broken hearts club | C. MACKENZIE

six

cole mackenzie and gilbert blythe both leave the avonlea schoolhouse at the same time, the two walking side by side.

gilbert sneaks glances at cole, oblivious that cole was noticing them every time.

cole smiles to himself, his hand readjusting his cap that keeps wanting to blow off.

"can i see your drawings?" gilbert asks out of the blue on the way to his house.

"why?" cole questions, clutching his schoolbook arrangement tightly. he loves his art, but he loves it to be private.

"because it's beautiful," gilbert says softly, his voice getting softer.

cole blushes a deep red and he begins to feel butterflies in his stomach, "gilbert..."

"oh! i totally understand if you don't want to," gilbert says, nodding his head.

once the two are a good ways away from the schoolhouse, gilbert moves insanely close to cole. the two are practically touching. cole feels safe with him.

~

"we're home," gilbert laughs, extending his arms in front of his house. cole already likes it more than his own home.

gilbert's home seems more comfy and closed quarters than cole's. cole's home was smaller, but it still felt so big because he felt so alone.

"i love it," cole gasps, taking a mental picture so he can add gilbert's house to a scenery drawing.

"blythe! who'd you bring home?" a man with an accent yells, opening the front door.

"bash, this is cole mackenzie, a close friend. cole, this is bash," gilbert says, pausing before he said "close". cole smiles at bash, extending his hand.

"nice to meet you, bash," cole says, shaking his hand.

"nice to meet you as well," bash grins, letting the two young boys inside. gilbert goes after cole, smiling at bash.

"we'll be going upstairs bash," gilbert says as he places his foot on the first step.

"okay, blythe," bash nods his head as he continues to walk to the back of the house. "wait! how's that anne girl you're madly in love with?"

"bash! i'm not in love with her," gilbert groans, flying up the rest of the stairs.

cole follows gilbert soundlessly up the stairs, his heart beating insanely fast. this whole time cole had been thinking that gilbert might possibly be into him and the fact that bash was talking about anne did not sit well with cole.

liking the other gender was the normal and cole had never met someone else that was like him, well for the exception of aunt josephine. rephrasing, cole had never met another boy that was like him.

"cole?" gilbert opens the door to his room, pulling the taller boy in quickly. "artist?" when cole didn't respond to his nickname, gilbert was more than confused.

cole snaps out of his thoughts and returns back to reality face to face with a concerned gilbert. his eyes didn't leave cole's even when recognition returned.

"hey," cole breaths, scratching the back of his neck. he pulls his eyes away from gilbert and stares down at his shoes. "sorry, i was off somewhere else."

"maybe i should be calling you space cadet," gilbert weakly jokes, taking a seat down on his bed. "are you alright?"

cole laughs, as if it was a stupid question, which it kind of was. "am i ever okay?" he asks stupidly, knowing the answer is no. the weight of the world is seeming to fall on his shoulders at this very moment.

"what?"

cole realizes what he had just said and regretted it immediately. he didn't want gilbert to be worrying about him, so he tries to play it off.

"i'm fine, i promise," cole says, leaning against gilbert's door. "i'm under a lot of stress in school right now."

"oh," gilbert mumbles, looking down at his hands, which were folded in his lap. cole's eyes lock onto his curls and he can't stop staring at them, they were so beautiful.

"hey, you know what—"

"what?"

"my mom needed help with dinner, i totally forgot," cole lies perfectly, wrapping his coat tighter around his body. "i'm so sorry."

"no, it's okay, i understand," gilbert says, forcing a smile. "do you want me to walk you out?"

"no, it's okay, thank you," cole says breathlessly, opening his door and closing it quickly behind him. his heart was pounding in his chest and he couldn't seem to see straight.

if cole listened closely enough to the other side of the door, he could hear gilbert walking around. the floorboard was creaking ever so softly and cole knew he was stressed out.

he would no longer cause stress on gilbert. he made that promise to himself right then and there.