August 2013
"Five hundred hits in three days?" Marcy lets out a low whistle and hands Ridley back her phone. "Well, you can't expect anything less from the greatest authoress of our generation." She bows down grandly, causing Ridley to fall into a fit of giggles. "I'm serious!" Marcy says, getting right back up and finishing with the bacon that is sizzling in the frying pan. Ridley shakes her head at her.
"Oh, stop it you!" Ridley giggles again but yes, it does feel rather good – too good. Is this a dream? This has to be a dream. Five hundred hits on her story in such a short space of time! Well, the impossible has happened. She still cannot believe it. It was a surprise enough that she'd received any comments or followers for the story at all. Still, Ridley likes to think maybe she kind of deserves it. After all, this is what she's been wanting for so many years, right? Some recognition? Still, she can already feel the pressure building up on her. People actually want to read more of what she writes, therefore the stuff she puts out there just can't be any old rubbish anymore. It has to...has to actually have substance, especially because Gilbert Blythe is involved.
Marcy sets down a plate of her delicious bacon with beans and egg and Ridley tucks in readily. She's going to miss Marcy's cooking. She's going to miss their cute new flat; still relatively small, but clean and modern, and in a safe neighbourhood. And she'll miss Marcy and her rigid rules about cleanliness and her warm hugs and the sarcasm that rears its dreaded head every now and again. Ridley will miss Ben too, of course, but it's not like she saw much of him this summer anyway. There's no point anymore. No point at all.
Tomorrow's the day Ridley will be leaving to go back to Oxford and she's already dreading it. Yes, it'll be nice to see Dee and Christopher after so long but...but there's something so comforting about home and going back will be like it's her first year at University all over again. Ridley is a nervous wreck because she knows her friends will be expecting her to give them good news, something along the lines of 'Ben and I are now in a relationship!' or, as Christopher would've preferred, 'We totally did IT!' Instead, they'll be hearing sighs and seeing shrugs and maybe a few tears every now and then. Ridley hasn't mentioned Ben to them in any of their e-mails so far and she knows they're dying for details.
However, Dee has her own piece of exciting news that she has yet to give details about. Ridley frowns as she munches on the bacon. Dee has recently sent her an e-mail about the Cambridge boy that she was meeting a few weeks ago, and she says he's 'nice'. It's a very vague term to use when describing someone – to people who don't know Dee well, it could've easily been passed off as nothing more than small talk. Ridley, however, has other ideas of what 'nice' could mean. In Dee terms, it could either mean 'I utterly loathe the guy' or 'I think I'm falling in love.'
Dee isn't the type to easily hate people, so Ridley is guessing she's probably seeing the guy right now. It's probably not serious either, knowing how strongly Dee feels about Christopher. And does he know about the 'nice' Cambridge guy? How must he feel about it?
She jumps out of her thoughts when quite suddenly, she feels her phone vibration go off. Curious, she takes her phone out of her jeans pocket and clicks on the little notification that has popped up. Ben has sent you a message. Ridley's heart nearly jumps out of her chest. She clumsily clicks on the message and it reads:
Hey. Heading to the airport in a few hours. Need to talk before that.
Meet me at Aroma, in about half an hour?
Ben
"What's wrong?" Marcy asks, noticing Ridley's expression.
"Ben!" Ridley gasps.
YOU ARE READING
Finding Gilbert Blythe
Roman d'amour[COMPLETED] What if Gilbert Blythe didn't need to be found because he was under your nose all along?
