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Anne hadn't planned on leaving her room for the rest of her Sunday afternoon if not for her dear friend Diana's persistence.

"Oh Anne, it's just a close group of friends from school. It won't be fun without my best friend!" Diana exclaimed for the fourth time, barely audible to Anne due to both being on speaker.

Anne had already begun to sort through her closet for an outfit to wear, but Diana didn't need to know how easily she had caved to her invitation, especially since Anne had declared she needed time off from interacting with human beings after having started working as a cashier at their local diner on weekends. She had always described herself as a people person, but customer service was seriously pushing her limits.

Anne knew it wasn't Diana's fault that she didn't always enjoy her job and so she didn't see how she could get out of going without feeling awfully guilty about it afterwards. However, Anne was still plenty unenthused; none of her nice-looking clothes were washed and was only left with a pair of black leggings and an extremely plain-looking discolored pink tee.

"I have nothing nice to wear. My favorite sundress was ruined, as you might recall, by Billy Andrews last week during Art class and my daisy romper is dirty–"

"You have other clothes, Anne."

Anne violently dressed herself in what looked like her gym clothes from last year and checked the time, "What time did you tell people to be at your place?"

"At seven!" Diana all but screamed from her bathroom, the roaring from her blow dryer obstructing her friend's voice.

It was already six forty-five, she groaned into her iPhone's speaker, as to let Diana know how much she was inconveniencing her.

Everyone knows how Anne loathes making last minute plans with anyone except Diana. They had been best-friends since middle school and she was mostly Anne's only friend for the first months after she had moved into town. It was hard for her to become familiar with the children in such a small and close-knit town, where everyone knew each other since forever, but Diana seemed to be one of the few people who hadn't already written Anne off as a problem child for her history in the foster system. Also, they being neighbors didn't hurt their prospects of becoming fast friends, as they only lived a short ten minute walk from each other.

It had always been very easy for Anne to connect with Diana, they were akin to soulmates for a reason…But it was still tough for Anne to become comfortable with everyone else.

"So, who else is going?" Anne questioned, then applying a copious amount of dry-shampoo to her slightly curled hair in front of her mirror, deciding to forgo foundation and opted for some mascara instead, "I have second day hair; bun or braids?"

"Just do a messy bun! Either way you'll look lovely. As always," Diana stated, "And I know Ruby, Josie, Charlie, Moody, and Billy will for sure be here."

Anne carelessly snapped her hair-tie too hard onto her scalp at the mention of Billy Andrews, "Why would you invite such a horrendous bully, who destroyed my favorite outfit on purpose and is a dreadful human—"

"Anne, calm down! He just invited himself and my mom told me I had to let him come. It won't be so bad. I'll keep him away if he tries anything," Diana promised, which took a load off of Anne, "Oh and Gil might come but—"

"Oh, I see what this is Diana and I'll have you know right now that—"

"I couldn't not invite him, Anne! It would be terribly rude not to," Diana reasoned and Anne couldn't summon words to refute her, "Besides, we are not little kids anymore. I thought you two had worked it out?"

It was true that Gilbert and Anne were no longer vicious enemies and much of their rivalry had placated over the years. Even so, Anne had become privy to the intentions of her girlfriends to set her up with him after Ruby had moved onto another boy to focus her energies on, and that never failed to make her uncomfortable. Gilbert was smart, funny, and very cute, but it wasn't that simple. Awful things had been said and done, mostly on Anne's part towards Gilbert, and that all had left blemishes on their friendship. There was also the fact that she hadn't seen him for almost an entire year due to him moving in with some friends of the family after his father's death. They were on speaking terms throughout, but had slowly drifted.

Anne tried to explain her hesitation out loud, even though she barely understood it herself.

Diana must've sensed Anne's sudden brooding silence as she said, "You two didn't drift away, more like you pushed him away. I promise no one is planning anything. We know that you're not interested. Besides, he might not even come!"

Anne was still plenty skeptical towards their intentions, but she mock relented, as though she hadn't already made up her mind to go anyway.

Just to amp up the suspense, as Anne loved to do in nearly every situation, she took her time in pulling up her text messages with Gilbert on her phone. They sparsely talked over the phone or texted anymore, not since they both started working, but Anne knew it had more to do with Gilbert's own desires to distance himself from the girl who couldn't even bum a ride for just one short hour from her friends to visit him with them.

Mostly the texts consisted of random "how's your summer going?" and "what have you been up to" with none of them leading anywhere other than awkward tangents concluded by a string of "Anyways." She missed the times they had Facetimed during his trip across Europe after his father's death, but Gilbert had suddenly stopped calling her and Anne took it as a sign that he was having fun with newfound friends.

She types a new message, taking notice to the timestamp from their previous conversation, it had been more than a month…

Anne: "Hey Gilbert, sorry again for being the world's worst texter haha I heard you're finally back in town. I hope you can make it to Diana's get together tonight :)

If she had bothered to read over her words before quickly sending it out, surely she would've rationalized against it, but she figured the text should alleviate some of the awkward tension between them if he were to attend.

"Alright! I'll be there in ten minutes," Anne said once she was satisfied with her bun and decided on a thin layer of pink lip-gloss.

"I love you, Anne Shirley!"

"As I do you, Diana Barry!"

-—-—-

"Honey, I'm home!" Anne called as she stepped into Diana's home, quickly removing her sneakers at the entrance.

"Oh how lovely darling," another voice responded, which certainly did not belong to Diana. Anne's once present optimism for the events of the night speedily evaporated as she frowned at Billy Andrews, "You look nice…not" Anne knew she didn't look her best, but she would be damned if she cared what the insufferable jerk thought.

Billy was casually sprawled across the sofa in the living room with Moody at his side, "You here to help Diana in the kitchen? We are starving over here," he screamed towards where Diana was presumably preparing some finger food.

"Be careful what you wish for Billy Andrews," Anne said sullenly, offering a little wink in Moody's direction, who laughed while playfully striking Billy in the ribs.

"What do you mean by that?" Billy asked, his frown hardening further. Confused by Moody's teasing, "Seriously, what?"

"You better watch out dude," was Moody's only statement, he was clearly enjoying himself, while Billy finally put the pieces together as his own frown materialized in place of his galling smirk.

With that, the doorbell rang and Anne turned to get it for Diana, who was apparently too engrossed on doing whatever it was she was doing to be bothered herself.

Once Billy saw that Anne didn't appear to be joking, "Diana, don't let Anne anywhere near my food!"

Anne opened the door to see Josie, Ruby, and Charlie on the other side, all huddled together against the evening chill.

"Anne, you came!" Ruby exclaimed with a huge smile on her sweet face, hugging Anne as she came in.

"I thought you worked on Sundays." Josie said, her face scrunched up in indifference, seemingly disappointed by Anne's presence.

Anne forced a polite smile, "Yes, but only in the morning," she said, nodding towards Charlie who had waved at her as he circled towards the other boys in the living room. Josie, however, simply walked on past Anne without a care in the world, her lips in a straight line, "Good to see you too, Josie."

"Don't mind her, Anne. Let's go find Diana."

The rest of the evening progressed as well as could be expected, Josie Pyre and Billy Andrews had seemingly paired off to gossip about how weird Anne was, Moody and Charlie had a taco eating competition, which Anne enthusiastically joined in on (Billy Andrews called Anne fat for doing so, but she couldn't care less), while Diana and Ruby talked about the latter's latest crush. Everything had been surprisingly tranquil and tame, considering neither of Diana's parents were present to supervise due to work and neither was her sister there to later snitch on any arising scandalous activity.

As Anne laid on her back on the floor of Diana's living room along with Charlie and Moody, never had she been as full as she was at that moment, she realized how glad she was for deciding on attending the party. Billy Andrews only bothered to torment Anne a handful of times, thanks to Diana for screaming at him whenever he tried anything, and Josie Pyre mostly gossiped about things that were unrelated to Anne.

But Gilbert never texted Anne back. She stared at their messages, holding her phone over her face, she hid what she was staring at by pretending to play a game, when really she didn't want people to know how much it bothered her to have not heard from him. Perhaps, Gilbert decided not to attend because he read her message and didn't want to see her. Anne couldn't fault him for that, not when she knew for a fact that she hadn't always been a good friend to him. Mostly she was awkward and unsociable around him, words either never materialized or materialized too quickly for her to regulate them or her emotions, which led to either her avoiding his gaze or being locked into his hazel eyes for longer than appropriate or her eyes wandered…All in all, time seemed to move either too fast or too slow when they were together. And Anne didn't know if she wanted her moments with Gilbert to end or last forever.

You know what Anne, he's not coming and you're going to have to relax.

Then, the doorbell rang, causing her to almost drop her phone on her face.

"It's nine already, who's here so late?" Ruby asked, outwardly transfixed on perfecting Diana's braid as she wouldn't let her get up to get the door.

"You're pretty lame if you think nine o'clock is late," Billy said, although still engrossed by whatever he was watching on his phone to grace them with his mean stare.

Moody leapt from the ground, unbothered by the ridiculous amount of tacos he had eaten, "Gilbert's here!"

Everyone in the room perked up, matching Moody's gleeful smile with their own, everyone except Anne. She turned toward Diana and mouthed if she knew, to which she simply shook her head erratically, too excited about Gilbert to mind Anne.

Moody ran to the door and surely enough it was Gilbert standing on the other side, his countenance damp from the rain, accompanied by a gorgeous half-dozen yellow roses in his hand, "Gil, you shouldn't have," Moody said, jokingly reaching for them himself, but Gilbert only laughed and intercepted him with a quick handshake and a pat on the back.

"Actually, these are for Diana," Anne's friend practically tripped over her laying form to get to the door. Her cheeks were flushed a pretty pink color as she accepted the flowers and hugged Gilbert, "Thanks for having me over and sorry for missing your birthday."

"Don't worry about that, you couldn't help it. These are beautiful Gilbert, I'm going to put them in a vase right away," Diana kicked Anne on her way to the kitchen, "Want to help me?"

Gilbert's eyes descended towards a gasping Anne and she caught him smiling at her, "Hey Anne."

Throughout the course of a year, Gilbert had managed to grow even taller, if comparing him to Diana was any indication. His pleasant dark curls had become unruly in this time, which to Anne's annoyance, had not lessened his innate charm. As soon as she caught his little smile, she knew he hadn't changed much at all, indicative of how she failed to change as well; she was still damningly susceptible to his charms.

She sat up and immediately regretted the tacos as her stomach protested, "Hi Gilbert," she nodded towards Diana, "I'm currently dying and can't seem to get up."

"That's what your fat-ass gets for eating twelve tacos in a row," Billy said, still engrossed in his phone to spare her a glance, "I counted so don't you try and deny it."

Everyone laughed, except Diana who glared at Billy and Gilbert who took it upon himself to hover over Anne, "Need a hand?"

Anne considered attempting to get up by herself again, but surely she would end up face planting, or worse, hurling in front of everyone. So she extended her arm, trying her best not to make eye contact with Gilbert, "Yes, thank you."

Gilbert's hand wrapped around hers, while his other secured her elbow to help her balance as he swiftly lifted her and Anne knew for a fact that he had grown to be much taller than her, "Twelve tacos, huh? I'm impressed," he mused, failing to release Anne from his hold, surprising her with a cheeky wink, "Next time wait for me? Wouldn't want Anne Shirley to go unchallenged."

"You say now that you would've liked to be here, but it was the most frightening experience to watch how Anne monstrously shoveled all that food down her throat without even breathing," Charlie added, burping rather loudly.

Anne glances up towards Gilbert soon enough to catch him actually stifling a laugh, however, he seemed unfazed by everyone's giggles and hollering in the room, well Diana had sneakily scurried away to attend to the flowers, but Anne knew she must be delighted by simply hearing this conversation.

"I couldn't possibly let them have all the fun now could I," Anne cleared her throat, attempting to ignore the tingling sensation on her arm, "How do you know I'm the one to challenge?"

He gestured toward Charlie and Moody, who had ridiculously wide grins on their faces, "Well, they don't seem to be as pained as you are right now, so my guess is that you won," Gilbert laughed, finally releasing her.

"I'm pretty sure Anne ate your share of the food, Gilbert. I hope you're not too hungry," Diana called from the next room. Anne immediately flushed further.

"actually, she wolfed down my food too," Billy leered.

"I've already eaten, but thanks anyway," Gilbert replied, offering Anne a reassuring smile, "I'm glad my food went to the good use of putting these boys to shame, though."

"I wouldn't have if I thought you were coming. You never answered my text so I just assumed," said Anne, reflexively taking her phone from her pocket.

"Oh, my phone is dead," Gilbert explained and was about to continue if not for Charlie tackling him from behind.

"We've missed you, Gilbert!" Charlie said, hugging his best-friend from behind, prompting everyone to circle both Anne and him into a cocoon, except Billy that is, who was eventually pulled into the fray by Moody against his will.

Anne found herself being crushed into Gilbert's side, so much so that her own clothes soaked through from his own, but as soon as Diana joined in on the embrace, Anne felt herself relax against them. Even when Gilbert's arm had settled around her waist, Anne didn't flinch or pull herself away, primarily because Diana wouldn't let her, but that didn't explain why Anne reciprocated by wrapping her arms around Gilbert, settling into the crook of shoulder.

Inexplicably, in that moment, Anne was equally as terrified as she was elated.

Raising her head to gaze upon Gilbert, she found delight in the presence of the widest grin she'd ever seen on him and in the pleasant sensation of his laughter vibrating through her own core. His hands had slipped further up her waist, effectively tickling her and Anne grinned so widely now, her cheeks hurt.

"I've missed you," she breathed, sinking her head back into his chest. Things didn't have to go back to way they had been before, they didn't have to make the same mistakes, but he needed to know how much he really meant to her. Gilbert strengthened his hold on Anne and she felt the faintest pressure of his warm lips against her forehead.

Gilbert's breath on her skin sent tingles of energy through her and despite being enveloped by her slew of friends, the only solid being she could concentrate on was him as he whispered, "I've missed you, too."