Begin
I'm thinking about desire
I've had to learn how to sin successfully
I'm thinking about bliss
And bliss is all dressed up and there's no one to dance with
Remembering her smile
And the nuclear bomb and the reasons I loved her
I'm walking through central park
I'm in a foreign country and I'm waiting for a sign
-Begin by Ben Lee
Jeff glanced at Annie out of the corner of his eye and caught sight of the delicate flower chain that was currently on her wrist. He was pretty much 100 percent positive that it was from Vaughn and that made him unreasonably irritated. Annie was the type of girl that deserved real jewelry, not something you thought would be fun to make while you were high. Okay, maybe that was not fair, Jeff conceded. He was just a tad jealous that all he knew how to do for women he liked was by them stuff such as flowers and gold bracelets. He usually reserved the latter for the girls he was really desperate to sleep with. He didn't know how to do gestures. Vaughn was one big fucking gesture and that pissed Jeff off.
It had been bothering him ever since the extremely awkward conversation about how they were all potential sexual partners. When he and Annie's eyes met, something went soft inside him and he hated himself for it. Then on family day she had revealed how much power she wielded over him. He didn't know what to do with that information. Part of him wanted to ignore it and hope that she never forced him into anything too painful. The rest of him wanted to test boundaries and see if he could have that same power over him. The nail in the coffin was when Pierce had advised him that it was not too late to start a family. After that conversation he hadn't been able to get Annie out of his head.
But there was always Vaughn to think of. He had been hoping that this was just some thing college girls had to get out of their systems, date the tree-hugging, crunchy poet. Maybe Shirley would be next to get ensnared by Vaughn. But with each passing day things seemed to be better than ever between the young couple and Jeff fell into deeper melancholy. Jeff made a mental note that if this kept up he would probably have to buy a My Chemical Romance album and invest in some black eyeliner.
He was fed up with how pathetic his life had become. Going to this crap college may be something that he couldn't help, but by God he could do something about Annie. He couldn't forget about the multitudes of women that he had charmed into going out with him. He just had to look deep within himself and find that inner coolness. Once he made a decision to do something about his situation, a hint of a plan formed in his head. He remembered that the key to the tension between them when they were studying for the debate was the fact that they had been alone. He just needed to replicate that similar environment.
When the group started to pack up and leave, he didn't hesitate in catching up with Annie as she left by herself. Without really thinking he started speaking. "You took pre-calc in high school didn't you?"
Annie glanced at Jeff warily. "Yes."
"And let me guess, you got an A in the class."
Annie shrugged. "Yes, 96.5% to be exact."
As they reached the doors to the library he held one open for her, causing a smile to blossom on her face. They stepped out into the cool night air. The weather had been warming but the April nights could still be chilly.
"I was wondering if you could maybe tutor me for the class. I am on the verge of failing and I am desperate. I'll even pay you." He widened his eyes, trying to make himself look as pathetic as possible.
Annie giggled as she stopped by her car. "I'll do it. We can start tomorrow if you want and you don't have to pay me."
"I have to do something for you. How about I cook you dinner?" Jeff tried to make it sound like this idea just occurred to him.
"What?" Annie accidently dropped her keys that she had been fidgeting with. "I thought we could just study in the library.
"Well, tomorrow is my short day and I'm done after Spanish so I was going to go home. I know you have your biology lab late afternoon tomorrow. Come on, it will be fun. You haven't lived until you've had Jeff Winger's spaghetti."
Annie eyed him for a second. She decided she really didn't have any reason to say no. "That sounds good. Does six sound good?"
"Sounds great," Jeff answered enthusiastically. "I'll give you my address tomorrow in Spanish class."
"Okay." Annie nervously shook her keys. "Well, I guess I'll see you tomorrow."
"See you in class." Jeff turned around and started to head to the opposite end of the parking lot where his car was. He was so happy he could barely contain himself. He felt the urge to break out into a jig right then and there. He was going to get Annie into his apartment, alone, for dinner. He tried not to think about how that last sentence made him sound like a pervy old man. He was pulled out of his fantasizing by a familiar voice.
"Very interesting turn of events," Abed spoke evenly.
Jeff turned in surprise at Abed. "What are you doing out in the parking lot?"
"Observing," Abed stated as if stalking in the shadows was an everyday activity.
"I don't see how there was really anything interesting to observe. I was just asking Annie for help in my math class."
"Really? I think you were scheming to get her alone at your place so that you can make a move on her. It's really not that unheard of. In Mean Girls Lindsay Lohan's character pretended to be stupid so she could have the popular guy help her in math."
"Did you just compare me to Lindsay Lohan?"
Abed ignored him, thoughtful about his comparison. "Although I don't think you are pretending to be stupid. I think you really are close to failing. I'll have to think of a more accurate comparison."
Jeff thought about denying it, but decided that Abed wouldn't say anything. And let's face it, he was a huge help in the whole drunk dialing incident. Maybe he would have some insight into this situation.
"Is this going to end up in the next episode of your show?"
"Probably."
"How do you think it will end?" Jeff asked without really thinking. He hated the hopeful tone his voice took on.
"I don't know. After all there is a huge age difference and let's face it Annie's character is too good for your character. She's so moral and nice."
Jeff deflated a little, recognizing the truth in Abed's words. "I know."
Abed tilted his head as he studied Jeff's forlorn expression. "Maybe that is why you would work though. She obviously makes you a better person and she has loosened up because of you."
"Are you sure that's not Vaughn's doing?"
Abed considered this. "Yes, he is just a phase that most college girls have to go through with dating a free-spirited person like Vaughn."
"Then if I have a chance, what should I do tomorrow? Any suggestions pulled from one of your thousands of pop-culture references."
Abed shrugged. "Be yourself. She already likes you. You just need to make her realize the depth of her emotions."
"Okay, then, I'll try that. Thanks Abed." Jeff waved as he headed back to his car.
"Good luck!" Abed called out.
God, couldn't he have given him more useful advice like what color shirt he should wear of if he should buy her flowers. I guess I'll have to wing it, he thought.
Annie couldn't believe how much fun she was having. She had been so nervous about going over to Jeff's apartment, where they would be alone. The whole situation seemed oddly personal and intimate. Turned out she didn't need to worry so much. After the first bit of awkwardness as she studied his apartment and she watched him do so, they just fell into a natural rhythm. He suggested they study for an hour or so and then he would start dinner for them. Jeff had surprised her by not making any complaints about studying. He simply listened to every word she spoke and practiced the problems she gave him.
The time flew by relatively quickly, at least for her. Before she knew it they were done for the evening and Jeff started to prepare dinner in the kitchen. She offered to help but he said that this was his treat, not mention there really was not much space in the kitchen for a second person. She had taken the opportunity to explore his modest apartment. It was surprisingly cluttered. Annie had assumed that Jeff would be a minimalist with modern looking furniture and sparse shelves. What she found instead was worn furniture crowded into the tiny front room and adjoining dining room. Shelves covered the walls. They were stuffed to the brim with dvds, cds, books, and entertainment memorabilia. She had to keep from laughing when she saw the original Star Wars figurines still in their boxes. There seemed to me no organizational method to his shelves, which made her hands tingle. She had to fight the urge to reach out and start alphabetizing. Her eyes caught on a silvery blue dvd case.
"You watch Battlestar Galactica?" She called out as she headed back to sit at the table that he was now setting.
Jeff shrugged as he was dishing up two plates full of spaghetti. "Yeah."
Annie smiled, he was feigning non-chalance, she could tell. "You're a complete Battlestar Galactica geek."
"No," Jeff responded tightly.
"Really? Well, I think that Black Market was one of the best episodes of the entire series."
"No way," Jeff burst out. "Even Ron Moore agrees that Black Market was a mistake and…"
Annie watched as the realization hit him. "Yeah, I watch Battlestar Galactica too."
Jeff relaxed, setting the two food filled plates on the table. He took his seat adjacent her. "That's really cool. Not a lot of girls I know watch the show because it's supposed to be some stupid sci-fi boys show."
Annie swirled some spaghetti around her fork as she pointed out matter-of-factly, "Maybe you are just hanging out with the wrong type of girls."
Jeff froze, his fork hanging in mid-air. "That's probably it."
They lapsed into silence, and something about it made Annie uncomfortable, it was heavy with tension and she couldn't explains the thoughtful look on Jeff's face. It all of a sudden got serious in the room and Annie just wanted to go back to the lighter joking atmosphere. She scrambled for something to say. "So, do you watch Caprica too?"
Jeff shook his head and raised it a little dazedly. "Um, yeah. Actually Abed comes over every Friday night and we watch it together. You should come over too. It would be fun, and it would make me feel slightly less pathetic that this is the form my Friday nights are in now.
Annie quickly agreed and conversation finally fell back into it's usual pace. Their conversation didn't falter again. It seemed that they did actually have a lot of things to talk about. They shared some of the same interest in shows and movies. They didn't agree on music at all, but that just led to a friendly argument, although Annie felt a little indignant that he said that Snow Patrol was lyrically insipid. She talked about how she wasn't really concerned about transferring for the time being. She had decided to stop fighting where she was and to enjoy it for now. Jeff could empathize with that.
They had long since finished their meals and were just now lounging in their chairs as they talked. She glanced at the clock and realized that she should really be going home. She had an 8 AM class tomorrow.
Jeff followed her eyes and sensed that the evening was coming to a close. He stood up and offered his hand to help Annie up. She gave a demure smile at the gesture. He held her a hand a second longer than necessary, and Annie was surprised with her disappointment at the loss of contact.
"Thanks for the help," Jeff spoke sincerely as he walked her towards the door.
"It was nothing really. Thanks for the lovely dinner. It was really great."
"Thanks. So, can I expect you on Friday for Caprica with Abed and I?"
"It's a date," Annie exclaimed.
Jeff grinned. "Great. Well, I guess I'll see you in Spanish tomorrow."
"See you tomorrow." Annie waved goodbye as she opened the door and headed back to her car. She didn't know what was happening to her. She knew Jeff was attractive and she remembered feeling that attraction during their cram session for the debate. This was different though. It wasn't nearly as striking as those initial feelings. This was warmer and more fluid. It seeped into her and spread throughout her. She tried to think of Vaughn to vanquish these feelings, but it made things worse. Her feelings of for Vaughn were severely subpar compared to these new and pervasive feelings for Jeff. She needed to go home and make lists to organize her feelings.
Jeff was walking through campus the next day, content with life for the first in a while. His night with Annie had been awesome. He forgot about his plan to seduce her about two minutes into the evening. He lost himself in how comfortable it was to be around Annie. He wasn't trying for her approval, he just enjoyed hanging out with her. It was weird because Jeff had never done the friend thing first and then actually dated somebody coming out of that, so he had no idea how to proceed. Vaughn was obviously a problem, but he didn't know what to do about that either.
As if on cue, the hippies voice drifted over to Jeff. He looked over and there was Vaughn sitting under a tree with his guitar in his lap, crooning a small flock of girls. Jeff stepped a few feet closer wondering what was going on. Realization hit him as Vaughn started singing the chorus of his song.
"Annie broke my heart / She tore it apart / She smashed it with a cart / What a f-ing tart."
Jeff cringed at the bad rhyming scheme, but felt a surge of hopefulness rise in him. Did Annie break up with Vaughn? When did it happen? If it was after their evening, maybe there was some significance in that. Maybe she realized her deep, unwavering love for Jeff. Or maybe she just realized that Vaughn is a vapid douche.
Jeff hurried towards the library, eager for his Spanish study group. If he got lucky, he could get there early enough to catch her alone and question her about the break up. He climbed up the stairs, taking them three at a time before power walking through the library. He thanked whatever Supreme Being was up there for his long legs. He halted a few feet from the study room because he heard Troy and Pierce laughing about something while Britta admonished them for their behavior. Jeff sighed, thinking he would just have to wait to talk to Annie until after the study session. He didn't want to draw attention to him asking Annie questions. She knew Shirley and Britta would pick up on something and she really didn't want their disapproval.
He took his seat and slouched down into it before pulling out his phone as if to check his text messages. Instead of looking at the screen though, he glanced at Annie. She caught his gaze and her thoughtful expression turned into a shy smile. He returned the smile before shifting his stare back to his phone. Score.
Once Shirley arrived, Annie got down to business, giving a page number for the group to turn to. Jeff saw Abed staring at him out of the corner of his eye. He looked up and Abed gave him a conspiratorial wink before turning to Annie. "So, did you break up with Vaughn?"
Annie looked a little taken aback by the question. "What?"
Abed continued in a factual tone. "Well, when I was walking to the library I heard Vaughn singing a song about you."
Annie turned a crimson color. "Who else heard it?" She looked around the table shyly, seeing each of the members tentatively raise their hands. "Oh, I see. I guess there is no reason to deny that I broke up with him this morning. I just felt our relationship had run its course."
She turned back to her book, probably assuming the discussion was over. She was naïve if she thought that the rest of the group would just let this go.
There was a brief pause. "So, did you have sex with him?" Pierce asked as if it was the most innocent question in the world. While Britta and Shirley made disapproving noises Jeff noted that all of them, probably including him, had curious expressions on their faces.
"Ugh," Annie moaned. "If you must know, we did not have the chance to consummate our relationship."
There were hmms around the table followed by another brief pause. "Personally, I think that his lyrics were insipid," Jeff offered Annie.
Annie raised her eyes to meet his and she couldn't keep the grin off her face as she remembered their discussion of music last night.
At Jeff's comment everybody started to chime in their own opinion. "The lyrics didn't even make sense." "He was just seeing how many rhymes he could come up with for the word heart." "I could have come up with something much more meaningful."
Annie ignored their comments though because her eyes were stuck on Jeff's. She had admitted to herself last night that no matter how unlikely it was that she and Jeff would ever be anything more than friends, it was really unfair to string Vaughn along any further. On some level she had feelings for Jeff and she just had to try ignore them for the sake of their friendship. However, that was becoming increasingly difficult every second that he looked at her with the same soft expression he had used before.
Abed cleared his throat and both snapped their attention back to the group who was looking at them with puzzled faces. Both felt blushes creep up their cheeks and they looked down at their books.
"Should we start with Chapter 8 today?" Annie offered.
Everybody turned their attention back to Spanish, except for Jeff. He kept up with the pages Annie instructed them all to turn to, but his mind was elsewhere. They shared a moment, very similar to the one during that all too awkward group discussion a couple weeks ago. It couldn't be coincidence, could it? Every part of him wanted to take Annie aside and ask her if there was any other reasons why she broke up with Vaughn. Then he wanted to kiss her. But, even Jeff knew there was protocol to follow. You can't just swoop in hours within her breaking up with another guy. There was a way to go about these things and that was not it. He just needed to get Annie alone with him again like last night, so they could talk. Then an idea flashed in his head.
The sounds of slamming books brought his attention back to the present. He packed up his own stuff and hung back for a minute so he could talk to Abed. Luckily Troy had somewhere to run off to so it was easy to catch Abed alone as he walked back to his dorm.
"I have a favor to ask of you."
Abed raised his eyebrow at Jeff. "Does it have to do with Annie?"
Jeff didn't even attempt to be coy. "Yeah. I was hoping I could get you to bail on coming over Friday."
"But Caprica?" Abed asked a little shocked.
"Annie watches it too and I invited her over to watch with us. But, I was hoping, maybe just this week you could pretend to be sick so I can get her alone."
"Are you going to have a romantic dinner waiting for her, with roses and candles every where?"
"No, should I?" Jeff thought it sounded a little over the top.
"Nah, it's overrated and really a cliché in most romantic comedies."
"Should I do something else instead?" Now Jeff was a little unsure of just repeating what they did last night. Did he need to have some big surprise waiting for him?
"Just be yourself."
"You said that last time," Jeff accused.
"And it worked, didn't it?" Abed didn't wait for an answer before heading into his building.
Jeff figured Abed was right and just went with his gut.
Jeff quickly checked the lasagna, noting it still had a few minutes to cook. He looked around his place, making sure everything was put in its rightful place. He glanced in the mirror, giving his hair a quick once over before deciding it looked perfectly tousled. There was a quick knock on the door. Jeff took a deep breath before opening the door. Annie stood outside, looking perfect in a simple cotton blue dress.
"You look great," Jeff noted, liking that here hair was out of its usual clip.
"Thanks." Annie stepped into the house, inhaling deeply the warm apartment air. "What smells so good?"
"You seemed to enjoy my spaghetti so I decided to make lasagna tonight. Go ahead and have a seat. It should be done in just a couple minutes."
Annie took a seat at the table, enjoying her view of Jeff in the kitchen. It was a little odd seeing him doing something so domestic, but he moved around the kitchen with confidence. She wondered what else about Jeff she didn't know about.
"So where is Abed?" Annie asked, noticing that he was missing.
"Ah, he couldn't make it tonight?" Jeff didn't look up from the vegetables he was dicing.
"And miss Caprica?" It didn't seem like Abed to miss something like this.
"He's watching it at his place. He has the stomach flu or something and he didn't want to get us sick."
"That's why he wasn't in class today," Annie realized.
Jeff nodded. Abed had come up to him yesterday after Spanish class explaining to Jeff that he was going to "catch" a stomach bug tonight and that he would be out of all his classes tomorrow in order to make for a more convincing performance. Jeff just thought he didn't want to miss the Roswell marathon on today.
He focused his attention back on finishing up dinner quickly. He set the lasagna and salad on the table before sitting down in his seat. It was very reminiscent of the other night. Jeff could see himself getting used to this.
Their conversation picked up pretty quickly. Soon Jeff brought up the subject of Vaughn. "So, what brought the break up on?"
"I told you already, I just didn't see the relationship going any further."
"Is there someone else?" Jeff continued his query.
"Maybe, I don't know. I am so confused about my feelings right now. The only thing I know is that Vaughn was not the guy for me."
Jeff decided to back off a little, she sounded defensive. "You aren't too upset about the song are you? If you want I can go beat him up. I could take him."
Annie laughter filled the room. "Oh no. I thought the song was very silly. I think I got off relatively easy. At least I didn't get called a B."
Jeff chuckled. "We should start our own band and write songs about him. He has it coming."
That started them on a 30 minute song writing spree. They came up with something especially catchy about Vaugh liking fauns and being Satan's spawn. Annie thought it was a little harsh but Jeff assured it wasn't.
After that Jeff cleared the dishes and they sat in the living room, waiting for Caprica to start. They started out on opposite ends of the couch but they kept scooting closer together while they talked during commercials. By the end of the show Annie was curled up, leaning against Jeff who had his arm around her.
Both knew the show was over, but neither really wanted to move. Annie tilted her head up to find that Jeff was looking down at her. They both wore the same expressions from the other day and it hypnotized them. Without any conscious thought on either part they leaned towards each other. Their lips tentatively met. It took just that brief contact to spark something in them and soon their lips were moving more quickly. Annie raised herself up for better access to Jeff's lips. Without thinking much, she swung one leg over Jeff's so she was straddling his hips. Jeff drew his tongue over her lower lip and without hesitation Annie opened her mouth, deepening the kiss.
Jeff could have continued this forever, but was brought out of the moment when Annie involuntarily rocked against his hips causing him to groan. He came to the realization that he may not last forever if she kept that up. Jeff broke away, causing both of them to gulp in much needed breath. He trailed a few kisses among Annie's cheek before leaning back. He almost lost his control after taking in Annie's appearance. Her hair was mussed from his hands running through it. Her face was flushed from excitement and her already plump lips were swollen from his kisses. He thought Annie felt his excitement grow because she smiled and started to lean forward.
"Wait Annie. We can't do this."
"Why not? You sleep with women all the time." Annie ground down on him causing him to moan. "I know you want it."
"Annie, it's not that I don't want it," Jeff struggled. "But I want things to be different with you."
That caused Annie to pause. She tilted her head in confusion. "What do you mean?"
Jeff closed his eyes briefly and took a deep breath. He had never done this before. He opened his eyes, meeting Annie's penetrating stare. "Because I like you…a lot. I have feelings for you and I want to do things right by you."
Annie smiled softly. "I like you too. You are the reason I broke up with Vaughn."
Jeff grinned, a little proud of himself. "I am?"
"Of course," Annie spoke encouragingly. "After that night with you I realized that I just didn't care for Vaughn like I did for you. I didn't think you felt the same way though."
"I do. I really do," Jeff whispered going in for another kiss, although this one was softer. Annie ran her hands through his hair before landing at the base of his neck. She quickened the pace of the kiss again.
Jeff groaned. "Annie, we can't…"
Annie broke him off with another kiss before whispering in his ear. "Do the right thing tomorrow. Tonight I want this." She brought her lips back to Jeff's and pulled herself closer to him.
Jeff wrapped his arms around her and picked her up, taking her to his bedroom. Who was he to stand in the way of what she wanted?
A/N: This is my first Community fic so contructive feedback is welcomed. I have read pretty much read all of the Jeff/Annie stuff and thought I should contribute something. I have never written for a comedy before and I was a little shy about posting this because there are just so few Community stories. There is less anonymity with this fandom which scares me. I know there is not quite as much humor in this than the show, but I will be the first to admit I am not as witty as the writers for the show. Finally, I can't claim credit for one of the lines in this. The whole Snow Patrol is lyrically insipid bit is from Growing Up Cullen. Its two friends who make fun of Edward from Twilight. I personally like Snow Patrol but I thought that part was funny and it has stuck with me.
So please read and review. All feedback is appreciated.