CORTARO | Shirbert

Nine ~ Royal's Fault

Anne was sitting on the floor holding a pillow tight against her chest, crying her eyes out. Her thoughts were going crazy, giving her a headache. She should have stopped Royal from the beginning; she should not have allowed him to say all those things before, maybe that’s why he thought she was interested in him. It was all her fault, Gilbert has every right to be mad, she betrayed him.

“Anne?” Diana came into the room, interrupting her thoughts.

“My head hurts,” She said between sniffs.

“Want to go get some fresh air?” Diana asked, (avoiding the fact that Gilbert was outside too. She did not know if Anne wanted to see him or not.)

Anne nodded.

__

You could cut the tension with a knife and the cold air was not helping much with the situation, the three boys were freezing but neither of them wanted to go back inside. Gilbert was already stressed and the silence was driving him crazy. Moody and Charlie were just standing there, not wanting to say anything that might disturb Gilbert –but he was already disturbed-; Royal’s voice kept replaying in his head “You really are going into too much trouble just to get a piece of meat”, he should have killed him, Anne would hate him forever but at least he would be sure that Royal will not hurt anyone else.

“Gil?”

“Anne!” His head snapped up. There she was the love of his life, she looked so small, her voice breaking when she said his name. “Anne” he breathed out, “I’m so sorry, love”

“Sorry? Why? I’m sorry” Anne got closer to him.

Diana gestured to Moody and Charlie that it was better for them to leave. The three of them went to walk around the garden, giving the couple their much-needed privacy.

“You have nothing to be sorry for, you did nothing wrong. I should have been there with you” his voice breaking, “I’m sorry you had to live that” he’s crying now, seeing her like that was too hard for him to bear.

“It’s not your fault Gil. It’s mine, I should have stopped him;  he thought I was interested in him because I allowed him to talk like that about our relationship. I should have listened to you, I’m sorry”

“Love, don’t. It’s not your fault” Gilbert put his hand on her cheek.

“It’s not-” Anne sobbed, “your fault either, Gil” he wiped with his thumb the tears coming from her eyes.

“It’s Royal’s fault” Gilbert reassured her, taking her hand in his.

“It is” Anne smiled, looking down at their intertwined hands, “Gil! What happened to your hands?”

“I… might have shown Royal what I thought about his actions” He smiled nervously.

She wrapped her arms around his torso, her head in his chest breathing him in, holding him tight, never wanting to let go of him. Gilbert held her too, resting his cheek at the top of her head, giving her a little peck in her forehead before backing away slightly to see her face but still holding her. This beautiful girl doesn’t deserve this. She deserves to be loved, cherished, not to be mistreated and disrespected like that, no one should be treated that way.

“I love you” she said.

“You- you do?” His eyes widened, did she just-?

“Of course I do, how could I not?” She got on her tiptoes, grinning widely, “I love you, Gilbert Blythe” she put her hand on the back of his neck, slowly bringing it up to his beautiful brown curls, “I love you, but we should get something for your hands... Sit please” she said pointing to the chair next to them, Anne grabbed his handkerchief from his front pocket and put it on top of his hands, then she went to take some snow to put it on top of the thin cloth.

“You are quite the nurse, daisy” he said, while she was moving to sit next to him.

Anne placed her head on Gilbert’s shoulder. After a while, he moved his hands, making the snow fall, “It’s too cold” Anne laughed.

“Your hands are free… does that mean I can kiss you now?” Gilbert froze, “Kiss me, please”

“Are you sure? I don’t want you to feel like I’m taking advantage of you” he said, his voice low. "You-you're not in a good headspace right now"

“You’re not taking advantage of me if I’m asking you, my love” She reassured him, putting her hand on his shoulder.

Gilbert moved slowly, making her groan, she finally gripped tight in his curls and brought him to kiss her. “I love you” he whispered, pulling away briefly. “I love you” kiss. “I love you, I love you” kiss.

Anne giggled, “I love you”

“Ahem” Gilbert lifted his head and Anne turned slightly to see Ruby standing in the doorway, “Sorry to interrupt you two, lovers” She chuckled, “Have you seen Moody? I’ve requested the band to play The Dashing White Sergeant, and last time I couldn’t dance with him”

The Dashing White Sergeant was the song playing the moment Anne first thought what she felt for Gilbert was something more than just a friendship, she did not accept it at the time of course; when the dance practice ended she quickly gathered her things and ran to Green Gables, leaving a very disappointed young man behind. Gilbert spent the rest of the day angrily chopping carrots and being called a ‘mock’ by Bash.

“Anne?” Diana said, coming back to the porch with Moody and Charlie.

“Are you two feeling bett-?” Moody stopped talking at the sight of Ruby, “Hi, Rubes. What are you doing outside?”

“I was looking for you, but… did something happen?” She asked, worried. Moody gave her a wide-eyed look.

‘I’ll tell you later’ Moody mouthed to her.

“Anyway… Come with me, Moods. The band is playing The Dashing White Sergeant” She explained.

“Really?! We must go in then, for good times’ sake” Diana exclaimed.“Gilbert please don’t break the lines this time, would you?” Gilbert chuckled.

“Break them?” Anne asked confused.

“Are you going to tell me you didn’t notice Gilbert broke the lines in dance practice so he could dance with you?” Diana asked in disbelief.

“He did not!”

“He did” Diana and Charlie responded in unison. Moody and Ruby were just watching the exchange with wide grins on their faces.

“Did not!” Anne crossed her arms over her chest.

“I did” Gilbert admitted, Anne turned to look at him.

She tilted her head and with an eyebrow rose said, “Why would you do that?”

“Because he wanted to dance next to you, Anne. I thought we’d made that clear already” Charlie teased, making Anne blush.

“Well, let’s go inside!” Ruby exclaimed.

The group started to walk back inside, when Gilbert grabbed Anne and pulled her by his side, “This time, you start by my side so I don’t have to mess up the dance again” He whispered to her ear.