Ablaze with possibility

Chapter 4: Uncomfortable dialogues and dangerous corners

"So, we meet again...My dear guest." The rude man in the reception said. Anne gave Gilbert a questioning look and he just shook his head. "May I ask who this lovely girl is that you've brought here this evening?"

"Anne Cordelia Shirley-Cuthbert and please be sure to spell Anne with an e!" She said cheerfully and the man raised his brows in amazement.

"Why hello Anne with an E." He greeted her, pointing out the E for her sake. "How come you are out at this time with this young man?" He asked and looked at Gilbert suspiciously.

"My companion who you very well know from the last time I visited you, has gone missing. We're on a mission to find him but need a place to stay over the night. I thought of you, sir and hoped that you could offer us one?" He asked politely, clenching his fist behind his back to hold back the temptation of punching the disgusting man right in the face.

"Of course you can stay!" He said in an almost unpleasant way-at least from Gilbert's part- and then asked: "One or two bedrooms?" Anne and Gilbert's eyes shot up in horrify from the man's question. "Is he out of his darn mind!" Anne thought and looked down at her muddy shoes, not being able to meet his nor Gilbert's eyes. Gilbert thought it was just as horrifying and felt very uneasy standing there next to Anne. But eventually, he told the man that they would sleep in separate beds, in separate rooms.

The man said to him that he had one large room with two separate rooms in it. That, they could work with. He gave them the key and they walked up the stairs to room number 11.

Anne hurried to the first door she found inside but when she just was about to close it, Gilbert stopped her:

"Wait, Anne." She opened the door slightly more and felt rather guilty for "dismissing this from her mind" as she called it.

"Oh, how dumb of me to forget...Goodnight." Gilbert sighed and answered:

"No...Or I mean...Of course you're allowed to say goodnight to me it's just..."

"What?" She interrupted him and looked him in the eyes for the first time since the awkward dialogue before.

"Uhm...What he--What he said before, don't...Or--" He paused and then gave up. "Never mind...Goodnight Anne." Anne smiled warmly at him and answered:

"Goodnight Gilbert," and then closed the door.

The next day Anne woke up to sunlight shining bright on her freckled face and she yawned heavily. She opened her eyes and thought that she should be helping Marilla with breakfast downstairs when she realized where she actually were. "Please tell me I'm only dreaming a very realistic dream" she thought and pinched her arm as hard as she could just in case she actually was dreaming-which she wasn't.

"Oh God..."

She got out of her bed and looked at herself in the mirror. Her braids were messy from riding out in the snow, she was still wearing the same clothes since yesterday-a white apron with a grey long sleeved dress under- and her lips were as dry as a desert. This, she could have accepted if it wasn't for her awful, red hair. Oh my how she hated that red hair. The only thing Anne wanted to do was to sink into the floor and to never be seen again, ever. But then, she remembered that sinking into the floor only happens in books so that was out of the question.

After have combed out her tangled hair with her fingers and washed her face and hands with the fresh water from a bucket on the floor, she walked towards the door separating herself from Gilbert and knocked three times.

As Gilbert was tying his brown leather boots three knocks on the door could be heard and he hurried forward to it but stopped to breath for a moment. "Okay, don't try to start an argument with her, not today. It's not the right time!" He told himself and then opened it.