Opossum-(mxm) (Rever series Eight)

Opossum Ten

(For those who have seen me post pictures of my mom's dogs, Boo passed away recently from sudden heart failure at ten years old. She was the squeakiest border collie known to man. I found her in a backyard as a puppy with a family that didn't even let her inside. She was quite spoiled with my mom.)

Holding an armful of books, Ian waited in line to check out at his local library. He'd spoken with an advisor at the community college he was interested in about working on his GED and she had suggested taking a simple college course at the same time, since community college was currently free for the first two years in their state.

He didn't argue, but now he was wondering if he had bitten off more than he could chew. It was just a simple English course, but adding it to the high school English and algebra he already had to do was now seeming much more intimidating. 

He'd also forgotten how huge textbooks were. 

As he waited his turn, his mind wandered back to his normal fixation. 

Grim could probably hold these heavy books up with one hand without even trying. 

The thought of the man immediately brought a dopey smile to his face, making the librarian checking them out return it with a happy one of her own as he finally stepped forward to meet her. 

"Hello sweetheart, have you been having a good week?" she asked as she started scanning his books. 

Ian couldn't have nodded faster, making the woman give a quiet giggle. 

"That's wonderful, hun. You have a fantastic rest of your day and good luck on your classes," she said as she handed him his books back. 

"Thank you, ma'am. You have a wonderful day as well." 

Upbeat and honestly in a truly good mood, Ian left the library and walked the three miles back to his home. 

It was already Friday evening and he'd spent nearly all of his time since he'd last seen Grim trying to focus on getting his affairs in order. 

He'd already submitted his request to not renew his lease and had cleaned up and donated anything he didn't want to bring to Grim's home... which wasn't much, honestly. 

He was just setting his things down on the counter and was going to start reading after he got himself something to drink when he felt his phone chime in his pocket. 

The specific sound had him immediately tugging it out to look at the message. 

Grim: Getting online soon, babe? 

His heart did a little backflip!

He wanted to respond that, of course he would hop right on, but he hesitated for a moment, then pursed his lips and sighed as he glanced sideways at his books. 

Ian: I just picked up my books to study, he replied back, then waited.  

If Grim told him to ignore them for now and get online, he definitely would. 

Grim: Read three chapters, then do the quizzes at the back of each one. I'll see you in the Dragon's Quandary zone when you're done. 

Three?! 

His fingers hovered over his phone's keyboard, but he couldn't make himself type out any kind of complaint. Grim had told him to study. That was that. 

Resigned to a boring few hours, he grabbed one of his books and began reading. He truly wasn't a very good student, and his concentration began to wander after only a few minutes... just like it had during his school years.