SUPERCUT; gilbert blythe ✔

035.

"So, who was that pretty boy walking with you just now?"

Following the voice to its source, Marianne is stunned to see Teddy. "What are you doing here?"

With Edward closing the door behind her after a brief conversation with Gilbert, Marianne made her way to the study, where Anne and the others were said to be. She doesn't expect to see Teddy Gardner leaving his post by the window overlooking the street, where he was obviously watching both her and Gilbert. Being how he is, he doesn't even seem ashamed.

"We were having tea when Anne and the rest of your friends showed up," says the boy now, motioning to a small table where two cups are placed, along with a tea pot and a bottle of... something else.

"That doesn't look like tea."

"Well, we were having tea also."

"Teddy, it's not even the afternoon."

"College is extremely stressful, you see. All those lectures and textbooks, and that boring talk about some completely unimportant things some men of questionable importance deemed important..." He shrugs. "Sometimes one feels the need to live a little."

"You're not even in college."

"But Edward is. As a friend, it's my holiest duty to support him morally. Or, should I say, immorally, in this particular case." Honestly, Marianne should have expected such an answer. "Besides, don't forget that I could be a college student, if it wasn't for the fact that my parents had taken me to Europe for two years. But let's not talk about me, although I truly am fascinating - who was that guy?"

"Oh, that's Gilbert Blythe," Anne cuts in before Marianne has a chance to say anything. She's looking through some book, enthusiastically showing Diana the illustrations inside. "Marianne has a crush on him."

"Wha- I certainly do not."

Teddy walks over to the table, emptying his cup. Then he pushes a piece of cake into his mouth, one he barely manages to swallow before speaking again, "You are still a terrible liar, Michelangelo."

"Come now," Edward cuts in, "don't tease my sister. Only I, being her older sibling, have the right to do so."

Marianne is on the verge of reminding him of his own crush on Prissy Andrews, but she decides against it in the end. Getting into a discussion now would only make them tease her more, and she would much rather avoid it.

Instead, she asks about the lightbulbs. "And did you manage to get what we need?

"It's a most entertaining story, actually," Anne is the first one to explain. "I did great at negotiating the right price and we were just about to call it a triumph. And then Moody, who was the one carrying the box, suddenly tripped-"

"Hey, I said I was sorry."

"-and the box fell to the ground, accompanied by our exclamations. We opened it to see all the glass shattered, much like our hopes in that very moments. In the most grim mood, we came here in despair to mourn our loss." The whole time telling the story, Anne modulates her voice to match her words, only for it to rise in the end, "And then, we were miraculously saved! It was, um, it was Teddy who became our unexpected hero, you see."

Marianne notices a faint blush colouring Anne's cheeks as she mentions the boy. Honestly, she thinks to herself, and these people dare to speak of her having a crush!

"You see, if you ever find yourself in a dire need of several lightbulbs, I'm your man," laughs Teddy. Then he motions to a wooden box, laying on yet another table. "I'm a miracle worker."