The fingers of her right hand softly drummed the oak desk as Erin starred intently at the blank piece of paper before her. She had been sitting in front of the workspace for nearly an hour now and still the paper hadn't the slightest hint of ink upon it.
Erin was a fourth year university student majoring in psychology. The semester had started only a couple months ago, but she was already frantic about her thesis due end of term. She sighed heavily, as if suddenly realizing the paper was not about to write itself, she took herself from the desk and sat comfortably in her bean bag chair with her cordless phone in hand.
Without looking, she mindlessly dialed the numbers she'd dialed so many times. The phone rang once and a familiar voice came. "Still having trouble with your thesis Erin?" Ashley asked sympathetically.
"Pretty sad, isn't it?" Erin asked. "Don't even have to ask who it is and you know it's me calling."
Ashley chuckled, "I don't know anyone else who'd call me at 12:30 in the morning."
"It's not..." Erin panicked, looking at her clock. "I'm so sorry, I didn't realize how late it was!"
"Oh shut it," Ashley laughed again, "You've got a lot on your mind lately, and I'm your best friend. Wake me if you need to, I'm here for ya. Besides, I couldn't sleep anyways so I've been watching TV the last few hours. I was awake."
Erin relaxed, "Thanks Ashley, I just can't seem to get my mind off of him."
"Who? Billy or your Grandfather?" Ashley asked.
"I'm over Billy... well, still hurts, but my Grandfather moreso. We were really close, ya know? He taught me how to play Backgammon when I was a little girl and we played every weekend together." Erin sniffled, "First weekend in almost 15 years that we haven't played."
"Erin hunny, he was in pain, and now the pain is gone. Take comfort in that fact." Ashley reassured.
Erin began to cry on the phone uncontrollably. Between losing her Grandfather, her exe-boyfriend leaving her for her cousin and this paper she just could not seem to start, the world was weighing heavily on her shoulders.
"Erin, I have an idea to help take your mind off of everything."
She stifled another sniff and relaxed a bit, "Anything Ashley, anything to help me get my mind off of things, even if for just a few minutes. I can't even sleep as of late."
"Get dressed up, comfortable, but nice. Dress like you're going for a night out with the girls. I'll send a text to your cell, just go from there. Promise it will help ya." Ashley said mysteriously.
Erin did not even bother to argue, just said her 'okays' and 'goodbyes' and hung up. She walked to her closet and rummaged through her clothes, trying to find something comfortable and relatively fancy. There was little thought put into it, not knowing the occasion, so she grabbed her soft yellow silk blouse and navy blue knee high skirt. Erin had an odd fascination with matching her panties with her shirt, so she slid on a pair of yellow underwear.
Erin had long, smooth legs, and Ashley was always jealous of them because she could easily get away without panty hose, not a single blemish on them. She tied back her think brunette hair into a quick ponytail and applied her make up and she was ready to go. She took another quick look in the mirror, adjusted her C cups one last time and headed outside with her cell.
She glanced at the text message; there was no information, just an address. She knew the street well though; 10 minute walk and the streets were always well lit outside her campus. Her mother would freak if she knew what time she was outside, walking by herself, but this town had always been a great place to live since she first started school here. It wasn't like the big cities where people were picked up off the streets on a daily basis, never to be found.
Erin tried desperately not to think of Billy, her Grandfather or her paper. She had done a great job covering up the fact that she had been crying and did not wish to spoil that. She focused on the soft, cool breeze brushing past her ears, unhindered with her hair tied back. The fresh, clean air was almost intoxicating. It amazed her how such wonder had always gone unnoticed, yet anything that could make her think of something other than her problems was intoxicating. That thought took her back to her psychology classes, wondering what the various professors would say about her using anything to take her mind off her problems.
Was she running from her problems, or finding a way to cope? So many different theories and one almost always contradicted another. Erin shook her head free of those thoughts, which would have undoubtedly lead her back to her depression of being unable to come up with a thesis to write about.
Everything was brought back into focus when she arrived at the address Ashley had sent her. It was a small, red bricked house with an oak door that reminded her of the colour of her desk. The lights were on, but not very bright. She could not remember walking to the door, she was focused on the wood and just seemed to end up there. Erin chalked it up to a couple days without sleep.
She knocked softly, afraid really, not sure why she was here. At first Erin thought to herself that she probably had not knocked hard enough for anyone to hear. She raised her hand again and before she could knock, the door opened.
He was tall, jet black hair with a smile that seemed to cut the uneasiness right from her. Erin smiled back, looking him up and down carefully, trying not to be caught. He wore a light blue golf shirt and black pants that were pressed down the legs like dress wear. He extended his hand non-threateningly to invite her in.
Erin regained herself and stumbled to ask, "Is Ashley here?"
He said not a word, just shook his head and smiled, reaching his hand out yet again, offering for her to take it.
Mystery plagued her, but before she could protest, she had found her body had betrayed her mind and she was walking inside with the stranger, her eyes locked with his. He took her to the left of the front door to the living room. Erin's eyes broke from his as she looked at her surroundings. The walls were painted soft beige, the carpet a medium blue and all the wooden furniture a deep cherry. The upholstered furniture matched the colour of the cherrywood. In front of the couch, three candles were lit that seemed to be emitting the lavender scent she noticed upon entering the man's house. Beside the candles was a bowl of strawberries and blueberries.
Erin began to ask his name and was silenced by the soft gentile touch of a finger over her lips. She looked at him again and seemed to melt with his smile. Still holding her hand, he walked her over to sit in the center of the couch facing the coffee table with the candles. Before walking away from her, he lifted her hand to his lips, and without breaking the eye contact, kissed her knuckles lovingly. Erin was nervous, still unsure what all this was about, yet he continued to move behind the couch, behind her. Erin's eyes followed him there, but when he stopped behind her, he softly his palms on her side of her head and gently turned her to face away from him.
His hands moved down her cheeks, the silkiness of his skin surprised her. No callused fingers, just soft, gently hands that ran down over her neck and rested softly on her shoulders. His hands began to knead at her shoulders, massaging her gently and Erin's head began to grow very light. Her eyes closed as he worked his magic. Even through closed eyelids, Erin's eyes rolled up into her head as she began to rock her neck from side to side.
What a gift this man had! She rested her head on the back of the couch as he softly worked to loosen her muscles. His hands stopped massaging and rested on her shoulders, and slowly they moved inwards to her exposed neck. She felt the soft skin of his fingertips run from her throat up her neck towards her cheek and then rested on her temples. Slowly he massaged and she was fully lost in the moment.