Remains to be Seen

Chapter Eleven: Let Me Explain

Here y'all goooo ♡

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Gilbert needed to confront Charlie. Before any conversation could happen between Anne and him, he had to get stories straight with Charlie.

Gilbert stood in the forest a few minutes into Charlie's walk home from school. Gilbert heard him yell bye to the guys, and came out from the tree he had been sitting hidden behind.

"My God, Gilbert!" Charlie exclaimed, "your scared me straight; between coming out all sneaky like that but," he paused looking of his friend completely, "but because you look like you're half dead."

"I practically am," Gilbert sneered back. He had planned on staying calm and talking to Charlie about Anne and Diana and how he felt towards them. That just went sailing out to sea.

"What do you mean, bud?"

"Since when do you say 'bud'?"

"Ah, well—" Charlie was caught, he had been hanging out with Billy more recently; despite him original despising the dude, "Billy had a birthday and a party a couple weeks ago."

Charlie shrugged as if that explained it away, Gilbert just looked at him as though he some alien looking back at him. This was definitely not the Charlie Sloane he had grown up best friends with.

"So your adopting his antics now?"

Charlie looked completely lost, "I—what do you mean?"

"I mean Anne," Gilbert gave Charlie a cold dead stare.

"Oh. That," Charlie couldn't even look at Gilbert, "how do you even know about that?"

"I have my ways Sloane," Gilbert's dark brown eyes were stone cold and Charlie felt as though Gilbert was boring his way into his soul.

"I thought you liked Diana, anyhow," it was more of a question to make sure Charlie still did but came out a hard statement.

"W—well," Charlie was caught, he did like Anne and had meant every word he'd wrote, but he had liked—possibly loved—Diana since they were littles.

"Everything I said to Anne was true," Charlie said finally meeting Gilbert's gaze and jabbed back, "even the part about waiting long enough. so unlike someone I know, I made a move."

Gilbert scoffed, "I'd been gone nearly a year! Plus it's Anne."

"Please! I KNOW it's Anne, and yes you were gone a year. And that year was hard and slow and boring for others other than yourself and Anne."

It had been hard for Anne while he was gone? Did Billy torment her?

"You want to know why I've been hanging out with Billy?"
Charlie didn't wait for a response, "because at least he was here; there when little Trina got sick and life got rough because of the gold scam. He wasn't off on some boat, God knows where and unreachable!"

"Anne found a way to contact me," Gilbert fired back without thinking, "and I'm sorry I wasn't here while you and the town went through a rough patch after believing in a get rich fast, gold rush fever," his voiced dropped with sarcasm, "but my father, THE only other family I had left died, Charlie. I couldn't stay in that house—the house he netalone everyone else had died in. I couldn't stay there alone."

"Anne wrote to you while you were on the steamer?" Charlie's words were quiet, and his mood softer than before.

Gilbert sighed, "yes."

"Oh, I didn't know she—I thought....nevermind. I know about your father and I do understand why you left. I was just saying it was difficult not having my best friend here."