Chapter 7: Awkward Glances

Anne spent the weekend with Roy before he headed off to Redmond to begin the fall semester there. During their time spent together, Roy realized his true feelings for Anne. It hadn't been a week yet since he'd met her, but he was falling for her. He wanted to make her happy and to protect her from that buffoon Jack Garrison, who was making his life (and Anne's) miserable. While it would be hard to part with her, he promised himself to make every possible effort to see her as much as possible. Anne, on the other hand, had a sense of security whenever she was with Roy. She wasn't sure if it was love or anything, but it was better than nothing. She wanted to take things slow to avoid another fallout like the one she had with Gilbert, which she still didn't understand.

When it was time for Roy to leave, Anne gave him a kiss goodbye.

"Don't kill yourself studying now, okay?" she advised him.

"Don't worry about me," he told her. "Call me if you need anything, even if it's at three in the morning and especially if you have to deal with Jack. Promise?"

"I promise."

"Good." Roy kissed her one last time. "Take care of yourself, Carrots."

Carrots? Anne thought. Did he just call me "Carrots"! That's Gil's name for me! You can't take that away from him!

Roy noticed that Anne started to look a bit pale. "Anne, are you okay?"

"Yeah," she lied. "I'm just a bit tired; that's all."

"Rest now. I'll be fine I assure you." He kissed her forehead. "Bye, Anne."

"Bye."

Roy left, leaving Anne to go back into her apartment. She still wasn't over the shock of Roy calling her "Carrots."

"How dare he call me that?" she yelled to no one as she plopped down on her couch. "Doesn't he understand that that name belongs to Gil? As much as I hated it before, it strictly belongs to him!" She sighed. This is going to be one heck of a week...

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Gilbert arrived on the Redmond campus eager to begin his classes. Maybe with school starting again he could get his mind off of Anne, but that was easier said than done. He went into his dorm, hoping to meet his new roommate. Maybe that guy would know a girl that could distract him from Anne. When he walked in his room, he noticed that his roommate was already in there unpacking his things.

"Umm...hi," Gilbert managed to say.

"Hey," his roommate greeted. "So I guess you and I are stuck together for the rest of the year?"

"Yeah."

He stuck out his hand. "I'm Roy Gardner."

"Gilbert Blythe." He took the hand and shook it.

"So what are you studying?" Roy asked.

"Medicine," Gilbert replied. "You?"

"Business."

"Ah."

Gilbert put his bags on his bed and started unpacking. Roy finished unpacking his belongings and placed a picture near his bed. Gilbert looked over and saw the picture. He saw a redhead standing next to Roy in the photo; he went over to take a closer look and couldn't believe his eyes. Anne?

"Hey, Roy. Who's the girl in that pic?" Gilbert asked.

"That's my girlfriend, Anne Shirley," he replied.

"Ah." Oh my God, she's with him! "I thought she looked familiar."

"You know her?" Roy was curious to know if he had another Jack Garrison on his hands.

"Yeah. Anne and I grew up together in Avonlea. We went to school together and would always tie for first place on our exams, so you're dealing with a tough cookie."

"That's nice. So tell me, was she always this beautiful when she was young?"

Gilbert's heart sank. How should he answer that without revealing his true feelings? "Well, all the guys in school would run after her because she was intelligent and quite different from the other girls. I thought she was cute, but nothing happened between us. We became friends and have been friends for quite some time. I haven't seen her in awhile though. The last I heard of her was that she's teaching in Kingsport."

"That's where I met her. I'm glad to know a friend of her's since she seemed a bit lonely not knowing anybody and all."

Gilbert nodded his head. I came here to get away from her, yet I'll still be thinking of her since I'm rooming with her boyfriend!

"I hear there's a dance on Saturday. I tell you what, I'll bring her along with me so you two can chat about old times. Does that sound good?"

"Yeah. It sounds good." You really wanna torture me, don't you?

"Okay. I'll call her up then." Roy took his cell phone and went out of the room to call Anne.

Gilbert sat on his bed with a blank stare on his face. Somebody get me out of this hell...

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Anne had motivation to make it through the rest of the week. Roy had called her asking her to come with him to a Redmond dance, and she accepted. He told her he had a surprise for her. Anne couldn't think of what he had up his sleeve, but she was sure that didn't involve Jack Garrison. At least she hoped so.

Rehearsals for the play went relatively smooth besides that fact that Jen Pringle would act out her lines like a drunk Paris Hilton. Anne was desperate to get through the week and to avoid any more conflict with Jen, so she let it slide. Morgan Harris was nowhere to be seen, which made Anne feel so much better. Even Jack couldn't been seen. At least he wasn't parked in his usual spot. He had learned his lesson and decided to park even farther back so Anne couldn't see him. Maybe then he could catch her off guard and hopefully sweep her off her feet.

Friday night finally came, and to Anne's delight, Roy came back to get her. He asked that she come back with him to make the trip back to Redmond, but Anne put her foot down and insisted that they make the trip the next day. Roy couldn't say "no" to her and reluctantly agreed, so the next day Roy and Anne both woke up early to make the drive. Anne wore a green dress that brought out the rich tints in her hair and the color of her eyes, which was met to Roy's approval. She got into the Thunderbird and enjoyed the ride to Redmond.

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Gilbert debated about going to the dance. While he wanted to see Anne, he couldn't bare the fact of seeing her with Roy. But then again, they were friends. Just friends, nothing more. In order to keep himself from going insane, he called Christine Stuart and asked her to be his date for the evening. She gladly accepted. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad having her by his side. At least the annoying Josie Pye types would leave him alone.

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The purpose of the Redmond dance was to have the students mingle and get to know each other contrary to the popular belief of showing up to get wasted. Anne and Roy arrived at the dance hall with everyone's attention turning to them.

"So that's why Roy wouldn't pay attention to me!" whispered one girl. "He already has somebody!"

"What I would do to get in her shoes," whispered another girl.

"He looks so fine!" checked out another girl.

Anne had her arm around Roy and simply smiled. It was nice to go out and not worry too much about what people thought about her unlike in Kingsport where everyone judged her. She was sure every girl wasn't looking at her, so she felt fine.

Gilbert, in the meantime, had entered the hall with Christine. He saw Roy and waved at him in acknowledgment. Roy saw the gesture and signaled with his hand for him to come to where he was standing.

"Anne, remember that surprise I told you about?" Roy asked.

"Yeah," Anne replied.

"Well, close your eyes."

She closed her eyes, and Gilbert walked towards her with Christine following him. His heart was racing. This was their first meeting since the rejected second proposal, and he didn't know how he or she would react. He assumed Anne didn't tell Roy the whole story because of his generosity towards him. If he did know, there was no way that he would have invited Anne to see him. Roy stood in between Anne and Gilbert to make sure Anne wasn't peeking.

"Are you ready now?" Roy asked.

"Yes."

"Open your eyes."

Roy moved to the side while Anne opened her eyes. She was caught totally off guard. Gil?

"Gil!" she yelled. Her eyes widened in surprise. He was the one of the last people she expected to see. Not knowing what to do, she embraced him in a hug. Gilbert just stood there frozen in time. She's hugging me again? What is this? But I must say she looks beautiful in that dress...

"Hey, Anne," he said.

"You remember Gilbert Blythe, don't you?" Roy asked. "He's my roommate."

"Of course!" Gil's rooming with Roy? Why didn't he tell me this before? "How can I forget you, Gil, when we tied for first place so many times?"

"You remember Christine Stuart, right?" Gilbert asked. "She was with me at Diana's wedding."

"I remember." I remember it quite well, thank you very much. You little skank! "It's nice to see you again, Christine." Not!

"You too, Anne."

"Christine, why don't we let Anne and Gilbert talk for a little bit?" Roy suggested. "It's been awhile since they've seen each other, and they have a lot of catching up to do."

"Okay," Christine said. She allowed Roy to take her on the dance floor.

This is a little awkward, thought Anne.

"How are things going with you?" Gilbert asked.

"Pretty good. I'm teaching, and that's always an adventure."

"So is Kingsport as tough as everyone says it is?"

"A little rough, but I'm hanging in there."

"I know you will. I believe in you, Anne."

She grinned. "Thanks, Gil." She looked across the room to see a familiar figure staring at her. She gasped. "Oh my God!"

"What is it?" Gilbert asked.

"It's Jack Garrison. He followed me from nowhere to Kingsport and has been stalking me ever since. Now he's here!" Anne cried.

Gilbert glared at Jack. "I have an idea, Anne."

"What?"

"Take my hand."

"What?"

"Just do it."

He took Anne's hand and led her to the dance floor. They began dancing, knowing that Jack would stop in his tracks. It was just like old times. Anne was enjoying herself but not as much as Gilbert. He had Anne back even if it was for a short amount of time. Because Jack was watching, Anne felt free to flirt a bit with Gilbert, and he didn't mind. He did it right back at her. Roy looked over and saw the two dancing and flirting with each other. He was about to confront them until he saw Jack in the background.

Go figure, thought Roy. I knew it had to be something involving Jack Garrison in order for Anne to act like that. Will that man ever go away?

Gilbert looked at Anne and longed to kiss her, but he knew Roy was keeping a watchful eye on Anne even though he was with Christine at the moment. He couldn't take it anymore.

"Anne, I'm sorry," he said. He went to go find Christine, but just then Jack approached Anne.

"Hey, gorgeous."

"Jack! What are you doing here?" asked Anne. "Don't even tell me that you have a girlfriend or ex-girlfriend that goes here."

"I wanna talk to you. You've been avoiding me."

"Well, duh. Any normal person would avoid someone who's been following them constantly."

A slow dance came on, and Jack saw this as an opportunity to enchant Anne. "Dance with me."

"No."

"But Anne -"

"She said 'no!'" yelled a booming voice from behind Jack. "When a lady tells you 'no', it means 'no.'"

"Morgan Harris, what on Earth are you doing here?" demanded Anne. She couldn't believe that all four men that she had tried to avoid were in the exact same room at the exact same time.

"My business associate, Elvira Evans, works here, Miss Shirley," he explained. "She invited me here, and so I came."

"Oh."

"Now may I have this dance?"

"Hey! Back off, Grandpa. She's mine!" shouted Jack.

"Actually, she's mine," Roy stated while coming up to the group with Gilbert and Christine.

"Then what was she doing with pansy boy?" asked Jack.

"Hey!" Gilbert yelled. "Anne is my friend, my best friend from school, and I could knock you out any day, pretty boy."

Anne stood back and watched the scene with disgust. How dare they fight in a middle of a dance...and over her! She couldn't believe Morgan and Jack could ruin a night like this. Seeing Gilbert was hard enough but all four men? Anne couldn't take it anymore and ran out of the hall as fast as she possibly could.