Dottie collapsed in the chair in the school cafeteria. Her bag of books was set in a chair beside her. She felt lucky that the course work could be worked around the rest of her life. It was starting to weigh on her, mentally, and she sighed when she recognized "school brain" or "grad rot" as it was typically termed. It was just the end of first term and the school was cramming for tests or getting some last minute projects done. Right now, she needed to eat, and that was why she was sitting at the school cafeteria. She pulled her lunch out of her deposited bag.
One of her current classmates, an older woman named Ivy, came up to her.
"Hey, Dottie, do you mind if I sit here?"
"No, go ahead."
The older woman nodded and pulled out the chair across from her at the table. Sitting down, she pulled out her own lunch.
"How are you doing?"
"Tired. I'm caught up. How are you?"
"Same. Are you by chance working as well as going to school?"
"Part-time, though I think I will be dropping to casual in the next month. Something about not getting enough time to study, work, and do homework. How about you?"
"I work weekends in retail. So, while I understand part of what you're dealing with, I also am not trying to do two things that require you to stay alert in the day when you're tired and stressed already."
"Hmmm."
"My husband works full time anyway, so it's not like I see him on week days during school hours anyway. Working Friday and Saturday evenings just helps get my mind off of school stress and it is a job I like."
"How did you meet your husband, if you don't mind me asking?"
"I met him by going and hanging out with his sister. I hadn't met him before, so when the rest of the family moved over, I met him."
"Neat."
"Have you met anybody?"
"Well, there is this guy that likes to run with me some days. I'm not sure if he likes me or if its just because we run or walk in the same area so often we've become comfortable around each other. About a month ago he asked if he could run with me. Our paths diverge afterwards, but the first bit has become a joint thing some days."
"Dear, while that is sweet, that is not the general behaviour of someone who is a neighbour. How do you and your other neighbours interact?"
"We stand in the middle of the street or on our yards and talk."
"Okay. Do you do stuff with them?"
"There's the yearly neighbourhood barbeque, but other than talk or share flower seeds, not really."
"How do you view this guy?"
"He's rather friendly and competitive, as well as being a handsome man about a couple years my senior. That's a side benefit of cleaning in a school; you can look at the pictures and see who all graduated when."
"Do you like running with him?"
"Yes, it's rather fun."
"Dottie dear, you are becoming friends with him or you have been dating. This isn't just a neighbourly contact."
"Hmm. Thank you."
"It looked like you were having issues with it."
"I was, and thanks again."
Ivy shook her head. The poor girl was oblivious to her own feelings. Hopefully this little bit of advice would be helpful.
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That evening when she met up with Reuben, she asked him.
"As fun as it is to run together, are you viewing it as a date or as a friend thing to do?"
"Does it matter?"
"I told a fellow classmate that I had started running with someone, as I didn't mention names, and she told me we are acting moderately like friends or we're dating. I have to tell you that I didn't know if we're dating if we are. So, I would like to know."
"Right now, I think it is more like becoming something and hanging out dates. I'm not sure if they would actually count as romantic dates. I hope you don't mind that I'm using them to spend time with you and maybe become something?"
"I'm not sure if they do or not. I like hanging out with you, and I am not sure what my feelings towards you are. Just don't become annoying."
"I am fine with that."
"Ready to run? Relationship stuff is confusing and I understand running better."
"Let's go."