Sort of Anti- Jeff and Annie. One- shot.

I let it fall, my heart,

And as it fell you rose to claim it.

It was dark, and I was over,

Until you kissed my lips,

And you saved me...

JEFF

Jeff was smart. Some people didn't think he was, but you had to be to illegally practice law for ten years before getting caught, even if practicing law illegally was terribly ironic. So yeah, Jeff was definitely smart.

But the thing was, Jeff didn't really want to be. Sometimes he liked being smart, as it allowed him to dominate conversations and make witty remarks with lightning speed, but it wasn't really worth it. He wished he could be like Troy, who wasn't smart and didn't really care. Jeff was halfway there, as he didn't really give a shit about school. But, no matter how hard he tried, he just couldn't not be smart.

And he knew he was being crazy, that there was a ton of people who wished they were as smart as him (and why wouldn't they? Jeff was awesome; at least according to himself). But here was the thing: the smarter you were, the more was expected of you. Which brings him back to Troy. No one expected anything from him. If he got an F on an exam, no one would even bat an eye. But if, let's say, Annie got an F on an exam, Jeff would pinch himself to make sure he wasn't dreaming (which he was sure he wouldn't be, as his dreams of Annie rarely ever have anything to do with school; though they do occasionally involve some pinching. And yes, too much information).

Which brings him to Annie. Jeff looks up at her now at their study table. It's the first study session of the year, and she was wearing a short sleeve white cardigan (Jeff wondered why she never wore white. Was she afraid that it enhanced her body too much?) that was unbuttoned two buttons lower than usual (a fact that didn't escape Jeff's mind) with a purple pencil skirt (No tights, either; God either loved him enough to give him a nice view or hated him enough to enjoy watching him pine over a much younger, much much much more innocent person whom he would never have). Needless to say, she looked incredibly sexy. Jeff shook his head, as he couldn't believe he'd thought that someone wearing a cardigan was sexy.

Jeff looked around at his study group, genuinely baffled at how anyone could be looking at anything but her right now. But, no, they were all studying (or at least pretending to), seemingly unaware that an angel sat no more than five feet away from them.

Jeff shook his head again, as he couldn't believe he'd just called someone an angel (in his mind), and that it hadn't even been a pick- up line.

Jeff looked at Annie's face, which was the same as every day, but, nevertheless, beautiful. Right now, it was blank as she studied. Almost peaceful. Wait, no. That couldn't be right. Annie's face was never totally blank when she studied. Sure, to the human eye, it seemed to be, but Jeff had been a lawyer (yes, the 'had been' part stung a little to admit), so he had become quite good at reading expressions. He knew that her brow always furrowed just a little bit, because she was afraid that if she couldn't memorize that one phrase that she would fail a quiz. And then fail a test. And then fail an exam. And then fail the class. And then fail out of college. And then, well, fail at life.

Jeff knew the feeling well.

When Jeff had been disbarred, he had panicked. Sure, on the outside he seemed cool, but on the inside, he was racking his brain on what to do. How could he maintain his lifestyle without a job? How could he maintain his reputation when he attended a community college?

Jeff wondered if Annie would have been able to read his expression just then. Jeff didn't know if Annie was good at reading expressions, but she always seemed to know what he was thinking. Would she have realized that he was in trouble? Would she have offered to help?

Anyway, back to the present (if he had said that out loud Abed would have commented on how that wouldn't have made a plausible movie franchise, as even if you are in the past, wherever you are is your present, so it would have been utterly pointless). Jeff knew how Annie slightly furrowed her brow when she studied. Jeff knew that sometimes she furrowed them slightly more and set her jaw. She would raise her eyes slowly to make sure that no one was watching her at that moment (Jeff would always bring back his gaze to his Spanish book when she did this, pretending to study) and then she would silently flip her Spanish pages (Annie was the only person Jeff knew who could flip pages silently; she'd probably learned how to do that so that she wouldn't distract herself from whatever deep thinking she was in) to the glossary. She would then draw her nail across the page until it stopped at a certain word and it's definition. Her expression would become relieved for a second, and then the furrowing would come back in full force as she pulled out one of her stack of index cards (which she, oddly enough, kept in a playing cards box) and wrote the word and definition. She would then highlight the card (Jeff didn't know the specifics of why she used what color she did, it could have been alphabetical, or level of difficulty, or part of speech. Jeff didn't even know why he was thinking about stupid things like this. Oh yeah, because they had to do with Annie, and everything that has to do with Annie is absolutely fascinating) and stick it neatly in the page where it was needed. She would stare at the page for a few more seconds, and then flip the page and move on.

If only life was that way. If only Jeff could just flip the page and there would be something totally fresh and new in front of him. No more community college. No more living in his cramped apartment. No more studying or crazy adventures. Don't get him wrong, he loved his friends (some more than others), but he didn't like certain qualities about them. Pierce was annoying (though, that wasn't really a problem anymore seeing as Pierce was no longer a part of their group). Shirley was so sweet she induced cavities. Troy thought that it was all about him(Jeff was aware that he also thought this about himself, but the difference is, it is all about him).

You might think that Jeff finds Abed's constant meta-ness/ obsession with cougar town irritating, but no, he can deal with those things. What he can't deal with is that Abed a) always knows what everyone is thinking and feeling, and b) he has the ability to look at everything from an outside-looking-in view. He can take a situation and make a decision based solely on what is right, not what feels right. He doesn't let emotions rule his life, and Jeff respected him immensely for that. But, he was also envious of it. He wished he coul-

"Jeff? We have to go."

Jeff looked up, interrupted out of his ponderings, right into the doe eyes of the girl who had been the subject of most of his thoughts. Jeff looked around to see if anyone was watching them (he usually did this whenever he and Annie shared a 'moment'; he didn't like people seeing them together because he was afraid they'd think he was a creepy old man) and saw Troy and Abed exchange a look, and then walk out of the room.

Jeff frowned. What was that about?

He looked at Annie again, wondering if she'd seen it. When all he was met with was an empty seat, he realized that she'd already left the room, and he had an epiphany. He thought back to more than a year ago at the Tranny Dance when Annie said she was leaving for the summer with Vaughn, then confided in Jeff that she was actually moving there. Jeff had been absolutely shocked, and he actually had thought about telling her how he felt. But what was he supposed to do, whisper 'I love you' when she leaned in for a good-bye hug? And then there was the whole kiss and the Britta thing and awkwardness, and he just never had the chance.

But he did now.

Jeff laughed at his utter stupidity. There was no 'right' or 'wrong' time, there was just Jeff being insecure for one of the first times in his life. He could tell her right now if he wanted to.

Wait, he should tell her right now. Yes, he had to tell her right now before he chickened out. He looked out the door to see her walking away with Troy and Abed, and quickly got out of his seat and went after her, psyching himself up the whole way.

"Annie!" Jeff called out, and man, it wouldn't have sounded cliche except he'd said it in a totally cliche way.

Annie turned around a few seconds before Troy and Abed simultaneously did. Man, that was creepy.

"Yeah?" She asked, looking at him questioningly.

"I- uh, have something I need to talk to you about." He said quietly.

Her expression didn't change. "Shoot." Troy and Abed looked between each other and then back at Jeff.

That was when the whole situation hit Jeff full- force. He'd been too focused on confessing his love for Annie before to notice this, but there was definitely something weird going on here. Troy and Abed were standing so close to Annie that she was squished between them like they were a sandwich, and Troy and Abed were looking at him almost menacingly. Troy was crossing his arms so that his biceps bulged out and Abed was just doing that thing he does where he tilts his head and sees right through you, threatening him mentally rather than physically.

Jeff looked from them to Annie, and was surprised at her expression. Usually she looked at him with looks of longing, or loving, or, well, caring at least. But right now she looked totally indifferent, as if she didn't give a rat's ass what he was saying.

Jeff finally took the whole situation in as a whole and suddenly felt like he was sixteen again, and was going to pick up one of his first girlfriends, Dianne, on their first date. He'd knocked on the door and was greeted by her twenty- year- old very muscular twin brothers. He'd had the courage to face them then, and if he could do that then, why couldn't he do it now? Especially when the guys were more than a decade younger than him?

It was just that much weirder when you knew the people, and when you knew what they were capable of. Troy had beat up a dude with a plastic reindeer, Abed had figured out that he and Britta had been having secret sex, and Annie, well... she packed a mean right hook.

Seriously, did they think he was going to beat her up or something? Jeff was starting to feel really uncomfortable.

"Jeff, whatever you're trying to resolve, can you please speed up the process? Annie has class." Abed said from his spot on the right of Annie.

Oh, so he was talking for her now? That just made him so angry. And the weird thing was that he didn't even know why; the feeling was just overwhelming him. He just felt so... so...

"It can wait." Jeff whispered. Annie shrugged and Troy gave him a curt nod as they all turned and walked down the hallway.

Ugh, crappy ending. Song at the beginning was supposed to show what their relationship used to be.

What do you think, should I make it a two- or three- shot? Please review!

-CC