Chapter 11 Genevieve
Genevieve
This was an interesting day. I learned how to snowboard, spent more time with Aspen, had one of the best burgers of my life, and busted my lip. Overall, it was a pretty successful morning, minus the bleeding.
I text Lana when I get back in my car, but she doesn’t answer, so I assumed that means she’s at the spa getting another facial.
Like she didn’t get enough facials last night.
I check her location to verify and she is indeed there.
Her and I have our locations for each other since we’re roommates.
It’s kind of like we are each other's parents when we need to be. Making sure neither of us are ever kidnapped or getting into trouble. Well, mainly myself. Lana wouldn’t know where to find trouble if it slapped her across the face.
When I arrive at the spa, I head straight to the front desk where the same receptionist from yesterday is finishing up a phone call. She hangs up the phone and greets me.
“Hi! I just need to tell my friend, Lana, that I’m here. I’m her ride,” I explain to the receptionist with short blonde hair.
“Of course! She should be done with her massage and relaxing in the meditation room,” she says.
“Thank you!” I turn towards the direction of the meditation room and heave open the heavy door. The room is dimly lit and has relaxing music playing. There are a few women reading books and others, just relaxing their eyes.
I spot Lana in a corner wearing a robe, cucumbers covering her lids.
“Lana!” I whisper loudly while walking in her direction.
She doesn’t budge, but asks, “What?”
I take a cucumber off of her eye and take a bite out of it. She peeks at me with her one available eye.
“Enjoying the spa?”
“Yes! Thank you. It’s exactly what I needed after last night,” she says, not elaborating any more than that.
My eyes widen. “Elana Martin!” I say her full name while slapping her arm playfully. I only use her full name when she’s in trouble or has done something crazy, which is never. So this is my first time using her full name. “What did you do?” I ask, dying for details.
She smiles. “What didn’t I do? I thought I was an acrobat last night or something. I bent in all sorts of ways,” she says.
“With who?!” I ask, desperate to know.
“...Derek…” She says closing her eyes tight, causing the other cucumber to fall off her face.
“AHHH! I knew it!”
Many of the women start shushing us.
“Shit, my bad. Let’s get out of here,” I laugh.
We quietly leave the meditation room and go to the locker room.
“Let’s go in the steam room, I need a good steam,” I tell Lana.
I begin to remove my coat when I say, “Now spill!”
Lana smiles a smile I haven’t seen in a long time. “There’s nothing to spill, we just hooked up. That’s all.”
“ Lana .”
“Okay, it was the best sex of my life!” She spits out.
I throw my shirt at her, “I knew it! You were practically smiling in your sleep!”
She blushes. “Yeah well, I hadn’t had sex in a while. Not since Evan and that wasn’t even that good.”
We both just laugh. Evan was Lana’s first and last boyfriend. She hasn’t dated around much; she’s more of a relationship type. But Evan cheated on her, so I kept telling her she needs to let out all that pent up energy and animosity towards him. I’m glad she finally listened.
By now, I’ve stripped completely naked and wrapped my body in a fresh towel. I take my already ponytailed hair and pull a piece of the elastic out to loop my hair into a bun as we both head into the steam room to finish our girl talk.
The second I open the door, I am greeted by an immense amount of steam. It’s almost impossible to see in here! I take a seat on the damp tiled bench in the small space and let the steam do its thing.
“Don’t think I forgot about you miss, I can’t stop thinking about this guy, then actually gets so lucky to find him again. What happened between you two?”
“Well, if you must know, he and I also hooked up and it was amazing. His tongue should win an award, seriously,” I say, laughing. “But no, it was amazing, I don’t know how to describe it. We had some sort of connection that I’ve never had with anyone before in my life.”
“Is Genevieve Brown lost for words over a guy?”
“ No? ” I say making the word sound more like a question than an answer.
“I don’t know, I think you’re finally falling for someone.”
“Am not!” I say, unsure of myself.
“Are to!”
“How can I? I’ve only known the guy for three days. I just found out what his name was yesterday!”
“True, but there is such a thing as love at first sight and you literally fell into his arms like a fricken Hallmark movie. Maybe it was meant to be,” Lana says.
“You and your Hallmark movies. That stuff doesn’t happen in real life,”
I can’t see her too well with all the steam, but I can imagine she just rolled her eyes at me. Lana won’t hear anyone talk shit about her precious Hallmark movies.
“They do, otherwise they wouldn’t be made into movies, but all I’m saying is you seem different. Don’t be too hard on him. Give him a chance. He might prove you wrong,” she says.
“Thanks, Babe,” I say.
“But on a real note how big was his di–”
Then out of nowhere, someone coughs and gets up to exit the room, catching Lana and I totally off guard.
“Did you know that person was there?” Lana asks.
“Nope. You?”
“Nope.”
We both burst out into laughter.
When our laughter dies I ask into the abyss, “Anyone else in here?”
The room stays silent, only the sounds of the soft relaxing music play from the speakers until…
“Hi,” comes out of thin air.
I try to make out where the sound came from, but I can’t.
“Hi?” I reply.
“My name’s Lisa, I’m fifty five and I don’t mind. Please, don’t let me stop your discussion. It was getting juicy, that other lady just had to ruin it by clearing her throat,” she says in a charming southern accent.
I snort. I don’t think I’ve ever snorted in my life.
“Seriously? We don’t want to be rude,” I say.
“Rude? Darlin’ if only these mountains could talk! The stories I’ve heard up here are unlike any other. There really is something magical about the mountain air.”
“I guess there is,” Lana chimes in.
“Please, go on. Pretend like I’m not even here,” Lisa says.
So I do.
“He’s coming over tonight and I told him to bring a friend,” I say to Lana and Lisa.
“Derek I hope,” Lana says, and if I could see her, I would guess her cheeks are red and not from the steam.
“Yeah, I made sure he knew,” I assure her.
Lana giggles. “Good, because I’m gonna need a repeat of last night.”
“Ooh, what happened last night?” Lisa asks Lana.
“I think what you mean to ask is ‘what didn’t happen last night?”’
“Wow, that good huh?”
“Like you wouldn’t believe,” Lana says.
“Ugh, I’m so jealous of you girls!” Lisa says.
Lana laughs and I laugh too because it’s nice to see Lana so happy and outside of her comfort zone.
I’m glad she’s here and enjoying herself, rather than feeling guilty about me paying for everything.
All I want is to enjoy life with her. She’s one of the few people who have seen through my front and shown me kindness.
“Okay, I think I’ve reached my limit in this heat, let’s go cold plunge and then head back to the cabin,” I tell Lana.
“Sounds good,” Lana says.
“By the way, his dick is huge,” I tell Lisa and Lana and we all dissolve out into a puddle of laughter.
***
The steam still clings to my skin as we step out of the steam room, the heat fading from our bodies, leaving us with a quiet content warmth. The dim lights of the spa flicker gently off the polished stone floors and soft, earthy aromas of eucalyptus and lavender linger in the air.
We walk towards the ice plunge pools- the sight of the ice baths sends a shiver down my spine—crystal-clear water filled with jagged ice, a brutal yet invigorating challenge.
The cold is almost enough to make me hesitate but the heat of the sauna still lingers in my bones, daring me to dive in, to feel the shock of the icy embrace and the rush of adrenaline that follows.
Outside the window, the mountain’s silhouette is barely visible through the thick, tinted glass, framed by the serene backdrop of snow-covered pines and the early evening sky that’s just beginning to darken. I better do this now before I back out.
On the count of three Lana and I step into the freezing water, a gasp escaping our lips as the chill bites into our legs and every inch of our bodies from the neck down.
It’s uncomfortable, sharp, but invigorating in a way nothing else can compare to.
There are so many health benefits to doing this and I am always up for anything regarding self care.
As the cold slowly creeps over me, I feel it—my pulse slowing, my mind sharpening, everything else fading into the background except for the ice that cuts through the warmth I’ve just left behind. We have to do this for two minutes.
I continue to breathe.
Lana turns to me and says, “This is freezing.”
“No shit, we knew this going in,” I tell her, still trying to control my breathing.
“Yeah, but I didn’t think it would be this cold,” she says.
“You’re hilarious. Just pretend you’re in Cabo.”
“I’ve never been to Cabo.”
“Ooo, next girls trip!”
The two minutes feel like an eternity, but finally, the timer goes off.
We scramble out of the ice baths, grabbing our towels with shaky hands and wiping off the frost from our skin.
The cold bites at us, but the rush of adrenaline from the plunge lingers, giving us an unexpected sense of power.
It’s the kind of invigorating discomfort that makes you feel like you can take on anything.
I pull my towel tighter around my shoulders still trembling from the ice, but there’s this glow inside me that comes from pushing through it. It’s like I’ve reset my body and I feel stronger for it.
With that last step of self-care behind us, Lana and I head back to the locker room, our footsteps echoing in the quiet hall.
We’re ready to change, head back to the cabin, and prepare for the night ahead.
The boys will be here soon and I can’t help but feel a flutter of excitement deep in my chest.
I can’t wait to see Aspen... but a part of me wonders if we’re both walking into something we shouldn’t. What if we fall, only to realize our lives don’t align? We live in two different states— that’s a lot to take in.
I push those thoughts aside as I get ready. Who am I to talk about falling in love? He’s just a hookup, after all
A weekend. A silly little hookup.
Nothing I haven’t done before.