AN: A fellow reader has requested I make my stories available on this platform in addition to AO3. Though I normally don't do that (because I find restrictive and hard to publish in), they had a decent argument so here we are. I hope you enjoy this little piece of honey lemon tea.

It was too hot. Too damn hot to keep sitting here under the beating sun, hair piled atop my head as my skin crisps under the bright July sun. But I was doing it because Phil had asked me to, something about her boyfriend needing moral support at a recreational frisbee game, and there was no way I could let her down in pursuit of her romantic ideal. That, and I needed out of the house at least for a little while to celebrate the coming days of summer.

"Are you sure you don't want to move into the shade?" Gilbert Blythe asks from his place in front of me, his towering frame motioning to the patch of grass beside him that was blissfully, utterly shrouded by the leaves overhead.

"I'm sure," I answer briskly. I was still not over the razzing he'd given me at the end of exams when he'd lauded his higher scores over me, his unsportsmanlike conduct souring my opinion of him for the time being.

Or maybe it was because he was too terribly good-smelling today to be within any reasonable vicinity of and I refused to acknowledge it like the adult that I was. That, and because looking too closely at him lately made my nerves fray in a way I couldn't quite explain.

"You're going to get burnt again," he adds as I look off towards the other summer revellers in the park, my sunglasses thankfully hiding the way my eyes flick back towards him and then drift to the reason for my tempting burnt skin.

"That's a Future Anne problem, Gil. Don't worry about Future Anne, okay?" I respond hotly. I would worry about Future Anne later because maybe then Future Anne would have already reeled in her own romantic ideal for the coming summer months that she would be spending alone at Patty's Place.

Roy Gardner, Royal, had shared an English Lit class with me since the start of the semester and I'd been trying to capture his attention for the past four months with little success. At times I thought I was close - we'd had coffee at least a handful of times already - but every time I caught him out in public he would chafe under my attention and find another girl to sidle up to by the end of the night. The rejection was quite honestly starting to wear me thin and though I tried, I couldn't figure out why I kept attempting to get him to notice me. It was infuriating. I should know better and yet… I told myself it had to be his bad boy mystique and his moody poetry. Somehow it had drawn me in and I was helpless doomed never to escape.

"I have to worry about Future Anne. It's been bred into me since we were kids," Gilbert laments, breaking into my thoughts as he tosses me his blue button up shirt. I turn and catch sight of his torso clad only in his undershirt before the fabric hits abruptly against my face, enveloping me in his scent.

"Gil," I groan, holding his shirt at arm's length. Gods, did it smell good.

"Put it on or I'm calling Marilla," he threatens with a cocky smile, one that knows he's played the trump card. I do what I'm told, the threat of Marilla honest and fair and an exact target that he knows to hit to get me to listen to him.

"Fine. But I want you to do me a favour."

"What kind of favour is that?" His brow lifts and I'm certain he leans forward, ready for a secret to be shared between us. If only, I scoff internally, finally turning my gaze fully towards him.

"I want you to go ask Roy why he won't ask me out like a real man. Do it all bro-y like. See what his problem is," I request and despite the heat, despite the freckles and the paleness I've managed for years, I can feel the red heat rise up my throat at every word and my skin flush like a tomato.

"What?" The request seems to catch him off guard and he recoils, confusion lacing his expression as he looks directly at me. I'm not sure what I see in his eyes but I know I've put my foot in something big, his smile disappearing for the first time since he dropped down across from me.

"Gil, please go ask Royal Gardner out for me," I repeat boldly, pushing the instinctive nerves that bubble to the surface back into the depths of my belly. I was going to do this, even if it killed me.

"Anne, no," he answers, a brisk shake of his head as he looks away. "I'm not doing that for you. No."

"Please Gil! Come on, remember when I asked Ruby out for you? This is the same!" I urge and he rubs his hands across his face in frustration.

"That was different!" He responds hotly and gets to his feet. I don't expect him to move so quickly and all I can do is bolt upward with him as he grabs for his backpack. I feel my stomach roll, a spark of frustration starting to build.

"How was it different? Because she was our friend? Because we were younger? You know that's not fair! I thought we were friends!" I call out, glaring at him. With his bag over his shoulder he turns towards me, his mouth in a firm line.

"It just was!" His words seem final and I shrink under them, slowly easing the shirt from my shoulders as he groans and twists away. "Keep it! I still don't want you to get skin cancer!"

"Gil," I sigh, holding the shirt between us as though as a peace offering.

"No," is all he grumbles, turning and walking away from the place where he'd once sat. I watch as he stalks off, my fingers clinging tightly to the shirt fabric as though I still held a piece of him with me. It was all I could do to not let myself collapse to the ground, embarrassment and nerves fraying as my best friend abandons me under the trees.

I've half convinced myself that he's never going to talk to me again when he stops mid-stride, turning on his heel before heading pointedly towards where Roy is relaxing with a group of his friends across the park.

Like watching the exchange in slow motion, I stare with rapt attention as Gilbert approaches the group and pulls Roy aside. They talk for a few minutes before they both look my way, Roy's face breaking into a wide grin as Gilbert's face remains an unbroken mask. When eventually Gilbert walks away from the man I watch him go, my hands tight in my lap as my nails dig into my palms.

It's Roy who breaks me out of my stare, his smooth voice greeting me with a startle as I look up towards him.

"Roy!" I greet brightly, hopping to my feet in surprise. Across the park Gilbert's frame starts to blend with the trees, his presence slowly disappearing from my sight as I turn my attention towards the man above me.

"Hey! Your friend mentioned… Nevermind. You wanna go get a drink?"

I can't believe how great the night has gone. One drink has turned to three, the distance between us went from one foot to zero, and before I realized it we were heading towards home in the early summer evening, the soft baritone of Roy's voice soothing my racing heart.

"You know, you're a lot more chill than I realized," he remarks as we stand on my porch, Patty's Place looming overhead. I lean against the doorway, my gaze drawn to his eyes as he towers over me. "Are you sure I can't come in - "

"Not - I mean, tonight isn't a good night. All the girls are home and - "

"Oh. Okay," he stiffens, easing back as I mumble on about how the relentless teasing from my housemates would follow me for months if I let him come in.

Secretly though I wasn't nervous about the girls - I was more worried about my own reactions. I'd never had a boy in my room, especially not one this late at night, and I didn't know where to put my hands or how to deal with the way he seemed to crowd too much into my space. There was no way I could handle him, handle my first time, tonight. Absolutely not.

"Maybe next week though? Most of them are heading home for the summer and I'll have the place to myself…" I ask, tilting to look at him with a small smile on my lips. His mouth breaks into a wolfish grin and he nods, his hands reaching out to drag me against him.

It happens in a blink - one minute I'm standing in the doorway, a safe space between us, and the next Roy has his hands on my hips, his mouth pressing forcefully to mine in a harsh kiss. I try to soften it, to relax into it, but my instinct pulls me back and out of his embrace.

"Yes," I whisper, for lack of anything else to say. Roy takes it as a sign and reaches to brush a strand of hair from my face, his smile growing wider.

"Until another night then. Sleep well, Anne," he bids and disappears from my front porch and off into the night.

I'm pulled into the house by a flurry of movement, the girl's surrounding me and asking for juicy details as I try to process what's just happened. Phil is beyond herself, the words steamrolling out of her as Pris eagerly joins in. It's Stella who looks at me head on, a reserved look on her face as she watches me try to recall the moment's events.

"Was it as magical as you had hoped?" Phil asks dreamily, her gaze turning upward as she no doubt thinks of her own shared intimacies with her beau Jonas.

"Very much so," I whisper, my fingers drifting against my lips. I wasn't quite sure how I felt but I couldn't help but think that maybe this is what it was like to finally kiss the man of your dreams.

"Will you see him again soon, Anne?" Pris questions, leaning in towards me.

"Yes. I think so. He seemed quite enthusiastic about another date," I confirm. It's then that Stella shifts and catches my eye, her brow raised suspiciously. "What?"

"I mean, this is all rather sudden, don't you think? A boy bringing you home and asking to come inside for the night? Don't you want to - I don't know - get to know him a bit first?"

"Stella! You're so old fashioned! The times have changed, Anne can do whatever - and whoever - she pleases!" Phil calls back as we begin heading upstairs.

"I'm not saying she can't, Phil. I'm just saying there's nothing wrong with taking things slowly, especially if - "

"Stella - come on!" Phil stalls and turns to look at the girl who brings up the rear of the staircase procession. Pris and I stand between them, eyes wide at the exchange. "Let Anne go after something for once! She's a big girl! Plus she has all summer to fill once we're gone, she'll need to expand her horizons anyways."

"Fine! Don't listen to me then!" Stella groans and storms towards her room, not looking back as she closes the door in our faces. Pris squeezes my shoulder gently before retreating to her own room leaving Phil and I standing alone in the hallway.

"You don't have to do anything you don't want to, Anne, but I know you've been eyeing him for some time now. You're allowed to have a little fun!" Phil finishes and then places a kiss on my cheek before disappearing into her own room.

I spend the night tossing and turning in bed, uncertainty plaguing my every thought as I twist in my cotton sheets. Sure, Roy was attractive and interested in me now but I had no idea what to do with that. I'd never been kissed like that before and I had definitely never been through the bases like Phil had with Jonas (which I'd learned in every excruciating detail after the fact) but that didn't mean I didn't want to at least try. I had to grow up eventually, right?

But what if I did it wrong? Or worse, if I was bad at it? What if it got around college that I was rubbish in bed? I'd never live it down and Roy would know and surely there was nothing worse than that in the world.

No. I had to figure out how to get good at it before I put myself at risk for being exposed as an inexperienced fool. That was my only option really.

Gilbert.

Gilbert had always helped me study, he'd been there through every entrance exam, every late night studying session I'd put myself through to be top of my class. He knew the way my brain worked and how to help me understand the answers that I struggled with most. He was also experienced, which I needed now more than ever. His on-again off-again relationship with Ruby throughout highschool and first year had definitely given him enough intel to at least help me get versed in the basics - I knew that from a few uninvited discussions from the girl herself.

The best part about this solution was that he knew me. We'd been friends for years. If anyone was going to be able to keep my insecurities to themselves it was going to be Gilbert - he'd already shown as much with the way he had been there for me at my weakest moments. Especially that night after prom when he'd listened to my drunken ramblings throughout the night as he'd held my hair back from the toilet.

Gilbert was the solution to this problem. Now I just had to convince him to go along with it.