“So, where’s Kennedy?” Lacey asked. “I only have one table, which I didnotthink about when I said I could massage you both at once, so it won’t exactly be a couple’s massage, but you can both be in the room, obviously, and I’d just need a short break to change the sheets on the table before the next person. I can turn on my relaxing music if you want, and I’ve got some essential oils that I can bring out.”
“Oh, I don’t really need any of that,” she said. “I’m not frilly like that. Is that the right word? Frilly?”
Lacey smiled at her before she began putting her table up in the living room, where Cameron had moved some stuff around to make space.
“It’s your appointment, so it’s up to you. Now, you can stay in your underwear, but you’ll need to change otherwise. If you don’t have a robe, though, there’s one in that bag I can give you. Or does Kennedy want to go first? Is she changing?”
“She’s not here,” Cameron said and bit her bottom lip.
“She’s not here? Did I get the time wrong?”
“She decided that she didn’t want a massage.”
“Fromme, or from anyone?” Lacey asked.
“From anyone. Not today, anyway. Her agent – well,ouragent – called her and asked to meet, so she’s there right now. Something about a possible directing gig in the fall. I don’t know the details. I’ll still pay you for both. She got the call when you were on the road, and I didn’t want to message you while you were driving. I should also confess that I knew that she didn’t want the massage on Wednesday, when I actually told her aboutit, but I didn’t let you know because I thought she might change her mind.”
“I see,” Lacey replied, not sounding too happy.
“I did this wrong, didn’t I?” Cameron asked.
“Did what wrong?”
“I didn’t tell you about Kennedy canceling, and I don’t want all the extra stuff you obviously brought with you to treat me like a real client.”
“Youarea real client, Cameron. Or, at least, youwillbe when I give you a massage. That’s what I’m here for, right? You wanted a massage, and you happened to know a masseuse.”
“I know a few of them. Kennedy gets one at least once a month from a place near here, and I have them about once every few months. We’ve even got them on set sometimes, depending on the movie. I could’ve asked any of them.”
“Then, why did I just spend almost two hours driving here? Why am I going to spend probably three hours driving home? I don’t get paid for drive time; you know? It’s just the massage time.”
“I’ll pay you for six hours,” Cameron said. “Whatever you want, Lacey.”
“I don’t need you to pay for my drive time. I need you to explain it.”
“You need me to explain traffic?”
“No, Cameron. Why am I here? Am I here to give you a massage? You’re the client, and I’m the masseuse. I’ve had a really long week, so I just need to know if I’m here to do my job or not. If I’m doing my job, you need to change so that we can get started and you can get the full treatment before I get stuck in traffic on the way home to make it in time for the date I don’t want to go on with my girlfriend.”
“You just said a lot of stuff there, Lacey,” she noted and walked around the massage table. “Do you want something to drink? Water, maybe?”
“No, I’m okay. Can we just get on with this, please?”
“Lacey, I wanted to see you again, okay?”
“What?”
“On Sunday, I didn’t know how to ask if I could see you again, so I came up with this clearly bad idea, asked Kennedy to do it with me, she said no, and now, I’ve made you drive all the way here, and you’re upset. I’m sorry. I thought it was something you and I could do together before I realized that it would be weird without Kennedy, so I added her in there, too, without even talking to her or asking her if she’d want this, and I have upset you because I didn’t know how to just text you to see if you wanted to hang out.”
“So, you just wanted to hang out with me but made me think you wanted a massage?”
“Yes. I mean, I could always use a massage. I’m pretty tense and have been for a while, with everything going on, so if you want to do that still, we can. I’ll pay you whatever you want, really, because I made you come all this way, but if you don’t want to, we don’t have to. We can just hang out for a while. Maybe you can miss some of the traffic.”
“Cam, I can’t hang out here and miss traffic. I haven’t seen River all week. I’m supposed to go to dinner with her.”
“Oh,” Cameron let out before she walked back around the table and ended up sitting on the sofa.
“And I don’t really massage my friends like this and get payment. I try to keep my professional and personal things separate.”
