41

Summary:

Some days you want a puzzle to solve.

Some days you want a problem to hammer down.

Some days you just want your goddamned cake.

No serious plot progression. Just girls being teenagers at a spa for a few hours.

Chapter Text

WED MAR 2

After class, I headed out the side door to the parking lots, where I met Kara, Vicky, and Amy.

"So, excited?" Vicky sidled over to ask conspiratorially. It was nice to see her in such a good mood, but I was worried it'd get old pretty fast.

"Not really?" I answered, at the same time Amy gave a flat 'no'. "New experience, which habit dictates must be bad. I'm not panicking, though." I offered the fact up like the pleasant consolation it was.

"Don't worry, we'll take care of you." Kara added. "If you don't feel comfortable with anything, just say something. No pressure."

"Alright." I quietly replied. We made the rest of the trip to Kara's car in silence, until I caught sight of the beat-up junker of a beige four-door with my own eyes. "I was expecting... something more colorful?"

She scoffed, kicking at one of the tires. "Fancy and colorful are targets. These things are everywhere."

"Fair." We got in, Amy and I in the back. "Rainbow mobile away?" I muttered.

Vicky and Kara glanced at each other, grinned, and simultaneously cheered, "Away!"

Amy and I scoffed and smirked at each other. The pair up front continued to chatter on our way downtown, while Amy and I turned to text conversations on our phones in otherwise companionable silence. We got out at a large squat building near the mall, marked with a chintzy name declaring it the spa we were here for.

"Am I allowed to have second thoughts, now?" I muttered.

"Nope." All three declared, Amy going so far as to push me toward our mutual doom from behind.

The lobby was a large, quaint space; sparsely populated waiting seating, calming pictures on the walls, plants in every corner, and pastel blue walls. "Remember, no pressure." Kara stopped us long enough to smile and say, before we continued up to the patiently smiling attendant at the desk.

"Hello, what can we help you with, today?" She asked.

"Four for Dallon." Victoria said and then hummed, turning back to us. "Sauna, massage, mani/pedi, and facials?"

The other three all eyed me, even the woman glanced my way at their reaction. I sucked in a breath and thought about it. Some sauna time actually sounded nice, a massage was... probably fine, same with face goop and a manicure. "I feel... kinda' gross about my feet."

"Well, they're not going to get us all at once. We can just assume you're a no for that, and decide then?" Kara cautiously suggested.

I nodded, and Vicky turned back with a bright smile. "Four for the Sauna, then massages and manicures. Three pedicures, and four face mask treatments."

She wrote them all down, checked some books and her computer, and smiled back. "Let me go and double-check some things, and we'll get you started." She got up and headed through the middle 'Employees' door. To the left was another marked 'Tanning' and the right, 'Spa Treatments'.

That actually had me thinking, seeing the changing rooms and the couple rooms after them, each with half a dozen tanning beds. I turned to Vicky and quietly voiced my thoughts. "Huh, kinda' surprised I've never seen pictures of you with a tan, if they've got the beds."

Vicky's smile grew brittle, her mood turning nervous and embarrassed.

"...your powers block the UV light?" I guessed out loud.

Kara motioned me closer, and leaned over to whisper. "She fell asleep in the machine."

"Startled awake." Amy added, speaking a tad louder than her normal volume. Vicky hissed out a keening whine at her shame being aired to the whole room. "Remind us, Vicky, what happens when a Brute fights delicate glass and machinery?"

Her pout was the stuff of legends. "I won?"

"You won." Her sister smugly agreed. "They were nice about it, let us off the hook for the bill in exchange for a social media blitz. Took her three months of groveling before we all swore to stop bringing it up. Lucky me, I didn't bring it up."

"Whyyy?" She quietly moaned, shooting Kara and myself betrayed looks.

"Honestly Vic, you're lucky no one had video to post for Brutes and Billboards." Kara shot back, prompting Vicky to mock-sob.

I decided to take pity on her, and tried to change the subject. "You remember the one with Alexandria? Is that still up?"

Kara burst out in a sharp cackle. "Oh, shit, I remember that! Alex and her Exit Sign Angel. No, I think they took it down. It didn't really count, anyway."

"It doesn't matter if you were thrown into it, it was funny, so it counts." I retorted, Amy nodding along.

"No it doesn't." Vicky muttered as she sulked.

The attendant came back around then, waving towards the door to our right. "Right this way, girls. Sauna room two is open, remember to shower first, and have a nice day."

"Let's go!" Kara cheered, leading us through the doorway, into the much larger women's changing room, and pulling me aside when we got there. "Okay, grab a basket, washcloth, and towel. Hang them up when you get to the booth, swap for clothes, and shower. There's lockers to put your stuff in. Grab an extra towel if you want a dry one for the sauna, but they're gonna get damp in there, anyway." I grabbed two and followed her in. "Toss 'em when you're done." She pointed at the labeled laundry bins by the exit, next to the wall of lockers just big enough to fit the bins, with about twice their height for clearance. There were benches in the middle, and a line of shower stalls on the other wall.

Vicky and Amy were already in stalls, getting naked. I followed along to my own, opening up the opaque outer door and latching the little slide-lock, then set the bin on the stool ledge, tossed the towels onto the thin hanger bar along the wall, and started putting my clothes in. I took the washcloth with me through the clear shower-door with only its weak magnetic latch, and started up the water. There were dispensers on the wall for soap, shampoo, and conditioner, so I made use of them. About ten minutes later, I was the first one out of the showers. I set my bin on the benches, tossed the wet cloths in their laundry bins, and double-checked the dry towel I'd tied around myself.

Amy was the next one out, tossing her washcloth at the near bench and missing, carrying her bin over to the lockers. I had to say, she pulled off the rain-slicked look fairly well. She caught sight of me staring, gawked for a second, and I coughed. We both turned away, blushing. She saw my bin, and cleared her throat. "Oh, here." She headed to the lockers, which had keys and red lanyards, about a fifth of which were missing. "Pick your poison." She grabbed one of the short ones, tossed in her bin, and locked it. She strapped the key's elastic around her wrist. The longer ones didn't look elastic, and must have been necklace versions. I grabbed another of the wrist versions, and we settled in to wait for the others, pointedly glancing everywhere but toward each other. My eyes fell on the cloth she'd tossed on the floor, and desperate for anything to do, I moved to grab and bin it.

She watched, gulping once and biting her lip the whole time, her emotions a flood of shame and that tightening of her chest and veins she got whenever she was frustrated with me, and a bit of sexual tension that had to be from being a lesbian in a room with naked girls. Thankfully, Kara finished her shower about then, seeing us and yelling at Vicky to hurry up. Thus prompted, she rushed a little, hopping over the benches with her flight to get to the lockers, and all of us were done. The saunas were just outside, along the hall to the rest of the various rooms. There was a clock and more plants along the far wall, and whiteboards next to the rooms. The first had 'Jenson' and a time twenty-three minutes ago. I could feel a pair of women sitting on the benches, not bothering to cover themselves with towels. Not that I could've seen anything through the small twice-fogged window on the door. The second room proudly listed 'Dallon' and had a time about nine minutes ago.

"They book them in half-hour chunks." Vicky explained. "Can always go again later, but they'll kick us out in about twenty, for safety reasons." She tapped the board, then followed Amy and Kara into the sweltering room. As the last in, I was prompted to lock the door, and watched Amy hold them up and swipe a finger across the benches.

"Oh good, they cleaned it." She muttered, plopping herself down.

"Neat freak." Her sister needled.

"You wanna sit where someone just fucked?" Amy shot back.

"Not everyone fucks everywhere." Vicky stated, rolling her eyes. Kara whistled innocently.

"Yeah, they do." Amy indicated Kara's angelic visage, as though it were damning evidence.

I coughed. "It's not that bad, is it?"

Amy snorted and smirked. "Remind me to tell you some of the horror stories about where nurses have found people, around the hospital. Patients or otherwise."

"Ooh, threaten me with a good time." Kara said in a husky voice. "Out with it, girl! Story time!"

I patted down the skirt of my towel, making sure it wouldn't bunch as I sat, while Vicky ladled water onto the heater stones. Amy rolled her eyes, but settled in to start her lurid tales of human debauchery.

---

"-three dozen eyes staring wide at him, and he sa-" She had to take a moment to breathe and laugh. "-he says, 'I s-swear officer, I ha-hahaha-had no idea this was p-Pediatrics!'" Amy couldn't hold it in any longer, and collapsed into howling laughter.

"Like that would fucking help?" I wheezed, and Amy's head jerked affirmatively.

"Hehehehe-He went away for a l-long time, though. Right?" Vicky asked from where she was still rolling on the ceiling.

"Oh hell yes." Amy spat, taking a moment to breathe and ease through the last few chuckles. "No idea what happened to the chicken, though."

We all did our best to give a mournful moment of silence, which was broken by a rapping on the window. "You ladies okay, in there?" A deep male voice called.

We all made either an 'uh' or an 'oh' noise, and checked our towels. Vicky nearly lost hers in the drop to the floor, straightening up and cinching it tight again. "We're fine! Everything's fine! How are-" She coughed, and started again. "Is our time up?"

"Think you lot might've broiled enough, yeah." He chuckled.

She unlocked and opened the door, and the relative chill of the hallway hit me like a snowbank as we filed out past a knowingly-smirking burly bouncer of a black man in scrubs.

"Johnny!" Kara squealed, flopping to drape herself in his arms and flutter her eyes up at him. "Wreck me like one of your French boys."

He snorted and shook his head. "I'm fairly certain that's against our terms of service, miss Kara."

She swatted him in one of his pecs and scoffed at him. "That wasn't what I meant, and you know it." She snapped waspishly.

They were both smirking though, and he shook his head. "Whatever you say, miss Kara." He glanced over us, and I couldn't detect any hint of a reflexive glance down at our bodies. Maybe he wasn't interested? It'd explain why Kara was so chummy with him. "You're heading to massage next, yes?" We nodded, and he returned it. "Follow me, please."

I got the feeling he was just reciting lines, and knew full well most of us knew exactly where to go. He led the way down the hall, past the restrooms, a maintenance closet, and a couple smaller rooms for less-demanded services, which looked like they were slotted into the floor plan wherever they'd fit. We turned left, into a larger room with five padded massage tables and an employee access door on the other side of the room, and the door clicked shut behind us. There was a woman in matching scrubs wiping down one of the beds. She was the thick sort that wouldn't be out of place in the Dockworkers, if it weren't for her soft features and hands, and the long braid tied into her waistband that'd be a safety concern on some jobs.

"So, Taylor." Kara turned to block my way with a kind smile. "You can sit this one out, if you want. Or we can get you a masseur, or masseuse."

I glanced around at the eyes on me, and considered it. "I think a masseuse would be fine. I'd like to try it, anyway."

Kara clapped and cheered, and 'Johnny' turned to the woman. "Could you get Steph and Mira, Connie?" She gave him a nod, and headed for the far door. "There's fresh towels under the beds if you want them, full-size and modesty. No one has to take anything off, if they don't want to." He told us, again mostly for my benefit. "Pick your tables, and we'll be back in a few minutes." He waved, and left.

"Uhhm?" I muttered, prompting Vicky and Kara to snicker, the latter lightly grasping my shoulders to lead me to the far left table and sat me down on it. Vicky pounced one of the middle ones, and Amy sat down on the one next to mine.

"Just lay down when they come back. They can work through the towel, or you can go grab your underwear, or stick one of these on to cover, like a skirt." She reached down and grabbed a hand-towel, which did look about right for a shorter skirt. "If you want them to stop, or just do your shoulders or feet or something, just say so." I nodded, and she danced around the tables to where Vicky had laid down and untied her towel, and lightly draped the one she'd grabbed over her friend's butt and upper legs. Vicky thanked her, and I deftly glanced away with a blush after my eyes had honed in on what side-boob happened to be visible.

Amy coughed and chuckled at me, and I glared at her. She stuck her tongue out and I blushed harder, flopping onto the table to bury my face in the little ring-mat, where it would hopefully be far less visible. She started giggling at my barely-audible grumbling, laying down on her front like I had, also not bothering to undo her towel.

Kara, on the far side from Vicky, didn't even bother with a modesty sheet.

There was a knock at the door, and Kara told them to come in. John- he looked it more than Johnny- led the three women into the room. He glanced over us and turned to me and Amy. "Oh, you're down already. If you're not comfortable with me in the room, I can get someone else." He thumbed back at the door.

I glanced at Amy, who shrugged. "I think we're fine." I answered.

He nodded to the first woman. "Connie?"

She headed my way. "First time?" She asked, ducking down to grab some lotion and oil from the cabinet space under the table. Similar smalltalk was spreading through the room. "Don't worry about it. I'll just start at your shoulders and you tell me when to stop, or what to skip. You want moisturizer or warming oil?"

Well, my skin was fine. I wasn't that worried about my back drying out, anyway. "The oil sounds fine." I muttered.

She spread some of it over her hands, and started working it into my shoulders. It was warm, and a little tingly. "You're very tense. Stressful week?"

I chuckled. "Stressful... everything, really." I took a few seconds to consider what all I wanted to reveal to a stranger. "My life's only started picking up in the past month or so. Feels like every time I finally fix something stressful with my life, something new pops up."

She hummed, pressing down into my shoulders and drawing a pained grunt from my throat as the knots started loosening. "That sucks, but life's like that. Just got to keep making things better for yourself, share the load, and keep moving forward. New problems aren't as bad as the old ones, right?"

Managing team things was worth it to have them, I was sure. I had to deal with more violence, but I was strong enough to not be scared of it. I snorted when I decided that, yes, I'd rather fight Lung than spend another minute around Emma. "Yeah."

"Well, there ya go." She cheerily replied, before digging her thumbs between my shoulder blades and prompting another grunt.

The noise in the room had dropped a bit, as the quiet muttering gave way to groaning and moaning. Then I spent a few minutes trying to ignore the nearly sexual noises coming from my right. "Shut up, Kara." I called, when I'd had enough.

"No!" She whined, but the noise did sharply decline.

Things proceeded apace after that, with the most surprising thing being Amy taking a moment to part away her towel to give the woman working on her better access to her back. I adamantly refused to raise my head to peek, when that happened. Connie kept working, moving down across my back through the towel, stopping at my lower back to move back up to my shoulders and down each of my arms, then doubling back to my thighs and calves, moving onto my feet when both legs were done.

"Alright, that's you done." Connie said, pulling me from the relaxed haze of near-sleep I'd fallen into. I glanced up to find the others already up and toweled, smiling or smirking at me. I pushed myself up and slid over to get off the bed, stumbling when my limbs didn't move quite as fast as I was expecting. "Whoa, tiger. Easy does it." Connie caught me before I could fall over, helping me to my feet through the brief panic and wrongness of my body misbehaving. "Your muscles are pretty loose right now. Take it slow, alright?"

I pushed down the sharp spike of hatred for doing this to me, and took a breath. I was relaxed, and that was fine. I'm not in danger, I don't need good reaction times, this is what we were here for. I let the breath out in a sigh and nodded. "I'll be okay."

She patted my shoulder and stepped back. "Good. Have fun at the circus." She sang, and turned to leave.

My thoughts ground to a halt. "What?"

Connie stopped and turned back, frowning, pondering, then shrugging. "You're off to the salon, right?" Kara and Vicky nodded behind her, so I copied them. "It's a riot of bright paints, funhouse mirrors, and unique smells. Can't stand it, personally." Something must have shown on my face, because she chuckled. "Oh, don't worry. Unless you're the sort who gets headaches from strong chemical smells like me, you'll be fine."

"No, uh... but, thanks."

She nodded. "Alright, head out and left, and it's the second to last door on the left. Have a nice day." Her part said, she continued for the employee door, and off to fetch supplies to re-clean everything from where she turned off to.

"C'mon!" Kara called, and I followed them back to the hallway.

"Soooo... someone had a good time." Vicky teased, and it took me a moment to realize it wasn't aimed my way, as she was currently elbowing a blushing Amy.

"Shut up." She spat, swatting at her sister. She grew pensive once Vicky was driven off. A few moments later, she cleared her throat. "Well... I guess, massages aren't so bad, when you're not staring down someone's hernia, hemorrhoids, or colitis the whole time."

Vicky winced. "Ah, yeah."

"Wait, what?" Kara pounced. "I'm missing something. What changed?"

The sisters froze, and shared a mildly startled look. "Nothing, just..." Amy muttered. "...just trying some new things with my power, figured some stuff out."

Kara's mood shifted from angry, to hurt, to pensive, through curious, and into assessing and determined, all without changing her smiling face at all. "Oh, that's neat!"

They both let out a small sigh of relief at her apparent dropping of the topic, while I took a moment to remind myself how frighteningly perceptive she could be.

"Well, we're here!" Vicky cheered, speeding ahead and into the room. The scent of nail polish swiftly rose to dominate my senses, to the point where I had to take a moment to adjust and catch up.

"I'm fine." I replied to the others' worried glances, pushing between them to follow Vicky. This was another larger room, one of the biggest in the building, with a dozen of those skeletal padded reclining seats, some of which were occupied. There were a couple desk style kiosks, which I assumed were for people who just wanted their hands or fingernails done, but they weren't in use. I sat down next to Vicky, who already had a woman scrubbing at her face with one of those makeup sponges. After that, she applied a thick light green cream.

Then she moved on to me, dipping a new sponge in a face cleanser and scrubbing away, wiping that off, and smearing the cream everywhere. I could only tell it smelled like cucumber and lavender because it was nearly in my nose. I chanced a look at Vicky when I was done, and she gave me a big goofy grin made all the worse by the stupid goop mask. I wound up snorting and laughing, and she and Kara broke down, too.

Amy just grumbled as her own mask was applied.

We started chatting about nothing, as salon girls freed up from other patrons to attend us. I didn't have much to add to the conversation, mostly still feeling a bit defensive after the massage and overwhelmed by all the scrubbing and nail buffing. They talked about previous visits, school, shopping, the weather... nothing that really mattered. As little as I felt I was contributing, I was still here for this experience, sharing this memory with them, and that felt like enough.

When our hands and feet were done, and the masks came off, we had some light makeup applied. I wound up with a little foundation to even out some of my skin tone, a bit of colored lip gloss, and a hint of eye shadow. I wasn't sure how to feel about the result. I looked a bit more like mom, when she had hers done, but I didn't really feel bad about it. Just a little sad, confused, a bit proud of myself...

The others picked up on my mood, and gave me a bit to let the feelings sink in. Then we headed back to the shower room, took turns in the free booths getting changed- it looked like the after-work rush was picking up- and then we went back to the car after a quick stop back at the front desk.

Kara and Vicky were up for more, but I felt pretty worn out after everything. Amy managed to beg off to hang out with me while the two of them headed out to have more fun. We were dropped off at my house, and after a bit of discussion, we settled for putting on a movie, while I grabbed a bucket of water to work on fine control.

Then I made dinner. Nothing fancy, but she seemed happy with it, and there was more than enough for dad when he got home. Amy left after that, feeling happy, ashamed, conflicted... I wasn't sure what to make of it, and hoped she was okay. I spent the better part of an hour on the phone with Gram after that, then checked over my homework for a while, and spent another hour practicing with the water, before heading to bed to read until I fell asleep.