This was a stupid plan. Maybe the stupidest plan either of them had ever came up with, but it was simple and –hopefully- effective.
“Ok, fine. How are we doing this?”
They decided to build it up slowly; their ‘romance’ was going to grow like a plant. They were going to plant little seeds for a few days until they finally tell everyone they are dating after the neon party at ΛΨ. They were not going to say they started dating a few months or weeks before, that would not make any sense, considering Gilbert had hooked up with a few girls in the last month.
“Let’s start acting like a couple. When people ask us if we’re dating we say no, but we make it clear that we hope we were. We can’t say we’ve been dating, people would not believe that; let’s just make them… see? How we’re falling for each other until one day we ‘make it official’. I’ll start coming more and maybe we could go out for a ride and let people think we’re on a date or something. We could… tell each other compliments in public so people see we’re interested. At the neon party, we make everyone believe we hooked up and then… we’re dating” Gilbert explained, it was simple enough and credible enough. He clearly gave it a lot of thought. Obviously people would not believe they started dating out of nowhere, everyone knew they were best friends and that they were very comfortable around each other. They needed to make a slow-but-not-so-slow transition from best friends to lovers so people would believe it.
Curls
Tomorrow.
AnnE
Ready?
Curls
Born ready baby
AnnE
You’re so annoying
Curls
HEY
I’m your boyfriend BE NICE TO ME WOMAN
AnnE
We’re not dating yet
I can back out still
And call me woman one more time Gilbert Blythe
I DARE YOU
Curls
No thanks
I’m good
AnnE
Good boy
“IT’S HAZING TIME!” Roy shouted, standing on the hallway of the first floor.
It is the first day of the hazing, as well as the first day of class. It was pretty early in the morning, 4am to be exact; Roy was in charge of waking up the boys, he put up music the loudest the speakers could sound. Much to Roy’s dislike, Cole chose the song, so the boys were waking up to the beautiful voice of Harry Styles –as Cole said- singing his song Watermelon Sugar.
“WAKE UP, LITTLE WATERMELONS!” Cole shouted.
“What the fuck, Cole?” Moody asked, laughing, and he shrugged.
“GILBERT! BRING THE WATERMELONS! THESE FUCKERS DON’T WANT TO GET UP!” Roy shouted.
“Watermelons?” Charlie whisper-shouted, “You didn’t say anything about throwing watermelons”
“Shut up, Charlie”
“He’s joking, just to make them get up… I hope” Moody explained, his voice low.
“COMING!” Gilbert shouted. The freshmen started to get up their beds when they heard him. Roy laughed when he saw his plan worked; they obviously were not going to throw watermelons at them.
“GET DRESSED! AND USE SPORTS CLOTHES, YOU’RE GOING TO RUN SOME LAPS!”
“At 4 in the morning?!” someone complained.
“Yes, dumbass, at four in the morning, and for that comment, you earned yourself 30 more minutes for this afternoon’s activity, congratulations!” Roy responded.
“OK, MOVE!” Gilbert shouted this time, “YOU HAVE TWENTY MINUTES TO GET DRESSED AND TO EAT SOMETHING BEFORE YOU HAVE TO START RUNNING!”
“WAKE UP, GIRLS!” Diana shouted.
“IT’S HAZING TIME, BITCHES!” Winnie added. “YOU’RE GOING TO RUN SOME LAPS TODAY!”
They had the entire hazing week planned. The first day it was the toughest, running laps at four in the morning for two hours before having to go to class… is not something everyone would like to do on their first day of university.
“YOU HAVE TWENTY MINUTES TO GET DRESSED AND TO EAT BEFORE YOU HAVE TO START RUNNING. SO GET MOVING!” Anne clapped her hands.
When they came up with the idea for the first activity, they did not like very much the idea of having to wake up this early –poor people from the other years that most likely were woken up from all the yelling, but they were outside now so they could go back to sleep-, now, seeing the freshmen running around the houses, Anne had to admit it was pretty funny. Most of the freshmen were not even running at this point, most of them were walking fast or just walking. They were still playing music, which made it more enjoyable.
“WATERMELON SUGAR!” Cole sang.
“HIGH!” The freshmen responded.
After the song finished playing the first time, Moody came up with the game of singing that phrase of the chorus, just like Marco Polo, but replacing the words with Watermelon Sugar High.
Anne was lying on the floor with her head on Gilbert’s lap; he was running his hand through her hair. “I’m going to fall asleep if you keep doing that”
“Then sleep, they’re still running, I’ll wake you up later”
“Can’t”
“Why not?”
“It’s almost six”
“Right”
They planned to go have breakfast at 6:15, a few minutes before the first activity was supposed to end, so everyone would see them leaving together. That was the first step of their plan –not what they were doing right now-.
“What time is it exactly?” he asked.
“5:57, why?”
“I need to get changed” Gilbert was still wearing his pajamas, he did not bother to change before, after all, he was only going to sit in front of his house and watch the freshmen run.
“Oh, right” Anne sat up, letting him get up “Could you bring me one of your hoodies? I’m kinda cold”
“Sure, which one?”
“Surprise me”
“Ok, be right back” He winked, “WATERMELON SUGAR!”
“HIGH” The freshmen responded.
Gilbert changed in about ten minutes, perfect. He gave Anne his favorite green hoodie and she put it on immediately, shivering a bit.
He whistled, “What?” Anne asked.
“Looks good on you” Gilbert complimented, loud enough for the others to hear, and they clearly did. Roy clenched his jaw and looked the other way, at the same time, Cole and Diana shared a look, which Gilbert thought it was weird, but he ignored them.
“Thanks” Anne smiled, “it’s very soft, I might steal it from you”
“No need to steal, that’s my favorite, just ask when you want to borrow it”
“Hm, I’ll think about it” She responded, “Ready to go? You have your keys and your wallet?”
“Yeah, let’s go” he gestured with his head towards his car.
No one had said anything yet, so both of them were relieved when Cole finally asked “Where are you going?”
“To have breakfast, Miss Anne here is hungry” Gilbert explained and Anne nodded.
“And he said he’s going to buy me donuts and coffee”
“I did not say that” Gilbert looked down at her, faking annoyance. Anne pouted and he sighed, “Alright, anything for you, red. Come on, let’s go”
“You can’t go” Winnie said before they could start walking.
“Why?”
“The activity is not over”
“So?” Gilbert asked, this time not faking his annoyance.
“You have to wait until we’re done” she responded, clearly annoyed –and probably jealous- too.
“What for?”
“To-”
“Ugh” Cole groaned, “Let them go, we were all just sitting here on our phones anyway”
“Yeah, who cares” Roy added. That’s weird. He most likely just wants them out of his sight.
“Nice chat, Winifred” Gilbert smiled, “Goodbye, guys”
“Bye” they all replied, some more excited than others.
“Did you see their faces?” Gilbert laughed, once they were inside his car, driving to Dunkin Donuts, per Anne’s request.
“No” Anne whined, “I was looking at you, selling the… act, you know?”
He hummed, “Roy was pissed, I could tell, and he basically told us to go” She laughed, “And Winifred too, she didn’t show it with physical gestures, but the way she talked to us? Oh my god, loved it, she was so jealous”
“That I could see, pretty funny how they’re dating each other and they care more about their exes”
“Ew, I’m not her ex” he gagged.
“Whatever” Anne rolled her eyes, “you do have to buy me donuts and coffee by the way”
“I know” He sighed, “I’m such a good boyfriend”
“Not boyfriend yet”
“Right” Anne yawned, “Wow there, you almost ate my car”
“Not funny,” She slapped his arm, “I have class till 2 pm today, I hate it, and part two of the hazing today starts at 4, I won’t have enough time to eat and sleep, my naps usually last two hours”
“You could take a nap anyway,” he said. Gilbert knew how important naps were for her. “how about this, my last class ends at 12pm, I could order take out and then you can come, eat and then take a nap, when the hazing starts I’ll just say you’re taking a nap in my room, I don’t think anyone would be against it, considering you’re the last one to finish your classes today”
“What if Winifred says something?”
“I’m sure Diana and Cole, and also Moody, Charlie, Ruby, are on our side. Don’t worry”
Gilbert ordered Chinese and was now waiting in the living room for Anne, the rest of the boys were either on their rooms or out, so he was alone when she walked in, still wearing his green hoodie.
“Thank you, thank you” Anne said when she sat next to him.
“No problem”
They ate watching an episode of The Big Bang Theory. A second episode was starting when Anne started to fall asleep, cuddling with Gilbert on the couch. He must have fallen asleep at some point too because he woke up after hearing a loud noise coming from behind the couch.
“What the fuck” he groaned, rubbing his eyes with his left hand, holding Anne –still asleep- with the other.
“I’m sorry, I accidentally dropped this” Roy said, picking up the shoeboxes he dropped ‘accidentally’.
“It’s ok, what time is it?” Gilbert asked; Anne started to stir a bit.
“4:15, Cole, Moody and Charlie are upstairs giving the freshmen the heels. I was just carrying the last boxes upstairs”
“Ok, I’ll be right there to help you, just let me take Anne to my room, she’s exhausted”
Roy hummed walking out of the room.
Gilbert started to move slowly until he managed to get out completely out of Anne’s embrace. He stood up and carried her bridal style to his room, attracting a few weird looks on his way. He settled her on the left side of the bed and gave her one of his extra pillows so she could hug it. Gilbert left his room, closing the door slowly even though it did not really matter, Anne would not wake up anyway.
“What’s wrong with Anne?” Cole asked once Gilbert got close to the group.
“She’s just tired, her last class ended at 2pm today. I’m just going to let her sleep for a while longer”
“Yeah,” Cole nods, then comes close to his ear and whispers “glad you’re finally making a move, by the way, took you long enough”
Gilbert smiled and nodded, not entirely sure what he meant.
The second activity of the day was, not exactly an activity. They had to wear heels for five hours, well, the girls, the boys argued girls –which by the way, sexism- had more experience walking with heels. So, the boys only had to wear them for four hours, except for the freshman who complained that morning, he had 30 extra minutes walking with heels. Every time someone complained they had to take a shot, and if they sat for too long –because the hard task is walking in them and not actually wearing them-, they had to take two shots.
It was around 5pm when Gilbert went to his room to get Anne; she was sleeping in the same position he had left her in. She looked so peaceful, it physically and mentally hurt him to wake her up, but the others –mainly Winifred, Josie, and Roy- were annoyed they were doing ‘all the work’ while Anne was sleeping. He sat next to her on the bed, her red hair was cascading down her back, her arms were wrapped around the pillow he gave her, her breathing was calm, her eyes were moving slightly –she was probably dreaming-. Anne looked beautiful. Gilbert knew she was beautiful, the first time he saw her she took his breath away, that is why he approached her right away, but when he met her, he saw she was not just beautiful on the outside but also on the inside.
He moved his hand to her arm, caressing it, “Anne, wake up” she did not even stir and Gilbert snorted. He really thought he could wake her up like that when this girl could sleep through a concert. “Anne” he tried again, louder this time, “Wake up” he started moving her.
Nothing.
Gilbert sighed and grabbed the pillow between her arms, hitting her with it. “WAKE UP!” Anne groaned. That’s something at least. He hit her again, “ANNE, WAKE UP!” she turned and hit him with her hand on his face. “Ouch! WAKE UP!”
The words apparently hit somewhere this time because she opened her eyes wide, “what time is it?”
“5 in the afternoon, red, get the fuck up” Anne groaned, taking the pillow from Gilbert and using it to cover her eyes from the light. “Come on, Winifred and Roy are being pains in the ass”
“When are they not?”
“True” he nodded, “but get up, they’re saying they’re killing themselves working, which is not true by the way, and you’re here sleeping”
Anne groaned again, “Fine”
They were standing in the middle of the road between their houses. The freshmen were standing in line, one next to the holding hands –they were playing Red Rover-. The heels already long forgotten and most of them really drunk.
“Remember!” Moody called before the game could start, “the loser will have to die their hair bright pink or green, we’re letting you choose the color at least” he laughed.
“I wonder where you got the inspiration for the colors” one of the boys murmured…loud enough for everyone to hear and they started laughing.
“WATERMELON SUGAR!” Roy –he what?- sang.
“HIGH!”
They were playing with different rules this time. Every time the chain was broken, the people who ‘were broken’ had to leave instead of joining the other team. You could win people back by breaking the other team’s chain.
At the end, the girls won. The boys used the excuse that they complained too much and sat for too long so they were extremely drunk and were not capable of holding on to each other –yeah, right-.
The following day, the girls tinted the losers’ hair half green, half pink –it was not permanent so it would go away after 5-7 washes-, staying with the watermelon theme.
The rest of the week was pretty fun too, on the second day the freshmen had to go to class exactly how they woke up, they could not even brush their teeth –but they were given mints… to help the smell-. In the afternoon, the houses were washing cars to collect money. As usual, a lot of thirsty girl went only to flirt with Gilbert, who politely ignored them all. Anne was clearly annoyed with these girls “aw, don’t be jealous, red” he said, and she responded by throwing him a bucket full of soapy water.
On day three, the freshmen were bombarded with water balloons when they got to the house from class. Anne was ‘accidentally’ bombarded for a few seconds too because Gilbert did not recognize her. “You’re such a lying piece of shit, you always say you can recognize me from a mile away” to what he replied “I’ve never said that, red”. She then punched him in the chest, Gilbert threw himself to the ground and said he would not get up until she kissed his chest because “it hurts so much and kisses help” he said pouting. Anne accepted after he had been lying there on the floor with a hand on the spot for over an hour.
Day four was Macarena day. If someone screamed “MACARENA TIME” you were obligated to stop what you were doing, get up and dance the Macarena. It was boring at first, but when the students who were not part of the houses started catching up to what was happening, they joined in as well, saying Macarena time whenever they wanted to. Almost at the end of the day, a random person screamed it so all the freshmen had to dance together.
The fifth day was the party. Everything was ready; the only thing left to do was…painting. Every member was dressed in white because it shines better under a black light. Apparently the only way of painting themselves was by throwing paint at each other –non-toxic- outside the house.
That’s how the party started.
At this point of the night, everyone was very drunk, except for Anne and Gilbert, who decided not to drink as much and do something stupid that could blow their entire plan. They had been dancing for about an hour and now they are in a corner very close to each other, Gilbert with his back pressed against the wall and Anne almost pressed against him. Everyone noticed them, he could see the way they were trying to look discreetly, but failing.
“It’s working. They’re looking at us” Gilbert said loud enough only for her to hear.
“What should we do”
“Kiss” Anne nodded, “but we have to make it slow, sexy, sell it”
“It’s just a kiss, curly. We’re not making a porno”
He groaned, “Trust me. Let’s start like this”. Gilbert put a hand on her waist, moving her slightly closer to him, Anne put a hand on his chest moving it slowly to his neck. She snorted. “What’s so funny?”
“This entire situation” Gilbert moved his other hand to her waist and finally pulled her flushed against him. Anne’s breath caught on her throat.
“It’s not supposed to be funny”
“I know. I just can’t believe we’re doing this”
“Stop talking, you’re ruining the moment, red” he whispered. She rolled her eyes “I’m gonna kiss you now, ok?” Anne nodded, his voice sent shivers over her entire body. He leaned painfully slow –she thought-. When Gilbert finally pressed their lips together, he could swear he heard a clap.
They kissed slowly at first, getting to know each other’s mouths. Anne noticed he did not taste like alcohol at all. She tangled her hand in his curls, tilting his head to kiss him better. His hands squeezed her waist and pulled her impossibly close to him, nibbling at her lower lip, begging for access. She gave in, and he took the opportunity immediately. They kissed for felt like 20 minutes or 20 seconds, until Anne pulled away, Gilbert chasing her lips.
Oh, what the hell
She kissed him again until the need for air was stronger.
“Wow” Anne said.
“Wow” Gilbert breathed, hugging her, looking discreetly to the group of people behind her. “Wanna go upstairs?” he said, mouthing her neck.
Anne nodded. Gilbert pulled back, putting an arm around her and both started talking to his room, hearing Cole exclaim “OH MY GOOD IT’S HAPPENING!”
“Put on music!” Anne said once they were inside his room.
“For what?”
“So people think we’re having sex… you know, people play music when they’re having sex s-”
“I know, Anne, gosh” Gilbert groaned. Connecting his phone to the speakers and putting his playlist called ‘Better Than Words’.
“Good, now come, we have to make it seem like we actually had sex” She grabbed him and stamped him against the door, he groaned again, “yes, like that” she nodded.
“Fuck you, that hurt”
“Baby” Anne rolled her eyes.
“Stop rolling your eyes or they will get stuck” She ignored him. Then she started messing up his hair and clothes, and her own hair and clothes too. “We have to stay here for a while or else people will believe I don’t have enough stamina”
Anne sighed, looking at him. “We still look to not-sex like”
“What the fuck does that even mean?”
“Let’s jump on the bed” Anne said, ignoring his question. “We’re not sweaty and we need to bang the wall a bit too”
“Jesus, woman. You like it rough, don’t you? Why the hell would we need to bang on the wall?”
“Because” she grabbed him again and threw him to the bed, getting on it too and starting to jump. “Come on, get up, jump with me” Gilbert groaned, standing up to jump with her.
They jumped for seven songs -approximately- and then they went downstairs again. Everyone else in the party had their attention on them, walking to the living room where their friends were, Gilbert’s arm around her waist protectively. They found all their friends sitting on the couch playing some stupid party game.
“How was it?” Moody asked, wiggling his brows. Gilbert hit him and took the only place next to him on the couch, bringing Anne to sip on his lap. It’s not the first time they sit like this, but there was something different –for obvious reasons-. It was clear everyone in the room had questions, and neither of them was planning on answering them at the moment. Suspense, darling.
“What are you guys doing?” Anne asked, getting comfortable. Gilbert put his arm around her waist again and she turned her head to look at him, biting her lip to contain her laugh.
“We’re playing KISS ME WHEN I’M WRONG!” Cole exclaimed.
“That’s not the actual name but we don’t remember so Ruby suggested that one” Diana explained.
“And we love it!”
“How do you play?” Gilbert asked this time.
“We play in pairs and ask random questions, one person of the team has to answer the way their partner would. If they’re wrong, they have to kiss” Ruby explained, “The name is pretty self-explanatory”
“So, wanna play?” Cole asked, “Diana’s with Fred, Moody’s with Charlie, and I’m with Ruby”
“Sure”
The game was really stupid; Moody explained later that they were betting too, the loser team had to help clean the house –unfair by the way because the boys have to clean it already so they’re not really losing anything, as Diana said-. The questions were easy, they went from ‘what’s your favorite color’ to ‘if you could only save one item from a house fire what would you save’. Moody and Charlie had kissed –just pecks- over 15 times, not on purpose, they just did not know each other that well. Ruby and Cole were doing pretty well so far as well as Fred and Diana, but obviously Anne and Gilbert were winning.
“Next question: tea or coffee?” Ruby asked, “It’s your turn to answer Cole”
“Ruby prefers… tea?”
“Correct!” she shrieked.
“Hold on, hold on” Moody started, clearly annoyed. “How do we know you’re not lying?”
“You don’t” Cole shrugged.
“Ok so, Fred likes coffee” Diana said and Fred nodded.
Moody groaned again, “Charlie… coffee?”
“Yes!” Charlie exclaimed, “Finally”
“Gilbert likes coffee” Anne said, completely sure.
“Wrong”
“What?!” She frowned, “I’m not wrong”
“You are”
“I’m not” She scoffed, “you do prefer coffee, you always have coffee and you told me you hate tea because it tastes like ass”
Gilbert laughed, “true, it does taste like ass”
“Then why did you say I’m wrong, I’m never wrong” Her frown deepened.
He sighed, putting his hand on her cheek, “I just wanted a kiss”
Gilbert brought their lips together before she could even respond. There are those shivers again, all over her body. How is it possible that he already knows how to kiss her the way she likes, and it’s only the second time they have kissed? Stop thinking about it, she repeated herself.
It was not as long or as passionate as the last one, they pulled away after a few seconds when Moody nudged Gilbert and said, “Wow there, just pecks, Blythe”
Anne laughed softly with her eyes still closed, and pecked him once. “just ask next time you want one, curly”. The words were out of her mouth before she could stop them, and as soon as she realized what she had just said her cheeks turned as red as her hair.
“I’ll take you up on that” he whispered back.
It was nearly 3 in the morning, the party was still going strong, but Anne has been yawning in Gilbert’s ear for over 20 minutes, clearly tired.
“Ok, that’s enough,” He said, pushing her face away, “You have to sleep, let’s go, I’ll walk you”
Another yawn, “No, I can go by myself”
“You can, but you won’t. I’ll go with you to make sure you get there safe”
“She just has to cross the street!” Moody said, “what could happen?”
“I don’t know and I don’t want to find out, come on” Gilbert made her stand up, standing up himself after.
Anne groaned, faking annoyance, but Gilbert –and everyone- could see right through it. They started to walk out when Cole stopped them, “Hey, by the way. You’re really whipped!” he said, adding a sound effect to make it more dramatic.
Gilbert just flipped him off and left, putting his hand on the small of Anne’s back.
“Thank you for walking me, boyfriend” Anne yawned again, lying on her bed.
Gilbert snorted, “Not your boyfriend yet, I can still back out” he teased, putting the covers over her.
“I think it’s too late for that” yawn.
“Goodnight, I’ll see you tomorrow” He kissed her forehead, “dream of me” he winked starting to walk out of her room.
“Hopefully not, I don’t want to have any nightmares”
“Fuck you”
“Goodnight, curly!” Anne laughed.
“Goodnight”
“You know you really didn’t have to walk her, right?” Moody asked once he got back.
“Yeah, I know”
“it’s just boyfriend things, Moody” Ruby explained.
“Boyfriend things indeed,” Gilbert said happily.
“OH MY GOD, YES, YES, YES!” Cole jumped from where he was sitting, “Let’s do shots, we need shots to celebrate!”
“Celebrate what?” Charlie asked.
“Hello? Are you serious?” Cole asked, “We’re celebrating Anne and Gilbert finally got their heads out of their asses and admitted their feelings for each other!”
Gilbert did not understand what Cole was talking about, but all their friends seemed to buy their fake relationship so he was not going to say anything about it. The best part of Cole’s announcement was that he was so loud almost everyone around them heard him; he could even see Roy and Winifred from the corner of his eye, looking at his friend group. Oh boy, and if stares could kill, everyone here right now would be dead.
A/N: Sorry for not updating in over a month. I haven't been feeling well mentally. I hope you enjoyed this chapter, tell me your thoughts! I also updated my other fic SMALL TALK if you want to read it.
Please, be safe, be smart and treat people with kindness ;)
xo GingerSpirits