Annie and Troy started off relatively small in the study room. Annie laughed extra hard at a few of his weird observations, while Troy really paid attention to Annie's study tips. And although they were sitting far apart, those stolen glances between them were obvious to Jeff and Britta, for different reasons.
They took the next step in class when they actually sat together. As planned, Annie let Troy borrow one of her pens, and was extra happy when Troy gave it back at the end, unlike Britta. In between, they 'accidentally' brushed their fingers together twice, and smiled at each other each chance they got. And when Annie dared to check Britta's reactions, she looked as suspicious as Annie hoped.
Britta confronted the both of them together before lunch, since she wasn't ready to deal with Troy one-on-one, like Annie figured. Thanks to their weekend of rehearsals, Troy told Britta that Annie helped him feel better without crying, or giving away anything.
They gave just enough away to make Britta much more suspicious, yet not enough that she had anything concrete to blow up over. But they kicked it up a notch when they sat next to each other at lunch and shared their food. Then Troy did some literal kicking when he talked about Kickpuncher – and pretended to get carried away enough to kick Annie under the table.
Annie played the part and yelled, grabbing her leg and holding it up while trying to rub the pain away. Yet a panicked Troy – a pretending to panic Troy, for once – kept apologizing and insisted on fixing it. To that end, he put Annie's leg on his lap and tried to rub her lower leg all better.
After a weekend of rehearsing this, neither Troy nor Annie would look weird about it – not on the outside and not as much on the inside. Plus it was done so fast that Jeff and Britta had no room to get in the way.
After the scripted few seconds of shock, Annie snapped out of it and told Troy it was okay. After a few scripted seconds of looking wowed, Troy calmed down and let Annie stand on her own. Yet he insisted on getting an ice pack, just in case, so Annie gave him a special smile – an all too familiar one to Jeff – and walked out of the lunch room with him.
When they were out of view, they looked back and saw the group – especially Jeff and Britta – talk about what happened. And on cue, Abed chimed in with his movie-based theories about friends like Troy and Annie finding each other. Once Jeff and Britta scowled and then pretended not to, Annie and Troy giggled and high fived quietly.
"This is perfect!" Annie cheered. "We could move the first near-kiss up to today, at this rate!"
"Are you sure we should?" Troy came down a bit. "You're really sure this won't make Britta too mad at me?" Annie sighed, knowing Troy still wasn't totally on board – perhaps for good reason – yet she still knew how to justify it to him. And herself too.
"I told you before, it's not like you're cheating on her. We're not really kissing or flirting, and you can't cheat on someone who's doesn't want to be your girlfriend yet," Annie proved. "All I'm doing is helping you, so you don't bother her with things she can't deal with. That's what you tell her if she finds you alone," Annie instructed. "We went through this in yesterday's role playing, remember?"
"Yeah. You weren't as scary and super hot as Britta when she's angry, but yeah. Of course, who could be?" Troy commented.
"I tried my best, that's all I can do," Annie told them both. At least that reminded her there was no risk in her and Troy actually falling for each other. As long as Britta didn't know that, and as long as Jeff and Abed didn't slip up and give her hints, they'd be fine.
The second study session had Annie get up to help Troy with a problem. She bent down beside him – having made it very clear yesterday that Troy could only take a one second look at her chest. She wasn't baring any cleavage today, so that helped make this easier.
After Troy got his peek and solved the problem anyway, he joked he should roll up his sleeves and do this himself. To that end, he literally rolled up his sleeves, which made Annie laugh and let her pretend she discreetly ogled Troy's arms. They were impressive, but she'd seen bigger lately.
Speaking of which, Annie made sure to give a warning glance at Jeff when she returned to her seat. She did it quick enough so she wouldn't see how affected he was, or how much he was pretending not to be. But when the session was over, Annie stuck around and overheard Britta talking to Jeff when the others left.
"I'm saying this for the first and only time in my life, so don't you dare say anything," Britta warned, took a deep breath and ordered, "Control your woman, Winger!" then sounded like she was almost gagging at her sexism.
"Britta, although that'll hold a high place in my personal Perry Hall of Fame, I-" Jeff began before getting cut off.
"I said say nothing! No jokes, no annoying Annie denial! Just do the horrible sexist thing, okay?!" Britta boiled over, then Annie left in a hurry before she could catch her. She went through her next few classes by herself, then found out from Troy that Britta did confront him a while ago.
But as he explained it, he followed Annie's instructions and didn't break character. And since he didn't act mad at her, make a scene or directly attack her indecisions, Britta didn't press the issue. Yet according to Troy, she didn't pretend to act like she didn't care.
At least in these ways, Troy and Britta really weren't Annie and Jeff. Yet Annie didn't want to think about how good or bad it made her feel. Things were going way too well for that.
Clearly they were on the right track, as Britta might face her feelings before it was too late – or appeared to be. To show her mercy, Troy and Annie didn't almost kiss, and only touched each other a few more times before the day was over.
Annie celebrated with Troy and Abed outside, once they made sure Britta wasn't looking. She let Troy leave with Abed, promising to wait until after dinner to review tomorrow's schedule. Troy thanked her again and even hugged her, in case Britta was watching – his words/possible joke. But once the dynamic duo left, it was Jeff who found Annie instead.
"So, Madam puppet master, how's the string pulling going?" Jeff started out.
"They're not breaking yet. In fact, I might only have to pull for another day or two," Annie informed.
"Another day? Or two?" Jeff repeated with more disbelief. "Come on, I love torturing Britta as much as the next guy, but that's just overkill. Just let her apologize to Troy for whatever she did, that should be enough."
"Jeff, I know this is cruel and immature, I know that," Annie assured. "If there was any other way to make Britta commit to Troy for good, I'd do it! I hate that there isn't! But nothing else would make her brave enough, believe me. I'll let her torture me all she wants later, but if she tortures me with Troy, it'll all be worth it."
"Why?" Jeff simply asked. "Why do you care so much if she does? And don't give me the old, 'Oh, Jeff's too cool to care, what does he know?' line, no matter how cool I am. Why is it this important to you that they get together?"
Annie knew she had to tread carefully, yet she stuck to her talking points. "I'm Troy's best friend other than Abed. He told me himself on Saturday. And as his almost best-friend, I want him to be happy with someone he loves. I've sucked at matchmaking for him before….and at other romantic stuff involving him….so I want to get it right this time."
"Is that right?" Jeff said curiously. "You did this right after he called you a best friend? And it inspired you to make up this kind of plan? Because you wanted to make up for your romantic past with him? Curious."
"Jeff, I don't need you to nitpick this, remember?" Annie recalled.
"You said don't complain in front of Britta or the group. Well, I didn't, did I?" Jeff illuminated. "You said nothing about questioning you when we're all alone."
"Okay, I'm saying it now, no more questions," Annie deflected. "Just let the ends justify the means a while longer, and it'll be over soon," she insisted to them both.
"What'll be over, exactly?" Jeff followed along. "Your plan to make me….think I'm jealous? Or to get Troy after all and get over me? I can't decide which one it is yet, but it'll come to me!"
It took everything Annie had not to scream at him. But she did get angry enough to stop Jeff in his tracks. "Jeff, what the hell is your problem?!" she all but growled. "I'm being crappy right now, I know, but not that crappy!"
"No, just selfish. Like I said all those years ago, you're just as selfish as me. But now you're really getting good at it, so kudos," Jeff congratulated.
"I don't want kudos, I want the truth!" Annie demanded. "Or at least what you think the truth is!" she lowered her expectations.
"Fine, since you claim you don't know it, I'll fill you in," Jeff promised. "You think I don't know how….familiar Britta and Troy look right now?! If I noticed, of course you did too! And of course, when she got scared and backed off for very logical reasons, you couldn't accept it! Especially since she did it to your first great love! Who's now your best friend, apparently!"
"I said I was his best friend! Please get your facts straight!" Annie tried to counter.
"I have the facts now, baby. Like how Troy reminded you of when someone other than Abed was obsessed with him! When you idolized someone other than me! Since both of those events didn't work out, and his saga with Britta made it worse, you decided to rewrite history." Jeff set up as he went into full on lawyering.
"When Troy reminded you how much you used to love him, and how much you just like him now, it made you sad. It made you wish you two had that kind of connection in high school….and maybe in Greendale. If you did, maybe you wouldn't have to see one old cynic and young dreamer pair make it work! So you put together a no-lose plan!" Jeff accused.
"You're losing I.Q. points with this conspiracy theory, Jeff!" Annie shot back.
"It's conspiracy fact, and here's why!" Jeff finally started explaining. "Sure, if your plan got Troy and Britta together, then good for them. But if it didn't, you had two other backup goals. Either it'd make me jealous and snatch you up, or you could comfort Troy and get him for real as a second choice. Either way, one of your long time romantic goals is accomplished, and you win. Even if 'Tritta' loses!"
Annie was briefly thrown off by Jeff dubbing Troy and Britta 'Tritta.' Then she got back to being utterly furious at him. "I told you everything so you wouldn't get jealous! How the hell do you ignore that?!"
"Why did you even have to tell me? You could have kept quiet and it would have worked much better! If I acted out because I didn't know, and I accused you of making me jealous, you could just use my jealous history against me! Then Britta would never believe you were faking it with Troy! Then she'd take him back much quicker, and you'd lose Troy a lot faster!" Jeff laid out. "But you passed that up, and now we're both still on your hook!"
"So you admit you have a jealous history with me?" Annie chose to focus on – for deflection if nothing else.
"You know, it's rude to ask a question before answering one," Jeff answered instead. "I'm the one interrogating you. So you have to answer my charges first."
"No matter how paranoid they are?" Annie replied.
"Oh, are they?" Jeff retorted. "Don't tell me you felt nothing around Troy. Not one part of you still wants to kiss him at all? After being that Troy-crazy, is a few years that long enough to close the door for you? Especially when he massages that good?"
Jeff left that hanging as Annie took this in without a word. After enough time, he then added, "Especially since it'd hurt the one woman in the group who actually got to sleep with me? But if she used that hurt to get Troy back, at least I'd be your consolation prize."
"Okay, so now I'm back to being Jeff-crazy again, is that it?" Annie got back into the fight.
"Well, come on. Did you think I wouldn't react, no matter what you told me?" Jeff commented. "Even if I ruined your plan, you really didn't hope I'd get jealous enough to take you then and there? Even if Britta didn't do the same with Troy? It wouldn't matter if she did, would it? You get a prize either way, and that's what counts."
"Jeff, you're out of your mind!" Annie exclaimed. "I set them up at the three-hour lunch because I thought I'd get you as a bonus! But that's not it this time!"
Yet by just admitting that to him, and admitting it out loud to herself outside of the Dreamatorium, it threw off Annie's new momentum. It threw off Jeff a bit as well, but he recovered faster, now that he had a wide opening.
"And, um, if you did that once, you could do it again," Jeff rebounded. "Maybe since you told yourself that wasn't it, you hid it deep down. Maybe you really didn't know until now. But it all makes sense. Now more than ever."
"No it doesn't…." Annie said a little weaker.
"It does and you know it," Jeff moved for the kill. "You didn't do this for Britta and Troy. You did it for you. Or at least some part of you did, which still negates the selfless part. After the failures with both of us, and seeing Troy and Britta get closer than you ever got with me or him, that selfish part of you had to take action."
"You know that part's there, Annie," Jeff kept pushing. "You know what it's done to you before. And that 'best friend' line was all the pretext it needed to poison you again. Poison you into the dumbest, most illogical thing you've ever done! But if that's what it takes, it's worth it as long as you finally get one of your two dream guys, even if the losers suffer. It's right out of my own cold, black heart, so that's how you know I know. And how you know I'm right, too."
Annie wanted to keep yelling at him, but she couldn't. Jeff's natural lawyer skills, his reminders of the rotten past, and her knowledge of her deep down selfishness had gotten to her. For all the nonsense Jeff spouted, and for all the selfish reasons he was acting out, there were kernels of truth buried in there. And the more those kernels got stuck, the harder it was to pry them out.
It couldn't be true, because she was over Jeff and Troy! Well….she knew for a fact she was over Troy. But after all that time worshipping him, was it impossible she might have a relapse? Not to mention a Jeff relapse too?
Especially with the way Troy's 'best friend' comment made her feel when this all started? Especially when it made her feel stronger for Troy than she had in three years…minutes before she made this whole crazy plan….
That couldn't be why she did this. Neither could Jeff. They couldn't be her main reasons for any of this!
But could she say they weren't small reasons deep down? Knowing her own selfishness and past selfish patterns….could she?
"You're right," Annie said quietly. "There's a chance that's why I did this. It's not the main reason, but it could be one of them. If it is, that's reasonable doubt for my side. Which means part of me is being selfish after all."
"Ha, told you!" Jeff bragged. "You didn't have to make me drag it out with speeches, but luckily I like speeches! Now that that's settled, you can get all guilty about it, bury those shameful feelings deep down, and call off this whole plan. Even if they don't get together now, it'll be better than the alternative. You know that now."
Yet once Jeff said that, Annie suddenly knew a few more things. And a few new ways to feel about the other things she learned.
Sadly, Jeff would have gotten away with it if he knew when to stop talking. But despite his complaints about dragging things out, he still did it and ruined his case. Not completely, sadly. But enough for Annie to know what she had to do.
"No, Jeff," Annie started. "That's the difference between you and me. You bury and run away from things you hate about yourself. Or that you're too scared to face. But that's not me. If it was, I'd have stayed away from rehab like Mom wanted. So I'm not going to stay away from this."
"Okay, do I have to give those speeches again?" Jeff replied. "I can remember at least five of them, but-"
"Don't bother, Jeff, I know them all!" Annie ordered. "You might be right about me. No matter why you want to be right. But now I can face these problems head on, stop them from doing real damage, and salvage something good for people I care about."
"No matter how much you care about them?" Jeff still tried to needle.
"Yes, Jeff, that's it exactly!" Annie shut him up. "As long as there's still any way to help Troy and Britta, I'm going to keep going. And if I do call it off, it won't be because you told me to! I might be as selfish as you, but I don't run from my issues like you too!" she told the both of them.
That was probably more than enough, so Annie wrapped up, "You can tell Britta you tried to control your woman now. After that, I think we both need a good night's sleep. Good night, Jeff."
Right after she walked away, Annie felt empowered for shooting Jeff down and facing her problems. Then she remembered she did have them. But she managed not to look visibly shaken until she reached her car.
Well, if part of her was trying to get Jeff, it really was stupid. Especially after the crap he pulled, just because he was too scared to say what really bothered him. Even if he let some of it slip anyway.
Yet despite his motives, he still made Anne realize something important. And it probably made the unconscious part of her that still loved Jeff love him even more. Of course it did.
It was bad enough the unconscious part who loved Troy might be coming back. Then again, the only real proof came from Jeff – a hardly unbiased source. But if there was even a chance, now Annie would have to be ready for it and keep it under control. And that was what she would do.
If these really were serious problems, she would stop them from ruining anything. She would power through them and do a good thing for her friends anyway, just like she told Jeff she would. Even if Jeff made it harder for her to follow the script – like he always did.
Not pining over Jeff anymore was supposed to make her stop scripting out life. Now she remembered how dangerous winging it could be. Winging….and of course she recognized the ironic pun in that phrase now. Perfect end to what was so close to being a perfect day.