The study group members were all sitting at the table. It was quiet as they all sat, reading peacefully. Britta was mindlessly chewing the cap of her blue pen, leaning over her book resting her head on her hand as her elbow rested next to her book. Troy had his feet kicked up on the table with his book in his lap. Annie held a highlighter in her hand, and was studiously flipping back and forth between a few pages. Pierce was squinting through his glasses. He pulled them off and wiped them on his shirt before placing them back at his nose, but he continued to squint. Shirley held her large black purse on her lap and happily hummed to herself every few minutes. Abed was sitting straight in his chair, book square with the edge of the table, pen sitting perfectly positioned next to it. And Jeff, of course, was reclined back in his chair, typing on his phone when he suddenly stopped, stretched his thumb, and grunted.
"Okay, that's it," Britta said as she threw down her pen and looked over at him.
"What?" he said back.
"You keep doing that," she told him.
"Doing what?" he asked.
"Grunting, and it's really annoying."
He shook his head and said, "no I don't."
"Actually, Jeffrey, you do," Shirley stated and the rest of the group agreed.
"What's the deal, Winger?" Britta asked him.
Jeff sat forward, and dropped his phone on the table then said, "I have a splinter in my thumb and I can't get it out, so every time I use it, a stabbing pain shoots through my hand."
"Ohhh," Shirley and Annie cooed at him with sympathetic looks on their faces.
Pierce scoffed, "you sissy." But Jeff didn't reply, just shot him an angry look.
"Man, I hate that!" Troy said.
"Yeah, it's the worst," Abed agreed.
Britta got up and stood next to Jeff. "Where is it?" she asked.
He lifted his right hand and she could see there was a large splinter on the outer side of his thumb. She grabbed his wrist and pulled him to stand up, then pushed his books over to the side of the table.
"Wow, I'm flattered, but do you really want to do this in front of everyone?" Jeff asked as he smiled down at Britta.
She rolled her eyes and said, "do you want my help or not?"
"I don't remember asking you."
"That's because you're too proud to admit you need help from someone," she told him and stared at him.
After a few moments, he relented. "Fine."
"Sit," she said as she pushed him down on the table. "Anyone have a safety pin?" she asked the group.
"Here, sweetie," Shirley said as she pulled a large pin from her purse.
"Thanks," Britta reached over the table to accept it, then turned back to Jeff. "Scoot back a bit," she told him and he moved until the backs of his knees were at the edge of the table. Britta turned around and sat down on the table between his legs, with her back against his chest, then took his thumb in her hands.
He leaned down to her ear and asked, "shouldn't you at least buy me dinner first?"
"Sit still and be quiet," she told him.
"If that's the way you like it," he said with a smile.
She poked him in the ribs with her elbow, then raised his thumb in her hands. She opened the safety pin and began poking at the splinter.
"Ouch!" he yelled and pulled back his hand.
"Don't be a baby," she told him.
"Are you even qualified to do this?" he asked, looking down at her.
She tilted her head toward his, their faces were only inches apart. She glanced down at his lips for a moment then looked into his eyes. "I have three nephews who I babysit a lot. They're always getting slivers and when I get them out, they all handle it much better than you are right now, and the youngest one is three," she told him. "So give me your hand and stop whining." He wrapped his arm around her waist and turned his thumb up. She groaned, grabbed his arm and pulled it off of her stomach, then continued her work.
"This would make for a great way to induce sexual tension," Abed said. He held his hands up and made a square with his thumbs, closed one eye and looked through his hands at Jeff and Britta. She looked up from Jeff's hand for a moment, considered Abed's comment, then looked back down to continue working.
If we didn't have an audience, I'd agree with you, Abed," Jeff said. "I can turn it up though, if you guys want a show," he reached over with his free hand and placed it on Britta's thigh.
"Jeff, I have a sharp object in my hands," she told him without stopping or looking up. "So consider your next move very carefully." He promptly removed his hand.
She spent a few minutes poking, then spoke, "you have really soft hands." It was quiet and gentle.
"Thanks, I think," he said with a confused look on his face.
She turned her face to look at him, "yeah, that's a good thing," she replied with a smile. He smiled back and they stared at each other.
"Will they or won't they. There's that classic sexual tension," Abed said, mainly to himself.
Jeff and Britta looked away from each other, "they won't," she told Abed.
"Can you hurry up, Britta?" Troy asked. "You guys are kind of distracting."
"Yeah, maybe he should just go to the medical center," Annie offered.
Britta looked back at his hand, "no, I've almost got it." She put down the safety pin and squeezed his thumb.
"Ow!" he yelled but didn't pull away.
"Calm down, it's almost out," she said, then seconds later she yelled in triumph. "Ah ha!" She lifted her hand up to show Jeff the splinter as everyone in the room cheered. He leaned down to inspect it closer.
"Huh, doesn't look like it should have been causing so much pain," he said. She smiled then turned her face up to his as he looked at her seriously then said, "thanks."
"You're welcome" she told him, and glanced down at her hand. He reached down and brushed his fingers across her palm as he picked it up with his thumb and pointer finger, then blew it out in front of them. When he did so, his breath ruffled a few of her curls, and flowed across the back of her neck, which sent a shiver through her body. She stared at his fingers for a moment, then looked back up at him. He held her gaze until she glanced down at his lips again, then licked her own and turned her eyes back to his. He was still holding his hand in the air next to her face and with the way she was looking at him he automatically turned his palm toward her face and began closing the distance between his hand and her jaw. Until ...
"Um, guys," Annie said, breaking their trance.
Jeff dropped his hand as Britta looked away and slowly scooted forward off of the table. Jeff followed her then they both sat back down in their seats. He looked up at the group who were all looking back and forth between him and Britta with shocked looks on their faces. "Okay, where were we?" he asked.
"You and the blonde were about to make out on the table," Pierce said.
"Shut up, Pierce!" Britta yelled at him. "No we weren't." She looked down at her book and brushed her hair out of her face, as she started chewing on her pen again.
The group resumed studying and Jeff picked up his phone and went back to typing, this time without groaning. After the hour was over they all filed out of the room and Britta reached into her purse to grab her phone. She looked at the screen and saw she had a text from Jeff. She unlocked her phone and read it.
'Yes we were' was all it said. She looked up at Jeff who was already out of the study room talking to Troy as they walked out of the library. She smiled and bit her lip subconsciously, then put her phone back in her purse and followed the group out of the room.