Ninth week of the session.

.

You didn’t care that your birthday was in exactly a week, on October 22^nd. You didn’t give a damn about that, just because it was the ninth week of the session.

You couldn’t repress the curse as you headed towards your class. You knew what was awaiting you in this class now that this was the ninth week of the session. You’d learn about massage techniques to help suppress stress and you’d have to practice on someone. And someone would have to practice on you.

Why the were you stuck with Kevin Woo?

You had managed to ignore him completely the past few weeks. It had been tough during PE classes, but by sitting far from him you had survived. It was impossible to do that now, though. You were getting all tensed just thinking about the fact that you’d have to let him touch you, and that you’d have to touch him. You didn’t know which one you dreaded the most…

He walked in, his bony body hidden under a large shirt that was obviously way too big for him. Same thing for the pants. You had brought the necessary materials, meaning two blankets and two hand towels, since you could guess he didn’t have big blankets at home and you needed those.

He sat next to you, keeping silent. Well, this was awkward. The teacher came in along with other students and class started. She started explaining how they would install each ‘station’ and how she would proceed to show techniques in the future. She had showed you the basics the last class using a voluntary student, so you could at least start almost immediately for this class. She’d guide you anyway with vocal instructions. She then told you to choose who would be the first to be massaged, and you looked sideways at Kevin, who was sighing, looking like a pitiful puppy.

“Whatever,” you mumbled.

“Hmm?”

“I said, whatever. Choose.”

“I don’t know…”

“Either I’m the first one to get half-, either you are.”

“…”

“Just ing choose already. The teacher’s waiting.”

“I’ll be the first one to lie down, then…”

He helped you prepare the station; one of the school’s blankets first, directly on the floor, then one of your blankets on top of it, then the second blanket. The guinea pig would lie down between the two home-brought blankets. You then went to grab a pillow and two sand bags. The pillow would be put between the school blanket and the first home blanket. The sand bags were for the ankles.

Kevin slid between the blankets. You made a tent so it would be easier for him to move, and he removed his shirt, throwing it out of there before he lay down on his stomach, head on the pillow. He looked at you, his dark eyes full of sadness, but you didn’t give in. You simply kneeled next to the station, listened to the teacher’s instructions and pressed a hand near the top of Kevin’s back, the other one near the bottom, on a bone you could easily feel since he had absolutely no fat in his body. You closed your eyes and breathed deeply, relieving all tension. You needed to concentrate, to forget that the guy under the blanket was your ex-boyfriend. Tough thing to do, but hey.

You then slowly moved the blanket and folded it so that it would be just near the line of Kevin’s pants. Taking a towel, you folded a little part of it and slid it in his pants so that you would avoid dirtying everything with the massage oil. You then put your hands just like before, except that this time, the one near the bottom was palm up, indicating that you were ready to receive the oil.

The teacher went to you and asked you which scent you wanted. You had the choice between berries, lavender and orange. You chose orange, immediately. You loved the smell of orange. It actually smelled like orange-flavored popsicles, making you hungry, but you pushed those thoughts away and you warmed the oil before you slowly spread it on Kevin’s bony back.

As your fingers touch his warm skin, you could feel every bone under it. You could feel just a few muscles, but he was in such underweight that the muscles couldn’t be as strong as they would be on a well-fed man. You looked at Kevin’s body, shamelessly, knowing you had to look anyway. He had a few scars here and there, some of them were big enough for you to feel them as your fingers ran along them. You felt your ex-boyfriend shiver, and you moved your hands away from his scars. They seemed so familiar, though. Like you had seen them hundreds of times, kissed them the same number of times and even helped a few of them to heal.

“Dangerous quarter…” Kevin sighed in a low voice so he wouldn’t disturb the others.

“Hmm?”

“My quarter is dangerous… that’s where I got them.”

Now that he was saying this, it did sound familiar to you. You were having a few flashbacks at times, but this time, nothing popped from the depths of your mind. Oh well. You simply finished spreading the oil and proceeded to press on Kevin’s skinny body, following the teacher’s instructions, but careful not to hurt him.

“You can press harder,” he groaned. “I won’t break.”

You took his words seriously and started pressing using your body weight, making him groan in relief as you felt and heard a few cracks coming from his back. You could feel that he was tense, and it was only one more reason to give it everything you got. You finished the first step and then kept on going, following the teacher’s instructions until it was time for you to exchange places.

You wiped the oil off of Kevin’s back and hid him to let him put his shirt back on before you sighed. Well, at this the active part was done for you. Now…

You couldn’t help but dread the moment where he’d touch your body. You knew the accident had left enormous scars on your body, and you didn’t want him to see them. You didn’t want him to touch them either. They didn’t hurt anymore, but they were a part of you that you didn’t want people to approach. Especially not Kevin Woo.

But you ended up removing your upper clothes under the blanket, lying down on your stomach, sighing. Well, this was going to be awkward.

You felt Kevin’s hand on top of the blanket as he released all the stress that could’ve been transmitted from him to you. He breathed deeply, emptying his mind, and he moved the blanket just like you had done before, preparing the second towel and sliding it so he wouldn’t dirty your clothes. You shivered at the delicate touch of his fingers on your back, feeling as if your memories were trying to come back to you. You… somehow remembered those fingers. They were gentle, delicate, hesitant, sweet and strong, all at the same time. If you could describe them in one word, you’d probably call these fingers ‘perfect’. Though, you didn’t really know how fingers could be perfect, but… they just were.

You felt the warm hands leave your body to warm the oil up before Kevin started spreading it on your back, his long, thin fingers sliding on your skin. You shivered again at his touch. It felt… good. Natural. Right. As if his fingers were always meant to touch your skin…

You were suddenly submerged in an ocean of memories. Fragmented memories, impossible to grab a hold of, but memories anyway. You let them take control of your mind.

Your voice, happy.

‘Vinnie? Vinnie, I love you. Stay with me, okay, Vinnie?’

His voice, chuckling.

‘Why would I ever leave you? I love you.’

His voice again, purring.

‘You’re so beautiful.’

Your voice, laughing.

‘Vinnie, stop it, it’s tickling me ~’

His voice, whispering, sending shivers everywhere in your body.

‘Are you ready?’

Your voice, full of lust and love.

‘Yes. I’m ready, Vinnie. Please love me.’

His voice. Whispering your name, again and again, as forgotten feelings were submerging your entire being in happiness and sadness at the same time. Those memories were clearly coming from different moments of your relationship. All of them were so sweet… until…

Your voice, yelling.

‘Just because is NOT a reason, Kevin-ing-Woo!’

Your voice again, sad.

‘Kevin, tell me… what did I do wrong?’

His voice. Sad

‘There’s nothing to explain. Leave. I don’t want to have anything to do with you. Ever again.’

Sadness. Anger. Frustration. Incomprehension.

Pain.

You gasped as Kevin’s hand touched one of your scars, making you jump in surprise and leave the ocean of memories. You stayed in the same position, conscious that your upper body was , but you could clearly feel your entire body trembling. Kevin’s hands left your back, and his worried voice pushed away the last bits of memories that still clung on to your consciousness.

“Are you okay?”

You didn’t answer. You simply stayed as you were, silent, face into the pillow, refusing him the right to look at your expression.

You had forgotten those feelings. All of them.

So…

… why were tears running down your cheeks?

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If you're wondering, there really is a class like this over here. I know it, I had it xD

Also, I'm sorry for the time this took. I had school and all... I don't know if it'll get better now that summer vacations are almost there, considering I'll start working 40 hours a week and run to lose some weight when coming back, but hey. We can hope.

Oh, and one more thing. I do read every comment I receive, okay? It's just that most of the time, when I reply to comment, people don't even reply back, so... Anyway, I do read them, so if you have any feeling about how the story is going to unfold, you can tell me, I'd be curious to see how you feel about it :)

And tell me if I make very stupid typo mistakes, or mistakes that really annoy you, okay? English isn't my first language, after all.