Can't Take My Eyes Off You
This is my first fic in years and my first published on here. Abed and Annie have rapidly become my favorite pairing on Community so far and I just had to write a little something to tide me over this hiatus. Review if you'd like. Enjoy!
Annie and Abed were linked arm in arm on their way to the study room discussing one of his favorite trilogies, Back to the Future. Well, it was mostly Abed explaining it to Annie but she would smile and encourage him to keep speaking. In the middle of explaining the complications of time travel she looked up and gasped in delight.
"Hey, look at that! There's a backwards dance coming up in a few weeks Abed!"
"Cool, we should see if the group wants to go." He replied poring over the poster for details.
Annie frowned. "Maybe not, I wouldn't even know who to ask."
"Troy and I could be your dates."
Annie beamed at him. "Thanks for the offer but I'd love to have a real date."
"No problem, anytime. Let me know if you change your mind."
She nodded and he continued into his ramble about Back to the Future until a group of guys bumped into them. One of them looked annoyed and ready to pick a fight.
"Hey freak, watch where you're going!" He yelled shoving Abed to the ground.
"What's your problem, jerks?" Annie shouted after them but they were already too far away to listen or care.
"Oh my gosh, Abed! Are you okay?" She grasped his hand and helped him get back to his feet. He wordlessly dusted himself off and kept walking. Annie rushed to keep up with him.
"Why do you just stand there and let people call you names Abed? Doesn't it upset you?"
"Yeah, it sucks but I'm alright. It's easy to misunderstand people when you don't know them. Besides, I've been called worse things by the people I call my friends."
Annie looked at Abed's assuring smile, that smile that only lasts for a second, but her concern didn't go away. They entered the study room and sat down at the table. After they set down their bags, they pulled out their notes and waited for the others to arrive. Annie was still troubled though.
"I understand that you can accept when people say mean things to you Abed, but you can't let people push you around like that, especially the actual pushing part," She added.
"I would never try to fight someone over a stupid thing like that. I leave that kind of thing to Batman. I already know that I don't fit in with everyone else."
Annie felt a pang through her heart. "Well, I think you're perfect just the way you are Abed." Abed stared at Annie, obviously puzzled. Annie just sat there, looking into those wary, intelligent eyes, the color burning in her cheeks. She hadn't meant to say that at all. Confused, she turned back to her notes. Abed turned back to his notes as well. There was an uneasy silence between them.
"What about Jeff?" Abed asked suddenly.
Annie dropped her pen. "What?" It was almost as though by thinking about Jeff, she'd brought him into the room with them. That was the last thing she had ever expected to come up in their conversation. Abed leaned down and retrieved the pen for her.
"Jeff," he repeated. "I know you two used to—" His eyes went back to the desktop. "I know you two used to have a thing together. You know, to ask to the dance."
"If there ever was anything, it's over," Annie said quickly. For some reason, it was very important to her that Abed knew that there was nothing going on between her and Jeff.
Living with Troy and Abed had certainly changed her a lot. The late night movie sessions, the puppet shows, the smiles, she was having the time of her life living with them and the three of them had become fast best friends. They were now known as a trio and it seemed as if they would always be that way. And yet now she felt these surges of awkward, unexpected emotion she hadn't felt in so long. There was definitely something about Abed...
"Annie! Abed! You're early today." Shirley squealed from the doorway and opened her arms up to hug them. Not too long after that the rest of the group trickled in the room and the study session went under way. A couple of hours later they split up and headed off to go do various thing with their lunchtime. Jeff was leaving campus to meet a girl, Troy and Britta was heading off to one of their classes, and Pierce and Shirley had real life adult things to do. Soon, Annie and Abed were the only ones left in the room. Annie slung her bag over her shoulder and got up to leave.
"Alright, Abed. I'm heading to to cafeteria now to grab some lunch. I guess I'll see you later at home." Abed barely glanced away from his graphic novel to gesture goodbye to her. Annie left the room but then doubled back to ask Abed if he felt like joining her. She stood in the doorway and watched him turn the page in his book deeply engrossed in what was happening in that fictional world. Suddenly, she wondered what would happen if she asked Abed to the dance.
After letting the thought marinate in her head for a moment she spun on her heel and headed back in the other direction. He wasn't interested in women or having a relationship; he was only interested in video games, television, and movies. How stupid of her to think it could be any other way.
Annie sat on her bed at home comtemplating her situation. Almost three weeks had passed and she still didn't have a date to the dance. It's not as if she didn't have interested parties. Lots of guys looked at her now that she was skinny and wore form fitting clothing, but Annie couldn't get the thought of asking Abed out of her head. It sounded ridiculous since she already spent so much time with him but she didn't want to go with anyone else but him to the dance.
It was silly of her really to make a big deal out of this since Abed told her he would go with her if she couldn't find anyone else. That was the problem though, Annie could find someone else. At the press of a button she could be going with the cute guy from her physics class. It almost pained her to go with Abed and know deep down that she was the only who thought that it was a date.
She knew she should just suck it up and ask that guy from her class. She even had the outfit picked out: her favorite wine red cardigan and a short black skirt. She was so absorbed in her thoughts she almost didn't hear the knock at the door. It was Abed.
"The dance is tomorrow," he commented. "Are you going with anyone?"
"There's a guy in my physics class who's interested in going with me." She blurted hoping to get a reaction from him.
He didn't even blink. "Cool. Cool, cool, cool."
Frustrated, Annie took a deep breath. Here goes nothing. "Actually, Abed. I haven't asked him yet. I was kind of hoping you could go to the dance with me."
"Sure thing Annie, I'll go tell Troy." He went to go leave the room.
"No!" She screamed.
Abed turned around bewildered. "What?"
"Um, it's just—I was thinking that just you and I could go together. Without Troy."
Abed cocked his head to the side, looking alarmingly like a dog. "I don't understand. Why wouldn't we go with Troy?"
She laughed colorlessly. "It's like you don't even see me Abed."
"I do see you. Is this a trick question?"
"I mean, it's like you don't see me as a girl. Only as your best friend."
"You are my best friend though."
"You don't get it, do you? I'm trying to tell you that I want you to be my date. As in, I like you and want to go with you to dance as boyfriend and girlfriend." She snapped, her voice raising with each syllable.
Abed had a penchant for staring at people a really long time without blinking but this had to be the longest she had ever seen him stare at someone. Her heart dropped to her stomach. She had screwed things up this time. She had found a way to literally make Abed speechless. After what seemed like an eternity, he broke the silence.
"Do you really mean that?" Annie looked back into his wide eyes and nodded wordlessly. Abed crossed the room and placed his hands on her shoulders. Her heart was racing. "I'd like that," he said.
Suddenly, their lips met and they lost themselves in a long, passionate kiss. This was better than any fantasy Annie could conjure up in her wildest daydreams. They finally broke apart and started laughing hysterically. "I can't believe that just happened," Annie said giggling. "Neither can I," Abed said with a shy smile. They kissed again, and this time they sank down on her bed. They sat there for a while hardly daring to believe that it was reality. "I really do mean that you know," he said while stroking her hair. "The part about wanting to be with you."
"I want that too," she said softly. "I want us to stay together, even if we end up at different colleges. These past few months living with you have been perfect. I just can't imagine not having you in my life Abed. I'd miss your extensive DVD collection more though."
He made a face and she giggled again leaning in for another kiss.
The next day at the dance they didn't even bother trying to hide their relationship from the group. They walked in holding hands, danced together all night, and exchanged shy and sloppy kisses. Jeff and Britta were sitting off to the side sipping on cups of punch when they noticed Annie and Abed for the first time.
"Since when did that happen?" he asked, obviously stunned. Britta shrugged her shoulders. "Who knows?"
"Wow, that's definitely not gonna last." Jeff chuckled taking another swig of punch.
"That's a pretty rude thing to say Jeff, because we all know that your relationships almost always work out great."
"Well, it's true. I don't know why you're so supportive of this."
"Oh, come on, Jeff." Britta took his hand. "I'm not saying it's fine, I'm just saying it's not really any of your business. Annie's a woman now."
He pulled his hand away. "And what's that supposed to mean?"
Britta gave him an exasperated look. "It's not supposed to mean anything."
"Are you suggesting that Annie might actually be sleeping with Abed?"
She looked as though she might start laughing. "College people do sleep together, you know Jeff. You of all people would know that." They sat together in silence watching the crowd. Some movement out of the corner of his eye caught his attention. He turned and noticed Troy dancing with Annie and Abed. He looked in their direction and motioned for them to come over. Jeff almost got up and joined them until he noticed Britta staring back at Troy with a huge grin.
"Excuse me Jeff, but I believe I owe Troy a dance. I'll see you later."
She practically leaped into Troy's arms as a slow song started trickling from the speakers. Annie wrapped her arms around Abed and pulled him closer, the two completely enraptured in each other's eyes.
"You're just too good to be true/Can't take my eyes off you/You'd be like Heaven to touch/I wanna hold you so much."
Whoa, Troy and Britta too? Jeff had no idea how oblivious he'd been to not notice what was going on with the rest of his group. He was pretty self involved though so it wasn't too surprising. What was surprising though was the jealousy he felt at seeing Troy and Abed with two of the girls he had had flings with at that school. He looked through the crowd for Shirley and Pierce and noticed that they were with dates as well. Even though he was surrounded by various members of friends and classmates, he had never felt so alone in his life.
That is until a familiar 80's song started playing and all four of his friends on the dance floor rushed over to Jeff and grabbed his hands forcing him to dance with them. Maybe it isn't so terrible that they're together, he decided as he laughed and twisted with the others. It was pretty great that they all found love in this crazy world.
Abed turned to Annie with a knowing smirk.
"'If You Leave'? Is this my Pretty In Pink moment?"
"When I said I was going to the bathroom I requested it. Hope you don't mind." She said slightly embarrassed.
"Only if I'm Andie and you're Duckie," he replied and moved in to kiss her. She stopped him. "Hold on, that's not how it ends Abed!"
"I know, it's how it should have ended though."
Annie couldn't really argue with that one.
