The
Escort knocked on the motel room door and braced himself for the evening’s
client to answer. Maybe it’s not too late to go back to law school, he thought. Nah, I
made the right decision: higher ed’s a scam anyway.
The door was
opened by a woman wearing sweats, slipper socks, and loosely tied-back hair;
the hand not holding the door was holding a glass of water.
“I’m
sorry, I have the wrong room,” the Escort said as he cursed himself for not
double-checking the room number before he got there, again.
“Are
you from ------?” the woman asked.
“…Yes?”
“No
mistake – come on in!” She held the door
open wider; he hesitated half a second before entering, noting all exits and anything
in reach that could be used as a weapon in addition to his own personal stash.
Since
the unit was an efficiency, there was a kitchen where the Client then
headed. “Want something to drink?”
Absolutely not. “I’m good, thanks.” He racked his brains for the most diplomatic
way to redirect the conversation. “So,
any place in mind you’d like me to take you out to first?”
She
popped her head around the kitchen/living room/bedroom wall. “Oh, I forgot to mention this would be a
staying-in night. You mind?”
Do I have a choice? “Not at all.”
He took off his jacket and began to unbutton his shirt.
The
Client chuckled. “No need for that!” She re-entered the multi-purpose room carrying
a bowl of popcorn. “I specifically
requested someone who is good at cuddling, and that’s all.”
He
froze. “I was told ‘snuggling.’”
“There’s
a difference?”
“A
bit.”
She
set the popcorn onto the end of one of the twin beds, grabbed a tote bag off of
a chair, and began to take DVDs out of it.
“Sorry if there was a miscommunication; I’ll throw in extra if you’re
disappointed – ”
Quite the opposite. “Not necessary: just let me know what you’d
like me to do, I’m here for you.”
“Aw,
that’s sweet,” she said, tossing the bag aside.
“All righty then: so you don’t have to fake being interested for two
hours, do you like… sci-fi?” She held up
a DVD. “Or…mystery?” She held up another. “Or… action/thriller?” Another.
“Or…sci-fi/mystery?”
Another. “Or… documentary?” She held up the last with the others. “You’ll notice there are no chick flicks,
dramas disguised as comedies, or depressing disaster films included in the
selection – I want you to enjoy yourself.”
Wow, that’s… nice. And confusing. “Umm, any of them would be great.”
“Oh
come on, seriously, which one would you want to see? Or I can check Pay-Per-View?”
No extra charges! “Don’t, please; umm, let’s see.” He ran his hand over the titles she still was
holding, then pointed to the sci-fi/mystery.
“I’ve actually been wanting to see that one – I missed it in the
theater.”
“So
did I! Great minds, huh?” She laughed as she put the other movies back
into the bag and put that DVD into the player.
As it went to the main menu, she grabbed several blankets and pillows
from the beds and arranged them on the floor; he helped in order to have something
to do. “Is this too low to watch? I figured the bed would be too far away.”
“No,
this is fine.” He sat down on the floor
next to her. “Want me to hold your hand?”
“Maybe
later.” She held out the popcorn bowl to
him. “Want some?”
Good thing I had dinner earlier. “Thanks.”
He waited until she also ate some at the same time, just to be sure.
She
started the movie, then asked: “Ooh, want me to turn off the lights?”
“Sure,
if you like.”
“I
don’t mind either way; I’m asking if you want them off.”
Really? If she’s so emotionally-starved, why am I
the one being pampered? “Actually,
the TV’s glare in a dark room kind of bothers my eyes; doesn’t happened in a
movie theater, though, and I have no idea why.”
“On the lights stay, then! Ooh, that’s great when they open the action
with an explosion.”
“Yeah, maybe that’s the mystery
part of this one.”
About half an hour later, during a
scene with no dialogue, she turned to him: “Mind if we cuddle a bit now? I’m bummed out that they just killed off the
main character.”
“Definitely.” He set aside the nearly-empty popcorn bowl and
put his arm around her shoulders; she settled in comfortably and sighed. “Want me to massage your back, too?”
“Nope – this is good.”
Some time later, they both flinched
as another planet was blown up.
“Wow, I’m glad I didn’t spend $15
to see this in the theater,” she said. “I’m
getting depressed with all this futuristic nihilism.”
“Yeah,” he nodded in sympathy. “That’s why I’ve only been going to the
bargain nights lately – it hurts less when the movie’s a letdown.”
She looked up at him. “Want me to put on something else?”
“Nah, we’ve invested so much time
in it, we have to see how it ends.”
“Yeah. Could you hold my hand now, please?”
“Of course.”
They spent the rest of the movie
gently holding hands, with the occasional tear coursing down their faces.
By the end, they were starting to fall
asleep but the discordantly happy music playing over the credits jolted them
awake. The Client then sat up and rubbed
her eyes.
“Well, that genre classification was a bit misleading,” she said mid-yawn and mid-stretch. “The mystery was solved in the first act and
the only thing sci-fi about it was the angst was in outer space.”
The Escort stifled his own
yawn. “Yeah, I’ve noticed that happens
sometimes – I think they didn’t know what genre they could file it under and
picked the closest ones they could think of.”
His phone vibrated to unobtrusively remind him of the time. “Well, we have about 10 minutes left – ”
“That’s fine, I’m all good now,”
she said as she collected the DVD, bowl, pillows, and blankets; he tried to
help but only increased the mess. “You
don’t have to stay for the whole time – you’ve been great.”
“Seriously? I really didn’t do anything.”
“I told you, I only wanted to
cuddle. You were perfect.”
“You know, if everyone was like
you, I’d almost be tempted to do this for free.”
