Poly: A Day in the Life (Completed)

Epilogue

I have no idea what the f*ck is going on, and it's making me anxious.

"Come on, guys," I whimper. I'm blindfolded, in the back seat beside Gemma. I took time off to plan for Peter's birthday, but I've gone back to my job as a secretary. Gemma works at home as a graphic design artist. Alex, who is the manager at a call agency, and Peter, who is the branch manager of a jewellery store, never took any leave, though. This Saturday morning, I woke up with the intention of making myself a nice strawberry smoothie, and sitting on the couch to watch something stupid, like Spongebob. Probably check of a Harry Potter movie is on on any channel. However, before I could do any of that, the three of them ganged up on me and told me that they were going on a "drive". They claim it's a "surprise", and that I have to wear a blindfold.

"Nope," all three of them say, almost simultaneously.

"Okay, f*ck you too," I grumble. 

I hear Gemma chuckling from beside me, and grumble under my breath about how they're pissing me off. I feel like Liam Neeson, in Taken Two, trying to figure out where we're going by feeling the turns that the car is taking. I admit that I'm bad at this.

Finally, though, the car comes to a stop, and the engine cuts.

"Don't take it off," Gemma says, slapping my hands away before they can come to my face. Then, I hear her open the door, before she grabs me by the arm. 'Come, I'll guide you."

My anxiety is killing me. I know that they know me well and that I will more than likely like what they are going to do, but I am still anxious. I can't help it.

She guides me into an air conditioned building, and then she turns me around, before taking off my blindfold. 

"Surprise!" they all cheer at the same time.

I'm in the reception area of a spa , "Linda's Day Spa".

"We realised how stressed you were, so we decided to take you here," Peter said.

"It was Peter's initial idea," Gemma tells me.

I'm speechless. I don't even know what to say. 

"Ms Stewart," one woman calls as she walks up to me. She's wearing jeans, along with a shirt with the logo on it.

"Tiana. I prefer Tiana," I tell her. Being called "Ms Stewart" feels way too professional. 

"Tiana," she says with a smile. "My name is LeKeisha. Come this way."

"Bye," I hear Gemma say.

"Bye, T," Alex says.

"Bye, mi a guh pick yuh up later Tiana," Peter says.

I am taken to a room, and given a robe, and told to strip and put it on. There are chips and a bottle of wine on  table. It's my favourite type, too, and a wine glass beside it. After I put on the robe, I open the bottle, and pour myself a glass. Ten minutes after she leaves, LeKeisha returns with another young woman, dressed in the same outfit as her. I now notice that they both have name tags. 

"Tiana, this is Toni, and she will be your masseuse for today." I finish my wine, before following Toni to another room, closing the door behind me.

Toni takes me to a warm, sauna-like room, with a massage table, and closes the door behind her, before instructing me to open my robe, and lie face down on the table. She then helps me take off the robe, and expose my back, and legs, only covering my bottom. I've never had a professional massage before, but I am eager for this one. 

It's as if every ounce of stress and anxiety is expelled from my body. She also uses lavender scented candles and body oil; it's calming, soothing. I'm generally an anxious person, but I had never even considered doing something like this. Then again, I don't usually do things for myself. It's a criticism that the three of them have had of me for a long time. I have always said that one day, I'd do something big for myself, but never really made any plans to do it. I guess that after the whole Martin thing, Peter got tired of waiting.

Maybe he feels guilty. I frown at that thought. I'll have to talk to him about it when I get home. 

"You okay?" Toni asks, probably feeling me tense up.

"Yeah, I'm good," I respond, trying to relax, to regain my calm. I don't want this to go to waste because of one unpleasant thought. I'll just confront him about it later.

Once she's done, I'm left alone in a room to dress myself, and as I reach for my phone to call Peter, I see his name appear on my screen.

"Hey babe," I answer.

"Hey, T. Yuh ready?"

"Yeah." I chew my lip, thinking about how I'm going to ask him.

"How was it?" He asks.

"It was amazing. Toni did this thing⏤"

"Toni?"

"Yeah, she was my masseuse, but she did this thing to my lower back and it's like all my anxiety vanished. Oh, and they gave me Santero Moscato Rose."

"Yeah, they offered and we told them to," he tells me.

When he arrives, I'm sitting out front, waiting for him, unfinished bottle of wine in hand. He comes in smiling, but almost immediately, his expression changes to one of concern.

"What's wrong?" he asks, coming up to me.

"Did you do this because you felt guilty?"

He looks at me in utter confusion.

"Guilty 'bout what?"

He seems genuinely confused, which means that, thankfully, this was just a case of me overthinking.

"About me being stressed over your birthday, and about what happened between Martin and myself."

"No, Tiana," he says, "I didn't."

I don't think that this is something he'd lie to me about. I exhale in relief, before going to hug him.

"Thanks so much for thinking about me like this," I tell him. He chuckles, the sound vibrating from his chest.

"We got tired of you saying that you'd do something good for yourself."

"I realise."

When we pull apart, he guides me outside to the car. There's no one else here, just he and I.

"We want to go on a trip to Europe, if we all get leave at the same time." He says this as we drive out of the parking lot, onto the main road.

"Which countries?"

"We each get a country, and five days in each country. I picked Germany, Alex picked England, and Gemma picked Spain."

"France," I say almost immediately.

He smiles. "I knew you'd say that," he tells me.

I've always wanted to see the Eiffel tower, something that they all know.

"When are we going?" I ask him.

"We wanted to go in two months. Ask your boss for leave then," he tells me.

"Okay."

When I get home, the other two question me on how it was, before I insist that they share my wine with me.

"Cheers to T," Gemma says, holding up her glass, "for always going all out for the rest of us."

We touch our glasses together, before we all take a sip.

It feels good to be appreciated, especially by those you love.

***

I'm probably going to write about their European trip.