Florence - (G.B.)/(B.A.)

Chapter 42

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Unable to Stay & Unwilling to Leave

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"You have no clue how happy you've made me by visiting," Florence began the next morning as the two girls sat on her bedroom bed. Prissy had paid a surprise visit to the Robinson house earlier that day after taking an extended weekend off from school. When she'd arrived in Avonlea, the first thing she did was head on down to see her best friend, who had become like a sister to her.

"How could I not?" Prissy responded with a beaming smile, "You're my best friend, Flo. You have no idea how much I've missed you after being gone for a whole month."

"And you, I." The brunette hummed inquisitively. "Hold on, does your family know you're here?"

"That's sort of a given, but I never told them when I'd be here. They're under the impression that I won't be arriving until tonight."

Florence couldn't help but chuckle when she heard this. Sure, she'd always known her best friend could be quite a jokester at times, but she'd never expected her to lie to her family. In a way, this made the brunette feel more special because it suggested Prissy must think very highly of her if she came to see her before her actual family.

Prissy simply shrugged as if this wasn't an unusual occurrence.

"How long are you here for?"

"Just until the day after tomorrow." She picked up a shortbread cookie from off the tea tray and brought it to her mouth. Between chews, she asked, "So, what have you been up to in the past month?"

"Oh, the usual . . ." Florence trailed off with a sigh. "Summer break is around the corner, so you could say I'm really looking forward to it."

Prissy sat up straight. "Hey, you're welcome to visit me in Charlottetown. I have no intention of returning to Avonlea for the break if it means staying with my dreaded family. I could always take you on a tour around town and we could have sleepovers, just like the old days."

Florence thought about it for a moment. "That doesn't sound bad at all."

"See? What do you think?"

"I'll think about it and send you a letter when the time comes around."

"Or, you know, you might just want to spend time with other people in your life." Prissy left this comment open-ended with a knowing tone in her voice, and Florence furrowed her brows, confused as to what she meant. "Someone with a name that begins with B or G . . ."

Florence rolled her eyes and nudged the blonde's shoulder in a playful manner. "Nope. Nuh-uh. I am not having this conversation right now."

"What do you mean?" Prissy inquired. "Wait, don't tell me . . . I've been gone for an entire month and you're still single? You have not one but two very eligible bachelors head over heels for you."

Florence didn't require any reminders about her current romantic situation. Given that she had two boys after her, one would expect that she would be with one of them by now. This was not the case for her, however. This was partly due to the fact that she was still evaluating her feelings and unsure of how she felt about any of them. She was clearly perplexed and unsure where to continue with this knowledge, particularly in relation to Billy Andrews. Florence's internal hesitation was easily noticeable on her face in the form of a frown.