1962 (You guys are 22)
(3rd person POV)
Benny was just sitting in the lobby of a hotel in which he'd had one of his chess tournaments. As usual, he'd won again and to celebrate his victory, he'd decided to get a drink. While waiting he took in the surrounding area of the hotel. It's perfectly clean white pillars and walls shone from the lights around. That's when he heard it. The gentle sound of the piano. He turned around to find the source of the beautiful music. His eyes landed on a grand piano where a girl, about his age, sat. Her Y/H/C framing her face perfectly, her Y/E/C eyes never leaving her hands as she swayed slightly to the music. Even though Benny wasn't exactly an expert in music, he recognized this piece as 'Ludwig Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata'. He closed his eyes to enjoy the sweet melody before it changed to a more lively tune. He opened his eyes to find the girl staring at him. His face must've shown a look of confusion for the girl turned back to the piano to concentrate on her playing. That's when Benny turned around to see that his drink was already waiting there for him. He popped off the cap of his beer just when the tune of the piano suddenly changed into a fast paced piece. He decided to replay his matches since he was going to be here for a while. Luckily, he had a small travel sized chess set with him. He set up the board and replayed everything as best as he could. He was so focused on his chess that he didn't even realized that the pianist had finished playing and people were applauding loudly. Benny turned around to catch a glimpse of the pianist but she was already gone. Benny furrowed his brows but never though much of it. Suddenly, he felt a tap on his shoulder. He turned around once more to see the pianist from before smiling at him. She was wearing a black tea length dress with a white sash around her waist. She paired the look with a beige cardigan and matching beige heels. She tied the whole look together with white headband in her Y/H/C hair.
"Benny?" She called with her head tilted slightly.
"Uh, yeah?" Benny replied in a rather questioning manner.
"It is you!" The girl exclaimed happily.
"I'm sorry, do I know you?" Benny asked for he was filled with confusion. He couldn't recognize this girl for the life of him, yet there was a familiar aura around her.
"I'm hurt Watts." The girl said placing a hand on her chest as if to say she's heartbroken in a joking manner. "I've only been your best friend almost throughout your entire childhood."
Suddenly everything in Benny's brain started clicking in place like a chess board.
"No way. Y/N?" Benny said in awe.
"Last I checked, that's my name." Y/N said with a smirk on her face. Benny embraced her in a hug which she returned. When they pulled away, Benny gestured to the seat next to him and Y/N went over and sat next to him.
"Would you like a drink?" Benny asked.
"No, I can't handle alcohol. A coffee would be good though." Y/N replied.
"A coffee for the lady, please." Benny told the staff. The boy, who was working there, nodded and walked away.
"I still refuse to believe you were that book smart little girl with chubby cheeks." Benny snickered.
"Oh yeah? I still refuse to believe your that tiny boy who looked like he could be blown over by a light breeze." Y/N retorted back playfully. The duo laughed at each other's childishness.
"So, how long have you been back?" Benny asked while keeping his chess set.
"About six months ago." Y/N said in a nonchalant tone. Benny dropped the king he was holding. "I may not be good a chess, but I don't think that was worth putting your king down." Y/N said, her smirk turning into a playful grin.
"You've been back for six months, and you didn't think to contact me?" Benny said after regaining his composure.
Y/N shrugged. "I mean, to be fair we've lost contact say, ten years ago? Did you already forgot that?"
Even though Y/N and Benny seemed inseparable as children, it was hard to keep contact after Y/N moved to the UK. At first, the letters and phone calls came very often. But as time went on, their conversations seemed to have gone dry and by 1952, both had stopped calling or writing to each other.
Benny looked down at his hands. He felt bad that he'd stop contacting Y/N. If he did, he would've went to look for her when she came back to the US. Y/N seemed to notice his feeling and took his hand in hers.
"It's alright Benny. I'm not mad at you." Y/N said softly.
Benny looked up at her. "You're not?"
Y/N shook her head. "What matters is that now we've found each other. Who cares about what we did in the last twelve years. Now I'm back, and I'm here to stay." Y/N said as her cup of coffee was placed in front of her. She thanked the boy and took a sip of the hot beverage.
Benny was so grateful he had such a caring friend.
"So, I see you've made yourself a name in chess. Been seeing your face everywhere. I'm getting a little sick of it." Y/N joked.
"Yeah, I mean we both saw it coming didn't we?" Benny chuckled.
"The countless practices you'd have on a daily basis, honestly I don't even know how you could keep playing chess. I would've just got sick of it after a week." Y/N said while taking another sip of coffee.
"That's coz' you don't have the interest Y/N/N. But enough about me, what about you?" Benny asked shifting his gaze to her.
"Well as you can tell from that small performance just now, I'm a pianist." Y/N said with a smile. "Apparently I had enough talent to study music in London. I graduated faster than average students, and now I'm here." She gestured to the surrounding.
Benny nodded silently, in deep thought. "Are you happy with this job though?" Benny asked still looking down in his thoughts. "Coz' last I checked Y/N L/N was a girl who found the piano 'dreadfully boring'." Benny said while doing air quotes when he said 'dreadfully boring'.
Y/N laughed. "I did say that didn't I? I guess after a while, I had a different perspective of the piano. I grew to love it over time and now it's what I do for a living."
"Well your awfully good if I do say so myself." Benny smiled as he brought the bottle of beer to his lips.
"Thanks ." Y/N smiled back. Then she noticed the blue and pink colored bracelet on Benny's wrist. "You still have it?!" Y/N asked and pointed to her wrist. Benny looked down at it.
"Yeah I do. Do you still have yours?"
Y/N pulled up her cardigan sleeve to reveal the same bracelet on her wrist. "It's basically my good luck charm now." Her smile brightened. "I did what you told me to do. Whenever I was in doubt, I just look at this and all my worries immediately fade away. All thanks to you Benny."
Benny's face turned red at the sudden complement. "Uh- y-your welcome Y/N/N" He stuttered.
Y/N looked at her watch. 'Oh crap, look at the time. I need to head home." She exclaimed as she stood up.
"Would you like me to take you home?" Benny asked standing up as well.
Y/N looked at him and grinned. "Why not?"
________________________________________________________________________________
"When you said you moved back, I didn't think you meant you moved back to he exact same house." Benny laughed as they stood in front of Y/N's house.
"Well, the man we sold it to was going to sell it and we just so happened to be looking for a home. So we decided to buy it back." Y/N explained. "I should go, it was really nice catching up with you Benny." Y/N said while looking at him.
"Same here Y/N/N." Benny said softly.
Y/n was just about to head inside when she turned around. "Hey would you like to come over tomorrow for a walk or something?" She asked.
Benny blinked twice. "Uh, yeah sure. I don't see why not."
Y/N took out a piece of paper and a pen from her bag and wrote her number down before she slipped it into Benny's pocket.
"Make sure you don't lose that this time." Y/N said winking at him. Then she hesitated for a second before planting a kiss on his cheek. "I'll see you tomorrow Watts." She said with a playful smirk on her face as she walked into her house and closed the door leaving a dumbfounded Benny standing outside.