I smiled, grabbed a towel, and laid it down on my bed. I lay down on the towel, face down, and tried to relax. I almost laughed when she grabbed the other pillows on my bed, and put one on my butt, and the other two on the sides of my legs, to hide my nakedness. She never allowed me to get away with anything. I thought I had tricked her until she came back with the pillows. She straddled me, though it must have been difficult with all those pillows. She started kneading into my shoulders, slowly at first, and then a little faster and harder. She definitely knew what she was doing. I could feel the tension leaving my body almost instantly. When she got to my lower back where the injury was, she was gentle, making sure that she didn't hurt me, but she applied enough pressure that I thought I just might have a great night’s sleep.
“It feels amazing, Natalie. How long have you been doing this?”
“Geez, I don't know. Maybe since I was 15. Not too long, but long enough to learn good technique. My mom is very good, though?one of the best in the city. She's practically a miracle worker when it comes to removing pain from the body.”
“She must love it, then. I'm sure glad she taught you how to massage, because this is fantastic.”
“Thank you.”
She worked on my back for 45 minutes. I couldn't believe her hands didn't get sore. She kneaded and rubbed and stretched my muscles. She would rub my muscles, and then she would slowly just touch my back gently. I wasn't sure what I enjoyed more, the soft touching, or the hard rubbing. I felt like melted butter when she was all done with me.
“There ya go. All done here. You should be feeling much better now.”
“God, Natalie, I feel amazing. Thank you; that really helped.”
“I'm glad. I think it was just a tight muscle, no real injury. You probably won't have a lot of pain. Just the soreness now from the healing.”
“Maybe you are a miracle worker, too.”
“Ha ha, that's sweet.”
She got up and slid off the bed. I pushed the pillows off, and I began to get off the bed as well.
“Stop!” she yelled. I stopped immediately, as she took me completely off guard, and I wasn't sure what to expect, or why she was telling me to stop.
“I gotta go. But you can meet me at my place Thursday night at 6:00 p.m., and we'll go to that wine tasting, okay?”
That was all she said to me before she left. All I heard was the bedroom door open and close, and then nothing. It was like she just disappeared as I lay in my bed, confused as all hell. Was I losing my touch or what? I couldn't believe she hadn't been tempted to sleep with me again after I displayed my supreme nakedness for her. I rolled over in my bed and stared at the ceiling, beyond perplexed. I wasn't sure what I was going to do with this girl?she was continuously throwing me for a loop. What exactly did she want?
I started to sit up as Kyle burst through the door, scaring the shit out of me. I grabbed a pillow and covered myself up with it.
“What the hell are you doing, Kyle? What do you want? I think you really need to start knocking before you storm into my room.”
Kyle laughed. “Naw, man, I just wanted to see what it looked like to see a man who was just turned down.”
I threw a pillow at him as he ran out the door, laughing. I was going to kill him.
Chapter Thirteen
Natalie
I found it hard to try to define what part Jet played in my life. My friends were starting to think that there was something going on with him, but the truth that I told them was that he was just a friend. Certainly he was a friend with whom I had experienced a one-night stand, but that was about as intimate as we had gotten in all that time. Brenda showed up at my apartment, looking fierce, and the boys would be meeting us there as well. I would message Jet when I was almost ready to go, and he would head over.
The only way I could describe my relationship with Jet at that time was that we needed each other. Maybe me more than him, but somehow, in some fucked-up way, we fit into each other’s lives like two puzzle pieces. I needed him so I could excel in school, and to avoid being raped, and he needed me to provide him healing and pleasure, though I refused to offer him the type of pleasure he was really seeking out. I was really beginning to like Jet, and to enjoy spending time with him, but I didn't want it to go beyond a friendship, because I didn't trust him. He scared me in ways I couldn't quite put into words.
Brenda was already cracking into the booze to try to quell her nervousness.
“You better take it easy, or you are going to be hammered before we even get there.”
She laughed. “Yeah, right. You better start getting ready, or we'll never get there.”
“Yeah, yeah,” I said as I headed into the bathroom. I plugged in the curling iron, and set it away from the sink. I looked at myself in the mirror, and tried to see what Jet saw when he looked at me. I was no doubt an attractive female, but stunning? Was I?
I took a brush to my red locks, and brushed through them nicely. I needed to have a good, soft base before I took a curling iron and hairspray to my hair. I applied some foundation to even out my skin tone, and then I looked through my makeup bag to find some blush. I usually liked to use a blush that had a peach base to it, and I only had one. I couldn't find it, so I kept digging around in my bag until I found it. Of course, it was right in the bottom of the bag. I pulled it out and opened it up. I stuck my finger in the jar, and then rubbed it across my cheek. I rubbed in the blush and then applied it to the other cheek. I put on some new eyeshadow that I had purchased that day. I added some eyeliner and mascara. I assessed myself, and came to the conclusion that I looked like a pretty nice package, all dolled up. My curling iron was hot and ready to go, so I begin taking strands of hair and curling them.
Brenda peeked her head into the bathroom where I was getting ready. “What on earth is taking you s
o long?”