𝑪𝒉𝒆𝒄𝒌𝒎𝒂𝒕𝒆: 𝑩𝒆𝒏𝒏𝒚 𝑾𝒂𝒕𝒕𝒔 𝒙 𝑶𝑪

Presence and Presents

It was Christmas time, Emilie hadn't seen her in a while. Alma's death hadn't brought them together, but rather drove them apart. They grieved differently. Beth had tried to focus on chess, and beating Borgov this time, and she had a mentor in New York who could help her do that, Emilie did know who her mentor but preferred not to think about it, just one day she left for Ohio and didn't come back home.

Emilie completely gave up on everything. She had nothing left. She had lost her entire support system, she had stopped doing what she loved, but Emilie always did love Christmas so she was going to put the past aside and go visit Beth in New York even though that also meant visiting Benny.

She was bringing Samual, yes he had hurt her but she was putting that aside. They were happy together, he was happy with her. He made money for their household and it seemed like their relationship was moving particularly fast. Her first time had been with Samual, it hadn't been very good. She was living with him, and they had their own schedule they followed.

He would go to work, she'd do chores at his house, and then they'd eat dinner, and going to sleep, then repeat. The only thing that would change in their schedules is if Sam was having a bad day, they'd have sex. He'd then roll over and fall asleep. No real joy or passion in the act.

Emilie would try to draw when she thought her mind was quiet enough, it never quite was.

They flew in and were staying at a small inn nearby.

"You sure you're in the right place?" Samual muttered.

"Yea, I.. know the place,"

"Why couldn't your sister just come home, instead of you going to this random basement in New York,"

"Beth is Beth and I'm me," Emilie softly knocked on the door, she could hear Beth on the other side. Emilie quickly added, "They don't know you're coming,"

"They?" Samual asked

Beth opened the door, "Hey Emilie," she enveloped Emilie in a tight embrace. Beth's eyes moved to the man beside Emilie, a sneer grew on her face, "What's he doing here?"

"He?" Benny's voice could be heard from inside.

"We got back together. It's serious and thought it would be a good idea,"

"Hey Beth," Sam said curtly, "Can we come inside?"

"Sure," Beth said leaving the door open so they could walk in but walking over to Benny, she whispered something to him, and he looked over at Emilie and Samual, his expression souring quickly.

"Let me formally introduce all of you guys, Beth, this is Benny Watts. You probably know him a bit from other tournaments,"

"We're acquainted,"

"I'll introduce Sam. This is Sam, my partner," Emilie cozied up to Sam in a show of possession of sorts. Sam did a little wave before sitting down and asking,

"What is our Christmas dinner of sorts?"

"Well, Beth and I have been mainly focusing on chess and just get takeout most of the time. So we got our favorite takeout, it's a little on the exotic side for you, but let's hope you can handle it.. buddy," There was so much pettiness in his words. Slight little digs that if you didn't know Benny well you would've just taken as normal conversation.

They had gotten Thai food from that same place that Emilie used to eat a lot. They put out plates and everyone was piling food on their plates, Emilie pointed at the little hot sauce packets and Benny threw her over three, just like they had done routinely when she was a part time resident of this apartment. Samual was mainly picking at his food, unsure of what parts he was willing to eat. They ate mostly in silence. Emilie attempted to break the tension,

"Anyone want drinks?" There were quiet confirmations so Beth offered to help Emilie find stuff even though Emilie did know where everything was.

Emilie walked right over to the cupboard and pulled out a coffee cup, filled it with liquor, and downed it, leaning on the counter afterward. She was breathing deeply, attempting to quiet her mind. As this was happening, Beth was filling cups with coke and water, glancing back at where the two men sat. Benny was staring daggers at Sam while Sam kept his eyes trained downward, seemingly intimidated.

"You good Em?" Beth whispered to her. Emilie nodded taking another sip of her stiff drink before walking back to the table, a pleasant smile plastered to her face.

"You boys done eating yet?" She said in a faux enthusiastic voice.

"Sure," they both muttered.

"Ok then I think it's gift time!" She clapped her hands together. Benny and Beth were both confused with how she was acting but went along with it, Sam seemed none the wiser.

"I'll give my gift to Beth first," she grabbed a box out of the bag they had brought with them. Beth took the top off and knew immediately what it was. Their mother often wore gloves with her outfits. A pair of white gloves. Beth had brought one of Alma's jackets with her and here Emilie was giving another piece of Alma to carry with her.

Beth reached over and embraced her sister tightly, she whispered "I really missed you,"

Benny and Sam seemed confused but Benny just smiled seeing them happy while Sam preferred to inspect his watch than pay closer attention.

Beth got up and grabbed a small festive bag from inside Benny's room. "My gift was supposed to be more funny, but since you got back together with him I guess you'll enjoy reading these," she handed the bag to Emilie. A bundle of dozens of letters were inside, all addressed to E. Harmon. "A while ago Sam started sending letters to our house. Addressed to E. Harmon," Emilie looked at the letters further and knew she recognized the handwriting. "I only read the first one cause I thought it was for me, but I saved the rest cause I didn't want you go back to an awful asshole who cheated on you,"

"That's extremely rude, young lady-"

Beth cut him off, "You're not my father, anyways continuing, didn't expect this," she pointed between the two of them, "to happen. Hope you enjoy reading all your old love letters," Beth lightly chuckled. Emilie just looked down at the letters, quickly glanced up at Benny before looking at Beth saying a quiet,

"Thank you," she was quiet for a second again, getting up to take another sip of her drink she left on the counter. She shook her head to herself, finishing off the drink.

"You okay Emmy?" Benny said quickly. Beth turned to him a little confused.

"Yeah I'm fine," she said, taking another box out of the same bag she had taken Beth present out of. Emilie turned to Sam, nudging him to give the gift to Benny. All he did was hand it to him saying,

"Here you go man," Emilie rolled her eyes before continuing on his behalf,

"I had Sam go out and get a gift for you because you're both men and I thought he'd know," Benny pulled navy blue dress pants out of the bag, "Well he got that, and the second thing is what I picked out," the last thing in the box was a dark ash green button up shirt, "I thought it would go nicely with your whole look,"

"Thank you," he said to Emilie and nodded towards Sam.

Sam then cut the moment short, "Well I wanted to give my beautiful Emilie a gift," he said stood up despite everyone else sitting down, "My gift to you, my dear, is me," Emilie's face was one annoyance but she didn't say anything.

"Well that's not really a gift," Beth said dully.

"Well this huge hunk of rock sure as hell is," he got down on one knee and turned to Emilie, "Will you take me?"

Emilie was stunned, everyone was. This was very sudden. They had only been together for a few months.

She didn't speak but rather walked out of the apartment, she slumped against the wall, let out a shaky exhale and closed her eyes. Let her mind go quiet even if just for a second.