PHILEO | Shirbert

Seven ~ Sobriquets

The following day, after school ended, Anne stayed for a moment to talk to Ms. Stacy. She did not actually have anything to talk about with her, so she came up with random questions to ask, enough so that she could avoid Gilbert asking her to walk her home. Unfortunately for Anne, Gilbert had decided this exact same morning that he had to talk to her and he was going to do it no matter what, he tried to do it yesterday but she walked home with Diana. When Anne walked outside the schoolhouse, Gilbert was sitting on the stairs fidgeting with his hands.

"Gil-bert" she quickly corrected herself from calling him by that nickname again "What are you still doing here?"

"I- I- I was- waiting for you" he stood up and put his hands in his pockets "I wanted to show you something"

"What do you want to show me?" she asked with curiosity.

"It's a surprise" he smirked.

"I don't know Gil—bert" she started, "I have to go back home, if I take too long, Marilla will be worried"

"Please?" he pouted "I promise we won't take long. I'll even walk you home after and talk to Ms. Cuthbert. She won't be mad if I talk to her. You know, I'm kind of her favorite neighbor"

"First, your kind of her only neighbor and second-" she thought what to say next.

"Come on, Anne-girl!" he exclaimed "You're taking too long, we're wasting day light!"

Anne-girl

"Ugh, fine" she sighed.

"Yes!" Gilbert lifted his fist to the sky, signaling his victory "Come on! Quick!" he grabbed her arm and started walking fast.

After a few minutes of walking, "Behold" Gilbert said moving his hand to show her the way "The Vale's Garden". The Vales were a wealthy family that lived in Avonlea, they had a big garden but it was not private, everyone could come and walk around the garden if they wanted to.

"Oh my goodness, Gil!" she shrieked "This is so beautiful"

Gil

"Yeah, so beautiful" he said, looking at her. Anne noticed and quickly turned her face so he would not see her blushing. Gilbert cleared her throat, nervous, he looked around trying to come with something to say 'A bench!' he thought. "Uh, um" he cleared her throat again "Sorry, would you like to sit? So we can properly admire the beauty of the garden" he said pointing at the bench that was a bit far, but close to some beautiful orange daisies. She did not even answer and raced to sit, he laughed and followed her.

"I'll race you to it!"

"Hey! Wait for me!" he ran behind her "Hey! Carrots!" he stopped 'fuck' he thought 'Fuck, fuck, fuck'. Anne stopped as well, not turning around. Gilbert ran quickly to her "Anne, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have called you that. I know you don't like it. I don't know what I was thinking. Please, don't be mad at me"

She breathed, "I'm not mad, Gil—bert" she turned to look at him "Is just that, you haven't called me that in a long time, not since-"

"You broke my head with your slate?" he interrupted with a smirk on his lips.

"Hey! That's not what happened, but yes, not since that" she chuckled "I don't mind you calling me Carrots. As long as you don't pull my hair saying it, I'm ok with it" he laughed.

Carrots

"Besides, I could take advantage of this situation" she smirked.

"How so?" he raised a brow and crossed his arms.

"Meh" she shrugged "I don't know, slate-face" she laughed and ran away from him.

Slate-face

"Hey! Come back here, carrots!" he ran after her.

"Not a change, slate-face" Anne turned her head to see how far he was and tripped doing so, she fell on top of the daisies.

"Anne!" Gilbert ran faster "Are you ok, Anne-girl?" he said sitting next to her.

She laughed, "I'm fine, Gilly-boy!" she teased.

"Gilly-boy?" he laughed

"You called me Anne-girl, I had to come up with something!" she kept laughing, even louder now.

Gilly-boy

"You're being really funny all day, did you drink some kind of laughter juice this morning or what?" he said.

"or what" she giggled.

"Huh?" Gilbert did not understand the joke which made Anne laugh even louder. He stood up, "Come on, pretty daisy" he offered his hand to help her get up and she grabbed it.

"Daisy? I'll have to write down all these nicknames we're coming up with. Why daisy?" she asked.

"You fell on top of these pretty orange daisies" he showed her.

"Oh no, I crushed them" a tear rolled down her cheek.

He put his hand on her cheek, wiping the tear with his thumb "It's ok, Anne. I'm sure they'll grow back soon, and they'll be as beautiful as ever"

"They're ruined, Gil" Anne turned to see him, his had still in her cheek.

"They're not. Don't worry about them. Oh, you really went from 100 to 0 really quick" he joked but she did not laugh. "It's ok, Anne-girl" he pouted. Anne melted at the sight of this, him pouting was the cutest thing she had seen her entire life.

His eyes

Her eyes

Locked

Time slowing down

Breathing

In and out

In synch

Their faces

Getting closer

And closer

"Anne-" Gilbert breathed.

"Gil-" she blinked twice "Gil- I-" she shook her head "I- I should go, it's getting late" she turned to go.

"Uhh" he snapped out of the trance he was in "Uhh yes! Yes, right. Let's go"

Pretty daisy