It was Amanda at the door, telling Benny to hurry the fuck up so she could get to Monte's.

"We can pick Y/N on the way," She suggested, while out of your sight. You heard the thoughts inside Benny's head as he wondered whether or not to tell her that you were actually with him.

"No need," He breathed out, guiding Amanda to the main living room and going to pick up his beer. Benny pointed at you silently, as Amanda rounded the corner and came into view.

"Oh, Y/N!" She yelled, rushing forward to encase you in a large hug. "It's been so long—I felt like I'd lost one of my limbs when you weren't around last month," She slowly trailed off, as realisation hit her like a truck. You stood up with her, as Benny sent a smile your way. "Oh—was I intruding?"

"Well, actually—," Benny began, but you grabbed Amanda's wrist, diverting her attention to you.

"Of course, not. I only arrived a couple of minutes ago," You lied. You didn't want the added drama of having the others know that you and Benny were, technically, on a date. A date on New Year's Eve, arguably one of the major days for people confessing their feelings to each other.

It was all too cliché the more you thought about it. You didn't need people prodding you when it came to Benny, either. It was fine when Beth did it, because she knew the champion back to front—but you had a feeling not many people knew the side of Benny Watts that he'd chosen to show you wholeheartedly.

"We were just about to leave, weren't we, Benny?" You said, sending him a stern stare. Amanda was oblivious, as Benny downed his beer and went to grab his jacket.

"Yeah." He said bluntly. "Come on, then, ladies."

Benny was silent the entire way to Monte's, his hat hung low over his face. You tried to listen as Amanda chatted your ear off, but you were too focused on the back of his head. When you got the club, he perked up at the sight of the others—

Matt, Mike and Kayden were already there, a tray full of drinks in the centre of the table ready to go. You bunched up on the booth next to Matt, giving him a sideways hug as you caught up with everyone else. Mike had a girl on his arm, chatting in small, sexy whispers whenever she spoke in his ear.

The club was almost packed as it reached eleven at night. The music boomed, and once again you'd lost count at the amount you'd drank already. It didn't matter though—everyone was in the same boat, chatting, dancing, enjoying the final evening of 1968.

Amanda rushed back from the dancefloor, taking a seat on your lap and wrapping her arms around your neck. "I just danced with three guys. I don't know any of their names, yet—but that one—," She pointed to the dance floor, resting her gaze upon a tall, slender man with brunette hair and a chiselled jaw. "He said you were pretty."

"Pretty," You repeated, raising your eyebrows. You glanced at him, as he shuffled on the disco floor with two others. One of his friends saw you looking and pointed your way. His eyes hit yours as he smiled, showing of a set of perfect teeth. You looked away, embarrassment flooding over your cheeks.

"You should dance with him," Amanda said, but you were too concerned about Benny's stare on your neck. You grabbed your cocktail, shoving the straw in your mouth and looking to the table.

"I've never seen you act this shy before, Y/N," Matt spoke up. "Go bust a move. He might turn out not to be a psychopath,"

"Or he is one, but he's only killing people to show you how much he loves you," Kayden added, draping his hands over his heart and fluttering his eyelashes. You grabbed your straw and threw it at him jokingly.

"I'm good here, at the table, with my drink," You said sternly, but the rising flush on your cheeks juxtaposed your voice.

"Jesus—just fucking dance with him," Benny let out suddenly. "Everyone can see the way you're blushing and reeling from the attention he's giving you—it's fucking embarrassing."

The table went quiet as Benny's stare hit your face. His eyes were ice cold, his shoulders hunched over passively. His words stabbed straight through your gut, and the knife only twisted more with the stare he was giving you.

If this was a jealous Benny Watts, you didn't ever want to be around him, especially when you'd done nothing to deserve his words.

You didn't take his bait or do what he'd said. Instead, you got up from the table as Amanda slid to the other side of the booth. You grabbed your cigarettes from your bag and stuck one in between your teeth as you laid a glare at him.

"Guess I'll just go fuck myself, then." You said it right to his face, giving him an overly sweet smile, before you turned your back on the table and walked away.

Rage washed over you as you smoked outside, watching as girls in colourful flares laughed alongside boys in workers boots. They all looked so happy—it was New Year's Eve and getting close to midnight— all while you smoked in a pissed off silence.

Benny's words, his attitude, his rudeness, swirled within you as you tried not to mutter to yourself.

You hated the thought of confrontation with anyone, let alone Benny fucking Watts, but you knew your worth. You knew his words hadn't intentionally meant to sting, but that wasn't the point—he needed to know that you wouldn't tolerate being spoken to that way. Whether he was jealous or just in a bad mood, or what, you knew you deserved better than that.

You flicked the butt of your cigarette to the floor when you saw a girl applying a red lipstick just before the entrance to Monte's. You approached her as she glided the pigment over her lips, pouting them in the reflection of her hand mirror afterwards.

"Could I borrow that?" You asked, scared that you'd perhaps come across creepy. She only turned to you, a drunk smile on her lips.

"The more the merrier," She said, before she grabbed your face gently and began applying it herself. You refrained from chuckling as she applied it to your lips, concentrating on getting it perfect. When she stepped back, her eyes gleamed. "It suits you more than it suits me."

"Nonsense," You said, channelling Maude's voice. "Like you said—the more the fucking merrier."

An aura descended on you as you walked back into Monte's. Your chin was raised, your eyebrows furrowed. You glided elegantly down the steps, feeling like a million bucks as you approached the table. Benny sat alone, apart from his hat sitting atop the table, as the others were congregated on the dance floor.

You wondered if they'd given him a time out after his impromptu outburst. You could imagine Kayden glaring at him as they all stood, shooting him a one word demand—"Stay."

You grabbed your tote bag as Benny's eyes washed over you, shoving your cigarettes inside as you noticed a full shot in front of where you'd been sat. You took it, throwing it back without so much as a glance at the champion. When you slammed the glass down, you finally dared to meet his eye—

"Y/N—," He began. You cut him off by leaning on the table over him, casting him in the shadow of the multicoloured lights.

"Don't ever speak to me like that again," You spoke it steadily, without hesitation; and it felt good. "If you have something to say to me, just say it, instead of hiding behind passive aggressive words."

Benny tapped his glass. "You're right." He said, almost immediately.

"Respect my wishes like I know you already do, Benny. This wasn't fair." You ended, standing up straight. He looked positively ashamed—you could see the same guilt behind his eyes that was there in Maude's cabin, after he'd given you the chess piece.

He continued to tap his glass, avoiding your gaze like a scolded child. You let out a sigh through your nose, allowing yourself to ease back into something less angry. You stuck out your hand to him and he finally looked up. "Now, fucking dance with me, because you're one of the only people here I actually want to dance with, Watts."

He put his hand in yours as he made his way round to face you. You sent him a small smile, despite your eyes still being stern. "We're even now," You started. "I didn't tell you I was moving to New York like an asshole; you said rude words to me like an asshole."

"It's a draw." He replied, sending you an apologetic expression.

"For now," You said, almost threateningly, but not in a violent kind of way—the words slipped from your mouth sensually, causing Benny's Adam's apple to bob involuntarily once more.

You dragged him to the disco floor, pulling him into the circle the others had made. They pretended like nothing had happened before, thankfully, as Amanda grabbed Benny's hands and made him dance in the same rhythm as her.

Matt approached you then, bringing his mouth to your ear. "You okay?" He asked. You gave him a small smile, rolling your eyes in Benny's direction jokingly.

"He's just grumpy because of the inevitability of death that comes alongside a New Year."

Kayden brought drinks to the dance floor and all of you raised them to the sky as a jive began to play. Being around Amanda for so long meant you'd got used to dancing, and almost forty minutes went by in a flash of light and movement.

Mike had been sucked into a dance contest—he couldn't dance to save his life.

Amanda was enjoying the attention of the boys from earlier, banging her head to the beat of another lively song.

Then—the lights went down, and over an intercom—

"Everybody! Ten, nine, eight..."

You frantically tried to find Amanda, but in the sea of people flocking to the dance floor for when it hit midnight, it was almost impossible. With three seconds to go, a hand grabbed your wrist and pulled you swiftly towards them—

You could just make out his face; his eyes; his hair; his lips.

"Two, one—,"

Before you could even think, you flushed your lips against his as he reciprocated just as strongly. As the joyous yells filled Monte's and confetti fell from the sky, you were falling deeper into his grasp. His arms snaked around your waist, pulling you closer as you saw stars behind your eyelids.

And when the lights came on, when the music started playing once more, when you finally pulled away from him, you were met with a stare that would have made any of his opponents jealous—

Benny Watts, exposed, out in the open, sweet to taste, looking at you like a piece he'd just moved into checkmate on the sixty-four square board he knew like the back of his hand.

"That was my next move, by the way." He said, his voice low and raw as you felt like the only two people in the room. If that was his opening move after your earlier adjournment, you had no way of pulling back this game. It was his for the taking—

And for once, you were okay with him winning.

Amanda came bounding up to you then, clutching onto your arm and pulling you away from the champion, utterly oblivious to what had happened between you two. "He kissed me, at midnight on the dot!" She yelled happily and you mimicked her expression. "I think I'm in love,"

Benny came up to Amanda then, placing his elbow on your shoulder. "If only it was that easy," He joked, and Amanda pouted.

"It is that easy—you're just a brick wall when it comes to romance," She said. You felt your cheeks flush as you tried not to laugh. Benny was literally the opposite—he was caring, and kind, maybe a bit of a playboy at times, but everyone was at one time or another in their lives. "God, I need a drink." She said melodramatically, tugging on your arm to head back to the table.

Mike and his girl were necking off in the booth, totally unbothered about everyone sat around them. Kayden and Matt had resupplied drinks for all. You grabbed one before you went to sit, when Benny and Amanda snuck past you and took the last remaining booth seats.

You shot a frown at Benny. "What happened to ladies first?" For once, he was the one to roll his eyes at you. He reached forward, grabbing your waist and depositing you on his lap in the same way Amanda had sat on you before.

No one batted an eye—no one cared. They simply kept going on with their drunken shenanigans as you tried not to squash Benny beneath you.

You wondered if they knew; that two minutes earlier you'd stolen a kiss from him. You wondered if they'd seen it or had a feeling that something was brewing beneath the surface. Matt was the only one that gave you that impression, what with him seeing all the times Benny brushed by you at the cabin and asking you if you were okay after his venomous words, but even he didn't make a comment about you sat atop Benny's lap.

Benny shuffled you in his lap, causing you to turn and drape one of your arms over his shoulder, so you sat sideways. Kayden perked up then, as his eyes landed upon the two of you. "This is a headline picture if I've ever seen one," He began, squinting as he made a square box with his fingers. "World Champion Watts and legacy L/N; drunk as fuck in 69'."

"And the article will tell you all about how I've beaten him at every game we've ever played," You added, raising a toast to yourself sarcastically.

"With the addition of my smooth charms at coercing her into playing the game in the first place," Benny spoke up. You snorted.

"There was nothing smooth about you dropping a board in front of me in your basement,"

"Same can be said about you throwing up in my bathroom afterwards," The table erupted into childish giggles; you had no option other than to smile yourself.

"Touché."

Amanda stood then, almost falling on her face, but not quite. She raised a glass to the sky. "I would like to make an announcement,"

"You're already making an announcement," Kayden interjected. She sent him a red look, and he immediately shut up.

"To all of you wonderful, elegant—," She stopped, looking down judgingly at Mike as the girl was practically eating his face off. She cleared her throat, continuing anyway. "Beautiful people who sit before me, thank you for starting the New Year with my drunk self once again. And!" She added, cutting off Matt as he was about to clap. She looked down at you, her eyes going glassy. "To the newest member of our fucked up little family—this English chick, who's softened all of our hearts, even our resident chess champion's." Despite her words slurring, Amanda seemed awfully proud of herself for stringing together such elaborate sentences.

You all clapped as her speech came to a close, as that warm feeling spread from your chest, not for the first time that evening.

You looked around at all of them, with their big smiling faces and their even bigger hearts. You'd never met such a mismatched group of people, who continually made their friendships work time and time again. It felt good to know you were now fully a part of their circle—their little fucked up family.

As you sat in that little pocket of New York City, hearing their laughs and cries and giggles, you were always still aware of the warmth of Benny's chest as he sat beneath you—

Of the way his lips had found yours at the exact time you'd reached for his own.

The way the lights in the club had brought more than just your vision, but a clarity that you now knew to be true about his feelings—

You just hoped you wouldn't overthink it after the sun came up.