"Do you want to hang out now? Can I buy you a drink? What do you want?"
"An Appletini."
"Ugh! God! Don't make me order that...please?"
"Please?"
Reluctantly, Jeff got up to get Annie her drink. It was stupid, but he did feel kind of bad about being such a jerk. "God, these people have really gotten under my skin.." He thought. It was more like Annie had really gotten under his skin. She always did.
Up at the bar he ordered her damn Appletini and his single malt scotch, neat.
"That your wife over there?" The bartender asked, "She's very beautiful."
"No, no, she..." He started, but looking over at Annie, sitting on that couch waiting for him, bouncing a bit because, he assumed, she'd won him over, he found himself agreeing, "Yeah...she is."
The bartender said something else, about that goddamn Thoraxis, but Jeff barely heard him and went for a threatening "Piss off!" to make him shut up.
What was it about Annie? How did she always manipulate him like this? Manipulate wasn't really the right word, he thought. She never did it with malice or really any intention what so ever. Her innate goodness just always seemed to rub off on his innate evilness. He used to hate it. Those disney eyes and the princess voice...and the hair...and the boobs...Wow. He really shouldn't be thinking about her boobs right now.
He walked back over to her, drinks in hand.
"Milady?" He said, presenting her the green concoction in a martini glass.
She took it, smiling, "Milord."
He sat down next to her, putting his arm around the back of the couch, and taking a sip from his glass. He didn't notice her stiffen a bit when he grazed her shoulders.
"So..." Annie offered, "who was the tall drink of water?"
He laughed, "Are we play acting being in a 50's noir film now?" She scoffed, but he heard a small chuckle underneath it. She didn't repeat the question, so he answered,
"Some nerd who thought I was Thoraxis."
"That was a nerd?" Annie did not seem convinced.
"Well. Not a nerd in the physical sense, I guess. Her ring-tone was Thoraxis' catch phrase though, so, you be the judge."
Annie laughed and sighed, "Aww. That's cute...and kind of creepy. What's Thoraxis' catch phrase?"
"Bow down before Thoraxis." He looked at her, joking, and lifted his eyebrows suggestively. She coughed a bit on the sip she had been trying to swallow before clearing her throat and giving him her trademark slap on the chest.
"Ugh! Jeff! Gross."
"You say gross, I say destiny."
She frowned at him, but caught a smirk teasing at the corner of his mouth and realising he was at least sort of joking, began to laugh.
"Well. I'm sorry I ruined destiny," she said, giving his side a little nudge with her elbow.
"Hey, destiny can't be ruined...or whatever. Like I even believe in that stuff." He rolled his eyes and took another drink, but she could tell he was lying just a little bit.
After going back in to see the gang, and after Jeff put on his show for the crowd, they all went to the hotel's bar for a few drinks. Minus Shirley and Pierce who hadn't reserved rooms. Shirley didn't seem too pleased to have to drive home with a bragging Pierce, but she didn't have much of a choice. Abed and Troy disappeared early back to Abed's room to plan the next day, and around 11 Britta headed up too. Jeff and Annie sat at a table, a few drinks in.
"Do you think Abed will ever want a girlfriend?" Annie asked, with no prologue.
It caught Jeff by surprise, "Uhh...why? You wanna volunteer?"
She didn't catch the jealousy in his voice, and continued on innocently, "No. It's just weird. Remember when he said women would hit on him? Like he didn't have to do any work?" Jeff nodded. "I saw it in action, but he never goes on dates. I mean, we kissed before but it wasn't really Abed doing it...he was..."
"Wait. What? You kissed Abed? When?" Jeff interrupted, and seemed to be raising his voice. Annie looked at him a bit perplexed.
"Uh...I don't know...two years ago? It was during paintball. He was being Han Solo, we kinda got wrapped up in the moment I guess."
Jeff's brain was spinning, and it wasn't just from the alcohol. He thought about Abed's mouth on Annie's mouth and those thoughts led him back to the night of the Transfer Dance. The last time his mouth had been on Annie's mouth. Was it really that long ago?
"Jeff? Helloo? You okay?" She was waving her hand in his face, he guessed he must have zoned out.
"Yea, yeah. I'm fine. Sorry."
"It's okay." She seemed unfazed by his mini-freak out and continued, "I guess I'm just curious if Abed's like asexual or something...I guess that's not a nice thing to talk about." She shook her head, trying to shake the curiosity away. It really wasn't important. "As long as he's happy I guess."
She reached down with her mouth to the straw in her drink, trying to take a sip. Tipsy as she was, she missed a few times before finally settling on it and sucking up ice-water. It was adorable...and sexy. Her lips were so red and he could almost imagine...no. Jeff could feel his heartbeat quicken and he felt hot all over.
"You want a refill?" He choked out.
She looked up at him with a smile and looked back down at her drink. Laughing, she realised it was empty.
Smiling, she said, "Oh no! I'm good. I feel a little light headed, so it's probably time to stop."
"You okay? Need to lie down or something?" The look of genuine concern on his face made her feel a little tingly.
"No, no. I'm fine."
They stared at each other for a few seconds, but it felt like hours. The could both feel this weird heat rising between them, this...tension. It wasn't awkward silence tension either. Annie glanced down at Jeff's mouth the moment he licked his bottom lip, and her eyes suddenly felt heavy. Looking back up, she imagined her eyes must look similar to his right now. She couldn't put it into words, but Jeff could. Their eyes were filled with desire.
He saw her fingers drop quietly from her glass, and slowly inch towards his hand. Different emotions ran through him at once. Confusion, trepidation, anticipation, arousal...he wasn't sure if he wanted her to take hold of him or not.
He wanted her, sure, he always had. Her play acting from earlier in the day was fresh on his mind though. She was still so young...but it wasn't that. He was scared. Of losing his friend, of hurting her...and although he wouldn't admit it out loud, he was pretty afraid of getting hurt himself. At the last minute he pulled his hand away, reaching for his glass and bringing it up to his lips, finishing off his drink. She seemed to come to and grab her hand back, placing them in her lap, a flush rising to her cheeks.
Tentatively she glanced up at him and muttered, "Sorry."
He sighed, and sat back in his chair. Suddenly he remembered something he had wanted to ask her.
"Annie, can I ask you something?"
She looked up, still blushing and managed to squeak out a little, "Sure."
"What'd you tell the hotel guy our relationship...um...our marriage was like?" He was sincere, and she looked up at him swiftly. She seemed to be blushing even more, if it was possible.
"Um...I don't know Jeff...does it really matter?"
He swallowed thickly and looked down at his empty glass, "Was it that awful?"
"What? No! It wasn't awful at all. Why would I pretend to have an awful marriage with anyone?"
She looked genuinely confused and he felt around for the right words, "I guess...well...whenever I think of marriage, just in an abstract sense, it always ends in crying and pain and...awfulness."
He looked up, expecting an "Aww" or a disney face featuring pity tears, but instead Annie looked a little angry? Why was she angry?
"Jeff." She said sternly, "Just because you've seen marriages end up that way, doesn't mean they all do. Not all relationships end horribly and tragically. I mean, you and Britta are still friends right?"
"I wouldn't call that a relationship." He said sullenly, glancing up at Annie picturing that cute little put-out face, but she looked just as compassionate as before.
"Well, maybe it wasn't a traditional relationship, but it still counts. And what do you think Troy and Britta are gonna do when they break up? Stop talking to each other? No. They're gonna be friends because they were friends first and would never intentionally hurt each other. That's love. Bar some unforgivable tragedy, love doesn't just go away. I mean, look at Shirley! That was an unforgivable tragedy or whatever, and she still loves Andre."
"What about my parents?" Jeff said, apparently in a rare honest mood.
Annie looked at him sadly, "Oh Jeff," she said, grasping his hand and giving it a squeeze, "I don't know enough about it to say for certain...but I guess what I'm trying to say is that sometimes bad things happen. Sometimes terrible things happen, but it has to, to leave room for the good stuff. If you anticipate that everything will be bad, if you never take any risks then...it's a self fulfilling prophecy. You have to believe in a little bit of good. And I know you can, cause I've seen it."
Jeff was suddenly very aware of her hand in his. It felt...good. It felt...right? He wanted to say something dumb, like how cliche she was or that she sounded like a disney movie, but maybe some of that cliche'd bullshit had gotten to him. Or maybe he was just drunk and in the morning he'd be miserable again. Or maybe she was right about everything, because honestly, he wasn't that drunk.
She saw him concentrating on his thoughts a little too hard, and decided to answer his earlier question.
"You were a lawyer and I was a world famous police detective. Dual careers put a stress on things so we went on a trip so you could..." She cut herself off, realising that the next bit was something she didn't really want him to know.
Seemingly awakened from his thoughts, Jeff eagerly chimed in, "What? So I could what?"
She hesitated, "Uh...so you could uh...finally see me as...a um...as a...woman?" She choked it out and immediately lay her head on the table, blush once again heating up her face.
Instead of the laughter she expected, or the snide comment, she felt Jeff rub his thumb across the back of her hand.
"Annie. Look at me."
She slowly raised her head, but her eyes stayed planted on the table.
"Annie." He reached out and placed his finger beneath her chin, lifting her head up to look at him. Just like last year when she had made a fool of herself in front of the whole school. She guessed this would end the same way. Some sort of heartfelt statement and a quick brush off.
"Annie..."
"I know. I'm a child for even saying that. I'm sorry."
"No. You're not a child."
She looked at him then, searching for a smirk or laughter but his face was serious.
"I'm not?" She whispered.
"That's why it's so hard. You were never a child. Remember what I said to you last year?"
She tried to think, but couldn't remember. She shook her head.
Recalling that night he said, "It's a crutch. It's a way for me to tell you how important you are from a distance..."
Her eyes widened, understanding for the first time and suddenly his face was much closer to hers.
"How important am I Jeff?" She breathed out, barely making a sound.
"I don't want to lose what we have. This stuff is scary. I'm...scared. Of hurting you...of getting hurt."
"I won't hurt you, Jeff." She felt tears poke at the corners of her eyes, and could feel his breath on her lips.
"Annie..." It came out almost like a moan. "I think I finally believe that."
He closed the gap between them.