ADJOURNMENT || benny watts x reader

chapter fifteen

Beth and Benny sat in the hotel restaurant in Chicago, neither of them having the appetite to eat breakfast. Benny stared at his coffee, utterly zoned out, while Beth looked at him pitifully.

"Benny," She said, but the champion still didn't look up from his mug. "It's her decision. We can't change that."

"I know," He said, but there was some venom behind his words. "She told me all about her decisions,"

"That's enough," Beth demanded. Benny finally looked up at her, his stare lethal, but Beth's own demeaner was enough to get him to stay quiet. "She's had a tougher time than most, Benny. She'll come back eventually. We just need to give her time,"

Benny stood then, leaving his coffee untouched. "I've run out of patience."

Beth stayed sat while Benny walked away. She hated it when he was like this; so inside of his own head, so hateful towards something that could be fixed. Benny Watts had got his heart broken, and she knew all too well how that changed his behaviour for the worse.

A part of her wished you were here, even if you chose not to compete, but Beth also knew how guilty you felt about your own actions. Overcoming personal guilt to apologise for something self-inflicted was one of the most difficult things a person could do; it was something Beth had also experienced with Benny.

She glanced at the clock, the time was 9:47am, meaning there were just over two hours before the tournament began. Beth sighed, choosing to finish her coffee alone, while Benny Watts isolated himself away in his room before the games begun.

You didn't sleep on the plane, too overcome with anxiety to even try. As you landed at O'Hare International Airport, you finally realised what was about to happen—

You weren't just about to be face to face with Benny again, after all you'd said and done; you were about to compete in your first chess tournament. In front of press, reviewers, other players and spectators alike, all of which definitely knew your last name already.

You'd packed your father's letter, bringing it with you as a reminder of why you were doing this. His written permission for you to play was stuffed in your bag, along with anything else you managed to throw in your suitcase, before rushing to the airport to get on the next available flight to the windy city.

By the time you made it out of the airport, you had just over an hour to make it to the hotel. You hadn't even booked a room, too wrapped up in actually making to Chicago on time for the tournament. It didn't matter—you could book one when you arrived, or you knew Beth would offer up hers for you stay in for the weekend.

You were excited to see her again, to play her. You wanted to remember it this time, as you both sat in silence with a chess board before you. You wanted to see the way she flicked her wrist when moving a piece, the way she clicked the clock after playing, the way she lost—

Despite that excitement, ravenous butterflies were eating your gut at the thought of seeing Benny again.

You'd been so hurtful, so blind, so stuck in your head that you'd wholeheartedly believed his statement not to be true—I'm in love with you.

You tried not to think about whether he still felt the same, after a month without contact. You tried not to think about whether those feelings had turned to resentment or hatred in your time apart. You tried not to think about how much you missed him, with his sarcastic retorts, his soft eyes, his gentle fingers—

"Taxi!" You yelled, as you stood by the rank outside O'Hare. You jumped in the first one that stopped. "The Waldorf Hotel, as fast as you can."