Maisie’s eyes were so full of conviction that they seemed to take root in her own. She could practically feel leafy tendrils unfurling beneath her skin, bringing color to her cheeks and sneaking down her throat in a serpentine fashion. Quietly, they curled cage-like around her heart with a gentle squeeze.
Robyn could barely utter the words.
“I.. like you too… Maisie.” The offshoots in her chest constricted.
Maisie smiled shyly. Then, the distance between their sprouting hearts began to shrink as Maisie slowly leaned forward. Robyn began trembling unwittingly as Maisie’s lips parted, brushing softly against the cusp of her ear.
Her whisper stirred the quiet air with no more disturbance than that of a flap of a wing. The words might have been swept away entirely, if Robyn didn’t know exactly what Maisie was going to say.
“Is it okay if I kiss you?”
Robyn’s heart felt nearly prone to bursting from the pressure. Her dangling, useless hands found the hem of her shirt and crushed it, a futile effort to combat the greater tension inside. It was all she could do to nod demurely, as she was meant to, and not turn tail and flee right then and there.
Maisie’s breath was warm on her already hot cheeks as she drew towards her lips.
Robyn’s eyes squeezed shut. She puckered her lips, anticipating their collision. Any moment now, their lips would touch, and… and…
“Wow, that was really good!”
Robyn opened her eyes as Maisie withdrew triumphantly. Weakly, she smiled back.
“Thanks,” she murmured. The roots within her were withering, relinquishing her insides with a bitter signature.
“You really played the role.” Maisie’s soft blue eyes bored into hers. “I feel a lot more confident now.”
“I’m glad.” Then, almost unthinkingly, she blurted, “But don’t you want to practice the actual kiss?”
Maisie’s eyebrows lifted, then crinkled again as she burst out laughing. Like always, it was brash and boisterous— a piercing outlier in the soft, constant hum of the airship. The only accompanying sound was the lonely wind gusting around the exterior and into the cloudless night.
“Not so loud!” Robyn lunged forward and covered her mouth. She glanced around furtively, but couldn’t tamp down her smile.
Maisie took hold of her hand and lifted it off, still giggling. “We couldn’t do that,” she exclaimed. “What if you’re too good? You might make a fool out of Atticus!”
Robyn rolled her eyes. “I’m sure he’d be fine. He’s practically already married to his books, anyway.”
Maisie’s smile faded.
Oops.
She sandwiched Robyn’s face between her palms and leaned forward distressedly. “Oh, Robyn, don’t say that!” She pinched her cheeks for good measure.
Ow. “Don’t worry, Maize.” Their gazes locked.
For a moment, the world was in stasis.
The airship ceased its circle around the same valley. The rest of the inhabitants stopped breathing in their cabins. The moon quit rising over the Earth. The incubators shut off, and the embryos stopped developing wings. The wind slowed to a stop.
It was just the two of them, suspended thousands of meters in the air. There was no Atticus. There was no airship. And there would be no Phoebe, a decade later, because the two of them were now free to fly far, far away from everything. Together.
“Do you think he even likes me back?” Maisie whispered wistfully.
“Of course,” Robyn answered gently. She lifted a hand and spun a finger through Maisie’s blond curls.