SMALL TALK | Shirbert

{10} Are You Gonna Be My Girl

{Title of the chapter from Are You Gonna Be My Girl by Jet}

December 12, 2013

The instructions were clear. She said “Wear jeans and bring gloves, a scarf and a beanie” and so he did. Gilbert was wearing his good old black jeans and a white sweater, he had to buy the other things Anne told him to wear, and he decided to buy them all black –as usual-. They had been driving for 15 minutes until Anne parked next to the ice skating place. Gilbert went to pick her up at her parents’ house, as soon as he knocked, she opened the door and took his keys, he looked at her weird and she said “I’m driving because I don’t want you to know where we’re going” he was a bit hesitant at first but she seemed so excited about surprising him that he could not say no.

“We’re ice skating?” He asked and Anne nodded excitedly. “Are you trying to kill me? Do you want to get rid of me?”

Anne laughed softly, “You’re so dramatic”

“I’m not dramatic, I’m realistic. I might die” Gilbert teased, “You know I have to left feet”

“You won’t die, Gilbert” Anne grabbed his hand, “I’ll be right next to you the whole time”

“You just sentenced yourself to a night of falls, Anne Shirley” He warned her, “I’ve only ice skated once, and after the fall number 100 I decided to just stay on the floor because my butt hurt way too much to stand up, thankfully I only fell on my butt, imagine I would’ve fallen in my face or something, that would’ve been a tragedy”

“You certainly would’ve lost a lot, I mean, look at your face”

“You’re saying you only like me because of my looks?”

Anne laughed out loud at that, “Of course not” she said and nodded at the same time.

“I’m hurt”

“Stop whining and let’s go” Anne started to get out of the house.

Anne really thought Gilbert was exaggerating, but she was surprised to see he was not. After a few tries to get him to skate in the middle of the ice rink, Anne decided to just stick to the sides and let him hold onto them. Despite this, she was still having a great time; Gilbert became one of her favorite people to be around very quickly. They have only known each other for almost three months and even though they were not officially dating, they were pretty much acting like a couple all the time, Anne and Gilbert had lost count of all the time someone called them ‘Anne’s boyfriend’ or ‘Gilbert’s girlfriend’ when they were there, and they were both sure the number would be higher if they knew all the time someone said that when they were not even present. It was awkward at first, hearing someone saying that, but as time went on, the awkwardness dissipated.

“Gil?”

“Hum?” Gilbert hummed, squeezing her hand.

“What are we?” She had been meaning to ask this for a long time.

“Well, I’d love to be more than what we are right now, to finally put a label on it” He responded truthfully, “But I don’t want to pressure you into anything; I’ll wait until you’re ready”

“What if I told you… I’m ready?”

“Are you?” Anne nodded slowly. “Then,” he moved slowly, leaning against the side of the rink so he could take both of her hands. Gilbert kissed one of them gently and “Will you be my girl?”