Roll for Love by Cidney Mayes

Liam

I fidget with my character sheet, straightening a bent corner as the others get their snacks and drinks from the kitchen. Colin and I hang back at the long dining room table. Colin, our game master, hides behind a propped-up screen, prepping for today’s session. I can only see the top of his head as he digs through his backpack, making dice and plastic miniatures clink together.

While Colin gets ready, I skim my notes from the last session. Emma’s laugh fills the apartment. I fight the urge to turn around and see her. She has an uncanny ability to pull me into her orbit. Instead, I keep my eyes on my notes.

Colin notices my squirming. He leans over his barricade and whispers, “Dude. You still haven’t told her?”

My cheeks grow warm. “No.”

“Liam,” he presses.

“I know, I know.” I drag a hand through my hair.

Last session, after some serious flirting at a tavern between my and Emma’s characters, Colin cornered me after everyone else left the apartment. It took little questioning before I was spilling my guts. Things had gone from bad to worse lately in the unrequited love department. In the last few weeks, I couldn’t taste food, couldn’t sleep, and constantly thought of Emma. I was starting to feel unhinged.

Looking all smug, Colin revealed that he’d known for months, then made me promise to tell Emma how I felt.

But I couldn’t.

Inviting her to play Legends and Labyrinths had been a bold move. I never expected her to say yes. We constantly bumped into each other in the office parking lot, exchanging awkward hellos, but I wasn’t sure if she’d want to hang out.

It was the biggest risk I was willing to take. If I told Emma how I really felt and she didn’t feel the same . . .

“Tell her. Tonight,” Colin says, dragging me back to the present. “I could arrange the perfect opportunity, you know.”

My heart pounds and my stomach twists in a nauseating combination of dread and hope. “Don’t,” I say.

Colin sits back and arranges his papers like he didn’t hear me.

Before I can protest further, Emma, Garret, and Charlie enter the room, arms full of snacks and drinks, and take their seats. Emma sits next to me, pulling her legs up underneath her. Her honey-colored hair falls over her shoulders, wafting the scent of her sweet, resinous shampoo towards me.

She hands me a can of beer. “Time to fortify yourself.” She raises her drink in a toast. “Who knows what’s in store for us tonight?”

My lips twitch into a smile, although my guts are tied in knots. “Thanks.” I crack the can and swig, letting the carbonation fill my mouth. I let myself slip into character, a knight who totally doesn’t get nervous around pretty girls.

“Now that we’re all here,” Colin’s remark cuts through our chatter.

We quiet and give him our attention.

Colin rubs his hands together. “Let’s recap. Last time, you successfully interrogated a spy for the wizard Zophas and learned his lair is hidden deep in the Grimwood. The spy alluded to a map that’ll lead you through a maze to his castle. The only problem? Someone squeezed him a little too hard before he could reveal where it was.”

Charlie shakes her head. “Worst roll of my life. I never thought being too strong would ever be a problem.”

“Don’t worry,” says Garret, patting Charlie on the shoulder. “Just don’t use those dice again tonight. They’re banished from the table, along with your bad luck.”

“Time’s running out.” Colin leans in, getting serious. “You can see the Gloom creeping across the horizon. Soon, the land will be covered in a suffocating darkness, and monsters will feast on the flesh of the living for all eternity.”

Emma taps play on her phone, and ominous music fills the apartment. “Well, friends,” she says. “Time to stop an evil wizard. I think I’ll go to the thieves’ den and learn more about this map.”

“I’ll go with you,” I say. My character, Thorne, is a human paladin. His goal is to protect people. Lucky for me, his aims align with my own of staying close to Emma.

“Excellent.” Emma unfolds her legs and straightens in her chair. “I’ll take you as my prisoner, then hand you over to the King of Thieves for information. After that, we’ll bust you out and be on our way.”

“Classic.” Garret nods in approval. “I’ll team up with Charlie and head to the curiosity shop to see if we can find anything that will help us through Grimwood.”

While everyone sorts out the details of the plan, I watch Colin, looking for any sign that we’re on the right track. He smirks, and my chest tightens. I take another swig of my drink and brace myself for whatever he has planned.

Emma

My plan is brilliant. Since my character, Elara, is a rogue, I waltz into the thieves’ den with breezy confidence. In no time, Liam’s character and mine stand before the King of Thieves.

“What use do we have for him? He’s sworn to the crown,” says Colin in a gruff tone, playing the part of the King.

Liam and I exchange a glance and my heart rate increases. Shit. I didn’t think I’d need a reason for them to take him.

I toss my hair over my shoulder and wrack my brain. I’ve only been playing for three months, but I have learned some things along the way. “Got any divine artifacts lying around? He can crack them open for you. He might need some convincing, but I’m sure you can handle it.”

“Give me a persuasion check,” Colin commands.

Garret whistles. “Damn, she’s gotten good.”

My chest swells at the praise as I grab my dice. I roll it between my palms as Liam tenses beside me. I can feel his excitement. It’s a tight, nervous energy that mirrors the butterflies in my stomach.

“C’mon, you got this,” he whispers.

Warmth floods through me. I take a deep breath and fling the die into my tray. “Nat twenty!” I screech. I fist pump the air as the table whoops at my overwhelming success. Liam breaks character and holds his hands up for a double high five.

Slapping my palms into his, I grin triumphantly. His fingers close around mine, sealing our palms together. I reflexively squeeze back, and my hands sizzle at the contact. My pulse beats in my palms, and I wonder if Liam can feel it, too. I quickly release him and return to the scene, doing my best to focus on the game.

Liam makes it so hard to concentrate. It’s been this way ever since he helped me jump-start my car in the office parking lot a few months ago, connecting cables to his car in minutes. Once my car roared to life, he took off, leaving me only with his name and a strange, scrambled feeling in my brain. The following day, I did some digging and found out he worked for the IT company in the building.

When our paths eventually crossed again, I thought my heart would beat right out of my chest. My cheeks hurt from smiling so hard at seeing him. I began timing the end of my day to coincide with his, racing through my copy-editing jobs just so we could talk as we left the building. When he asked me to play Legends and Labyrinths, I agreed despite knowing nothing about the game. I spent the week consuming as many videos and podcasts as possible to prepare.

Now, here we were, sitting around a table and battling evil wizards in our imaginations. I didn’t dare tell Liam how much I liked him. Despite my initial reservations, I had fun playing this game with him and his friends. I didn’t want an unwelcome confession of attraction to make it awkward.

“Elara? You’ve got about thirty seconds before the guard comes back,” Colin says, drawing me back into the game.

“Right.” Liam’s character is trapped in a cell, and I have only a brief window of time to free him. I cradle my dice between my sweaty palms and let it fly. It spins for an agonizingly long second. “Eighteen!” I clap my hands together.

“That’s my girl,” Liam says as the party cheers again. A thrill rushes through me, making my toes curl, but I shove it away.

“The lock springs open easily,” Colin narrates.

“I fling open the cell door and bow with my arm out,” I say and mime the gesture. “Right this way, Thorne. Looks like I’m the one saving you today.”

Liam shakes his head and scowls. “Thank you. Let’s never do that again. I don’t like being locked up while you’re gallivanting among scoundrels and villains.”

I bite back a laugh. He sounds so serious.

“In case you haven’t noticed by now, I’m also a scoundrel,” I say.

Liam crosses his arms and stares at me with piercing green eyes. “I bet you are.” Despite the teasing smirk on his lips, his voice is low.

Goddamn. Liam usually plays pretty flirty, but this feels different. There’s an awkward pause as I try to come up with a clever retort, but my mind’s turned to mud.

“Let’s get out of here,” Liam says.

“Yes, let’s.”

At that, Colin steps in to close the scene. “Is there anything you want to do before you go?” Anything at all?”

Liam fidgets with his character sheet, steadfastly avoiding Colin’s intent stare.

I bite my lip. Something is going on. I wonder if Colin told Liam something important about the game before we started. But that’s almost like cheating, and Colin is extremely tight-lipped about his campaign. He never gives anything away. The thing about this game is that there is no losing, per se, but I get competitive and want to win.

Liam shakes his head. “Nope. We’re good here.”

Colin’s mouth twitches downward for a fraction of a second. He then shifts his attention to the other side of the table. Garret and Charlie try to shoplift a few invisibility potions from the curiosity shop. As their scene plays out, I lean back into my chair and sip my drink, wondering what Liam and Colin know that I don’t know.

Liam

Things are not looking good. Our party is stuck in front of the maze. We’ve been trying to find a way inside for fifteen minutes. A single wooden door decorated with vines sits on the side of a thirty-foot-tall hedge that borders the Grimwood. From the information Emma gathered, we know that Zophas is waiting at the heart of the maze, ready to call the Gloom to spread over the land.

We’ve tried breaking the door down, picking it, setting it on fire. Nothing has worked. Colin, who shoved his chair out of the way an hour ago, leans over the table with a manic look. He loves to watch us squirm.

“There has to be something we’re missing,” I say.

“Maybe I can climb the hedge and see if I can open the door from the other side,” Emma suggests.

Colin smirks. “You can certainly try.”

Part of me wants to punch him. He’s enjoying himself way too much. “I’ll give you a boost,” I offer.

“OK, I step up on Thorne’s shoulders and climb. What should I roll?”

“Climbing, acrobatics, stunts, you choose,” says Colin.

“Pick whatever is highest,” Charlie advises.

Emma rolls her dice around in her hands, then opens her palm. She holds the dice up to me. “For good luck?”

I blow softly on her palm. “If you fall, I’ll catch you,” I say.

“I know.”

Her eyes sparkle, and once again, I’m struck by her beauty. She throws the dice and gets a twelve. Emma looks hopefully at Colin.

“You get about halfway up the wall with the assist from Thorne before you hit what feels like an invisible ceiling. You lose your footing and plummet back towards the ground.”

I narrate how I catch Emma’s character and set her on her feet, trying not to think about how it would feel to hold her for real.

Her face twists in frustration. “Dammit, I thought that would work.”

“It was a good try, little thief.”

We debate what else to try for a few more minutes. Suddenly, Garret smacks himself on the forehead, making us all jump.

“You guys, we are so dumb.”

Colin’s body shakes with suppressed laughter. “Yeah?”

“Did anyone try to just open the door?” asks Garret.

We exchange looks around the table. No one says anything.

Garrett sighs. “I reach for the handle and turn it.”

“It opens, letting you inside the maze.”

A chorus of groans from around the table as Colin doubles over with laughter.

Emma grabs the sides of her head, her fingers tangled in her hair. “Oh my god, you have to be kidding. It was that easy?”

Colin straightens and wipes tears from his eyes. “That was hilarious. OK. OK. You’re in the maze now. The path forks left or right. In the middle, where the paths veer off from one another, is a stone tablet. A riddle is etched into it.”

He pulls a piece of paper from behind the screen and sets it on the table. We all lean in to read.

I can’t figure it out. “What happens if we answer it?” I ask, rereading it.

Colin shrugs. “Maybe a shortcut, maybe not. Only time will tell. Anyone have the answer?”

He stares directly at me, but I’ve got nothing. When no one offers a solution, Colin claps his hands. “Looks like we’ll leave it here for tonight. Great session, everyone.”

As we pack up our things and clear away empty cans and snack bowls, I can’t help but think that the answer to the riddle is another obvious solution, right in plain sight.

Emma

Cool autumn air stings my cheeks as I walk to my car. The sun set hours ago. I didn’t even realize how late it was. I grin, remembering how foolish we’d been. My smile falters as I look over my shoulder and see that Liam still hasn’t come down from the apartment.

I’d lingered as long as I could, bidding Garret and Charlie goodbye and offering to help clean Colin’s kitchen. He politely refused, and I could tell he was waiting to talk to Liam alone. My heart sank a little as I left.

My keys clang as I unlock my car. I dump my bag into the passenger seat and rest my forehead against the freezing steering wheel. Squeezing my eyes shut, I let myself play the best parts of the evening over, even as a twinge of longing reverberates through my chest. Liam had been extra flirty tonight, and I couldn’t even think of what to say to him.

A knock at my window makes me jump. A small scream bursts from my lips, and my heart hammers in my chest. It’s Liam. I place a hand over my chest and open the car door.

“You scared me,” I laugh.

“Are you OK?” His brow furrows. “Will your car start?”

“Oh, yeah, it’s fine.”

Liam clutches his car keys and adjusts his backpack slung over one shoulder. Our breath blooms in the night’s chill, swirling together at our proximity. “I can drive you home if you need.”

I shake my head. “I’m OK. Thanks, though.”

“Well, have a good night, then.”

“You, too.”

He waves, then heads down the lot for his car.

My heart pounds in time with his steps. Heat floods my cheeks despite the cold. Sometimes, the easiest solution is the one right in front of us.

Before I can change my mind, I march across the parking lot, not bothering to close the car door behind me. The air pulses and I feel almost magnetically pulled towards Liam. There’s no fighting the gravity between us. He must feel it, too. When I’m an arm’s length away, he turns and drops his backpack. His hand catches mine and pulls me forward. The air rushes from my lungs as we collide. Our kiss makes my knees go weak.

We pull apart, breathless. I can’t stop the smile that tugs at the corners of my mouth. “I know the answer,” I say, wrapping my arms around his neck.

Liam brushes a lock of hair behind my ear. “To what?”

“The riddle.”

His eyebrow lifts. “Do you?”

Warmth spreads through me, all the way to my toes. The answer was right in front of us. It was so easy, we should have known all along. “It’s this,” I say, leaning into another kiss as the stars shimmer from the cloudless night sky.⬥