Annie had been quieter than usual all day. In the morning, Pierce, forgetting Annie's religion, said something vaguely anti-Semitic. Instead of chastising him, she didn't say a word. Hardly anything anyone said seemed to register with her. She just stared into the distance with her brows slightly furrowed, and she kept checking her pulse on her neck. Jeff noticed the oddity and watched her all day with caution. As everyone packed up their bags and got ready to go home, he held her back in the study room so he could talk to her, alone.
"Annie, is everything alright? You haven't been yourself today." His eyes showed concern, and he was truly worried about her.
She blinked a few times, as if she needed to process what he said. "I'm just tired."
Annie tried to push past him, but he held his ground. "That is the worst excuse ever. I've seen you tired, and this isn't how you act when you're tired. You're loopy and talkative when you're tired. You have barely said a word all day."
Sighing, she finally returned his gaze and he could tell she was deciding if she wanted to tell him what was on her mind or if she wanted to keep being annoyingly evasive. "Do you ever get sad for no reason? When you can feel it coming on, but you can't do anything to stop it, and you feel like you want to cry, but there really isn't any reason to because there isn't anything horrible going on in your life at that moment?"
"Yes. That's normal. At least, that's what my therapist tells me," he added with a chuckle. "Are you sure there isn't a reason, but you just don't realize it?"
"I don't know. I just…you know how I want to go into healthcare management? My whole life is planned out for me, and I don't want to mess it up, because I'm not spontaneous enough to succeed without a plan. It feels like I'm about to have a panic attack because as much as I'm trying to learn how to let loose, it doesn't matter because I don't have any time in my plans for spontaneity. And what if my plans fall through? The future is scary, and I've never followed out a life plan before, so what if it doesn't work? There isn't any practicing your life! Do you know how frustrating it is, when I'm trying to make it so I make the least amount of mistakes in life as possible, but I don't even know what mistakes to avoid because I have never lived a whole lifetime before? And now I'm not even making any sense."
Jeff gently took hold of the wrists of a near-hysterical Annie and led her to the couch. "Annie, the whole point of life is to make mistakes. I know you hate that, because you're a perfectionist, and that's part of what makes you wonderful. But you need to make mistakes, because what comes after is important. It's important to learn how to pick yourself up and try again or take a different approach. You're so good at this already, and you're only going to get better. Everyone goes into the real world scared as hell and having no idea what to do, but they try their best and hopefully learn from their mistakes. Just close your eyes, take a deep breath, and remember that even if you screw up something so badly, that you still have at least six people who would go to the ends of the earth to make sure you're okay. Trust me, Annie. I care about you too much to stand by and watch you hypothetically derail your life."
She thought to check her pulse again, only to realize that Jeff still had his hands loosely around her wrists. Even if her pulse had slowed, it was racing again at his gentile touch, so checking it would be futile. Jeff was right. She had majorly derailed her life once before when she got hooked on Adderall. But she checked into rehab and eventually registered for college, even though it wasn't one of the colleges she had originally envisioned herself attending. Her life was back on track. She was capable of fixing her own mistakes. Annie looked at the man who had just reminded her of how strong she really was and returned his smile. And then she laughed.
"What's so funny?"
"I just realized that every time either the group as a whole or just I have some sort of nervous or crazy episode, you end up acting sort of as a therapist."
Jeff's eyes widened, "Oh, I should definitely not be giving therapy to anyone. Especially since I'm usually one of the craziest in the group."
"Two years ago, you would never have admitted that you can get a little crazy, and that shows that you really have grown. You need to stop cutting yourself short. Nobody is sane all the time. At least, no one at Greendale is sane all of the time."
"Well, I only said that to you. It's not like I'd be able to say that to anyone else."
She furrowed her brows again, not sure what he meant. Annie didn't know why he wouldn't be able to be this open with anyone else in the group. She had just assumed he had heart-to-heart conversations with all of their friends when they needed it, not just with her. Her heart was racing again, and her cheeks felt warm, and it was harder and harder to ignore his hands on her wrists, and had his eyes always been that color? Was she reading into things again or was his face closer to hers than it had been a few seconds ago? Jeff let go of her wrists and placed his hands on her cheeks, instead. His lips joined hers, and she wrapped her arms around his neck. Annie didn't care about anything else anymore. She just wanted him to never break apart from their kiss.
"Oh, come on, you guys. We were gone for, like, seven minutes, and this happens?"
Britta. Britta was in the room. Britta was watching them kiss. Jeff and Annie snapped their heads to the doorway, where not just Britta, but the remainder of the study group was standing.
"What are you guys doing here?" shrieked Annie.
"We came back to ask you both if you wanted to go to Denny's with us, but apparently you're busy," replied Troy.
"Actually, Denny's sounds great. Thanks. Also, not that it's your business, but Annie and I were obviously kissing. I'm not going to apologize, because we're not doing anything wrong. Annie and I have every right-"
"Jeff, I don't know about the others, but I really don't care if you're locking lips with Annie. You and Britta had secret sex for a year, and we all accepted that. Personally, I think it makes a great mid-season plot twist. I was worried that things were getting a little dull. We haven't had many group shenanigans since the whole glee club debacle."
"Thanks, Abed." Annie smiled at her friend, and then looked at Jeff. This was different than any of the other times that they had tiptoed around the subject of friends and more than friends. He wasn't clenching his jaw; embarrassed that he had once again almost crossed the line. Jeff could look her in the eyes and smile, unashamed with what they had just done. It's what prompted her to say what she had been wanting to for quite a while. "Maybe it will turn into a great mid-season plot twist…if that's alright with Jeff."
He continued to smile at her as he reached for her hand. "Milady, you seem like the kind of plot twist I need."