Dani had arrived early at her clinic this morning, it was a hot summer Saturday and she was excited for her new venture. She had opened her beauty salon a couple of years ago and had built up a really good clientele base offering manicures, pedicures, facials and makeup sessions, she had also recently started offering massages.
After a year of evening classes at a local college she had finally had been awarded her diploma 6 weeks ago and had started her new venture a couple of weeks later. Her business plan was to offer a massage at the same time clients had one of her personalised facial packs, leaving them feeling good physically as well as looking great.
So far it was going well, a few of her regulars had tried it out already and been really impressed. It also made great money for her as she could charge for two treatments at the same time.
She looked at her schedule for the day & smiled at how busy she was. After enjoying the experience last weekend, one of her regulars, Mrs. Winters, had booked her twin sons in for a facial and massage package each this afternoon, as a treat for their graduations. She'd said she was really proud of them for studying so hard and wanted them to relax after the stress of waiting for their exam results.
They would be the first male clients that Dani had massaged and she was a little apprehensive about it, especially as she was only a few years older than the boys herself at 26, but felt sure it would all be fine.
She looked up as the door opened, it was Alex, her part-time receptionist, "Morning Alex!" she beamed, "How are you doing today?"
"Hey Dani," he replied as he breezed in, "yeah really good thanks, I placed 3rd in my swimming competition yesterday so super pleased about that! How are you, do we have a busy day?"
"Oh well done! Yeah, definitely, super busy today. Really glad you're in as I'm back to back all day. Are you ok to get everything ready for me please in therapy room 2?"
Alex had worked for Dani since she opened, in the early days he'd been a part-time receptionist whilst he studied for his A-levels, but he had gradually taken on more responsibility and recently had started as her apprentice. He loved the way the clients enjoyed their treatments and always left feeling great about themselves. He had decided he wanted a career in beauty himself.
He could already do some of the nail treatments after shadowing Dani and had completed a week-long taster course at the start of the summer which included a mixture of waxing, massage and other treatments. He would start structured learning again in the autumn, in the meantime he was just keen to get as much practical experience as he could.
Dani was delighted with Alex, he was a natural with her clients and had a real passion for beauty therapy. It was also great to have a man on board as she felt there was a huge untapped market for men in the town, and that many would feel more comfortable with a male therapist.
He came in and quickly scanned through Dani's appointment schedule and then set to work preparing the oils and waxes and other materials she would need, as well as making them both a cup of coffee.
By lunchtime they both needed a break after a steady stream of ladies had been in and been plucked, waxed, manicured and threaded.
At 12:45 Mrs. Sykes came in, loaded with shopping bags and smiled at Alex, "Hi Alex dear, I'm here for my 1 o'clock with Dani, I've been looking forward to this all week! Mr. S is away and I'm treating myself!"
"Ah morning Mrs. Sykes!" smiled Alex, "lovely to see you, looks like you've been shopping! Take a seat and I'll get you a drink whilst you wait."
You wouldn't have known it but Alex had panicked when she walked in though... she was one of their best customers, wealthy and a big spender with them... the issue was there wasn't any booking for her today. Somehow they must have double booked.
He engaged in a bit of detective work, "what are you seeing Dani for today?" he asked as he brought over her usual cup of chamomile tea.
"Well I thought you'd know that dear," she said, "I'm treating myself to a facial rejuvenation package followed by a manicure and a full make-up session. I'm going to the theatre this evening with my girlfriends and want to impress. I'm having my hair done next door at 3 so it's all a bit tight really."
"Oh yes of course," Alex laughed, "lovely, what are you seeing at the theatre?"
"Its that new one," she said, "some sort of comedy, I forget the name though." she frowned in mock concentration as she picked up a magazine to read while she waited.
"I'm sure it's good'" Alex replied, "I'll just go and let Dani know you're here."
Alex quickly walked down the hallway to the first treatment room where luckily Dani was just stepping out. "Dani!" he said in a panicked whisper, "we have a problem, you're double booked! Mrs Sykes is in and she has at least a couple of hours of stuff that she's expecting! I've no idea how this happened I'm so sorry..." Poor Alex looked almost like he was going to cry.
"Oh no," Breathed Dani putting her hand to her mouth. Both Mrs. Sykes and Mrs. Winters were key clients and very gossipy... She couldn't afford to annoy either of them. "Give me 5 minutes," she said to Alex, "I'm just finishing up in here, I'll think of a plan, you'll need to help me though!"
"Sure, sure - whatever you need." answered Alex, desperate to make up for his booking error.
Alex went back to reception and looked up who was scheduled to be in at 1, it was blocked out for Mrs. Winters and had 'Tom & Justin - massage / facial' written against her name.
Tom & Justin Winters, those names were familiar to him... they were twin brothers who had been 3 years above him at school. They'd always been popular, good-looking and sporty. They'd also been a bit arrogant, they had bullied him a bit he remembered. It must be them, right? Too much of a coincidence otherwise? On the plus side, they probably wouldn't recognise me now he thought, he'd changed a lot in the last 3-years, he'd toned-up with his swimming and lost all the boyish puppy fat he used to have.
He wondered what Dani's plan would be as he heard the door to the first treatment room open and saw her walk out with her client. "Thanks so much Liz," Dani said, "lovely to see you."
Dani gave Mrs. Sykes a wave, "I'll be with you in just a moment," she said as she casually siddled up and stood next to Alex.
"Right. Here's the plan, it's the only option as far as I can see and you'll have to help me... I'll take Mrs. Sykes through now and get her started, I'll have a 15 minute window almost straight away once I've applied her facial pack. I'll leave her with this on and some music playing and come out to start the first massage, I'll put a face pack on the first of the twins, Tom is it? I can put cucumber slices over his eyes and a special compresss mask on which means he wont be able to see who is massging him. When I need to go back and see Mrs. Sykes you'll have to pretend you're me and take over the massage."
"What!" Alex almost shouted, "thats crazy! One, I have never done a a full massage before and two, what if he talks to me?"
"Look, you're naturally good at this and they're young, it's probably their first massage, so they won't notice anything different... I'll say that in order to relax fully for the massage we need to be in silence. I'll tell them that when I want them to turn over I'll tap him twice on the shoulder. We even have similar size hands so they won't notice... also... my perfume is in my bag, can you spray yourself before you come in so we smell alike?"
"You're crazy!" Alex replied.
"It'll work, I'm sure - and it will be good practice for you! I'll come back 5 minutes before the end which gives you chance to run back out to reception and welcome his brother. We'll do the same thing for him, I can find 15 minutes where Mrs. Sykes will just be waiting."
"Oh god... OK it can work...," said Alex, his heart beating fast now.
Dani could see his pulse beating in his neck, she knew this was a sign he was nervous.
"OK OK, it's a plan, lets do it," he said, palms sweating.