Anne didn't get a reply until that evening. She was curled up in her room with a book when her phone, which was charging across the room beeped at her, announcing the message.

Rival

Hey. It's been so long since we talked. Yeah definitely. I have a break at about 4:00 tomorrow. There's a small cafe by the hospital that I have dinner at sometimes. Do you want to meet me there?

Anne smiled.

You

Sure that sounds great!

Something about receiving this text reminded her of how much she missed her biggest challenger in school. In high school, she had been so certain that they would never become friends but when they were at Queens together, her resolve slowly faded and by the time she graduated and left for Ireland, she would have called him a close friend. They had kept up a sporadic correspondence but after a few years they started to lose touch and by the time she was planning to return to Avonlea, he wasn't on the list of people she told. Even when his wife had died, she heard second hand, through Diana, who, while not being all that close to her, went to her funeral for Gilbert's sake.

Her phone beeped in her hand again.

Rival

Okay, I'll send you the address.

You

(:

Clicking the off button on her phone and throwing it on her bed, Anne was suddenly struck by the realization that she wasn't sure what she was going to wear. All the stuff she had washed was for comfort. She hadn't planned on looking for a job so early. But why should Gilbert care about what she was wearing? It's not as if he had ever taken notice of her in the first place. They were just meeting as friends and the stupid schoolgirl crush she had had on him and had tried her best to repress was gone. She suddenly felt very self-conscious.

She decided to do laundry. She picked out the clothes that she usually wore in the classroom, comfortable but professional. She wasn't sure exactly what she wanted to wear so she threw in a whole bunch and figured she'd decide in the morning. Because she was going to meet a potential new employer, she told herself. She had to look professional. Not because she was going to meet Gilbert. She would've done this regardless of who she was going to meet.

After throwing her stuff in the wash, she sat back down to read. It was a good book. Not ten minutes ago it had her attention so fully that she had almost missed the text alert. Now, however, she found herself reading the same words over and over again. This was stupid. By the time she had caught herself staring at the same word, her thoughts lost in space, for the third time, she gave up. She put the book down and decided to start going through the stuff her students had given her and figure out where to put all of it. She wasn't sure how Marilla would like it if she papered the walls of her room in children's drawings. It was mindless enough, but not so mindless that her thoughts wandered anywhere except Ireland.

Her distraction didn't last long, however. Her phone beeped at her again, another text from Gilbert, with the address of the cafe. Anne sent a quick 'thx'. She plopped down on her bed next to her phone and started staring at the roof. At this point, Anne gave up trying to think of other things and let herself wonder what they were going to talk about, what the cafe was like, and what he was going to be like after all these years apart. She didn't realize how late it was and how tired she was. Slowly, without meaning too, Anne drifted off into a sleep filled with dreams of things that might have happened if she hadn't been too afraid to say something to her crush when she was younger.

The next morning, Anne awoke slowly. The sun filtering through the snow queen's leaves was a nice sight. The branches made criss-cross patterns on the roof and while the wind blew the tree gently, the patterns moved almost hypnotically. Anne was lying on her back, almost exactly in the same position as she had been the night before, one hand behind her head, the other on her stomach, legs crossed, with one foot flat on the floor. She was still wearing jeans and a t-shirt and had her hair up in a very messy high ponytail. It was a wonder at all that she was able to fall asleep. She's certain that her jeans are going to leave a mark on her hips in the way they're pushing into her hips.

Sighing, she sat up and let her hair out of the ponytail. It took a little bit because some strands were wrapped around the elastic. She was not looking forward to brushing out all the tangles. She grabbed her brush that was sitting on her bedside table and started detangling slowly. In her mind, she was trying to remember what she had dreamt about. She knew she had dreamt but what made up those dreams, she wasn't quite sure. She had a feeling that a certain black-haired man was part of it but she shook the thought. Even if he had been a part of her subconscious, it was just because she had been thinking about him the night before.

It took her about 15 minutes to get through all the tangles. She dropped her hairbrush onto the bed and picked up her phone to check the time. She still had at least five hours before she had to leave Green Gables but somehow it didn't seem like enough time. She had to shower and eat and finish laundry and on any other day that would seem like enough, but today she was jumpy. She sent a text to Diana, saying she had found Gilbert's contact in her phone but thanking her for the offer and started on her day.

First was breakfast. Marilla was almost finished making it so Anne set the table and made small talk, explaining where she was going later to the approval of her adoptive mother ('that Gilbert Blythe was always a good one. Calmed you out some and gave you something to work on.')

Next was laundry. Anne took the stuff she had thrown in the wash the night before and grabbed the stuff she wanted to wear and put them in the dryer. The rest, she hung up on a clothesline. While waiting for the dryer, she took a shower. After her shower, she put on a little makeup and some perfume. She restarted her makeup at least twice, trying to get everything to look just right, but she never really was one for makeup. Over the course of their high school years, Diana had tried to get her into it, but she had only started putting on makeup to seem more professional and had just gotten into the habit. As such, all her makeup looks were fairly plain, but they didn't seem to work in this instance. By the time she had finally finished, the dryer had long since finished. She grabbed her clothes and put them on, checking her phone for time again. She still had an hour, and an hour and a half if she wanted to push her luck. She glanced in the mirror and cursed under her breath, something Marilla would have very much disliked. Maybe it was her racing brain but nothing she was wearing was right. She didn't have time to put more clothes in the dryer so she guessed this was what she was going for. She had on a comfortably tight white shirt with a peter pan collar and a black pencil skirt. The dusty blue flats she had on matched the belt and her eyeshadow. She looked alright, but her outfit was really more reminiscent of her 'teacher' look. She sighed and wished, definitely not for the first time, that her hair was a different colour or that she didn't have freckles or that she was just prettier in general but, like everything else today, she'd just have to make do with what she had.

She snapped a picture of her outfit and sent it to Diana ('You always wondered what I look like in my classroom, well here you go' and then made up a bag; he had at least an hour of bus ride and Anne was not going to do it without headphones or a book.

Skipping down the stairs, Anne checked her phone. She was ahead of schedule. She might actually arrive on time for this for once.

Kissing Marilla on the cheek, Anne grabbed an apple as a snack and called a farewell behind her as she left for the bus stop.