Layla's fingertip completed another slow circle over Zoey's cheek before coming to a stop. The balm had thinned beneath her touch, spread evenly where Zoey had struggled with it moments earlier.
She lifted her fingertip from Zoey's skin but left her hand where it was, suspended a few inches from her cheek. She didn't straighten either.
"Are you alright?"
Their faces were still separated by little more than an inch.
Layla's attention had shifted from the balm to Zoey herself. Her eyes moved over Zoey's face as she waited for an answer, while her expression remained as difficult to read as ever.
Zoey gave her plenty to read in return.
Her eyes were wide, her lips parted around an answer that wasn't arriving. The hand holding the balm lid remained suspended where it had been throughout the entire demonstration.
Zoey's eyes moved briefly toward the hand that had been touching her, then returned to Layla's face. Her mouth opened a little farther, but nothing came out. On the monitor beside them, messages were already climbing over one another.
CHAT:
OH SHE’S GONE
zoey is not alright she left the realm
blink twice if ur conscious
"Y-yes! I’m..I’m totally okay. Like. Super okay. Skincare okay. Maximum okay."
The answer finally came out all at once. Zoey attempted a smile, but the expression pulled awkwardly at the corners of her mouth. She set the forgotten lid down among the products and brought both hands to her face, pressing her palms against her cheeks as if holding everything in place might somehow help.
When Zoey lowered her hands again, a glossy smear followed with them. Some of the balm had transferred onto her palm and caught the edge of her oversized sleeve, leaving a greasy mark across the fabric.
Zoey looked down at it. Her lips pressed together as she pinched the stained part of the sleeve between her fingers and dabbed at it with the cleaner side of her hand, only to spread the shiny patch a little farther across the fabric.
She stopped rubbing.
Her shoulders hunched and her head dipped toward her chest. For a second, she hid the lower half of her face behind the clean side of her sleeve, eyes squeezed shut in a small grimace at having created yet another problem for herself.
When she dropped the sleeve, she carefully folded the stained cuff back from her hand and looked toward the camera again. Her cheeks were still red, the balm on one of them was no longer quite as evenly spread as Layla had left it, and messages continued racing up the monitor beside her.
CHAT:
MAXIMUM OKAY 💀
she is at DEFCON 1
this is what it looks like when a person bluescreen
The table in front of her was still covered with the products they were supposed to be demonstrating. The camera was still pointed directly at her. There was, unfortunately, still a stream to host.
Layla had yet to move from beside the chair. Her raised hand remained between them, no longer touching Zoey but not fully withdrawn either.
"Right so um...thank you for that demo, that was...very informative...very hands-on..."
Her voice climbed higher on the last two words, and an audible squeak slipped out immediately afterward. Zoey immediately pressed her lips together.
Layla's fingers drew back.
"Oh... did I cross a boundary? Are you haphephobic?"
She straightened and withdrew her hand with deliberate care before taking one step back from the chair.
The difference was immediate. Where Layla had been leaning into the space directly in front of Zoey only moments earlier, there was now enough room between them for Zoey to turn toward her without finding Layla's face directly in front of her own.
The movement was unhurried. Nothing in Layla's face suggested alarm, but she made no attempt to close that distance again.
CHAT:
oh my god she asked so gently
SHE KNOWS THE WORD ‘haphephobic’???
this is the politest panic response I’ve ever seen
Zoey's hands shot up almost immediately.
"N-No! No no no no.totally not! You can touch me, P-PLEASE DO !..."
Both hands waved wildly in front of her, the loose sleeves of her oversized top shifting around her wrists with every movement. As the last words left her mouth, her hands slowed. Her eyes widened, and the color already present in her cheeks deepened until her whole face was visibly red.
Her lips parted again, but the attempt to continue ended in another squeak. One of her hands dropped and struck the serum bottle standing among the products on the table.
Clink.
The glass bottle tipped sideways.
Zoey lunged across the table and caught it before it could fall, closing both hands around the bottle and nearly disturbing two other products in the process. It was the same serum she'd already caught once earlier. She hurriedly set it upright again, keeping her fingers around it until it stopped wobbling.
By then, her chat was already filling the monitor.
CHAT:
did she just begged to be touched ?
OHMYGOD
i felt embarrassed even through my screen !
Zoey released the serum carefully and brought both hands straight back to her face, hiding behind her palms. Only the edges of her red cheeks remained visible between her fingers and the headband holding her orange-red hair away from her face.
"I’m just...I got surprised, that’s all, I wasn’t expecting the full... face massage... and you’re very... precise."
Her voice came out muffled behind her hands. She spread two fingers apart and peeked through the narrow opening at Layla, who was still standing where she'd stepped back.
"It was fine. Really. I’m fine. You’re fine. Everything’s fine."