A few notes: this is a mild AU but it is intended to follow canon closely. This story assumes Gilbert never proposed. Further, their summer is moving slowly- this chapter is set not even a month into the summer. enjoy!

Tuesday was long and boring. Due to her injury, Anne was stuck behind a desk all day and she hated it. There was no scope for the imagination. Not only was her hand throbbing, she had the least glamorous job in the entire library. When her shift finally ended, she flew home as fast as she could. To her great excitement, letters from her roommates awaited her. She quickly settled into the parlor with a glass of water to devour them.

First, she opened Phil's letter.

Dear Queen Anne,

I hope you are not missing me too desperately. As good as it is to be home, I am missing Paddy's Place already. Mother has kept me busy with social events since returning home and I know it will not slow for the rest of the summer. I long for the freedom and independence of college. Already counting down the days until the summer ends.

My summer is sure to terribly bland but I sure hope yours will not be. You have that house to yourself and as much freedom as a girl our age could possibly have. I sincerely hope you make the best of it. Stay up all night, invite a boy over, ignore the dinner dishes. I don't care what you do, Dear Anne, but I want you to make the best of this time. Such an opportunity will likely never come again.

I shall make an educated guess that you have seen Gilbert this summer as he is also working in town and you two are inseparable. Make sure to tell him I have not forgiven him for beating me in Math for spring semester. He better be ready come Fall for I shall study all summer and defeat him! More importantly, I hope you two enjoy your freedom and lack of chaperones. I do not care how many times you deny it- that boy is in love with you and I am absolutely sure of it. You know he turns down every girl who approaches him. He spends his limited free time with you. He accompanies you to everything. And the looks he gives you when he thinks no one is looking... scandalous.

Speaking of scandalous, you are chaperone free, young and beautiful so go wild my dear friend. I should venture to guess that a boy could spend the night with you and no one would ever be the wiser (however I would demand details). Don't even try to tell me that you have never thought about him that way... we've all seen the guy. We've all thought it at least once. Those brown curls would get any girl thinking.

I must go- mother is calling- but I can't wait to hear from you and hopefully uncover some juicy details. Please don't hold back because you think you are unworthy of love Dear Anne. You are more worthy than anyone I have ever met and do not let you past define your future and your potential happiness. A June wedding would be nice... after graduation, with flowers in your auburn hair...

With love,

Phil

Anne closed the letter, blushing mildly over Phil's words. She couldn't lie, most of what Phil has said had already crossed her own mind. She knew this summer was her best chance at freedom and independence. She knew everyone assumed Gilbert was in love with her. She knew she held herself back at times because of lingering doubts in her own self worth. But could it really be as simple as Phil made it seem? Could she just go wild with Gilbert all summer (provided his feelings were of the nature Phil hypothesisized)?

She shook her head. It was so much more complicated. She was unsure of Gilbert's true feelings. She knew he valued her friendship and sought her counsel on important matters- he had always valued her intellect and wisdom. He was loyal to her but then again, Gilbert was loyal to everyone and everything. She could not help but think any boy who had seen her as a skinny orphan, brand new to Avonlea and later with shorn hair after a failed hair dye incident not to mention all the other shenanigans she got up to growing up, could ever see past that and be attracted. She was certain love would come from someone who had only known the Redmond Anne, the sophisticated, Auburn haired, intellectual who was so far removed from her past. Surely love could not come with the boy from the next door apple orchard who had once rescued her from the Lake of Shining Waters and still bore a small scar from where she whacked him over the head with a slate.

Even if he did have feelings for her, what would happen if they tried to be romantic and it failed. She would lose her best friend. She would be the laughing stock of avonlea. She would never be able to face the neighbors of Green Gables again. She wasn't sure the risks were something she could live with.

Frustrated with how many thoughts and emotions Phil's letter has evoked, Anne took a sip of cool water and picked up Stella's letter to change the focus of her mind. Stella was her most progressive and wild friend so she was sure there would be some good stories.

Dear Anne,

I should have stayed with you this summer. Being home is STIFLING. My mother just wants me to sew and knit things, my father is convinced I can help him with the books now since I am a college girl and most of my other friends from school are boring married ladies now. How I miss the freedom and independence of college.

While I am dying from boredom, I expect you to be living it up in my honor. There are no excuses and nothing to derail you from having fun. You won't even have to use the emergency rope I rigged up to help the boys sneak out of my bedroom- you can just sneak them out the backdoor so old Mrs. Balmor across the street doesn't see.

Did I mention the bet Priscilla and I made? Whomever guesses the date closest to when you and Gilbert finally give into your feelings gets to skip dish duty for Fall semester. My date is earlier so get on it. We all know you two are mad for each other- stop your denial and get in that boys pants!

Enjoy yourself and don't do anything I wouldn't do! (So feel free to do pretty much anything with Mr. Blythe, just please avoid my bed).

Stella

Anne tossed the letter down, frustrated. Did the girls plan this? Even when they were hundreds of miles away, it felt like they were right here, pressuring her collectively to open up her eyes. However, what the girls didn't know is that she knew there was some truth to what they were saying. She had feelings of some kind for Gilbert. She hadn't worked it out yet but there was something. She had also noticed something in Gilbert's eyes... she did not understand the look but she thought it might be a look of more than friendship.

Anne's very limited experience with boys was currently frustrating. While her friends had run after college boys and stepped out with a different boy to each dance, she had been content to spend her hours studying and not worrying about boys. After all, she always had Gilbert. Maybe that was a telling sign that she hadn't even been interested in the other boys while at college. It's not that she had locked herself away; she attended parties, she went to the football games, she talked to plenty of other boys in her classes. She just hadn't been interested in romance.

One unopened letter remained on the table and Anne wasn't sure she was ready to hear what Priscilla had to say as it was sure to include some reference to her summer of freedom and her supposed feelings for Gilbert and vice versa. Before she could fully contemplate if she wanted to opened it, a knock sounded at the door.

Remembering Gilbert was going to stop by and check her hand, Anne quickly stuffed the letters under a book so he wouldn't see them. She was embarrassed enough by what the girls had said and she would be mortified if he saw them too. She made her was quickly to the door, tripping over the rug in her rush and losing her shoe. When she flung open the door, she was feeling very disheveled. Gilbert stood, tall and handsome, on the other side of the door, holding a few white bandages and his head cocked in curiosity as he took in her flushed cheeks and shoe sitting on the rug behind her.

"Everything okay?" He asked simply, a touch of a smirk on his face.

"Fine, fine. I tripped over the rug and my foot just slipped right out. I'm so clumsy sometimes," she replied in a fast flood of words while her cheeks continued to burn red. Gilbert shook his head slightly with a smile, familiar with some of Anne's clumsiness over the years and stepped inside. She closed the door behind him and reach down to slip her foot back into her shoe. As she straightened and dropped her skirts back down, she caught Gilbert's look toward her briefly exposed ankle before he snapped his head back toward the wall.

He led the way back toward the parlor and she following, willing her cheeks to stop blushing. He was just her friend here to doctor her hand. Nothing ontoward or romantic.

Gilbert gestured for her to sit in the chair in the corner before perching himself in front of her on the ottoman. The position felt intimate and Anne had to fight to ignore that thought. He gently reached out to take her bandaged hand and asked,

"How has this been today? Any pain or bleeding?"

"It has been a little painful but I haven't noticed any bleeding."

He smiled sadly at that as he unwrapped the bandage,

"I'm sorry it caused you pain but that is good news there was no noticeable bleeding. That is a sign of healing." As he peeled back the bandage, her neatly stitched wound came into sight. She winced, forgetting how big the wound was. Gilbert ever so gently inspected the wound before smiling up at her.

"It is healing well. I am so pleased. Now where is the salve?"

"In the kitchen right next to the sink," she replied. He nodded and quickly retrieved the salve. He sat right back down on the ottoman and leaned over her hand to apply the salve. His fingers were warm and gentle as he spread the white salve over her cut. She could tell he was trying desperately to keep from causing her any extra pain and he glanced up at her face every few moments, eyes searching her face for any wincing. When the salve was spread, he began to bind a fresh bandage around her hand. They were sitting so close that his knees were gently brushing hers.

"How are the girls doing?" His voice broke into her thoughts. She looked at him startled.

"I noticed the envelopes on the table," he replied to her startled look while gesturing with his head toward the squat table in front of the couch where indeed. the envelopes the letters arrived in sat in full view. At least she had hid the actual letters from Mr. Observant.

"They are doing well. Enjoying their time at home but I think they are ready to be back to the freedom of college sooner rather than later," she replied as calmly as she could. It was the truth, just not the full truth from the letters.

"Ah yes, the college freedom. Haven't experienced much of it myself," Gilbert said with a wry chuckle. She looked at him curiously, unsure of what he was getting at. Ever observant, he picked up on her look.

"I just mean that I haven't gotten up to as much trouble as some of my roommates. I'm too busy with schoolwork to be worried about alcohol like they are. They seem to think that college is a free pass to do everything their parents ever said no to," he explained. She knew it was true. She had never seen Gilbert drink nor heard tell of him doing so. She knew he stood apart from most of the other college boys in this regard.

"I personally think you are making the right choice. And there is much more to the freedom of college than alcohol," she reminded him. He lifted an eyebrow in curiousity so she continued.

"You can do what you please with your free time and there is not farm work in sight. You can spend time with whomever you want. You can stay up late and sleep in without any parental chiding," she rattled off a few things.

"No mother breathing down your neck about settling down and giving her grandkids," he added with exasperation in his tone. She looked at him in disbelief. His mother was trying to marry him off? Already?! They weren't even out of college yet. Not to mention the idea of him marrying someone else and having children with another woman made her stomach turn.

"I didn't peg your mother for that type," she said as nonchalantly as she could manage. He tied off the bandage and looked up at her with a smile that did not reach his eyes.

"She just doesn't understand why I haven't dated yet. No matter how many times I tell her that I am just waiting for just the right girl. Dad usually gets her to back off though," he replied with a shrug.

"The right girl huh?" She said with as much lightness as she could muster. She didn't know what his "right girl" looked like but it clearly wasn't her.

He looked up at her with intense eyes.

"I don't intend to settle for just some pretty girl. I also don't want to waste my time with the girls in college who are just looking for a man to sweep them off their feet and pamper them. I want a strong woman of intellect and intensity, passion and drive, someone who will challenge me, make me laugh, join me on adventures, be my equal and be loyal to a fault."

She swallowed nervously. He was rather specific and had clearly put a lot of thought into the subject of his "right girl". She thought back to the letters from the girls. Did she meet that standard? Did she even come close? She doubted that he was enough. And even if she was, why wouldn't he have made a move already?

"She will have to be quite a lady," she replied as lightly as she could. He smiled and blushed slightly, likely having said more than he may have wanted to.

"Well I have to get going. I have a Cooper meeting tomorrow. I'll leave the other bandage for you to change tomorrow. I'm so glad to see you healing," Gilbert said, standing and brushing his hands on his pants nervously. She stood and followed him to the door.

"Thanks for making another house call, Doc," she joked before he opened the door to leave.

"Anything for you," he chirped with an exaggerated bow. She laughed out loud at his antics.

They said their goodbyes quickly and she watched him walk up the sidewalk away from her door before returning to the parlor. Priscillas letter still awaited her so, with a sigh, she pulled it from under the book and unfolded it to reveal the messy scrawl of her dear friend.

Dearest Anne,

Summer greetings! I hope the house is not too lonely for you. I'm not sure what I would do with all that space and quiet. I miss you and the other girls so much. I do love being home and spending time with my family. I also am enjoying the break from homework- thank goodness we only have one year left!

Depending on the order you read our letters, you may already know of the bet Stella came up with. I joined in to humor her and I hope you are not mad. She asked me to pick the date during the summer I think you and Gilbert will admit feelings for each other. Whichever one of us is closest will get to hand off dinner dishes to the loser this Fall. I do not love betting, especially not on my friends feelings, so I feel I must explain.

I know you deny it but I truly believe you have feelings for Gilbert that you may not have realized yet. I implore you to consider that and see if it holds true. I do not need to speculate on Gilbert's feelings. Anyone who sees the way he looks at you (usually when you aren't paying attention) knows he is completely gone for you. I'm not sure I've ever even seen him pause his eyes on another girl for as long as I've known him. He has eyes only for you.

You have a whole summer to think through your feelings and spend time with him to see if there is something there. Just go for it. You'll regret not trying for love if you do not.

Just consider this. I hope all is well otherwise. Don't have too much fun without us.

Your friend,

Priscilla

Anne set the letter down. She could not be annoyed at dear Priscilla. She had so delicately put what the others had also said. She wondered if there was truth to what they were saying. She could feel her own feelings changing but she had known idea what was going on in that curly head of Gilbert's. Anne dropped her head into her hands with a sigh. This summer was already a dozey and she less not even a month in.