This is the continuing story of my time as an escort, following on from Holly's First Night Ch.04
I met a real Michael the next day, Monday. He was nothing like the Michael of my dream; this Michael, the Reverend Michael, was a TV evangelist. He was a tall, handsome man, somewhere in his mid fifties I guessed. He reminded me in some ways of how I would like to remember my father, quiet, kind-hearted and with a twinkle in his eye. Michael wasn't the brash type of evangelist that you imagine, he was no Billy Graham for instance, but he had a certain intensity of purpose about him. He truly believed.
So why on earth did he want an escort? It turned out that although Michael fiercely believed in the ultimate goodness of God, his God had been intent on testing Michael. About eight years previously he had met and fallen in love with a woman from his 'flock', a convert who he quickly realised he wanted to spend the rest of his life with. She was looking for affirmation of some greater purpose, having just inherited several millions from the recent sudden death of her parents.
Their courtship had been a slow, careful affair. He travelled around the country raising funds and holding services. She would occasionally accompany him, always staying in separate hotels. They would take long walks together, go to the theatre sometimes. I half expected him to tell me she had bluebirds twittering around her in the springtime.
Michael was adamant he did not know of her financial status until a short time before they were married. She had got used to living modestly and going to work, in an art gallery I think. Anyway fast forward to their third wedding anniversary, in October 2003. She found a lump on her breast, they did all the usual stuff through the NHS; radical double mastectomy, radiotherapy, chemotherapy. They even went for private treatments, but God was not going to give them a happy ending. She died just eight weeks later.
His story had me welling up with tears. He wanted an escort to accompany him when he visited her memorial plaque at the crematorium. Each year he would hire a woman to go with him on the anniversary of her cremation. Yes I know, I find it hard to understand too, but I think it was almost like he was trying to show her that despite having access to other women, she was the only one for him.
Of course that only works if you believe in an afterlife. He took me to a very nice tearoom afterwards. I honestly didn't think such things still existed, it was like something from a Mills and Boon romance; thin sandwiches, an impossible choice of different teas, served in a proper pot and the most delicious light sponge cakes. Discreet service, near enough to provide assistance, yet far enough away not to overhear the conversation.
He was the perfect gentleman, a still grieving widower who had not really come to terms with his greatest loss. All I had to do was look good and listen to him. It was quite a privilege.
I shall never forget that Michael.
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At my first interview with Alexandra she had been quite blunt about some things, specifically that I needed to have a makeover and do some exercises. She had made appointments for me with Giles and Maria, although I'd had to postpone the first session with Giles because I was meeting Michael.
On Wednesday morning however, I reported to Giles in the same building Alexandra had interviewed me. The whole of the top floor was an open plan gymnasium, divided into three distinct zones. As you entered, to the left was a huge open floor, large mirrors occupied the length of the wall and there were barre set into them, that part of the room was like revisiting the junior ballet class when I was about five years old. My mother spent a long year, and a lot of money finding out that I was just another plump, slightly inelegant little girl then.
To the right, nearest the door were a couple of treadmills and rowing machines, whilst further in there were some weight machines and stacks of dumb-bells.
There was nobody else there apart from Giles.
"Good morning, Holly?"
"Umm, yes." I replied.
"Good, Alexandra has impeccable taste as always."
He was a small, lean man; wearing leggings and a tight vest; it was possible to see the outline of nearly every muscle on his body. Yes, including that one and like the rest I had no doubt it was very well defined.
"Okay lovely, you can get changed through there." He pointed to a small doorway that, unsurprisingly, had a sign on it saying 'Changing Room'.
I entered a well appointed changing room; there were several private changing stalls, full length lockers and private shower cubicles. On one wall were wooden shelves with plenty of thick fluffy white towels. White dominated the room, broken only by the antiqued pine accessories and fittings. There was a doorway at the other end of the room which 'Sauna' written on it.
I entered the first stall, closing the door behind me. I don't really know why as I was the only one in there. The walls of the stall were about five feet high so I could see all around if I wanted to stand on tip-toe. I quickly changed out of my street clothes, pulling on a pair of sweatpants and a loose tee-shirt. I'd already put my hair up in a pony-tail, so once I'd finished fastening my trainers I placed my bag in a locker and walked out into the main hall again.
"Okay Holly, do you do any regular exercise?"
I considered carefully the gym membership that came with being at the university. I had actually gone once or twice after the initial induction session the October before last. Now it was December, more than twelve months since stepping foot inside a temple to the body.
"Umm, no." I said, shaking my head at Giles.
"Right, okay then. Just walk around the ballet school for me then, please." he stood in the centre, watching me carefully as I walked, self consciously around the ballet area, conscious of my reflection following me around. It made me think of one of those dressage sessions with horses you see on television. In a way I suppose, that's precisely what it was.
"Okay, thank you Holly, now, what I'd like you to do next is just stand still in the middle of the room and close your eyes for me."
That seemed weird but I did as I was asked. Actually it was very strange. My feet were comfortably planted on the floor as I closed my eyes. I had the disconcerting sensation that I was swaying slightly, the feeling grew more and more until Giles said
"Thank you Holly, you may open your eyes now." As I did so everything became steady again.
"Okay Holly, erm... let's try this, I want you to stand next to the barre, you may hold onto it for balance if you wish. You are right handed yes? Good, so what I want is for you to raise your left foot off the ground, then when you're ready, let go of the barre."
It seemed simple enough, as I walked over to the nearest barre I could sense Giles watching my every step. I stood next to the smooth wooden bar, loosely holding it in my right hand as I lifted my left foot off the ground. Giles was fiddling with his wristwatch, pressing a button as I let go of the bar.
"Look straight ahead Holly."
This was actually quite difficult: as I began to lose my balance I could feel my thigh muscles starting to shake. I grabbed hold of the barre again, steadying myself.
"Right then Holly, that will do for the moment, I just want to check your flexibility. In a minute I want you to lie on the massage table over there and then I'm going to move your legs. All I ask is that you don't resist unless I ask you to, okay?"
I nodded, feeling somehow that I'd failed a test. This feeling got a whole lot worse as he made me lie on my back on the table, then gently he lifted each leg in turn, holding it at the calf and bending me at the hip he brought each leg closer and closer to my chest until I thought he was going to snap me in half. That was uncomfortable. I think I was coming to the same conclusion Giles had. I was unfit and inflexible.
"Well then Holly, I think we've got some work ahead of us. Your core is very weak and you're quite stiff. Not the worst I've seen by any means, but you do need to look after yourself, it'll make things much easier in the long run. Anyway, what I'm going to do is give you several sets of exercises, and I'll take you through each one in a minute. We'll meet here again in one week, same time, same place and then we can see what else needs doing."
He spent the next hour and a half first demonstrating, then coaching me in the exercises he wanted me to do before printing them off on a couple of A4 sheets of paper.
"Remember, make sure you warm up before you start, a little pain and muscle aches are to be expected, if you get a sharp pain stop and contact me. You are going to be stretching your muscles and joints, it will hurt. When you come over next week bring a leotard, leggings and a pair of heeled shoes, two and a half to three inch stilettos should be fine, I need to see how your muscles are moving if we are to make rapid progress, is that understood? Make a special place in your schedule to do this properly, concentrate on getting the shapes right first, the rest will follow."
I nodded, honestly feeling too exhausted to speak.
"Good, you know where the showers are, I'll see you next week." and with that I was dismissed.
When I got back to the flat I shared with Zoe I realised my mobile phone battery had given up the ghost again. I rummaged around in the kitchen until I found the charger, plugged it in then made a cup of tea. As I sat sipping the tea the message service on the phone trilled, indicating someone had left a voicemail message.
"Holly, this is Alexandra. I have an appointment for you, call me."
The number she'd called from hadn't been recorded by my phone, so even though it was after office hours I tried her office as it was the only number I had for her. It rang three times, then it was picked up.
"Hello?" It was Alexandra's voice, cool and seductive. I hesitated for a few long seconds. Was I being too eager? What if she wanted me to do something I didn't like? Would I do it? Yes, probably, said my traitorous inner voice.
"Alexandra, it's Holly. You wanted to talk to me?"
