Community/"Cross-country 101"/ (Set after "Introduction to Finality")
Author's Note: Hi guys! Here's my next story! I'm afraid the description is slightly misleading, seeing as the Roadtrip isn't touched on in this chapter, but it will be later on! Oh, and that's the surprise, I guess. This is a multi-chaptered story focusing on Troy and Britta for a change (although you'll most likely see plenty of Abed and Annie to keep those of you who are shippers like me hooked). You'll find, as you read, that while the story retains Community's humor, random antics, and characters, the plot also delves deeper, particularly into Britta's insecurities surrounding her relationship with Troy. So, in that case, it resembles the episode 3.16 Virtual Systems Analysis: cute, funny, but with serious insecurities at its core.
Anyway, enough chatter—READ.
"Cross-country 101" Chapter 1
Summary: The Greendale Seven decide a Roadtrip is the best way to end their college experience. Miraculously, Dean and Chang somehow manage to join them, even uninvited. But, while everyone is trying to figure out what's going on with Jeff, the real kicker is what's going on between Troy and Britta, who are trying to remain as… inconspicuous… as possible.
It's finally here: their graduation day. Unlike the asshole Jeff pretends to be, Britta's actually very excited to grab her diploma and do more than just drive home, disenchanted with the whole system. That's right—Britta's getting more used to the system; to following the rules. It's not that it's not bad anymore… it's just… well, she's getting a diploma, right? It's not like she's buying a Ford, opening a bank account, and running for office; no, no, it's just a diploma from a community college.
Plus it's not like she's getting teargased in Nepal anymore. She's changed—she has a real life, a real job, and real aspirations.
And no, she aspires to more than just screwing Troy. She's not Jeff. God.
She slept over at Annie's house three weeks ago, trying to console her because Jeff is a prick. Poor Annie just isn't as clever as she is, and hasn't caught on to the fact that Jeff is a complete asshole the way Britta has. She will admit though, sometimes it seems as though Annie and Jeff really have something, but not anything she and Jeff didn't have, way back when that was relevant, of course.
But none of these thoughts are even half relevant right now, anyway, because Troy is totally walking up to the podium now to get his diploma and Britta can hardly contain her excitement for him. She can see Abed seated over to her left, and in front him Annie, and it's actually kind of funny because Annie's coercing him into shouting for his best friend. It's actually sort of working, which is the funny part, since Annie almost has to turn around entirely and is no longer yelling toward the stage.
Troy's coming up onto the stage and she can see him flash a smile in her direction. Their eyes meet across the crowd, and she can tell from his smile he's more than excited for Dean Pelton to hand him that diploma. He does a fist pump in the air after receiving it and smiles for pictures, sending half of Troy and Abed's signature handshake Abed's way before stepping off the stage.
He grabs her hand momentarily in the shuffle off the stage, and they stand like that for a second, just standing and looking, standing and looking, before she almost leans in. Almost.
He releases her hand in time for her to walk onto the stage and realize that not a single family member of hers showed up to the event. Up on stage, exposed to the world for what she is—a thirty-something community college graduate with no real future in sight—she feels naked. She belongs with him, down there, because up here it's too bright and she feels…
She feels incredibly ancient.
.
.
.
In the after graduation moment where they're all wandering around with their caps in their hands looking for family, Britta's looking for Troy.
But like, it hasn't exactly been declared that Britta likes Troy and Troy likes Britta, so Britta's keeping the fact that she's looking for him on the down-low. Which is why Annie following her is kind of an issue.
"Britta. Britta, wait up!" Annie's shuffling after her and Britta wonders how she hasn't caught on to the fact that she's trying to lose her, but regardless, Britta slows down, and Annie takes her hand from behind and follows her path through the crowd.
Some days, Annie acts like Britta's little sister in a good way: watching chick flicks with her, going for pedicures, fearlessly protecting her against harsh rumors or insults. Other days, unfortunately, it's more like this: needlessly clingy, touchy feely, and wanting to talk or share things that Britta just doesn't have time for.
They come out of the crowd and see Shirley surrounded by her boys, Ben on her hip and Andre taking a picture of the happy family and their new grad. Britta can even see Pierce and his half-brother, Gilbert, hugging and discussing the size of Pierce's hat in comparison to the hats of the other grads (Pierce, of course, claimed his was bigger).
Britta's still searching everywhere, and Annie's still holding her hand when Jeff approaches with a girl (some bimbo blonde, Phoebe, Britta thinks) and sniggers.
"Cute." He's referring to their hands. Annie removes hers from Britta's and crosses her arms.
"Ugh, Jeff!" Is Annie's response, which Britta doesn't find nearly satisfying enough for the situation.
"Oh come on Jeff, it's not like you don't walk through crowds and hold onto people sometimes in certain situations..." she trails off and Jeff smirks. Britta swears that sounded better in her head.
Phoebe, also smirking, reaches out her hand for a handshake.
"So I'm guessing you're Britta then. Penelope." They shake hands. Even Annie seems offended for Britta.
Jeff opens his mouth to say something but Annie isn't having any of it.
"Alright well, this was fun. We have other people to find now. Have a great rest of the night, Jeff. And… um, what was your name?"
"Penelope."
"Phoebe, right. Alight, bye guys!" Annie takes Britta's arm and drags her back into the crowd, laughing. Britta takes a look back and sees Pheo-Penelope complaining to Jeff, who's shooting them a death glare.
"I think I saw Troy and Abed go this way." Annie takes her hand again and leads her through the crowd. Happy to be lead to her man, Britta zones out, letting Annie take the lead.
When they find Troy and Abed, they're surrounded by Troy's family, who came especially for the graduation. Troy is the first in the family to graduate from community college, after all. Annie pushes herself into the circle between Troy and Abed, and Britta works her way into the other side, feeling sort of awkward. Troy pulls her in by the hip, and his parents take a picture of the four of them, Abed, Annie, Troy and Britta.
She bets Annie isn't worried about wrinkles on her face showing up in the photo.
Troy squeezes her hip a little after the photo and she smiles at him for a second before realizing that they're again in front of an audience.
"Mom, Dad," Troy starts, "This is Britta."
Then he grabs Annie's shoulder, "This is Annie. And I think you've met Abed before…"
"We have. Good to meet you all." Troy's dad says. He looks about fifteen years older than Britta herself, and that thought alone is enough to make Britta slightly uncomfortable.
"Oh, sweetie!" Troy's mom attacks him with a hug, taking his face in her hands and planting kisses all over it. Britta finds the scene, though cliché, incredibly adorable.
Tory's dad approaches Annie, (who gives him the strangest face) and takes her hand.
"And is this the young lady we should be worried about? She looks like a keeper, Troy."
Troy shoots Britta an apologetic glance, but before he can even say anything, Annie pipes up, "Oh, no, no, Troy and I aren't… anything. Never have been!" She smiles for good measure, and then looks up at Abed. Britta, in turn, also looks to Abed, but is only met with the clean-slate stare he's known for. She wonders why Annie even looked to Abed in the first place…
Troy laughs awkwardly, "Dad, stop making my friends nervous for no reason…"
He lets his hand rub the nape of Britta's neck in an oddly comforting way, but Britta can't ignore the horrible realization that's dawned on her: she and Troy are horribly mismatched.
.
.
.
Later, at the after-graduation after party, Britta sits with Pierce, watching as Troy and Abed play with Shirley's boys. Beside her, Pierce enjoys a cocktail. Britta decides on water, watching as Troy spins Shirley's youngest, Ben, in the air. Britta and Pierce sit in a comfortable silence.
That is, until Pierce decides to be Pierce.
"Want some of my drink? What you're having looks miserable."
And Britta decides to be Britta.
"No offense, Pierce, but what you're having looks miserable. You're buying into the consumer culture—"
Pierce throws his hands in the air, "Geez, nevermind. Have whatever you want!" He leaves the deck, heading back into the house. Britta wonders why she seems to have this effect on everyone.
Britta watches as Troy and Abed assume the roles of Phineas and Ferb, taking on the cartoon personas in order to better entertain the kids—the fact that they even know of the show points out how youthful they are. Abed's 25, and Troy's only 22.
Britta's 33.
11 years. That's the age difference between her and Troy. That's also the age of Shirley's oldest son, Elijah.
As quickly as he left, Pierce returns, and Britta asks, "Didn't you just leave?"
He shrugs. "It was just as lame in there as it is out here with you."
Britta knows that's a compliment. "Oh, thanks. Is Jeff here yet?"
"Nope. Bastard's probably having more fun than we are."
They sit in silence for a while, until Britta works up the nerve to ask, "Pierce, do you ever feel old?"
She can feel it. What she's said has hit him hard enough to keep him silent for a bit. He's clearly thinking hard about—
"Psh. Are you kidding? Never."
Britta decides Pierce is an asshole. She gets up and heads inside, leaving him on the porch. As soon as she's inside, Britta finds Annie and Shirley talking seriously about future plans. She'd listen, but she already knows their futures—Shirley is going to own her own sandwich shop, and Annie's going to head off to a big college in L.A. (UCLA, maybe? Britta really should pay more attention), where she'll study to become a doctor. Britta has no plans, which is why she walks right past their table without saying a word and heads into the kitchen.
There, in the kitchen, Andre is making a salad, with Chang talking his ear off.
"So anyway, Chang babies usually grow up to have a horrid bloody nose problem, which is terrible, but is definitely the mark of a champion, if you know what I mean…"
Chang winks. Neither Britta nor Andre know what he's referring to. Britta decides interrupting him is the best bet to actually enjoying herself.
"Andre, can I uh… talk to you?"
That's actually not what she meant to do. She doesn't know Andre well enough to request something like that, does she?
Ah, hell, what could it hurt?
"Sure." Andre follows her into the hall, where Dean Pelton's making out with a Dalmatian sock puppet he made. They both stare at him for a second before he finally sees them and pulls away.
It's really awkward.
"This is really awkward." Britta says, for more than one reason, actually. She's sort of glad for the Dean's presence; because it buys her time—what's she going to say to Andre?
"Look, say what you want, but a grow man is allowed to do whatever he pleases, okay?" Dean says, hands on his hips. He then leaves the hallway in favor of the bathroom, and both of them hear the shower turn on.
"Well, anyway… what was it you wanted to talk to me about?" Andre's sweet. She can see why Shirley married him. She decides being honest is her best bet.
"Honestly? I wanted to save you from Chang—"
"Hey! I heard that!" Chang's clearly next to the wall in the other room.
"Shut up and go away, Chang!" Britta shouts, "so anyway, as I was saying… I brought you away from Chang. But, um… question. I was wondering… when it was… you figured out what you were going to do with your life?"
Andre laughs lightly, and she can tell she Britta'd that question because the question doesn't come close to satisfying her, and she can't imagine the answer doing that either.
"Are asking this because Shirley and Annie seem to have it all figured out?"
"Among other things."
"Well, I mean, all I can really say to that is that no one has it figured out. I never have. And I'm coming up on fifty, you know? Just figure out what you like and stick with it."
"Figure out what you like and stick with it. Got it."
Britta starts to walk away, like a child that's just been told to do her homework. And it's at that very moment that Jeff barges in, Penelope tucked under his arm. She fits perfectly there.
"G'hello…" He slurs, and Penelope giggles.
Shirley comes to the door, Andre protectively behind her. Troy and Abed must've entered at some point because literally the entire party, including Chang, are now witnessing a shitfaced Jeff and his bimbo girl barge in.
"Jeff?" Shirley says, and Jeff sort of laughs and he and Penelope trip over to the couch, where Penelope starts to mount him in a way that's not-so PG. Troy picks up the two older boys and spins them around, screaming something about taking them to their room for a bedtime story. Shirley looks incredibly relieved, that is, until Jeff and Penelope start to make out on the couch.
"Woah, Woah," Britta starts, closing in and pulling Penelope off of Jeff. Britta takes this moment to look up at Annie, who's attached herself to Abed and is standing behind him. Abed, concerned by her sudden actions, isn't actually paying attention to the scene in front of him—he's turned to look at Annie with an expression Britta didn't know he could make…
Penelope, now angry, pulls at Britta's hair and brings her back into the present.
And shit, it hurts. They're rolling around on the floor, fighting for what seems like no reason, and Britta takes Penelope's elbow and shoves it into her stomach, causing Penelope to roll over and off of her. Troy lifts Britta off the ground, but before he can push Penelope away, Pierce jumps in and punches her out. The whole room cheers and Pierce lifts his fist proudly.
Penelope's on the ground howling Jeff's name. Jeff, unfortunately, has passed out on the couch.
Troy's actually kind of pissed off, and Britta can tell. He turns to Pierce, clapping his shoulder.
"Enjoy it, man. This is the first and only time anyone in this room will claim to sort of like you."
Pierce takes it as a compliment, and grasps Troy's shoulder back. "Don't worry boy, you'll get your 15 minutes someday."
Just then, the Dean runs out of the bathroom, stark naked aside from the Dalmatian sock puppet that's hanging off his dick.
"Jeffery's here? Oh, Jeffery!"
.
.
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Twenty minutes later, Troy and Britta are driving Jeff and Penelope home in Jeff's car. Troy's being frighteningly silent and Britta's not about to speak because she's pretty sure Troy's pissed—not that he has reason to be, but that he is. Jeff shifts a little in back and she can see Penelope's head fall onto his shoulder.
Later, when Jeff and his girl are laid carefully on the bed, Britta looks up to Troy and sees him exhale in a way she knows means he's disappointed—to some degree, Troy will always look up to Jeff. Even after moments like this.
Jeff and Penelope look cold, wrapped in each other on top of the covers, and Britta asks, "Should we tuck them in?"
Troy turns around and walks out of the room, muttering a "Do whatever you want" just loud enough for her to hear. Britta, finally exasperated by Troy's unexplained mood change, follows him out, catching his shoulder.
"What the hell is your problem?"
Troy turns around and breaks Britta's connection to his shoulder almost violently before saying, "You want to know what my problem is?"
Britta's too shocked to answer. "My problem is that you…" He says and then he stops. Britta almost thought he was going to try to be articulate, but then the tears come and she can see Troy getting frustrated.
"You. Want. Him." He points at the other room and cries loudly, his breath hitching and causing him to wail. Britta, now sure of how she can fix the problem, shoves a hand over his mouth and looks him straight in the eyes.
"Listen Troy, Jeff is an asshole. We know that. We understand that. We love him anyway." Troy's eyes look calmer, so Britta uses her other hand to cup his face, "But you Troy, you're the one that I want. And you know that, right?" But he doesn't. She's never said it. They've never done this.
He breathes a muffled "right" into her hand and she stares into his eyes intently for a second, before releasing his mouth and planting a kiss right there, that just doesn't seem long enough considering the amount of time she's spent anticipating it.
It's not their first kiss… but it's certainly a kiss that's important in Britta's life timeline; a kiss that solidifies this… something… whatever it might be with Troy.
And at the end of it all, Troy walks her out to the car, arm in arm, and Britta recounts the stupid fight with stupid chick that is currently lying in bed with their stupid Jeff and Troy laughs because Britta Britta's the girl's name. What was it again? Phoebe? Penelope? Poppy? Peppy McPoopface?
Britta doesn't care. Troy drives her home and Britta smiles wide as she climbs into bed, realizing that no matter how old she is, Troy always manages to make her feel young.