"I have to step outside for a moment. I'll be right back." Arthur said as though he were speaking to a room full of people. Mindy looked over to him when he spoke, and she nodded. Today, she looked professional in a short-sleeve white blouse and black pencil skirt.
"Okay." Mindy answered as she watched Arthur leave. He was looking good today in a pair of black slacks with a tightly tucked collar shirt. Once the door was closed, she went back to her work.
Arthur scrolled through his and Selene's conversation to double-check, but a smile spread across his face once he realized he was right. He gave Selene a task yesterday to text him five fantasies she wanted to try and act out before noon today. She'd sent four yesterday and then forgotten about it. Now it was 12:02, and she hadn't completed it. He couldn't help his smile as he texted her.
Master: Time is up, slut. It looks like you're one fantasy short.
Her response was almost immediate.
Slut: What?
Master: The task I gave you yesterday. You were to text me five fantasies by noon today. You sent me four.
Slut: Do any of the fantasies I told you about last night count?
Master: Did you text them to me?
Slut: No.
Master: No...?
Slut: Sorry. No Sir.
Master: I'm going to have to punish you. You must complete the tasks I assign you.
Slut: Yes, sir.
Her lack of protest was not surprising. Arthur could feel himself starting to harden in his slacks as he thought about how he might remind her to complete a task when he gave her one. This was slightly problematic because he was standing in a hallway outside his office, but there was no one around at the moment.
Master: I'll let you know when I've thought of something.
Slut: I can always come over tonight, or we can meet up after your evening class?
Master: We'll see.
Arthur smirked, then put the phone back in his pocket and headed back into the office. Mindy watched his return with apparent interest, then returned her attention to her computer once he returned to his desk. How he wished Selene were under it, strapped to the underside of his desk, sucking him off while he worked. Now there was a fantasy for the list.
"Arthur?" Mindy asked, breaking the silence of the office with a soft request. Arthur sighed. There was always something she needed help with.
"Yes, Mindy?" Arthur looked up from his desk.
"I was just wondering..." Mindy started, then hesitated. Then seemed to not be able to continue her question.
"Yes?" Arthur asked again.
"Are you single?" Mindy rushed through the question, and it took Arthur a second to realize what she'd asked.
"Uh... yeah. Technically." Arthur answered.
"Technically?" Mindy asked.
"Well, I have a date tomorrow night, but we've only been on one date together so far, so it's not like we've talked about exclusivity or anything. I'm... I'm dating, but I'm not anyone's boyfriend." Arthur shrugged. "Why? You need relationship advice or something?"
Mindy seemed unsure how to answer but eventually nodded and shrugged. "Yeah, something like that."
"What's up?" Arthur asked.
"Well, there's this guy I like, and I want him to ask me out, but he doesn't seem to pick up any of the hints I give him, and I saw him with someone else the other night, and I'm worried that if I don't do something soon he'll be taken by this other girl, and I'll have missed my chance." Mindy explained.
Arthur seemed to think about it for a moment, but it was only a few seconds before he offered a solution as a wise and experienced upperclassman might point out the obvious to a Freshman. "Why not just ask him out?"
Mindy seemed to straighten up at that and thought about it. "I guess I hadn't thought about that." She hesitated. "I'm... my family is a little more traditional. I was raised with the expectation that guys were the ones who did the asking."
"Understandable." Arthur nodded. "But it's the 21st century and all that. If you really like a guy, and you're worried that he's missing the hints - direct communication is probably the best way to make it clear you like him. Communication is key, as corny as that is." He chuckled, and Mindy laughed. "Who's the lucky guy?"
Mindy hesitated. "I don't want to jinx it." Mindy shook her head. "You take lunch at one, right? Do you want to have lunch together at the cafeteria, and we can talk more about it off the clock?"
"Sure." Arthur shrugged. "I should get back to work anyway." He chuckled. "So should you."
"Yes, boss." Mindy smiled and turned back to her computer.
The rest of the hour passed with background music filling the silence as they worked until people began trickling back in from lunch or class. Arthur couldn't help his daydreams of Selene as he worked. He could picture her, naked, with her butt on the floor, legs folded to either side of her, pressing her clit into the floor, and her wrists strapped to the underside of the desk. Her mouth open, eagerly waiting for him to fill it with his cock so that she could milk him with her tongue while he worked - or tried to work.
It was a fantastic fantasy, and he was hard throughout most of the hour thinking about it without the chance for relief. If it weren't for agreeing to have lunch with Mindy, he might have slunk off to the bathroom to spend his lunch masturbating to Selene's lewd picture, sexting her, or maybe asking her to meet him for a quickie in the storage closet of his office. All good fantasies for the future that did not help him find relief now.
"Are you ready for lunch?" Mindy's voice cut through his daydreams and brought him back to reality. She stood at the edge of his desk, her hand on its corner, waiting for him.
"Sure, let me just finish this up real quick...." He said as he finished inputting the form he was working on. Focusing on nothing but work for a moment, and thinking about something entirely unrelated and unsexy, helped him soften so that he wasn't tenting his slacks when he stood up.
Mindy smiled and nodded toward the door. Arthur stood and walked toward it, holding it open for her and then walking beside her through the hallways as they made their way out of the office building and down the campus walk toward the cafeteria building.
"Was the food good last night?" Mindy asked with a smile, breaking the silence between them.
"It's always good." He chuckled. "Sorry if I was off last night. I was just surprised. I didn't know you were related to Charlie."
"It's kinda weird that you're on a first-name basis with my dad." Mindy laughed. "But then again, I guess everyone is."
Arthur chuckled. "He's open late and has cheap food." He explained. "I've spent many a night studying there. I like the atmosphere, the fish tanks, and your dad's pretty friendly. He likes to get to know all the regulars, I guess."
"He loves running that restaurant." Mindy agreed, though her tone wasn't as cheerful as Arthur's when mentioning it.
"Do you often work there?" Arthur asked as they passed some friends who nodded to Arthur and passed them by.
"I would help in the kitchens during the summers, which sucked." Mindy laughed. "And I probably will this summer unless I can sign up for summer hours at the office."
"You prefer the office?" Arthur asked.
"You're asking if I would prefer working in a nice air-conditioned office instead of a sweltering kitchen over the summer?" Mindy smirked.
"Fair point." Arthur laughed.
"I'm glad you enjoy the food, though. You ordered quite a lot of it."
Arthur looked over at her as they walked. She was smirking and looking back at him. He shrugged. "Well, I had a friend over last night, and we still had some leftovers."
"I thought I saw somebody else with you." Mindy nodded. "When you first opened the door I... I thought I saw someone by the coffee table, with some uh... interesting things on it."
Arthur looked surprised as he looked away from her and toward the looming cafeteria building.
Mindy was blushing, but it didn't redden her skin any. Her face turned darker, and her eyes looked down at the paved walk beneath their feet. Her heels clicked as they walked. Laughter and random snippets of conversation from a group of passing students filled the silence for a moment.
"It was something of a dare." Arthur tried to explain. "I'm sorry if any of that made you uncomfortable. I didn't know it'd be you delivering the food."
"Oh, no." Mindy protested. "I wasn't offended or uncomfortable." She said quickly. "I was... intrigued?"
"Oh?" Arthur asked rhetorically, but the question still hung between them as he reached the doors to the cafeteria building and held the first set open for her. She held the second set open for him. The sound of her heels clicking changed tone as they moved from the pavement to the tile and made their way to the dining hall.
"Yeah. I mean... It looked like an interesting set of... things." Mindy was clearly unsure what to call the instruments of pain and pleasure that were laid out in presentation the last time Arthur and Selene played.
The idea was to tease Selene a little, giving whatever delivery guy a teasing view of her clothed but braless body kneeling on the other side of a coffee table laid out with their toys for the evening. Instead, it had been Mindy who delivered the food. Although Arthur had recovered from his surprise after a moment and tried to block the door opening with his body, the moment or two of stunned surprise had evidently allowed Mindy to get a peek of what was on the table.
"I had a boyfriend who was into some things like that." Mindy tried to pass it off like it was no big deal but stopped as they were now in line for the cafeteria, and there were people around.
"Yeah?" Arthur asked, not sure of how to proceed.
"Yeah." Mindy confirmed. "Back in high school. He didn't have anything like... that, though. Just some household stuff." She smiled at the attendant and scanned her student ID as she walked ahead of Arthur into the cafeteria. He followed behind, and they gathered their lunch before finding a table. Mindy led the way to a back corner table, which was pretty far away from anyone else in the cafeteria, emptying itself of students and faculty now that it was after one o'clock.
"So..." Arthur started as he sat down. "This guy." A change of subject seemed in order. "How long have you known him?"
"Well, only a few weeks." Mindy answered. "We met maybe the week after the semester started."
"Well, you're a freshman." Arthur laughed as he forked some lettuce from his salad. "You met everyone only a few weeks ago."
Mindy laughed. "True enough."
"Is he in your classes?" Arthur asked.
"No, he's an upperclassman. He's already taken all the classes we might have in common, but we're in the same major." She took a sip of her water.
"What is your major again?" Arthur asked. He was pretty sure he'd asked her before since that was the follow-up question every student asked each other after their name.
"Business." Mindy answered.
"Nice." Arthur nodded. "I'm a business major. Maybe I know him."
Mindy stared at him as he ate some more of his salad.
"But I won't try to guess if you don't want to tell me." Arthur assured her.
Mindy stared at him some more.
"What hints did you drop to try and get him to ask you out, anyway?" Arthur asked.
"Oh, little things, I guess." Mindy's smile crept back onto her face. "But for a smart guy, he is really clueless sometimes. Like he's too busy looking into the distance to see what's right in front of him, you know?"
"Sounds like an idiot." Arthur laughed. "But everyone's a little clueless sometimes, I guess. Everybody's got a blind spot."
"Yeah." Mindy started to eat some of the casserole she'd taken. "I just wish I could get out of his blind spot."
"Communication. That's all." Arthur assured her. "Tell this clueless idiot you like him, and if he's interested, set a date."
"What if he's not interested?" Mindy asked. "What if that's why I'm in the blind spot?"
Arthur shrugged but waved away her concern with his hand as though it were a bad smell. "Why wouldn't he be interested in you? You're cute. If that's not totally inappropriate for me to say as your co-worker."
Mindy sighed. "We're off the clock."
"Fair enough." Arthur nodded.
"You think I'm cute?" Mindy asked.
Arthur smiled. "I mean, yeah. You've got a lovely face, you always dress very stylishly, but I usually see you when you're in the office, so you tend to dress very business-chic there. I've only seen you a few times around campus otherwise."
"I dress a little differently when I'm not working." Mindy nodded. "Is cute okay? Do guys like cute? Should I try to dress more... sexy? More adult?"
"Guys like cute." Arthur assured her. "But I'm sure you could pull off sexy too if you wanted to."
"Like... what? What should I wear to get this guy's attention?" Mindy asked.
"Well, I don't know who he is, so I don't know what his tastes in women are like." Arthur took a sip of his water.
"Well, you're very similar, I think. What do you like?" Mindy asked. "What kind of girl gets your attention?"
Arthur seemed thoughtful for a moment. "I like femininity." Arthur said after a moment. He ate some more of his salad before continuing as Mindy waited.
"Like..." She prompted.
"Like dresses, sundresses, skirts, that kind of thing." Arthur said after a moment. "Like what you're wearing now, I guess."
Mindy stared at him, sighed, and kept eating. Silence reigned at the table for a few minutes as they ate their respective meals.
"So..." Arthur broke the silence. "Where are you gonna go on your date? The Garden Wok?"
"No." Mindy immediately shook her head, and her tone was stronger than she meant it to be, judging by the sheepish expression that followed. "Sorry." She laughed. "Taking a date to my dad's restaurant is like taking a date to meet my dad, and he's strict. I'm pretty sure he'd only be okay with me dating a Korean doctor."
Arthur laughed. "What makes you think that?"
"Because he's told me to hold off on dating until I can find a nice Korean Doctor here at University." Mindy answered matter-of-factly.
Arthur laughed. Mindy didn't. "Oh, you're serious."
"Yeah... he's traditional." Mindy shrugged.
"Parents can be like that sometimes." Arthur nodded. "Is this guy of yours Korean? Maybe he can focus on hospital administration?" He tried to immediately think of the fellow upper-level students he knew in his major and narrow the list.
"Not even a little." Mindy smiled. "But I'm not worried about that. My dad is old-fashioned. He'll get over it, I'm sure. He did for my older brother."
"Well, good." Arthur nodded. "So no Garden Wok for your date." He continued. "Maybe try an activity?"
"What's a good date activity?" Mindy asked.
"Something that lets you talk and get to know one another." Arthur answered. "Anything that gives you some side-by-side time."
"Like..." Mindy prompted.
"Bowling?" It was the first thing that jumped into Arthur's brain since the lanes were side by side.
"Bowling." Mindy repeated, then laughed. "I don't think I've ever been bowling."
"It's fun. Or it can be so long as he's not a sore loser or a sore winner. Best to find that out early, though, I guess." He laughed. "And they have food, so you can eat, bowl, maybe hit the arcade they have there, and it's not too far from campus."
"Sounds perfect." Mindy nodded. "Thanks."
"Any time." Arthur finished off his water.
The two of them ate the rest of their meal in silence for a few moments. Arthur went to refill his water, and when he came back, Mindy was finished with her food, but she sat and talked to him while he finished his.
"So, that girl in your apartment last night...." Mindy started. "Is she the girl you're going on a date with tomorrow?"
Arthur seemed unsure of how to answer but eventually settled on: "No, actually. She's just a friend. We were just... hanging out last night." Selene's status as his friend-with-benefits-BDSM-slut wasn't his to reveal. She didn't want the world at large to know about it, and he was given to protecting that secret. Even if Mindy didn't know who Selene was. If she was adept at social media stalking, she could probably find Selene on his friends list.
"I see." Mindy said, but she sounded unsure. "So what was the deal with all that stuff on the coffee table?"
"Oh, just uh... some stuff we talked about that was part of my relationship with my ex. She was interested, so I showed her some things." Arthur felt as though that were a statement straddling the line between truth and a lie by omission.
"Are you into that kind of thing?" Mindy asked, though her voice was quiet as she leaned forward and kept her head low.
"Yeah." Arthur admitted. "My ex got me into it, and, well...." He shrugged. "Just maybe don't go telling everyone I'm some kind of deviant."
Mindy shook her head. "Of course not." She agreed. "I've always been interested myself."
"Yeah, you mentioned you and your ex got up to some stuff." He nodded. "But I guess you don't have the budget for the big-ticket items in high school." He laughed.
Mindy nodded and swallowed some water as she sat back. "What's the kinkiest thing you've ever done?"
The question took Arthur by surprise. He had to think about it, flipping through memories of Selene and Lori before her. "It... depends on what you consider kinky." He answered. "But I guess it'd be some fairly typical bondage stuff." He looked over his shoulder to make sure no one was listening to them. There were a few empty tables between them and anyone else in the cafeteria.
"Ropes, hot wax, that kind of thing." A particularly memorable night with Lori came to mind, but then thoughts of Selene tied to his coffee table and taking his cock into her throat washed them away. He coughed and adjusted how he was sitting. "What about you?"
Mindy looked down but leaned forward as she answered. "My ex really liked it when I dressed up as a schoolgirl. You know short pleated skirt, thigh highs, heels, a white top, that kind of thing. The weekend after I turned eighteen, I dressed up in some slutty schoolgirl lingerie, and he spanked me over his knee with a wooden spoon in his parent's basement. Then we... y'know."
Arthur coughed, trying not to imagine it too vividly so he wouldn't have any trouble standing up when it was time to go, which would be soon after his food was finished.
"Did you enjoy it?" Arthur asked.
Mindy nodded slowly. "Is that the kind of thing I should tell this guy? Do you think he would be interested in me if he knew I was kinky?" Mindy asked.
Arthur didn't know, but he answered anyway. "I think that's maybe a fourth date conversation. You want to make sure you can trust this guy to work within your limits. You don't want him to try and take advantage if he doesn't know what he's doing just because he thinks he can get away with what they do in porn, you know?"
"Good point." Mindy nodded. "But something tells me this guy knows what he's doing."
"Still, you might want to get to know more about him than just his preferences on sex. You know? Unless you just want a sexual relationship. If you want more of a traditional relationship, you might want to get to know him and get him to know you as a person. Otherwise, you might just become a sex object to him, which could be a problem." Arthur took a sip of his water.
Mindy watched him for a moment, then nodded. "All good points. Thanks."
"What kind of relationship are you looking for with him?" Arthur asked, hoping to change the topic away from kink so that his imagination and memory could calm the fuck down.
"I don't know." Mindy answered honestly. "I guess I just assumed a traditional dating relationship, but it's college, right? We're supposed to experiment a little."