Chapter Text
The following morning found Lizzie wide awake with a stomach full of buttered toast and a glass of juice. While she still lacked the energy to walk more than a few feet without swaying, and sometimes her head felt too heavy to hold up for much longer, she’d managed to eat her plain but delicious breakfast and it was sitting calmly in her stomach. Progress. A small amount, but progress all the same.
Tired of spending all day in bed Lizzie had convinced her mother to build her a little bed of pillows and blankets on her window-seat. She sat there now, her legs pulled up against her chest and her arms crossed over her knees. She gazed longingly out her window at the beautiful fall day just beyond her reach. The sun was shining and she could tell from the rustle of the browning leaves that a gentle breeze would caress her skin if she’d been allowed outside.
She picked up the copy of Anne and Green Gables that was resting at her feet. For a moment she glared at it as if it was the source of her problems. Although her mother had allowed her out of bed she was still stuck to the confines of her room. (What if you fall down the stairs and we aren’t home?) All the more reason for a television in my room, Lizzie grumbled to herself and stuck out her lip though there was no one here to see her pout. Not now with her family at work or school and all of her friends happy and healthy at Hillridge High. She looked at the clock with a grimace. Six hours until her mom was home, seven until school was finally out. With a final frustrated sigh she opened the book to page one and began to read.
“Lizzie?” Came a soft, prodding voice at the door. “You awake?”
“Co-Come in.” Lizzie called out as she wiped furiously at her cheeks.
Gordo pushed the door open before glancing around the room, his eyes finally finding her in her bed of blankets and pillows on the window-seat.
“Your mom- Lizzie, what is it? What’s wrong?” In a moment he was across the room and by her side as she broke down into sobs once more. Lizzie brought her hands to her face and weeped into them. She felt Gordo wrap an arm around her shoulders and pull her into his side as his other hand lifted to her hands to gently pull them away from her face.
“It’s okay. I’m here.” He said softly. “It’s okay.”
They sat there together, Gordo whispering words of comfort as Lizzie fought against the tears with deep, steadying breaths. Eventually she dropped her hands from her face, wiping a few tears away as she did so. Gordo lifted his head from hers and placed a soft hand against her cheek to turn her towards him. Using the pad of his thumb he wiped away a stray tear as it fell.
“Do you want to talk about it? I can call Miranda for you if you’d like.”
Lizzie shook her head violently in response, causing his hand to fall away from her cheek. “No, no it’s okay. I’m okay. I’m… it’s…” She let out an exasperated sigh at her stumbled words and picked up the book she’d thrown on to the floor. “It’s this stupid, stupid book! How did Ms. Caruso think this was supposed to make me feel better! It’s horrible!”
She placed the book in Gordo’s open hand and watched as he flipped through some of the pages. His forehead creased in thought and she almost laughed. It almost looked like he was glaring at the book, demanding of it to know what it had done to upset his friend to the point of tears. Lizzie felt a strange sensation of care flood through her as she watched her best friend. He was always so ready to defend her, stick up for her, even against inanimate objects it appeared. Without thinking she leaned her head onto his shoulder and let her body relax against his side. If Gordo minded he didn’t show any signs.
Eventually he gave up with his silent interrogation of the offending novel. Apparently its written words not giving up whatever they had said to upset his friend so. He placed the book beside him on the window-seat before dropping his cheek to the top of Lizzie’s head.
“Do you want to talk about it?” He asked gently.
For a moment Lizzie didn’t speak. What would he say, think, if she told him how horribly the book had affected her? He’d probably laugh her right off to the loony bin. It was just a story after all. No reason to be so upset. Still, he’d never laughed at her before. Well, not when it mattered at least. And right now, curled up against his side with tears falling down her cheeks, it really, really mattered.
She nodded against his shoulder before lifting her head and turning to face him fully. “There should be a warning label on that book. Read it with a box of tissues! Don’t read it when you’ve been horribly sick and on an emotional roller-coaster. Everything was fine in the beginning. But… but then Matthew…” Lizzie felt a sob welling up in her throat once and she fought to speak around it, “And then there was Gilbert! And he’s just so good! Giving up all of that for Anne!”
Gordo chuckled and for a moment Lizzie thought she had been wrong to tell him any of this. But when she looked at him she could see the worry still lining his features as he reached out a hand to her cheek. She felt her breath catch as he wiped away the new fresh wave of tears.
“You’re going to have to slow down, Liz.” He said with a gentle plea. “I haven’t read the book. Take a breath, talk to me.”
Lizzie nodded and closed her eyes as she took slow, calming breaths. Gordo was still caressing her cheekbone with his thumb, wiping away the tears that silently fell. She focused on the feeling, his warmth against her cheek, and felt the grip around her heart slowly relinquishing its hold. When she finally lifted her gaze to his she could almost imagine feeling her heart stop as she took in the worried look on his face. He was open and bare to her then and she wondered if she appeared just as so to him.
“You okay?” His voice was soft, just a whisper on the air between them.
Okay? Lizzie thought and fought against the knot in her throat. What was okay? Her stomach was all aflutter and she had a feeling it had nothing to do with the flu that still ravaged her body. At a loss for words she finally settled on nodding.
“Now, in complete sentences, tell me about this book.” He pointed an accusatory finger at the offending object. “What’s wrong with it?”
Lizzie sniffled and bit her lip for a moment trying to figure out how to explain. “It’s not that anything is wrong with it. It’s actually very good. But, don’t ever let Ms. Caruso hear me say that.” She said with a glare and Gordo lifted his hand up in a swearing of his agreement. “Anne is really lovely. I wish I had been like her growing up. She’s confident and spunky and, yeah, she gets into trouble all of the time, but she always manages to find a way out of it.” She was on a roll now, the words coming easier as she forgot to breathe between her sentences once more.
“Everyone loves her. Especially Gilbert. But then she’s also so stupidly stubborn and doesn’t realize that he’s head over heels crazy about her and she ends up ignoring him for years until finally Matthew… Matth- until something horrible happens and Gilbert saves the day and Anne finally sees what a good friend he really is. And how could she not have noticed? She was his world and she just didn’t know!” She took a breath then as she flung her hands out into the air in frustration. “And then the ending! How can you end a book like that? There’s no closure. Just pain! Gilbert’s still hopelessly in love with Anne and he just has to suffer like that for the rest of his life? Isn’t Anne supposed to realize he’s the one and fall in love right back? At least that’s what would happen in a story from this century.”
Lizzie felt her vision fading and Gordo’s arm around her again as she began to tip into his side. She lifted a hand to her head as if she could stop the room from spinning if she held it still. Maybe that had been a bit to fast, too much energy at once for a body barely able to stand just yet.
The room went silent then except for her sniffling. She glanced up at Gordo, her lower lip caught between her teeth as she waited for his laughter or his teasing. Deep down she knew he wouldn’t but he’d been silent for her ranting and didn’t appear to have anything to say now either. He just sat there, a familiar look of contemplation across his features.
Finally Lizzie lifted her head from Gordo’s shoulder and turned until she was facing him. When her back was flush against the wall she pulled her legs up to her chest and wrapped her arms around them. She continued to watch her friend for a few moments until the silence became too much to bare. “Gordo?” She prodded softly. “Did uh, did I go to fast?”
Gordo jumped though her voice had been barely louder than a whisper. He twisted his hands in front of him as he chuckled softly. “Sorry, yes. Wow.” He said as he stood from the window-seat and began to pace about the room. “That is a lot. I can see why you would be so, um, emotional about it.”
“Right?” She exclaimed with a wave of her hands. “There’s got to be a sequel, right? That can’t just be how the story ends? There’s got to be a happy ending for them. You want to be a film director, right? Is that how you’d let Anne and Gilbert’s story end?”
She looked up at Gordo with almost pleading eyes. Throughout her entire life she could always depend on Gordo to know the answer. She was positive he’d have this one. Unfortunately, as he continued to pace the room, he simply raked a hand through his hair and shrugged.
“I don’t know, Lizzie. Sometimes there are no happy endings. And sometimes,” He swallowed hard before continuing, “sometimes you just have to wait, and hope that people figure it out. Gilbert may have saved the day, he may be in love with Anne, but she has to come to the decision on her own as to whether or not she loves him back.”
“So then why isn’t that in the book?” Lizzie huffed as she leaned her head back against the wall. For a girl that had felt nothing but ill for the past day and a half this was far too many emotions to try to process at once. Her stomach hurt and her head ached and she wasn’t sure what she could blame those feelings on anymore. She pressed her fingertips against her temple and began to rub in small circles. “I’m starting to not feel so hot.”
Gordo was across her room and by her door by the time she’d finished speaking. “I’ll let you get some rest. I’ll leave your homework with your mom on my way out.”
“Wait, Gordo, that’s not what I-”
“It’s fine. I forgot I had something I needed to do anyway.” He said with a touch of regret. “I was only able to stop by for a few minutes and make sure you were doing okay.” With a stiff smile and nod of his head he was gone, the bedroom door shutting firmly behind him.
What was that all about?
“And then he just left.” Lizzie exclaimed as she dropped her hands to the bed in frustration. “Why are boys so weird?”
Jo gave her daughter a pointed look before clearing her throat and reaching for the box of tissues next to her daughter. She held it out and waited for Lizzie to take one before speaking.
“I don’t know what to tell you, honey. You know Gordo better than anyone. Can you think of anything you said that would have upset him?”
“No! Of course not! I told him about the book, about how upset I was about Gilbert and then he just said he forgot he had something to do and left.” Lizzie shrugged as she began to tear apart the tissue in her hands. “Maybe I’m just reading into it. This flu has got my head all fuzzy.”
“Maybe, or maybe not. I’m sorry, Lizzie but I don’t think I can help you with this one. Perhaps you just need to process things a bit more.”
Lizzie quirked an eyebrow as she turned her gaze back to her mother. “Process? Process what? All I did was complain about a stupid book.”
Jo simply shrugged as she stood and adjusted her daughter’s blankets. “Maybe that’s part of what you need to think about. Why is this book effecting you so strongly?” She leaned over and placed a kiss against Lizzie’s forehead. “Are you hungry? I’ll bring you some toast.”
As her mother left the room Lizzie crossed her arms over her chest in frustration. It’s just a stupid book. It’s homework. It shouldn’t be effecting her so badly. So, why was it?