.
"Yeah, I did." Natasha said, trying to sound chill even though it would only take one to pay a little more attention at her to see how her ears are burning red from embarrassment.
After that, the two of them continue watching together the next re-enactment done by another well-known chess master. From time to time, the both of them would even silently discuss it together. Although, their interaction may seem extremely mundane, Natasha's stupid chest can't seem to stop beating fast from happiness because of the fact she's able to share her opinion as well as observations to her idol—and well, she also can't deny that a part of why her heart is acting up is because she secretly feel happy about spending a simple time together with Benny as silly as it may sound. It makes her quietly hope that she'd get to spend more simple things with him...like getting some groceries together, etc.
