The door-bell rang.
She wasn't expecting anyone. She looked through the door's security viewing hole. A well groomed man stood in front of her door dressed in sport shirt and slacks. His face seemed familiar.
"Yes?" she said through the locked door.
"Hello Patty. You probably don't remember me. It's Zeek from high school," he said.
"Ohmygod. Zeek," she said, totally surprised, as she unlocked the door. She opened the door and welcomed him into her apartment with a cordial hug and a kiss on the cheek.
"It's been years. How did you find me? Where have you been? What have you been doing?" she asked.
The questions and answers soon brought them up to date. They had dated off and on during high school. Committing to a serious relationship was not what they had agreed to, and that may have worked out for them. They had seen too many of their friends have problems with committed relationships and becoming enemies at that young age.
They spent over two hours catching up with talk of old friends, remembering the 'old music', changes to the neighborhood, and what they had been doing. She had fixed coffee and placed some of her home-made muffins on the table. Now, it was almost 5 pm when they noticed the afternoon had disappeared.
"Let me take you out for dinner," said Zeek.
"No. Please let me fix something here," she countered.
"Well...," he said. "Are you sure?"
"Of course," she said with enthusiasm. "Ohmygod! I just remembered. I was going to go out for groceries this afternoon. I haven't got anything to fix for us," she said, completely embarrassed. "I'm sorry."
"That's no problem. Let's go get some groceries and we'll fix something together," he offered.
"You sure you don't mind?" she asked, still embarrassed.
"I'd love to go grocery shopping with you, to make sure you don't buy just donuts and fries," he joked, with a smile.
"Well darn. You caught me. I make the best store bought donuts," she said, starting to laugh.
"I'll bet they are the best store bought donuts anyone could make," he replied with a smile.
With her directions, he drove to the grocery store and pushed the cart. She went through the store like a vacuum on steroids. They were back at her apartment in under an hour.
She cut up the veggies as he cooked the hamburger in the frying pan. He drained off the grease and broke up the burger into little bits. She added the cut veggies and a half cup of water, a dash of garlic powder and some steak spice, then covered the pan for a 20 minute low simmer.
They opened a bottle of wine and chatted a little more.
She served dinner and they continued talking about old times and new times. Then, with the dishes done - she washed, he dried - it was almost eight o'clock.
"Ok, I have a little surprise for you," he said.
"Oh?" she replied, taken completely off guard. "I didn't see you bring anything in," she said looking around to make sure she hadn't missed anything.
"Just close your eyes and trust me Patty," he said.
"Oh boy. Here's that old 'trust me' thing," she said smiling as she closed her eyes. She heard him get up and walk around behind her.
He leaned down and whispered in her ear. "I know it's been years Patty, but you always trusted me. Please trust me now."
"Well... ok Zeek. You aren't wanted for murder or something," she said jokingly with a smile.
"No, not that I know of," he replied, as he took the black silk from his pocket.
"Now hold still and don't move please," he said.
She felt something press against her eyes and then around her head.
"Oh," she said, realising it was a blindfold. "You planning on some kind of ransom?" she joked.
She then heard him walk around in front of her and heard a little clicking sound. Then she felt something cold and hard go around her wrists. CLICK - CLICK.
"Zeek, what are you doing?" she said as fear quickly rose in her mind. She struggled with the handcuffs for a few seconds, but knew it was hopeless. His hands gently held hers, stopping her from reaching for the blindfold.
"Patty, you know I've always had a crush on you. In fact, ummm... I've... loved you for years, but I've never had the guts to try to ask you to make things more serious between us. I know we promised in school not to get serious, and although it hurt me to agree, I tried to be the gentleman you wanted in high school. Now we're older and neither of us is involved with anyone, so I'm going to do a little polite cave man thing here. I hope you will be receptive to all of this. You can stop me anytime and I'll leave and never bother you again, if that's what you want Patty," he said.