Test Audience Influence on Character Development 101

Author's Note: I've been working on this story for some time now and even though, I was planning to release it all in one go, watching this section of it just sit around doing nothing as I work on next part was driving me mad. So, now I'll be releasing it in chapters. Hopefully, you'll like it!

Chapter 1

Those words had been spinning around in Annie's brain for days now. She just couldn't seem to get them out of there. Anytime things got quiet, they were there, just repeating over and over. She wasn't sure if it was the words themselves or the way they were said but despite all her efforts, she just could not shake them off.

Maybe she had brought this onto herself, people always said to let sleeping dogs lie…

But that day had been trying in so many ways, from burying Pierce to the deeply invasive polygraph session and the bombshell of Troy's decision. By the time they'd left the bar, she was exhausted, overwhelmed with emotions and, okay, maybe she'd been a little drunk too. All she had wanted was to go home and log on to Facebook and chat with her online boyfriend, only to be reminded that she couldn't because he'd never been real. It had just been Abed toying with her emotions for breakfast food!

She'd glared at his profile as he looked out of passenger seat window of Jeff's Lexus. He had been nice enough give them a ride home after Troy had borrowed her car so he could go over to his mom's house. He had some rather important news to tell her, after all. She still couldn't believe that her secret love story had been all a lie, but not only that, it had also been a cruel prank from one of her dearest friends. How dared he do this to her? Did he even realize how much he had hurt her? He could have just asked if he wanted stupid pancakes! Why put her heart through the ringer at the same time?

By the time they'd made it into the apartment, she was fuming and on the verge of tears. It had been as if all the emotions of the day had come back up like a great wave trying to take her under. So many things that were important to her had changed in one day, and she didn't do well with change, at all. She wished she could have just been sad about Pierce's death, not also mourning a relationship and, anticipating the pain that would come when Troy would leave. But no, everything had to come crashing down around her all at once. She'd been shaking as she closed the door behind them. Much to her surprise, Abed had taken notice of her distress and paused, already halfway in the blanket fort.

"Are you upset about Pierce being dead or about Troy going away?"

"Both, Abed," she'd sighed as her bottom lip started to quiver, emotions finally spilling over and causing to raise her voice. "I'm upset about both! And normally, I'd just log on and tell Brent about it, but I can't now, can I?"

"If you want I can—"

"You can what? Pretend to be him some more? Is that what you were gonna say?"

He had nodded, his head tilted to the side a little like he always did when he tried to figure out another person's emotion. "If it would help you feel better."

In that moment, the anger inside of her had turned to fury. She couldn't believe her ears at his audacity. He would continue to play her pretend boyfriend if it would help her feel better! She knew even he had to realize just how ridiculous and twisted that was.

"No, Abed! It wouldn't make me feel better," she had shouted back, fists shaking at her side. She had watched him raise his hand slowly, one long finger sticking up as if he was about to ask a question she had already anticipated. "It wouldn't make me feel better because it wouldn't be real! Because my boyfriend isn't real! I thought I'd found someone who liked me and you were just playing pretend like always!"

He'd tried to interject something, looking at her with wide eyes as she just poured her heart out.

"No! Let me finish! Why do you even do that, huh?" She had questioned, as she thought back on all those men he'd pretended to be; Brent Underjaw, and Han Solo, and Batman. She'd chosen to ignore Don Draper since she'd volunteered to be in that situation, as well that time he had been Jeff in the Dreamatorium, urging her to relive their second kiss, since that had just been too weird and she'd rather forget about that one. "Why do you act like you're attracted to me when you're playing some role?!"

"Because those are the only times you're attracted to me."

The words had fallen from his lips in his usual monotone voice, there'd been no particular emotion to them, no agenda attached or anything like that. No anger or sadness, no accusation or no attempts at self-deprecation. He had not been trying to make her feel guilty or have her argue that it wasn't true. They'd simply been a statement of fact.

And one for which she had no reply for that quite honestly. All she'd been able to do was stare up at him, her anger forgotten and her pain dulled out for a moment. His words had stunned her. She'd never even considered the possibility that Abed only appeared to be interested in her when they played pretend together because those were the only times she appeared to be interested in him.

She'd be standing there silently for a whole minute when Abed had mentioned he'd be in the blanket fort if she needed him, but that he'd rather be alone for a while, if that was okay. She'd simply nodded, still lost deep in her thoughts.

Days after the fact, those words were still whirling around in her brain, and she kept trying to push them away, but they came back every time. It didn't help that it was the weekend and she was alone in the apartment with nothing to do but think. Troy and Abed were out somewhere, making the most of the last couple of days before Troy's scheduled departure, and she hadn't been invited along. She didn't mind too much, knowing quite well how hard the separation was going to be for both of them. They needed to get in all the Troy-and-Abed time they could before then, but this meant more time with her thoughts. She had tried to keep busy, doing two extra credit projects and reorganizing her entire closet yesterday. Now, it was two in the afternoon, and she had already done all the therapeutic cleaning she possibly could do. She sat down at the table, her eyes moving over the entire room and landing on one of the recliners, picturing the top of Abed's head peaking up over the back of it and once again, the same question came back to mind.

Was it true..?

Had she only been attracted to Abed when he was playing a role? She had to admit that she'd never spent much time thinking about him that way. She knew he wasn't unattractive in any way; Abed had very nice eyes and probably the most perfect skin she'd ever seen in real life. Even Jeff got a pimple every once in a while! (Although no one in the group was allowed to mention that fact anymore… not after the last time.) He was tall too and had great cheekbones, and other girls seemed attracted to him. But to be frank, she hadn't really paid that much attention to his appearance, because he was, you know, Abed. Her friend. Did that make her a bad person? Or a shallow one? No, it couldn't make her shallow to not have really noticed someone's appearance? Right?

So, what was it that made her attracted to Han Solo and Don Draper when Abed played them? What was it that made her heart beat so fast when Han kissed her under a rain of orange paint and made her feel so deeply disappointed when Abed acted like nothing happened later on? What was it about Abed in that silly Batman suit that made her feel kind of weak in the knees? It wasn't like she imaged Christian Bale under the fabric cowl after all.

With a frustrated sigh, Annie stood up and headed for her bedroom, closing the door behind her, even though she was alone in the apartment. She grabbed the emergency notebook she kept in the drawer of her bedside table and settled down on her bed. Writing things down always helped her feel more in control and right now, she felt anything but. She reached over to grab a pen without looking, and once it was in her hand, she noticed it was one of her purple ones.

Her mind flashed back to that day, in the study room, when she had shown the group a side of herself she would have preferred to keep hidden. (She had switched from purple pens to boring blue ones for a while after that – even though the different in colors in her notebooks drove her crazy – just to make sure she wouldn't behave that way again.) Thinking about it now, Abed had been the one person not to make a big deal of her freak out. He'd only been concerned about the whole thing turning into a bottle episode, in large part due to his lack of understanding of facial expressions. And sure, when Britta had realized that he'd been tracking their menstrual cycle, it had felt weird and invasive to say the least, but his heart had been in the right place. Truth be told, she kind of missed the chocolates he used to give them.

The one positive thing about that day, and she would never admit it, not even under torture, had been their chance to peek at the boys in their underwear. At first, she'd tried to look away after the guys had moved out from behind their table to go and cut open Pierce's casts, but that hadn't lasted long. Admittedly, her eyes had been mainly on Jeff and Troy, but she'd also been taken aback by Abed's physique as he'd been standing around in his tighty-whities. He was skinny, that was a given, but he also had abs and surprisingly well-defined muscles. Thinking about it now, Annie felt a blush rising to her cheeks. Alright, so maybe she was a little bit attracted to Abed, physically at least. It didn't change the fact that on a day-to-day basis, she didn't see him that way, except if he was being somebody else. So, why was that?

Shaking her head hoping that it will clear her mind of the images currently filling her brain, Annie turned back to her notebook, purple pen in hand. With a steady hand, she traced a line down the middle of the page, separating it in two columns and titling one of them, Things I Find Attractive in Men, and the other, A., just in case one of the boys decided to come snooping into her room. It wasn't very likely, since she'd made it clear to them that it was off limits, and with Troy leaving soon, they had more important things to think about, but one could never be too sure. Especially not when comparing a good friend to a list of qualities she liked. Pausing at that thought, she couldn't help but wonder, for the second time today, if this made her shallow person..?

"No, this is fine," she assured herself and the stuffed animals on her bed who appeared to be judging her. "It's purely academic curiosity," she added, nodding her head stubbornly.

As she lied to herself, Annie put the tip of her pen to the page. She was about to start writing the first item on her list – A nice smile – something Abed definitely had but very rarely showed the world, except when a character demanded it - when the front door opened before slamming shut. She gasped and quickly closed her notebook. Looking down at it now, it felt as if she'd just been caught red-handed doing something horribly wrong. Without thinking, she took the now offending notebook and buried it at the bottom of her sock drawer, as far back as possible. Straightening her skirt, and nervously smoothing down her hair, she made her way back to the living room to see why the boys had slammed the door in such fashion… and why they weren't talking?

The reason why they weren't talking became apparent the second Annie walked out of her room, it was because there was no "they", only Abed taking off his Inspector Spacetime bowler hat and placing it carefully on the Official Inspector Spacetime Coat Rack™ they'd gotten him for Christmas last year.

"Where's Troy?" She asked, peeking around the corridor, in case their roommate simply rushed to the bathroom as they came in.

"His mom called while we were out, she told him some of his cousins and his nana wanted to see him before his trip and that he had to go over to her house for dinner." To most people, Abed's monotone could led them to believe that he was simply recounting the events, not really caring one way or the other, but Annie had gotten pretty good at reading her friend over the years. His eyes were downcast and there was a little bit of twitch in his mouth as he paused; it was clear to her that there was something more to the story, something that was upsetting him. Before she could ask what it was, he filled in the blank for her. "She said it was family only too, and that I wasn't allowed to go."

"Oh, Abed, I'm sorry." She reached out for him, placing a sympathetic hand on his bathroom-clad wrist and discounting the little spark that seemed to run under her fingers as static electricity. She hated seeing him like this, and from the look in his eyes she could already imagine where his mind was headed, probably telling himself that if he'd been "normal", he would have been invited along. She knew it was unfair, but she couldn't help mentally chastising Troy's mom for cutting the boys' remaining time together even shorter. She squeezed his wrists a little, getting his attention back on her. With a gentle smile, she proposed, "why don't you get changed while I make some special drink and then we can binge a season of any show you'd like?"

The words seemed to get him out of his dark thoughts. Annie spotted a spark of excitement in those dark eyes of his as he mentioned that he'd been meaning to rewatch The Cape, and she couldn't help but feel quite pleased with herself. She loved making her friends happy, and making Abed happy was especially rewarding. For some reason, seeing his face light up, even just a little, always made her feel like she could do anything, something she'd found out after apologizing to him for the whole Duncan Principle fiasco. The way his face had changed when he'd seen the DVDs in the little giftbag she had carefully decorated with ribbons had been so unexpected that it had burned itself into her memory.

With that thought, the brunette became painfully that she had yet to apologize for yelling at him a few nights ago. She'd been meaning to, of course, but as much as she wished to deny it, she'd been avoiding one-on-one time with Abed since then. But tonight, he needed her and her confused feelings over his comment or about him catfishing her would just have to take a backseat for the evening.