You tell Caitlyn you're ready.

Twenty or thirty minutes pass with you tapping away at the fake work app on your laptop. At first, the vibe was a little awkward - it was ultimately a strange request - and Caitlyn took a few minutes to get comfortable with you sitting on their couch. But after she came back in with some waters, you made a quip about work, she complained about school, and things settled into a slightly more comfortable vibe.

You decide enough time has passed. With a feigned sigh of relief, you close the laptop and turn to face the tall, beautiful blonde.

"Thanks so much again for this, Caitlyn. Getting into town right now would've been a nightmare."

"God, I know," she says. "Most of my sisters are on campus right now for the game. I feel like the whole town goes, traffic gets insane."

"How come you didn't go? If you don't mind me asking. Your roommates are there I'm guessing?"

Caitlyn looks up from her homework fully. "Yeah, they're there. I... Okay, I'll tell you why I didn't go, but you can't laugh!"

"Come on, I'd never do that!" you say, giving her an easy smile.

"Okay, okay. So obviously going to games is a big deal for Greek life at Boulder right. But last year, my freshman year, I went to every game and I ended up just getting too drunk at the tailgates beforehand. I had this thing where, well..."

She trails off, blushing slightly. "Come on, what happened? I won't judge," you say, making direct eye contact. She meets your gaze for a few moments before looking down, smiling slightly.

"Did you go to school here? How old are you anyway, I need to know before I embarrass myself in front of like, I don't know a thirty-year old or something."

"Hey!" You hold up your hands. "Look, maybe I don't look great but I'm not there yet. I'm twenty-seven."

"No! That's not what I meant. You look pretty good, to be honest. You're cute."

Caitlyn looks away, face red.

"Thanks, I appreciate it. Especially coming from you."

"What do you mean?" She looks up at you again, blue eyes wide and shining with an unreadable expression.

"It's like, if someone is really good at art and compliments something you drew, it feels better than hearing it from just anyone."

"So you think I'm cute?" Caitlyn is grinning now. You sense that she feels a little more on the front foot. "Is that why you came over here? This was your plan? Perving on college girls?" She laughs.

"Please. If I want something, I'm not going to be shy about it," you say, meeting her gaze intensely. Now is the time to throw in a little assertiveness. Human women love that, you're told.

She laughs. "Okay, okay, unc's got a little bit of spice, I get it."

Now it's time to pull away again. A little bit of a cooldown before the next big swing.

"To answer your question before, I didn't go to Boulder. I grew up in San Diego and stayed around there, San Diego State. Somehow landed a job at Velo. It's crazy, all my coworkers went to Berkeley and shit like that. I'm just happy to be here!"

"Don't sell yourself short! You must be pretty talented if they hired you out of SDSU. That's cool. Do you surf?"

You pause for a second. It's unlikely she'll ever have a chance to find out if you lie.

"Yeah, I mean, not for a while now except when I visit home. But yeah, I like it."

"That's so cool. I'd love to learn."

"Well, I'd offer to teach you. But we might have to take a road trip for that!"

"What makes you think I'd agree to that?"

You put your laptop on the couch next to you and stand up, not breaking eye contact.

"I mean, you let me in your house already and called me cute. I think with a little more time I could convince you."

"Oh?" She's looking up at you, laptop forgotten on the table next to her. "What would you do to convince me?"

There. The opening. Time to push.