■ Helpless ■ Gilbert Blythe ■

Meet the brothers

"Thank you. It's very nice of you to say that. I don't usually let it down when I'm in school. Back in London, my classmates would complain that they wouldn't see because of me."

Gilbert chuckled. "Well trust me I'm in no way complaining." Victoria tried to fight the grin on her face.

The two didn't know how to continue the conversation and Victoria found herself scratching the back of her neck in awkwardness.

"Your brothers seem nice."

Victoria chuckled at that. "They're great, really but they can also be quite embarrassing. Sometimes.. always. But I wouldn't want to have it any other way." Victoria turned her gaze towards her brothers who were at the food table.

She groaned slightly when she saw Edward throwing grapes at Hamilton as he tried to catch them in his mouth but failed horribly. "I take that back. They're not that great."

Gilbert laughed. "Well, I think they're amazing. I only wish to have had at least one brother or sister." Victoria bit her lower lip, "So it's just you and your parents?"

Gilbert shook his head solemnly. "No, it's just my dad and me. My mother died during childbirth."

All signs of happiness disappeared from Gilbert's face which made Victoria's flash in guilt. "Oh, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have brought the subject up."

The boy shook his head and gave Victoria a reassuring smile. "There's nothing to be sorry about, it's in no way your fault and you had no idea about it," Gilbert said as he placed a hand on her arm.

Victoria stared at his hand for a few seconds. Not because it bothered her but because she found the gesture foreign to her. She didn't mind it.

Gilbert noticed the way she was looking at his hand and slowly retreated as he thought that he was bothering her. "Sorry about that. I didn't think you'd mind."

The girl tore her gaze away from where his hand lay and looked into Gilbert's hazel eyes, with a small look of confusion on her face.

"It's not that really, I don't mind it. You can touch me whenever you want to."

The boy gave her a slight smirk after hearing what the girl had to say. He fought the urge to smile and look amused.

But when Victoria registered what she had just said, she wanted the ground to swallow her whole.

"That sounded inappropriate. Let me rephrase that. What I meant was that.. umm... I didn't mind the small, APPROPRIATE gesture that you had just displayed. If it were to happen again, it won't bother me. Was that clear? Better than before? Or am I making things worse? Dear lord, I AM making things worse. Why can't I just shut up?"

Her babbling caused Gilbert to smile gently. "Victoria?" Victoria finally looked back up again and this time, no words came out of her mouth.

She hummed yes in response and tried to control her temperature rise.

"I understand what you're trying to tell me. You can calm down."

After hearing those words, Victoria did calm down and smiled back towards the bashful boy in front of her.

Benedict stood from afar watching his daughter silently with plenty of interest as she conversed.

"Ben, what are you doing?" Caroline stopped in her tracks and walked closer to him. She stopped and placed a hand on her husband's shoulder. "Who is that boy that Victoria is talking to?"

Caroline followed his gaze towards the corner of the room and instantly smiled. "I think that might be a friend of hers from school. Don't know what his name is though. She has good taste, she chose one fit bloke."

Benedict turned slightly to look at his wife and looked at her incredulously. "You're telling me that you knew that our daughter had a friend whose a boy and you didn't tell me."

Caroline laughed slightly and shrugged. "Well, she didn't tell me because she wanted to. I forced her as all good parents should." Benedict snickered. "I have a feeling that the two won't only be.. just friends."

Caroline looked at Benedict, studying him closely. "And how can you be so sure?" Benedict nodded at the two, more specifically his daughter.

"Because that, my love, was the way you looked at me before we even knew what was going on."

Caroline smiled sweetly at her husband and placed a hand on his arm. "Well, if that's true and they're anything like us then it certainly is going to be quite tiring for our poor girl."

The man snickered. "Not only for her but also to her dark-haired suitor."