Ouch, walking's gonna suck

“Professional development, based on the name it could be anything? Maybe I’ll be pleasantly surprised by how much I learn, unlikely though.”

You get ready and head over. You decide to ignore the pain you are in for the rest of the day and do your best to pretend everything is fine. You eventually arrive to a small classroom. Apparently this class is just you and about 20 other people. You pick a seat when you hear a familiar voice.

“Bells, Whassup?”

“Rone, seems like you are in most of my classes.” He rolls his eyes at the nickname as he takes the seat next to yours.

“This one is a physio specific class so I'm a little confused if I'm honest.”

He gives you a sheepish smile, “it’s professional development and I'm hoping to be a professional sometime soon so I figured it would be perfect.”

“You can’t be serious.”

“Well, I got a tip off from a friend of mine that this is a good class to be a part of and I had an elective, so I figured I’d find out why.”

“Ooo interesting.”

A short amount of time goes by when something the teacher says catches your interest.

“As future physiotherapists and other health professionals that may require massage in their practice you will be expected to know what you are doing. So during this class you will be practicing these techniques on each other to some degree. There is an expectation that you will all approach this with an air of professionalism. Now I know it’s the first week but I figure why not get straight into it. Today’s lesson will focus on the hand.”

You catch Rone’s eye as he gives you a smile that suggests that he is hoping this class stays anything but professional.

You sigh and think, “well played Rone, just don't expect your charms to work on me.”

After 15 more minutes of learning about the bones and ligaments of the hand the lecturer comes to a stop and says.

“Okay, for the rest of the lesson you and the person next to you are going to give each other a hand massage. Now remember the importance of staying gentle around the hand, people getting the massage make sure you give feedback and for gods sake don’t start being inappropriate. It's week one, you don’t want that kind of name for yourself. “

At this point he is grinning like a Cheshire cat as he looks you in the eyes and says, “Hand milady?”

“Oh here we go,” you give him your hand and suffer through 5 minutes or so of him clumsily attempting to massage you. Being tall as hell and a basketballer his hands are massive so you imagine being delicate and gentle aren't exactly his strong points.

“So how’d I do.” He says after finishing.

“Look, if you actually want feedback on your technique, I think you need to spend a lot more time being gentle especially on a part of the body like the hands. Now the thighs or glutes might be more suited to your style.”

“Haha, the glutes are definitely more my style, let’s hope we get there next week.”

“Just a thought, the blonde with the pixie cut over there has been staring daggers at me since you asked me to be your partner, if next week does involve glutes or thighs, you should ask her and I think she would be more than happy to have your hands all over her legs.”

He looks a little confused, like he isn’t used to being turned down. “Are you saying you wouldn’t like that?”

“Let me put it to you like this, if you don’t have your hands all over that blonde next week, I will, and I guarantee she will love it.”

“Oh shit girl, it be like that, also blonde girl behind me aye?”

“Men, haha you miss everything, I'm going to start massaging your hand right now and oh man if looks could kill.”

You pick up his huge hand and begin. It doesn’t take long for his look to give away how much he is enjoying himself. You continue for a minute before he lets out a very small groan.

“Oh, enjoying yourself are we?”

“That’s amazing, look seriously Bells, when I go pro and get a huge contract I'm gonna need a physio to travel with me, and if you are half as good as your hands are making you seem you can consider this your job offer. Give it some thought. Now, I think I'm gonna go chat with blondie back there, I'm definitely not letting you get your hands on her before me. Oh yeah, you’re coming to my party tonight?”

“Yeah I’ll be there, and I tell you what I can think on your offer. Now you go butter up that blonde girl and I'm sure you'll nail her later tonight.”

“Haha it’s like you can read my mind, I’ll cya later Bells.”

You watch him walk off, glad that he left before he saw you attempt to get up and limp away. The classroom mostly empties out and you slowly get up and limp back to your room.