Massage Misconceptions

A Roll To Save short story

By Giancarlo Danubio

Angela rushed back home to her apartment, quickly closing the door behind her,
panting. She practically ran all the way from her car, back into her apartment. She could
not believe that she did something like that! Sleeping with a client? On duty?? Surely
that was against the law or at the very least company policy. She groaned and rubbed
her temples. What if someone noticed, or saw? She may not be a currently practicing
massage therapist but if anyone found it, it would make things a little awkward for her
when trying to find a job when she did get her license.

She made her way over to the living room, getting in front of a comfy looking couch and
just collapsing onto it back first. She never ran into anything like this before. That
woman, Irene, she was just… she couldn’t fully wrap her mind around it. After the
dozens of clients she had worked with at the spa, what made that woman, whom she
only met today so different? She stared up at the ceiling, the anxious look slowly fading
away as a small smile found its way to her lips. She’s unsure of the answer but… as
odd as the circumstances were, she was still happy things happened the way they did.
That still leaves the all-important question; what now?

Angela ran her fingers through her hair and let out a long sigh. Even if nobody found out
about what had happened, she still felt a bit awkward about the whole thing. She was
happy that Maybe this was some sort of sign? Her thoughts were interrupted by a
compressed jingle of ‘Flight of the Valkyries’, the ringtone to her cell phone. She took
the phone out of her pocket to see that it was in fact Irene. Angela’s heart skipped a bit
briefly before hugging the phone instinctively. She could feel a blush spread across her
face as she contemplated this for a moment. She tried her best to shake it off and
answered the phone.

“I-Irene! I didn’t expect to hear from you so soon!” Angela said in genuine surprise. She
could hear the older woman giggle from the other end.

“And I didn’t expect to call you so soon either… but oh, my dear… I found that I missed
you dearly. I’m so sorry, I hope this isn’t too strange…” Irene murmured, as she tried to
explain. She felt like she was young again, calling her crush every five minutes to make
sure she didn’t dream up everything involving the both of them.
“No, no, that’s okay! To be honest… I’m glad you called. In fact… I was hoping we could
talk again.” Angela replied, looking up at the ceiling, taking a moment.
“I’m sorry for being so forward back at the spa. I really don’t normally do that… in fact…
now that I think about it… it could be quite problematic for me…”

“I assure you my dear, if I didn’t want your advances, I would have made that very
clear.” Irene’s voice assured her.

“I know, and I appreciate that. I’m happy with how things turned out but the fact remains
that I fraternized with a client. Even if it’s never found out, I feel pretty anxious about
what I did…” Angela bit her lower lip as her mind cycled through a river of thoughts.

“Hmm..” It was Irene’s turn to mull over a few thoughts before responding.
“Perhaps if the position has made you anxious, perhaps you should look for another
position. Did you want to attempt to work in the medical field again? Perhaps there’s
something there that may strike your fancy?”

“Yea… I mean I already have a few college credits to my name. Maybe I can start taking
classes for a specific field.” Angela replied, half to herself and half to Irene.
“You know what? Yea, that’s it! I’m going back to college and I’m going to get a degree
in… in…” Her face scrunched up a bit as she comes to a realization.
“...It would help if I knew what kind of position field I was going for…”

“Don’t you worry mi amore, we can sit down and go through the different fields and
figure out what you’d like to do! Perhaps… over some coffee? Out in a cafe or maybe in
my house… or yours…” Irene trailed off, getting increasingly bashful as she listed off
suggestions.

“Coffee, your place tomorrow maybe? I would recommend cold showers beforehand. It’s
been established that we can get pretty… intense around each other.” Angela
suggested. This prompted a giggle from Irene on the other end.

“Yes, you are very much correct. Coffee and cold showers tomorrow then. I’m free most
of the day so just let me know when you would like to come over.” Irene said, trying to
hide the unbridled excitement in her voice.

“Heh, alright. It’s a proper date then. See you tomorrow.” Angela replied with a nod.

“Hasta mañana.” Irene replied in a melodic tone.

Angela hung up the cell phone and stayed there, sitting on her couch for a moment. She
then suddenly hugging her phone for dear life, kicking her legs in the air excitedly,
letting out a sound that could only be described as a proper ‘squee’. She stood up and
quickly made her way to her room. It was a while before tomorrow would roll around but
she wanted to get a head start in choosing what to wear for her big date.