"Are you sure you can lift that?" Rebecca asked, skeptical as she watched Connie try to lift a crate full of wine bottles.
"Yea- I'm good!" he assured her, trying to conceal his pants as he realized how heavy the box was. But he was already holding it and he had to get it up over his head and onto the top shelf. Somehow.
"That is quite literally thousands of dollars worth of wine in there…"
"I got it!" he heaved the box up onto his shoulder, now he had to lift it up and onto the shelf…
"Wouldn't a ladder be helpful?" she tried to suggest as she stood to the side, watching the sweat on his forehead and his shaking arms as he hoisted the box up.
"DID IT!" he shouted in triumph as he pushed the crate onto the shelf without killing himself.
"HA HA!" he jumped up and fist pumped the air, his bravado cut short when he felt something in his shoulder twitch combined with an audible pop.
"Goodness, you did it alright…" Rebecca rolled her eyes before she grew concerned. He tried to roll his arm but his shoulder hurt, and all he could do for a moment was hold his shoulder and rub.
"Shut up…" he muttered as his shoulder throbbed. She gently touched his hand on his shoulder, slipping her hand underneath his and tenderly touching the sore muscle.
"I hope you don't mind…" he shook his head, letting her start massaging him.
"It's fine…" he was glad she was focused on his shoulder and not his red face.
"Good. This will probably hurt," she warned him as she applied more pressure with his fingers. At first he grimaced from the pain, but after a few minutes of her slowly working his shoulder from all angles the pain faded.
"Feel better?" she asked though she did not stop the massage. He wondered how she knew how to do this stuff, he could barely feel his arm it was so relaxed. He nodded with a 'mmhmm' and a smile.
"Good, I'll go get a ladder then," she said as she withdrew her hands and walked away.
"Wait, why? The box is already up there?" he asked in confusion and she looked at him with an amused but sympathetic look.
"You put the box on the wrong shelf. It needed to go up one," Connie looked at her in shock and up at the box he had lifted. He slapped his forehead, realizing he was such an idiot. No wonder she had been worried, it was higher than he had thought it was. Luckily she didn't see or hear his 'stupid stupid stupid!' muttering as she was out of the room.
She returned with the ladder, set it up, climbed on up, and moved the box the last bit of the way, and all without his help. She giggled at his crossed arms and scowl as she climbed down.
"Oh don't be a sour puss, you got it up most of the way, and at least you got a massage out of it," She offered as reassurance and he couldn't help but smile. That massage had felt pretty nice, he should injure himself accidentally more often.