The oil seemed like it'd never wash off. I used so much soap, and had the shower on full blast mode, but I still lightly smelled like broth after nearly 15 minutes of washing. I gave up trying, and got out, drying myself off. It'd fade eventually I guessed, and until then, maybe I could get Marissa to use some perfume or lotion on me to cover the smell. I put on my pajamas, the one's I'd been wearing when I was compressed, and headed downstairs. I considered taking a few moments to rest and relax before going out, but... I couldn't be sure when I'd see Henri again after tonight, and I wanted the time we had to count. Thinking on it, I wasn't sure if I'd see Henri again, after that fight she and Marissa had.
I opened my front door and sat on the step like requested. The 'party' hadn't started up again, and Marissa was still in her bathroom for now. Henri was drying her eyes and sniffling, but didn't seem to be too upset anymore, just a bit out of it. She looked over at my house, and her eyes lit up when she saw me. She stood, and quickly crossed the floor.
"Oh, I hope you aren't too angry with me, I was just so happy to spend more time with you..." she said, leaning in.
I looked at her hopeful face looming down at me, open and wide eyed, and I felt odd inside. I wasn't angry, more... scared, in a weird way.
"I'm not angry, Henri..." I said, folding my arms. "but you have to remember, being this small is fucking terrifying, all the time. The only reason I'm not constantly having a mental breakdown is because I'm just... refusing to process any of it. When you do stuff like grab me without asking, or throw me because you get scared, it makes it very, very hard to not think about the situation I'm in..."
"Oh... I see... But, Marissa grabs you, and she's very mean to you, doesn't that make you think about the situation?" her breath smelled like vodka again, and she was swaying. I didn't even know if she'd remember this, but I may as well explain myself...
"I- Yeah, kinda, but it's Marissa. She never saw me as a person. She isn't a person treating me like an object, she's like... a force of nature, something to be respected and feared. She's not 'real', if that makes sense..."
I tried to explain myself further. "I don't know, it's- it's different when it's you, she has this sort of carefulness to her, where she's mean, but she'd never willingly put me in danger, I think. You did put me in danger, and didn't even think about it? It just hits different."
I considered what I just said. I had never put it to thought before now, but... that was how I was staying so calm, wasn't it? Just the idea that I can't stop my situation, so why try? The idea that she's not human, so don't treat her like she is, just try to manage her. That was going to stop working soon, especially since I just said it out loud. I could change my situation, or at least, it could be changed. Marissa was calling me Amber for the first time in my life, so change could happen. Marissa was a human, and she could be talked to, reasoned with. She saw me as a human, or at least as something valuable enough to care about. She tried to protect me, in her own way, she did things to make me comfortable, like the lotion, or making sure I got veggie foods, or even just making sure I was warm. She was mean, but why was she mean? Why was she so intent on treating me like I was a pet or a toy if she obviously didn't see me like that?
While I was pondering my new outlook on my condition, Henri's eyes had gotten misty again. "Does that mean you don't want to spend time with me anymore? Because I remind you how small you are?"
"No! No, of course not! You're my favorite person, I wish it'd been you to be my guardian, if you were, I'd be over this weird phase already."
She put her hands on the desk and leaned in closer. "I wish I was your guardian too..." she whispered "Things would be wonderful if I was..."
"Well..." I said, a bit nervous. She was almost touching me with her face now. "I just want you to focus, treat me like your friend and not like a toy, and... maybe lay off the alcohol, you're getting weird..."
"Well, about that..." Marissa said from behind Henri. "For what I have planned, she's gonna need more alcohol, and to treat you like a toy, so... Good speech, set those boundaries, but I do have to make her break them instantly, sorry."
Henri stiffened, and slowly moved away from me. "I wasn't kissing her! I was just talking!"
Marissa frowned. "I didn't think you were, until you said that..." She looked over at me. "Was she?... I guess you wouldn't say anyway if she was, huh?"
I shook my head. "Her breath is too boozy, if she kissed me I swear I'd get drunk from the contact, she was just really close."
Henri nodded, and I stepped off the counter into Marissa's hand.
"Anyway," I said "What do you have in mind that involves me being a toy, and Henri drinking?"
Marissa smiled. "I made this game up myself earlier, I call it 'doll party'. I'm kinda proud of it."
"I suppose Amber is the doll in question?..." Henri asked.
"Of course, yeah. So, the rules are easy, we have a tea party with Amber, right? It would have been better if she was still in her dress, but we have a tea party, and like, we have shots instead of tea? And Amber is the one 'hosting' the party tonight, because she's the doll."
"What does the hostess do?" I asked.
"She gets snacks for the guests, she pours drinks, and she picks conversation topics. We have to all follow proper tea party rules or take a shot each time we break one, and we have to discuss the conversation topics honestly, but if we insult someone, lie and get called out on it, or say something rude, we drink."
"Doesn't that make it so I have control over who drinks the most? I just pick topics that will make one person upset, right?" I asked.
Marissa smirked, "You can tryyyyy" She said, rubbing my head.
"Ok, how will she pour the drinks?" Henri asked. "She can't lift the bottle..."
"I got a spout with a rubber stopper. I'll prop the bottle up, and she just lifts the stopper after putting the shot glass under it, I thought of everything."
"This just sounds like more complicated truth or dare, without the dares..." I said as Marissa put me back on the coffee table once again. "When you said we'd get to the 'fun stuff' after dinner, I assumed we'd be doing knife throwing or something."
"No, this carpet is really hard to get blood out of..." Marissa said, sounding slightly sad. "And this will be fun, I think it'll be better than you realize."
"Ok, well... let's get the table set up, what are tea party rules, anyway?" Henri asked, taking the bowls and cups off the table."
"Oh, like, pinkies up, no swearing, talk with a fancy voice, napkin on your lap, just, tea party stuff." Marissa said.
Henri frowned, and I hoped that she understood. I knew what Marissa meant, and I couldn't really pretend I didn't. If Henri fucked up, I wouldn't be able to claim whatever rule she broke wasn't a 'real tea party rule' or something. As the two larger girls got the table set, I thought about what topics I'd bring up. I could ask about politics, but I hadn't heard Marissa mention anything political so far, so I didn't know how that would pan out. I could ask about something boring, like the weather, but that sounded... boring. Relationships were right out, I was almost scared to ask about that... I could always go with favorite music or something similar? But I got the feeling the game was supposed to be emotionally charged, and I did want to keep Marissa happy, so...
"Is everyone set up?" I asked. They nodded, and Marissa lifted her shot glass up in a toast, and we began.
"So..." I said in a fancy voice, thinking of how to word my topic. "I wish to know you all better, tell me, how were your childhood years?"
Marissa's smirk grew, and she tried to hide a snort. "Ohh, such a lllllllovely topic Miss Park, how utttttterrrrlly therapeutic of you..." she rolled her words, and raised her voice a notch as she spoke, selling the 'fancy' voice.
"Ah, yessss, Miss Park, yes, I would too lllllike to talk about this, it's verrrrry quaint how you ask it of us, such a ladyyy." Henri said, trying and failing to copy Marissa's voice."
"Myyy childhood was quite pleasant," Marissa said. "I had suuuuch a llllovely time spending alllll my family's money on such wonderful things, I traveled to far off places and had such beautiful experiences, why, I had no worries in the world..." She sipped her shot lightly, pinky up.
"I too had a pleasant childhood, I- helped my father with the business, and learned ever so much!" Henri said, sounding more like a victorian orphan than anything. I supposed accents were hard to fake for someone who already had an accent herself... She took a sip of her drink too and I shook my head, knowing what was coming before it was said.
"Ahhh, it would seem you forgot to lift your pinky, Miss-" Marissa stopped, and blinked. I realized that she didn't actually know Henri's last name and suppressed a grin. "-Miss Henrietta..."She said, her confidence dropping.
Henri smiled smugly, and took her shot, pinky raised this time. "Why Miss Lund, how forward of you to call me by my first name... It's almost improper."
They both passed me their glasses, and I pushed Henri's under the nozzle of the bottle that was propped up on a couple books, and popped off the rubber cap. The vodka came out faster and farther than I expected, and splashed me in the chest before I moved the shot glass to the right spot. The smell burned my nose, and my pajamas dripped, my skin tingled, and I briefly wondered if I could pause the game to go change, but I knew I'd just spill more on myself later.
I pushed Henri's glass out of the way and slid Marissa's in its place, spilling a little more vodka on myself and the table in the process. I wrinkled my nose and shook my head, the fumes were still burning my senses, I really wanted to hurry up and finish the game...
"Oh, Miss park, when you're done with that, we'd like some snacks, please..." Marissa said, taking her glass and corking the flow before it dripped too much.
I looked around, and saw that there was a bag of Henri's gummies and a small package of cookies on the table. I walked over, and drug the gummies out of the bag and onto one of the plates Marissa had put next to the bag, my hands sticking to the red and green gloss, forcing me to stop and unstick every time I moved one. After, I went to the package of cookies. They were the ones with the hole in the middle, with the buttery taste. I used to really like them but I hadn't seen them in years, although I supposed I couldn't have any now. The package was still sealed though, and no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't get it open.
"Ohhh, Miss Park, let me get that, I know things can be 'difficult' with your 'condition'." Marissa said, after watching me struggle for far too long.
I panted, and stood back as she effortlessly tore it open, dumping cookies onto the other plate. I drug the plates between Henri and Marissa, and sat down hard, tired from the work, and a bit dizzy. I looked up at them. Henri was looking glassier than before, and Marissa looked like she was having a little bit too much fun as well, and was giggling to herself under her breath.
"Alright ladies, next topic of discussion..." I said tiredly. "We shall discuss..." I was drawing a blank, fuck it, ice breaker time. "What is the best thing that happened to you in the last week?"
Marissa smiled "Why Miss Park, you are, of course! I got such a lovely obedient pet, and you've been a pleasure to play with!"
I should have seen that coming, I supposed. I shivered at being called an 'obedient pet', and looked to Henri.
"And you?" I asked.
She shook her head. "Why, I do believe this week has been absolute shit so far, I cannot thing of one good thing..." her accent had changed again, this time into a more southern one.
"Ah, I do believe your tongue slipped, please refrain from harsh language, Miss Park does have such sensitive ears..." Marissa said, pointing to Henri's glass.
"It doesn't have to be a good thing, per say." I clarified, as Henri took her shot. "Just... the best thing that happened?"
"Ugh..." Henri shuddered and handed her shot glass down to me. "I suppose... I had a phone call with Mama on Monday that went well, she didn't mention me finding a boyfriend once, and she heard from my big brother, he's doing quite well..."
I filled the shot glass, not spilling as much this time, but still getting a good amount sloshed on me.
"Ah, good to hear, I suppose he's still traveling across the world with a backpack?" I asked.
"Ja, but he said he'll be coming home in a few months, hopefully he'll be there when I go home for the summer break!" She said, smiling for real.
"Well I'm glad to hear it." I said. I was, she hadn't mentioned it to me before, and I was surprised she hadn't, her brother was her second favorite person aside from me, and she almost never got to see or talk to him, the chance of getting to spend the summer with her must have been very exciting for her.
"How lovely it is to hear you have such a lovely family, I just love to hear about how much you love each other." bit Marissa, coldly. She took her shot for lying without being reminded, adding more emphasis to her sarcasm, and slammed it down in front of me.
I stood, and stumbled on my way to fill her up again. I wasn't feeling well; I was itchy and my skin was tingly. I felt dry, like I needed a glass of water, but I ignored it and asked the next question. I was ready to end this game move on already, so I asked the one question I knew would start something, anything, just to get this all over with.
"So, ladies..." I started "How do you feel about me? Like, as a person, and in general."
Marissa laughed. "Well, I don't think of you as a person, but in general, you're a pretty fun toy. I like owning you."
I frowned. "Actually... I've been thinking about it. I think you do think of me as a person. I think you care about me a lot more than you're letting on. You try to act like I'm this worthless thing you just want to play with, but you also seem to want me to be... I don't know, happy?"
Marissa narrowed her eyes at me, but took a shot without saying a word. She put it in front of me, and stared me down as I filled it.
"W-well, I think you're the most wonderful person in the world," Henri said, her words slurring slightly "and I want to be with you forever, and I want you to be safe, and to love on you and get you all to myself, and- and- I want to kiss you, every day, I just love you, Amber..."
I flushed. She'd just come out and said it, I hadn't expected that, I'd expected her to dance around the issue, and Marissa to call her out on it, draw it out into an argument. I stared up at her sitting there defiantly, swaying in place, her cheeks flushed and she looked back at me boldly.
"We can't lie in this game, so I won't lie." She said. "I said what I said, and I loved you for a long time, since we were teenagers, I don't even care anymore. Ich liebe dich, klein fee."
I avoided looking at Marissa and tried to think of what to say. "I... know, I kinda figured you did, I've been avoiding thinking about it, I thought if I acknowledged it, it'd ruin our relationship. I just- I don't know what to do about it. I-"
"Well, you don't have to worry about that now, Miss Park." Marissa said, her fingers encircling me. "There's no more relationship there anymore, just the relationships between me, my pet, and my slave."
She looked at Henri as she lifted me to her face. She was swaying too, her eyes were even more lidded than usual, and she was shaking slightly.
"I'm the one in charge of both of you, and there's nothing she or you can do, even if she does love you back."
She lifted me up and stared at me, hesitating, then her eyes flicked to Henri. She was standing up now, her hand outreached towards me with a hurt expression, and Marissa's face hardened. She pulled me in, and pressed my face to her puckered lips, holding me there as she hummed. I felt my face flushing, this wasn't teasing or me falling onto her mouth, this was an intentional, deliberate kiss. Her lips were soft and slightly wet, I couldn't breathe, and the warmth spread through my whole body, and the vibrations made it hard to concentrate on anything. When she pulled away at last, I gasped for air and wiped my face on my shoulder, getting the damp off. It was... a lot more interesting than the 'test kiss' that I'd had with Henri all those years ago; this one made me feel like I was electrocuted, like I had chugged an energy drink, and like I was falling, all at once. It was breathtaking and dizzying in more ways than one.
She pushed me into her cheek, and rubbed me up and down much like Henri had earlier, and maintained eye contact with her. I knew she was doing this to hurt Henri, to punish her for confessing to me, but her hands were shaking so much, and her breathing was coming in fast pants, and I wondered how comfortable she really was with this too.
"Aww Amber," She said in a sticky sweet voice. "I love you too, you know. I love you soooo much, and unlike that other girl, I can actually kiss you and snuggle you, and I get to see you every day."
I turned my head and saw that Henri was clutching her head and shaking with sobs, her face pink and broken.
"N-no, please, I just told her I- I held it in for so long, I need her to- I- We're still playing the game, please, I need to talk to her about it, please..." she choked out.
"Henri, I-" I said, before Marissa moved me to her chest, hugging me tight with both hands as she stood up and backed away from Henri, muffling my words against her flannel pajama top. I could hear her heartbeat from where I was; it was racing, and her body was very warm, much warmer than I was used to.
"Oh, but Henri, I confessed to her too just now, and I actually have her, so... I don't think the two of you need to do any more talking tonight. The game is over, and I think it's time for bed, don't you?"
Henri took a few steps forward, following Marissa around the edge of the couch. "Nein, nein, nein yours was just a mean trick, I want to take mine back, I want to do it again, please, that was the wrong time, I ruined it, please, please, I need to talk to her again..."
Marissa backed up further until she was against her bed, still holding me tight. "Listen, just shut up and fuck off, Henri. You're drunk, and she's mine now, if you don't stop pushing it, you'll never see her again, except hanging around my neck as we walk past each other in the halls."
"Nnnnno, it doesn't matter if she's yours now, I like her. You can still have her, I just want to- I don't know, I want to date her, or just hold her, just to be close to her, please." Henri sobbed.
I stayed still, Marissa's heartbeat hadn't slowed, and she was keeping me pressed against her, probably to stop me from speaking. I tried to imagine a world where I was dating Henri, and it wasn't much different from our regular relationship before I was infected, just with kisses goodbye at the end of the day. I tried to then think of a relationship with Henri with my life as it was now, and I couldn't. The dates in my mind had Marissa with us making fun of everything we did, the sleepovers were like this one, and every kiss started an argument and ended with me getting hurt.
"I like her too, I like her a lot actually, in fact, I think I like her more than you. You know how I know?" Marissa asked. "Because I actually got to the fucking store on time and fucking bought her."
"I WAS AT THE BANK, MISTSTÜCK." Henri screamed, shoving her onto the bed. Marissa threw one hand back to catch herself, and held me away from Henri with the other.
"Stop, please, you're both drunk, I don't want to get hurt..." I pleaded, the image of them playing tug-of-war with me popping back into my head.
Marissa glared at me. "I'm not drunk, it would take way, way more than that to get me drunk." She climbed up onto the bed fully and held me to her again, this time her stomach.
"Please, I ruined everything, I need to fix it, let me hold her, let me talk to her, she didn't even get to answer, please..." Henri moaned.
"If you don't stop, I'm- I'm calling Parker and Drew to come throw your ass out of here, and- HEY!" Marissa shouted as Henri climbed up after her.
"OFF. OFF MY BED." she yelled. "That was a fucking rule, get... OFF." she pushed Henri hard, and she tumbled backwards off the bed into a heap, still crying.
I gasped. "Oh, gods, is she ok? She just went right over..."
"Uhh, damnit..." Marissa muttered, crawling to the edge of the bed. Henri was curled up in the fetal position, her sobs small and quiet, but she seemed to be fine, if way too drunk.
"Whatever. She pushed me first. It's whatever." Marissa said, more to herself than to me. "We need to go to bed anyway, she can sleep there."
"But shouldn't we like, make her sleep on the couch? She'll be sore down there..." I asked.
"If she wants the couch, she's a big girl, she can just go get on the fucking couch." Marissa growled. "She's on her side and she's breathing, that's all that matters. I need to brush my teeth, then you brush yours. I'm not trusting her not to try and grab you out of your house and sneak off with you tonight."
"So... Where will I sleep?" I asked, almost dreading the answer.
She looked at me, and bit her lip nervously. "As- as your legal guardian, I'm making a decision that for your safety and protection, you'll be sleeping with me. In- in my bed I mean, like, we'll both sleep in- fuck, you know what I mean."
"How will you make sure you won't roll on me and squish me?" I asked nervously.
"I'll put pillows around me, and lay on my side. I should have enough plushies in the closet to make a 'fort', and I'll lay around you, so she'd have to either touch me, or move stuff to get you."
I wanted to protest, but there was actually a very real chance that Henri really would try to kidnap me tonight, especially after all this. I didn't know if I trusted a drunk Henri to hold me, much less a drunk, hurt, angry Henri.
"Ok, yeah, that's a good plan." I said, nodding.
Marissa side eyed me. "So you consent to it?"
"Consent to what?" I asked, confused.
"To- damnit, to being in the bed with me. It could count as 'unnecessary contact', and you need to technically give your permission." She said
"Oh, ok... Yeah, I consent then." I realized something. "Hey, why is sleeping in the same bed... whatever you said, but kissing me isn't?"
She flushed. "It's- well, Henri kissed you before me, so she can't report on me without me reporting on her, and then she'd never get you. Anyway, we'll... We'll talk about the kiss tomorrow, I don't want to think about it tonight."
"Ok... And about Henri's confession... We'll talk about that tomorrow too?"
She didn't respond for a moment, sitting on the edge of the bed with her feet over the side, looking down at Henri, who'd fallen asleep. Her thumb absently rubbed my back as she held me. Finally, she sighed.
"I need to think about that, Amber. I don't want to talk about it at all, it doesn't matter one way or another if she 'loves' you or whatever, you belong to me. But." She squeezed me gently. "...but... I need to seriously think about this. I knew it, everyone did, but I didn't expect her to ever say it. It makes some stuff harder for me."
I crane my neck to see her face behind me. "What sort of stuff?"
Her grip tightened, and I winced at the familiar pain.
"Nothing you need to worry about" She said. "I don't want to talk about it any more tonight, and if I want to talk about it later, I'll bring it up, got it?"
"G-got it, yeah." I grunted, trying to pry her fingers off me.
She looked at me for a long second, then relaxed her fingers, and put me on her shoulder again. I held on tight as she shook her head.
"Let's just get ready for bed..."
We each brushed our teeth, and tidied up the room a little (or Marissa did at least) before setting up the bed with the plushies and pillows, stepping over Henri's now passed out form to do so. Marissa held me close as she climbed into her nest, and curled up, gently putting me in the center of her self, with her limbs, head, and torso making a protective place for me to lie down. She tucked the blankets around us, and lowered her head.
"Good night, Amber." She said. It sounded genuine, an actual 'good night', not a taunt or a tease, just someone telling someone else to sleep well. I responded in turn, and we lay there in silence. Her body heat filled the pocket, and her breathing and heartbeats sounded out from all around me. I curled up myself, my back against her thigh, and soon fell asleep, thinking about Henri, dating, Marissa, and finally starting to process my situation.
~~~
I woke up to movement, the bed under me was shifting, and I sat up, stretching. I looked around, and saw that I was still surrounded by Marissa, her sleeping face under the blanket with me. I pressed myself against Marissa's thigh as the bed continued to shift, before it went still. My body itched and stung for some reason, and Marissa's flannel pants felt rough and irritating as I leaned against her, but I stayed close anyway. There was no telling how sober Henri was, and if she blind grabbed for me under the covers, she could snap a limb, or worse. I heard soft thumping noises, the crinkling of a wrapper, and the unmistakable sound of someone crying. I listened for a while longer, and heard the door open and close, and I knew Henri had left. My own eyes welled up, and I lay back down. I knew why she'd left, her heart must be shattered right now, but I'd wanted to talk to her about it at least, to work through how I felt, to at least be able to give a full response. As it was, she didn't even wait until morning to leave so she could say goodbye.
I lay there crying softly to myself, wondering if I'd lost her until sleep took me again.
~~~
I woke up a second time as the word shifted around me, and I opened my eyes to see Marissa sitting up, cooler air rushing into the pocket she'd made with around us as the blanket fell away. I shivered, and hugged myself, only to hiss in pain as my limbs rubbed my body. It felt like my body was raw, like my skin had been peeled off. I pulled up my shirt to check as Marissa carefully got up from around me and headed into the bathroom, her eyes still puffy from sleep and her hair frazzled.
Under my clothes, I was a pink and red mess. My body was cracked and bleeding lightly around all my joints, and my hands were cracked to the point where just flexing my fingers caused small drops of blood to appear on the backs. I dropped my shirt, and hissed again when it hit my skin. What had happened? Was this because of the soup? I pulled my shirt off, and slid my shorts off too to have as little fabric touching me as possible, leaving me in my sports bra and panties. I stood as well as I could on the soft bed, and held my limbs away from my body. I was still on fire, and tears escaped my eyes as I tried to think of what could have happened. I felt so, so thirsty, and I could barely swallow.
"M-aa- riss-aa" I called out, but with the water running in the bathroom, my voice was far too small to hear. I looked around for anything that could help my cracked and bleeding skin, and saw the patch of drool from where Marissa's head had been laying and for a brief second, I considered it, but I knew even with this pain, slathering myself in someone's sleep drool was just too much.
On Marissa's desk across the room sat her lotion, lotion I knew was safe for me because she handled me with lotion-y fingers constantly, if I could just get there... I started across the bed, I didn't know what I'd do once I got to the couch, or how I'd get down to the floor and up to the desk, but I needed to try, my whole body felt like I'd been massaged with a cheese grater.
I instantly tripped, and fell into a heap, the pain splashing through me and I shrieked. I lay still for a while, letting my body stop throbbing, then I stood up, and stumbled into a plush bunny that Marissa had set on the bed. The micro-fiber material clung to my ragged and split skin, and I moaned in pain, pushing it away and standing in one place. I couldn't do it, it hurt too bad, I couldn't-
The door swung open, and Marissa stepped out of the bathroom wearing a robe, her hair wrapped up in a towel and a toothbrush in her mouth.
"Hey, le's ge' you into yo'r hou'e so y' can-" She saw me standing on the bed, frowned and ducked her head back into the bathroom to spit.
"Amber, why are you half naked? I leave for ten minutes, and... Oh... Oh, gods, uhh, are you ok?" She rushed over to the bed and picked me up. I writhed and gasped with her touch, and I flapped my hands to get her to stop holding me.
"M-y-y-y s-s-s-ki-i-in, it-s...." I croak out.
"Oh, oh gods, you're so dry, your skin is like paper, how did this happen?" She said, panicked. "Oh, uhh, this wasn't in the class, uhh, here, let's just..."
She rushed me over to my house and opened it up, pushing me into the bathroom. "Get in the shower, I'll try and look on my computer about this, it's gonna be ok."
I stumbled to the shower, turning it on to the mist and stepping inside. The cool spray hit my skin and burned and soothed at the same time, and I rubbed my body with my hands, opening my mouth to swallow some of the liquid. Once the spray had stopped feeling better and had started to feel irritating, I stepped out, and put my undergarments in the dryer, letting them tumble for a minute or two to dry before carefully putting them back on. I considered getting dressed, but my skin was still burning, and I really hoped Marissa would give me some of her lotion, and clothes would just get in the way...
I opened the bathroom door, and stepped out to a grim looking Marissa looking in. She reached out to me, and I flinched away, and she stopped shy.
"Amber..." She said. "I need to pick you up to help you, I promise I'll be careful."
I took a breath, and stepped towards her. I didn't expect her to be mean right now, she seemed too worried about me for that, but I knew it'd hurt anyway. She gently picked me up and let me stand on her palm, my hands on her fingers, and she carried me to her computer desk, her other hand hovering over me, ready to grab at any moment. I stepped off her hand, and onto the desk, and looked up at the bottle of moisturizer next to her monitor. I pointed at it.
"Could I ple-e-ease ha-a-a-ve some of tha-a-at?" I said, my throat still creaking with the effort.
She nodded, and pumped some out onto her fingers. She brought her finger close to me, the lotion in a drop on her fingertip.
"Would you like me to put in on you? Or can you?" She asked. I thought about it. I couldn't reach my back, but my back wasn't as bad. I should be ok.
"I-i-i'll do it." I said, taking it into my hand. I rubbed it in and gasped in relief as the cracks and splits were filled, and I relaxed as I spread it over every inch of myself.
"So... I figured out what happened..." Marissa said quietly. I looked up, waiting on her to continue. "I... I didn't realize that 'ethanol' was the same as vodka. That's one of the chemicals I was supposed to keep you away from. When you spilled it on yourself, it stripped the oils from your skin and evaporated the liquids. It took a while, but it dehydrated you and stopped you from retaining water."
I looked down at my body and thought of all the alcohol I'd splashed onto myself while filling shots. I'd been getting splashed every few minutes just as I'd started to dry for the whole game. I looked back up at Marissa.
"It's o-o-ok, I- I sho-o-ould have mentioned when it sta-a-a-arted burning..."
She frowned. "Yeah, no shit. Still. I should have known better, I should have looked into if it was safe."
She wasn't saying she was sorry, but she was still apologizing in her own way. I finished rubbing in the lotion and waved my arms to dry them. Hopefully I'd go back to normal soon. Even with the lotion, my body still hurt, and there were still little dots of blood on the backs of my hands.
"I'm going to finish my morning routine and get dressed." Marissa said, turning away. "After that, I'll give you more lotion, and we'll head out."
I frowned. I did not feel up to going anywhere today, was she really going to make me leave the house like this?
"Where a-a-a-re we go-o-o-ing?" I asked, trying to plan a way to stay home and soak in lotion instead.
She glanced over her shoulder at me. "Well, obviously we need to get you taken care of, duh. We're going to the vet."
~~~