“Is level eight not high?”
Chloe shook her head. “It goes all the way to twenty.”
Fatima tipped her head back and laughed, almost maniacally. “You’re not getting to level twenty,” she said. “That would be a nightmare to run. You’ll be lucky if I let us get past twelve.”
I liked the idea of a powerful magical character, but I wasn’t sure how that would work with the numbers I’d been given. “I’ve got my highest score in wisdom, right?” I asked. “Would that work for a wizard, too?”
“The wisdom bonuses are coming from your race,” Fatima explained. “Lauren probably picked a wood elf because the wisdom bonus went well with being a druid, which uses wisdom for casting spells. But a wizard uses intelligence.”
“I like being a druid,” I said, not realising until right then that it was true. “It feels mystical.”
Chloe smiled. “Very on brand.”
“You should just tweak the build,” a voice said from behind me, making me jump. I looked up to find Phil towering over me, apparently back from the hike. “Change your subclass and subrace.”
“I have no idea what that means,” I said as he crouched down next to me, putting a hand on my shoulder for stability. He’d changed out of his hiking gear and back into his swim trunks, and I took advantage of the privacy of my sunglasses to check him out.
I hadn’t seen him shirtless in years, and his tangle of chest hair had grown, a dark shadow over his barrel chest. He’d never been particularly chiselled, but I had no doubt he could pick me up and throw me around if he were so inclined, which was dangerous given how close I was to the water. I had to admit it very much did it for me, and I let my eyes wander, following the trail of dark hair to where it disappeared into his swim trunks, which stretched tight across the tree trunks he passed off as thighs.
“When we’re back,” he said, “look up Circle of Stars and Astral Elf. You’ll love it.”
“If you say so.” I looked reluctantly back up at his face, where he wore a cheeky grin.
He pointed at Fatima. “Now you. I heard you were talking shit about me.”
Fatima shrugged. “I mean, you looked pretty slow earlier.”
“Put your money where your mouth is.”
Fatima sprang instantly to her feet and dove into the water in one fluid motion, emerging into a precise front crawl.
“Oh and babe,” Phil said, turning to me, letting Fatima increase her lead. “At this angle, I can see through your sunglasses.”
I stared mortified at him, my entire body flushing as I realised he’d seen me checking him out. Then he stood up and cannonballed in, taking off after Fatima in a… doggy paddle? Plea for rescue? Whatever it was, it was inelegant at best when compared to Fatima’s expert stroke.
“Oh, helikelikes you,” Chloe said, and I looked round to see her smiling as she watched the race.
“What are you on about?”
“Circle of Stars is a druid subclass where you cast magic based on star charts and constellations.”
My mouth fell open. “Oh shit.”
“Oh shit indeed. And Astral Elves are literally described as having stars in their eyes. He’s thought about that.”
“Wouldn’t that be a bit too much of a self-insert?”
“I mean, Morgan’s character is literally called Morgana. I feel like we’re past that.”
I couldn’t help but grin as I wondered how much time Philhadput into thinking about that. Given that we hadn’t talked about it at all, it meant he’d been thinking about my character– thinking aboutme– when he didn’t have to. For an actual boyfriend, it would have been below the bare minimum. But for a fake boyfriend… yeah, it was kind of cute.
“Where did the others go?” I asked Chloe, ready to change the subject.
“Jack and Morgan are over there,” she said, pointing to the other side of the reservoir, where they sat on top of the hill side by side. Jack had his tablet out, no doubt sketching a house– he’d made being an architecture student at least half his personality– and Morgan sat reading a book.
“But tell me,” Chloe said excitedly, scooting closer to me, clearly not ready to let me brush past what she’d said. “How long has this Phil thing been going on? I can’t believe neither of you told me!”
“A couple of months,” I said, trying to sound as casual as possible. “And I don’t know, maybe because you guys have proven that you can’t keep your mouths shut?”
