HI I'M BACK! So for anyone who was reading my Bethyl story... I'm sorry guys. After my Team Delusional dreams were crushed I just hit a roadblock. I hope to get back to that story at some point but right now it still makes me depressed to write it. This story however makes me ridiculously happy! Jeff x Annie are the OTP of OTPs, okay? And I hope all of the Bethyl and J/A fans who read Out of the Woods will enjoy it. As for anyone new, I hope you enjoy it too! I plan to update every Sunday. A plan that won't be hard to stick with because I'm really into this story guys :) ENJOY and comments are encouraged!
His heart thumping in anticipation, Jeff knew that they would make it to their respective doors at the same time. Her car had pulled into the spot next to his right as he'd been walking into the building's entrance. She would take the elevator, because that's what she always did. He would take the stairs, because Jeff Winger never missed an extra chance to burn some calories. It was even more important today considering that Thompson's kids had baked brownies for the entire office. "Chock full of love," Thompson had declared, which really meant that it was full of butter.
If he paced out his steps correctly then she'd be getting off of the elevator for their floor at the same time he'd have climbed his way up. This was important because he wasn't quite willing to lurk in the staircase, waiting for the sound of the 'ding' that meant she'd arrived. He wasn't that far gone.
After taking the first six flights of stairs two at a time, Jeff slowed down to a casual pace for the last four. It wasn't worth it to see her if he was going to show up all sweaty and out of breath. Which turned out to be a perfect plan because when he opened the stairwell door, with absolutely zero sweat stains marring his $450 Ralph Lauren dress shirt, she was just stepping off the elevator. Her hands filled to the brim with grocery bags, she didn't even notice Jeff.
That's when he saw it: his opportunity. His in.
"Hey," he called out to her. It was the same thing he said to her every day, the only thing he'd ever said to her. Except this time Jeff lowered his voice an octave and put on his most charming smile. "Need help?"
She jumped slightly when she realized that she wasn't alone in the hallway. One of her bags began to fall from her hands at the motion and the girl let out an overly dramatic gasp.
"Whoa," he shot forward to grab the groceries before they hit the ground. A glance inside the bag he'd caught made her reaction to the potential disaster more understandable. "Eggs and milk? You're lucky I was here."
Her face broke into a small smile that Jeff easily returned.
"Yeah, I am," she said after a moment. "Thank you. I'm Annie."
"Jeff. Nice to meet you, Annie."
She, Annie, instinctively reached out to shake his hand, but stopped herself once she realized that she didn't really have an extra hand to spare.
"Sorry, um," Annie rummaged around awkwardly in her purse for a moment before pulling out a key. With a small laugh she apologized, "kind of got my hands full here."
"Want some help carrying everything inside?"
The look of hesitation that crossed her face made Jeff immediately regret his words. It hadn't even been some sort of line to get into her apartment, he'd just figured she was struggling and he could help. She didn't know that though. All she knew was the guy who constantly stared at her whenever they stood in the hallway together was trying to invite himself in.
"Not to be creepy or anything, just to-" he hastily tried to explain but she cut him off.
"No, I know. I just… My place is still kind of a mess."
Jeff hoped too much relief didn't seep into his smile as he nodded in understanding. "I get it, it took me six months to get my condo all finished. You've only been here, what, two months?"
"Ten weeks today." Probably involuntarily, Annie bounced up and down excitedly as she spoke those words.
Forcing back an amused laugh, Jeff inquired, "First time being a homeowner?"
Annie's gaze flickered away from him, so he knew she was lying even as she answered him with a confident, "Yes!" He didn't really bother to think too far into it though. It didn't matter. Even though he was prepared to flirt with this woman as much as possible he probably wasn't going to get involved with her. And by 'get involved' he meant 'fuck her'. He didn't know enough about Annie to make a decision yet, but Jeff had gone the neighbor route before and it hadn't been worth it.
No matter how great Michelle had been with her tongue.
"Jeff?" Annie was looking at him curiously from inside her apartment. "Do I need to invite you in or something? Are you a vampire?"
The teasing way she said it was sort of adorable, enough to keep him from cringing at a younger woman bringing up vampires. It automatically meant that she had to be under twenty five, at least in Jeff's experience. That was two strikes against this girl: neighbor and young enough to be especially psycho if they slept together and then Jeff never called her. Plus she seemed to really enjoy pink. Another strike.
The walls of her apartment were still white, but there were about a dozen swatches of various shades of pink hung up on the walls. Jeff made it his business to be in tune with female taste and even he didn't realize there were that many shades of pink. The rest of Annie's place was pretty neutral though. Not that far from his own really. Except all of the furniture looked mismatched and worn, as if they'd been salvaged from as many garage sales as there were pieces of it.
Maybe that was the lie? Had she owned a house before that had been foreclosed? If that was the case he would lie about it too- but then how the hell could she afford a condo here?
Following her into the kitchen, Jeff gently placed the bag he carried onto the wood floor. The kind of wood that looked worn in, but actually cost a solid $50 per square foot. How was this girl affording this place? Jeff's place hadn't been too expensive but that was only because the previous owner had let it go to shit and he'd had to fix most of it up himself.
The counter space was completely taken up with boxes of appliances that had yet to be opened. Annie followed his stare and laughed nervously.
"I'm guessing you weren't this unorganized after ten weeks," her face turned slightly pink as she looked around the messy room.
"No, but I'm also kind of a control freak, so don't feel too bad."
Annie's mouth quirked into a grin. "Me too, so it's killing me that this is all such a disaster."
Control freak? Another strike. He should really just get out of here because he was realizing by the second that he shouldn't let anything come of this.
"It's just that I work two jobs," Annie continued, "and go to school on top of that. Thankfully a couple of my friends from my bartending job are coming over this weekend to help me paint and organize. I just still have to decide on a wall color but of course-"
Jeff let Annie's voice drift in and out as he weighed out that new piece of information in his head. Getting involved with her had seemed like a surefire no, even though he'd only spent minutes with her, but if she was a bartender… If his past experience was anything to go by, bartenders were freaks in the sack. Plus they were usually pretty chill about one night stands and no strings attached. This girl definitely didn't look like a bartender though. She looked like some overeager, innocent kid. Which turned him on more than he was willing to admit to anyone but his therapist. He could corrupt her so fucking hard it wasn't even funny.
Christ, he needed to get out of here and think harder about what he was going to do. Looking at her chatting away in her painfully short, floral skirt- one that she wore with tights (seriously, who wore tights anymore? And why was he so into it?), not to mention a freaking cardigan. Her bangs were pulled away from her face with just the tiniest wisps of hair falling out. A simple gold necklace hung on her neck too, drawing his gaze there so that Jeff could barely-
He really needed to get out of here.
Just as he was opening his mouth to make some excuse to leave and clear his head, his phone rang, cutting off Annie's chatter as well as his indecent train of thought. Pulling it out of his pocket, Jeff couldn't hold back an eye roll as the name "ALAN" flashed over his phone screen.
"I'm sorry," he shrugged apologetically. "I've gotta take this, its work."
"I figured from your reaction," she laughed as she followed him to her doorway.
What he should have done was rudely walked over to his own door, giving her a quick wave without even bothering to look back. But Jeff rarely did what he was supposed to. So instead he turned around and turned back on the charming smile that he'd begun with.
"It was nice to meet you, Annie," he smiled down at her.
"You too, Jeff. If I ever need help with groceries again I know who to ask." Her laugh seemed to signal that she was joking, but Jeff wasn't so sure. Still, it occurred to him that helping this girl out from time to time would really just be doing his neighborly duties, so he probably shouldn't overthink it. Even if he voted against sleeping with her, it would just be polite to help her out with stuff from time to time.
"If you ever need a cup of sugar just let me know." The joke was a lame one but she giggled anyway, her eyes dancing with humor.
"Bye Jeff," Annie waved as she shut the door slowly, her head poking out until the door finally clicked into place.
With a sigh, he walked the few steps away to his significantly less feminine home (the amount of facial products in his bathroom not withstanding). What he wanted to do was sit down and make a mental list of all of the reasons he shouldn't start anything with Annie The 20-Something Control Freak Neighbor. He wasn't about to write down a list, that was way too much effort and way too lame.
Instead Jeff Winger found himself thinking back on the little bounce that Annie did every few sentences as she had babbled on to him. As if talking about the random list of things she had to do for her apartment, or in her daily life, was something to be excited about. He'd never admit it to anyone, but thinking back on it brought the most miniscule of smiles to his face.
Not one to think about the 'why' of those things, Jeff pushed her out of his head, stood up, fixed himself a drink, and called to see what Alan wanted.
"One soda, no ice."
"Hi to you too, Abed." Annie smiled affectionately as she pushed the already prepared root beer in her favorite regular's direction.
He didn't greet her back, just asked her with his normally straight expression, "Troy said that you're having people over on Sunday to help fix up your apartment. That you're paying them back with pizza and drinks."
"Troy was correct. Did he not invite you? I told him to."
"He invited me."
Annie waited for Abed to continue, but he simply looked at her as he bent over to sip at his root beer, not even bothering to pick it up.
"Do you want a straw?" Annie asked awkwardly after a few moments. Abed nodded, so Annie quickly handed him one from her apron before heading back into the kitchen.
Abed was the roommate of one of their waiters, Troy. He was at The Ballroom almost every night that Troy worked, with Abed sitting at the video games in the corner and Troy keeping his root beer glass constantly full throughout the night. She would have assumed they were together if Troy and The Ballroom's other bartender, Britta, didn't make googly eyes at each other all the damn time.
Speaking of Britta, she stood in the employee's entrance of the bar, the one that led to the kitchen, kissing her current fling goodbye. At least Annie hoped it was a fling. The guy was disgusting; with long, greasy hair and an even longer beard that was braided. Plus he was a freaking pizza guy! Annie knew that bartending at some dive in downtown Greendale wasn't exactly something to write home about, but it wasn't as lame as being a 36 year old who delivered pizzas for a living.
"Britta, get him out of here now. It's not sanitary to have someone who doesn't shower back here!"
Annie jumped as her boss Shirley's voice barked out from behind her. Britta scoffed as she ushered What's His Face out the door, although he didn't look particularly concerned about Shirley's insult.
"Seriously Shirley? He's a person and doesn't deserve to be treated like that!" Britta scolded as she pulled her hair back into the low ponytail that she wore for every shift.
"I didn't say anything that wasn't true." Shirley pointed out as she looked over the clipboard in her hands.
"Alright, it's All You Can Eat Chicken Fingers night so I need you both to be on your game. Annie, you think you're ready to try bartending tonight instead of bar-back?"
Annie hesitated. She was never one to turn down a challenge, but Wednesday night at the bar was extremely busy. It wasn't just the regulars who ordered beer and Old Fashioned's. The "All You Can Eat" deal brought in tons of new customers, plenty of them young and requesting things like Appletini's and Sex on the Beach, all of which Annie struggled to remember due to making them so rarely. But she had been here for two months now and Britta had worked her ass off every Wednesday while Annie got the easy end of the deal.
So she finally gave Shirley a reluctant nod and listened to the rest of her pre-opening speech.
"Alright… Britta- no breaking any glasses. We don't have time for that tonight. Vicki," their cook popped her head out from inside the freezer to listen. "Once we open just go ahead and make a big batch of the chicken. Customers will probably be coming in within the hour so we might as well be prepared. Neil- no chatting with Vicki, alright? We need you to actually clean dishes on time tonight."
Shirley looked back down at the clipboard after that, but Annie couldn't help but smile at the mortified expression on Neil's face and the reddening of Vicki's. They were honestly worse than Troy and Britta.
"Troy," Shirley continued, raising her voice so that Troy could hear her from out by the tables. "No breaking anything either. And don't spend the whole night focusing on Abed, got it? He can more than handle ordering himself a refill of his $3 beverage. Oh, and Pierce?" Shirley shouted out into the bar again but Pierce must have been standing near the door because he popped his head in immediately.
"Don't be a creep about it but you can be a little, uh, lenient, with ID'ing customers tonight…" Shirley trailed off awkwardly as Pierce winked and everyone else averted their gaze.
It was no secret that cops didn't care enough about their little bar to stop by and check on things unless somebody called them. Which only really happened every few weeks when two of their customers, a psychology professor and a Spanish professor, came in for drinks together that almost always ended in a physical altercation. Still, Shirley was normally pretty strict about checking IDs at the door.
Except for on Wednesday's.
An "All You Can Eat" type deal had been one of the first things Annie had mentioned to Shirley when she started at The Ballroom. The bar hadn't been entirely struggling, but it hadn't exactly been a goldmine either. Annie was proud to say that her suggestion had helped change that. The bar now made crazy money on Wednesday's and even obtained them a few new regulars.
So as wrong as it was, no one ever really opposed Shirley letting underage kids in one night a week.
"Alright then," Shirley cleared her throat. "Let's get to work!"
The rest of the night flew by in a blur for Annie. She messed up a few drink orders, but not enough to start getting complaints thrown at her. Or to dry up her tips for the shift.
It wasn't until twenty minutes after the bar closed that Annie even got to sit down and take a break. Sighing in relief, she lay down in one of the booths and let out a long breath. Britta followed soon after in the seat across from her.
"Tough night?"
"Just long," Annie turned her head to look at Britta. "Your hair looks ridiculous," she couldn't help but laugh.
"Shut up!" Britta rolled her eyes as she smoothed it down. "I'm not used to sticking my head in the hot dishwasher all night. It almost made me miss bartending."
Annie let out a mock gasp. "Even on a Wednesday?"
"I'd rather make Appletinis than do that again," Britta smirked at Annie knowingly.
"Hey, I like Appletinis!" Annie swatted out at Britta from underneath the table that separated them but fell just shy of reaching her friend's arm. Pulling her arm back towards her, she let out a moan at how sore it felt.
"Mmmm," Britta made a noise of understanding. "Those cocktail shakers will get to you if you aren't used to them. Do some shoulder stretches when you get home."
Annie nodded silently, letting her eyes drift closed for a moment.
"Go home, pumpkin." Shirley patted Annie's leg as she walked past the booth that Annie and Britta were in. "Your first night bartending and it was this busy? Go get some rest."
"Not to mention that you've got work at the station tomorrow morning."
What her friends were suggesting was tempting, but Annie wasn't about to leave them with all of the deep cleaning.
"I can't," she began, but Britta cut her off immediately.
"Just pay us back this Sunday with really good booze."
"And pizza that's not from wherever Britta's boyfriend works." Shirley added. Britta only shrugged, probably too exhausted to think of a retort.
Annie nodded and took Shirley's offered hand to help her stand up. Grabbing her bag, Annie only waved silently to her friends as she exited the bar. The combination of the warm temperature inside the building and the long night made it seem like even saying the word 'goodbye' was too much for her to handle.
Once she got about a block away, Annie started to become more alert. The Ballroom wasn't in a good neighborhood and the only place that Annie felt willing to park her car was over a mile away. It was stupid, but she figured that she was less likely to get attacked on her walk back to it than the car was to get broken into outside the bar. Even if someone did attack her, she had a brown belt in karate and a hefty amount of pepper spray to keep her safe.
And in the two months of working at The Ballroom she had yet to have any issues with her commute. Which was probably why when a giant red door opened and hit her in the face Annie wasn't as prepared for a physical attack as she thought.
"Holy shit, are you okay?!" Whoever was talking to her sounded far away, like they were calling to her through a tunnel.
"Mmmph," she mumbled as she clutched at her throbbing nose. Annie felt a sense of dread overtake her. She really couldn't have her nose be broken, she didn't have health insurance.
"Annie?"
The voice sounded surprised as it got closer and she opened her eyes, blinking heavily, to see who it was.
"Jeff?"
"Crap, are you okay?" Jeff rushed over to her, letting the giant red door slam behind him. He looked briefly behind him at it before turning back to her and clasping her shoulders firmly. "That sounded like it hurt."
"It did," Annie let out a short laugh, then cringed at the pain it brought on.
"Don't move." Jeff took both of her hands in his and moved them down to her sides. She could smell the scent of alcohol seeping from his pores as he moved closer to her. Surprisingly, it didn't disgust her. Normally when someone from the bar got in her face and smelled like that, Annie got away from them as quickly as she could manage. Although Jeff wasn't trying to hit on her or get a free drink, so that probably had something to do with it. It didn't hurt that the alcohol was mixed with what smelled like an expensive cologne and not body odor.
As gently as possible, he brought his hands up to her face and lightly pushed on her nose. Annie let out a small hiss of pain, causing him to quickly drop his grasp on her.
"What do you think?" She asked, bracing herself for the anticipated answer.
"It's not broken." Jeff answered confidently.
"How do you know?"
"Well, I don't I guess. But if it was broken it would probably be bleeding, and it's not crooked or anything. Plus nothing felt broken when I touched it."
"So you don't really know at all?" Annie laughed again, which she immediately regretted when she saw spots cloud her vision.
"Whoa there," Jeff shot out to grab her shoulders again as she began to sway slightly. "No laughing," he demanded, only making her laugh again. "Alright, but I take no responsibility if you pass out then."
"You're in the clear," she grinned, blinking back her vision.
Jeff looked around worriedly. "How are you getting home?"
"My car's a few blocks away."
"No way are you walking, no- stumbling- anywhere like that." He gestured towards her face.
"Ouch," she said with mock offense.
"You know what I mean," he rolled his eyes at her. "I'll walk with-"
"Winger!" A voice called out obnoxiously as the red door burst open again, hitting Jeff hard in the back. "Winger!" He shouted again as he caught sight of Jeff. The man's bald head shone with sweat and the suit he wore had a dark patch of what Annie presumed was alcohol staining it. Annie had always prided herself by never judging someone until she truly got to know them, but she automatically came to the conclusion that she didn't like this guy.
"I was wondering what took you so long, but I get it now," Jeff's friend leered at her before extending his hand. "I'm Alan. Pleased to meet you."
Annie simply stared at his hand with disdain until he let it fall away. She knew she shouldn't be a bitch to her neighbor's friend, especially one who had been so kind to her, but she couldn't help it. It was probably just because she was exhausted and almost just had her nose broken.
"Uh, Alan works with me," Jeff explained, looking slightly embarrassed.
"Ah, work," she nodded in understanding. Jeff gave her a small, lopsided smile like they had shared some kind of inside joke instead of a throwaway comment in her kitchen earlier.
"Well I can still walk you back to your car if you want…" Jeff offered with an unsure look towards Alan.
"That's alright," Annie assured him. "I really do think I'll be fine on my own."
Jeff simply nodded as Alan began to tug him away, talking about some bar down the street. As Annie began to walk away too she felt a weird sense of butterflies in her stomach. As well as more than one warning bell that she knew she should probably acknowledge.
Instead she simply pushed any thoughts of Jeff Winger (That was probably his last name, right?) out of her mind. There wasn't any reason to think about him anyway. A guy like that probably had some model girlfriend that he whisked away to vacations at a cabin in the mountain on a regular basis, and took out to fancy dinners, and bought expensive champagne, and had amazing sex with at all hours of the night.
Nope. No reason to think about him at all. Not one.
A/N Pt 2: I hope you guys liked it. Yes, I know Jeff was kind of a dick in his POV but... That's Jeff. He just automatically assumes Annie wants him. I mean, he's not wrong, but still... Character development will come, I promise! See you guys next Sunday!