The following is the beginning of a story I'd started a while ago. I intend to finish it. It's mostly about blindfolds rather than actual tying up (see username) - just warning you - but both are present.
We've been friends for quite some time, the five of us. Since second grade, in most cases. And our friendships have survived and grown as we moved up in age, into middle school, then high school. And now, us five are like brothers and sisters - albeit brothers and sisters of different races (I'm Caucasian, as are John and Sofia (who are literal siblings), while Justin is black and Athena is Asian).
Athena. I'm about two minutes from her house as this story begins. It's October 31st - Halloween - and the five of us would usually be embarking on our usual Halloween activities, which consisted of meeting at Athena's house, then heading off for trick-or-treating together. This is a tradition that has been going on with us for years and hasn't been broken, until now. Unfortunately, Justin managed to get sick two days ago, and John and Sofia are in Florida with their family visiting their grandparents. That leaves just Athena and I. I'm curious as to what her costume will be. It's always something off the wall and wonky - unlike mine, which is usually uncreative. (This year, I've managed to break the trend and become Commander Data from Star Trek: The Next Generation, which took a lot of work but was worth it. Trekie, that's me.) Fortunately, I don't have long to be curious, as I've just reached their door. I knock on it.
Inside, I hear Athena's mother call to her in Japanese, then her running to the door. It opens, and I look at her. Her costume is simple: A black dress which almost reaches the ground, tied at the waist with a silver belt, and a blindfold, which matches the dress in color. Most people would find this surprising, but anyone who's been around Athena for long at all learns to expect a certain degree of craziness in everything she does.
"Hi, Alex!", she says as she walks out of the house to me.
"Hello to you, too, my crazy friend," I say.
"You two have a nice time, now," her mom says, and closes the door.
"So, Alex. Just the two of us, right?", Athena asks.
"Uh, yah," is my reply.
"Well, then, I'll need you to hold my hand."
An interesting statement. I ask why.
"'Cause I can't see, of course. You're going to have to guide me," she replies.
That makes sense. I take her hand, and we begin walking. Athena's house is located in a forest, at least a ten minute walk away from the nearest house, and is huge. Her mother owns it, and most of the forest it's in. She inherited the property from her father, but little else - he had had a lot of debts.
"So, uh... Why a blindfold?", I ask her after a minute or so.
She shrugs. "Why not?"
Good question. She had me to guide her, and not being able to see would make things more interesting than just walking around the neighborhood normally would be. It also made it more interesting for me, as I had to help her - but it probably wouldn't be interesting for you to read. For that reason, I'm only going to detail two parts of the experience. The first happened midway through. We were walking down the street when we passed a girl who was by herself, and dressed as a fairy or winged elf. As we passed her, she suddenly turned, grabbed Athena's other hand, and said her name in a very excited way.
"Cindy!", Athena said, equally excited. She let go of my hand, and the two girls hugged each other.
"It's been way to long since I've seen you, 'Thena," said Cindy, as they let go of each other.
"Same here. Why're you back?"
"Visiting family. So, how's my costume?"
Athena smiled. "I'd tell you if I could see it," she said.
Cindy shook her head. "That's a real blindfold, then? Why am I not surprised... You're crazy, you know that?"
Athena nodded. "You should come over sometime, Cindy. Maybe tomorrow?"
"Sure thing, 'Thena."
And with that, Cindy walked off, and we resumed our own journey. Athena filled me in on who Cindy was. Apparently, the two had been in Girl Scouts together, before the group here disbanded when most of the members moved away, including Cindy.
The night went on with no further interruptions. After a rather long while, we decided to head back to Athena's house. We were halfway along the path through the forest that lead to it when she stopped me.
"You know that side-path? Did we pass it already?", she asked.
I thought for a second before replying in the negative. She told me to turn onto it when we reached it, and to continue down it until we reached a large rock. Curious, I did. When we reached it, she was able to locate it from memory and sit on it, and I followed suite.
"So, how did you like your evening with a blindfold girl?", she asked me.
"Pretty good," was all that I could think to say.
"Alex, I have a confession to make. I chose this costume for a special reason."
"Oh?", I asked.
"Well... When I found out that it was just going to be the two of us, I had the idea to add the blindfold so that you'd have to hold my hand. Now, that's not the only reason I did it, but it's what made me think of it."
This made me think for a few seconds. "So... You're saying that you like me?"
She nodded. "And I have a hunch that the feeling's mutual."
"Correct," I said. "So we like each other. Interesting."
"I also have a hunch that you like my costume."
I nodded, before remembering that she couldn't see. "Yes. I do. Especially the blindfold. How'd you know?"
She grinned at me. "A good magician never reveals her secrets." (That's a reference to one of Athena's many interesting quirks: She's really good at magic tricks.) "Now come on, Alex. Let's go eat some of this candy."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
One of our traditions had been broken this year, but a related one was not. We used to always get together exactly one week after Halloween, in costume, and have a sleepover in Athena's basement. (Rather a long story there.) This is the one that I just mentioned - the one that wasn't broken. Sofia and John were back from Florida, and Justin had gotten better, so all five of us would be there - and still in costume, because Sofia and John had gone with their grandparents and Justin had been planning to go before he got sick, so they all had costumes.
I was the second-to-last person to arrive at Athena's house, with John and Sofia having arrived a few minutes earlier. He was dressed as a pirate, and his sister was a geisha. With me as Data and Athena as a blindfolded girl, we made quite the interesting tableau. Justin, as Mace Windu from Star Wars, completed the gathering a few minutes after my arrival. Our usual Trek/Wars debate started even quicker than usual, only to be stopped by Athena.
"Come on... We're supposed to be doing Halloween stuff, not debating which nerd show is better."
I found this amusing, as Athena (and I, for that matter) were both into web design, which is quite a bit nerdier than either Star Trek or Star Wars, and informed her of this. She giggled.
"Okay, you've got me there... But, food!"
That took my mind off things. Athena's mom is amazing at making food, and always makes us something for our post-Halloween party. This time, it was home-made pizza. Before dinner, we had to endure her usual photography session - at least one picture of each of us, and then a few group shots. But, then it was over, and we sat down to eat.
"Athena, you might want to take off the blindfold for...", Sofia began, but stopped when Athena shook her head, grinned, and took a piece of pizza (with some difficulty locating it). I wondered if her refusing to take it off was stubborness, her usual quirkiness, or due to liking blindfolds, like I did. I made a mental note to ask if the chance came up.
After dinner, we headed off to Athena's basement. A new tradition, founded two years ago, was to play some Dungeons and Dragons at these parties - always a somewhat horror-themed campaign. D&D, if you don't know, is a roleplaying game, but one played with books and paper and pens and imagination rather than a computer. Everyone in our group liked it, due to the efforts of Sofia and John, who had introduced the rest of us to it. Athena still refused to take off the blindfold, making things a bit complicated. The game was paused when Sofia had to go to the bathroom.
"Hey, 'Thena, what's with all the plastic wrap?", she asked as she left the bathroom after using it. Athena asked her what she meant, and she explained that there wasn't any soap so she had looked for some, checked under the sink, and found a few things of saran wrap.
"Oh, yah... Mom had bought a lot of saran wrap a few months ago because it was needed for set stuff in the school play. For some reason, she put the leftover wrap under the sink down here."
Justin got a mischievous look in his face. "Think she'd notice if it went missing?" Athena said that she's probably forgotten about it, then John asked why he had asked.
"Saran wrap... Cute girls... You do the math," he said.
Sofia's eyes got wide. "Uh, no thanks... Not for me."
Athena, however, said something different. "Fine with me, as long as Alex does it. I don't trust you, Justin." This last sentence was said in such a way that it was clear that she was joking - but it was true that Justin might have a bit too much fun with a saran-wrapped girl. Nothing blatantly inappropriate, but probably aggravating to said girl.
"Go get 'er, Alex!", he said, good-naturedly.
Athena put her arms by her sides, and soon found herself unable to change that. I decided not to wrap her legs, for reasons that I'm not quite sure of.
"How does that feel?", I asked when I was done.
"Like I can't move," she said with a smile. And then she continued "Hey Sofia, jealous?"
"Fine...", Sofia said. "Just don't let me chicken out, okay?"
"Okay," I said, then headed over to her. Unlike Athena, she decided to cross her arms in front of her, so that each arm was touching the opposite shoulder, and then had them stuck in that position. Soon after, though, she asked to be released.
"You said not to let you chicken out, Sofia," Justin said.
"Yah... You kinda did," Athena added.
"I know, but I mean it. Guys, please..." A pause, then "No, don't."
Interesting.
Sofia did eventually ask to be un-wrapped, but not until she and Sofia had had a saran-wrap battle, by which I mean that the two of them had a "fight" while still having their arms trapped. In the end, Sofia won by virtue of being able to see - Athena was still blindfolded. We were about to unwrap Sofia when Athena's mom came down with some snacks for us. After saying hello and giving them to us, she left without commenting on the wrapped girls.
"Food!", I said, and ate a chip.
"How about you unwrap me...", Sofia asked.
"Sorry, sis, but there's free food and we're guys," John said. And with that, Justin, John, and I began tormenting the girls by eating in front of them. (I'm not sure how effective it was on Athena, but it seemed to work on Sofia.)
"I'm sorry for their behavior, Sofia... I know how you feel and would do something if I could," Athena said to her.
"Don't worry, 'Thena. It's just my stupid brother being annoying."
After a few minutes, Justin took mercy on Sofia and took the saran wrap off her. He offered the same to Athena, who said she'd think about it.
Did I ever mention that Athena has a TV in her basement? If not, I should have, because we ended up watching it for a while. Finding something that we all liked proved a challenge, but we settled on House. At about 2:00 AM, we decided to go to sleep. Changing into our sleepwear took a while - though it helped that Athena was blindfolded. After the other guys, Sofia, and I had changed, we set up the tent. This was a rather silly part of the tradition that had originated with the first post-Halloween party, which was in third grade, but we kept it partially because it was fun, partially because it was silly, and partially for old times' sake. After setting it up, we unwrapped Athena, who changed (in the bathroom, of course) into a pink flannel nightgown with (and this was new) a black sleepmask. I made some silly comment about that. We then headed into the tent to sleep. It was barely big enough for the five of us, and I ended up right next to Athena, which I didn't mind at all.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
It was 4:00 AM, and I woke up to use the bathroom. I was a bit confused as to where I was for a few seconds, before I remembered that it was the night of the post-Halloween party, and we were in a tent in Athena's basement. I exited said tent, and used the bathroom. When I opened the bathroom door to leave, I had a bit of a surprise: Athena was standing right in front of the door, and would be staring at me if it weren't for her sleepmask, which was still in place. I was startled for a second or two, then asked Athena what she was doing.
"Trying to startle you, of course," she said. "Did I succeed?"
I nodded, then remembered her mask and said, "yes".
"Good. Now, can you turn off the bathroom light? This isn't the best sleep mask out there and the light is leaking in."
I turned it off, leaving us in darkness. I found it amusing that I had only slightly more vision than Athena did, simply due to the fact that we were in a basement with the lights off. Still, she asked me to guide her back to the tent, and I felt that it would be rude to deny her that. Plus, guiding her meant holding her hand again. However, I don't make a very good guide when I can't see either, and after a minute or so we were hopelessly lost somewhere in the basement. (Athena's basement is the size of two or three standard-sized rooms - which is to be expected, given how much the house cost - but most of that space is unused.)
"Uhm, Athena, this is going to sound stupid, but... I'm lost."
"I was wondering why it was taking so long... How can you be lost when you can see?"
"'Cause I can't see more than a few inches in front of my face, Athena. It's pitch-black in here."
She held on to my hand more tightly, evidently a bit nervous. "We could turn on a light..."
"If we could find a light switch, that is," I replied.
"Well, I guess our best bet is just to flail around until we find the tent. Better than standing here all night."
A few minutes passed in tense silence while we wandered around the basement, our hands still intertwined, until I found a door and opened it, thinking that it could be the bathroom door, in which case we could turn the bathroom light on and see where we were. It turned out to be not the bathroom door but one to outside. I was about to close it again when Athena suddenly ran through it, dragging me along by the hand.
"Athena?", I asked, curious and a bit confused.
"You make a horrible guide, Alex, but you gave me an idea. Now it's my turn to guide you."
I wondered how she intended to do that without being able to see, but she seemed to know what she was doing. I also wondered what she was doing, but decided to go along with it. Soon, we were in the woods surrounding her house, on a path. And soon after that, we stopped.
"So, Athena, what's up? You obviously have something in mind..."
She giggled. "I do." And then she pulled the belt off her nightgown. I was shocked, for all of two seconds - then I realized that the belt was only decorative, and that she wasn't undressing but had something else planned.
"Alex, care to join me in the darkness?" I gave her a bemused look, which she answered by giving me the belt. I got the idea, and blindfolded myself with it.
"How do I look?", I asked, jokingly.
"No idea, but presumably as cute as always," she replied in a mildly flirtatious voice.
About half a minute passed, after which I asked, "Now what?"
"Did you see anything to sit on around here?", she asked by way of reply.
"A bit back, there was a fallen log that wasn't rotten or anything." She proceeded to fumble around until she found that log (dropping my hand in the process), which took quite some time. Once she had located it, she called me over, and we sat next to each other on it.
"I'm still curious what you're planning, 'Thena," I said.
"This is what I'm planning. Sitting here, blindfolded in the woods at night... Seems kinda romantic, doesn't it?"
"It does," I replied.
Some time passed. Then, I said, "You know, there's something that I'd rather do with this belt..." I took it off and grabbed both of Athena's hands, forced them together behind her back, and quickly tied them that way with it. She didn't struggle at all, implying that she was okay with this, which was confirmed when I asked her.
Some more time passed. Athena said, somewhat nervously, "Some guys would have kissed the girl by now."
Interesting.
"Some guys would have groped her by now... But I think you'd prefer the former."
I then proceeded to kiss her gently on the cheek. "That'll have to do for now. I'm really sleepy, and I think you are, too."
I didn't untie her arms until we were back in the tent, which we managed to locate after a while.
"Good night, Athena," I said.
"'Night, Alex", she said, and we drifted off to sleep for the second time that night.