Jeff was pulling into his parking spot, riding the high from his ten miler at the gym, when he saw her. Leather jacket, knee high boots, dark blonde waves stopping just above her shoulders, and what the kids these days were calling "resting bitch face". Thankfully she clicked the buzzer of someone in the building instead of using a key, meaning she didn't live here. One off limits neighbor was more than enough.
"Hold the door." He called out as he jogged towards the woman, who listened to him but looked irritated about it. Maybe the term "resting bitch face" had some merit. "Thanks a lot. I'm Jeff."
She didn't seem taken with his charm. Which was weird because everyone was taken by his charm.
"I'm not interested," was her short reply.
"Well that's your prerogative," Jeff continued his flirting attempts as he followed her into the elevator. Hopefully he could burn off the calories he would have on the stairs at some point with the woman in front of him. "But I can assure you that I'm very interesting."
She pushed the button for his floor before he had even gotten inside. A stroke of luck.
"Meeting a friend?"
"A party," she answered irritably.
He wasn't fazed. Jeff Winger, Attorney At Law, liked a good challenge. There was no harm in trying to get this woman to warm up to him on a short elevator ride up to his condo.
Michelle hadn't liked him either at first, and that one had turned into her liking him a little too much. Loving him, actually. The thought made him tense up for a moment, until he remembered the woman in from of him.
"Who throws a party on a Sunday?"
"Someone whose boss is religious so Sunday is their day off."
She was talking to him so she had to at least be a little interested. Completely ignoring him for the two minutes they'd be together was a viable option for her, but she wasn't taking it.
The ding of the elevator doors opening as they reached the tenth floor made Jeff want to roll his eyes. He should have gotten a condo higher up in the building.
"Well," he said as they stepped out of the elevator. "Have fun."
"Britta."
"Huh?"
"My name is Britta," she spoke with a straight face before she left him behind.
Except not too far behind because she stopped right before his own apartment. Right at Annie's.
Shit.
As quickly as he could, Jeff hurried into his place before Annie answered her door. He didn't want to deal with whatever awkward moment would have come about in that hallway. Not that he owed anything to Annie. There was just something about her knowing that he was flirting with her water filter friend that formed a knot in his stomach.
Jeff could hear her get together from the other side of his living room wall. Had the walls of his place always been so thin, or were they just seriously getting down next door? He was pretty sure it was the former since he highly doubted that painting Annie's walls pink and rearranging furniture was that good of a time.
Shedding his clothes right there in the living room, Jeff made his way into the bathroom. Turning his shower on to the correct notch of water temperature that he'd made for optimal cleansing of combination skin. Letting the water heat up for a moment, he stepped in and began his shower regiment. Jeff normally took a long time in the shower but today he really lingered. He just didn't feel like listening to whatever was going on in Annie's apartment.
It occurred to Jeff that he couldn't remember the last time that he had simply hung out with a group of friends. He had plenty of parties, sure. Not to mention he spent a good amount of time with Alan. But he didn't really like Alan all that much, and having a big party wasn't exactly the same as "hanging out".
It was just because he worked so hard, he told himself. And spent most of his free time with women. Which was how it should be. Which was how he wanted it to be.
Finally his fingers started to wrinkle so he turned off the shower and stared at himself in the bathroom mirror as he moisturized twice. He knew that signs of aging were inevitable but he planned to put it off as long as possible.
He was just stepping into a pants, $300 jeans were why he spent as much time in the office as he did, when there was a knock on his door. Quickly attempting to dry his hair with an already damp towel, Jeff walked to open it. He didn't even bother to look through the door's peephole. He knew who it was.
"Hey," Jeff opened the door and smiled down at Annie.
She didn't smile back, just stared wide eyed for a moment at his naked torso before managing to get out a strangled greeting. He was relieved to see that her nose looked a lot better. There was only a slight bit of bruising off of the right side of her nostril.
"Long time no see," he finally said after looking her face up and down for any more signs of damage that he'd done.
"I know. It's been a crazy few days. Usually I see you coming home from work as I'm heading to the bar but I haven't even…" Annie trailed off as she realized how creepy that sounded. It would be creepy if Jeff hadn't also memorized exactly what times of day he usually saw her.
"So how's your nose?" Jeff helped her out by ignoring the dark shade of red that her cheeks had turned and changing the subject.
"A lot better," she said but winced as she pressed down on the injury. "When I went into my day job the next day my coworkers were armed and ready to kick the ass of whoever "punched me in the face."
"Armed and ready? That sounds terrifying. Do you work for the mob by any chance? I've defended a few of them on some bogus drug charges. Pretty nice guys, if I'm being honest."
"The opposite of the mob actually," Annie laughed. "I work down at the Greendale Police Station. Answering phones, making coffee, all that fun stuff. I didn't know you were a lawyer though."
"Yep. But I'm a defense lawyer so I usually find myself working directly against you guys. Do you know Officer Cackowski? I've gotten drinks with him a few times."
"Craig? I love him! He always drinks the coffee I make black because he says it's too perfect to mar it with cream and sugar."
Annie looked extremely proud of this fact and completed the sentence with the small bounce that seemed to be her signature move. Jeff was pretty sure that she wasn't doing it to turn him on… But it did.
"Well the next time I'm at the station for something I'll have to try it."
In what he told himself was an involuntary move, Jeff leaned against his doorway. It was pure coincidence that it happened to situate him an inch closer to Annie. Eye length with his pretty spectacular pecs (he could say that because he worked painfully hard on them), Annie gulped.
Not taking her eyes off his chest, she finally asked in a voice that was an octave higher than she normally used. "I've actually got some coffee brewing now… If you want to come over and try it. Or just have a drink or something. Or pizza." Annie raised her eyes back to his face, which he made sure to keep carefully neutral. "You don't have to though! You're probably busy. Just, yeah, you can try the coffee the next-"
"I'll come," he answered without thinking. "Let me just put a shirt and shoes on then I'll head over."
"No shirt, no shoes, no service." Annie joked lamely.
"Exactly," he grinned down at her. "See you soon."
Annie nodded, returning his smile before she scurried back over to her place.
Jeff could have just thrown on the rest of his clothes quickly and gone over. He didn't though. He shut his door, leaned against it, and mentally kicked himself. Now there would definitely be no chance of somehow hooking up with that blonde. They had been slim before but there was always the chance that as she left the party she would come knock on his door and give him her number. It had happened before. There was no way anything like that would happen if he went to hang out with her at Annie's get together.
He wasn't that big of a dick.
Except would it really be a dick move to hook up with Britta? Jeff didn't owe anything to Annie. They'd never kissed, never slept together, hell, they'd never even flirted really. All that had happened between them was that he had helped her with her groceries and nearly broken her nose. Not to mention that sleeping with Britta, or even just attempting it in front of Annie, would take care of his issue with figuring out what to do about his new neighbor.
So that was what he decided to do.
Jeff walked over to her apartment, toeing open the door that she had left slightly ajar, and entered cautiously. There was only a small group of them, six to be exact. Two younger guys sat facing each other, sitting Indian style, on Annie's couch. They appeared to be wrapped up in some sort of hand slapping game and didn't even look up when Jeff walked in. An older guy, squished by the two friends onto the edge of the couch, did look over at Jeff. His eyes immediately lit up in excitement as he pushed himself up from his seat and walked over to Jeff.
"Nice to have another man here tonight! The estrogen in the room was giving me hot flashes," the man looked at him in a way that signified Jeff should understand exactly what he was talking about. "I'm Pierce."
Pierce stuck his hand out and grasped Jeff's in a handshake that went beyond the definition of firm. He was pretty sure he felt a bone in one of his fingers crack as he returned the gesture.
"I'm Jeff, Annie's neighbor."
"Nice to meet you! Come sit!" Pierce sat back down and patted the arm of the couch, looking at Jeff expectantly.
"I'm actually gonna just take this into the kitchen." Jeff held up a bottle of gin that he'd brought over.
Britta and another woman, who Jeff thought looked vaguely familiar, stood in the far corner of the living room. They each held a paint roller in one hand and a drink in the other, but didn't seem to be actually doing any painting. What they were doing was looking at him suspiciously as he walked into the kitchen. Jeff winked at Britta, then proceeded to grin widely as she rolled her eyes at him.
In the kitchen, Annie stood with her back to him. Jeff walked up to stand next to her on the counter and placed the bottle of alcohol in front of her.
"There ya go. Figured that it would be rude to show up empty handed."
Annie pushed a stray piece of hair behind her ear, the side of her mouth quirking into a small smile. "Everyone else did, so I wouldn't have held it against you. But thank you." She examined the bottle he'd brought along. "Isn't gin an old lady liquor though?"
Jeff scoffed at Annie. "Gin's got some serious health benefits," he pretended to scold her. "It's the perfect beverage for removing wrinkles, and is great for your digestive system. Plus it's low calorie."
"Coffee has health benefits too, right?" Annie began to scoop coffee grounds into a cheap looking coffee maker. "That's definitely why I drink so much of it."
"I'm sure the two jobs thing has nothing to do with it."
Annie laughed. "Maybe a little to do with it. Hey, can you, uh-?" Annie gestured to where Jeff stood in front of her sink, coffee pot in hand. Jeff shifted a few inches away so that she could fill up the pot with water.
As she was pouring the contents of the pot into the machine Jeff couldn't help but bait her by asking, "I thought you already had the coffee brewing?" He knew what he was doing but couldn't stop himself. The flush in her cheeks was just a hard reaction to resist.
She paused for a moment, thinking, before she hit the ON button and turned to face him. "Troy ended up drinking it all, can you believe it? The guy must be a machine or something!"
Jeff had to force himself not to laugh at the overdramatic way she threw her hands in the air. How did this girl work at a police station and yet she was so bad at lying?
"Sure," Jeff nodded, holding Annie's gaze with a teasing smile. She smiled back at him, letting out a silent laugh at the knowing look he was giving her.
For the first time since they'd introduced themselves, Annie held his gaze for more than a few seconds. He watched as her shoulders began to relax, and her smile changed into one that felt… Warmer. Jeff knew that he should look away. Instead, he let himself examine the person in front of him more closely.
How had he never noticed before that her eyes were so big? It should have been the first thing that he'd taken note of when he saw her. That, and the pale blue of them that seemed to compliment the fairness of her skin perfectly. She really was beautiful, and it really sucked that nothing was going to come of it.
Because Jeff wasn't here to smile down at Annie in a way that probably gave her too many ideas. He was here to sleep with her hot blonde friend. Right?
"Hey guys!" Britta burst into the kitchen with a fake smile plastered onto her face. "What's taking so long in here?" Her question was laced with accusations. As was the look she shot Jeff.
"We were just chatting," Annie answered a little too quickly, making it sound like she was lying. Which she wasn't. They had just been chatting. Absolutely nothing more to it.
"Well everyone's waiting out there, you need to tell us where you want us to start." Britta turned towards him with her fake smile back on her face. "Jeff, will you be helping out tonight?"
Jeff opened his mouth to respond when Annie cut in.
"Do you two know each other?" The questioning in her voice sounded completely innocent. In fact, she looked a little excited at the prospect of Jeff and Britta having met before.
"Not really. Jeff and I just met in the elevator when he was hitting on me." The look on Britta's face was challenging, as if she expected him to deny it. He didn't say anything.
"Oh," was all that Annie said. Jeff didn't miss the hint of disappointment in her voice.
"Alright, let's get moving! How am I the responsible go-getter right now?" With that, Britta clapped her hands together and left them alone again in the kitchen.
Annie didn't say anything. Instead she gave him a tight, awkward smile as she poured herself a glass of wine and followed Britta out into her living room. As Jeff poured a drink of his own he tried to push away the feeling of guilt that was beginning to form in his mind. He didn't have anything to feel guilty about, he reminded himself.
But as he walked into the room to see Annie giving orders cheerily to her friends the feeling of guilt only got stronger. What the hell was wrong with him?
"Vagina!" Pierce screamed loudly from his spot on the floor.
"Ew, Pierce, no!" Annie let her arms, which she had held above her head to make a circle, drop to her side. "What song has ever had the word 'vagina' in the title?"
"Or the lyrics," Shirley shot Pierce a strange look.
"Well what was I supposed to think?!" Pierce defended. "You keep making weird movements with your mouth and you're clearly forming a vagina with your arms!"
"Circle of Life," Abed cut in. "That's the song. She was trying to mimic a lion's face but she's just really bad at it."
"Abed," Annie whined, "what's the point of playing Charades if you're just going to shout out all of the answers?" He responded with a simple shrug before going back to sipping his drink.
"Well that's a point for the guys' team." Jeff spoke triumphantly and added another point to their side of the dry erase board they had pulled out of Annie's closet.
Annie huffed in annoyance as she went to plop herself back down on the couch between Britta and Shirley. The two of them had been flanking her all night. She'd painted between them, eaten pizza between them, and now sat between them as they got slaughtered in Charades. It didn't take a genius to see what they were doing. As soon as Annie had mentioned that she was going to see if "her really nice neighbor" wanted to come hang out with them, Britta had gone on the defensive. When she'd gotten back from inviting Jeff over, Shirley had suddenly gone of the defensive as well.
Their reaction made sense once Britta told her about Jeff's flirting in the elevator. Annie had to admit that at first she'd been kind of hurt by it. It hadn't lasted all that long though. She and Jeff didn't know each other in the slightest, and he didn't owe her a thing. Yet he'd still come over to help her with her new apartment. No matter what Britta and Shirley thought, Jeff couldn't be that bad of a guy if he was willing to do that for nothing in return.
It was going to be nice having a friend in her building. The fact that she got butterflies every time he looked at her was just because he was a new, good looking guy in her life. She'd be used to it in a few weeks and then everything would be fine.
Plus, Troy and Pierce seemed to be really hitting it off with Jeff. Or rather, they seemed to be sort of in awe of him. As embarrassed as she was to admit it, she didn't really blame them. Here was this guy who looked like he had his entire life put together and he had chosen to spend his night hanging out with them. It was more than likely a onetime thing because he also looked like the kind of guy who was constantly going on social outings. Still, it was fun to have him here for the night.
"Pay attention!" Britta nudged Annie's knee with her own.
Jeff now stood in front of them, pretending to crank an old fashioned camera.
"Movie!" Troy shouted out excitedly.
Jeff nodded and held up four fingers. Then he did something that Annie desperately wished she had thought to get on camera: He puckered up his lips, closed his eyes, and began to make ridiculous kissing sounds. Maybe he wasn't quite as cool as she thought. Unfortunately it only lasted for a moment before Abed answered.
"Kiss Kiss Bang Bang. Technically you cheated though because you made noise at the end."
"What the hell, Abed?" Pierce looked over at their friend in annoyance. "You don't call out cheating when it's in your favor."
"I was just trying to keep up the integrity of the game," he explained calmly, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.
Pierce opened his mouth to argue before Annie hurriedly cut him off. "Okay then! It looks like no matter what the boys are going to win. Maybe we should just try a different game now?" She glanced towards Abed. "Preferably one that isn't directly linked to pop culture references."
There was a shifting around the room as everyone decided what to do. Finally, Shirley spoke up-
"I'd love to, Pumpkin, but I promised the babysitter that I would be home before midnight."
"Toby wants to meet up at The Red Door soon."
"I have to catch up on this week's episode of Inspector Spacetime."
"And Abed's my ride."
"Mine too!"
Annie felt slightly relieved. She had to work both jobs tomorrow and knowing herself, she knew that there was no chance of her sleeping before she'd cleaned up a bit. Better to start sooner rather than later.
As everyone started to pack up their stuff, Annie let herself make eye contact with Jeff for the first time since they'd left her kitchen. She could sense the look of hesitation in his eyes as he lingered near the dining room table. Annie held his gaze, not really sure what she was trying to convey to him with it. It wouldn't be the worst thing if he stayed to talk and help clean up a bit.
"Actually, Toby can't meet up until a bit later so I'll hang out here for a while."
Annie looked at Britta over by the door after she spoke, except she wasn't looking at Annie- she was staring with narrowed eyes at Jeff. Her friend had already put her jacket on and looked poised to leave, but she quickly shed it as she plopped herself back on Annie's couch.
Jeff simply shrugged and headed to the door. "Thanks for inviting me, Annie. Your place looks great."
"Wait!" She called out as he reached for the doorknob. Everyone turned towards her and Annie's cheeks reddened at the attention. "You forgot your gin."
Jeff smiled. "That's alright, you can keep it. Consider it a house warming gift."
With that, Jeff took his leave. The rest of her friends continued staring at her.
"What?!" Annie asked defensively. All of them shrugged except Shirley, who rolled her eyes. Annie didn't even bother to look over at Britta's reaction.
They said their goodbyes, which were mostly "See you tomorrow" and Annie went to sit on the couch with Britta.
Britta's babysitting of her wasn't so bad. Truthfully, it wasn't bad at all. The two of them spent the entirety of the hour talking about Greece's debt crisis. Britta's overly passionate views on social issues was one of Annie's favorite things about her. None of Annie's (minimal amount of) friends in high school had ever cared about stuff like that. And the cop's at the precinct were more than a little conservative so she didn't even want to begin to debate with them.
By the time Britta left, any thoughts of Jeff had left her mind. She didn't even think of him when she drifted off to sleep.
Not a single thought of him until the next day when she got home from the police station to find an internet article taped to her door labeled "HEALTH BENEFITS OF GIN". With a small smile on her face, Annie grabbed the piece of paper and went inside to change for work at The Ballroom.
A/N: I know I said I'd update once a week but I'm just super into this story so I couldn't help it! I'll probably have chapter 3 up on Sunday though, Monday at the latest. As always: comments are appreciated!
