"He asked you out?" Caleb asked from the other end of the video call. We were using Skype, and I was sitting at my desk as I edited my lecture notes. I watched as Caleb smiled, his brown doe eyes looking at me with happiness. I smiled too, feeling my face grow warm under his gaze. I'd just updated him about Maxwell, and it felt great to have someone to talk to.

Ollie had gone out today. He had left early in the morning, so I did not even see him leave. He has been out and about more lately, and a bit sneaky about it too.

"Yeah," I answered with a shrug before putting my notebook aside. "We're going to see a movie together this evening," I said as my mind thought of the movie I had selected. It was a Romantic Comedy that people didn't see much, and I had picked it because it looked like what I liked to watch.

"That's great!" Caleb said as I heard a bark in the background.

"Is that Duke?" I asked, remembering the name of Toby's dog's name. Well, I guess it was also Caleb's dog now too.

"Yeah," Caleb said with a laugh, turning on his chair so that he was looking towards the direction of his door. "He's following Toby around and being a pest as usual," he laughed before turning back to me with a smile.

I laughed, realizing how much Toby grumbled about the dog, but he seemed to like him a lot since he kept him around.

"So, apart from watching a movie what else are you going to do on your date?" Caleb asked, making me come out of my thoughts. I bit my bottom lip before shrugging.

"I don't know," I said, looking down at my lap as I played with my fingers. "What do you and Toby do on dates?" I asked, looking up to find Caleb's head cocked to the side in thought.

"We watch cartoons." I found myself chuckling at his reply before letting out a sigh.

"Really?" I asked, folding my arms over my chest.

"Yeah," he said as he ran a hand through his dark brown hair. Caleb had this innocent air around him. I wished I could be like that, maybe I wouldn't be as nervous and out of it as I am. I wonder what Maxwell's doing now. I thought, wondering if he was just as fidgety as I was. It was a Saturday so that probably wasn't the case. He had a lot of friends, so maybe he was hanging out with them. He did tell me to meet him at the bus stop at seven.

"You two are boring," I laughed, making Caleb put before he chuckled as well. When our laughter died down he started humming. We weren't saying anything to each other, but there was just something about looking at each other from the video. It felt homey like we were sitting across from each other on a table.

"I need some advice, like general pointers," I said all of a sudden, making Caleb look up from his drawing pad to me. "Like, relationship advice. You and Toby seem to be doing well."

"Oh," Caleb said, rubbing the back of his neck before biting his bottom lip. "I think in summary all I can say is, don't be selfish. Like, try to make accommodations for the person, but don't let them step over you."

Caleb rested his head on his table. "It's easy to think me, me, me, but you're interested in a person, not a stick of charcoal or something, so you have to be considerate."

"Thanks," I said with a smile when Caleb rose his head.

"It's no problem," he said before he soon fell back on the silence.

Some time passed, and I turned to my phone when I heard it vibrate on the table. Caleb seemed to have heard the noise as well since he was looking through the camera instead of down at his drawing pad.

I picked up my iPhone before unlocking the screen and checking the notifications. I clicked the message from Maxwell, and my face grew warm when I read it.

MAXWELL:

Will you let me tie up your hands?

I could use a strip of cloth if you don't want me to use rope.

SAT, 2:37 PM.

"What's that?" I heard Caleb ask, making me look up from my phone to him.

"Nothing," I said, but the way my voice shook was a big give away. Caleb gave me a confused look, but he didn't probe me for more information. I put my phone away, and Caleb and I went back to having a casual conversation. Maxwell's message lingered in my mind, and when Caleb and I ended the video call I reached out for my phone again.

My eyes widened when I saw four more messages, I had put my phone on silent before putting it away, so I hadn't heard anything when the new messages came in.

MAXWELL:

Now that I read my texts out loud I realized that sounded kind of odd and out of place.

I'm sorry.

SAT, 2:42 PM.

You don't have to respond. You can pretend I never sent it.

I'm just impatient. I don't know how this dating thing works most of the time. Sorry again.

SAT, 2:43 PM.

I didn't know what to make of the messages, it seemed like he was panicking and probably regretting the first two messages he sent. I bit my bottom lip in thought, wondering how to respond.

Can he tie up my hands? I repeated his request in my mind. had been confused at first - wait, not confused - surprised, but now that my initial surprise had worn off I wasn't sure what to do.

ME:

You can tie me up whenever you want.

Jesus, that sound's wrong and kind of desperate. I thought, sighing as I pressed backspace.

ME:

You can tie up my hands. I don't mind.

SAT, 3:02 PM.

I ended up sending instead. I was about to put my phone away, but my phone vibrated, notifying me that I had received a response.

MAXWELL:

Really? It's not like you have to. It's okay if you don't want to do it.

SAT, 3:03 PM.

I chuckled at his reply. He was really confusing. One minute he was direct and straightforward, and the next minute he was running away with his tail between his legs. I wasn't even sure what was going on—what we were doing or trying to do relationship-wise. I was just moving with the flow. I covered my face briefly, before looking down at my phone to type up a reply.

ME:

Yeah, really.

SAT, 3: 04 PM.

MAXWELL:

Typing...

Oh, okay.

Typing...

I'll bring one to our date.

Typing...

A strip of cloth that is.

SAT, 3:05 PM.

Laughter ran through my body, and I soon found myself smiling when it died down. I replied to Maxwell's texts with a simply okay before taking a look at the time. It was just past three, and I was supposed to meet up with him at seven in the evening. Now that I thought about it, I hadn't even decided on what to wear.

It probably won't matter. I thought as my face warmed up. I had a less than average fashion sense, and I highly doubted that I would look like I put in an effort to dress up even though I did.

Maxwell doesn't dress up much, and he always looks great. I thought to myself, resting my head on my study table as a small smile tugged at the corners of my lips. Maxwell just seemed to wear whatever jeans he picked out before throwing on the school sweater. It made me chuckle a bit, but the sweater did suit him.

I let myself close my eyes before I began to hum in the silence. Since Maxwell had blindfolded me I would randomly close my eyes to try and recreate that night. I wanted something like that to happen again. Him tying me up wouldn't be the same, but my heart was pounding at the thought of it.

Hurry up. I sort of yelled at time in general in my mind. I couldn't wait to run over to the bus stop and meet up with Maxwell. Maxwell with the cute smile, and bubbly nature. The Maxwell that let me know something a lot of people probably didn't know about him.