Page 28 of The Flirtation
“Um. Sorry, I must have the wrongpavilion.”
“You Avery, yes? Come in please, relax. My name Dao. Mister Buck say give full ninety minute relaxation massage, please take off clothes, get on table face-down under sheet. I come back oneminute.”
“Um. No thank you!” I turned to run out the door, but Bucket was suddenly standing there, blockingme.
“Hold yer horses there, chief! You need to de-stress, likebad.”
“ButI—”
“Luke and I are going to talk business over a game of golf for a couple of hours, you hang out here and we’ll circle back later, ‘kay?”
“No, Ican’t—”
“Seriously, no offense, but your vibe is all wrong for this place. I love working with you, but this is a big week for me. I need everyone to be chill, alright? Consider it your job to be more relaxed while you’re here,okay?”
This is bullshit.I cleared my throat. “All you had to do was ask, dude. Have fun, see you later.” I turned back to face the smiling masseuse. “Let’s do this.”If one more person tells me to relax today I will probably punch them in theface.
“Cool. See ya later. Bye Dao, don’t let her leave!” He vanished, and I placed my laptop on a chair, sadly.We’ll get to work later,buddy.
“You can take all clothes off or leave underwear on,okay?”
“Yeah. Okay.”Okay Dao, I will let you place your oiled hands on me, but I will not like it and I definitely will notrelax.
Ileft the bikini on,as well as multiple protective layers of tension and discomfort as I lay on the massage table with my face smushed into the face holder thing, my arms stretched out alongside my body under the sheet. Dao returned. “Ooookaaaayy!” she said in her deep sing-song voice. “This your firstmassage?”
“Well. Technically,yes.”
“No—really?”
“Yes.Really.”
“Ohhh you gonna love it! I take care of you, baby girl. You like almond or coconut oiltoday?”
“Either one isfine.”
“Okay. Coconut oil for you. You like lavender or nerolismell?”
“Yeah, I don’t know what neroliis.”
“Oh, you like neroli, we do neroli today foryou.”
“Okay.”
“You got any pain inbody?”
“Um.No?”
“You got tensionanywhere?”
“I don’t think so. I’mfine.”
“Okay let’s see here.” She ran her hands over my body, over the sheet, squeezing my muscles lightly, here and there. “Ooooh, tense!” She laughed. I heard her rub her hands together and then she placed them on my shoulders and began to massage them. “Ooooh. Too tight! Too tight! This pressure okay, toomuch?”
“It’s fine.” I was clenching my entirebody.
“Lots of knots! Okay, baby girl, I gonna fix you.” She pressed down hard on a spot on my shoulder, near my neck, and I screamed. “Oh, toohard?!”
“Ow! That reallyhurt!”
