OCEANS | shirbert

V. The Dinner

CHAPTER V

The Dinner

in which families gather together around a table

"Was that Gilbert Blythe?" Marilla asked with an evident tone of curiosity filling her voice. Anne had just walked into the house after a fairly surprisingly gratifying walk with his now friend, Gilbert Blythe.

The pair had been sitting outside Green Gables for hours, with Anne sitting on top of the fence and the boy sitting on the grass, leaning his back against the same fence Anne was sitting in as they watched the sunset. They did not talk about anything in particular, since they seemed to enjoy the comfortable silence between them whilst the gentle breeze of an early, golden autumn blew their hair softly. Eventually, Gilbert had taken a book out of his school bag, and had asked Anne if she wanted to read out loud for him, as she had done other times. The girl had obviously agreed, knowing that there was nothing she loved more than pulling out a performance. She read for him passionately, and the boy stared at her, nodding attentively at every word that left the girl's lips.

"Yes, but let me tell you, Marilla that the fact that he walked me home has nothing to do with romance!" Anne snapped out of her memories of her recent memory with Gilbert and looked at a very intrigued Marilla. "Nothing whatsoever!" she finally stated.

"I see" the woman nodded. "Well, child. I was just about to make dinner. Why don't you go look for Matthew? He must be be in the barn." Anne was already making her way out of the house when she remembered. "Oh, Marilla, Gilbert told me that we are invited for dinner this Friday." the girl said trying to hide the tone of excitement in her voice. "Bash and Mary are finally settled in the Blythe's residence"

The rest of the week had gone by quite slowly. Anne did not really look forward to the weekends very frequently, but this time she did have something to look forward to. The dinner at Gilbert's house. She loved attending such social events. That way, she'd had the opportunity of wearing a decorous dress and act like an mature young woman like the ones in the novels she liked to read.

Friday finally arrived and Anne was buzzing with excitement. That morning at school, she had secretly told Diana about the dinner, making sure that Ruby Gillis was nowhere to be seen. "Oh Anne, you do seem very excited about this date with Gilbert" her friend suggested, which Anne had found scandalous. "Date?! What?!" she gasped. "It's definetely not a date" she frowned in discontent, crossing her arms against her chest. "Then why are you asking for my opinion about which dress to wear?" Diana teased her. God, she's so obvious, Diana thought to herself as she looked at Anne with the usual playful smirk she always wore when Anne talked about Gilbert Blythe.

"I just want to cause a good impression to Bash and Mary" she tried to convince her friend. "I have no interest in looking pretty for Gilbert" she said. "It's not like he pays any attention to me anyway". And with that, Anne concluded the conversation about the boy. For now, Diana thought.

That evening, the Cuthberts arrived to their meeting at the Blythe's residence earlier than they were supossed to – probably because a certain redhead felt too enthusiastic about the event. They enjoyed a delightful conversation with their hosts until dinner was ready. Bash had taken over the kitchen again – he would not let Mary do any of the house chores – and had prepared one of his many tropical stew recipes and a mango dessert which Marilla complimented during the passing of the dinner.

"I wanted to offer my help again with the farm" said Matthew serenely after chewing his meal, directing his gaze towards Gilbert. "Jerry and I would be more than glad of offering a helping hand"