Acupressure
Part I
I always meet New Year’s Eve with a mixture of excitement and dread. This isn’t some personal profound insight, I imagine a lot of people have the same feeling. The anticipation of a new year, a fresh start, and parties with fireworks. But at the same time I’m heading into all this alone. Without anyone to kiss at midnight, and no one to sleep in late with new years morning.
This isn’t as somber as it seems. These thoughts pass into my mind, make a few laps, and are replaced with an internal discussion about what shoes I’m going to wear tonight.
I’m going with the calf-highs in case you were wondering.
“Clair!” Alice, my roommate, called out from the next room. “Do you have that red lipstick I like, you know, with that red red?”
“Its in the bathroom somewhere on the counter. I’m not using it tonight.”
“Cool, thanks!”
“Sure thing. Do you know many people who’ll be there?”
“A few. I know Greg and Rob will be there with dates: a few others from that crowd. You should recognize a few people from Nocturne there.” Alice said.
Cool, Nocturne. The coffee bar / nightclub where I’ve spent a few sleepless nights. “What time do you want to head out?” I replied.
“Well, Gina said her party starts around 8, but I don’t want to get there too early, so I’m thinking 9ish. After the fireworks we can decide if we want to stay longer or head home.”
“Sounds like a plan. Say, do you like this skirt or this one with this top?” I asked, holding up a navy sweater and a burgundy stretch shirt.”
“I like the shirt, it shows off your cleavage better,” Alice said with a sly grin.
“Thanks.”
A while later, at the party, it was a good scene. Lots of good looking people. Plenty of alcohol, and Gina went out of her way with the food. I’d probably ring in the new year a few pounds heavier.
At around 10:30 I’d been hanging with the same group in the living room for a while when I noticed a few guys coming into the house. One was tall and good looking, you couldn’t miss him. I must have been staring because one of the guys I was talking to poked me in the arm and asked me if I wanted to rejoin reality.
“Sorry, zoned out for a second.”
“See something you like?” Someone joked, looking in the direction of where I had been staring.
“Just thinking about the new year. Anyone have any resolutions?” This ought to take the attention back off me.
“I resolve to eat more” An athletic looking guy replied. “I think I can stick with that resolution through at least February.
“I resolve to make no more resolutions I can’t keep. Wait, does that contradict itself?”
We all chuckled along with the quips. I stealthily looked around the room to see if I could spot that guy again.
“Clair, do you have any resolutions to share?”
“No, I’m perfect just as I am,” I replied.
“C’mon, you have to have something.” One of the group said. Clearly they weren’t going to let it go.
“I resolve to get my brains fucked out by a hot young stud,” I said with a wicked smile.
Straight on the heals of that, a shorter guy nearby chimed in, “What a coincidence, I resolve to screw a beautiful co-ed! Lets help each other out.”
“Sorry, I said hot and young.” I replied sarcastically.
“Well we can all have dreams right?” He said back good-naturedly.
Behind me a voice asked, “Hey, is this a sci-fi conversation?”
I turned around and saw the guy from before. Six feet tall, great body, and standing right in front of me.
“I thought I heard someone talking about getting ‘brain-fucked’.”
My face burned with embarrassment, and someone behind me said, “No, but I think you can help Clair with her new year’s resolution.” Someone else added, “You look young enough.”
At which point I was so embarrassed my face could have looked like Rudolph’s nose.
Like a gentleman though, the guy overlooked their comments and stuck out his hand.
“Hello Clair. I’m Sean, pleasure to meet you.” I took his hand and shook. Even though his hands weren’t big, they were very powerful, not that he hurt me. Its just one of those things you can tell. My hand lingered in his for a moment, and he just looked down at it; I realized it and quickly pulled my hand away.
“No, we weren’t talking about sci-fi, we were exchanging new years resolutions,” I told him, picking up where he had come in. “Do you have any?”
“Nope, I’m perfect just as I am.” He remarked.
“That’s what I said, but no one believed me.”
“Well, you look perfect to me.” He paused, smiled, “I guess there’s no way for that not to have sounded corny, huh?”
“Nope.”
“Then I will cleverly change the subject to avoid embarrassment...Would you like a drink?”
We got some drinks and found a relatively quiet corner to sit down and talk. The conversation started out typical. We talked a little bit about sci-fi, referring to his prior attempt to join my conversation. Our taste in science fiction was similar. We had both just bought Blade Runner on DVD, and he expressed surprise to finding a female with an interest in sci-fi. Growing up with three older brothers will expose one to all sorts of non-girly related interests. I can’t cook, but I could build a tree fort like nobody’s business. He smiled at that and told me that I could build it, but he could out climb me any day. I thought back to his strong hands and asked him where he got that idea from.
The talk shifted to work after that. He told me his hobby is climbing, but the strength actually comes from being a massage therapist. My career in human resources seemed infinitely less interesting by comparison. Human Resources, he told me, he never liked that term. Personnel was better, human resources sounds like you’re at a quarry mining people. Personnel is so much more, well, personal.
Sean was easy to talk to, and we were deep in conversation that bounced from the serious to the surreal, when my reverie was broken. It was ten minutes to midnight and we were all heading up to the roof balcony to watch the city’s fireworks display.
On the way up we all grabbed plastic flutes of champagne. The patio was surprisingly large, but still not big enough to fit everyone. At least I didn’t want to try. It was built by a friend of Gina’s, and I had no desire to find out if there was a maximum weight capacity.
Sean agreed, and we found an adjacent bedroom from which we could watch the sky out the window. The stereo down stairs began the countdown to the new year, and everyone one the balcony was chanting along, down to one.
“HAPPY NEW YEAR!” Everybody yelled in unison. I raised my plastic cup in a toast and turned to clink glasses with Sean. He surprised me by being right at face level, and leaned in and gave me a New Year’s kiss. I was pretty surprised, but not surprised enough to pull away. He was respectful, and the kiss was short, but the sensation lingered for a long while until the fireworks started.
I stood watching the colorful explosions out the window, and Sean stood behind me watching over my shoulder. We sipped our champagne and left the cups on a dresser near the window.
The fireworks display was impressive and lasted nearly 25 minutes. The city put loads of money into the show, and even though I cringed at the though of what else that money could have gone to, I was also grateful that the long show kept me alone with Sean.
After a while standing, watching, Sean put his hand on my shoulder. I looked back at him and smiled. He began caressing my neck, and I loved it. After the fireworks were over, I continued to stand there and let him run his fingers through my hair and over my shoulders.
He asked me if I would like a neck rub. Painfully, I declined. I didn’t want him to have to work while he was at a party. This was his job, not his hobby, but he insisted; he told me he likes what he does, and it more enjoyable when he can take his time and actually likes the person he’s massaging. I wasn’t about to protest again. He tilted my head slightly forward and began rubbing my neck. He was telling me about what he was doing, kneading the muscles to loosen them up, while also promoting blood flow. Definitely promoting blood flow, but not where he intended.
He told me about different methods he had learned and that what he was doing now was more of a gentle massage. It was an oriental type derivative of acupuncture called acupressure.
I loved it. He was telling me how touching the right places on the body could produce different feelings. Right now he was promoting blood flow to my brain by loosening up the constrictive muscles around the base of my neck. This would make me a little more sober, but I shouldn’t mind losing the buzz because it would also break up the lactic acid that was making me feel tired.
Politely he asked me if I wanted him to continue, and I languidly agreed. This was heaven. I was all smiles as we moved over to the futon and he flattened it out. I laid down on my stomach and he sat down on the edge next to me.
He continued talking to me about the acupressure, telling me what each pressure point was supposed to do and how it would make me feel.
The buzz I had from the alcohol was already starting to fade. I could feel my mind getting sharp, but at the same time, I was so relaxed I didn’t care to think about anything. Sean could have taken any advantage of me if he wanted, but he was being overly polite. He asked me for permission before touching my lower back, and then again when he started massaging my hamstrings.
Each time he touched me he described what the acupressure was accomplishing. I wondered briefly if he was this talkative when he was at work. Although I thought it was all right; his voice was comforting, and what he was talking about was pretty interesting.
As he massaged my lower back, he told me how there was a large bundle of nerves at the base of my spine. By rubbing this area he was affecting nerves throughout my entire body. The muscles in your legs are the largest in your body. By working those, he was releasing stored oxygenated blood back into my whole body. He reached up and pressed firmly on points just under my jaw. It was a very odd feeling He held the pressure there for a long moment and told me this would release endorphins. He said the body releases endorphins when we eat spicy food, and this was a way to do it without the chili peppers.
Sean kept going, and time seemed to slow down. I had an hour-long full body massage once before. I remember that hour seemed to stretch out into many while I was on the table. Each touch was a moment in its own. But when it was over, it seemed it was over too soon. For an hour that seemed to encompass a whole day, I could have stayed there all week.
This time everything slowed down, and I could feel each individual finger as it was pressed into specific places on my body. I could have been there for ten minutes, or hours; time was irrelevant to me. Sean was telling me how his touch would relax this part, or release the tension in another part. Touching this part was like touching the whole, and another point would release it.
He went on like this, and I was floating in the bliss. At some point I had stopped listening to what he was saying, and was only listening to his voice. The constant sound was as relaxing as his touch. Similarly, I wasn’t focusing on where he was touching me anymore; I was more aware of what effects his touch was having. At one point I was aware that he was removing my boots, but at the same time he continued to speak and was massaging some other part; I didn’t care.
I briefly worried how it was terrible of me to be drifting off while he was doing this for me. It would be so rude to fall asleep on him, on New Year’s Eve of all times, but then he started rubbing my feet, and the feeling radiated through my entire being and I just ceased caring.
Floating and relaxing, I was in that weird state just before you wake up. You’re still deep in a dream, but the waking world can affect it. I couldn’t tell what was real and what was dream. I felt incredible, and I was vaguely aware that I was aroused. My thoughts were turning very erotic and images were drifting through my mind. Heat was building up within me and I thought a hundred sexual thoughts at once. The heat within me was expanding and filling me until I felt like I was live fire, my whole body and being was warmth. I was on the edge and heading over... pulsing through me was an explosive orgasm that seemed to have no beginning or ending.
It subsided, only to return again quickly. I was cumming in waves, over an over. Each orgasm seemed to bring new images to my waking dream. Images of complacent submission and joyous pleasure, images of total control and total wanton abandonment, people, places, and things sifted through my thoughts, and all the while I felt the incredible orgasms bursting through me.
Slowly through my haze the sexual heat began to subside. As my arousal wound down, also it seemed, did my awareness. The images still ran through my mind, and I tried to grasp them as they went. Yin and yangs, submission and control, give and comply, sexuality and surrender. They were all there, and all had a feeling of pleasantness to them. Like somebody asking you a polite favor that you’d do anyway.
Still my thoughts seemed to slow, and finally my waking sleep disappeared into black.