Taylor slept until noon the next day and felt much like he was awakening from a prolonged coma as he drug himself from his king sized bed and trudged out into the living room. If he had been even slightly more awake, he would have probably jumped at the sight of Adrian sitting comfortably on his couch watching TV. But, he was much too sleepy to even fully register the scene, let alone react properly to it.
“Well good morning, Sunshine!” Adrian beamed, turning off the TV with the remote before standing to greet Taylor’s yawning, half-dressed form. Taylor didn’t even have the decency to be embarrassed by the fact that he was standing there in his boxer briefs as he rubbed the sleep from his eyes.
“What are you doing here?” he managed through another yawn. He hadn’t slept that long in years and his body was clearly not reacting to it well.
“You and I have some stuff to do before tomorrow night. I came to pick you up,” Adrian said, giving Taylor a judgmental once over before taking a step closer, “You look like total shit.” Taylor frowned and looked down at himself. He didn’t think he was looking so bad. Sure, he wasn’t as muscular as some guys, but he liked the way he looked. “I’m not talking about your physique, though that could use some work as well. You’re scheduled at the El Sol Day Spa in a half hour, so I suggest you run your rank self through the shower so you don’t kill everyone who works on you.”
“And what will those people be doing to me?” Taylor asked, not really sure if he wanted to know the answer.
“Oh, you know… the usual. Except for that you’ve probably never had any of it done before, so it’s not necessarily your usual, but it’s all very typical, I assure you. We just need to get you ready for tomorrow.” Taylor didn’t even bother to ask what was happening the next night. He knew that he’d find out soon enough and that it would likely be just as awkward as whatever Adrian had planned for him at the spa, which he knew by name as being the most exclusive and expensive spa in the greater Tulsa area. As he showered, he decided that a little pampering might do him some good, especially if it involved a massage to get rid of all the stress that seemed to be settling uncomfortably in the muscles by his shoulder blades. He wanted to stay angry at Adrian for putting him back in his brothers’ presence the previous night, but he just couldn’t do it, mainly because he knew that it hadn’t gone as Adrian had planned. Or at least he hoped that it hadn’t gone as planned. And then, he remembered that he’d been so witty as to refer to Ellie as a blow-up doll and found himself laughing hysterically alone in the shower.
“Are you okay in there?” Adrian asked, rapping his knuckles hard against the door.
“I’m fine, just thought of something funny,” Taylor explained as he stepped out of the shower and dried himself off as fast as he could. He securely wrapped the towel around his waist before opening the door and heading for his bedroom. Just as Adrian went to follow him in, Taylor kicked the door shut in his face. Adrian was invading pretty much every aspect of his life, but Taylor really didn’t think he needed to see him get dressed. Once he’d thrown on some clothes that he deemed acceptable to go to a hoity-toity place like El Sol, he headed out into the living room, keys in hand, and went to the garage without a word. He knew that Adrian would not have a vehicle there as always and that he would once again be forced to do the driving. It was a little peculiar to him that even though Adrian was the one arranging all of these little events, he never fronted the transportation.
“Do you know where El Sol is?” Adrian asked as he slid into the passenger seat. Taylor just nodded before backing out of his driveway and heading in the right direction.
“Look, I’m sorry about yesterday. I hoped that it would be a time for everyone to calmly get things off of their chests about your whole situation. Obviously it was a little too early for that.”
“We’re basically incapable of handling disagreements calmly, to be honest with you. Especially since we usually tend to deal with things passive aggressively. Everything just sits and festers until we just have it out, like we did last night. I’ve been waiting six months to tell Zac that his girlfriend is a bitch and I finally had the opportunity.”
“Is she really that bad?” Adrian asked with vague interest. Taylor took that small interest and ran with it.
“Yes. And, I think she called me a fag the night I first met you,” Taylor explained, “So if I didn’t hate her guts before, I definitely do after that night.”
“What a twat,” Adrian said seriously, and Taylor found himself laughing again, “What?”
“That’s just such a great word to describe her,” Taylor said as he turned into El Sol’s long, winding driveway. It was set far back from the busy, overpopulated road on which it was located, giving it an isolated feel in the midst of the city. A large silver sun was the first thing everyone saw when they passed from the tree lined driveway into the parking lot as it was positioned directly above the front doors as the only indication of the name of the establishment. Taylor parked a few spots away from the other vehicles in the lot and then proceeded to follow Adrian towards the entrance.
“In order to protect your privacy, I booked you as Mr. Jason Anderson, so respond to that name, please,” Adrian said. Taylor sighed and stepped inside, trying to prepare himself for whatever Adrian had planned. The reception area wasn’t exactly cozy, but it was very contemporarily decorated with lots of silver and gold accents and striking orange leather furniture. Taylor leaned against the brushed silver receptionist’s desk while Adrian checked him in.
“Mr. Anderson, could I interest you in something to drink while you wait?” the girl behind the counter asked. Taylor pulled his attention away from the décor to look at her, or rather, the rather obvious parts of her that were sticking precariously from the top of her low-cut shirt. Adrian cleared his throat, snapping Taylor from his gaze.
“Um… yeah. Some wine would be great,” he responded, thoroughly embarrassed at having been caught checking out her rather enormous tits. She smiled at him before leaving to retrieve his requested beverage.
“Whoa. Careful, Tay. For a minute there it looked like you were checking out her goodies,” Adrian whispered, nudging Taylor with his elbow.
“How could I not? I mean… I have eyes,” Taylor shrugged, plastering a smile on his face as she came back into the room with a rather large wine glass half full of dark red liquid.
“Just take a seat while we prepare your first treatment, Mr. Anderson. Elyse will be with your shortly,” she said. Taylor nodded and headed for the other side of the room, putting as much distance between her and himself as possible. The last thing he needed was to head into a massage or something with an uncomfortable situation occurring in his pants.
“I didn’t peg you for a breast man, Taylor,” Adrian laughed.
“I’m not, I’m just human. I think any person on the face of the planet would have looked at those,” Taylor responded, trying not to stare at them even across the room. He realized how lecherous he must have looked and forced himself to stare at the floor directly in front of him instead thinking only of baseball, being in the same room with Sheridan for longer than two seconds, and, as Austin Powers had once suggested, Margaret Thatcher naked on a cold day. His overtly physical reaction to the receptionist’s ample chest was as confusing for him as the last several days had been. Just when he was starting to think that he was correct in questioning his heterosexuality, a giant pair of boobs had to come in and mess everything up again. Before he could get too lost in thought, a middle aged woman came out to get him.
“Enjoy yourself,” Adrian smiled in a way that let Taylor know that he would in fact not be enjoying himself much, if at all, and also that Taylor had absolutely no say in the matter, as had become the custom.
“Mr. Anderson, we’re going to start with the massage portion of today’s treatment if that’d be all right with you,” she smiled, opening the door to a long, dimly lit hallway lined with thick silver colored doors.
“Sounds great,” Taylor replied, before finishing off his glass of wine. She smiled and took the now empty glass from his hand before gesturing to one of the open doors. Taylor had had plenty of massages before, so he was familiar with the routine. Once the door was closed, he stripped off all of his clothes and positioned himself comfortably under the sheet on the table. The soothing music combined with the comfortable warmth of the room and the soothing Enya-esque music that was playing almost had him asleep by the time the masseuse came in.
An hour later, Taylor was feeling much more relaxed, though he was slightly sore from where she’d worked hard on the knots in his shoulders and upper back. He stretched his arms across his body, pulling on them in an attempt to relieve some of the discomfort as he was led to his next destination, which he found to be a private room equipped with hair styling accessories. All Taylor could think about was how happy Flannery would be that he was finally getting his hair cut. He always got nervous when someone new did his hair. He’d had plenty of less than flattering hair cuts in his life, and he was more than sick of them. Either they didn’t cut off enough or they cut off too much. Rarely did he find someone who did exactly as he asked, but the guy who did it there at El Sol did a damned fine job.
Taylor was feeling good and relaxed with his hair back to his regular length and significantly less tension in his body. He was wearing a plush white robe provided by the spa and was again being led through the labyrinth of hallways to his next stop, now with a second glass of wine. When the next door was opened, he stopped short at the threshold for a few reasons. One, Adrian was seated inside with a big shit-eating grin on his face. Two, it was a waxing room.
“Fuck no,” Taylor said to Adrian, “Whatever this is about… fuck no.”
“Oh come on. We need to make you look presentable for the big night,” Adrian replied.
“What exactly are we making presentable?”
“Do you really need to ask?” Adrian laughed, not budging from his seat in the corner as he was led to the table in the middle of the room.
“This is for a chest wax, Mr. Anderson,” the woman said, finally making her presence known. Taylor closed his eyes and sighed loudly. He knew that his chest hair had gotten a little unruly as of late, but he had been expecting the waxing to take place somewhere different and much more painful.
“I know what you’re thinking, and I wouldn’t make you wax that unless you asked for it. Though, I’ve heard it’s really not that bad…” Adrian started.
“The chest is fine. I used to get it done quite a bit, actually,” Taylor admitted before immediately regretting his decision to share that information.
“You did? Well that’s not something that normal heterosexual men do often. Am I right, Sophie?” Adrian asked the woman who was trying to usher Taylor onto the table without interrupting their conversation.
“I get your point,” Taylor said, sitting down on the table and glaring at Adrian instead of paying attention to Sophie, who was now trying to get Taylor to take the robe off. And he really did understand what Adrian was trying to say. He knew that many of his behaviors in his life had always bordered between metrosexuality and something else. Well, he supposed that the “something else” was precisely what he was spending all of his current efforts trying to figure out. Between manicures, which he had always justified by saying that he did his job with his hands so they needed to look good, chest waxes, and a nightly exfoliation routine, his general upkeep was much greater than that of a normal male, but everyone had always chocked it up to Taylor being Taylor and nothing more. Now it seemed that every single one of his actions held some awkward double meaning to those around him and that he was being scrutinized for whatever he did.
“Come on, Daisy! Show us a bitta skin!” Adrian said, snapping Taylor out of his inner rambling.
“Huh?” he asked confusedly.
“Unless you want her to wax the robe from your chest and then start in on your chest hair, I suggest that you remove the top half of your robe so she can do her job.” Taylor did as told and tried not to wince and whine too much as the hot wax was poured onto his skin, hardened, and then was ripped off in a way that felt careless though he knew better than to actually believe that.
Once his chest was completely bare, though also a fetching shade of lobster red, he pulled the robe back onto his shoulders before turning to face Adrian.
“Am I done now, or is there more on the agenda?” he asked, secretly wishing that a second massage was in the plans. Maybe one of those hot stone massages he’d heard about being so wonderful.
“Nope, that’s all she wrote. You’ll be great tomorrow!” he said, again mentioning the event that was supposed to happen the next night that Taylor still knew absolutely nothing about except that he was to attend and to look good doing it.
“Well, I guess I’ll just get dressed now?” Taylor asked. Sophie nodded before leading him down the hallway to a room that now housed his clothes and other personal affects. He dressed himself gingerly, taking special care to be gentle with his still sensitive torso.
“How do you feel? Better?” Adrian asked as Taylor joined him once again in the receptionist’s room.
“I guess so,” Taylor replied, leading the way back to the parking lot. He climbed into his car and turned it on before lower the window a few inches and reaching under his seat for some hidden item. A few seconds later he sat back up after he had retrieved the hidden pack of cigarettes and lighter from under the seat.
“I didn’t know you smoked,” Adrian said as he watched Taylor light one.
“The only other person who knows I still do this is Flannery, so just don’t tell anyone, okay?”
“Who am I going to tell? I only talk to your brothers when I have to, so your secret’s safe with me, “Adrian started, “But honestly. Hidden cigs, chest waxes… have any other dirty little secrets I should know about?” Taylor just gave him a half smile and shrugged. Of course he did, who didn’t? His secrets only came out when he really trusted someone or when copious amounts of alcohol were involved, and since neither was currently the case, he settled for keeping his secrets a little while longer.
“I guess you’ll just have to wait and see,” Taylor replied.
“Fine… I’m only trying to help you here, but keep your secrets. I’ll get them eventually… mark my words.” Taylor ignored Adrian’s dramatics and decided instead to change the subject.
“So, can you please just let me know what’s going on for tomorrow night?” Taylor asked, wanting to know not so that he could protest, but only so that he could mentally prepare himself for whatever it would be.
“We’re going back to Xcape because you need to really experience it there instead of burying your head in a bottle of Jack Daniels. I mean… would you say that you liked filet mignon if you’d never had a bite of it?” Taylor almost gulped at that comment, wondering what exactly Adrian was planning for him to “taste” at Xcape in order for it to be fully experienced.