Safe ||| Shilbert

Four

"Anne!" Cole yelled as he ran up the steps to the front door and straight into Anne's arms. "Cole! Oh, how I've missed you! We have so much to talk about." They both walked into the house and sat in the dining room waiting for breakfast. They talked and laughed over nothing for an hour, not caring who heard them.

Upstairs, Gilbert woke up to, what he thought was, Anne crying. He rushed to get dressed and ran downstairs into the dining room. "Anne?!" Both Anne and Cole snapped their heads around to see Gilbert at the door and out of breath, immediately they both broke into a fit of laughter. Gilbert finally realized that Anne was fine and was just laughing, he rolled his eyes and sat down with them. "Anne!?" Cole said mocking Gilbert and his panicked entrance, which sent Anne into another fit of laughter. "Okay, it wasn't that funny." Gilbert said genuinely annoyed. Gilbert wasn't very fond of Cole, when he still went to school with Gilbert Cole would constantly give Gilbert weird looks. Looks of jealousy, maybe? But Gilbert always thought they were looks of disgust, looks of hatred. He never knew what made Cole so appealing to Anne.

"Lighten up, Gilbert." Anne said through her laughs. Minutes went by and Anne continued to laugh with Cole and ignore Gilbert any time he tried to put a word in.

"Breakfast will be out in ten minutes." Rollings said before backing into the kitchen. For some unknown reason Anne and Cole started laughing again. Gilbert excepted defeat and came to terms with the fact that he would never fully understand those two.

As promised ten minutes later a few men walked out with four treys of food. They set one down in front of each of the kids and one at an empty seat. Miss. Josephine came in while the help was leaving and sat at the empty seat. "Good morning, and welcome home Cole."

"Thank you, it's good to be home Jo." Miss. Josephine nodded and looked over to Gilbert. "Those bruises are coming along nicely." She said jokingly, Cole looked at Gilbert as well, noticing the slightly purple blob under his left eye, and the growing deep red colored mark that ran down his chin. "Yeah." Gilbert said dismissing the conversation.

The table dropped into a void of awkward silence, Anne and Cole would look at each other every now and then and a grin would crack on their faces, Gilbert would notice and roll his eyes. Ms. Josephine saw this and thought of a conversation starter. "Have you two boys ever heard the story of how Anne saved my niece?" Both Gilbert and Cole shook their heads. Ms. Josephine told the story of the night that almost killed her dear niece, and how Anne was the hero of it all.

"Another brave story to add to the book, you are truly remarkable Anne." Cole said as he grabbed her hand and rubbed his fingers over her knuckles. Gilbert felt like he was going to be sick. "I have business to attend to in town, if you'll excuse me."

"Dr. Ward, how are you?" Gilbert asked as he walked into Dr. Ward's office. "Gilbert Blythe, what a wonderful surprise." He looked up from his desk and made a sour face. "What on God's green earth happened to you?" Gilbert chuckled, "I was helping a friend." Dr. Ward nodded, they shook each other's hands, and both sat across from each other. "Do you need any help around here Doctor?" Dr. Ward shook his head, "No, Winnie and I have got it held down, but the doesn't mean you can't stay." Winnie, Gilbert had heard that name before. "You mean Winifred Rose? She's still here?"

"Sadly, he never gives me a break." Winnie came around from the corner, she walked up to Gilbert and they embraced each other. "Here," Dr. ward said handing Gilbert something, "You two go out for the day. I've got it here." Gilbert opened his hand and saw two dollars. "Dr. Ward I cannot except this-" "Oh please Gilbert, save being the hero for someone else. I'm the doctor, I have plenty. Now go." Gilbert looked over to Winnie and nodded.

"You know he thinks we're going to get married." Gilbert laughed and nodded. "Yeah, he writes to me and you're mentioned in every letter." Winnie laughed as well. They approached a local café and walked in. They grabbed a table near the back. "No offense Gilbert but I'll never marry you." Both of them laughed and looked over the menu. "Oh what ever will I do?" Gilbert looked up at Winnie, he trusted her. "Can we talk?" With that the whole demeanor of the conversation changed from lighthearted to serious. "Of course, what about?"

Gilbert went on to explain his confusing relationship with Anne. He didn't know if she actually hated him or not, surely, she didn't, but what if she did? Gilbert didn't even know if he liked her, he felt a heat in his heart anytime they talked. And he felt that same heat when he "saved" her.

"Talk to her!" Winnie practically yelled at Gilbert. "Winnie, I don't even know if I like her. She hates me, everything I do is a joke to her." Winnie rolled her eyes and took a sip from her tea. "Gilbert dear, that's how girls flirt. If you do something cool or impressive and she calls it dumb or stupid, she likes you." Gilbert shook his head. He knows Anne, he knows she doesn't use words like dumb or stupid and he know she doesn't like him. "Is she the reason you look like a grape?" Winnie asked only somewhat joking. "Yeah." Gilbert sighed thinking about the incident. "Well, tell me, what happened?"

"She was in danger, some man tried to take her, I did what anyone would do."

"Did anyone else help?"

Gilbert thought back, everyone just stood there and watched. No one helped, not even when it got physical, no one else cared. "That's not important." Winnie stifled her laugh and took another sip of tea. "Oh, my little Gilberts in love."

"Theres something else. There is another boy, who i'm pretty sure likes her too. This morning at breakfast they never stopped laughing, and they talked about the most random things. They even held hands."

"Like us?" Winnie said smugly, "We never stop laughing, we talk about random things, we've even held hands." Gilbert shook his head. "No, this is different." He said gesturing in between the two of them. "Invite me over for dinner in two days. We can pretend to be together and see how she acts."

"That'll never work. I know she doesn't like me, I'm just trying to figure out how I feel." Winnie nodded and took a bite from her biscuit. "You're staying with Ms. Barry, right?" Gilbert nodded, "I'll be over in two days ready for a hot meal, with my hot date." Winnie winked and laughed; Gilbert sat there looking at Winnie with surprise. "Well, I've got to get back to Dr. Ward. See you in two days, Gilbert."