I'm not sure if I should shorten the chapters and have lots of chapters, or keep the word count high and leave it to few chapters.
In the morning Lacy woke with a massive head ache. The lack of sleep hit her hard. Lacy needed coffee and quick. Going to her bag, she put on a tight pair of jeans and a green comfy sweater. She quickly powdered her face, and applied red lipstick, eyeliner and mascara. Lacy rushed to the hotel restaurant ordering eggs and sausage and the biggest coffee cup they had.
"Ready to lose our bet?" Lacy felt her body relax at the mans voice behind her.
"Well the bets not bad for me either way." She shrugged with a smile. Benny laughed as he took a seat across from her. "Plus I'll always bet on you losing." She teased looking into his brown eyes.
"Bet on me or not, I have all the confidence that I will win." Benny stopped noticing the bags under Lacy's eyes. "Jeez, you look like you didn't sleep at all." He looked at her with a concerned face. Lacy rolled her eyes with a smile.
"Way to make a girl feel good about herself in the morning." She laughed brushing a piece of hair out of her face.
"What? Too busy dreaming about me?" He joked. If only you knew. She thought.
"Something like that." When Lacy realize what she said she quickly covered it. "I was busy doing my work when I got too carried away. Next thing it knew I had only slept two hours." She groaned. Her food and coffee came and she smiled looking down at it taking a long sip.
"Well, I have to finish getting ready to win our bet. See you there?" He stood up waiting for a reply.
"Wouldn't miss it for the world." Lacy said sarcastically, causing Benny to laugh. He scooped grabbed a piece of her sausage and retreated to the door. "Hey!" Lacy yelled at him, only getting a cheeky smile and wave back. Lacy shook her head laughing, as she stared to eat.
------
Lacy had prepared all her equipment she would need for this match, than made her way down to where the match was being held. Lacy sat in the front row watching as Beth and Benny walked to their positions. Benny had turned to Lacy and gave a wink, making her face go red.
Lacy recorded every move, every glance to the opponent, anything that would make the readers feel like the had actually seen the match themselves. That's when Lacy saw she was going to lose their little bet. Her heart broke for Beth, knowing how much she wanted to win.
After the match Lacy decided to congratulate Benny. The crowd of people made it a little difficult, but when he saw her his face changed from a gloating smile, so a real one. She walked you to him with complete confidence. "Looks like I should have place my bet on you." She shrugged.
"Well did you really think I would lose?" He smirked at her.
"You're right. I didn't." She grabbed her note pad, writing her number and address back in New York on it. "Give me a call when you get back to New York for dinner." Lacy looked him straight in thee eyes.
Benny frowned a little. "You're not going stay for my victory party?" He asked over the noise of people talking.
"Afraid I can't, too much work back home. Besides you technically didn't fully win." She gave a small smile, as she teased him.
"Way to break a winning mans heart." Benny's smile returned as he clutched his heart. Lacy rolled her eyes.
"Whatever drama queen, I should be going." She checked her watch. Benny nodded taking her hand and kissing the top of it.
"See you soon darling." He tipped his hat like tradition. Lacy gave a sad smile, hoping she could hide that she was actually sad to say goodbye.
------
As Lacy made her way out of the building she saw her red headed friend making a quick exit out side. Lacy rushed after her.
"Hey!" She yelled, causing the girl to turn around. "How are you doing?" Lacy asked placing her luggage down and taking her hand.
"I've been better." Beth rolled her eyes. Lacy knew she was just upset.
"You know it's okay to lose right? Beth that was the first match you have ever lost, and technically you still won." Lacy smiled looking at the younger girl, who wouldn't meet her eye.
"Easy for you to say, your just a reporter, who has never lost." Beth pulled her hand away. Lacy was hurt even though she understood how upset Beth was.
"You know Beth, you can't always win. You will always find someone better than you, so when you do lose you can better yourself for the next time you face them." Lacy picked up her luggage and walked to where her private car was waiting. She didn't look back to see Beth until she was driving away, by that point Townes was talking to her. Lacy forced herself to shake it all off.
-----
Lacy was happy to be home. Yes she loved travelling for free, and loved meeting new people. But she always seemed to miss the way her home would make her feel over those perfected hotel rooms.
Less than a week later of being at home, Lacy had been working on the article about the split win. Everyone had already seen the match read her article, but this some was the real reactions to it. Photos of the peoples reactions around the match, and soon she was hoping to talk to Benny himself when he saw he was going to win.
Lacy felt like she waited a year for his call, when really it had only been 5 days when her phone rang. "Lacy Miller speaking." She picked up the phone with confidence.
"I'm looking from someone who needs to pay up on a bet." His voice sounded cool, and unfazed.
"Huh, I have no idea what you're talking about sir." They both went silent for a minute before they both broke out laughing.
"I was thinking, since you don't live to far from me, I could pick you up for dinner tonight, if you're free." He suggested. Lacy smiled.
"Well Ill have to check my schedule. Hmmm. Yep I'm free." She sung. She could hear him laugh through the phone, giving her butterflies in her stomach.
"I'll pick you up at 8, don't worry about dressing fancy." He sounded so calm while she was freaking out on the inside.
"See you at 8." She hung up the phone, doing a little dance around her kitchen with a big smile on her face.
------
By 7:30 she was ready. She wore a black and white checkerboard mini skirt, with a black tight fitting v neck shirt, with red heels. Her hair was loose, and her makeup was done with a red lipstick, eyeliner and mascara. She sat on her couch waiting for Benny to arrive.
Right at 8, she heard a knock on the door. Lacy practically ran to the door in her heels. She opened the door to see Benny standing in the doorway. He wore his simple jeans, a half unbuttoned shirt, and his signature hat. "You look good." He looked up to her, with his usual dreamy smirk.
"You don't look to bad yourself." Lacy flirted. "Are you going to tell me where were going?" She asked.
Benny shook his head. "Nope its a surprise." He stuck his hand out, and she gratefully took it. He lead them down the street, with intertwined arms. "So why write about chess? Clearly you are good enough to write about anything, so?" He turned his head to the side to look at her.
"I grew up playing chess since, ever I was able to walk, my grandfather taught me how to play. He was always so passionate about everything. I loved it. He taught me like it was more than just a game. He made me appreciate what the game truly was, art." She stopped to look at all the lights for a second. "I love how a game can bring so many people together, no matter where they are from, and everyone stands a chance if they want to. So when they asked me to write about anything I wanted, I chose chess. My grandfather was thrilled." She looked back at him, with full eyes. Her eyes made it feel like sun was still up.
"What about you, how did you start playing chess?" She felt like they were looking into each other's souls, as they continued to walk.
"I was obsessed with the game from a young age, they called me a prodigy. I wasn't like the other kids, I loved the thought chess had to have. I was so passionate at such a young aged they didn't know what to do with me. So I was put into tournaments, it brought me joy to see adults faces when they lost to a child." He answered with a smirk, imagining the looks people had when he had beat them. The devastation in their eyes when they realize they had nowhere left to move.
He pulled her into a long alley way. "So this is where you're going to kill me with that knife of yours." Lacy teased making the both of them laugh.
"Yeah a pretty girl like you, they'd know you were missing within the hour." He joked back.
"We're almost there. Tell me more about your family." Benny looked at Lacy with interest.
"I'll start off with the sad stuff. My dad was in the military, we were never been close, I can't even remember the last time I saw him before he died." Her voice was unfazed. The way she said it didn't make the conversation awkward. She didn't need anyone to feel sorry for her. She hardly knew the man.
"I was raised my mother and grandfather. My mom wanted me to be the perfect daughter and become a house wife just like her, that didn't work out for her. You already heard about my grandfather." Lacy looked to Benny to see him smiling at her. "What?"
"You're so passionate about everything, its really... refreshing." He continued to smile, while she looked down and blushed. Benny stopped walking abruptly. "We're here." Lacy looked around to a pitch black coffee shop.
"It's closed?" She was confused where this was going.
"I know the owner." Benny placed his hand on the door and opened it. At the same time sting lights came on filling the store with beauty. Lacy was struck for words. There was fresh coffee on the counter, along with an assortment of pastries that smelt delicious. There was also two bottles of wine.
"You did all of this?" She gasped out, no one had ever did anything like this for her.
"I had some help. What do you think?" He dropped her arm to hold her hand. Dazzling her with his smirk. He watched her face, just wanting to kiss her perfect lips.
"It's amazing." She looked at the light is awe.
That night was one of the best nights of Lacy's life. They laughed, drank, shared food, she had tasted some of the best things she had ever eaten. She was falling and hard. They had talked briefly about the tournament and what came next, but not as an interview she truly wanted to know what he planned on doing next. At the end of the night Lacy was a little more drunk than she wanted to admit. She practically clung to Benny for support on their way home. Getting back to her apartment she looked at the time. It was almost 2am.
"I cant let you walk home at this time, please stay here tonight." She didn't wait for an answer when she pulled him into her house and locked the door. She started fixing him a bed on the couch. Asking him if he wanted or needed anything. He kindly said she was already too kind.
Lacy being a little more than tipsy, put on her favourite record and began dancing around the room. Benny's eyes followed her every move, wanting to let his hands roam on her body. "Come dance with me!" Lacys arms swung freely. Benny obliged, laughing at how ridiculous they both must have looked. It didn't matter because they were together. They next song that came on was slow. Benny grabbed Lacy's hand, spinning her as they slow danced. "You know you're pretty good at thing." She laughed as he pulled her into his body.
"You thought I couldn't dance?" He acted hurt.
"I didn't think you could dance like this." She said as he spun her again, causing her to giggle. "You're really great, you know that." The smile fell from her face. Slowly both their faces started to get closer. Finally her lips touched his. They moved slow, along with the music. He pulled her closer so their bodies were touching everywhere. Their hands explored the others body with ease.
The song finished and the pair had pulled away. The kiss wasn't full of lust or want, to was full of passion and acceptance. "Do you want to just sleep in my bed?" Lacy asked with tired eyes. Benny nodded in the same state as her. She lead him to the bedroom, she changed into shorts and an over sized button up in the washrooms, along with washing her face and brushing her teeth. She had given benny and extra toothbrush she had, and left him to the bathroom.
She was already half asleep when he came back. She had move forward in the bed making room for him to get in with her. She smiled as he draped his arms over her body protectively. Lacy flipped over to face him kissing him once again, not a long kiss, just enough for her to cuddle into he's body more.
That was the first night in two weeks that both Lacy and Benny could fall asleep and not think about what the other was doing.
------
Words 2389