It was a beautiful Sunday morning in August when Gilbert Blythe ran over the path to his house not far from Toronto. He wiped the sweat from his brow with his shirt and searched for his keys, swearing loudly when he dropped them, it was on that moment he noticed the small car on the driveway of the house next door. Hadn't that been for sale? How could he not have noticed that it was sold? He shrugged and continued his way inside, sprinting up the stairs to take a shower.
Anne Shirley was woken by the sunlight streaming through her window and she yawned loudly. Another day in her new house, so far from her beloved Green Gables. It was for the best, she thought. After her guardian, Marrilla had died she had needed to sell the farm. Only the thought of her hometown and Marrilla made her tear up and she shook her head, stretching herself and getting out of her bed. She'd better get onto work, her story wasn't going to write itself!
Some hours later she found herself sitting on the bench in her garden with her computer on her lap, staring at the screen intently. So intently in fact that she didn't notice the dark haired man that sat in his own garden only a few meters away from her. Yet he had noticed her and his brow furrowed as he wondered if it were really her. "Anne?"
The red-haired girl's hair snapped up and a laugh escaped her lips as she saw who was her neighbor "Gilbert Blythe! All of Avonlea thought you had migrated to the middle of nowhere, somewhere in Europe like Belgium!" She stroked a red curl behind her ear and smiled at him.
Her smile... her smile still struck him and his heart started beating faster. "God Gilbert, what are you doing?" He mumbled to himself. "Well... I am very much alive" he chuckled lightly and ran his hand through his hair.
"Yes I can see that!" Anne laughed "well at least there's someone I know around here!" She exclaimed, causing him to laugh. She hadn't changed one bit.
"You should come to dinner sometime... like tonight" Gilbert blurted out and bit his lower lip lightly. Anne played with a curl and tugged at her skirt nervously. He was hot... well he had always been handsome but now... He had broad shoulders and a muscular chest. "Anne Shirley!" She reprimanded himself as her eyes slid over his body. "I'll be there tonight" she managed to say and smiled sweetly. Gilbert's heart melted and he smiled back "Okay... okay I should" he almost walked against the closed window to his living room "oops... I should get going now... see you tonight." He disappeared in his house and Anne shook her head, laughing at his clumsiness. Little did she know she had always had that effect on him.