CHAPTER 24
Cameron
Cameron sat on her sofa, nervous. She still couldn’t believe she’d asked for this; she had asked Lacey, of all people, to give her and her girlfriend a massage.
What was wrong with her? She liked Lacey, and she was pretty sure that Lacey liked her, so when she had been worried about never seeing Lacey again unless she set something up that final morning, the only thing that had entered her brain had been to ask Lacey for an appointment and make her do work.
As she sat there in her living room and looked around, she wondered if saying something years ago about not liking the paint color as much as Kennedy had and maybe asking for them to pick out a different color together would have changed where they were now.
Maybe they would’ve broken up a long time ago because Kennedy wouldn’t have wanted her opinions on how to decorate their house, or maybe they’d still be in love because they would’ve compromised and both gotten a little of what they wanted.
Cameron didn’t know, and it was too late to ask about it now.
When her phone beeped, indicating that a car was at the gate that led to their short driveway, she nervously tapped on the notification and saw a car with Lacey behind the wheel.
She thought about saying something through the speaker at first, but she chose to just buzz her in instead and locked her phone.
She set it on the coffee table, stood, and straightened her shirt, which was dumb because she’d be taking it off soon anyway.
Cameron walked to her door, looked out the window beside it, and saw Lacey walking to the back of her car.
“She has a giant table. Go help her, dumbass,” she told herself and opened the door. “Hey,” she greeted.
“Oh,” Lacey said, looking a little surprised. “Hi.”
“Let me help,” she offered, hurrying out to where Lacey was tugging on a massage table.
“It’s okay. I do this all the time. I think it’s given me some real muscle definition in my arms. Besides, you’re the client, Cam.”
Cameron looked at Lacey’s arms covered in a short-sleeved polo shirt and had to agree. She had seen them bare before, when Lacey had been in her bikini, but she hadn’t exactly been paying attention to Lacey’s arms that day on the beach.
“I’m not that kind of client,” Cameron replied and held out her hands. “Table, please.”
“What do you mean, you’re not that kind of client?” Lacey asked, not giving her the table.
“Oh. I’m paying you, Lace. I didn’t mean that. Just that you know me. I’m not, like, a regular client who you don’t know.”
“Cam, if I’m here as a friend, I can leave the table in the car. If I’m here to give you a massage, I kind of need to keep it professional. This is my job, you know?”
Cameron dropped her hands and said, “Yes, I know. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to make you think… Sorry. Anyway, you can come in. Do you want help carrying anything? I’m already out here. I can at least help.”
“You can carry that bag if you really want to. It has lotions and stuff in it.”
“Got it,” she said.
She pulled the bag out of the back seat and led Lacey into the house, feeling like the worst kind of person for not carrying the clearly heavy folding table for her. Cameron liked taking care of her people, and she considered Lacey one of those people now.
“So, where’s Kennedy?” Lacey asked. “I only have one table, which I did not think 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.”
“From me, or from anyone?” Lacey asked.
“From anyone. Not today, anyway. Her agent – well, our agent – 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 about it, 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.”
“You are a real client, Cameron. Or, at least, you will be 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.”
“Does River get massages?” she asked, knowing the answer already.
“River is my girlfriend, yes, but she doesn’t get on this table for them. Besides, it’s not like we’ve done it in months. So, if you want me to hang out for an hour before I have to go, I can, but I can’t also do this.”
Lacey pointed to the table.
“Okay. Then, skip the massage.”
“So, I carried this into my car, drove it all the way here, and lugged it out of my car for nothing?”
“Do you want to give me a massage, Lacey? Because you just told me I can’t have it both ways, and I’d choose to hang out with you over a massage any day.”
“I should go,” Lacey said and lifted her lotions bag off the floor.
“What? Why?” she asked, standing up in an instant.
“Because, Cam, this is wrong. I’m not here to give you a massage. You want to hang out with me, and I want that, too, but we can’t. You… know why.”
“No, I don’t. Tell me.”
“If I leave now, I’ll get stuck in less traffic, and I’ll be able to shower this week off me before going out with River. So, I’ll go now and maybe, I don’t know, in the future, we can figure something out.”
“Figure something out?”
“Hanging out,” Lacey said and dropped the bag, probably remembering that she needed to fold up her table.
“We have to figure out how to hang out? And can I help you with that if I’m not a client now?” she asked when Lacey huffed while trying to fold up the table.
“No, Cam.”
“Lacey, come on.”
“I’m sorry. I think this was a mistake. I should’ve said no to you on Sunday when you asked me to do this.”
“Why didn’t you?”
Lacey looked around and said, “I’m in your house; the house you share with Kennedy, who is your girlfriend, and I’m going out with mine later. You know why I didn’t say no, and that’s the reason I can’t be here right now, or probably ever again.” She met Cameron’s eyes. “Light purple?”
“Ken loves it,” Cameron replied and shrugged.
“Do you?”
“No, but I don’t hate it, either. I tolerate it.”
“And that’s what we both want for our lives, I guess.”
“No, it’s not. I don’t want to just tolerate things in my life anymore. I want to be happy.”
“Maybe ask Kennedy if you can paint the walls a different color, then,” Lacey suggested. “I should go.”
“Lace, can I at least text you?”
“What would you say?”
“I’m going to figure this out, Lacey.”
“Which part? The walls?”
“No, all of it,” she answered before picking up Lacey’s bag. “I know that I need to, or that Ken and I need to figure this out, so we will. Okay?”
“If you do, you have to do it for you and not because you want to hang out with me, Cam.”
“I know that. What about you and River? Do you have anything that you need to figure out there?”
“I think me mentioning that I don’t really want to go out with my girlfriend tonight should’ve told you something.”
Cameron nodded and said, “Okay.”
“Just okay?”
“I don’t know what else to say, Lacey. We both know what we’re talking about here, but we’re not talking about it because we could be about to really hurt people we love.”
“I should go, Cam.”
“I get it. Can I at least carry this out to the car for you?”
“That’s fine. It’s easier than arguing with you about it.” Lacey chuckled.
“I don’t like arguing with you,” she replied, following Lacey out. “Did we just do that? Argue?”
“I think we had a lively conversation,” Lacey said. “Not an official argument.”
They made it outside just in time for Kennedy to pull up into the driveway.
She opened the garage door with her remote and met Cameron’s eyes.
Then, she glanced at Lacey, who stood still, frozen, like they had just been caught doing something they shouldn’t be.
Kennedy pulled the car into the garage, and Lacey turned her head to Cameron.
“What do I do?”
“Just pack up your stuff,” Cameron replied.
“Hey,” Kennedy said when she got out of the car and walked back out to meet them. “Hi, Lacey.”
“Hi, Kennedy. Good to see you again. Sorry that you couldn’t make the couple’s massage.”
“Yeah, me too.” Kennedy walked over to Cameron and stood next to her. “I thought the appointment was for now, though. Did you get done early?”
“No, Lacey had to go. Something with River.”
“Is she okay?” Kennedy asked, and Cameron saw the look in Kennedy’s eyes showing concern.
“She’s fine,” Lacey replied. “But I need to get going, so thanks for understanding.”
“No problem. Drive safe,” Cameron said.
“I will,” Lacey replied.
Then, Lacey nodded at Kennedy and climbed into her car. Once she was out of the driveway, Kennedy turned to Cameron, who started to walk back into the house.
“Cam?”
“Yeah?”
“We need to talk.”