Starlight

XX: All I've Ever Known

Author's Note:

This is the longest chapter yet, but by far the most exciting to write and hopefully also to read. I had to make sure that something big happened in Chapter Twenty, after all!

I hope you all enjoy it <3

___

You take me in your arms
And suddenly there's sunlight all around me!
Everything bright and warm,
And shining like it never did before

- 'All I've Ever Known,' Hadestown

xx.xx

She had false nails on.

They were black press-ons; she had bought them for a dollar and they were already peeling off, but she admired the feminine grace of her hands nonetheless.

Robbie rarely did anything with her nails - she had neither the money nor the patience - but an event like this called for a touch more glamour than she would usually be comfortable with. The whole hotel was a feast for the senses: candlelight, chandeliers, glinting damask wallpaper... She didn't know there was any place like this in the whole of Hatchetfield.

Drumming her fingertips on the bar, the little fingernail pinged off onto the floor, lost forever in the plush carpet.

Damn it.

A voice from behind her: "You okay?"

"Yeah." Robbie took a sip of rum, and turned to look at her friend. "Are you?"

Sighing, Finn slumped against the bar, drunk with disappointment... And wine. "Yeah. I knew I wasn't gonna win, but... Can you believe I lost to another Judas from another production of Godspell?"

Robbie snorted. "I just can't believe that Zoey was in both of them."

"Right?!" Finn slid down the bar a little, wobbling before regaining his footing. "I mean- we had no idea. She's the one who proposed Godspell to the musical theatre club, too, she must've only done that because she already knew the role so she knew she would get it, it's just so selfish, I love musicals more than most but I swear to God this town is just obsessed with..."

Robbie kept nodding along but let her mind drift away from Finn's drunken rambling. Something felt amiss.

It wasn't that she felt out of place here, in this fancy hotel. She felt stunning in her gown, the floor-length black velvet that Finn had chosen, adorned with sparkling silver jewelry borrowed from his sister.

It's Henry. Henry should be here with me.

"Hey, there you are!" Melissa bounced into the room, her boundless energy not quite infecting Finn nor Robbie. "I've been looking for you! Wanna go dance?"

Robbie ran a hand through her thick, unruly hair, tangling it and getting her fingers stuck. It wasn't fair to Mel, this pining over the professor. After all, Robbie had invited her to come in his place.

She had already had to explain to her new date why her place at the table was marked with "Prof. Henry Hidgens", and worse still, why a bottle of wine had been delivered to their table just before the dessert course with a note: "For the best writing team since Gilbert & Sullivan, From your biggest fan, Finn xxx". An excruciatingly awkward surprise that he had forgotten to cancel.

"Mel... Sorry, yeah, let's-"

"Don't be sorry, I know you've had a tough week!" God, her optimism and patience was admirable, her voice sweet and clear as a ringing bell. Robbie had always been jealous of it, ever since they were small - her own was gravelly and low. "You should probably answer your phone anyway."