■ Helpless ■ Gilbert Blythe ■

The Edwards procedure

Saturday morning at the Edwards house was frantic as Caroline tried her best to prepare for the perfect get together that evening.

Servants were running from place to place, trying to put everything in place and making sure that the house was looking its very best. Victoria was in the kitchen with her mother as the two cooked for that night. 

They took care of the desert while the other food was brought from one of the stores in Avonlea. Then there were the males of the household. Benedict was at work, Hamilton was in his room studying and Edward was in the garden playing around.

"How are you and that girl doing? Anne's her name?" Caroline said as the two were cutting the ingredients. Victoria hummed yes. "Uhmm, with an E. The E is very important, don't forget it."

Caroline chuckled. "I won't. It's nice to finally see you making friends. Anyone else you connected with?" Victoria stopped to think as she bit her lip. She shrugged and then continued with her work. "No, not really."

Caroline huffed and looked at her daughter incredulously. "There isn't anyone else, out of the whole school, who you even like?" Victoria avoided eye contact with her. "Well, there is someone who's nice and talks to me."

The mother couldn't stop the smile forming on her face. "Well isn't that great. What is her name?" Victoria cleared her throat awkwardly. "Actually, she isn't a she, she's a he." Caroline stopped what she was doing and turned around to face her daughter with a hand on her hip. "A boy? So, is he good looking?"

Victoria huffed. "No, mum, it's not like that. I barely even know him." Caroline sighed and returned to the pie. "You didn't answer my question darling." Victoria stayed silent and after she noticed that her mother also stopped talking, she glanced at her from the corner of her eye and then rolled them.

"MOTHER! STOP WINKING!" Victoria said as she turned red with anger and embarrassment.

A few more moments of silence.

"Well then, is he?" Victoria groaned. "Yes, he's not too bad to look at. Now can we continue because, with the pace we're going, we won't be finished by at least next week?"

Caroline smiled, she wanted to question her further but she knew that she would be pushing it too far.

One of the tasks that Victoria had for that evening was to make sure that her brothers were prepared and dressed smartly. Although Hamilton was very vain when it came to his hair, the same cannot be said to his clothing. Often Caroline would scold for looking as if he put on the first pieces of clothing he sees. Edward on the other hand, simply just didn't care about the way he looked. He was just a little boy and all he cared about was having fun.

That night, Victoria decided to keep her hair down. There was no need for her to keep it up, she usually just did that because of school. Along with a purple dress and a couple of ribbons, Victoria found herself ready in only a matter of minutes.

Victoria first knocked on Hamilton's door, when he told her that she could come in she saw Hamilton standing in front of the mirror fixing his hair. "How long have you been at it?" Victoria asked, leaning against the doorway. Hamilton tore his gaze off the mirror to glance at the time and went back to looking at himself. 

"About... I don't know... twenty-seven minutes or so.." Victoria nodded her head. "Do you even know what you're going to wear?" Hamilton started muttering under his breath. "Yes actually, they're on the chair." Victoria followed Hamilton's finger which was pointing towards the chair in the corner.

The brown-haired girl stood on her tiptoes to see the clothing without having to walk towards the other side of the room. She settled back on the ground when she finally took a good look at them. "Huh, I'm impressed. That's the smallest fashion-wise mess that I have ever seen from you." Hamilton smiled at himself in the mirror, one last time and turned to his sister.

"That's the nicest thing you have ever told me. So, what do you think of my hair?" Hamilton said pointing to his so-called masterpiece of a hair. "It's not bad, could be better though." Hamilton's smile slid off of his face and was replaced with an incredulous look. "You have no right to judge. At least my hair doesn't look like a bird's nest."

Victoria faked gasped. "Too low Hamilton, too low." Hamilton let out a laugh. "No, I'm kidding. I like your hair, it looks great." Victoria smiled. "Thank you, so does yours. Though I'm sure that you already know it and don't need anyone else's approval." Hamilton nodded. "Good good. Now go. I have to change." Hamilton grabbed his sister by her shoulders and dragged her outside. To keep up with the 'you annoy me' act he slammed the door into her face, leaving him in a fit of giggles.

Victoria sighed and went towards Edward's room next. Victoria once again knocked onto the door before entering and only entered her brother's room after she heard his frustrated voice.

She opened the door slowly and popped her head inside, not fully knowing what was going on with her younger. Victoria smiled a little when she saw Edward fidgeting with the buttons of his shirt, not being able to do them.

Victoria didn't take long until she stepped into the scene and started to fasten up his buttons. "I'm very excited!" Edward stated, sending his sister a bright smile. Victoria looked at his face and couldn't help but smile. "Really? Why's that?"

"You'll get to meet my friends. I've told them all about you." Edward stated. Victoria finished fastening the buttons and then grabbed his jacket which was folded elegantly on top of the bed. "I hope you only said the good."

Edward scoffed. "Like there's anything bad you do." Victoria found herself awing at the cuteness of her brother and went to hug him. "This is why you're my favourite brother. I love you."

"Love you too, Vicky. I'm finished, let's get this show on the road!!"

"And finally get the chance to eat!!"

"YESS!!"