kindred spirits || anne and gilbert

chapter three .

"what do you think of this dress?" anne asks the girls, holding one up to her body.

"that would look great on you," ruby says before looking back at the clothes in front of her. "but it's rather short."

"i think that's why it would look good," diana says with a wink. anne gasps.

"diana barry!" she scolds her best friend, who giggles. cole is sitting on the ground, hugging his knees as he is on his phone. "cole, what do you think of this dress?"

he looks up at the plaid dress, red and a tannish white, with three buttons on the chest and thick straps. he nods. "i like it. it would be cute with a white long sleeve underneath it. maybe a turtle neck?"

anne smiles. "cole, you are a genius." she dips down and kisses his forehead.

after far too many hours of shopping, each girl had a dress. anne chose the one cole and the others liked, and got a white shirt to wear beneath it. diana decided on a lacy, light blue dress with long sleeves. of course, ruby fell in love with a long, flowing pink dress.

the girls exit the mall with cole trailing behind them as he tries to finish what's remaining of the pizza he bought while the girls were busy. once he takes the last bite, he tosses the napkins and plastic plate away and catches up with the girls.

he wraps an arm around diana and anne. "well, that was fun." he fishes out his car keys to unlock the small, rusty car for them.

after diana announced that they are throwing a dance in charlottetown, their entire class got very excited. some boys are already planning to ask girls to the dance. "i think charlie is going to ask diana to go with him," cole blurts.

diana looks at him and scoffs, but can't stop the blush from forming on her face. "what? no way. he doesn't like me like that."

cole rolls his eyes. "sure, he doesn't. he talks about you all the time, while gilbert talks about a-" ruby looks at him with sparkling, excited eyes. he swallows the rest of the sentence and changes it to, "while gilbert talks about anything related to school." ruby looks away, disappointed.

"why did i fall in love with the boring one?" she asks no one in particular. anne swallows a strange lump in her throat.

meanwhile, charlie and gilbert are sitting in the empty barn in gilbert's back yard. "are you going to ask anne to the dance?" charlie asks his best friend. gilbert shakes his head.

"she would never attend it with me."

charlie laughs inappropriately. "gilbert, you love her and she loves her. come on, just ask. i'm going to ask diana."

gilbert looks at the other boy with a raised eyebrow. "oh, are you, now? like you were going to last year, but chickened out? and the year before that? and-"

"i get it, gilbert. i'm a wuss. but this year is my year- i'm asking her to that damn ball." gilbert can't help but smile. maybe he will ask anne to be his date.

~•~

cole stops his car in front of anne's house. "it was fun, all of us hanging out again," cole says. "i feel like we haven't in so long."

she smiles. "i agree." after a pause, she asks, "cole, do you have a date to the dance?"

"no, why?"

she looks at the shopping bag in her hands. "i'm afraid that no one will ask me to be their date and, well, i would be mortified to go alone to a dance i'm hosting."

cole grins. "maybe gilbert will ask you to be his date."

"in all honesty..." anne pauses. patiently, cole waits, his heart thudding. come on, say something good about him, he thinks. please, anne. she begins again, "i want him to ask me to be his date," she finished with a gulp. "i want to dance with him. i like him a lot, you know this. but..."