RaStro FicS

She keeps me warm (1)

Rhian worked her magical fingers over the tension filled muscles of her friend. "Relax, will ya?"

The shoulder-length chestnut hair fidgeted under Rhian's expert hands. "I can't help it. I don't know why she doesn't like me." Bianca squinted one brown eye at the object of her distraction.

Rhian looked into the bright innocent eyes of her cat. "Robbyn, go on now. Go." The massage therapist ordered her Russian Blue. She returned her attention to Bianca. "She knows you're afraid of her. That's the trouble."

After Robbyn jumped up and left, chestnut hair sighed deeply. "That reminds me. Jules wants to go to RK tonight. He's meeting some friends from work. Why don't you come along?"

Rhian's hands moved over her friend's shoulders as she continued the massage. "How is it that you being afraid of my cat reminds you of asking me to go to that bar again? You know it's not my favorite place." Rhian had only been there once before about six months ago after going to a comedy bar with her friends.

The thirty year old Bianca twisted around. "You never wanna go out. And when I do get you a date, you don't even get their number."

Rhian gently pushed her friend back down on the table. "We didn't connect. What's the point?"

"The point is you're afraid." Bianca murmured.

The massage therapist glided her hands up the full length of her friend's back causing a satisfied groan. Rhian didn't want to get into another conversation with her friend about the blind dates Bianca would set her up on. The chestnut hair would just pushed her harder and she didn't want to argue with her at the moment.

Under the gentle soothing of the massage therapist's hands, Bianca was lost temporarily in the moment, her whole body was feeling very relaxed. "God, you're good."

"So I've been told." Rhian teased as she reached for the oil again. After applying some to her hands, the massage therapist started to work on her friend's tight lower back. "Business is picking up. I'm getting more and more clients that I might think about getting an office instead of working out of my place."

"I still get them for free, right?"

"Yep. If you get your boss to give me free dental care." Rhian teased her friend.

"Don't remind me. I've gotta go back this afternoon." Bianca grunted. "Then run back home before I go over to Jules'. I'm so tired of having two places. Running back and forth. It would be so much easier..." She let that old argument between her and her boyfriend evaporate in mid air.

After a few more deep massages across her friend's back, Rhian slapped her hands together. "Okay, that's it. You're all done."

Bianca brought the towel up around her to cover her front. "Think about it. Okay?" She headed to the small changing room.

"I'm gonna check on Robbyn. Come on in to the kitchen when you're finished." Rhian gathered a few items and put them away neatly before she washed her hands. She could hear her cat whimpering outside, which meant Robbyn wanted some attention.

Rhian walked down the long hallway of her two-bedroom apartment with Robbyn wagging her tail behind. The Russian Blue was a smart cat and knew she would be fed soon. When they entered the kitchen, Rhian dropped down next to her cat. "You're so sweet, aren't ya? You should be nicer to my friend though."

Robbyn cocked her head to the side in a questioning challenge.

"Don't look at me like that." Rhian pet her seven-year-old cat that she got for graduation. "She means well."

Robbyn purred but Rhian knew her cat didn't exactly agree with her.

Shaking her head, Rhian smiled. "Alright. I'll get you something to eat now." After filling Robbyn's food and water bowl, the five foot six young woman with long red hair started to fix something to drink for her friend.

"Not for me." Bianca saw the two glasses Rhian had on the counter. "I've gotta get back."

It was a forlorn look on her friend's face that Rhian easily recognized from their many talks and she knew exactly what Bianca wanted. "Sit down, I know you wanna talk about it. My next appointment's not for another hour."

The invitation was welcomed and Bianca figured she would tell her boss she got caught in traffic. "It's the same old thing really." The chestnut hair glanced at empty glass on the counter.

Seeing where Bianca was looking, Rhian retrieved the pitcher from the fridge and poured her friend some lemonade. She slipped it in front of her friend before she sat down and waited. It didn't take long.

Her friend ignored the drink. "I've done everything to get him to commit but he still refuses. It's been nearly five years now. He's just so... I don't know what he wants anymore."

"Have you talked to him?"

"What good does it do?" Bianca stared at the glass she had her hands wrapped around. "He says he's not yet ready."

"You two love each other. At least you've found love." Rhian's own thoughts turned to her life and few romantic interests that graced her twenty-five years of living. "I've never been in love."

"He doesn't even say he loves me anymore." Bianca wiped a tear away. "I tell him I love him all the time."

"He never says he loves you?"

Bianca shrugged. "Sometimes, after I say it first."

Rhian could easily see the tension building and she needed to divert the direction of their conversation. "Maybe you two need to get away?"

The chestnut hair placed her hand on Rhian's forearm. "That's why you have to come tonight. Talk to me. You know Jules, talking to everyone and I'll be by myself if you don't come. Please."

It was the last thing Rhian had on her mind - going out on a Thursday night was not on her agenda. She was a homebody by nature and enjoyed curling up on the sofa with Robbyn, and watching her favorite basketball team. However, she relented after seeing the imploring look from her friend's sad brown eyes. "Okay, yeah."

That answer cheered the chestnut hair up immediately. "We'll pick you up around 7:30." Bianca got up after looking at her watch. "I should get going. Oh, by the way, you coming Monday right?" Bianca turned before Rhian had a chance to answer. "Your cousin usually practices on Mondays, doesn't he?"

Rhian followed her friend down the hall to the front door. "Uh huh."

"Jules' got a race at six." Bianca turned to her again. "They want you back on the team, you know."

"I'd like to but i don't know...with my neck." The chestnut hair bounced down the two steps and got into her car as she bids her goodbye.

Rhian walked back inside the apartment and Robbyn followed her to her small office. Through the window, she saw the rain begin to lightly shower down. A sullen Rhian turned toward her desk where her laptop was located. She plopped down in her swivel chair, then her gray eyes came to rest on a scroll-framed essay she had written. Rhian reached for it and stared at it for a long time. A deep and longing sigh escaped before she read silently.

My whole life, I've dreamed of a great love. Of a love that will somehow complete me. Of a love that will reunite me with the other half of my soul. Of a love that will consume me until I'm helpless to do anything but give myself to it. I have yet to find such a love, or have it find me. At times, I wonder if that kind of love truly exists. If it's not fairy tale that we're told as young children to make us think the world is a wonderful place that's full of love and hope and fulfilled dreams. Yes, I have loved. But I have never been in love. I've never known anyone that made my heart skip a beat each time they uttered my name. Or cause me to lose my breath just by the sight of them walking into a room. Or make my knees grow weak by just one touch, whether it's sensual one or not. Or cause the world to disappear when our eyes meet across a crowded room. Or be able to communicate with just a glance or a touch. Or felt that the safest place on Earth was in the arms of the one I love. Does that kind of love really exist?

That pondering question hung precariously in the air.