When Jess looked down at her hand, she saw a carefully engineered tool of ball-jointed fingers. When she looked at herself naked in the mirror, she saw her parts separated by its seams, her flexible silicone skin on her face and hard plastic everywhere else. 

But lately, when she stared at her hand, she sometimes saw flesh instead. It was starting to freak her out.

She didn't want to worry Katie with that. She was so nice and patient with her lately.

It was the first time they went out together. Katie had spent hours dressing her up, doing her polyester hair, explaining how she was supposed to behave. 

So Jess sat besides her on the limo, smiling wide, hands on her lap. The driver glanced back at her four times. But with Katie's hand on her knee she felt safe enough. The girl was looking out the window, silent. She'd instructed her not to make herself look small. Jess didn't understand why her owner would want a doll as tall as her. 

When the limo stopped Katie looked back to her with a proud smile. She held her hand, plastic meeting flesh, as they joined the gala. 

Jess knew Katie had money, of course. She didn't know how, she never saw her work, but it wasn't her place to question her owner. It still surprised her, internally, how deferential most people were to her. Her arm on hers, Katie showed her off and she did her best to play her part. 

"This can't possibly be little Katerine," an old man said, coming to greet her owner with a hug. "Oh, so nice of you to come down to see your lessers!"

"Ugh, don't start again with that," Katie responded slightly, dragging Jess forward. "Oliver, this is my girlfriend, Jess."

The old man looked at her. "Oh! Is it- Oh." He frowned for a second. Jess had a plastered smile and she felt like she was standing unnaturally- it was so hard to play human and he obviously noticed. "I didn't know you- well- I don't have anything against it, of course."

"Of course," Katie laughed. 

"No, no, I'm serious," Oliver raised his hands. "I have a lesbian friend, she's married, lovely couple," He looked back. "Please excuse Katerine, I need uhm, well- It was great meeting you... Jess?"

He pointed at her, then turned and walked away to greet someone else, and Katie dragged her forward. "Don't mind him, you're doing great." 

"Yep," Jess said even though she had little idea of what was going on. 

"Can you get me a drink? You remember how, right?"

"Yes- I- I'm just nervous but yeah, I can."

"Grab one for you too. So we fix those nerves of yours," Katie patted her hand and if she wasn't a doll Jess would've blushed. 

"Yep."

Getting the drinks wasn't so hard after all. She'd run through it in her head thousands of times for no reason. It was an open bar, she just asked for them. She didn't understand why the bartender smiled politely at her, but she forgot about it as she tried to find Katie.

She saw her sitting at a table, arms crossed, ignoring some guy that sat next to her and talked leaning closer to her. 

Jess knew what she was supposed to do. She hurried to the table and after leaving the drinks she sat next to Katie draped an arm around her shoulders.

"Excuse me," she forced another smile. "Leave my girlfriend alone, would you?"

Katie covered her mouth, snickering, perhaps amused by her delivery. The man- he barely registered to her- just lingered for a second and muttered a dejected "whatever" before leaving. 

"That was good," Katie lied to her, patting her knee. Jess just pouted. "It was! I told you, you were nervous for no reason."

"I still am," she argued. 

"Drink, doll," Katie laughed and Jess grabbed her glass. 

She downed the entire thing at once. It was Katie's usual drink, but all of them tasted like water to her. Katie took little sips of hers and scanned the crowd, her smile gone. 

"Look. This is why I don't like people," she sighed. Jess looked around. She was entirely unfamiliar with everything and everyone there. 

"... What's wrong?" She asked.

"Hm? Nothing, I just wish we could go home already."

Jess nodded. "Yeah, me too," she stopped herself from asking why they were even there. "... What can I do?"

"Just keep holding me and relax."

Jess tried her best. Two girls came to their table later, greeting Katie as if they knew each other: she patted her knee to signal her not to intervene. She introduced her as her girlfriend to them. 

Jess barely spoke. The girls were most interested in talking to Katie. They were reminiscing about college? It sounded personal, so Jess tuned it out. 

The crowd around them settled and a man in a white suit had taken the stage. He greeted some people and started a rehearsed speech- Jess didn't understand the first few sentences, and then Katie whispered in her ear:

"Don't listen to him."

So she had to tune him out too. Instead she looked around, observing people's reactions. 

Later the man had left the stage. Katie stood up next to her.

"Can I leave you alone again for a minute?" She asked. 

"Y-yea, yeah, sure."

"Are you sure? Can you handle it?"

"Yep," she nodded again. Katie hummed.

"Stay right here, okay? Behave."

"Right," she said but Katie had turned around and continued talking to the girls- Jess couldn't hear it. One of them waved at her and she waved back as the three walked away. 

She put her hands on the table and she felt relief seeing her ball joints. She could turn and twist her fingers unlike any human could, so she did. She twisted her entire wrist almost three hundred sixty degrees. A man sat next to her. 

She was supposed to be acting human, but she froze instead with her hand twisted in that unnatural angle. 

It was Oliver. He seemed to have spent his time drinking. 

"Now, I think I need to apologize," he was saying, slurring his speech, leaning closer to her. "I'm really not like, homophobic or- I mean, I love lesbians or bisexuals or whatever you two are, I don't really care about the details, really-" 

She glanced down at her twisted hand, then back at him. 

"I was just surprised because, you know Katie, she's," he moved his hands non-sensically. "You know how she is- well maybe you don't, her dad and I go way back, y'know? He was my first investor, uhm- what was I saying?"

"You're not homophobic?" she tried to help, glancing between him and her hands. 

"I'm not, but Katie never dated a girl before! Never dated anyone as far as I know- we thought she'd never- how did you two meet?"

She knew what to say to that. "We met at a coffee shop. We were reading the same book. I sat next to her," it sounded a little too rehearsed. 

"Ah, I see," he nodded but she got the feeling he wasn't paying attention. "Well I guess I'm glad she met someone. Her dad would too, but- does he know?"

"I- I don't know."

He hummed again. She glanced at her hand again. Slowly he followed her gaze down to the table and stared. 

"So, you don't think she's upset with me?" He asked. Jess couldn't speak for a few moments. 

"I don't think she is," she answered. Oliver nodded, relieved. 

"Well, thank you. Oh, and lighten up, bar's open," he patted her shoulder and stood up. 

Panicking, Jess grabbed her wrist and fixed her hand. 

Katie told her to stay there. Instead she stood up suddenly and headed to the bar. 

She didn't want to look down at herself anymore. She waited quietly until the bartender got to her. 

"What can I get you?"

She didn't have an instruction now. "Can I- can I have the most alcohol- uh, drink?"

He laughed. "I'll figure something out for you."

"... Can I have two? Or three?"

"Sure thing," he turned. "Nervous?"

"No." 

Agitated, she put her hand on the bar and, hesitating, managed to look at it, to its perfectly designed plastic shape.

She was just a doll, she could see it, she was just Katie's doll, there was nothing to be scared about. 

The bartender was a young man, somewhat handsome, he kept looking at her. She wasn't supposed to talk to strangers.

"Can you see my hand?" she somehow dared to ask as he placed the first two glasses in front of her. He glanced down, then looked around.

"Hey, listen, I'm working. For the next two hours, at least," he laughed, awkwardly.

"But can you see it?" She insisted. He glanced back at it. 

"I sure can. I'll be done in two hours," he said as he placed the third drink and went to a man that had been impatiently calling for him. 

Jess stared at the drinks, at her hand. She drank all of them one by one. It tasted like nothing. 

She thought of asking around, but she was supposed to behave. Her hand gripped the glass thanks to her internal string system and nothing else, nothing else. She wasn't moving her own body, she was just controlling her own strings only while Katie allowed her to. She knew that. She knew that, but she kept staring at her hand and at the glass. 

She also thought of running away. She'd misbehaved, after all. When she heard Katie's voice behind her, she knew it was too late. 

"Jess?" She heard her call. "What the hell? I've been looking everywhere for you."

She touched her shoulder but she didn't turn around. For a second her hands weren't ball-jointed anymore. She only had a couple seconds to really make sure. 

Holding the glass tight, she raised it above her head and smashed it against her other hand and the bar. 

Everything stopped for a moment. A woman screamed next to her, the bartender turned in shock, and Katie was quickly at her side. 

Jess stared at the smashed plastic on her hand and fingers, at the shards of glass stuck on the mess and her joints, and the glimpse she got of white string beneath. Then Katie pressed a napkin against her hand and grabbed her wrist to raise it and fully envelop it. 

"Jess," she heard her say. "Look at me."

She glanced up from her hand. 

"What do you think you're doing?"

"... Sorry."

"Let's go." 

Holding her by the wrist and her smashed hand, Katie dragged away. There were a lot of eyes on them. Someone asked if she was okay. 

Someone mentioned blood. 

Katie took her to the bathroom. She kicked open a stall and pushed her inside, making her sit on the toilet. While holding her hand, she took off her bag and threw it on Jess' lap, then rummaged for duct tape and a screwdriver. 

"Start explaining, doll," she urged. Jess stared at the napkin as Katie gave it a couple rounds of tape. 

"I don't know," she said. 

"Yeah? You made a scene for no reason?" Katie sighed, shaking her head, focused on her hand. 

"I don't..." she repeated, looking up at her owner. "What am I?"

"... What?"

"Am I really a doll?" she asked, scared and hopeful. Katie looked at her.

"This again?" She deadpanned, upset. "Really?"

"Again?" If she could, she'd cry. "Katie I don't know what's going on, please, please tell me."

"Okay, okay," Katie closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and raised a hand to pet her fake polyester hair. "It's okay, I'll fix this. I'll fix you up, okay? Don't worry about it. Now stay still."

She fixed her hair, parting it aside to reveal the spot above her forehead, while holding the screwdriver with her other hand. 

"No, no, wait," Jess flinched, staring at the tip of the screwdriver poised in front of her face. "I don't want to, please."

"It'll be fine. We'll go home."

"Please tell me what I am," she begged, one last time. 

Katie stared for a few moments and then forced a soft smile. 

"You're my precious little doll, aren't you?" She said. Jess shook her head and her smile disappeared. "Yes, you are. We'll talk about it later. I need to reset you again."

"Wait-"

She was just a doll, so she didn't feel any pain when Katie drove the screwdriver deep into the hole on her head.