PHILEO | Shirbert

Twelve ~ White And Blue Boutonniere

A week before the party...

Gilbert Blythe was in his room studying for his exams. He is pretty smart, he was away from home and school for almost a year after his father died, and despite that he was on top of the class –with Anne-, his passion for medicine pushed him to study hard to catch on with the rest of the class quickly. Gilbert was the best at almost every subject, his strong suit was geometry, but he was having a bit of a hard time with English Literature, unlike Anne. She had such a way with words, he could only hope he could be as good as her in the subject, but in reality, no one could even be half as good as Anne.

Anne. He has not talked to her since that –whatever it was- at the Vale's Garden. Oh, how he missed her.

"BLYTHE!" Bash yelled from downstairs "SOMEONE'S HERE TO SEE YOU"

"Coming!" He tried to fix a bit his appearance, his shirt was out and his hair messy. He quickly made himself a bit presentable and went downstairs. A pretty blonde girl with beautiful eyes was waiting there by the door for him, "Hello, Ruby. How...are you?" he greeted, confused.

"I'm good, thank you" Ruby responded with a smile "How are you?"

"Great! What brings you here?" he tried to sound as polite as possible and hiding his discomfort.

"I wanted to talk to you" she smiled.

"You did?" he swallowed.

"Yes, would you like to go for a walk?"

"Uhh" Bash, who has been listening to their conversation, nudged him to get the words out of him "Sure! Sure, let me go change my shoes real quick" he ran upstairs not even waiting for a response. He went into his room and looked in the mirror. 'You got this, Blythe. She's just a friend' he breathed 'oh, god. What if she asks me to go to the party with her? I can't say no that'll hurt her feelings' he thought while changing his shoes 'forget it, it's probably not that'

"Are you ready?" Ruby asked Gilbert once he got back downstairs; he just nodded, nervous to talk. "Alright, let's go"

They got out of the house and walked around Gilbert's front yard. A few minutes went by before any of them said anything.

"Gilbert?" Ruby said, he hummed in response "I wanted you to know that you have my permission to date Anne"

"I beg your pardon?" he was shocked.

"Don't play dumb, Gilbert" she started saying "You like Anne, I know you do. It's always been her and you know it" he was speechless, so she kept talking "You know, Anne made me read this book, Wuthering Heights by Emily Brönte, she loves this book –well, it's difficult to find a book she doesn't like but that's not the point-. There's this line in the book: 'Whatever our souls are made of-"

"-his and mine are the same'" he smiled "sorry, please continue"

She smiled "That quote describes you and Anne perfectly, Gilbert. You and she are soul mates"

"Kindred spirits" he corrected her.

"Well yes, but not only that" he looked confused "You are kindred spirits, Gilbert. Just like Anne and Diana are kindred spirits, you care for each other, love each other very much and have some things in common, you're alike I mean; but- there's a difference between the love you feel for a friend and the love you feel for a significant other" she explained, "Your connection with Anne goes beyond 'kindred-spiritism' if that's even a word"

"It's not" Gilbert smiled.

"Anyway," she chuckled "You and Anne are connected in a way- in a way not so long ago I hoped you were with me. Don't feel bad about me, Gilbert. I understand; you and I are just- not made for each other, but you and Anne are. You two are totally clueless about each other's feelings –kind of ironic because you two are supposed to be the smartest of the class and yet here we are, the girl with a seven-year-long crush on Gilbert Blythe telling him to go after the girl he loves and that girl is not even her- and it drives me crazy to see you looking at her with those eyes full of want and she does the same, and neither of you does anything about it!"

"She doesn't look at me like that, Ruby" he was walking with his eyes fixed at his feet.

"Yes, she does!" she exclaimed "She loves you, Gilbert. Just as much as you love her or more"

"That's impossible. I think I love her with my whole self"

"And what are you waiting for? TELL HER!" she grabbed him by his shoulders and shook him, like trying to wake him up from a trance.

"I can't" he sighed.

"Why? Give me one good reason not to tell her" she crossed her arms.

"She- maybe she laughs in my face"

"You do remember we're talking about Anne here, right?"

He sighed, 'she's right, she wouldn't do that' he thought. "Ruby, I-" he tried to say but could not find the words, so he just hugged her "Thank you" he breathed.

"Don't thank me yet, I'm not finished" he let go of her and continued listening carefully, "You have to take her to the party"

"How?"

"Really Gilbert? Are you really the smartest boy of the class?" he stood quiet "ASK HER TO GO WITH YOU" she said pausing after every word.

"But no one is going with a partner" Ruby nodded, he was right.

"Well, then. Let me think of something else" she paused for a moment, "I've got it! Wear a matching boutonniere" he did not say anything so she just continued, "Anne is going to borrow one of Diana's dresses. All of her dresses are blue with some white flourish. You just have to wear a white and blue boutonniere and you'll be matching, everyone else will think It's just a coincidence but Anne will think It's destiny"

"If all of Diana's dresses are the same, that means I'll be matching with her too" he said.

"Di is wearing her special dress, she told me the other day during lunch, the dress is golden with some colorful flourish and completely different from all of her other dresses"

"Ok, I'll do it"

"Come on, Gilb- wait" she stopped walking, "You'll do it?" she smiled.

"Yes?" Ruby frowned "Yes! I'll do it"

"Great!" she shrieked.

"Would you help me?"

"Yes, of course" she smiled and he sighed, "Now, come on, lover boy. Let's go pick the most beautiful flowers we can find to impress Anne" he chuckled.