"Hey Milly, I just wanted to tell you that the orchids have started to bloom. You should come by the garden to see sometime."
Those words echoched in Milly's mind as she decided to take Elliot up on his offer.
It was a colder November day, but still in the mid forties. Mily had swapped out her normal jean shorts for long pants. And was wearing a long sleeved purple jacket, with a scarf, similar to Luke's wrapped around her neck.
She walked down the brick pathway to the garden area where Elliot normally hung out. He was wearing what he normally was, a gray sweater with a white collared shirt underneath. His sleeves were pushed up at his elbows and he had on green gardening gloves. Elliots jeans had mud around his knees where he kneeled in the dirt.
"Hey Elliot," Milly said as she knelt beside him.
Elliot turned to look at her and then smiled. "I'm really happy that you came, Milly!" he said happily.
Milly could feel herself turn carnation pink as she looked into Elliots cocoa brown eyes.
"Can I help with something?" she asked Elliot, breaking the silence.
Elliot paused for a moment and thought about her question. "Well, it just rained last night so it's the perfect time to pull weeds." Elliot looked up at Milly and then quickly added, "but you don't have to do it if you don't want to."
"I can pull weeds!" Milly exclaimed, not quite sure what she got herself into. This boy, although extremely sweet, had some kind of hypnotizing power over her. Milly would do almost anything that Elliot asked her to do, no matter how ridiculous or embarrassing.
She walked over to the storage bin and pulled out a pair of gloves, a shovel, and a gardening fork. Milly put on the gloves and then walked back over to where Elliot continued to weed.
"What do I do with these?" Milly asked Elliot holding up the two gardening tools.
Elliot laughed, "You might not even need to use some of those tools. If the ground is wet enough the weeds should just slide out."
Milly grabbed a weed, "Like this?" she asked and yanked it out.
Elliot shook his head, "Close but you want to be more gentle to make sure that none of the roots stay in the ground, if they do then the weeds could grow back." Elliot wrapped his hands around Milly's. He guided her hands to a weed and helped her gently pull it out. "That is the right amount of force needed to pull out the weeds."
Milly turned and looked at Elliot, their gloved hands were still touching. Milly blushed so red, that she felt like her body was turning pink. Elliot gave her a big smile, and Milly turned even more red.
For the rest of the time they spent in the garden, Milly helped Elliot pull out the weeds. And for a cold November day, Milly had never felt warmer.