Love Heals

Rachel finally turned around and smiled at Emilio.

“Alright, Emilio, what I’m gonna do is pretty simple. Today we’re just going to do a deep tissue massage, get your ankle loosened up and ready to start healing itself. If you feel any pains or discomfort, you need to let me know right away, okay?”

“Okay,” Emilio said, closing his eyes, waiting.

“Alright, you’re going to feel my hands on your ankle in a second, don’t be alarmed.”

Emilio almost scoffed before he realized that 1) Dr. Guararia’s hands were going to be on his ankle, and 2) half of his body was bare. Naked. Hot doctor hands on his naked body. He was going to need to keep himself in check because this could go totally wrong and Emilio would need a new physiotherapist and that was the last thing he wanted.

Rachel put her right hand on Emilio’s hamstring, anchoring him, kneading the heel of it into the muscle there. She put her left hand a few inches lower on the left side of his ankle and slowly started moving that hand deeper into his flesh, her fingers dancing firmly against Emilio’s side. He could surprisingly already feel his ankle loosen up, and then Dr. Guararia moved her hands so they switched; her right hand massaging his deltoid and her left hand massaging tibialis anterior muscle. It felt amazing. But also –

“Ungh,” Emilio mumbled when Rachel ran her hands over a particularly tight space.

“What did you just feel?” Dr. Guararia asked, hands stilling. “Tell me exactly what you felt and where.”

“Uh, the back of my ankle felt a little weird when you pressed on my, um, deltoid? I think.”

Rachel pressed down lightly where Emilio said and he felt that weird feeling in the back of his ankle.

“Did you feel it again?” Emilio nodded and Dr. Guararia hummed, continuing her massage of Emilio’s entire  leg. “That’s normal, actually. Your ankle never got this much release, even when you’re at the top of your exercise regime for soccer, so it’s just loosening up. Weird can be good or bad, so we’ll keep an eye on it. Does anything else feel weird, or off?”

Emilio had a hard time answering. Dr. Guararia was still rubbing her hands against Emilio’s ankle, deeply and firmly, smoothing out what felt like wrinkles underneath his skin. She used her thumb to loosen up knots that Emilio didn’t even know he had and it hurt a little, sometimes, but whenever Emilio made a noise – whether out of discomfort or relaxation – Dr. Guararia stopped and asked him where it hurt and how it hurt. Despite Emilio’s previous thoughts that the appointment would be horrible, it actually went pretty well.

Until Emilio’s stupid brain had the stupid thought that Dr. Guararia’s hands, while side-by-side on his legs, feel just as soft and good as they always did. Emilio wanted to examine the doctor’s hands thoroughly. He wanted to map out the lines that ran through her hands, wanted to recall what they looked like writing or painting, playing pattycake, cooking – he just wanted to see them do anything. Emilio was starting to get uncomfortable in his boxers and he prayed that the appointment was almost over because he didn’t think he could last much longer not thinking dirty thoughts of Rachel’s hands.

She stopped massaging him – she was using her fingers and Emilio was in slight discomfort but it still felt good which left him quite confused – and instructed Emilio to put his pants back on.

Emilio got up slowly, feeling groggy as he tugged his pants back on.

“That went quite well, Emilio,” Rachel said, writing something in Emilio’s chart before sliding it into the folder. “I’m very optimistic that you’ll be back with your team very soon.”

Emilio could only nod. He needed to go home, have a cold shower, and eat a lot of junk on the couch while he moaned at Cameron about being in love with his physiotherapist.

“We’ll have Fran make an appointment for you, but in the mean time I want you to stay loose, okay? Make sure you get up and move around if you’ve been sitting too long, but don’t do any hard exercise, yeah? Keeping it limber but not putting stress on your ankle is what we want to happen, we don’t want you to over exert yourself,” Rachel said and Emilio just kept nodding.

“So, like, just casual moving? I can’t run that 10k I was planning?”

Rachel stared at him blankly for a second before cracking a smile.

“Very funny, Emilio,” she said, standing up and leading him to the door. “Just don’t stay in one position too long –”

Emilio’s brain went haywire.

“ – and maybe try some really easy, soft yoga poses.”

Emilio’s brain was back to normal.

“Yoga?” he said dumbly.

“Just casual stretches, nothing to worry about!” Rachel chirped as they got to the receptionist desk.

“Fran, could you book an appointment for Mr. Da Costa here for next week, whatever day and time is best for him.” She turned to Emilio and extended her hand, smiling. “It was good to see you again Emilio, keep your ankle loose and I’ll see you next week.”

“Bye, Dr. Guararia,” Emilio said in the most professional tone he could find within himself as they shook hands, “thanks, have a good week.” When Rachel was back in his office, Emilio let out a sigh he didn’t know he was holding.

Fran looked up sympathetically.

“I know,” she said, typing something into the computer. Emilio almost pissed himself. Was he that obvious?

“You must really miss playing, although it’s only been a day or so. I promise, Dr. Guararia is really good, you’ll be back in no time.”

Emilio sighed again, out of relief. Fran handed him a card that had the date and time of his next appointment written neatly.

“Until next week, Mr. Da Costa,” Fran said.

Emilio waved her goodbye, sliding the card into his wallet as he headed towards the car.