Late nights

XIII

Emily woke up earlier than she ever does. She quickly got ready and waited for Tom to wake up, so that she could say goodbye. Tom also didn't sleep for much longer. Emily left early since it was a free day. 

Tom remembered he had plans to play chess with Lola. He had read the book Lola had given him...Well, he ran his eyes through it. 

His day was dull. His meet-up with Lola was towards the evening, so he had a whole free day to spend. He talked to his lawyer, thought about further plans, but didn't make much progress in any of his inventions. 

On his way to Lola, he passed by Emily.

- Hey, what are you up to? - Tom asked. 

- Just going for a walk to the beach, it's a nice evening. How about you?

- Chess with Lola, going to the dorms. 

- Oh, I didn't know she lived in the dorms.

- Yeah, yeah, she does. Anyway, I gotta go. See you tomorrow, or maybe even today, who knows? - Tom started walking away.

Emily nodded, waved, and walked towards the sunset, while Tom was on his way to Lola.

- Welcome, are you ready? - Lola opened the door.

- Oh boy, am I? - Tom chuckled.

They set up the chessboard and started playing.

- Did you read the book I gave you?

- Some of it, but I didn't finish it.

- Yeah, I can tell, this opening was in it. Unless you're trying to do something else.

- Maybe I am. - Tom bluffed. - Okay, so for example, what are you thinking right now?

- Well, I'm hoping that you go where I think you will. I have the next 5 moves already in my head.

- So what do you expect me to do?

- I expect you to take my bishop.

- Darn, that's exactly what I wanted to do.

- That's not bad, though. Taking the bishop is a good move for you in this position, so it's obvious you would go for it. I'm just saying that I prepared for that move.

- Can you teach me to prepare?

- Of course...Some other time. You need to learn good openings. You're better than last time, I'll give you that. - She started putting all the pieces in their starting positions. - I actually want to do some training myself, so we're gonna play again.

Lola grabbed a bandana and tied it around her head like a blindfold.

- Will this even be fair? - Tom asked.

- Yep, it should be fine. You're gonna have to move my pieces, I'm just gonna tell you which ones.

Tom didn't question Lola's choice and started the game. Surprisingly for Tom, Lola was remembering where every piece was on the board. She didn't miss any sneaky moves Tom tried to pull off. After another victory for Lola, she took off the blindfold.

- Man, losing doesn't feel too good, huh. - Tom sighed.

- Yeah. Well, tough times create strong men. As someone has said, nobody gets tired of skipping stones, they just get tired of sinking them. Well, losing won't make you grow unless you analyze, so let's learn some openings. - Lola stretched.

While Lola was teaching Tom openings, the door opened. Lola's dorm mate Hannah came back.

- Tom, Hannah, Hannah, Tom. - Lola introduced them to each other.

- Nice to meet you. - Tom said.

- Same here. - Hannah smiled.

- You didn't tell me you were coming back so early. - Lola was looking at the chessboard instead of Hannah.

Hannah looked at her phone and back at Lola:

- It's literally about to be 2 am.

- For real? We didn't even notice. Time flies, huh. - Lola said.

- Can we finish learning the openings? If you don't mind, of course. - Tom looked at Hannah.

- We won't finish them all, but yes, let's learn some more. - Lola agreed.

Hannah sat down on her bed next to Tom.

- I don't see you in school that often. - Hannah told Tom.

- Pure chance, I guess. Maybe our schedules are made in a way where we barely meet.

- Probably. I gather you believe in chance, not fate, right? - She asked.

- Yup, chance, and science. Fate helps science, but it will never overcome it. 

- Right, whatever that means. I'm gonna go take a shower and I'll leave you two here for now.

- Okay, have a good shower. - Lola told Hannah as she was walking away.