Chilling (Private; Spencil)

"The chariot racers were incredible."

Spencer stood in the line of her favourite coffee shop with Phil, barely containing her excitement.

"Did you see when the blue chariot cut off the red one, right in front of the pole? And when the white one lost a wheel? Gods of Olympus, I choked on my popcorn half a dozen times, I don't know if you heard."

The daughter of Fortuna propped her sunglasses up on her hair and smiled widely. She had rarely seen such a good race live and her throat still hurt from cheering so loud. "How did you like it?"

Funny story: The first time Phil had been talked to about the Chariot Races, he was pretty sure it would be a boring waste of time. Boy, he couldn't have been more wrong. OK, maybe the hype Spencer felt affected him a bit, but it was still way more fun than he thought it'd be, cause usually Phil's relation to sports is limited to references. So really, he had obviously noticed everything Spencer mentioned, but he wouldn't bring that up, cause he'd sound annoyed and he actually really liked her contagious excitement about basically anything.

"It was really dope. I mean, except from the fact I told you I bet the white one would win. But you could say I just got unlucky, you know?".

Spencer chuckled. "Yeah I could say that. I'm the daughter of Luck after all."

The demigoddess had always been very Roman, but today she had decided to dress the part too. She had swapped her usual flashy sports apparel for a beautiful purple tunic held on the shoulders by golden clasps, and ancient-looking pearl earrings. Her cornrows were the only indicator she lived in the modern world.

She made a few denarii jingle in her hand. "Since I got lucky though, I'm treating you. What do you want?" she asked, her eyes scanning the menu. Indeed, her gambles had earned her a nice little pouch of gold coins and she was happy to buy something for her friend.

"Oh, does that mean you'll have to treat me every time? I'm up for it."

Phil himself had gone for the Camp-Jupiter shirt and a pair of jeans that he seemingly always wore, but joke's on you, he actually has 3 different pairs. Good thing he didn't have to wear the damned probatio plate anymore though, he hated that thing. Now he only felt not equal to the other legionnaires, just didn't have to also look the part.

"Um, a capuccino, as much sugar as possible."

A few minutes later, they were sitting outside with their drinks. Spencer sat down on the edge of the plaza's main fountain and sipped her frappé while the water happily splashed and gurgled in the sun.

"You know sugar is bad for you though, right?" she asked with a little frown, watching Phil drink his sugarloaded cappuccino. She was always fussing over her friends' diets. (Probably came with being the daughter of an athlete.)

Phil was about to go on a rant about how 'he chose to die young cause he didn't want to live in a sugarless world' but then he revised his arguments in his head and decided that they were... quite stupid. Which meant plan b: Humor Spencer.

"Oh, really? Wow, it never occured to me before. Now watch me throw this great coffee away because sugar might cause me to die at 65 instead of 80, if monsters or a Demigod Civil War doesn't do it by then."

Spencer just snorted into her drink. "You're hopeless," she chided, but a smile tugged at her lips. It felt good to be with Phil, back in New Rome with no monster trying to kill them. Sure their adventure had been a thrill from start till finish, but it was nice to be able to chill out. She had missed the grandiose marble colonnades, the palaces, the narrow winding streets and large plazas.

"Any plans for permission?" she asked.

Phil sipped a bit more of his drink before replying. "Judging from the fact that the last two times we left Camp we almost died, I'm probably going to be asking for permission sooner than I should. Then again, I'm not a probatio anymore, so I guess we can now suddenly face anything that comes our way. So I may check concert dates and decide."

Concerts, that sounded like Phil. Spencer doubted it was anything like the concerts she usually went to though -- she was more pop/hip hop and Phil was more rock.

"If you need a bodyguard, hit me up," she said. She knew they had different music styles but she'd still be curious to try something new. Suddenly a bit fidgety, she  rearranged the gold clasps on her shoulders and continued, "I don't know what your plans are for going home, but, um, I was wondering if you'd like to maybe spend a weekend at mine? I told my dad about you and he said I could invite you over if I wanted."

The fact that Phil had always avoided to tell Spencer anything about his family and life before Camp made her line a bit awkward, but hey, at least he had literally no reason to decline her offer. "I'm definitely in, never been in Albuquerque before. I've no better plans anyway".

Spencer grinned widely. For some reason she'd been scared Phil would decline. "Aw yess!" She pumped her fist into the air. "My birthday's on Saturday and my dad has organized a little something with friends and family, but without you it just wouldn't be complete." Phil was her best friend at camp, the one she was closest to. They'd done war games together, fought in the gladiator pits, battled Vulcan's rogue bots and even defeated the drakon of Park Lake City! She couldn't not invite him.
She was also afraid that if she left Camp Jupiter, she'd wake up or something, realize this was all a dream. With Phil at her side, going back to the mortal world wouldn't be so weird.

It's the little things in life. Like, okay, getting his life saved by Spencer a lot of times and getting to fight monsters together was fine, but this here was different. Phil was officially going to become a part of his best friend's out-of-camp life, and considering his track record so far, that was pretty special. Basically, he was flattered. Also, he needed to get her a kickass gift. And find different clothes to wear. And be there. And reply to her so as this conversation doesn't desolve into uneasy silence. "You're kidding me? I wouldn't miss it for a thing in the world, Spence."