"I'm a big girl, I can take care of myself." Which was also true literally, since the act of rising out of the water emphasized her height pretty significantly. She sidled on over to take a seat on the edge of the pool behind him.

When she gripped his shoulder, it was with quite a fair amount of strength. Ash was no sissy masseuse who just did light rubbing that accomplished nothing -- she put some force into it, possibly painful but definitely enough to be effective.