"Hey man, um this is Troy Barnes…from study group. Hey, I wanted to give you a call and let you know about Pierce. He passed away last night. Um, so I don't know if you can make it back to town, but there are some services this weekend. Pierce talked about you a lot recently…about the whole group, so it'd be nice to see ya. Well, thanks. Ah, have a good night."
Jeff stopped when he heard that message. Troy Barnes. Study group. Hadn't heard those words in a while. Hadn't thought about study group in a while. Pierce gone. He brought his hands to his head trying to decide just how to feel about this, how to handle it. He could make a donation or something like that- send a huge flower arrangement. He did out of state after all. No one could really blame him for not attending. Despite the overwhelming urge to do just that- to blow it off…he found himself pricing out tickets to Colorado.
Jeff sat quietly in his rental car. This was the type of thing that someone has to sike themselves up for, even fancy, hot shot, six figure lawyers. He wasn't completely sure what part of this ordeal made him so very uncomfortable. It was partly Pierce being dead. Finding out an old friend died would shake anyone up. It was partly Greendale. Just being here. Just passing the same buildings and the same streets as he did ten years ago. It was partly…mostly, wondering who else would be there. Would it be the whole group?
"Dude! What up?" Jeff was snapped out of his thoughts by a knock on the window. Troy stood outside and gave an enthusiastic wave. Jeff left his car and greeted his old friend with a hug.
"Hey man…sorry about Pierce. I know you guys were close" Troy shook his head and smiled.
"It's all right, he had a great life. He really made a difference, ya know?" Jeff didn't know. He hadn't really kept in touch with the group after he left Greendale. He got a few Christmas cards from Shirley and exchanged some emails with Britta but that was it really. Oh and Abed had called once when he was in New York. They went to see a special showing of Ghost Busters. That was 5 years ago…maybe 6.
"Come on, the whole gang is inside." Troy said as they headed for the door.
They were all there. As soon as he walked into the room he spotted every one of them. Shirley, standing next to her husband with a small smile on her face. Britta carefully signing what Jeff imagined was a guestbook. Abed, pointing at something as he quietly spoke with Annie. Annie. He looked at her quickly before immediately averting his eyes. He hadn't seen her since graduation, since they all went their separate ways.
Shirley got her degree in secondary education and became a teacher in Greendale. He heard that she was happy with her husband and sons.
Britta eventually went on to some fancy, liberal arts school on the east coast where she received a doctorate in Women's Studies. He kept in touch with her for a while, but eventually they just became too busy. Neither pretended that they had anything resembling a relationship or even a friendship.
Abed finished his degree in accounting. Everyone had tried to convince him to pursue film studies. It was obvious that was where his passion was. He said he would use his degree to manage the falafel business.
Troy had gone to work for Pierce after graduation. The two actually made quite the team. They started a Karaoke Limousine company that Jeff had heard was pretty successful.
And Annie…Annie had laid it all on the line for him graduation day, said it was time for him to decide what it was he wanted. Did he want her in his post-Greendale life? Or not? Jeff took a moment to remember that conversation…Her wide eyes, her pouting mouth.
"I don't…Annie, this will never work. I mean… I'm a lawyer again." He hadn't meant for it to be quite that harsh and honestly he had expected her to argue with him. He had expected her to text him a few days later. He had expected her to pine. He had expected her to try at least one more time. She didn't. The very next day, Annie accepted an offer to join the Peace Corps. She left Greendale a few shorts months after. Two years after graduation, Shirley had sent him a newspaper clipping showing a smiling Annie standing next to what looked like a shanty house in the jungle. She held a shovel in her hand. The headline read "Local Girl Saves the World." Three years after that he received a classy, well-worded wedding invitation. She had written in her perfectly perfect script "Hope to see you. It's been a while. –Annie." He had ignored it.
He couldn't ignore her now though. There she was. Her brown hair was pulled back into a neat, tight bun. Her once innocent always adorable lips were carefully painted red. She wasn't dressed like his Annie. No devilishly short skirt. No colorful leggings or slightly-too-tight sweater. She seemed taller in her tailored black pants suit. There was a small American flag pin on her lapel. He had no idea what she did for a living.
It was so strange. Annie, jailbait Annie now looked more mature than every woman he had dated in the past ten years. The age difference seemed like nothing now. The difference between 45 and 30 was not nearly as daunting as the difference between 35 and 20 had been.
"Hi Jeff." She smiled. She still sounded like his Annie…a little calmer, but still her. She was right in front of him now. He noticed her black leather purse and wondered if it contained a day planner and several colorful gel pens. He hoped so.
"Fancy meeting you here." He said. Crap. That was supposed to be cool, but it completely fell flat. He was at a wake. Seriously not cool. She gave him a crooked, strained smile.
"How are you? Mr. Hot Shot Lawyer! I heard you made partner."
"Yeah. A few years ago actually. How are you doing?"
"Good. Pierce…It was such sad news. I knew it was coming, but somehow it still caught me off guard. It's weird. Him being gone. It's like the group is really over." That caught him by surprise. For him the group was over a long time ago. It was over the day after graduation when he started making plans to move as far away from Greendale as possible
"Oh well…All things come to an end I guess." She added. In that instant, he saw a familiar look in her eyes. It was an acknowledgement of something shared something that had been hidden and special. She bit her bottom lip just a little and it was just like the old Annie…well the young Annie…
"Ya look good Jeff. I'm glad post- Greendale life is treating you well. Hey, I'll talk to you later ok?" And there it was . Post Greendale life. The life she asked him for. The life she offered him on graduation day. He knew she was being genuine. He was partner at a successful firm. He was a lawyer. He told her that's what he wanted. Why should she have any reason to think otherwise?
She gave him the smallest and politest of hugs before walking off and catching up with a tall, well dressed man who put his arm around her and gave her a comforting squeeze. She looked up with a thankful gaze.
"That should have been me." He said as he watched Annie and her husband pay their respects. He had said it mostly to himself, but realized that Abed had been standing right behind him.
"Funny, isn't it?" Abed said as he snuck up to Jeff and stood next to him.
"We always think there is time left. We always think there is going to be another opportunity. Another season. There isn't though. And all that will they/won't they stuff is just garbage, because they don't. The guy doesn't always get the girl." Jeff looked at an older, worn looking Abed and shrugged his shoulders. Abed cocked his head to the side and continued.
"But television misleads us doesn't it? It's not real. In real life…you mess things up. You let the girl of your dreams walk away and she never looks back. You make the wrong choice and you deal with the consequences. You leave for a law firm. You run a falafel business. Every day you think maybe you'll change things-maybe there will be a late season twist. Maybe you will pick up the phone and ask her to take you back. Maybe you sell the family business and pursue your passion. You don't though…and someday you realize that you were never in a sitcom at all. You were in real life…and you blew it ."