Giving my long term friend a massage has reshaped our relationship - Part 1
Within the last few weeks my relationship with a long term friend, Emma, has recently taken a turn and become very passionate and tense. I thought it would be fun to contribute to this community since I've read so much, so here's how it all started. Both Emma and I are 27, relatively fit and moderately attractive people living in a large west coast city in the US.
I met Emma in college, almost 8 years ago now. We've been close friends pretty much from the minute we met, with a lot of shared hobbies and interests.Up until this last month or so, our relationship has been strictly platonic. There have obviously been times in the past where I've fantasized about her or taken notice of her body, particularly summer days when our friend group hangs out at a nearby swimming spot, but I've never really felt a strong sexual attraction or desire for her until all of this. We've also both been in quite a few relationships during this time, turning to each other for advice at the start of a new one or comfort when one of them ends.
During our senior year of university we were roommates with a few other friends in a big shared house. As one of our shared hobbies is cooking, Emma and I would often make dinner for the house, and some of my fondest memories with her are from that time - smoking a joint in the backyard and then drinking cheap wine while we made food for our group of friends and housemates and significant others. We also both worked the odd restaurant job during college, so we've really bonded over that.
After graduating we've stayed in the same city and our circle of friends has changed and expanded, and this year we put together a group of about 15 or so to rent a big house not too far away. Emma and I were the ones to pick the house, so we made sure the kitchen was big enough to cook for a large group. In the few weeks leading up to the event, Emma and I met up a few times at our apartments to look through cookbooks and talk recipes and plan, joined a couple of those times by our larger friend group. I should also mention that both Emma and I live alone in studio apartments, but live within about 20 minutes walking distance of one another (and most of our friend group, for that matter). We also are both currently not in relationships - I ended my last relationship of about a year back in the summer and she's been single and dating around for the better part of a year.
Anyway with all the background out of the way, this story begins at one of those planning meetings at my apartment. While talking about our respective weeks at work, Emma and I shared a joint on my balcony before heading inside. Our plan was to cook dinner for ourselves then look through a few new cookbooks she had acquired, so we got to work on making butternut squash ravioli with some pasta dough I had made during a boring work from home meeting earlier in the day.
We were pretty silent while we were cooking which is pretty typical, both just moving in the zone and listening to music. We've always been fairly touchy with each other and cooking is no exception, a hand on the back when passing behind, a touch on the arm to grab something, that sort of thing.
Once we started eating dinner at my table, Emma made a comment about how good it felt to sit down, having had a few long shifts recently and how sore her feet have gotten because of it. I sympathized with her but didn't really think anything of it just yet. Over dinner we paged through her cookbooks and noted a couple recipes we wanted to try out, adding ingredients to our shopping lists and thinking about timing and menu planning.
Once we were done eating and cleaned up, Emma asked if I wanted to smoke another joint and watch some IASIP. To be perfectly honest at the time I really just wanted to wind down and go to bed, but thankfully agreed. Once we got back inside, both feeling a solid buzz, we sat next to each other on my couch and put on the newest season. Like I said, we've always been pretty open to touch, so it wasn't a surprise when Emma leaned back against one side and placed her legs in my lap. I made a joking comment about personal space, but quickly rested my hands on the tops of her shins. She was wearing a pair of black jeans, and while we watched the first episode my fingers absentmindedly traced up and down between her ankles and knees over the rough denim fabric.
While the second episode was starting up, Emma let out a loud sigh and asked if I would be willing to rub her feet. I had never given her any sort of massage before, but figured why not. I've always enjoyed giving my past partners massages (both sexual and non-sexual), even taking a few massage classes with my last girlfriend which were really fun and informative. That's all to say that while I'm by no means a pro massage therapist, I think I may be slightly above average when compared to the general population.
I slid a little further down on the couch to sit in the opposite corner and turned to face her slightly. Her head was turned watching the TV, but as I started to knead my fingers into the soles of her feet I could see her eyes flutter closed and her lips part slightly. She was still wearing socks, so I was mostly just kneading and pressing into the arches of her feet with my fingers. She sighed a few times as I started to make small circular motions with my thumbs, gradually applying more pressure to various spots that seemed tense on her feet.
Once I had done a sort of "scan" of her feet using my hands, I asked her if everything felt okay so far. She sighed out a "mmm hmm", her eyes fully shut. I asked if she wanted me to grab some lotion and work on her bare feet, and got another soft voiced response of "I wouldn't be opposed".
After returning from my bathroom with a bottle of lotion I quickly settled back into my corner of the couch, this time sitting fully sideways, my legs crossed and her now bare feet resting in my lap. She had also switched from laying on her side to laying on her back, neither of us facing the TV anymore.
I warmed up some lotion in my hands, then made a few slow gliding passes up and down her right foot, pressing my palm deep into her heel and dragging up towards her toes. After stretching her toes back slightly with my fingers, I dragged my hand back down, this time kneading my thumbs into the soles of her feet. I repeated this motion for a good ten minutes, working one foot then the other, really starting to feel some tension drop out of her feet.
I don't know about you all, but when I'm a little high I feel like I really connect with the sensual side of myself. Yoga, stretching, working out, and now apparently massage are all things that I seem to be able to connect with and focus on more when combined with a little weed. Anyways, that's all to say that I was really focusing on massaging her feet, and found my own eyes closed as my fingers worked through every tense spot I could find.
After another ten or so minutes when the episode changed, I moved my hands up to her ankles, lifting one foot at a time and making some small circular stretching motions. She really liked this, letting out a short moan which broke the silence between us and caused us both to laugh. I playfully told her "don't get too used to this - most people pay for this sort of thing".
She matched my level of banter and responded "if I knew your foot rubs were this good I would have been taking advantage sooner" kicking her foot into my thigh. We chatted for a little bit about the show, her feet still wrapped in my hands resting in my lap. While we both started watching the next episode, my fingers absentmindedly slipped under the bottom cuff of her wide legged jeans and were gently scratching and stroking along the bottom of her shins. After a few minutes of this when a particular joke happened in the show, I looked over at her instinctually with a smile but saw her gaze was fixed on me.
I gave her a sort of inquisitive look, to which she just smiled and looked down at my hands. I hadn't really consciously realized that they had slipped under the leg of her jeans (really only a few inches), but quickly pulled them out thinking she didn't like it. She quickly said "oh you're good, that felt nice ... my calves are actually really sore too" ending her sentence with a playful uptick, rubbing her leg gently against my thigh.
I laughed and told her "yeah, sounds like you need to go get a real massage and use some of your hard earned money". I could sense a little bit of tension or questioning between us, both of us subtly teasing at whatever imaginary line existed. In response she just gave me a pouty look, something we've joked about before, and said "think about last month ... Remember when I took you to and from the airport? This could be your repayment."
While I could have easily responded saying how I had already paid her back, I was a little curious to see if she was just playing a game or where this was going, so I responded with "alright fair", then grabbing and tugging lightly on the bottom hem of her jeans, "but these are probably too tight to get more than a few inches up your calves, so don't expect anything too outstanding".
Honestly at the time I was serious, and wasn't really considering anything else in saying that. While reading and writing this back there was clearly some sexual tension, I was reading it more as our usual playful banter mixed with a little bit of new physical affection.
Once again though she responded playfully, toying around that imaginary line by saying "I mean how many times have you seen me in a bikini ... as long as you're not weird about it I can take them off". This caught me off guard a little - the sexual tension much more palpable now - and sensing my momentary hesitation she started to say something, but I quickly chimed in and told her to go for it, adding in that she could borrow a pair of shorts if she wanted.
Wordlessly she pressed her shins into legs and leveraged her lower back and butt off the couch, reaching down to unbutton her high waisted jeans. Trying and failing to not stare, my eyes locked onto her fingers as they worked at undoing her belt, noticing how the rings on her fingers contrasted with her metal zipper as she pulled it down. In this newfound tension I was definitely noticing her in more of a sexual light - while the whole action took only a few seconds, time seemed to slow into a sensual haze and I could tell the rational part of my brain was shutting down, if that makes any sense.
As she hooked her thumbs into her waistband and started to slide them down, I saw the dark gray fabric of her underwear pop out, contrasted by the soft pale skin of her hips and stomach peaking out from beneath her shirt which now fell back slightly. As she pushed them down over her thighs, now fully exposing her "boyshort style" underwear, she looked up at me and playfully spoke again, saying "well don't be weird and just watch, help me here please". I laughed with maybe a touch of nervousness as her voice broke me from my brief spell, quickly assisting her in pulling her jeans the rest of the way off.
The underwear she was wearing was really no different than a pair of tight spandex from the front, but as she rolled over onto her stomach ... oh my god. Like I've said I've seen her countless times in a bikini so I know what her body looks like, but her butt looked so perky and soft, just a hint of cheek exposed at the bottom of the cutoff underwear. I asked if she wanted me to turn the TV off, to which she said "sure, I actually want to watch these later". I stood up from the couch to let her get readjusted on the couch and put on some music (the band Skalpel if anyone is looking for some ambient jazz/electronic style music).
Turning back towards the couch, I noticed my heart rate increase and a surge of that sensual anticipation course through me - she was laying with her head turned towards me, her eyes watching me, a soft smile on her face. Emma looked absolutely stunning - her toned legs and perky butt, her skin glowing in the dim warm light from the few lamps we had on, her small leg tattoos hiding in the shadows.
I placed one bent leg with my knee between her feet, my other foot planted on the ground, essentially straddling her outer foot. I wouldn't recommend giving a massage on a couch to anyone as it's not the most ergonomic, but suggesting moving to the floor or my bed felt strange, almost too intimate. The playful energy between us, at least from my point of view, had dissipated and left nothing but a soft, warm tension in the air. I spoke gently telling her to let me know if anything felt particularly good or bad, then set to work massaging up the backs of her legs, from her ankles to her knees.
I only used a little bit of lotion at first, her legs remarkably smooth, enjoying the warmth and gentle friction between my fingers and her skin. I did a similar type of flow as her feet, first exploring her calf muscles up and down with my fingers, gently increasing the pressure to feel deeper into her body. I worked in a few stretching motions to try and get her legs loosened up, then added a little more lotion and worked on some deeper strokes and gliding motions.
She seemed to be really enjoying herself, occasionally letting out some deep breaths and saying how good a particular stroke or spot felt. I pretty quickly got absorbed back into the massage, really focusing on feeling any tension or sore areas in her legs. Without thinking I was soon massaging above her knees as well, carrying my strokes up the backs of her thighs, down the outsides of her legs, a few times tracing my fingers up the inside of her legs.
During all of this I noticed my own sexual energy building a little - I couldn't help but watch how her butt rippled and bounced ever so slightly as my hands kneaded into the backs of her thighs, and could feel myself growing harder beneath my pants. I was trying to be conscious of not brushing it against her or letting my hands wander too far, but while massaging deeper into one particularly tense knot on the side of her thigh I went a little too deep. She let out a deep breathy moan and reflexively shifted her leg, causing her calf to decisively rub against my erection. Her touch sent a ripple of pleasure through me causing me to shiver, but neither of us acknowledged the contact as I quickly asked if she wanted me to lighten up, letting her know that she had a fairly tense spot in her thigh.
She said it felt good but maybe a bit too intense, so I lightened my touch and worked on the area a bit further. All the while though she didn't move her calf away from the inside of my leg, the side of my shaft pressed against her, just the fabric of my pants separating us. I worked on massaging the backs of her legs for another ten or so minutes, eventually feeling like I had made a tangible improvement for her.
As I softened up my strokes she stirred a little, stretching her legs again, sliding against me again. She turned her head back towards me and smiled, saying how much better she felt. We started chatting again, mostly with her asking me about my massage experience. I told her a little about the classes I took with my last partner, and while speaking she rolled over onto her back, her legs still between mine as I half sat on the couch. Her legs were parted ever so slightly, and I couldn't help but noticed what looked like a darker/wet patch on her underwear.
Seeing that made me trip over my words momentarily, and while I'm sure (and now know) that she noticed, she didn't say anything in the moment. During a lull in our brief conversation she gave me another pensive look, then checked her phone briefly. I asked when she needed to head home, and she responded saying anytime in the next hour or so. We both just looked at each other for a moment, I think both still coming to terms with our newfound level of physical closeness. I broke the silence this time, saying how I could round out the massage and do the front of her legs if she wanted before she went home.
She happily agreed, nodding her head and saying "might as well at this point". She shuffled her body a little lower, her head propped up slightly, watching me as I squeezed a little more lotion on my hands and slid them up her thighs. I started just above her knees, dragging my fingers and palms through her muscular legs up towards the bottom hem of her panties. My fingers just barely slipped under the fabric before I restarted the stroke. Pretty quickly again we were both in the zone, my attention totally focused on working out the tension I was feeling in her thighs, her gaze softly watching me, her lips parted, her chest rising and falling with her breath.
She parted her legs a little further on one stroke I made down the inside of her thigh, allowing me to sort of roll her thigh open a little, giving me better leverage. With her legs spread further like this, I could now definitively see a darker wet patch on the gray fabric of her panties. I tried not to look to much though as she was now softly watching me the whole time, her eyes basically locked onto my hands as they worked up and down her legs.
I could feel some tension around her hips and into the sides of her glutes as well, but I didn't want to push too far and didn't really know where the line was (dumb now in retrospect), so I stuck to just the front and outside of her thighs, with only the occasional pass up or down the inside. While obviously the sexual tension was still present between us, I think we were both a little more settled into things and our highs were winding down. I was much more at ease and almost blissful, feeling so connected to someone I had known for so long.
After another fifteen or so minutes of massaging her thighs I gently wound down and transitioned to some light strokes up and down the full length of her legs, eventually coming to a stop. She thanked me again, saying how relaxed she felt, and added a comment about how "now that I know about your secret talent I'm going to have to take advantage of it".
I told her playfully in response that I don't work for free, and while pulling her pants back on she looked up at me with a cheeky grin and just said "I'm sure we can work something out".
Not long after I walked her back to her apartment, and as soon as I got home took a shower and proceeded to have one of the strongest orgasms I've had recently, fantasizing about Emma in a newfound light. I didn't hear from Emma until the next evening, when I got a text from her thanking me again and saying how work was so much nicer today and she didn't feel nearly as sore. After a bit of back and forth, she sent a message that said "in a more serious tone, I really liked last night and that massage, and if you enjoyed it and didn't think it was too weird would it be something you'd want to do again? I'd be happy to either return the favor or bring you food or give you something else in exchange :)".
I sat on it for a few moments, then responded, saying "Totally - only a little weird at first since we've known each other for so long to touch you in such a direct/focused way, but it was a lot of fun and that feeling wore off pretty quick. Definitely feel that it was a connecting experience, and would be happy to do it again!".
That night and those two texts about a month ago have totally reshaped our relationship, and it's grown incredibly sensual and unique. I know I didn't get to anything sexual in this story, but it got pretty long, so if there's interest I'm more than happy to write up the next part where things should get more sensual!
