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Anne loved autumn. Anyone who knew her knew that. She felt that it was a season full of magic, showing how even endings can be beautiful. It brought to life the beauty of the colour orange, making that particular redhead feel a little less hatred towards her hair colour. But as much as she loved autumn, she had to spread some of that love to winter because it gave her Christmas and there was no holiday that Anne loved more than Christmas. Which was why, when she was tasked with throwing Barry’s Department Store Christmas gathering she jumped at the chance. She’d flung into party-planning mode straight away. The budget wasn’t a huge issue, perks of being best friends with the owner’s daughter, and that left Anne with endless possibilities. Mr Barry just wanted a party large and extravagant enough to express his thanks to all of the staff after what had been a hugely successful year for the business.
Sitting in the break room one afternoon during her lunch, Anne was flicking through her Pinterest board looking for some more inspiration. She hadn’t noticed someone sitting down next to her on the circular table until they cleared their throat.
“Afternoon, Anne.”
Anne jumped slightly as she looked up but the shock morphed into a look of annoyance when she saw who it was. “Oh. Hey, Gilbert.” She looked back down at her phone.
She hadn’t realised that he was working today. She usually checked the rotas to know when to avoid him, or at least that’s what she told herself. Diana thought it was so she could make sure Gilbert was in at the same time as her, which Anne refuted. She tried to ignore the disappointment she felt when she saw that he wasn’t in on the same day as her.
“What are you up to?” Gilbert asked, peering over at her phone as Anne pulled it towards her chest.
“Nothing,” she answered quickly but Gilbert continued to look at her with expectant eyes. He could be as stubborn as she was when he wanted to be. “Just planning the Christmas party,” Anne looked back down at her phone, hoping that he would now leave her alone since she’d given him an answer.
“Oh yeah, Mr Barry asked if I could help out with that.”
“Wait, what?” Anne’s voice was shrill as her head shot up.
Gilbert looked a little confused at her reaction, “I thought he had mentioned it to you. He just thought that since it was a pretty big event you might be some help with a few things.”
Anne shot him a glare and pushed her chair away from the table, getting ready to go back to her shift. “I don’t need your help, Gilbert. You can tell Mr Barry that I’ll be fine but thank him for the offer.”
Shoving her phone back into her locker and tying her apron back around her waist, Anne stomped back onto the shop floor, trying to calm down and putting her best customer service face on. She would have accepted help from any other member of staff, heck even Moody would be great and everyone knew that boy would forget his head most days if it wasn’t attached to his neck. But under no circumstances would she ever accept help from Gilbert Blythe of all people.
Ever since they had met at the Freshers’ Debate Society Social during her first week of uni she had vowed to be sworn enemies with him. He’d had the audacity to call her Carrots. Just because of her hair colour! Diana had tried to point out that it’d been pretty late into the evening at that point and he seemed a little tipsy but Anne didn’t care. From that moment onwards, she made sure she was always on the opposite side of an argument to him. Not wanting to deal with working together with him.
The job at Barry’s had come up at the perfect time for Anne. Money was tight during her first semester as she juggled paying for her rent and a whole host of textbooks her lecturers had assigned her and didn’t seem to be in the university library. Diana had mentioned that there were a few openings since quite a few of the summer staff had left and Anne was thankful to have a job that was flexible around her uni hours that paid decent money. The only downside was that Gilbert also needed the money and ended up getting a job there as well.
Now midway through their second year, Anne still couldn’t stand Gilbert and he didn’t seem to get the message. He would greet her every time they were on a shift together, if they bumped into each other on campus he would ask if she wanted to study with him. Anne wasn’t sure how many other ways she could tell him no. She wasn’t going to stick around just to let him poke fun at her.
She wasn’t being completely honest with herself though. It wasn’t just because she thought Gilbert would make fun of her. Anne hated the way she felt when she spent any time in Gilbert’s vicinity
“Excuse me? Do you work here? I was just looking for this blender, I was wondering if you had any in stock?”
Anne pulled herself out of her thoughts and far away from any wanderings about Gilbert Blythe and went to help the middle-aged lady.
--- --- --- --- ---
A week had passed and Anne hadn’t made as much progress with the party planning as she’d hoped. Every single one of her modules has an essay due within two days of each other, three people had called in sick at work so she was asked to cover and she was barely getting any sleep. So, on a Sunday evening in the library where Anne was trying to finish one of the many essays she had due, Gilbert Blyth was the last person that she wanted to see.
“What are you even doing here?” Anne asked exasperated and she pulled her hair into a messy bun. “The medical books are nowhere near here.”
“Yeah but the aircon is always on over there and it’s freezing as it is. The English and History sections are the toastiest places to study and then I saw you and thought we could keep each other company. I even bought you a coffee.”
He pushed a red takeaway cup towards her. Anne hadn’t even realised that he had brought it with him. She eyed it suspiciously before looking back up at him. “Thanks.”
“Does that mean I can stay?” Gilbert grinned at her, and Anne couldn’t help the somersaults that had begun to take place in her stomach.
“Sure, fine,” she mumbled, taking a sip of the drink. Peppermint latte. “How did you know this was my favourite?”
Gilbert’s face reddened and he shrugged his shoulder before quickly pulling his books and laptop out of his bag. They worked in silence together for another hour and a half. Neither of them disturbed the other. Anne actually found the company quite soothing. She’d studied with a few other people on her course but she either struggled to get any work done or just felt like the silence was a little too awkward. With Diana, they always managed to find a good balance between talking and work. Gilbert made her just feel comfortable in the silence though. They’d looked up at each other a few times and he would just smile before turning back to his screen. Those smiles made Anne take a bit longer to get back to focusing on her work though.
The typing from Gilbert’s laptop stopped abruptly as he stretched his arms above him, yawning in the process. “Busy?”
Anne looked up at him for a moment, “I’ve got essays due in.”
Gilbert rolled his eyes, “I meant in general.”
Heaving a sigh, Anne shrugged her shoulders. “Kinda, I guess. There’s just been a lot going on and it’s felt like a mammoth task trying to balance it all.”
“I could help,” there was a twinkle in his eye that Anne didn’t exactly trust but she didn’t say anything, allowing him to continue. “Well, how’s the Christmas party planning going?”
Anne just groaned and dropped her head into her hands. She rubbed her face before finally looking at him. If she told him it was going badly then she was basically admitting that she should have accepted Gilbert’s help when he’d offered.
“That bad?”
“I never said that!” She snapped and immediately felt bad. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to snap like that. Things have just been a little… stressful and it’s not exactly been easy to keep everything under control.”
It was something that Marilla had always chastised her over, taking on too much and then not having the time to do it all. But Anne couldn’t help it. She was over-enthusiastic and just wanted to be able to do everything. To this day, she would still say that it was unfair that there weren’t enough hours in the day to fit in everything she wanted to do.
“I can help if you let me?” Gilbert’s voice was soft, not accusatory. And when she looked up at him, all she saw was kindness in his eyes and concern across his face. And for some reason, all Anne wanted was to be wrapped up in a hug by him.
“Sure you won’t mind?”
Gilbert chuckled softly, “I wouldn’t have asked otherwise. Come on, we both need a break from work so how about you tell me what’s left to be done.”
Gilbert was happy to just take direction from Anne. She already had the entire vision planned out and it was the execution that she needed help with. Divvying up the workload between them both had ended up making her feel so much better by the time she’d gotten home. Anne felt like she finally had a little more breathing space, all of her tasks felt that little bit more manageable.
--- --- --- --- ---
The end of the semester could not have come any sooner because with it came the end of Anne’s assignments. Revision over the holidays was something that she could cope with but she was just glad not to have to worry about another deadline for a while. She wasn’t going to have the chance to rest though. The next day, she was wide awake at 5 am, ready to start decorating for the party.
A marquee tent was going to be put over some of the Barry grounds with a dance floor put down, a stage and seating for dinner. All of that was being handled by an external team but it was down to Anne and Gilbert to sort all of the decorations out and that was not going to be an easy feat.
Hearing a knock on the front door, Anne opened it to see Gilbert on the other side. Cheeks tinged pink from the cold and holding two cups of coffee.
“Morning, Anne. Are you ready to go?”
Anne bit her lip for a moment, looking at Gilbert. His dark curls were messier than usual, a scarf draped around the back of his neck and that same smile on his face that made her brain go fuzzy and her body tingle.
“Anne?” Gilbert arched a brow. He hadn’t heard her be this quiet for this long before.
Anne kicked herself for being caught staring at him. “Oh, uh, sorry! Yeah, I’m good. Just need to grab my bag. The decorations are being delivered today, right?” She was flustered as she grabbed her bag from beside the door and bustled outside, locking the door behind her.
“Yeah, I got an email saying they should be there between 9 and 11. I’ve got the ones that were delivered to my house in the car. So, we’re all good to go.” He handed her the cup and she murmured a thanks.
Gilbert had gotten into the habit of grabbing coffee for her. Since they’d met in the library and he’d offered to help again, they’d ended up studying regularly together. Anne found herself enjoying the time they spent more and more. Gilbert had a calming presence about him, an energy that she just wanted to wrap herself in. It was easy to talk to him, to get to know him and she regretted not talking to him more in the past.
When they got there, Anne immediately busied herself, organising the workers that had arrived to put the marquee up. Gilbert stood back in awe, watching as Anne took control of the situation at hand. After a few hours, his phone rang with the delivery driver saying that he was at the front of the Barry estate with decorations and needed some help in knowing where to put them.
Anne had been wrapped up in arranging the centrepieces for the tables and hadn’t even realised that Gilbert had disappeared until she felt a tap on her shoulder. She turned around to see a very sheepish-looking Gilbert and immediately knew that he’d done something wrong.
“What have you done?”
Gilbert feigned offence and stepped back, “Me? Nothing, nothing at all.” He rubbed the back of his neck and wouldn’t meet Anne’s eye.
“Drop the act, Gil,” Anne crossed her arms. “What did you do?”
“Uh,” he ran a hand through his hair, unable to stop fidgeting. “You know you told me to order 5 bunches of mistletoe?”
“Mhm,” Anne slowly nodded. She already didn’t like the sound of this.
“I may have accidentally ordered 5 cases…” He winced.
Anne took a deep breath through her nose, “How big are these cases, exactly?”
“Hmm,” Gilbert looked around the top of the marquee. “I’d say enough to fill the whole ceiling… and then some…”
“Gilbert John Blythe!” He winced slightly as Anne used his full name. “What are we meant to do with that much mistletoe?”
“Kiss?” He’d said it before he’d realised what had come out of his mouth. Both of them reddened and he began to stutter. “Uh- not us. I mean, not that kissing you would be a bad thing. But I just- yeah you know people… at the party, kissing. Actually, you know, I don’t think there are any workplace romances going on… I heard Charlie’s thinking of proposing to his girlfriend which seems kind of crazy since they’re only 19 but each to their own and-“
“Gilbert,” Anne cut off his babbling, her cheeks still burning. “You figure out what to do with all of the mistletoe and I’ll sort everything else, okay?”
She didn’t wait for his answer as she spun on her heel and carried out decorating. After three hours, and Gilbert still trying to tackle the mistletoe issue, Anne grabbed her bag. “I’m gonna head off, it’s that’s okay? I’ve got to go and grab the desserts from the caterer and then I was planning on getting ready. Do you need me to stick around for anything?”
Gilbert looked up from the second box of mistletoe, still struggling to figure out what to do with it all. “No no, you’re all good. Do you want me to drop you back?”
“Oh, no, Diana’s home so she’s gonna take me. Good luck with the mistletoe.” Anne gave an awkward wave before scurrying off. She hadn’t been able to shake the awkwardness away since Gilbert had mentioned kissing her. It was an image that she couldn’t get out of her head and the sooner she got away from him, the better because she didn’t know if she could stop herself from acting on her thoughts.
--- --- --- --- ---
After grabbing trays of desserts from the caterer and dropping them into the Barry House kitchen where the buffet was starting come together, Anne spent the rest of the evening getting ready with Diana. It was 7.30 pm by the time they both managed to make it out of Diana’s room and towards the marquee.
The party had been in swing for half an hour and Anne could hear the swathes of people and the music as she approached. When she finally stepped into the marquee she grinned at the sight. This was better than she had imagined. As she glanced around, she saw that Gilbert had seemingly found a way to use all of the mistletoe. Thankfully he hadn’t covered the entire roof of the tent with it, but there were pieces dangling all around. The rest, he had managed to wrap around all of the fairy lights that Anne had covered the walls with. It looked beautiful, framed with the glow of the lights and Anne had to admit that it made the entire marquee look even better than what she'd originally planned.
“Anne! You look, wow…” Gilbert stood in front of her in complete awe. She’d picked out an ice blue chiffon and tulle sheath dress with spaghetti straps. It was covered with beading of the same colour, with a small train. Her hair had been curled, with some of it pulled back out of her face and Diana had lent her a silver chocker.
“Thanks, Gil. You don’t look too bad yourself,” Anne tried to brush off his compliment but it was making her insides soar. She couldn’t help but appraise him either. A white shirt with sleeves rolled up, grey checked suit trousers and brown shoes. It was a simple outfit, but she could have easily stared at him all night.
Gilbert put his hands in his pockets and swung back and forth on his heels. “Do you maybe want to dance later? With me that is.”
Anne didn’t get a chance to answer him as she was pulled away by Tilly who wanted to tell her what an amazing job Anne did with the party. It wasn’t until after the buffet was cleared away that Anne managed to catch Gilbert again.
“Hey,” she pulled his arm and navigated towards the edge of the marquee so they wouldn’t be disturbed. “Sorry, Tilly kind of pulled me away earlier and I didn’t get a chance to speak to you properly.”
“No worries, I just wanted to know if you’d want to dance with me.” He bit his lip as the words quickly tumbled out of his mouth. He’d felt a lot more confident earlier in the evening but that had soon dissipated.
Anne was hesitant before she finally answered, “Sure.”
People had already started to move onto the dancefloor as a slower song began to play. Gilbert placed a hand on the small of Anne’s back, which she automatically leaned into, and led her onto the dancefloor. He moved both his hands to her waist when they found a spot and she wrapped hers around his neck.
The first few moments felt awkward between the pair of them before Anne finally erupted into a fit of giggles. Slightly alarmed, Gilbert stopped swaying before Anne shook her head and gently made him move again. “Sorry, I just laugh when I get nervous.”
“You’re nervous?” He arched a brow, eyes roaming over her face.
“I don’t think I’ve ever been this close to you.”
“Is that a bad thing?”
Anne tilted her head to the side as she thought about it, “I don’t think so.” She finally whispered. “You did an amazing job with the mistletoe.”
“You really think so?”
“Mhm, I’m sorry for yelling at you about it. I just don’t know how you managed to go from 5 bunches to 5 cases.”
“I didn’t read the website properly! In my defence, they didn’t make it very clear.”
“I feel like a doctor should be paying more attention to detail.”
“Good thing I’m not qualified yet then,” Gilbert replied with a smirk.
Anne just stuck her tongue out at him. The two of them carried on teasing each other and dancing. As the end of the song drew nearer, Anne finally tore her eyes away from Gilbert and saw that he had slowly veered them towards the edge of the dancefloor.
“Any reason you’ve moved us from the heart of the party? I don’t think the dancing is over yet.”
“I just couldn’t stop thinking about something and I didn’t think you’d want everyone to see…” He cupped her face in his hand, stroking her cheek with his thumb and praying that he hadn’t misread signals. When Anne didn’t pull away from him, Gilbert finally took the last leap and kissed her.
The kiss shocked Anne at first but she soon snapped out of it, pulling Gilbert closer to her. When they broke up, both of them wore wide grins across their faces and Gilbert looked up, Anne following his gaze.
“I knew the mistletoe would come in handy.”