Heart Attack • Shirbert

• 40 • dreams, dutch, and destinations

'You can write this love in stone'

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Gilbert woke up when someone yelled, "We're in Ottawa!" And his heart started racing.

Ottawa was only five hours away from Toronto. Considering the entire trip was more than three times that, Toronto was now too close for comfort. They had officially entered Ontario.

He couldn't tell from the angle he could see her, but Anne was wide awake.

Anne fell asleep for a bit, but she had been awake for about an hour before Gilbert woke up. She was learning how to wake herself out of unpleasant dreams, and she had successfully done that. The only reason she didn't move was because she could feel Gilbert's head laying on hers.

But when she felt him sit up, she sat up too and turned to look at him.

His one cheek was bright red from being pressed on her head for a while, but his eyes were attentive.

"Hey."

"Hi."

Gilbert scratched the back of his neck nervously, "Did you...sleep well?"

Anne nodded quickly.

Too quickly.

"Did you?"

"Yes." He answered and bit his lip.

Don't blush.

Anne was very aware he was uncomfortable, or at least nervous, so she moved back over to her original seat.

They both wished she stayed.

"Did they say we're in Ottawa?" Anne broke the silence, determined to make it all less awkward again.

It's getting harder to ignore what I feel.

"Yes," Gilbert perked up a bit, "Toronto is only about five hours away now."

"That's close."

"I know."

Anne saw the look in his eyes change to a excited with a hint of panic, "Nervous?"

"A little." Gilbert admitted, glancing out the window at Ottawa, "This trip is supposed to help me decide my future."

"What happens if you love it?"

"Choosing will be a lot harder."

"And if you hate it?"

"Easier, but that doesn't mean I'll definitely go to the Sorbonne."

Because then I have to marry Winifred.

Anne knew exactly what he was thinking, but the last thing she wanted to bring up was Winifred.

"What are you doing while you're here?" She intentionally changed the conversation.

Gilbert was grateful she picked a new topic, "Well I'm supposed to meet up with a medical student named Charles. I'm staying in his dorm for the weekend."

He was genuinely excited about his placement. Staying with a student who's doing exactly what he wants to would give him the perfect picture of college life.

"And you?"

"A girl in the journalism program, Margaret, is letting me shadow her. She's one of the five girls in the program." Anne crossed her arms defensively, "It's almost all boys."

Gilbert raised his eyebrows, "I think you mean men."

"No, I definitely mean boys." She smiled deviously, making him chuckle.