Shirbert in the Modern Era

Chapter Fourteen: The Worst Luck

Jane loved her friends more than anything. It even said so in her Instagram bio, with five heart emojis.

She supposed she would now have to change that bio to say "I'm a backstabbing crush stealing hussy".

She could still taste Jerry on her lips as she sat in her science class. She remembered how he had found her in the library, asked her for help finding a book. He didn't understand the Dewey Decimal system, said it was a "stupid American contraption".

She remembered how she kissed him first.

It was just that he was standing so close, his lips gently parted as he hummed a sweet tune.

In her mind she knew that you couldn't call dibs on a person. Ruby tried that with Gilbert for almost a decade, and it had only brought her tears and heartache; besides, Jane was pretty sure Gilbert and Anne had a thing.

And yet, she knew it to be equally true that kissing a friend's crush was a heinous offense.

As she got out of science class, she received a text from Anne, asking to get coffee after school.

Jane decided this was a good opportunity to ask her smartest friend for advice in her situation, if only she could do it subtly.
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At the cafe, Jane and Anne spoke vividly of the evil Mr. Phillips, and how he was "totally perving on Prissy, when she was only seventeen thank you very much."

While Jane was thinking of a subtle way to bring up her issue, Anne decided to take a more direct route with hers.

"Jane," She said, "can I tell you something? Something important."

Jane straightened in her chair.

"Well," Anne continued unsteadily, "Well, I saw you. Today, in the library. With Jerry."

Jane felt her eyes widen. If the floor were to open up and swallow her whole, it wouldn't happen a moment too soon.

"Anne, I swear to God it was an accident. And it was the first time! It's just that, that after we kissed at Charlie's party I couldn't stop thinking about him and-"

Anne cut her off.

"Okay, ew. Jerry is my cousin."

They sat in tense silence for a beat before Jane said despairingly,

"Anne, please, don't tell anyone. It's never going to happen again, I swear."

Anne felt a nervous knot in the pit of her stomach. The was a complicated situation, which would inevitably hurt someone near and dear to her heart.

"Look, Jane," She said softly, "If you really feel for him, I think you should pursue him. Love is precious and Ruby is our friend, I'm sure she'll understand."

"Really?"

"Yes," Anne continued, "But what you need to do is be honest. Tell Ruby, you can't keep this a secret from her; that would only harm her more."

Jane nodded. The two sipped coffee in silence for a while, both lost in thought, before Jane spoke again.

"I mean, Ruby really does have the worst luck with crushes, doesn't she?"

Anne choked on her sip of coffee.

"Because like, Jerry will French anything with a pulse I'm pretty sure," Jane continued, "And Gilbert's totally in love with you."

"He is not!" Anne said rather loudly.

Jane merely wiggled her eyebrows.

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After the two friends had parted ways, Anne made her journey back to Green Gables, all the while thinking about Gilbert.

Surely there was a reason all her friends said he liked her. They wouldn't just say it for nothing, right?

She also thought about Jane.

She had said Ruby would be understanding, but truth be told, she wasn't quite sure.

She knew it would hurt to have a friend kiss your crush, and Ruby was already a sensitive, tender-hearted girl.

Anne tried to put herself in Ruby's shoes, and in doing so came to a shock.

She realized with a gasp, that if she imagined someone kissing her crush, the role of crush was given automatically to Gilbert Blythe.

What could that possibly mean?

Shit.

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A/N
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