Starlight

XXIII: Unlikely Lovers

Look at us
Four old friends
Four unlikely lovers
We don't know what time will bring

- 'Unlikely Lovers', Falsettos

xx.xx

"Are you ready?"

"Yeah." Finn span around, checking out his outfit from every angle in Robbie's mirror: his go-to style, a cute patterned jumper and jeans. "You?"

"Not even a little bit." Robbie strode over to the mirror, nudging him out of the way, frantically pulling the dress on over her head before quickly realizing that she was stuck. "Uhh... Little help?"

"You know," he started, tugging the black cotton downward until his friend's head popped out, her face obscured by the mane of dark, frizzy hair she had tried to straighten to no avail. "You always make us late to stuff. You've had all day to get ready."

"But I couldn't decide what to wear. This is our first date that isn't at his house, I wanted to look nice." Robbie huffed, grabbing a comb and pulling it through the knots. "And now I won't have time to do my makeup properly. I'll have to settle for just eyeliner, but..." She looked about her room, trying to spot it among the organised chaos in which she lived. "Shit, have you seen it?"

"Rob, relax." Finn passed her the half empty tube and she started on her signature cat-eye flicks. "It's not like you have to win him over anymore..." He shimmied a little, like an excitable dog unable to stop himself from waggling his tail. "Now that you're together. Ahh!"

He clapped his hands and did a little dance on the spot, and Robbie couldn't help but join in with his awkward flailing, with only one of her eyes made up.

"Okay okay okay..." Finn composed himself, and checked his phone. "So Danny is gonna be here in five to pick us up, and we'll grab Hidgens on the way to the restaurant. Are you gonna be ready?"

"Of course." Robbie replied, half-dressed, half-made up, hair unbrushed and searching high and low for a clean pair of socks. "Who do you take me for?"

~~~

"Well hello, handsome." Finn purred as he and Robbie got into the car, leaning over to give his partner a kiss on the cheek.

The two men looked to be polar opposites, but it hadn't stopped them from being entirely (at points disgustingly) in love with each other for over a year. Finn always looked to be the definition of cozy, always in jewel-toned knitwear, bronze-rimmed specs perched on the end of his pale, freckled nose, his auburn curls always fluffed up to perfection.

Danny, on the other hand, positively oozed cool: he was an athlete, broad-shouldered and tall, never seen out of his varsity jacket. His black coiled hair was always immaculately groomed, his dark skin always flawless.

He cringed at Finn's kiss. "You're late. And ew," he joked, before giving him an even bigger smooch.

He looked in his driver's mirror and shot Robbie an excitable look as she climbed into the back seat. "Well well well, if it isn't the girlfriend of the esteemed Professor Hidgens."

The word sent a warm tingle rushing through her veins. Yes, they had admitted their feelings for one another, and yes, she had spent last night with him (a fact that she had neglected to tell Finn; she knew that she wouldn't have fulfilling answers to his probing questions - the couple had done nothing more than talk), but being visibly, openly together in public was a new frontier that sparked a beautiful kind of anxiety within her. Hope.