"How have you never had a sunburn before?" Mira asked, eyebrow raised. "I've seen worse, but…"
Rumi laughed as her eyes shifted to the floor. "Celine made sure I wore sunscreen as a kid. By the time she stopped, my patterns were bad enough that it was easier to just wear long sleeves everywhere."
"Still, though, we've performed in the sun plenty of times," Zoey commented. She tapped some aloe on the burnt tip of Rumi's nose. "Boop!" There was a flash as Mira snapped a photo with a chuckle.
"Do not post that," Rumi warned, though she couldn't hold back a grin. "Besides, performing is different; my makeup has sunscreen in it. I applied earlier! But we've been at the beach all day. I forgot, it happens! It's not like Zoey didn't burn."
"Yeah, but that's normal for me." She squeezed out more aloe. The gel was cooling on the burns. Honestly, though, the best part was easily the feeling of Zoey's hand rubbing her shoulders, pressing into Rumi's muscles with her palm. It was comforting. Soothing. Rumi's patterns was more sensitive to burning, and Zoey wasn't even hesitating to touch them with her gentle hands.
And there was no voice in the back of her head screaming reminders that Rumi was lying to them both.
"Make sure it doesn't get in her hair," Mira added as she glanced up.
"Come on, she'd look adorable!" Rumi rolled her eyes, but she couldn't hide the blush sneaking onto her cheeks.