9. A kiss to the eyelid
Buckingham!
They've played this game before. There have been a handful of times Chrissy has leaned over while Robin is mid sentence and mid rant, and pressed her index finger to Robin's face. Smile beaming and blue eyes bright she'll say, "Eyelash. Quick. Make a wish."
It never fails to pull Robin out of her head and into the present moment, which not a lot of things do, especially when she really gets going on what has been affectionately coined a Robin Ramble.
They've played this game before, so Robin knows when she sees a stray lash on Chrissy's cheek that the other girl will play along. She knows what her next move will be if Robin plucks it and presents it for Chrissy to wish upon. Robin isn't the one to ever initiate this game. Not really. She's never been the wish demander, only the wisher, but she still knows what Chrissy will do. Chrissy was pretty adamant that Robin was wishing wrong the first time they played like this. Which quite frankly is ridiculous. How does one wish wrong? It's a wish. Who cares? Well, Chrissy, that's who.
Chrissy had stamped her fingerprint onto to side of Robin's face and then brought it within Robin's line of vision to blow it away and make a wish. Robin had looked straight at Chrissy's manicured finger and pursed her lips to blow. Before she had a chance to take any breathe to prepare her lungs for the task, Chrissy pulled her hand away and shook her head back and forth.
"No, wait! That's not how you do it. You need to close your eyes."
"Why? How can I see if I actually blow it away or not if I'm not looking at it?"
Chrissy's smile was all mischief then.
"You don't. But I will and I'll tell you if you need to try again."
Chrissy took her opposite hand and slid her palm over Robin's face to close her eyes for her. It was electric. Robin's nerves felt like a live wire, her stomach a cage for a dozen butterflies, and a handful of other cliches— cliches that Robin rolled her eyes at until she felt them all and realized why they're cliches in the first place.
That was ten wishes ago, but Robin still remembers it like it was yesterday and she's been waiting for an opportunity to play back, it just hasn't happened, until now—And honestly Robin was starting to wonder if this was just another way Chrissy was perfect because it just never happened. Every hair in its place and every eyelash where it was meant to be and not a stray on a cheek bone to be found. Robin was starting to think it would never happen, until it did. It was finals week. They were in their University library studying side by side at a table. It was crowded and there was an energy in the air from all the stressed and focused college kids trying to absorb and retain as much as they could before their exams by any means necessary. A copper haired freshman two tables over was making the most noise in the room rustling their notes. A girl with dark hair had two books opened flat on her table as she cross referenced one and then the other bouncing back and forth as she shushed the freshman. Someone in a hoodie was lying their head on the stack of books in front of them. Osmosis was also a choice.
There was a lot happening around them but the table both girls sat at may as well have been an island. Robin's attention kept getting pulled back to her crush turned friend turned even more intense crush sitting next to her. The other people in the room nor her Dialects of Lost Civilizations textbook held her attention as much.
That's when it happened.
Chrissy was looking down at her book, Robin was looking at Chrissy. She leaned in close and brushed Chrissy's face to sweep up the lash. Chrissy turned her head fully and beamed at Robin, then immediately closed her eyes, took in a quick inhale to prepare to make a wish and blew. Robin wasn't sure what came over her but she felt pulled in by Chrissy Cunningham's gravitational pull and leaned forward to gently press her lips to Chrissy's right eye lid. Rather than release her exhale in a pursed lip blow, Chrissy sighed and relaxed further into her seat. Robin pulled away just as Chrissy's smile deepened and she opened her eyes to look down at the eyelash still on Robin's index finger and then up to meet her gaze.
Chrissy whispered into the space between them,"Pretty magical how a wish can be granted before it's even made. Don't you think, Robin?"
"Well, you're pretty magical, so I'm not even surprised."
Chrissy reached out and grabbed Robin's wrist, bringing her own eyelash within reach of her own exhale, closed her eyes and made a wish Robin hoped was her.