mon chouchou . jb

008

anne and gilbert

"so, what shall we do in the meantime?" aurelia asked anne.

"hey, it's your house!" anne replied, rolling over to lay on her stomach. "you should be the one telling me what to do."

"to be honest, i'm too tired to even stand up." aurelia giggled. "usually, i'd take a short nap right about now."

"then we should do just that." anne smiled.

this part of the day was usually easy for aurelia, but for some reason, both of the girls just couldn't sleep. i mean, explainable for anne, but for aurelia? she was just as awake as anne was, which quite confused her.

"i can't bring myself to sleep, shirley," aurelia said, with a content sigh. "must be your energy seeping into me."

anne giggled. "might be. shall we talk?"

"about what?" aurelia asked, propping her head on the palm of her hand, elbow resting on her soft mattress.

anne pondered, finger on her chin and all. "how about.. jerry?" she grinned.

aurelia sighed. "anne shirley cuthbert, there is nothing to talk about jerry. if you really want to talk about love and all then we should dive into you and gilbert."

before anne could even protest, aurelia had anne's mouth sealed shut. "don't even lie to me anne, everyone knows you like gilbert blythe - and i don't understand your prejudice towards him! i think he is a lovely boy, especially to you."

"goodness, he's only nice to me to show off." anne scoffed. "did you see his face after our spelling competition? i'm sure he was all smiles with me afterwards just because he won. all because of the word questionnaire. i just missed one letter and they couldn't let that slide? isn't that outrageous?"

"he only won because you quit in a fiery rage after you spelled it wrong the first time." aurelia reminded anne of her stubbornness. "remember the rule? if there are only two contestants left, and one spelled it wrong the first time-"

"-there's still another chance given for the contestant." anne interrupted. "i know, i know! listen, i was just- i-" too tired to find the words, the red-haired girl plummeted her face in her pillow.

she continued her explanation, but all aurelia heard was inaudible, muffled, mumbles.

"anne, if you're going to tell me, you could at least tell me in a way that i would comprehend it." aurelia sighed, rubbing the girl's head.

"i quit because i didn't want gilbert blythe to win." anne suddenly perked up, repeating what she said clearly this time. "honestly, even i'm not sure why i'm this competitive when it comes to him."

"it's just, i would rather know that i'm the one who quit on him, rather than willingly losing to him - you know?" aurelia, who doesn't know what to say (she wasn't as good at comforting as anne), just gazed at her friend. "you might think i'm the worst for doing that to a friend."

"oh anne shirley cuthbert, no!" aurelia gasped. "you've been nothing but an angel towards me for as long as i've known you!"

"you've always been a tiny bit more competitive than anyone i've known, and that's not a bad thing." aurelia assured, playing with anne's hair. "it shows how seriously you take your studies, i respect that."

"i suppose so.." anne mumbled. "but i have been a bit too harsh with gilbert sometimes, i think."

this took aurelia by surprise, anne admitting her unfairness? with gilbert blythe, more specifically? one would've thought anne had been cloned!

"you think?" aurelia teased.

"oh you get what i mean!" anne groaned, plummeting her face into her pillow once again. and again, she mumbled words that were incoherent to aurelia.

"anne shirley cuthbert, talk to me, not your pillow!" aurelia said, shaking anne's shoulder.

slowly, anne sat up straight. "this does not mean that i like gilbert blythe." she responded.

seeing how tired anne probably was with the name of the boy, aurelia replied with a simple "alright, shirley."

"all this talk is making me sleepy," she continued with a yawn. "how about you?"

"oh, definitely." anne replied, already worn out from the short conversation regarding gilbert. "have a good nap, aurelia." she smiled, quickly turning over and hiding her face under the blanket.

aurelia laughed lightly seeing anne's behaviour, and went to sleep herself.

who knew a boy could make a girl this tired?