𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐐𝐮𝐞𝐞𝐧'𝐬 𝐆𝐚𝐦𝐛𝐢𝐭 ♕From Beth the Eyes of Beth Harmon

XIII- Things are Beginning to Happen

Episode 4

Part 1

Middle Game

Kentucky, Mexico City, 1966

Things are Beginning to Happen

♕♛♕♛♕♛

I woke up with a headache. That's never a good sign. And as I slowly woke up more, the morning light flooding through the windows, I realized I was not in my bed. I was in someone else's bed, in someone else's apartment, in my clothes from the day before, with my top unbuttoned.

Shit. What happened last night.

Memories came crawling back into my hungover brain, some clearer than others. I took my Russian class at the community college like I do every other Friday night. Some boy who I didn't even know the name of invited me back to his place. We got stoned together, and I think I got up to call my mom with his phone to tell her where I was. She definitely told me to do the opposite of what I had done: don't smoke or drink too much and be careful who you sleep with.

So much for that, because the next thing I vaguely remember is having mediocre sex after getting drunk. And it was my first time.

I guess I didn't really care. I didn't remember the details, probably for the better. Sex never seemed to peak my interest. I never really looked forward to the day that I would loose my virginity. But that day has come, and I didn't even remember it. I still didn't get what all the fuss was about sex. Maybe some day I'll have an experience that will change my mind.

I got up slowly, my head pounding. I waddled into the kitchen where I found a note under a magnet on the fridge that read,

Everyone went to Cincinnati to see a movie. Stay as long as you'd like.

They attached a blunt to the magnet. I lit it and took a shower.

The apartment was a mess. There were discarded wine bottles and beer cans everywhere, and cigarette butts littered the place. I took it upon myself to clean up. It needed to be done and I had nothing better to do. So I put on a shirt belonging to the guy whose must've lived here and grabbed the vacuum.

I also made a quick trip to the store. I grabbed a few bottles of wine and an outfit, because the only clothes available to me were the ones I wore yesterday and the boy's clothes here. I went for a gray T-shirt and a pair of blue jeans.

As for the wine— I downed half the bottle. Being 18 was nice, because now I could drink as much as I wanted legally, without having to steal alcohol from some rich girl's dad. Wine was probably my favorite kind of booze. Something about the texture and the multitude of flavors delivered in each gulp was so mature and satisfactory. And the giddy feelings of forgetfulness and delirious euphoria that came soon after was something I was finding hard to live without.

I called my mother to let her know I wouldn't be home tonight either.

"Are you with a boy?" Alma always knew. Mothers' instinct, I guess.

"I was last night." I mumbled into the phone.

"Oh, Beth." She said with equal parts concern and congratulations.

"I'm alright, I— had a good time."

"Well, chess isn't the only thing in life." She spoke softly. "It's just—"

"I won't get pregnant." I said, answering her concern.

"Famous last words." I could hear the smile on her face through the phone.