Haircut (Beth Harmon X Benny Watts)

Chapter 45

When I woke up, the first thing that I felt was my head. It felt like every braincell was screaming and jumping up and down. It made me want to tear my head off. I quickly realised I wanted to rip my whole body off. Everything was sore and numb. I felt absolutely terrible.

With a heavy sigh, I turned around. But when I was facing Benny's side of the bed, I didn't see him. The bed was made up, and Benny's things were gone. He left? Our conversation of yesterday spooked through my mind. He had told me everything.

The letter, the guilt, his hair, Townes... It took me 2 seconds to get out of bed and run to the bathroom. I started to throw up and didn't stop before I felt absolutely empty. Every hair on my body stood straight and even when I was done I still felt nauseous en disgusting.

I pushed myself to the corner of the bathroom. Tears were prickling in my eyes. Suddenly somebody pushed the door open. I wished that it was Benny, that he could hold me again. I met a couple of brown eyes, but they weren't Benny's.

"There you are."

Jolene had her usual grin on her face and leaned against the doorway.

"Hey, Cracker."

I rolled my eyes and smiled. I didn't know why she was here, but I couldn't be happier.

"What in the world are you doing here?" I said with a  hoarse voice.

"Beltik came with the plan to fly to Las Vegas to watch your last match with Benny. But apparently I'm here to help you get rid of your hangover before the game." She walked over to me and grabbed me by my hands and pulled me up.

"Jeez, you look even whiter than normal. What the hell have you been up to?"

"It's a long story." I said, as I leaned against the wall. Jolene turned on the shower.

"Short version please, we don't have forever."

I sighed. "I had a few pills yesterday."

Jolene turned around abruptly, a shocked look on her face. "Iridium? Bitch are you dumb?"

"Apparently." I rubbed my temples with my thumb.

Jolene scoffed at my answer. She clearly wasn't in the mood for jokes. "You stopped taking them for almost a month. What happened?"

"I got in a heavy fight with Benny."

"About what?" She asked confused.

"He broke up with me over some shitty reason. But he found me after I had taken the pills and helped me throw them up."

"It's good he did. Why did he break up with you?"

"I lied about Townes being here. And I know I shouldn't lie but yeah..."

Jolene turned back around to feel if the water of the shower was already hot. She didn't say anything. Of course it irritated me that she knew for so long and didn't tell me anything, but I guess she just wanted that Benny told me.

"He told me, Jolene. Every bit of it." I said.

Jolene slowly turned the shower off and turned around again. She had a concerned and guilty look on her face. Something you didn't see that often.

"Don't worry Benny told me you knew. I'm not mad anymore." I said quietly.

Jolene shook her head. "You should."

"I'm just mad at one person at this moment." I wrapped my arms around my stomache, trying to stop the nausea.

"I understand, I was mad too and so was Benny. But he told you that."

I nodded.

Jolene stated at me for a moment, before turning the shower back on.

"You're going to be fine Beth, you always do. As long as you stay with that pirate of yours."

I smiled. "Yeah, I hope you're right." I sighed hopefully. I was really glad Jolene was here.

"Where is Benny by the way?"

"You don't know where he is?" Jolene asked confused.

"No, don't you?"

"No, I haven't seen him yet..."

"Fuck." I whispered. "Alright get out, I'll be done in five minutes, go look for him please."

I started to take of my clothes.

"Where do you think he is?" Jolene asked just before she walked out of the bathroom.

"He's either doing nothing dumb, or he's beating Townes' ass!" I yelled from under the shower.

We searched the whole hotel first, but we couldn't find Townes nor Benny. I hadn't had the time to thank Harry for coming, but I gave him a short, slightly awkward hug. When, I wanted to run away to look for Benny, to other arms wrapped around me. Annette's cheerful eyes met mine and I quickly hugged her back.

I wished that her good mood was contagious.

When we started to search the Casino it was already pretty full. A lot of people walked up to me to wish me luck, or to ask if I knew where Benny was, or if I thought I was going to win or not.

I just shook my head yes and no, too busy searching for a cowboy hat.

But I didn't see it, but after 5 minutes I did see a red cap.

"Sam!" I yelled.

Sam turned around and looked a bit scared when I approached him. "Do you know where Journalist Townes is supposed to be right now?"

"Townes?" He asked. "Wait." He ran off, but after less than 30 seconds he stood right in front of me again. He was panting. "He didn't show up today. We don't know why. I'm sorry."

"Shit." I whispered, already looking around me again. " Thanks for your help. And don't worry about the thing, it was mostly my fault, you didn't know."

Sam nodded at me relieved,but I only saw it for a second, because I'd already walked off.

"Goddamnit, Benny. Where the hell are you?" I whispered.

"Beth?"

I quickly turned around, but wasn't faced with Benny. Matt and Mike were standing in front of me. They both looked a bit unsettled and really tired.

"What is it?" I asked distracted.

"We need to talk." Matt said. He shared an uncertain look with Mike.

"I don't have time to talk, I need to find Benny." I wanted to walk away, because I saw some guy with blonde hair. Even though I already knew it wasn't him.

Mike grabbed me by my shoulder. "Beth, it's about Benny."

I looked at them confused. "You know where he is?"

"We do. But please first listen to us." Mike said.

I stared at the two for a while. Listening felt like a waste of time, but if they knew where he was, it was probably better.

"Alright then. Talk to me."

~A.N: sorry for not writing for two days. Migraines and writing is a bad combination. I'll try to keep it up again. <3