"Hey, Dottie?"
"Yes?"
"Do you want to help me with the garden tonight after school?"
"That sounds great."
Dottie grinned as she and her boyfriend continued to talk over the phone. It was getting warmer and her studies, while getting more intensive coming up to the end of the year tests, were no longer holding her attention as they had earlier in the year. Spending time outside with her boyfriend and fairies was definitely easier to focus on and not as hard on her brain. Truthfully, she wasn't sure how much of the extra reading she was doing was helping her, as it seemed nothing stuck. Sunshine, with minimal mental focus right now, seemed really good.
That attitude stayed with her as she went about the rest of the day. It took a bit of a hit when she was being lectured on the most boring subject, but she would still smile occasionally when she remembered her after school plans. Claire had noticed, and she had welcomed some light hearted teasing, which frankly made her grin wider, even if she had a bit of a flush to her face. She was still looking forwards to it once she hit the road.
Once she was home, it was a short matter of time before she was headed out. She dropped her schoolbags, minus a pen and paper, before grabbing a snack and a water bottle. Once her physical requirements were met, she headed out the door to meet with her boyfriend in the woods.
Reuben was waiting for her at the head of the trail.
"Hey, Dottie."
"Hi, Reuben."
"How are you today?"
"Good. Thanks a lot for letting me help you today. I've been looking forwards to it."
Reuben laughed.
"I remember the feeling of being stuck in classroom when there is fresh air outside."
Dottie smiled.
"I know, right?"
"Ready to run?"
"Oh, yes."
Grinning, they both took off. It was wonderful to feel the fresh air after a day indoors. Once they were at the trail, they slowed down.
"So, I've already brought the tools here. First off, we'll be doing weeding, and it isn't every plant but grass. Here, we'll leave this one, but we'll be definitely removing all the poison ivy. It chokes the rest out. That, we'll be using the disposable gloves for. Since neither of us want rashes, we'll do that first."
"Okay."
That was the beginning of an excellent but tiring afternoon. They pulled the encroaching poison ivy, trimmed the shoots, and then neatened the area up.
"Did you bring a snack?"
"Yes, I did, thanks. Did you?"
"Yes."
There was a pause as they each opened their snacks.
"Thanks for coming and helping today."
"You are welcome. Like I said, I needed to get away from the books for a while."
"I understand. After a while, nothing is adding up any more."
"Yep."
The rest of the visit went in a similar way, talking about not so important things in a light hearted manner until they left.