Flora lifted her iPad from the table and set it up on its stand. She opened YouTube and typed in Mack the Knife. Lots of videos came up with Mack in them. Flora’s heart started to beat faster as she subscribed to the channel.

She chose the very latest video so that she might see the inside of the new barbershop. Before she pressed play, Flora rubbed her nose and tapped her fingers on her chest. Nervous excitement could drive her OCD just as well as more negative emotions.

When the video started, she watched Mack whisper, “This is for you ASMR fans.”

She then started to wash her friend Liam’s hair over the sink. She had microphones strapped to her arms that allowed you to hear all the soapsud sounds.

Flora became mesmerized as she watched Mack dig her strong fingers into Liam’s scalp and give him a head massage while she washed his hair.

Her forearm muscles bulged as she did, and Flora imagined herself in Liam’s position. She felt a tingle spread from the back of her head down her spine. The ASMR tingle was so good. She’d felt tingles before, but not like this. These made her shiver.

Mack then rinsed and dried off her hands with a towel and led Liam back to the barber’s chair.

There, Mack gave him an open-razor shave to tidy up his slight beard, then gave him a face massage followed by a back and shoulder massage, right down to his hands, cracking every knuckle as she went.

Flora couldn’t take her eyes off the video, though she knew her dinner was cold. She kept putting herself in that chair and imagining Mack massaging and touching her like that. All of her nerve endings were sparking and tingling everywhere.

“Well, that’s settled,” Flora said to an empty kitchen. “I’m definitely gay.”

She’d always suspected as much as she didn’t show any interest in men, but then she hadn’t trusted her instincts as she hadn’t spent much time with men or gay women.

Now she was sure—not that it mattered. Flora knew she wouldn’t be able to even begin thinking about dating. She wasn’t socially capable, and she knew the panic that she would feel at the prospect of even talking to someone new, far less letting them into her life.

The one person she seemed to be comfortable with—at least she was able to talk to them—was Mack, and Mack was so out of her league. But maybe she could be a friend. Even having a friend would be a step forward for her.

Flora was transfixed with the videos and went from one to the next to the next, until loud shouts and music from above jarred her calm, relaxed feeling. The boys upstairs obviously had friends over as there were many different voices.