The Slut's Guide to Chess

chapter 17

The wind whipped the loose fabric of my coat around furiously against my skin. Even with my knitted hat and hood up over that, the tendrils of my hair that had managed to escape flew freely around my face. Arwyn was silent beside me as I talked against the harsh breeze.

"I always thought my favourite colour of fruit pastilles was red but recently I ate the green and it was phenomenal. Honestly, it was like perfection. So I think green is my favourite flavour now, how about you?"

With the hand he held his hood over his hair with, Arwyn flicked the wrist to check his watch.

"Yeah, I think loads of other people are undecided too," I continued when he made no effort to reply. "So, what are your favourite sweets? Wait- no! What are your favourite biscuits because I love Bourbons."

There was another pause as I waited. Only the sound of vigorous waves crashing onto cliffs was heard. We were so close to the edge that the spray of water from below sprinkled onto my cheeks. I clutched the tin of cookies tight to my chest as they clattered around unsatisfyingly.

"Right, how about this? What are your Digestive biscuit preferences? Because I know loads of people prefer them plain while others love the chocolate." Pause. "Hmm, maybe you're on the fence about it then? That's understandable. It's a big decision, after all."

I wrung my fingers and looked at the old bus stop sign. Dark green moss had weaved around the pole and graffiti decorated the sign itself until it was merely a shell of a bus stop. I wished it was a shelter rather than a measly sign, maybe then I could've hidden from the light drizzling of rain.

"Hey, are you listening to me?" I called towards Arwyn. His eyes remained frozen to where the road turned and disappeared around the corner, waiting for the old bus to arrive to take us to the chess tournament. We had to argue against having a crew of cameras following our journey and it felt odd to be completely free of the attention for once. Even when you went into the town there wasn't a guarantee you wouldn't be followed. Today, it was just us though. Until we arrived at the venue, that was.

"Eh, that's okay," I shrugged. "I never really listen either. I'll admit it's a bit more hurtful to be at the receiving end of it, though. I hope you're not this rude to all your friends. Hey, speaking of, do you have any friends? I mean, surely you do...right? Or, maybe you don't. I don't know. Is uh...is Griffin your friend? Actually, don't answer that. I don't care-"

The sound of the bus as it screeched around the corner cut my sentence off. Though it was old and dangerously close to the cliff edge, the vehicle didn't slow down. The doors opened and the driver with dark sunglasses and a grimace welcomed us on. I paid for our tickets and we rushed straight to the back. The bag on my back was heavy from chess books.

I slipped into the seat beside Arwyn and dropped the bag to my feet with a clunk and kept the tin on my lap. He wiped the water away from his glasses as his cheeks flushed red from the cold and rain. The bus was quick to continue on with the journey and we raced across the bumpy roads, looking down at the rushing ocean below, so dark and deep that it could swallow us whole.

When I looked over, I noticed Arwyn was pale.

"Are you scared?" I teased.

"We're really close to the edge, don't you think?"

"I mean, yeah I suppose. Just stop looking at that and look at me, instead. Besides, I need help with the competition today."

I pulled out his DS from my bag and switched it on. "I've barely slept since you gave me this, you should know. All I've done is researched the different strategies and tactics and openings and I've played the device over and over and over again, putting the difficulty up every time. Now it's at the max and I want to play you. Will you play me? But, wait first, I made these."