theseeker : 01 - Zoe and I (f/m, m/f)

[Soraka]

theseeker's stories
01 - Zoe and I
Story index at the bottom

By theseeker


by theseeker » Sun Jan 24, 2010 4:54 am

My name's Matt, and this is the story of how a girl named Zoe Day changed my life.

Zoe Day is an interesting girl, to say the least. I mean, right off the bat, even before you meet her, her NAME is already captivating! She has a combined total of six letters in the entire thing. Two syllables. And a Z. Z's are always intriguing, because you just never see them. It's like spotting a yetti. Zoe Day was like my yetti. No, that doesn't sound right. That sounds terrible. Zoe Day was my... first true fascination. Yeah. That's better.

I was the ripe old age of seventeen, and in the closing days of my junior year of high school when Zoe Day was thrust into my world unexpectedly - and quite abruptly, I might add. My grade had a combined lunch with the freshmen, and when I met Zoe, that's where everyone was, and where I SHOULD have been. But as the fates would have it, I was not. Instead, I was at my locker putting away books, and running late because of a terribly boring conversation my 4th period English teacher insisted on having after I graded poorly on a writing exam. A 'C' was only bad if you were used to reeling in 'A's' all the time, which I was – sorry, had to brag.

So as I stood at my locker, angrily rushing myself to cram every last book into every last available space, I met Zoe Day. She rounded the corner, struggling to keep her grasp on a stack of text books and tablets. My initial reaction upon seeing Zoe? 'Oh, God. That weird girl is going to ask me for help!'. Yep. That was it, and in hind sight, I do think that was a rather harsh first thought, but at least I'm honest about it.

I had thought she was 'weird' because of the way she was dressed. First thing I noticed was that she was wearing a skirt. A long, black skirt that twirled down her thin figure all the way to her ankles, where she wore a pair of tough-looking, black boots. I would have thought she was a Goth, but her T-Shirt was in stark contrast: A bright, yellow one with a pattern of flowers around the arms. So as this mish-mash of a girl came strolling down the hall, spilling books over her arms left and right, my only thought was, 'Oh, God. That weird girl is going to ask me for help!'.

I was right. She came right up to me asking, “Is this Mr. Marsh's homeroom?”

I pointed to the name sign sticking out from the nearest doorway that read 'Mr. Marsh'. She followed my finger, read, and looked back to me. “A 'yes' would have done the trick you know,” she said as another book almost tipped over her arm.

“Yes,” I said, closed my locker, and proceeded to head to my much-anticipated lunch.

“Well, thanks,” she said, trying to be polite against my rudeness. I WAS rude. I realize it now! No need for name-calling!

As I approached the corner that the weird girl had emerged from, I glanced back over my shoulder. She was standing there, looking like a deer in headlights, simultaneously looking over lockers, trying to read a piece of paper in her hand, and playing the dangerous 'book-balancing' game on her arms. If my prediction was correct, she would soon be losing that game.

She did. One book slipped through her hold, and the rest followed like dominoes. No one ever wins the book-balancing game. The girl stomped her foot and let a frustrated noise push through her clenched teeth.

This is where I get you readers back on my side.

I—being the swell guy that I am—couldn't leave her like that. I mean, she was obviously a new student in a tough spot, and I'd been there before. Even if she did dress stranger than anyone else in the school, I had to help. I sighed and headed back down the hall.

“What's your locker number?” I asked when I was near.

She turned her head, saw me, but didn't look thrilled. “I'll manage,” she said and bent to pick up her books.

“Come on, just tell me it. I'll help.”

“You didn't seem to want to help before,” she said, busily scooping books off the floor. “Why the sudden changed of heart? Couldn't bear the sight of the little new girl picking up her little books?”

She was right, of course, but I didn't say that. “Look, I was just in a rush before. Let me help. Please?”

She stood and squinted at me as if she was studying some new species. “What's your name?”
“Matt.”

She looked me over for another moment before, I guess, deciding I wasn't a TOTAL jerk. “Zoe Day,” she told me and handed me her piece of paper.

“Actually, it's Tuesday,” I said, grinning like a fool at my own joke. She gave me a dry stare as if she'd heard that one a hundred times before. Which, on second thought, she probably had. “Sorry.”

It was at that moment I really took notice of Zoe Day. She had satin-blonde hair that fell down only a little past her chin, and the most piercing green eyes I think I'd ever seen. Her nose was small, her lips only a bit bigger, and her complexion was bordering on pale, but it had enough color in it, I suppose. I realized in that moment that Zoe Day was pretty.

“So do you actually help, or do you kind of just stand around and stare at me while I crack under the pressure of my first day?” She asked, cutting into my trance.

“Wha? Oh. Yeah.” I looked down at her paper. “233. You're right over here.”

And that was my first encounter with Zoe Day. After a bit more conversation, I learned her and her mother had moved to our little town from Seattle because her mom had some sort of position shift at her company. They'd only been in town for a week, and Zoe was so late for her first day at our school because she actually couldn't find it. I found that amusing, being that our school is a giant building amongst hundreds of smaller ones. Of course, I didn't say that, because I was starting to become intrigued with the girl. She had a different way of talking, of dressing, of acting... I didn't know anything about Seattle, but if everyone from there was like her, it was a place I'd have to visit.

It turned out we had English class together. And in it, I decided to pursue my curiosity on Zoe Day. When we would get some free time, I would make it a habit to hang around her desk and start conversation. At first, she was quiet—cautious—but after a few days, I had broken through her wall, and started getting to know her. Her favorite color? Silver. Her favorite food? Bananas with peanut butter and mayonnaise. Yuck. Her favorite month? October, because it had Halloween in it. Every little piece of information was like unwrapping a strange little package, in the middle of which was Zoe Day.

Time went on, and I had successfully developed a little friendship with her. On the week before school was over, Mr. Marsh handed out his infamous 'end of the year project' which consisted of a long essay on ways to improve school life. I took the opportunity to get closer to Zoe, and offered my help on the project. She regarded me suspiciously, as if I was waiting to pull some mean prank on her, but eventually accepted.

“Maybe I should come over after school. You know. For academic purposes, of course,” I said, leaning on her desk.

“Oh yeah?” She replied with a sly grin. “You want to come over my house, huh?”

“Yeah. I think it would be a good idea.”

“You know, when someone is overeager to help someone else, it's usually because they want something, Matt.”

“No catch. I just want to help,” I said and put three fingers to my chest. “Scout's honor.” I had no idea if scouts did that or not, but it seemed right.

She let out a short laugh. “I have a feeling you're no boy scout. But OK.” She took my English tablet from my hand and wrote down her address as the bell sounded. She gave me one last suspicious look before standing and heading out with everyone else. I looked down at my book, where she had written her address, and beneath it the words 'Come as your are'. I smiled and left the classroom myself.

Later that day, as I walked along to her house, which was only a few blocks from mine, I wondered what I really WAS doing. I had spent an awful lot of time in the last two weeks getting to know Zoe Day. I had never been so fascinated with a girl. Did I want to date her? I wasn't even sure. But that was Zoe for you. She left you in a state of confusion. Wonderful confusion.

I arrived at her house—a double block apartment complex—and strolled up to the door, English books in hand, and knocked. She opened the door shortly after, and laughed upon seeing me. “So you actually showed up. And with actual English books! I'm impressed!” She laughed and motioned for me to come in.

Zoe Day's house wasn't nearly as interesting as her. It was on the small side, and a few boxes of marked moving stuff were still littered about. “Slow mover, huh?” I commented, glancing around.

“My mom's been working all the time, and I've been so busy trying to get a hold of your school, there just hasn't been any time,” She told me. “On the bright side, we have a lot of places to sit,” she joked and sat down on a nearby box.

I smirked and nodded. “That's true.”

After a quick tour of the downstairs, she led me upstairs to her room. Inside, the place had Zoe Day written all over it. A poster of Jim Morrison was the first thing I saw, gripping the microphone in a music-lovers grip. A dresser decorated with stickers was the current table for Zoe's impressively large stack of books. I glanced over some Stephen King, Harry Potter, and an assortment of other books, most I'd never heard of. A laptop was resting on a desk, and beside it were a few more books. She had a large stereo system laying on the floor, seemingly without a place yet in her newly furnished room. Her closet was plastered over with another poster, this one of a nighttime sky with a large moon in the background. Her bed was up against the back wall, the sheets a mixed pattern of black and silver.

“Yep. This is my room,” she said, putting her hands on her hips and looking around with me. “Still a little messy, but messy is alright sometimes. I think it shows character.”

“Whatever helps you sleep at night,” I teased, walked over to her bed and took a seat. “Oh yeah. This bed will be PERFECT... for English studying.”

Zoe grinned and closed her door. “Funny. Are you actually going to help me with this project, or are you going to crack jokes and make fun of my messy room the entire time?”

“Come on. I'll behave. I promise.”

We worked on our projects then for awhile, the boring details of which I'll spare you. It was a good twenty minutes before Zoe caught me by surprise again in that way only she could. I was growing a bit bored with the project, and began to study HER instead. She did this cute thing with her nose when she was reading something, kind of like a little twitch. Her hair was pulled back behind her ears, and she liked to chew on the bottoms of pencils. She was wearing another dress, this was an off-white in color. Her legs were stretched out in front of her as she sat across from me on the bed, putting her feet right in front of me. She was barefoot, and I couldn't help but notice she had a silver toe ring on her left foot, and a small tattoo of a bird down near her heel. I squinted at them, amused by another Zoe Day finding. Suddenly, her toes scrunched up and down twice. I looked up at her, and saw her smiling at me.

“Caught you!” She said, pointing.

“What?”

“You were checking out my feet!”

“I was not!”

“You were SO checking out my feet!”

I felt myself go a little red. I was doing that, wasn't I. I kept my lie going though. “I was deep in thought.”

Zoe laughed and took the pencil out of her mouth. “It's OK, Matt. Lot's of guys have a foot fetish. You just don't have to be so creepy about it!” She teased and laughed again.

I felt myself growing redder, so I decided to just ignore the subject, and go back to my project. After a few seconds, she gave my knee a gently push with her foot.

“Oh my God!” I said. “I don't like your stupid feet!”

She made an over-exaggerated shocked face and pulled her legs in towards her stomach. “Well you don't have to be MEAN about it!”

Even I had to laugh at that.

We went on working, and a few minutes later, Zoe was going to get a drink, and asked if I wanted one. I said yes, and she headed off to the task. Left alone in Zoe Day's room, my curiosity grew again. I closed my work, stood up, and took a stroll around the room to get some circulation back into my legs. She had a stuffed gorilla leaning up against a stack of magazines that I picked up and smirked at as I thought up a joke about it. That's when they caught my eye.

There, on the desk, and tucked out of the way were a pair of shining steel handcuffs, leaning casually up against a stack of CD's. I frowned in intrigue, and put the gorilla down. I felt my hand reaching for them, unwanting—unABLE--to stop. Zoe Day's surprises just never stopped coming, did they. I lifted them and, judging by the weight, figured them to be real handcuffs. Like REAL ones. I'd never held real ones before. They were heavier than expected.

Zoe came back into the room with drinks and spotted the cuffs in my hands. I figured either she would tell some strange story about how she got them as a joke, or maybe go a little red in the face and take them from me, but all she did was casually hand me my drink and sit back down on her bed. “A bit kinky, are we?” I asked and jingled the cuffs back and forth in front of her.

“Yeah, I guess,” she answered nonchalantly and grinned. “What's it to ya?”

I was speechless. I hadn't expected her to say that at all. “Wait, you actually use these things?” I asked, looking them over.

“Uh, yeah. Why else would I have them, Matt?”

“Like... on people? Or on yourself?”

Zoe smirked. “Depends on the mood I guess.”

“Huh,” was my response. I jingled them again. “Handcuffs. Ha!”

Zoe looked at me and tilted her head. “If you want to try them on, go ahead.”

“Uh, no thanks,” I said, caught off-guard by the questions, and placed them on her desk.

“Oh, come on! I think you'd look cute in them,” she teased.

“Yeah? I think you'd look cuter,” I shot back, and now the thought of her in the cuffs was actually something that was running through my mind.

“Oh no, mister,” she replied. “You're the one who wanted to come over to my house, so YOU have the creepy, stalker, psycho-killer initiative.”

“What!?” I barked in shock.

Zoe laughed and lifted her leg. “Come on, put them on and you can touch my feet for 5 seconds!”

“That's not funny,” I said dryly. “Back to work for you!”

I plopped back down on her bed and promptly opened my book up again. We sat in silence for a total of half a minute before Zoe said, “I thought you were too chicken, anyway,” under her breath, and stole a peek up at me with a mischievous grin on her face.

“Alright,” I said and closed the book, stood up, and snatched the cuffs off her desk. “I just hope YOUR not the creepy, stalker, psycho-killer!” I tossed her the cuffs, sat on the edge of the bed, and stuck my wrists out in front of me.

Zoe was looking at me with a playful twinkle in her eye. “You really want to do this?”

“Well I'm not going to sit here and be called a chicken for NOT doing it. So cuff me, mam,” I said and waved my wrists around.

“Well if you REALLY don't want to be a chicken, your hand have to be behind you,” Zoe explained and watched me carefully for my reaction.

I swallowed. Hands in front were one thing, hands behind was a whole nother. I didn't particularly like the idea of being at Zoe's mercy, regardless of how much she fascinated me. “Uh... I don't know.”

“Chicken!” She said and pointed.

“What am I five? That won't work.”

“Chiiiiiiiicken,” she teased.

“That's funny. Really.”

“Chicken-chicken?” She tried.

“Alright!” I snapped, tired of it. “For thirty seconds. That's it!”

“Fine!” She answered with a grin and locked one cuff down over my wrist. I grumbled, gave her a cautious look, and turned around to cross my wrists. She locked the other cuff down and then I was in. No going back.

I pulled at them a little bit, finding the cold steel against my wrists wasn't giving any slack. I tugged again before giving up. “So why do you have these again?” I asked curiously, turning to face her.

“You don't find the lack of control you have... exciting at all?” She asked, seemingly just as curious.

“I... I don't think so.”

“Just think about it, you can't lift your arms right now. You can't open a door. You can't even itch your nose!” As she said that, my nose began to itch a bit. “It's the letting go of control that's the real draw, I guess.”

I pulled at the cuffs again, wanting to scratch my nose. “So what does the other person get out of it?”

Zoe smirked and lifted the handcuff key up to her face. “The CONTROL of course!” She answered, laughing.

I felt a rush through my body as she said that. “That's not funny. Come on, let me out,” I said nervously.

Zoe stood, went to my back, and unlocked me. I pulled my wrists around as soon as I could and itched my nose, thankful for the freedom. “See. I bet the best moment for you was that one LITTLE second when you thought maybe I wasn't going to let you out. That's because you had no control.”

“The BEST? It was the scariest!”

“Only because you don't trust me, obviously,” Zoe said and took her seat back on the bed.

I thought about it, and decided she was right. I nodded my head and looked over at her. “I'd trust you more if I could put them on you too.”

Zoe lifted her head and gave me that familiar suspicious look, only this time, it faded away and she nodded her head. “Alright.” She put the cuffs and key on the bed between us, and turned so her back was to me. She crossed her wrists and waited. I felt my heart pick up pace as I took the cuffs and carefully slipped them around each of her slender wrists.

“OK,” I said when I was done, as if she needed to be told. She turned back around and sat there cuffed, and grinning. “Now who's the one with the control?” I said triumphantly and dangled the key.

“You,” Zoe answered and shifted around on the bed. “I'm stuck like this until you decide to free me. How does that make you feel?”

I thought about it. It made me feel... good. I didn't want to sound TOO excited though, so I replied with “Alright” instead.

“Well, there you go,” Zoe said. “That's why I have the handcuffs. Now do you understand me a little better?”

“Sure,” I said, “but that doesn't mean I'm letting you go.”

Zoe grinned. “Then what are you going to do with me?”

I thought for a moment. “Well, according to you, I'm in love with your feet, so...” I grinned a devilish grin myself.

Zoe squinted at me for a moment before coming to the realization. “No!” She cried out, but it was too late. I pounced, snatching up her ankles in my hands. She squirmed and wound up rolling onto her stomach, already laughing. I pulled her ankles up and held them together with one hand while I began to mercilessly run my fingers along the soles of her feet. Zoe began shrieking in fits of laughter.

“Hmm, you know. I think I do like your feet,” I teased and traced lines along the wrinkles of her feet. I saw tears forming in her eyes as she laughed and laughed. “Yep, I could spend all day with these babies.” I tickled up and down the arch of her foot.

“Ple-please...” she managed through gasps of air. “S-Stop!”

I stopped and let her legs drop. She laid on the bed, red and panting. I felt GREAT, and this time I didn't try to hide it. “Well that was fun. I think I do understand a little better now. Thanks Zoe!” I exclaimed and gave her a pat on the back. She was still too out of breath to speak, so I took the cuffs off her.

“I'm getting you back for that someday you know,” she said when her breath was finally caught.

“Maybe,” I replied, excited at the prospect. “But it won't be today. It's getting late.”

“Yeah. I guess.”

We said our goodbyes, and I left Zoe Day's house a partially changed man. I was semi-into this whole bondage thing, I thought. I didn't know the half of it. Not yet.

__________________________________________________________________________
theseeker's stories

• 01 - Zoe and I (f/m, m/f)
• 02 - Rachel's Situation (mm/f)
• 03 - The Ex's Revenge (f/m, ff/m, m/f)

__________________________________________________________________________
Index of all stories in the "Archive for Everyone" section

[Soraka]

The second time I went over Zoe Day's house, we had a pleasant, although uneventful, time. From the moment she'd answered the door, to the second she closed it two hours later, though, the only thought I could find myself thinking was: “Is she going to bring up the handcuffs?”. Unfortunately, she did not. And of course, I couldn't. I mean, how could I? If I told her how much I had actually ENJOYED using them on each other the previous day... what would she think of me? It would be too overeager. I mean, they were HER handcuffs though! She was the kink! There was no way I could have known what would happen if I tried them out... I was just... I was just the victim! Lured into her evil web of... oh, forget it. I think I may have fallen in love with Zoe Day.

However, the third time I came over her house to work on our projects? My interest, as well as experience, in the world of bondage grew again.

Knocking on her front door, I knew I had to bring it up. It was eating me alive inside. The only question was: how? When she pulled her front door open, I still had no answer, but was happy to see Zoe nonetheless.

If anything, Zoe Day was diverse. When I had first met her, she was wearing a black skirt with a yellow top and combat boots. Today? A long, off-white T-shirt that spread out at the end into a makeshift skirt that ended mid-thigh, and did Zoe's legs a great justice by showing them off. On her feet, she wore flat, black slip-ons with purple socks that came halfway up to her knees. Zoe's style wasn't exactly 'random'... it was more of a controlled chaos. She had a method to the madness, and whatever she was planning in that unique brain of hers, it worked on me. She looked stunning.

She was chewing on a half-eaten banana and listening to headphones. It was only the third time I'd been over her house, but she was already comfortable enough with me to swing the door open, give me a nod, and walk off into her kitchen, leaving me to find my own way around. As I stepped inside and closed the door behind me, I noticed that the cardboard boxes that had plagued the living room during my previous visits were beginning to disappear. I was finally able to spot her couch in the middle of the room,now that the waist-high cardboard was gone. It was an ugly, plaid thing that looked older than old. And maybe even older than that. The carpet was a strange mishmash of colors and patterns as well. In fact, upon looking around, everything in Zoe's house had a certain... feel to it. Like it had been assembled from the world's largest yard sale. I could only guess that Zoe got her uniqueness from her mother, who I had still not met.

“Love what you've done with the place,” I said, still looking around, hoping to catch another Zoe Day Oddity; after all, that was how I'd found the cuffs. “Hey, how come your mom is never here?” I waited for a reply, but none came. “Zoe?” I asked as I walked through the open doorway of the kitchen. Zoe was halfway into her refrigerator, her back half sticking out and shaking in rhythm to whatever music she was listening to in the headphones. I could hear her softly singing along as well, although I was sure it was nothing I'd know. Zoe listened mostly to bands no human being has ever heard of. Secret, underground bands. I think she liked it like that.

I leaned against the doorway, crossed my arms, and waited with a grin on my face. When she finally did pull herself away from whatever crucial refrigerator task she'd been at, she turn to face me, still singing. You'd figure most girls would be embarrassed being caught singing. Well you'd be right. But Zoe Day was not most girls. Instead, she grinned back at me and sang louder, widening her eyes and pretending the end of her banana was a microphone. I watched in amusement as she twirled past me and out into her living room. I followed.

She hopped up on the first stair leading to the top floor and sang another verse loudly into her banana microphone. I lifted my hands high and gave her a clap, which she spotted, laughed, and pulled the headphones off. “No sarcastic applause, please,” she said and pointed upstairs. “Shall we get to work, dear partner?”

“We shall,” I replied. “And who said that was sarcastic? You've got a pretty decent voice.”

“Oh yeah?” Zoe laughed and finished the last bite of her banana-mic. “Maybe I should quit school and runaway to start an all-girl punk band. What do you think?” She asked and struck a rockstar-pose from the steps.

“I said a DECENT voice. Don't quit your day job, sweetheart,” I teased, and we both shared a laugh before heading up to her room.

I settled into my usual spot, opposite Zoe on the bed, and opened up my project onto my lap. Zoe opened her window and all the noises of an early Summer day came buzzing into her room. School was nearly over, and it wouldn't be long before the warm days like these would start turning into the hot days. Not to mention, with school out, I'd have no excuse to come over Zoe's house. I mean, we had become friends, sure. But... I don't know. With Zoe, everything was perplexing.

“Read this over,” Zoe said and handed me her project. “I changed the last two paragraphs last night. Whadaya think, Mr. English?”

I quickly read it over, wanting desperately to change the subject from boring school work to interesting bondage work. “Good,” I said and handed it back.

“Better than what you read yesterday?” She asked, sticking her legs out and crossing them at the ankles as she looked at me.

“Oh, yeah. Definitely,” I agreed, shaking my head to emphasize my certainty.

“That's interesting Matt. Especially because I didn't actually change anything! You jerk!” She swatted me over the head with her project before I had time to even react.

“Ow!” I cried out in surprise. She swatted me again. “Ow! Stop!”

“You're supposed to be helping! You don't help? You get THIS instead,” Zoe explained before swatting me again, but her act wasn't holding, and a smile began to creep onto her face, which she was doing her best to look dramatically upset.

And there it was. She had set me up for it!? Did she? I don't know now, didn't know then, but I sure as hell took the opportunity. “Stop hitting me before I put those handcuffs on you again,” I said, still feeling slightly weird about bringing them up, even though it fit the context of the situation well.

Zoe stopped and gave me a funny look, adding even more to my slight-odd feeling about the whole thing. “Well, well. Look who's still thinking about that,” she declared like an old detective who'd cracked his case.

How did she know!? I felt my face going red. No! Had to slide out of this. “I was just joking,” I tried, sounding stupid in my own head.

Zoe's look changed. The comical-nature of it left to a more interested one. “Wait. Wait you really WERE thinking about it again?”

“I just said I wasn't!”

“Yeah, but you said it all weird,” she pointed out.

“What?” I tried, but I was already busted. It was game over.

Zoe gave me her famous, squinty-eyed, studying look. “You know, usually it's boyfriends and girlfriends who tie each other up, Matt. Not project partners.”

I swallowed. There was no going back. “I just, uh... I don't know. What you said actually made sense. About the control thing, I guess. It's pretty- ...it's pretty cool, I guess.” How Zoe Day could reduce me to a babbling idiot in such a little amount of time was just another Zoeism. The girl had powers.

“So what are you saying?” Zoe asked, closing her project. “You want to handcuff me again?”

Did I? Or did I want her to do it to me? I wasn't even sure. “Well, I-”

“Because, you know, it doesn't always have to be handcuffs. They're actually kind of annoying at times. Too cold on the wrists.” She smiled. “In the big leagues, they use rope.”

I actually eased up a little after that. “Rope? You have rope too?”

“Well... not really. But you could use anything to substitute for rope. Bedsheets, scarves, clothes... really anything that you can pull TIGHT!” She said, slapping her hands together when she said 'tight' and laughing. I had no jokes. I was too damn interested. Zoe continued, “If you're really that interested...”

“I don't know. Isn't this... isn't this weird? Does this make me a weirdo?” I asked, truthfully unsure of the answer.

Zoe looked almost disappointed by my reaction. She folded her hands in her lap and looked out the window. “Everyone's weird, Matt. Just most people are so concerned about fitting in, they don't embrace it.” I thought about that, finding it oddly profound. Zoe faced me again and her eyes went wide as she shouted, “Embrace your weirdness!”, and hopped up on her bed pointing at me.

“Alright, alright! How, though?”

“Well,” Zoe began, plopping back down to the bed on her butt. “If I remember correctly, last time we played this little 'game', your's truly was the one handcuffed and tickled mercilessly by the evil Matt! In fairness, it should be the evil Matt on the receiving end of the tying this time.”

“OK, but do I have to call myself 'Evil Matt' from now on?”

Zoe laughed and shook her head. “Maybe,” she said with a grin, and suddenly slid off the bed. “Let's see, let's see.... what to tie you up with...” she muttered to herself as she paced the room.

My heart was doing jumping jacks in my chest. Why was I so into this? Was it the tying up, or the girl? Or both? Had to be both. Zoe opened her closet, rummaged for a moment, and emerged with a long, black and white scarf. She tested it with a tug, grinned over at me, and then closed the closet door with her foot as she headed my direction- scarf in hand. “Oh Evil Matt. I found something to tie you uuuuuuuuuuup wiiiiiiith,” she teased, smiled, and dangled the scarf in front of my face. “You sure you want to do this?” I opened my mouth to tell her yes, but she cut me off. “Well it's too late! Now you are mine! Put your hands behind you you dastardly villian!”

I swallowed and felt exhilarated. Zoe had suddenly jumped into some sort of character or something, but I didn't care. It was even MORE exciting. When I turned and put my hands behind me, I heard her laugh over my shoulder. “You sure give up easy for an evil villain, huh?” She asked, but before I could move, I felt her loop the scarf around my wrists and begin to wrap them in every direction. As it got tighter and tighter, I was surprised at how different the sensation was then handcuffs. The cuffs gave you some slack, but being tied left you nothing. I tested my wrists, and found them securely wrapped close together and unable to break apart. “Different, isn't it?” Zoe asked, apparently reading my mind. “You know, a lot of guys would PAY to get tied up by a cute young girl like myself.”

“Yeah? You thinking of opening up a business?” I said. I seemed to be the most comfortable when we were joking. It made me forget how serious my enjoyment of the whole thing was.

“Maybe, maybe,” Zoe answered. “'Zoe Day's Spa and Bondage Center'. What do you think?”

I felt her knot the scarf, and I knew she was finished. I couldn't budge my arms at all. “You're good at this,” I commented.

“It's not my first time,” Zoe replied, letting her hand rest on my shoulder. “So now what? You just want to sit there while I keep working on my project?”

“Oh, you're done?” I asked, feeling slightly disappointed.

“Well, I mean, I don't have to be. What else do you want me to do?” She asked. “I can tie your feet up. I can put you in a hogtie!” Her eyes widened with joy.

“Too much!” I asked, terrified of a 'hogtie', while simultaneously being intrigued by it.

Zoe laughed. “Let's see... I can blindfold you,” she said and put her hand over my eyes. I was left with nothing but the pitch black to look at.

“Wow the inside of your hand is pretty. I think I can see Venus,” I joked, but was actually loving the lack of sight.

“I can save us both from your corny jokes and gag you,” she said and I felt her other hand press firmly down over my mouth. Unable to see or speak, I instinctively tried to move my arms, but the scarf held them tightly behind my back. I mumbled into her hand, getting a little scared. She took both hands away. “You're OK,” she assured me, patting me on the head.

“That was... powerful!” I exclaimed, feeling my heart racing.

“You had no control,” Zoe stated. “You liked it?”

“Yeah... yeah, I think I did,” I admitted.

Zoe tilted her head and smirked. “So, I'll ask again. What do you want me to do?”

“You know, this whole 'loss of control' thing really doesn't work when you're asking me what to do,” I said with a teasing grin. “You're the one in charge, aren't you?”

“Oh you have chosen poor words my friend,” Zoe stated as she put her hands on her hips and shook her head. I swallowed, growing more excited with every passing moment. Zoe put a hand to her chin and looked me over, before deciding on her next course of action. She went to her dresser, opened a drawer, and pulled out a red, polka-dotted bandanna. She spun to face me, grinning, and yanked it tight a few times. “What do you want to lose, sight or speech?”

I thought about it and decided I'd rather be able to talk. “Sight, I guess.”

Zoe nodded her head and came to my side. She hopped onto the bed behind me and I felt her knees near the small of my back. “Now you said you wanted to lose some control, Matt. Those were your words.”

“Well, yeah, I- MERPH!” My words were cut off as Zoe looped the bandanna around my head and pulled it between my lips. My teeth sank into it as she began knotting it behind me and giggling to herself. I began talking, but my words were too mumbled and unintelligible for even ME to understand.

Zoe finished and crawled back in front of me on the bed. Her piercing green eyes looked me up and down as I sat in forced silence. “Now, this is called a gag,” she said, putting a finger to my lips and smiling from ear to ear. “You can't talk anymore. Go head and try, bet ya can't do it!”

“Mmph!” I grunted and chewed on the bandanna.

“See!” She said, clapping her hands together. “I hate being gagged, but I love being the gagger. Funny, isn't it?” She waited for my reply, but I wasn't going to give her the satisfaction twice. I stared at her silently, which she still found amusing. “You want me to take it off?”

“Mm-mm,” I mumbled and shook my head. I was starting to get used to it, and the fact that I couldn't communicate was beginning to add to the excitement.

Zoe smiled, her nose twitching in that adorable Zoe-Day-Way, and got off the bed. “Good, because I wasn't going to take it off anyway!” She said, but I knew she would have. She went back to her closet, dug in, and produced a long tube sock. “This is all I have left to tie your legs with, so I guess it will have to do.”

I swallowed, forgetting completely that there was even more to come. All this stuff was a bit overwhelming, but at the same time, incredible. Zoe knelt beside my legs and began untying my shoes. I mumbled into the gag in confusion and looked down at her. “I don't want these big, dirty shoes on my bed!” She replied and pulled them off one by one. My shoes weren't all that big or all that dirty, which I would have told her, if my mouth wasn't filled with a bandanna. When that was done, she sat back on the bed, and brought my legs up with her. I lost my balance from the sudden motion and fell back onto her mattress. Zoe laughed at me and I grumbled in reply.

I watched as she wound the tube sock around my ankles a few times before tucking it between my legs and wrapping it vertically. That was how she tied my wrists so well, but without pain. I was learning Zoe Day's secrets one by one.

Zoe finished her knot and dusted her hands off triumphantly. “Welp, that's that. You've now been officially bound and gagged. How do you feel?”

I obviously couldn't answer, but I felt great. I tested all my binds and found myself unable to budge. “Matt, I asked you a question! At least give me an answer!” Zoe teased.

I gave her a sarcastic look and she frowned dramatically. “Oh, the silent treatment, is it? We have ways of making you talk mister!” Zoe exclaimed in a cheesy villainous accent.

That's when I hear her front door slam. We both froze, staring at each other in shock. From the bottom of the stairs, a woman yelled up, “Zoe?”.

“That's my mom,” Zoe whispered, getting off the bed.

I suddenly wanted very desperately to be untied. I pulled at my wrists but they gave no slack. “Mmph!” I mumbled and tried to turn my back so Zoe could release me.

“She's not supposed to be home right now,” Zoe said, ignoring me. “Let me just see what she wants.” I shook my head and tried to tell her to untie me again. “I'll be right back! Don't go anywhere!” Zoe laughed and then she left her room, closing the door and leaving me alone.

I couldn't believe it! I felt a mild wash of panic come over me as I realized I was, for the first time, truly helpless. How could Zoe just leave me like that? I pulled at my wrists more, but it only seemed to make the knot tighter. My feet were sticking out from me, useless. There was nothing I could do but wait.

Zoe came back a minute or two later and closed the door behind her as she came in. “No sweat, she's gone. She just dropped off some lunch,” she began, acting as if it were no big deal what she'd just done to me.

I grunted into the gag and gave her a serious look with my eyes. Zoe seemed surprised by that, and she quickly came over to me and began to untie the gag. “It's alright Matt, you're fine. I left you for like one minute!”

When the gag was out, I said, “You just left me? I'm new to this stuff you know! You can't just LEAVE me. Do you know how terrifying that was?”

Zoe looked genuinely upset. “I... I didn't think... I'm sorry Matt, alright?”

“I think I should go,” I said. “Will you untie me?”

Zoe looked shocked by my words. She sighed and began to untie all my binds. When I was free, I stood, put my shoes on, and headed for her door. “I said I'm sorry,” Zoe said, sitting on her bed.

“Yeah. I'll see you in school tomorrow,” I told her and left.

Later that day as I walked home, I wondered why I really had been so upset. Was Zoe right? I mean, she really only had left me for a minute. Was I overreacting? I wasn't sure. All I knew was that the next time I went over her house. It was HER turn to be tied.

That made me feel a little better.

[Soraka]

“So, about yesterday...” I began nervously. All day in school, I had been concocting an apology/excuse to give to Zoe as to why I'd acted like such a freak the day before. I mean, she had only left me alone in her room for less than a few minutes, and I'd stormed out of there like she'd killed my dog. In hindsight, I was wrong, Zoe was right. I found that that was becoming a growing theme in our little relationship. I figured I would let her know as much as I turned around in my chair in English class and began my apology. “I don't what came over me, I just...”

“It's fine,” Zoe cut me off, chewing on a pencil and not taking her eyes off whatever hard work she was leaning over on her desk.

“What? Really?” I was taken by surprise. “That's it?”

“Yep,” she answered and glanced up at me with a smirk. “No biggie.”

I smiled. There was a certain beauty in Zoe's simplicity at times. She wasn't the type to play games or beat around the bush. She just said what she meant, and I think maybe I loved her a little for it. “So... I'm still coming over today?”

“Oh, no. I never want to see you again now,” she casually stated, still looking down at her work. I was devastated for a split second before I saw the mischievous grin creep onto her face. She stole another glance up at me and laughed, “Yes, you goof. You're still coming over today.”

I nodded and swallowed. One hurdle down, one left to go. “And, um... so I was thinking since I was the one who got,” I grew nervous as I glanced around the room and lowered my voice as much as possible, “tied up yesterday...”

“What?” Zoe asked, leaning forward.

“Tied up,” I said, a little louder, but still careful to keep it down.

“I can't make out what you're saying, Matt,” she shrugged and went back to work.

“Tied up!” I said even louder, getting frustrated, and Michelle Miller glanced over at me from the next row of seats. I grew red in the face and gave her an awkward smile before turning away.

Zoe was laughing into her fist. “I heard you the first time, I just had to see how loud you'd go.”

“Very funny!” I said dryly and continued my pitch. “Anyway, since I was on the receiving end yesterday...”

“You want to switch positions, is that what you're awkwardly trying to say, Matt?” Zoe said, cutting to the chase. When she looked up, I nodded, trying to contain my excitement. “OK. That's all you had to say! Geeze, if you want to tie me up so bad, just say it!”

Zoe was NOT keeping her voice down, and Michelle Miller looked over in our direction again. This time, Tim Pollack joined her. “Shhhh,” I hissed and made a lowering motion with my hand.

Zoe finally stopped writing and looked up. “Oh, what are you so embarrassed about?” She turned towards Michelle and Tim and said, “He's asking if he can tie me up, in case you're interested. He really seems to like-”

I reached across her desk and put my hand over her mouth, which Zoe seemed to be amused by as she looked back at me. I laughed nervously towards Michelle and Tim and shrugged. “She's... just kidding.”

“Mmm-mmm,” Zoe mumbled into my hand and shook her head wide-eyed at them.

The bell rang, saving me from any more embarrassment, and Michelle rolled her eyes and got up. Tim smiled at me and joined her. I looked back at Zoe, who I could see, even from beneath my hand, was grinning from ear to ear.

“You enjoy watching me squirm, don't you?” I asked her.

“Mmm-hmm,” She agreed with a nod. I took my hand away. “So, I'll see you later today then. Don't worry, my mom won't be making another surprise visit.” She stood and collected her things. “Also, get some rope. If we're going to keep doing this, we might as well have the key ingredient to the whole thing.”

“Rope? Where?”

Zoe shrugged. “A rope factory?”

She handed me the paper she'd been working on as she turned and headed out of the class room. I looked down at it, and was somehow not surprised. It was a picture of a cartoony version of me running a long piece of rope all around Cartoon-Zoe's body. Her mouth had an X over it, which I assumed was tape, but she was holding a sign where her hands were sticking out that read: “HELP!”. I laughed, and admired the artwork; it wasn't all that bad. Another Zoe Dayism in the collection. Mr. Marsh called my name, and I realized I was the last person in class. I considered throwing the sketch out—you know, to destroy all evidence that I was apparently into that sort of thing—but decided against, and tucked it away with the rest of my stuff. I left class and headed home wondering only one thing: Where was I going to get rope?



The answer, apparently, was the dollar store. I stopped in on my walk over to Zoe's house, and was surprised/nervous to find long coils of white, cotton rope in the utilities and hardware isle. As soon as I saw it, I pictured Zoe in it, and my heart picked up pace. I needed that rope! Glancing around the store, though, made me terrified. Would it look weird for some dude to just roll in and buy rope? No, right? Why would it?

Still, paying for it at the cash register was like torture. At any second, I expected the entire store to point and stare at me, and ask what I was doing with the rope and what was I? Some sort of weirdo? Of course, nothing like that happened, and the older woman at the register barely even looked at me as I handed her my money.

And then I was off; walking through the neighborhood with a plastic bag full of cotton rope, and I couldn't have been happier. It was only a few minutes before I'd traversed the half-dozen blocks, and then I was knocking away on Zoe's front door: rope in hand.

She opened it and gasped, sticking her hands up. “What do you want!? Oh, God! Take whatever you want! Just don't hurt me!”

“What?” I asked in confusion.

“Please, mister. You don't have to do anything crazy! What's that rope for!?”

I thought for a moment before repeating, “What?”

Zoe pursed her lips together and put her hands on her hips as she waiting patiently for me to understand. I eventually did, and felt quite stupid. “Oh, uh... I'm coming in lady!” I tried to put on my most menacing, bad-guy voice, but it just sounded dumb to me. Zoe was a fine actress though, and her wide-eyed looks of shock and terror were awfully convincing as I backed her into the house and closed the door behind me.

As we stood in her living room—me, the bad guy, and her, the innocent victim—I was happy to see Zoe was looking cute as she ever did dressed in a tight black T-shirt with some band on the cover, and a pair of black Capri pants. She was barefoot, and her hair was tied off in pigtails—though she didn't have that long of hair, so they were almost more horns than tails—, which I found pretty funny, but also surprisingly attractive. Zoe could pull off any look though, really.

I thought for a second how to approach this little 'role-playing' game she had started, but while I thought, Zoe cut in with, “Wait a second! You're not even armed!” And before I could reply, she kicked me in the shin and hurried off into the kitchen. “Ow!” I shouted after her, half angry/half laughing. When I stepped into the kitchen, Zoe had fortified her defense in the corner of the room, an open bottle of dish soap sat clenched and ready between her hands. “What are you a raper or something?” She asked, cautiously holding up her dish-soap-gun. “You have the look of a raper.”

“Hey! I do not!” I shot back, momentarily forgetting we were playing a bit of a game.

“Yep. You sound like one too,” she pointed out, smirking and circling around the kitchen table as I approached.

I shook my head. “That's it, sweetheart, I've had enough of your insults!” I made a dash for her, but she side-stepped and some of that liquid soap must have dripped at some point, because the next thing I knew, I was falling. My elbows hit the tiled floor, and then I lost balance and collapsed onto my side. I groaned and rolled onto my butt.

Zoe was on her knees beside me in a flash. “Oh my God, Matt. I'm sorry,” she said, but kept bringing her hands to her mouth to hide her laughter.

“Oh... I think something's broken...” I groaned and put my head back.

“What? Really?” Now she was genuinely concerned.... my opportunity to strike!

I hopped to my feet and grabbed her slender wrists in each hand. “The oldest trick in the book my dear!” I exclaimed and tossed my head back in evil-villain-laughter.
“You scoundrel!” Zoe cried out, smiling, and began trying to tug her arms away from me.

“That will be enough fighting out of you, miss!” I told her and then pulled her closer, raised my arm over her head, and pulled her hands back. The end position was me behind Zoe, my hands around her sides and pulling her arms across her chest in opposite directions. Her body was pressed up against mine, and for the first time, I kind of wanted to spin her around and kiss her. Wait! What was I thinking! We weren't... like that! ...were we? As I pondered my own question, Zoe began to struggle in my arms, and suddenly began calling out for help. “Help! There's some clumsy man in here who looks and sounds like a raper! Someone help!”

She was being careful not to be too loud, but I still had to stop her if I wanted to play my part. I released her wrists, threw one arm across her chest, and the other up to her face where I clamped my hand down over her mouth. Her lips were warm and moist on my palm, and she instantly began trying to talk anyway. Her words were just a series of unintelligible mumbles, but I had known Zoe long enough to figure most of it out. Basically, she was calling me a big, stupid raper and to let her go.

I was anxious to get to tying her up, but it would be impossible with one hand, so I looked around for some improvisation. The fruit bowl on her counter top was the best I could find; a shiny red apple sitting alongside a bunch of bananas. I wrestled her over there—Zoe mumbling away the entire time—and scooped it up. “Open wide my dear,” I told her, still thinking my bad guy voice was awful, and dangled the piece of fruit in front of her face.

I took my hand from her mouth and she shouted, “Neveeeeeeer,” generously leaving me just enough time to gently wedge the apple between her teeth. She bit down into it with a satisfying crunch, and then she had a new gag to talk into, which she did immediately.

My excitement was growing by the second as as I pulled her arms behind her, joined her wrists and began to shake out the rope I'd purchased. When Zoe heard the rustle of the bag, she glanced back over her shoulder and eyed it up. She raised her eyebrows and made a satisfied sound. “Hey! Eyes in front of you, lady!” She grumbled and turned her head. She really was quite good at this whole thing. The talents of Zoe Day were seemingly endless. The rope was really long, and I had no immediate way of cutting it, so I just began to wrap her wrists up. When I was satisfied, I grabbed a knife from the sink and cut off the end. The apple that had been inserted in Zoe's mouth hit the floor with a 'PLOP' and then Zoe was turning to face me. “Matt! I can already tell you've never tied someone up, have you?” I shook my head. “You realize I'll be out of this if I tried in less than a minute, right?” I shook my head. “Well I will! Now grab that rope, those scissors, and follow me.” She turned and walked off into the living room, hands still tied behind her and dragging a little rope tail along with them. I thought she was even cuter than before.

I followed her in, and Zoe took a seat on the couch, and motioned for me to sit on the other side. I did, and she kicked her legs up and rested her feet down on my lap. “I know you're a foot-lover, but try to concentrate on what I tell you, Matt,” she teased, and I smirked and shook my head. “Now cut off a piece of rope about... oh, six feet long or so.” I did what she asked, listening to my own heart beating in my chest. “Good, now wrap it around my ankles, starting from the middle and going around both ways.” I thought for a moment, then did that too. “Good, now use that last bit to wrap around the middle, between my legs.” I was starting to see why this was the preferred method. “And now knot it... maybe double knot it, and you have successfully bound my feet together! Congratulations!” I finished my knot and looked over my work. I felt pretty good about it.
“I'm a pro!” I exclaimed, dusting my hands off triumphantly.

Zoe laughed. “Maybe the first pro that had to be talked through his job. Now same way with my wrists, or else I'm going to bust out and clobber you with my fists!”

“You will not clobber me!” I laughed and quickly shoved her feet off my lap and got behind her. I undid my now-sloppy-looking rope work, and redid it Zoe-style.

“See. That feels much better,” Zoe called back over her shoulder as I finished up the knot and stepped back to admire what I'd done. Zoe got her legs under her and slowly stood up, bound hand and foot, and she looked stunning. She made little movements with her feet to turn towards me and jerked her shoulders up and down a few times to test her binds. “Not bad,” she said, smiling up at me. “For a rookie, I guess.”

“You look great,” I said, not really meaning to say it, but saying it anyway. It was true, after all, and why should I lie.

Zoe gave me a half smile, and our eyes met only for a moment before she looked away. “Now you'll have to catch me!”

“Shouldn't be too hard considering, you know, you're tied up and all,” I pointed out and put my hands on my hips.

Before I even knew what was happening, Zoe was hopping her way to freedom! Bouncing up and down, she raced past me into the kitchen, making a little rhythm of 'THUMPS' as she jumped, until she hit the tiled floor of the kitchen and it became 'SLAPS' as her bare feet smacked the floor. The little pigtails she had in her hair bounced along with every leap, and I found that infinitely attractive. I followed her into the kitchen, and to my amusement, Zoe was trying to fumble with the back door handle. “You'll never take me alive!” She shouted and blew a strand of hair from her face. I grinned, walked over to her, bent, and scooped her up over my shoulder. “OK, maybe you will,” she admitted, upside down and behind my back.

I began hauling her off into the living room, her butt was right next to my face, and looked great in her pants, and her knees were bent, bringing her bound feet up in front of me. Her toes were scrunched. “Where are you taking me you evil villain! Put me down!” Zoe shouted behind me.

“Quiet, you! You're voice is too annoying! We'll have to fix that!”

Suddenly, Zoe was out of character. “Really, Matt?”

“Huh?”

“Is my voice annoying? I mean, you can never tell those things, since you pretty much never get to hear your own voice.”

“I mean, not really. It's just kind of normal I guess.”

“Oh.”

I thought it was kind of absurd that we were having a regular conversation as I carried Zoe bound hand and foot over my shoulder, but at the same time, it was nice to remember I was still with Zoe here and not some other person. “Unhand me villain!” She cried out, back in character, as I began lugging her up the steps. Suddenly she gasped, “Wait! You're going to the bedroom! You ARE a raper! Oh, woe is me!”

I laughed as I climbed the last stair—harder than you'd think carrying a hundred and some pounds over your shoulder—and pushed into Zoe's room. I flopped her down on the bed and went over to her dresser. “Hey, buddy! That's private stuff!” Zoe shouted, frowning.

“Relax lady, just getting... this,” I finished, pulling out the same bandanna Zoe had gagged me with 24 hours earlier.

Zoe slumped her shoulders upon seeing it and half-smiled at me. “Payback is a bitch, isn't she?”

“A mighty big one,” I agreed and sat down across from her on the bed. “Any last words?”

Zoe said them without hesitation, “Matt smells.”

I grinned and shook my head before leaning over and sticking the middle of the bandanna between her lips. She took it aggressively with her teeth and I reached around to knot it behind her head. As I did, I realized this was the closest Zoe and I had been, face-to-face. I was close enough to see her little nostrils breathing air in and out. Her green eyes were bright and brilliant and watching me as I gagged her. It was my moment. Maybe my only one, and there was no turning back. I leaned in and kissed her on her gagged lips. I quickly pulled away, terrified of her reaction. She was still and silent, frowning at me.

“I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Was that... too weird? I'm sorry, I'll untie you. Sorry,” I was babbling a mile a minute, but, hey: what can I say? I think I may have been in love with this girl.

I moved to untie her, but Zoe made a sound, and when I looked at her, she shook her head. I swallowed a lump in my throat. What did that mean? Of all the times to kiss someone, it had to have been when she was gagged and unable to tell me her thoughts. Zoe was staring at me, studying me in her Zoe Day way. She 'mmph'd' and and looked down at the bandana in her mouth. I reached over and pulled it down so she could speak. But when her lips were free, she didn't speak. No my dear readers, she did not; she leaned in and kissed me!

I had done it ladies and gentleman! I had won Zoe Day! Oh man, there's so many people to thank! First and foremost, my parents, secondly-

But then Zoe stopped kissing me, and when she pulled those perfect lips back from mine, I read the concern all over her face. Something was wrong. Hold the celebration. “What? Is this... is this too weird or something?” I asked, terrified of the answer. “Is it because you're tied up? I can untie you. Here.”

“It's not that, Matt,” she said, avoiding eye contact with me. “I just... don't think this is a good idea.”

“What? Why?” I was genuinely dumbfounded. Everything had seemed to be going so well...

Zoe looked at me again, and this time, she looked more somber than ever. “Matt... I'm moving again.”

And just like that, your world crumbles. Zoe Day, my first true fascination, maybe my first true love, my yetti... was leaving. I felt sick.

[Soraka]

Things had gotten weird between Zoe and I since our last time together. Well, weirder than usual, at least. She had revealed she'd be moving again in two weeks, and I had acted accordingly: hurt, shocked, and angry. And I didn't think I was so wrong in feeling that way either. She made my dumb heart fall in love with her, and now she was leaving me. What a crummy thing to do someone. I didn't know how to respond, I barely even knew how to talk to her anymore. I had untied her that day, left her house, and for the last week, we barely gave each other an acknowledging nod when we passed in the halls. And school was over in two days. After that? No more hanging out. No more doodling on my notebook in English class. No more laughing about how weird each other was. No more tie up games. No more Zoe and I.

To say the least, readers: It sucked.

And it would have gone on sucking if it were entirely up to me and my stupid stubbornness, but on the second to last day of school, Zoe had her say on the matter.

It was right after an especially dull English class, one in which all the years work had been finished and most people were spending their time talking to friends. Zoe and I hadn't said a word to each other. But after the bell rang, and I was standing out at my locker, I glanced to my right and saw her storming in my direction; a determined fire in her eyes.

"What-" Was all I got out before she pushed me back into the locker and clamped a hand down over my mouth. I let out a surprised "mmph!" and darted my eyes around the hall to hope no one was watching. A few were. It was embarrassing.

"Alright, you listen to me, Matt!" Zoe began, using her free hand to point at me. I frowned at her and put my hands up. "I don't think it's all that fair that all of a sudden you're being a big jerk to me! I get you probably think I don't care about you or something, or... or I lied to you, or... SOMEthing! I don't even know! But you better at least realize, if you're never going to talk to me again, moving isn't my CHOICE! You think I want to get dragged all around the country? You think I WANT to never have any friends? If I could, I'd stay here in your crummy little town forever, but I can't. So if you REALLY want to spend our last few days together not even TALKING, than FINE, but at least have the guts to tell me why! If you think I don't like you, I do, Matt. I DO, alright! And that's the worst part of it all! I..."

Zoe's voice cracked, and for the first time since I'd known her, I could see tears starting to swell at the bottoms of her brilliant, green eyes. I felt terrible, and like usual, she was right. She always was. I pulled her hand down from my mouth and said everything I felt inside me in two words, "I'm sorry." She stared at me only for a moment, and then we were hugging like two old friends that were back together after years apart. Plenty of people in the hallway were watching by that point, but I didn't care anymore. We were just two weirdo's, I guess. And like Zoe had told me once before, I embraced it. Tim Hutchins laughed and began to clap for us, but instead of a big movie moment where everyone else joined in, people just frowned, walked away, and forgot about us to enjoy the rest of their day. And when we were alone, I apologized again, and I was forgiven. Zoe was right. Always was.

"So how do I make it up to you?" I asked her with a grin.

She swiped the corner of her eye and grinned back. "I'm sure I can think of something."

And by the end of the day, she had.

I woke up the next morning, more excited for the last day of school than I'd ever been, because on that day: I was Zoe's slave.

I met up with her at the lockers before class began and she looked as cheerful and eager as a kid on a Christmas.

"Alright, so what do I have to do?" I asked, dong my best fake-begrudging voice. Zoe gave me a big toothy smile and piled all her books on top of mine, till the stack came up to my chin.

"You can walk me to class, for starts!" She told me. "But first!" Zoe brought her hand to my face, and at the last moment I saw a thick marker in it. She scribbled a little mark on my forehead that I later found out was a "Z" - showing that I was the property of Zoe Day. I opened my mouth to protest, but then she pushed the marker between my teeth. I bit down on it instinctively--like a horse would a bit--and she slipped a rubber band off her wrist, using it to loop around the back of my head and keep the marker in place. I gave her a dry look and she was grinning like the devil. "You're such a CUTE slave!" She chirped and patted me on the cheek.

I walked her all the way to her first class like that, books to my chin, gagged with a marker, and branded with a Z, and I have to say... it was one exhilarating experience. It was like Zoe and I were taking our little 'tie up games' into a public place, and it was certainly a new feeling. Incredibly, not many people even noticed me, too busy with their last-day-of-school antics. Zoe noticed though. She stared at me smiling the whole way, as if she was waiting for me to get fed up with the whole thing and stop. I did not though, and that seemed to please her to no end.

At her class door, she took the books from, leaned in close and whispered, "You're the best slave I ever had!" before giving me a peck of the cheek and disappearing into the room. I watched her go, and all I could think of was ways of how she could stay with me. Ideas were forming, but they wouldn't come to fruition till later on. I pulled the maker out of my mouth and headed off to my own class.

Zoe didn't get much of a chance to flex her powers over me for the rest of the day, until English class. Halfway through, all the class was doing was sitting around talking, our work done and miles away, and Zoe gave me a tap on the shoulder. I turned to her and she said, "Turn your desk towards me please!" and grinned. I frowned but, being her slave, I had to obey. Zoe had worn flip-flops that day, and once I was facing her, she kicked them off and stuck out her legs, landing her feet square in my lap. "One foot massage, sir." She said and put her hands behind her head, getting comfortable. “After all, you ARE a foot lover!”

I looked around the class. No one was paying much attention. Zoe gave me a little tap on the thigh with her heel and pointed down at her feet, smiling. I grinned and shook my head before grabbing her ankle with one hand and starting my best massage with the other. "You're terrible," I told her, although I was secretly enjoying it as much as she was. "You're such a mean master." Zoe only laughed and folded her arms as she watched me work. I caught the teacher give us a passing glance, but I think he knew our weirdness by then, and only gave me a shake of his head as he went back to the paperwork on his desk. Occasionally a classmate would glance over as well, but by then I was way past caring. Zoe and I were living in our own little world, and everyone would just have to deal with it. Of course, I couldn't pass up the chance to sneak a tickle in here and there, and each time I would, Zoe would laugh and act shocked that her 'slave' would be so disobedient.

Eventually, English class ended with a bell ring, and Zoe pulled her freshly-massaged feet away and tucked them back into her flip-flops. "How'd I do?" I asked.

"Four out of Five. I've had better... but not many," Zoe replied, and as we headed into the halls for our final class, she told me her last plan for the school day. I looked at her in surprise after she'd told me and asked, "Really? You want me to do that?" Zoe only nodded and said, "3:10, be there!"

And at 3:10 pm, fifteen minutes before the last bell on the last day of school would ring, I asked to go to the bathroom, although I knew the bathroom would not be where I'd be spending my final minutes. Instead, I headed to Zoe's locker, and found her already waiting there, leaning up against it and grinning ear to ear "This is crazy," I told her as I approached.

"This is SLAVERY!" Zoe replied and pointed at me with a big, comical look on her face. "Are you sure you can handle it?"

"I don't have a choice, in case you forgot, master," I said. I saw that gave Zoe great pleasure.

She turned, put in her combination, and opened her locker. Digging into her bookbag momentarily, she pulled out the pair of handcuffs that had started this whole thing and spun around to face me. "You're the best slave a gal could ask for, you know that?"

"Oh, I know that," I answered, turning around and putting my wrists together. I didn't even stop to think how nuts it was we were doing this in school. I felt the cold steel lock around my wrists, and then it was done. I was handcuffed in my own school.

"In you go!" Zoe said cheerily, and I shot her a playful look before backing my way into her locker. It was as cramped as cramped could be inside, my shoulders squished between the two walls of it. I had to slightly bend my knees to get my head inside, and my feet could barely find a resting place that wasn't completely awkward, but when it was all said and done, I fit. "Oh my God, I can't believe you're doing this!" Zoe exclaimed with her hands on her cheeks. "You really ARE the best slave ever!"

"Yeah, yeah," I played it off cool, but I was excited as ever. "You better shut me up if you really want to keep me in here."

Zoe stared at me then in a strange way, and I knew she really did like me as much as I liked her. She smiled, nodded, and then took out a roll of duct tape from her bag. She ripped off a good sized piece and held it up to my lips. I waited, but she hesitated. Just as I was about to ask her what was wrong, she leaned into the locker and kissed me on the lips instead. When she pulled away I started to tell her how I wanted her to stay, but she sealed my mouth with the tape. "Mmmmph!" I could only mumble as she stared at me as happily as I'd ever seen her stare. "Be back soon... slave." She told me, waved, and then gently closed the locker door.

And there I was, bound and gagged in Zoe's locker during school hours. I had sure come a long way from the day I first timidly tried on her handcuffs. I wriggled around a bit, and couldn't move an inch. I found that incredibly exciting. As I waited, I saw two different people pass by through the slits in the door, and that was even MORE exciting. Those fifteen minutes flew by in a heartbeat, and I wasn't really scared at all. I was Zoe's property, and that was somehow calming. I listened as the final bell rang, and the halls came alive with good-spirited teenagers, thrilled that their long droll through the school year was finished. I saw Zoe appear in front of the locker and peek in at me, but she waited till the hall had cleared out until she popped the door open. "Freedom!" She shouted and raised her arms in victory. I mumbled my agreement and turned so she could uncuff me. "Oh, I meant from school. Not for you, slave!" I grunted my protest and stepped out of the locker and into the hall. Zoe put her hands on her hips and smirked at me. "I wuv my wittle swavy-wavy!" She cooed and pinched my cheek. I moaned and she finally peeled the tape from my lips.

"Get me out of these cuffs and let's get out of this school!"

"What did you think of the locker?" She asked as she spun me and unlocked my wrists.

"It... wasn't bad. I kind of liked it, to tell you the truth."

"Me too!" She said enthusiastically. "A shame we didn't try it till the last day. We could have had a whole school year of you bound and gagged in my locker."

"You would have liked that, wouldn't you?" I teased her, free from the cuffs.

"Not as much as YOU, slave-boy!" She teased back and then we were leaving the school for the rest of the summer.

I took her bus, and the entire ride she sat beside me in a seat towards the front, blowing in my ear, flicking my nose, tickling my ribs, and biting my arm, constantly reminding me that "as her slave” there was nothing I could do about it. I told her she was close to a slave rebellion and we both had a good laugh on that. When the bus finally squealed to a halt a few blocks from her house, we departed and I found myself having to give her a piggyback ride all the way home: which I made about two and a half blocks before giving up. Zoe patted me on the back and told me she liked her slaves nice and worn out. I shouted "Slave Rebellion!" and wound up chasing her most of the last two blocks. When we made it to her doorstep, we were both bent over, out of breath.

"Alright, Slave-Matt," Zoe began through breaths, "this is your last chance for freedom. You step through these doors and into Madam Zoe's Dungeon of Doom, I can't guarantee your safety!"

"Do I have a choice? I'm yours, in case you forgot," I explained, pointing to the fading 'Z' on my forehead.

"And you told your parents?"

"They don't expect me home till tomorrow," I said and threw my arms up. "I'm all yours, Master!"

Zoe smiled and clapped her hands eagerly. "First thing's first, we need to get you out of those clothes!"

"Yeah... wait, what?" I asked as I followed her into the living room. She shut the door behind me.

"Well you don't expect to wear normal, NON-slave clothes now that you're a slave, do you?" She asked and shook her head. I thought about it for a second, but she cut my brain off with, "Up stairs now! Into the bathroom, slave!" She demanded, but laughed at the end, quickly trying to cover her mouth to hide it.

"Oh, I don't like this," I grumbled as I obeyed and trudged upstairs to the bathroom.

When I was inside, Zoe slammed the door, leaving me alone for a moment. It was only about a minute before it opened again and Zoe tossed in some new clothes and closed the door again. "You've got one minute, Slave-Matt. Then I'm coming in, so you better be reeaaaaadyyyyy!" I frowned and looked down at what she'd given me. A pair of jogging pants that looked much too small, and a white T-Shirt with some punk rock band on the front, that ALSO looked much too small. I sighed, glanced around the bathroom, realized there was no turning back at this point, and began to undress. I kicked my shoes off, removed my pants and stepped into Zoe's sweats. They were, as expected, too small, resulting in a tight squeeze and the elastic ankle bands only went down to my mid-calves. I shook my head and peeled off my shirt, replacing it with Zoe's punk rocker T. It tightly wrapped around body, and my arms barely fit through the armholes, but I managed to get it on. I stole a glance at myself in the mirror and had to laugh. I looked like an idiot... I also looked kind of buff in a clothing two sizes too small! I started to flex a bit when Zoe opened the door. I looked over and when she saw me, her eyes went wide and she double over laughing.

"Laugh all you want, I like it," I pointed out my newly-found muscles. "Check these!"

"What?" Zoe managed between laughs. "Those? Those aren't even anything!"

"These are something!" I defended my manhood. It was bad enough I was wearing women's clothing.

"Something WEAK," Zoe corrected me and pointed at me, doubling over in hysterics again.

I smirked. "If you weren't my master, I would punch you."

"Trust me, with those arms, I wouldn't feel it," Zoe said, holding her stomach and deep breathing to recover from her giggle-fit. She looked me up and down and frowned when she looked at my feet. "Hey! I didn't give you those socks! Lose 'em, bub!"

"I don't really take my socks off in other people's houses. It makes me feel too... intruding."

"Says the guy dressed in my clothes!" Zoe said. "Fine, let's go then, Slave-Matt. Downstairs." Zoe stepped to the side and I moved to step past her, but she stopped me with a hand. I looked over and saw her produce a small length of rope from behind her back.

"Already?" I asked. Zoe nodded and snatched my wrists, placing them together in front of me and wrapping them up in her special way. It never ceased to amaze me how tight she could get it without actually hurting me. When it was done, there was a three foot length of it still left, which Zoe then used to as a leash - walking in front of me and down the steps, giving little tugs. "Clever," I said and came along.

"Aren't I? Now let's go, little slave! Nice and easy down the stairs here. We wouldn't want our slave to have a fall," Zoe said and watched me as she gently tugged me downstairs.

"You sure your mom isn't coming home? This would be about the most embarrassing thing in the world to be seen like this."

"Not till tomorrow night," Zoe answered, "which leaves me plenty of time to have my way with you! Muahahaha!"

She led me like that all the way into the kitchen. When we got there she gave me a little push and I plopped down into one of the chairs. I sat there as she went and got another long piece of rope and began wrapping it around my torso and the back of the chair. When she finally knotted it, my arms and body were pinned down. I tested them and found I couldn't budge from the chair.

"Can you move?" She asked with a smirk.

I struggled to show her I couldn't. "Nope."

"Good!" She said, bent down, and tore the socks from my feet. Her fingers brushed against the sides of them as she did and I jerked a bit.

"Hey!" I shouted and tried to sit up, but the ropes quickly reminded me I couldn't.

"Don't want to intrude, huh?" Zoe asked, raising an eyebrow. "I think you just have big 'ole ticklish feet!" She lifted my ankle and ran a few fingers across my sole. I laughed and shouted for her to stop. "Interesting! I'll have to keep that in mind!" She said and got up to go to the fridge.

"What are you doing?" I asked.

"Making us lunch."

"You make your slaves lunch?"

"When they're hungry," she said with a shrug of her shoulders.

She went about making what looked like two sandwiches, singing and shaking her butt a bit as she did. I liked to think the butt shaking was for me. "There's that lovely singing voice again." I teased. "I'm looking forward to hearing plenty of that tonight."

She turned to me and squinted. "Are you making fun of me?"

"Nooooooo," I answered with a grin.

Zoe went back to her sandwich making, singing louder than before. When she was finished, she put them on two plates, set one in front of me, the other beside it, and got a can of soda and two glasses from a shelf. She poured for us and sat down beside me. "Kind of hard to enjoy when I'm wrapped up like this, don't you think?" I asked. She reached over, picked my sandwich up, and lifted it to my mouth. I leaned as much as I could to get a bite, and Zoe pulled it away at the last second, giggling. "Very funny!" I said sarcastically. She held it again, and this time allowed me to get my teeth into it. I chewed off a piece and swallowed. "Not bad."

"The Zoe Day Sandwich is a specialty in some parts of the world you know," Zoe explained, taking a drink of soda, and then raising my glass so I could have some.

We went on like that for some time, chatting about various things, Zoe eating and then feeding me. When the food was gone, and the drinks as well, Zoe cleaned up and I sat bound to my chair watching. "You know, the life of a slave isn't so bad, after all," I said. "We get fed, and we don't even have to clean up after ourselves."

"Oh, don't get too comfortable there, slave-boy," Zoe said as she washed the dishes. "Danger is around every turn in the poor life of a slave."

When she finished, I found myself being dragged into the living room, still chair-bound, and set down in front of the TV. Zoe stuck the remote in my hand and stood before me, hands on hips. "I'm going to take a shower. You get to watch TV."

"Sounds good."

She bent over and dug through her bookbag till she found the duct tape. "I can't have you shouting for help though, of course."

"Oh, come on, Zoe. You know I'm not going to!"

"I know. But I like to gag you, so..." Zoe smiled, ripped off a piece and smoothed it down over the top of my lips. She stood back, tilted her head, and then decided to stick another piece on. She checked one more time, shook her head. and slapped a third down.

"MMPH!" I finally mumbled my protest.

"It's not my fault you have a big mouth!" She defended herself. "Plus, you're so cute when you're shut up!"

I grunted and turned on the TV. Zoe spun and headed upstairs to shower.

I sat bound, gagged, and waiting; wondering what was in store for me. As I found out later: Zoe had plenty of ideas.

[Soraka]

Zoe came back downstairs looking showered and stunning. She was clad only in a pair of gym shorts and a tank top, and her hair was still damp and hanging around her chin in wet, stringy lines. She leaped over the last step of the stairs and her bare feet landed with a thud on the carpet. "Miss me?"

I, of course, was still tied to her kitchen chair and gagged with enough duct tape to fix a roof. "Mmm-hmm," I answered, nodding my head.

"What do you think so far? You enjoying being the slave of the great Zoe Day?" She asked as she stepped beside me and leaned on the back of the chair above my head. I looked up to meet her eyes, and nodded. She smiled and started playing with a strand of my hair. "Not for long you won't be, mister!" I tried talking beneath the tape, and Zoe looked amused by my mumbling. "What's that? You think I'm the prettiest girl in the world?"

She didn't know how right she was, but that wasn't what I was saying at that particular moment. "Mmmph! Mmm-hmmph!" I tried.

Zoe gasped dramatically. "AND you think I'm the best singer you've ever heard!?"

"MMM!" I shook my head.

"You want to hear some, eh? I knew you couldn't resist," she said faking arrogance and began singing some song; intentionally making her voice sound bad. I pretended like I was crying beneath the tape and Zoe started laughing. "Alright, alright," she finally gave in and ripped all three pieces of tape off my mouth in one quick swipe.

"You are cruel," I said, lips free.

"Not yet, Slave-Matt!" She replied, a finger in the air.

"Well, anyway, I need to uh... you know," I began awkwardly.

"Dance?" Zoe asked and began a little dance.

"Not exactly, um... Kind of have to use the bathroom."

"Oh!" Zoe stopped dancing and moved to the back of the chair. "Well, why didn't you say something!?"

"Very funny."

Zoe unwrapped me from the chair, but made sure I kept my hands bound in front of me as she led me up the bathroom. I closed the door behind me and caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror again. Zoe's stupid too-tight clothing made me look like a goof, and my tied up hands didn't help. I really was her slave, wasn't I? I realized it then, and it made me feel... kind of nice.

When I came back out, Zoe had disappeared from the hall. I frowned and figured she'd went back downstairs. Upon arriving there, I discovered I was correct. Zoe had pushed aside the coffee table and laid out a large, blue, rectangular mat, that I could only assume was a Yoga mat, since Zoe was currently laying on said-mat, stretching her legs and arms out as wide as she could. "Funny time for a workout, isn't it?" I joked as I walked beside her.

She looked up at me and grinned that mischievous Zoe-Day-Grin. "I'm going to have to retie you for what comes next."

"What comes next?" I echoed, slightly worried.

Without another word, Zoe got to her feet and set about untying my hands. When she was finished I joked that I could easily escape her, but Zoe only laughed, moved behind me, and took my arms with her. I felt my heartbeat quicken as she began tightly rebinding my wrists behind me. "Now down here. Nice and easy, slave-boy," she said, helping me down to my knees and then laying me face-down on the mat. I craned my neck back to watch her as she got another piece of rope and knelt beside my ankles to tie them as well. "What, uh, is coming next?" I asked curiously as I felt my feet pulled tightly, but comfortably, together. Instead of answering me, Zoe finished her knot on my ankles, and then lifted them up in the air. "Oh no!" I said, realizing what was happening. "Is this the dreaded hog-tie I hear so much about?"

"It is!" She answered cheerfully as she began connecting my wrists to my ankles. As they were bound together, I found it quite a new sensation to be connected in such a way. "Now, Matt, I'm going to gag and blindfold you, and you're not going to be able to stop what I do. Are you ready for that?"

My heartbeat quickened again as I thought of the feeling of being completely out of control. "What?" I asked, half nervous/half intrigued. "What do you mean?"

"Up until now, you've been able to stop whatever I do, and that is good and fun, but for a true rush, you have to give me complete control. Don't worry, you're in good hands."

I swallowed a sudden lump in my throat and looked her in the eyes. I trusted those eyes more than maybe anyone I'd ever known. "OK," I told her and took a deep breath.

"Very good!" She cheered and clapped her hands. She reached behind her and grabbed two black bandannas. "Any last words?" She asked as she pulled one of them tight and held it in front of my mouth.

"Zoe Day smells!" I shouted just as Zoe shoved the cloth in my mouth and knotted it tightly behind my head. "Mmmmmph!"

She laughed as she took the other bandanna and tied it over my eyes, and then I was hit with a powerful feeling of helplessness. In the pitch black, unable to move my hands or feet, and only able to mumble incoherent sounds, and I was loving it.

"Now, you were right before. This is the infamous hogtie," Zoe explained, now just a floating voice in the dark. "It has several perks. Your slave can't move his hands or feet, and he certainly can't escape! In fact, even trying to escape usually just tires him out." She said, giving me a pat on the back. "But the worst part is, is that it leaves De-Feet in a very vulnerable place." As she said that, I felt her fingers drag along the sole of my foot.

"MMM!" I shouted instinctively and tried jerking away, and all at once, the binds, blindfold, and gag quickly reminded me there was nothing I could do. My heart was now going a mile a minute.

"I'll give you one last chance to stop me. If you want me to stop... just nod your head, Matt."

I swallowed and thought about it. The thought of Zoe tickling me with no way of stopping her was the single scariest thought I could have. However, it was also the most exciting. I shook my head. "Aw! What a good slave!" Zoe cooed and gave me a quick massage on my shoulders. "Now... onto the torture!" I heard Zoe moving around, and then I lost track of her and had no clue where she was. "The real worst part of this game is not knowing when, or where, I'm going to strike!" She said, and it sounded like she was on the other side of me. I could feel the cool air of her ceiling fan blowing on the soles of my feet, and I knew her fingers weren't far behind. She didn't say anything for a good minute, and the suspense was killing me. I kept imaging her pouncing on me at any moment and each time I would jerk a bit. Then, she did pounce! I heard her kneel beside me, and then her fingers were attacking my feet in ever which way imaginable. I shouted into the gag as ticklish waves shot up through my legs. I could already feel my neck break out in goosebumps as I pulled my arms and legs in every possible direction, desperately trying to get away. Of course, I couldn't, and Zoe kept going, dancing her fingers along my soles, occasionally grabbing an ankle to still me. She tickled and tickled, and when I thought she couldn't tickle anymore, she tickled again! I groaned into the gag, I twisted my useless legs, jerked at my useless arms, but the only thing it did was wear me out. I moaned and groaned and laughed into the gag, but every noise I made only seemed to spur Zoe on more and more. She was relentless. She was cruel. She was... wonderful, in that way. This went on for what seemed like a few days; though it was realistically more like fifteen minutes.

"OK!" Zoe said and finally gave up. Every muscle in my body relaxed all at once as I breathed heavily. "Was it as good for you as it was for me, Slave-Matt?"

A tired, "Mmmmmmm," was all I could muster for a reply.

"Now, I'm going to put something in your hand," She did, it was a piece of the rope. "What you have there is the knot to your hogtie. The game is simple. I'm going to give you fifteen minutes to undo that knot. If you do, I untie you and we stop all this terrible torture. If you DON'T manage to do it... well, it is going to be a one way trip to tickle-city for you, my friend!"

"MMPH!" I grunted my disapproval.

"Fourteen minutes," Zoe replied casually.

"Mmm-mmm!" I grumbled and shook my head. That wasn't fair!

"Thirteen minutes!" Zoe shouted. "Now keep quiet and get to work!"

I groaned, but did as she said. The knot felt like nothing short of a Zoe Day Masterpiece in my fingers. I turned it over and over, searching for a good place to start. When I was satisfied, I began trying to work free a loop. I can not tell you how badly I wanted to untie that damn knot. Not only to stave off a tickle-attack, but to impress Zoe with my victory. My fingers suddenly felt like those big foam ones you buy at sporting events though, too big and useless to be any good to anyone. I bit down on the gag in my mouth and concentrated. Zoe's voice came whispering in my ear, "Ten minutes. Tick... tick... tick..." I did my best to ignore her. The knot. Focus on the knot. I had felt it so much, I had a perfect image of it in my mind, all I had to do was work free the right part... "Tick... tick.... tick..." Zoe continued, and somehow it actually started working. I felt the urgency of beating the clock and my fingers turned from big foam ones to big concrete ones. They started to stiffen as I searched and searched but could not find anything to pull. I felt the time flying by, and decided I wouldn't be able to do it, so I spent the remainder of my break taking a rest instead, letting my fingers ease up.

"Time!" Zoe cheered and I heard her clapping. "Too bad, so close."

"Mmph! Mmmm!" I tried explaining this game was too hard.

"What's that? You want me to tickle you EXTRA good!? Well, if you say so!" Zoe said, and I only could manage a final grunt before I felt her dig into my ribs. Her slender fingers seemed to be able to find all the right places to make me lose control. My body twitched away from every little poke she gave, but there was always another finger right around the corner. I moaned into the gag, but I couldn't stop laughing into it either. Zoe was laughing too, taking pleasure in watching me squirm. She started tickling my ribs with one hand and my feet with the other. My muscles felt like they were juiced, quitting on me; unable to fight it anymore. Zoe kept on tickling though. She moved on to my neck and started in with her fingers there as well. She was EVERYwhere! I could not fight it. I could only lay there, completely helpless, and accept the fact that I was to be tickled to death. She began to run the gauntlet on my body, starting at my feet and slowly working up my legs, body, and neck - and when she reached that, she would start her way back down again. I could image her face as she worked on me, smiling, but concentrating; meticulously attacking each place on my body with precise strikes. It eventually stopped, and by then, I was nothing more than an extension of the mat I was laying on; just as still, just as useless.

"How you doing there, Matt?" Zoe asked, brushing my hair away from my face. I grunted to let her know I was still alive. She laughed. "OK, you've got twenty minutes this time to get out and, Matt, if you don't? I am NEVER going to let you go!"

"MMM?" I questioned, twisting my wrists and turning to face her voice, though all I saw was the blackness of the blindfold.

"Nope. I'm going to keep you here at my house forever," Zoe explained, playing with my hair. "I'll keep you tied up and gagged in my bedroom so my mom won't know. I'll leave you barefoot too, so anytime I feel like it, I can tickle you till I can't tickle no more! I mean, I'll feed you and stuff of course, but... you'll be mine for all time if you don't get free in the next twenty minutes, so... good luck!"

I knew what she was doing. It was psychological warfare! She was thinking I'd buckle under all that pressure. No, I couldn't! Not this time. I took a deep breath, flexed my fingers, and slowly but surely went to work untying that damn knot. As I went about the difficult task, Zoe kept whispering things in my ear periodically: "Mine foreveeeeeer, tick.... tick.... tick.", "Oooh! You can listen to me sing all night!", "I mean, you'll have to shower and stuff in handcuffs, of course.", "I'll let you have one last phone call to your parents to say goodbye.", "Mine forever, Matt! Tick... tick... tick..."

And then the knot came loose, and my legs fell to the floor, partially freed from Zoe's torture prison.

"Awwww!" Zoe let out a disappointed groan. "I wanted to keep you!"

I felt her hands at my side, and for a second, I thought she was going to keep tickling me anyway, but then I was flipped onto my back instead and she lifted my head and removed my blindfold. I blinked as my eyes adjust to the light. Zoe was laying beside me on her stomach, feet up and dangling behind her head as she rested her chin on her hand and smiled at me. "You're a hard working slave," she said, "What did you think of that? No control."

"Merph, mmm, mmph!" I explained, meaning to say 'it was great'. Zoe smiled and started playing with my gag, running her fingers along beneath it, teasing to take it out of my mouth before letting it stay right where it was. She eventually stood up, and bent to help me up with her. It was an awkward and arduous task, but it got done, and when it was, Zoe carefully guided me over to the couch (me hopping along beside her) and promptly shoved me down onto it. I landed on my butt with a grunt and looked up at her. She gave me a thumbs up before disappearing into the kitchen, only to return a few seconds later with a pair of scissors. I looked from them to her curiously as she set them on the coffee table and then took a seat beside me. I glanced over and Zoe had a sly grin and a pair of half-open eyes on her face. "I'm getting tired, slave," she explained and threw into an exaggerated yawn with big stretching arms and a loud moan. "Will you sit there quietly while I take a nap, please?"

"Mmph?" I responded in the only way I could.

Zoe smiled and patted me on the head. "Good slave."

She scooted away from me on the couch, laid back with her hands behind her head, and kicked her bare feet up onto my lap. I looked down at them, groaned, then up at her. She looked delighted. "You can look but you can not touch, foot lover," she explained and then took a deep breath, settled comfortably into the couch cushions and closed her eyes. I waited curiously for whatever she was going to do next, but all Zoe seemed to want to do was... sleep?

I then glanced over at the scissors on the table and realized what Zoe wanted her good little slave to do. Apparently, there was to be a slave escape, and my time was now. I began slowly working my way out from beneath Zoe's resting ankles, careful not to upset her, though I figured she wasn't REALLY sleeping anyway. As I did, I thought of what I could do to her once I was free.

[TamatoaShiny123]

This is such a great story!!!

[Canuck100]

This is such a great story!!!

I agree, it's awesome. Thanks [mention]Soraka[/mention] for reposting it!

[Deleted User 1078]

Is there more to this story? It’s so good! I need to know what happens!

[Dr_Depravo]

God they’re such a sweet couple! I need the ending! I have to have it!

[Roboticrobin20]

I would love a continuation of this story. It's such good writing that I really feel bad that Zoe is moving.
PS. It feels good to know that fellow dutch people like these stories XD

[Canuck100]

There is movie on Disney + in which the characters really, really resemble those of this story. The main characters of « Stargirl » are an independent girl with a very creative style, and a shyer boy that she helps come out of his shell.

They’re pretty much like I imagined the characters of this great story, psychologically and physically. And just like Zoe, she moves out of town at the end.

Glad it gave me an opportunity to read this great story again.