LITTLE HUMMINGBIRD ━━ ( GILBERT BLYTHE )

FOURTEEN ; hummingbird honey

THEY SAY IT IS A SIN TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD. Destroying something so small and defenseless that never did anything to harm or disturb anyone or anything is destroying innocence itself.

But as Gilbert looked over at Sydney, her cheeks tinted a bright red because of the chilly air nipping at her milky skin and dressed in a frilly white dress with a matching silk ribbon around the waist, he questioned if it was also a sin to harm a hummingbird.

"It's so weird seeing you wearing a dress." Gilbert chuckled, his curls bouncing on his head.

Sydney looked over at him as the two walked through the path, her big doe eyes staring up at him as if he held the answer to everything. She looked down at her and slightly lifted the fabric to get a better look at it.

"Does it look weird?" Syd asked, smoothing out the skirt and running her hands over the soft silk.

Gilbert's eyes widened as he shook his head. The mini freakout was so comical, Sydney just had to laugh, Gilbert following soon after. Sydney's laugh stuck with him like honey, he sometimes imagined her lips would also taste like honey, sticking to his just to keep him close a little longer.

Ripping his eyes from his best friends lips, Gilbert smiled and said, "No! You look beautiful. I'm just so used to seeing you dress like a boy."

Sydney shrugged. "I'm kind of going to miss it though. Pants, I mean. It's so much easier to move around." She picked up her leg, swinging it around in the air. "But!" She exclaimed, pointing one finger up in the air. "I also adore dresses, despite them not looking as good on me as they do on other beautiful girls and women. It's quite a conundrum."

Gilbert chuckled at Sydney's queer way of words but took only a moment to think about how he thought exactly the opposite of what Sydney thinks when it came to how ethereal and simply divine she looked in dresses.

The wind that rustled against the trees were yelling at Sydney to ask the question that had been on her mind since the day they arrived at Avonlea.

"Why am I like a hummingbird?" Syd blurted, immediately regretting breaking the silence so loudly and awkwardly.

But Gilbert only smiled at the girl before taking a deep breath in and out. "Did you know that hummingbirds can flap their wings over 20 times per second?" Syd shook her head, Gilbert continued, "Every time I get close enough to you to hear your heartbeat, it's always so quiet yet I can hear and feel it fluttering like the wings of a hummingbird."

Sydney laughed, because of the poetic comparison or Gilbert's obliviousness, she couldn't tell, neither did she care for Gilbert laughed too.

"Also," Gilbert continued, "if hummingbirds ever became human, I imagine they would look and act exactly like you. Quiet and sweet."

"I'm also always humming." Sydney added with another musical laugh.

"Yeah," Gilbert nodded with a big smile, "that too."

The rest of the walk to school was silent, other than serene chuckles from Gilbert when Sydney stopped them every few minutes to watch bunnies run by them or to pick flowers to make crowns for the both of them.

"Come on." Butterflies spread throughout Sydney's stomach as Gilbert grabbed her bend and practically dragged her towards the shimmering stream of water. "Did you bring milk?" He asked.

Sydney shook her head and dug around in her lunch basket before pulling out a glass bottle. "I'm not a big fan of milk, I really only drink water." She shrugged and shook the bottle, the cold water swishing around as Gilbert looked at her with an incredulous look on his face.