Things They Don't See

Annie and I enter Lilac, the spa we are going to be pampered at today. My dad gave her the money to get us Ultra package, the most expensive and best package at the spa. It includes hot stone massages, facials with gold in them, lilac body wraps, manicures, pedicures, and a final massage of our choice. Drinks are included, too. Annie said that they throw in surprises, too, sometimes. I ask her if she’s been here before, and she tells me she’s had meetings around her before and treated herself to a massage after stressful meetings. “This is the best place around here to get the full package,” she praised Lilac, “They do it the right way.” Well, I guess if she’s praising it this much, I might as well try.

I think back to last night with Eli. I forgot to ask him about the photographs of his sisters, but I felt so close to him. I know we were just lying together, but it’s the first time I’ve felt so emotionally close to a guy since Sammy dumped me. Eli isn’t just any guy either. He’s a gentleman, and he cares. He’s such a sweetheart. He didn’t try to make any moves on me. He just held me until I fell asleep. I don’t know where he went after that, but when I woke up, his clothes were gone and my sweatshirt and bra were nicely folded on my dresser. He must have blushed when he touched my pink lace bra. Has he ever seen a bra? They wore corsets back then, right?

“Abby, it’s our turn!” Annie joyfully says to me. Her and I follow a woman with honey-colored hair down a lilac-colored hallway. “Here’s the dressing room,” she points to a baby blue room with cloth hanging from the ceiling to undress behind. The cloth has fabric bluebell flowers attached to them. “I’ll allow you two to undress,” she turns around to pick up two lilac purple robes and hands them to us, “and put on these. I’ll be back in about five minutes. Namaste.” She bows to us with her hands pressed together and leaves. Annie and I enter the room and take our shoes off as the sign instructs us to do. I go behind one of the undressing areas, while Annie goes behind another.

As I’m dressing down, I think of Eli- what he would do if he saw me undressing like this. Oh god, what am I doing? I like Eli, but I don’t…I can’t…I don’t know. I sigh and knock the thoughts out of my head. “Are you ready ladies?” I hear the calming voice of woman with honey-colored hair and pale skin. “Yes,” we both say, while coming out from behind the cloths. “Okay, I’m taking you to the stone room for your hot stone massage,” she tranquilly speaks. Annie and I follow her to a room that is really made of stone. The stones aren’t bright, but they aren’t dark either. They’re…relaxing. When the woman leaves, we take off our robes. We’re only dressed in our skivvies. I cover my breasts before I get under the cool sheets on the massage board. Annie follows suit on her massage board. Our spa day begins.

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It’s time for our final massage. I chose a Balinese massage with a little aromatherapy included. Annie is in a different room because she chose acupressure. My fingernails are painted a light pink while my toes are painted white with light pink polka dots. I feel so amazing the facial and body wrap left me feeling so clean and smooth and relaxed. My massage therapist enters the room, “Hi, I’m Amina. I’ll be giving you your final massage of the day. Have you enjoyed the Ultra package here at Lilac?” I murmur an affirmative answer. She chuckles a little, “Most people answer just like that when they have the Ultra package.”

When the massage starts, I begin to drift off into a light sleep. Every smell and motion makes me relax into the massage bed more and more. I let out a pleasured sigh when she gets out a knot in my back. I’m in a light sleep when she asks me to roll over, so she can massage the other side. I can hear the relaxing chakra balancing music in the background. It makes me even more tranquil than I was before. The massage therapist starts using hot stones and warm cloths to massage my body with. I should do this more often, I think to myself, while drifting off to dreamland. I feel like I’m sleeping on a cloud.

When she’s done, she tells me to lay there until I’m ready to get up and put on a new robe that I can take home with me. I lay there for what seems to be thirty minutes before I sit up. I reach for the robe and wrap it around me. I open the door and head to the dressing room to change into my clothes. As I’m slipping my bra on, I hear Annie come in to the room. “How do you feel?” I ask her in my calmest voice. She musters, “Amazing. Thank god we have a cab driving us back. I’m too relaxed to even think of driving.” I laugh a little bit.

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We get back to the Inn around four o’clock, just in time for an early dinner. We walk in to the dining room and look at the menu for tonight. Spaghetti with bison meat sauce is on the menu. I definitely want that. I love the taste of bison. I’ve never seen it used in a meat sauce though, so I’m going to try it. We order everything to-go. We make our way up to our room to wait for it. I go into my bedroom and fall onto the bed. It smells like roses…and Eli. He was here. I smile to myself. I hear a knock on our door and see that our dinner has arrived. Well, I’ll just have to talk to Eli whenever he comes to me.