Chapter Nine: Preperation
Saturday March 24th '07 9:15 a.m.
Gabrielle woke to the sound of a nock on the door. She didn't remember ordering room service. When she opened the door she saw Claire, who had a huge smile on her face like she was hiding something.
"Good morning miss." Claire said as she wheeled the breakfast cart into the room.
"I didn't order breakfast Claire. Did Mrs. Mathews send it up?"
"No but I was told this should explain everything." Claire responded as she handed and envelope to Gabrielle, "Have a nice day miss."
"You too." Gabrielle answered not really paying attention.
She shut her room door and looked over the envelope. Her name was written in an elegant script across the front. She opened the envelope and pulled out the short note that was inside.
It read:
Yesturday was a day for your mind to relax.
Today is a day for your body to relax. A light
but healthy breakfast this morning. Then a full
day of pampering at the hotel spa. There is no
room for any objection. These are doctors orders.
Richard Williamson M.D.
A smile crossed Gabrielle's face. He knew she hated it when people spent a lot of money or did big things for her, she often spoke of it in her sessions with him, hense the "no room for objection" and "these are doctors orders". He wanted to make sure she actually did it. It explains Claire's expression when she brought in breakfast.
Oh well Gabrielle thought Might as well enjoy it. Wonder what he sent for breakfast.
As she took off the lid from her plate her eyes went wide. In the center of the plate was strawberry filled crapes, and there was caramelized apples around them. Gabrielle took the plate and sat down at the table to eat.
Ten minutes after Gabrielle had finished her breakfast there was a nock at the door. When she opened it she saw Claire, and she was wearing the same smile she had when she had brought breakfast.
"Hello Claire."
"Are you ready?"
"For what?"
"Your spa treatment silly."
Gabrielle looked down at her clothes, she was still in her pajamas.
"Don't worry miss, you can wear your pjs to the spa."
"Okay, just give me a sec."
Gabrielle left the door open as she went to the bed room. She quickly grabbed her phone, the buisiness card, and the harpy and put them in the drawer with her books. She took out the dress and shoes she would be wearing to the play. She hung the dress on the hook on the vanity and put the shoes right under it. She turned around, went to the breakfast cart and grabbed the note and envelope. She put those with her phone as well. She grabbed her room key and slippers and put them on.
"Alright, I'm ready." Gabrielle said with a smile as she left the room.
They were silent as they walked down the hallway. After they passed a few rooms Claire spoke.
"I take it the surprise went well yesturday."
"Yes it did." Gabrielle answered with a smile.
"May I ask where this friend took you?"
Gabrielle chuckled, "Sure. We went on a picknick in a quiet field."
"That's so nice!"
"Yeah, I totally wasn't expecting it! He never seemed like the picknick type to me. It was so much fun!"
They got in the elevator and Clair hit the button for the main floor. Gabrielle asked if any of her class mates had given Claire any trouble yet. Claire told her about a few hillarious scenarios and they were laughing as they got off the elevator. The nearly ran into Becky and Carla as they got off. Carla glared at Claire and Becky gave Gabrielle a curious look.
"Oh, sorry Becky." Gabrielle said still laughing and when she saw Carla's glare she said, "Carefull Carla. If you keep that look on you face constantly it could get stuck like that."
This statement made Claire laugh harder, which in turn made Gabrielle laugh harder. The two continued down the hall like they had never seen Becky or Carla. They contained their laughs as they passed the main desk, they didn't want to get Claire in trouble. The second they were out of sight of it they cracked up laughing again.
Claire lead Gabrielle out to a back courtyard. Gabrielle looked around, soaking in everything. The court yard was quite large, it had to be at least a 45x45 foot square. There was a large fountain in each corner and an even bigger one in the center. There were five benches that actually looked comfortable. There were flowers around all the fountains and along the walls connecting each corner. The paths around the courtyard were gravel. Where there wasn't flowers or fountains there was lush, soft, full grass. This was definately a place she would have to come back to.
"This place is beautiful."
"We have two courtyards. This is the smaller one."
The smaller one Gabrielle thought This is the smaller one?!?
"Will you show me the larger one sometime?"
"Sure, how about I show you it after your done at the spa? I'll be the one taking you back to your room."
"Okay, that sounds great."
Clair lead her through another door and down another hallway. They came to two frosted glass doors with the word Spa across each one in large letters.
"Here we are." Claire said and she held one of the doors open for Gabrielle.
Gabrielle walked in and was greated by a smiling woman.
"Gabrielle this is Charlette." Claire said with a smile.
"Hello, Gabrielle" Charlette said warmly then turned to Claire, "We haven't seen you in a while."
"I've been on room service, take good care of this one okay. Gabrielle is here on Dr. Wiliamson's orders."
Gabrielle saw Charlette's eyes go wide and say, "So this is the one he called about. Is she also the one..."
"Yes." Claire cut her off, "Don't spoil the surprise!"
"Surprise? What surprise? Claire!" Gabrielle asked.
"Ugh, now you've done it Charlette."
"Sorry Claire." Charlette said with a sheepish grin.
"Miss Helfire, Dr Williamson called the other day to set up this spa treatment."
"Yes, I know. I read the note this morning."
"He also set some other things up to help you stay relaxed while you get ready tonight."
"Does Mrs. Mathews know about this?"
"Yes, She's the first one he talked to, don't worry."
Gabrielle rolled her eyes and sighed.
"I'm not surprised." Gabrielle then cracked a huge smile, "That's why you had that smile on your face this morning."
Both Claire and Charlette exhaled and smiled, glad Gabrielle wasn't upset.
"Yes now go. He won't be very happy if you're late because of us. I'll see you later."
"Oh, okay. Buh bye." Gabrielle said and laughed, she would definately have to squeez the details out of Claire at some point.
Gabrielle watched Claire leave then turned to see Charlette smiling at her.
"What?" Gabrielle asked and she tilted her head.
Charlette chuckled, held out her hand and said, "Come, time to get you relaxed."
Charlette stayed with Gabrielle the whole time. Gabrielle went through three different massages, a seaweed wrap, a mud bath, an exfoliating hot salt water bath, an extensive hair wash and treatment, and finally a hot shower with mineral water. As she went through each thing Charlette explained what it was doing for her body.
"Wow." Gabrielle said as she walked out of the shower room wrapped in a long bathrobe and her hair up in a towel.
"What?" Charlette asked.
"I feel great! I should do this more often."
Charlette laughed and lead Gabrielle to another part of the spa. She brought Gabrielle over to a chair that was slightly reclined and in front of a mirror.
"Here, sit down." Charlette said gently, "It's time for your manicure, pedicure, and facial."
As Gabrielle sat down two other women walked up to them. One of the women started on Gabrielle's as the other gave her a facial. When the woman was done with her facial, she started on Gabrielle's hands.
"You take good care of your hands, don't you?" Charlette asked.
"I try to. Why do you ask?"
"Well you can't see it with those cucumber slices on your eyes, but Tess over here seems to be very happy with you."
Gabrielle heard the woman she assumed was working on her hands say something in french and Charlette laughed.
"What?"
"Tess says they look beautiful, for an american girl."
Gabrielle laughed lightly, "Should I take that as a compliment?"
"Yes, Tess doesn't normally even smile like this. Half the time she's dissapointed with us French women!"
Gabrielle laughed again. Then after a minute or two she decided to ask the question that had been running through her head almost all day.
"Charlette?"
"Yes Gabrielle."
"Why is the fact that the doctor set this up so important? You act as if you were taking care of a celebrity."
"Doctor Williamson has donated a great deal of money to the hotel. He's also given us most of the artwork you see throughout the hotel."
"I see."
Then Tess said something and Charlette translated.
"Oh, yeah. Can't believe I forgot that. He also saved the owners daughter."
"Really?"
"Yes, they had both been staying at the hotel. He was in the larger courtyard reading, I think. Anyway, there are balconies for the rooms that face the courtyard and the owner's daughter's room was one of them. Her room was on the third floor and she was on the balcony. The railing she was leaning on gave out and she fell. Gabrielle gasped Doctor Williamson caught her before she hit the ground."
"Oh my goodness."
"She was a little shaken, but otherwise okay. Luckily there was no one under the balcony, so when the railing fell it didn't hit anyone."
"Wow, thats insane."
"Yeah, now he can stay here for free and if he requests anything for a guest here there's no charge."
"So why were you so surprised when Claire to you who I was?"
"Because Doctor Williamson hasn't stayed here since and he's never requested anything for a guest. This is the first time, and the incident happened almost three years ago."
The woman who had been giving Gabrielle had finished and she was now taking off the facial mask. The woman Charlette had said was Tess was now on Gabrielle's other hand. By the time Tess was done with Gabrielle's nails the other woman had her face clean and moisturised.
Charlette's phone went off and she picked it up. Tess helped Gabrielle out of the chair and lead her into the next room. She sat Gabrielle down in another chair infront of a large, lighted mirror. She took Gabrielle's hair out of the towel and began to brush it out.
Charlette came into the room after she was done talking and had a small smile on her face. She spoke to Tess in French and the woman nodded in agreement. Tess then called in one of her assistants and started giving the girl what Gabrielle thought was a list of orders. The whole time Tess was talking she kept brushing Gabrielle's hair. The girl left the room in a hurry, which made Gabrielle curious.
"What was that all about?"
"Claire just called me, She's bringing down your dress and shoes."
"What? Why?"
"Two reasons. First it will save you a lot of time by getting dressed here instead of getting dressed in your room then comming down here to get your hair and make up done. Second is that Claire just heard Doctor Williamson is coming to get you at five thirty instead of seven."
"What time is it now?"
"Two thirty."
"Wow, this day went by fast."
"Tell me about it. Also Claire was told by your teacher that your class was going out tonight."
"All two hundred of them?"
"Yes, apparently she got them into a bunch of clubs around France. Anyway, they're leaving at five-fourty-five so there all going to be in the lobby at the time you're supposed to be leaving. It will be easier for you to get through them, without messing yourself up, if you leave from here and let our staff help you through the crowd."
"There leaving at quarter os six? Why so early?"
"Most of the eighteen and under clubs are anywhere from an hour to an hour and a half away. There's no cover charge from five to eight. I think she's trying to get them in before eight."
Tess finished brushing out Gabrielle's and left the room. A minute later she came back with a few guys carrying a platform. She left again and came back with a cart that was covered. She was setting something up on the cart when Claire came into the room.
"Hi Miss Helfire." Claire said as she handed the dress and shoes to one of the guys in the room.
"Please call me Gabrielle" Gabrielle reponded as she watched the guy hang her dress on a hook next to the large mirror and put her shoes under it.
"Okay. I hope you don't mind, but I went through your dresser and grabbed you a pair of underwear to match your dress. I also grabbed a the pair of nylons off your vanity" Claire said and she handed Gabrielle a pair of red, lacy underwear.
"Thanks."
Gabrielle stood and put them on without taking off her bath robe. Tess came over to Gabrielle with a piece of cloth in her hand. She spoke to Charlette who translated.
"Tess wants you to take off your bath robe."
"What?!?"
"She's going to rub your body down with scented oil before you get dressed. The cloth in her hand is to wrap around your chest so you're not exposed."
"Okay." Gabrielle said as she untied her robe tie.
Tess came up to her and turned her around so she wasn't facing the guys. Tess held the cloth over Gabrielle's chest as she took the robe off. When the cloth was tied securely Tess turned her back around and lead her to the platform. Charlette followed to translate for Tess.
"Would you like lavender, lilac, or rose oil?"
"Umm...Lavender is fine."
Tess spoke to the woman who had given Gabrielle the pedicure and the two of them started to rub in the lavender oil. The started with her feet and worked their way up. When they got to the cloth in the front they didn't go under it, the worked around it. In the back however, Tess untied it while the other woman held it up at Gabrielle's sides. They retied it when they were done with her back and continued to her arms.
It took an hour to rub on the body oil. After they were done two other girls helped her into her nylons, dress, and shoes. The dress Gabrielle had chosen to wear was a halter, blood red, and floor length dress that exposed her back. After she was dressed two of the guys took her back over to the seat Tess had brushed her hair and set to work on her hair and makeup.
"What about the jewlery I was going to wear?" Gabrielle asked as she was sitting.
"I saw your jewlery on the vanity, but I thought you could use some new stuff. I talked with the owner and she let me pick out some stuff for you. I chose three different pairs of earings, bracelets, and necklaces. What ever you pick you're allowed to keep." Claire answered.
"Alright."
While they were still working on her hair and makeup, Gabrielle chose the set of six sterling silver bracelets that had white(clear) cubic zirconiums set all around them. She put three on each wrist. She chose a set of chandelier earings also sterling silver. For a necklace she chose a sterling silver chain that had a half inch by half inch rose pendant on it, which was set in the same gem as the bracelets.
Gabrielle hadn't been able to see herself while her hair and make up so when they were done she gasped.
"What you don't like it?" Charlette asked worried.
"I love it!" Gabrielle said as she stood to examined herself closer.
They had curled her hair. Then they had taken a couple of curls from right above her ear on either side and pulled them back, securing them with a rose clip. They had let a couple of curls fall in her face, just to the side of each eye. Then to finish it, the put sparkles in her hair.
Charlette looked at her phone then said, "It's five now, we should start heading for the main entrance."
"We can take her through the large courtyard, I had promised I would show it to her today." Claire said looking at Charlette, who nodded.
Claire motioned to Gabrielle as Charlette started talking on her phone.
"Will you thank everyone for me Claire."
"Sure."
Claire then spoke a couple of sentences in French to Tess and the others who then smiled and bowed their heads slightly. Claire ushered Gabrielle through the closest door, not waiting for Charlette to follow. She lead Gabrielle through a couple hallways and then stopped at a set of double doors.
"This is the larger courtyard." Clair said and she opened one of the doors.
Gabrielle walked through and gasped. The courtyard was at least twice as big as the one she had been through this morining, but just as beautiful. There were flowers, grass, and gravel paths just like the smaller one, but instead of fountains there were trees. There was a tree in each corner and a large tree in the center.
"Do you allow you guests to climb these trees?"
"I don't know, I've never seen anyone try. Why?"
"I love to read in trees."
Claire chuckled, "Well after you leave I'll ask and tell you when I see you in the morning."
"Okay."
Just as they go to the other door, eight men came through it and shut the door.
"Why are they here?"
"Charlette is out side. When Doctor Williamson pulls up she's going to call me. They are going to creat an 'isle', moving your classmates so you can get out without being jossled."
"Thats nice, thank you."
"No problem. You just spent all day getting ready for this. We don't want you to get squished and ruin that beautiful hairdo."
Gabrielle smiled and sat on the nearest bench.
"How long do we have to wait?"
"Fifteen minutes."
I hope you like this chapter is much as the last...Please review!!!