Note: This was meant to be a short drabble for Tumblr and I don't know what happened. I DON'T, OKAY, DON'T LOOK AT ME. This is basically what I want the movie to be about, tbh. Technically, this is meant to stand alone, but I'll probably continue it if I ever get the inspiration. And the time.
Jeff glances at his watch and sighs.
It's been thirty minutes since Annie's texted him that she "has something really, REALLY important to tell him so please wait for me in the study room please please PLEASE," followed by a puppy icon, and, really—she's devious and he's pretty much wrapped around her little finger and basically a sucker when it comes to her.
Not that he's evergoing to let anyone know about that.
However, he's run out of games to play to kill the time (Candy Crush can only be interesting for so long before he's itching to throw his phone against the nearest wall) and it's been thirty freaking minutes and Annie's still not here.
Not that he's, you know, worrying or anything. It's just that he has afternoon plans (with Ralph Lauren) and a date (with Netflix), and she's said that she'd be here by now and she's not.
He shoots her a text (again, and no, 4 texts and 2 calls are not excessive because he's got plans) and when a minute passes and he still doesn't get an answer, he may begin to pace. A little.
"Jeff!"
And apparently he's so caught up on thinking about all this time wasted on mindless waiting that he doesn't hear Abed enter the room. "Damn it, Abed. What have I said about sneaking up on people?"
Abed shrugs, "Sorry," then places his hands on his knees and bends down.
It's then that Jeff notices that Abed's trying to catch his breath.
Jeff frowns. "What's wrong with you?" Abed looks like he just ran across campus.
Abed straightens, and his eyes are wide and his breathing is still shallow. "I ran across campus." Figures. There's a pause. "There's something I need to show you."
"While that sounds completely interesting and not at all ambiguous," Jeff says, "I'm kind of waiting for Annie." He glances down at his watch again, and okay, maybe he's starting to get a little bit worried now. "If she ever decides to show up."
"It's important."
"Abed." Jeff sighs. "While I'm sure that your little campus adventures are thrilling and I'd loveto take part in every single minute of it, I can't just abandon Annie. She asked me to wait for her and that's what I'm doing."
"It's about Annie."
"What?" Jeff freezes. "What about her?"
It couldn't be—it couldn't be bad, right? If Abed's still standing there, looking otherwise calm and collected save for his wide-eyed stare…if something had happened to Annie, he would've opened with that, right? Right?
Oh, who is he kidding? This is Abed.
"Abed."
"I need to show you something."
"Abed." Jeff grits his teeth, advancing. "What happened to Annie?"
"Nothing bad. I promise." Abed takes a deep breath. "But you need to come with me. Right now. No questions."
"What—do you really expect me to just follow you after a lead-in like that and ask zero questions about what in the hell you and Annie are up to?"
But Abed's already making his way out of the room.
God damn it, Abed.
::
"Abed." This is bad. Jeff's starting to pant now, and if he's not careful, he's going to sweat through his shirt. And this is his favorite shirt and sweating is not something that he can allow to happen. "Where the hell are we going?"
"I can't tell you or you won't come with me."
Jeff sighs, because he's right. "Is this all Annie's idea?"
"No one's idea, really. We just discovered it by accident."
"Discovered what?"
"Can't tell you."
Jeff sighs again, this time louder and deeper than the last, releasing all his pent-up frustration at Abed's vagueness and why he's even going along with this idiocy. Oh right, because Abed freaking brought Annie into the mix. "I swear to God, Abed."
::
"Abed," Jeff says slowly, approximately twelve minutes later. Not that he was keeping count or anything. "What the hell are we doing here?"
They're standing in the empty faculty lounge.
Over by the vending machines.
Which are pushed aside to reveal the gaping entrance to Borchert's not-so-secret lab.
"We're going down."
"What? No." Jeff grabs onto Abed's arm with a firm grip and shakes his head. "No way. We're not going down there until you tell me what the hell is going on."
"I can't tell you. You have to trust me."
"Abed," Jeff maybe tightens his grip a little, but not tight enough to hurt. "This isn't funny anymore. I know this is all just like another one of your television shows, but I'm not going along with it anymore. Now where's Annie?" He makes a sudden realization, and his eyes widen. "Is she down there?"
There's a pause that Jeff really doesn't like. "…Maybe."
"Abed!" Jeff turns Abed's body to face him with a glare. "How could you let her go down there by herself? Are you crazy?"
"She's not down there." Abed pauses, and Jeff can't understand why his expression's so frustratingly calm. "Well, she is, technically. Except right now she's not."
Jeff frowns. "What?"
Just then, the door to the faculty lounge opens and collides with the wall with a loud bang.
"Abed! Jeff!"
"Annie!"
Finally.
Jeff frowns and does a double take.
Wait.
Annie?
::
It's definitely Annie.
"Hey!" Jeff doesn't miss the relief that floods Abed's face and the smile that forms on his lips. He looks almost…excited, and it's unnerving and a hell of a lot confusing, as far as Jeff's concerned. "You're back!"
Back?
Wait, wasn't she just in Borchert's lab?
Annie's grinning, and she's bouncing excitedly on her heels, the hem of her pleated skirt flaring around her thighs. "How long was I gone?"
Gone?
Abed glances down at the watch Jeff hadn't noticed he was wearing. "Hmm. Eighteen minutes."
"Really?" Annie's eyes widen, and she too looks excited. "I was gone for at least an hour!"
Abed grins, and that, more than anything, is what's most unsettling. "Cool. Cool, cool, cool."
What the hell is going on?
"Abed," Annie says, and she rushes over to them, still bouncing, still excited, still buzzing on adrenaline, it seems like. "I saw you. And I saw Shirley. And Britta, and—"
"Did any of them see you?" Abed's tone is oddly urgent.
"No, of course not." Annie scoffs. "I'm not stupid. I know the risks."
"I know you know the risks. I'm just saying. We need to be careful. This isn't something we can just treat lightly."
"I know that. I—"
"And I don't know," Jeff interrupts, sounding more than a little annoyed, because honestly, she's kept him waiting for thirty minutes and he gets dragged by Abed to the entrance of freaking Borchert's lab and now he's standing here dumbly while listening to their vague, half-assed conversation, "why you guys keep talking in code without even telling me what on earth is going on. To be honest, I'm not even sure I want to know."
Annie turns to him then, looking apologetic, but then again she also has that excited glint in her eye that instantly makes him wary. Because if she's going along with Abed's little episode right now, then it's (highly) possible that he's about to get unwillingly dragged into this sooner or later, because has he mentioned that she's utterly devious and that he's a sucker when it comes to her?
"Jeff," she says, and she lays a hand on his arm, "what if I told you that we could go back? And that we can fix it—all of it?"
Well, that helps clear things up.
"What if I told you that you're speaking English while also not speaking English?"
"What Annie is saying," Abed interrupts, "is that we've found a way to go back in time. Or go forward in time. Whichever you want. We have free rein. As long as we understand the risks, of course."
"Again." Jeff rubs the skin between his eyes with his free hand; he feels a severe headache coming on. "Not English."
"Jeff," Annie says again, and the hand on his arm squeezes tighter. She steps closer to him and looks up at him with wide eyes that make him swallow, because what suddenly happened to personal space and why is that never an issue with her? "I'm about to tell you something important and it's essential that you take me seriously because this is not a joke."
He's too busy staring down at her and focusing on the feel of her breath, warm against the skin of his neck, that he just nods stupidly down at her. "Okay."
Annie leans in further, taking a deep breath.
And then she says in an excited whisper: "Abed and I found a time machine."