Community and everything to do with it does not belong to me. I'm just writing this for fun and have little to no money so suing me over it really wouldn't accomplish anything.
Now entering Denver
The sun was just beginning to set behind the mountains as Jeff and Annie arrived within the Denver city limits. The week had seemed to pass by too quickly for Jeff's tastes as there were no real conflicts or crises to distract him from reuniting with his father tonight. Jeff suspected the group had informed each other of just what was going on and decided to make things easier on Jeff for the week since he was already stressed. Even Dean Pelton was surprisingly normal all week and didn't stop by in any outrageous outfits or have any ridiculous requests for the study group. Weirdest of all, he only felt Jeff's chest once all week and that was when he popped by on Monday to ask how their weekend was. Things were definitely amiss all week and Jeff had no outlet from this dinner.
He had spent the entire day stressing out in his apartment, trying to pick the right outfit to wear. He wasn't sure if he should be too formal or too casual and subsequently spent the entire morning trying out every suit, pair of designer jeans, tie, sweater and even shoe combination he owned. Finally, he remembered he was going out to one of the nicest restaurants in Denver and decided formal was the best so he chose his nicest suit five minutes after he was supposed to pick up Annie. When he arrived at Casa De Trobrittanniebed (hoping no one else took up residence in the apartment because the name kept getting sillier and sillier), Annie was waiting for him in a gorgeous purple cocktail dress that hugged each and every one of her curves to perfection and one of her trademark cardigans to protect against the cold. As she hopped in Jeff's Lexus, she let out a brilliant smile and had to remind Jeff that they were running late in order to get him to take his eyes off of her.
The trip had passed mostly in silence, as per Jeff's wishes. He knew he'd need some words of encouragement along the trip but didn't want to get them until he was closer and had less chance to back out. Annie didn't seem to mind and spent their time together watching the lovely scenery go by as this was probably the last weekend the trees would be holding leaves and so the fall colors were in full peak. She also grabbed onto Jeff's right hand and held it for the length of the trip, except when he needed to make a turn. Jeff seemed to appreciate this since Annie could detect the faintest hint of a smile every time their hands reconnected. But for the rest of the time, he was emotionless, locked up inside of his own head, worrying about what was going to happen tonight
Part of him simply wanted to take Pierce's advice he'd received on Friday and walk in there, look his dad squarely in the eye and punch him in the face. And while his father certainly would deserve it, Jeff actually felt compelled to hear him out. After all, it had been thirty years since he'd had any degree of contact from the man; clearly something was different now and he wanted to find out what it was. Jeff knew he wouldn't be following Britta's advice to blow him off because of how fathers only exist to further enforce the patriarchal society and that they were unnecessary in this day and age, nor Shirley's to invite him to church the next day so God could forgive him for all of his sins of neglect and abandonment. Troy and Abed were mostly worried about William asking Jeff to turn to the dark side so together they could rule the galaxy as father and son. But Jeff decided he was going to follow the advice of the one person whose opinion he truly cared about for this and that was Annie's to just go in there, have dinner and see where it takes him.
Finally Jeff and Annie arrived at Rioja a few minutes later than planned. William was likely already inside waiting for him. Jeff parked the car and turned the engine off, leaving him and Annie in complete silence. Annie noticed that Jeff appeared to be in no hurry to get out of the car and actually enter the restaurant. She knew that he was likely a hurricane of emotions right now and any force from her to get in there would likely do more harm than good. Instead, she just squeezed his hand tightly and leaned up to give him a kiss on his scruffy cheek.
"It's okay Jeff. I'm here for you," she whispered softly into his ear. "We can go in whenever you're ready. I'll be right beside you the whole time."
Jeff glanced down at her and was greeted with one of Annie's legendary Disney faces. Feeling a rush of confidence that he knew wouldn't last long, Jeff nodded, took a deep breath and stepped out of the car. Like a true gentlemen, he rushed over to Annie's side and opened her door for her and offered his hand to assist her in getting out. Annie giggled at the sudden chivalry from Jeff but took his hand and looped her arm through his. Arm in arm, the two entered the restaurant and were greeted by the maitre d.
"Hello, I'm dining with William Winger."
"Of course sir, he is at Table 37. Would you like me to accompany you?"
"No thank you, I'm sure I'll be able to find him."
The maitre d gave a small bow and beckoned Jeff and Annie into the restaurant. After scanning through the tables for a moment, Jeff's eyes fell on a middle-aged man sitting in a booth with a familiar prominent forehead and sharp jawline. Jeff swallowed hard as for the first time in 30 years, he set his eyes on William Winger. He started to panic a little bit but Annie just held onto him tighter and walked slowly towards the table, dragging Jeff along with her. When the two reached the table, Annie nudged Jeff in the side with her elbow and Jeff cleared his throat.
"William Winger?" The man looked up from his menu and a smile crossed his weathered face.
"Jeffery. How good to finally see you again after all these years. I'm so glad you decided to come. And my, oh, my, who is this gorgeous young thing with you?"
"Hello, I'm Annie Edison," Annie replied, extending her hand which William shook and kissed for dramatic effect. "I'm a good friend of Jeff's from school."
"Delighted to meet you my dear. I suppose I should introduce my date tonight as well," indicating a woman sitting next to him who Jeff and Annie had not noticed initially. "This is my lovely wife Katherine."
"It's nice to meet you Ka-MOM?!"
The woman lowered her menu and locked eyes with Annie, a look so icy on her face that Jeff felt himself shiver involuntarily. Annie simply looked horrorstruck as she stared at her mother.
"Hello Anne," Katherine said stiffly.
"Wait a minute, did she call you 'Mom'? Katherine, you never told me you had a daughter," William said severely, clearly sensing trouble.
"And up until a few weeks ago, you never mentioned you had a son either. But I can't imagine why you'd want to reconnect with him," said Katherine, turning to look directly at Annie before finishing her sentence. "Especially since he appears to have such horrible taste in friends since he's with my no-good daughter."
Annie broke down at this and ran from the restaurant sobbing hysterically. Jeff went to go after her but was stopped in his tracks by Katherine saying, "Let her go boy. She's prone to episodes like this and isn't worth the trouble."
"I'm lost here. Just what the hell is going on?" Jeff demanded, growing more and more angry with every passing moment
"Well, Katherine and I met while we were both vacationing in the Hamptons three summers ago and we were married last year. We both realized we came from Colorado and wanted to spend some time going around the places we came from."
"That's just spectacular," Jeff said acidly, feeling his face get very hot as his temper was rising. "I wish the two of you nothing but happiness together. I'm assuming it won't be too difficult since I can clearly see what drew you two to each other. After all, it isn't every day you meet somebody who also turned their back on their children, THE THING THAT WAS SUPPOSED TO MATTER MORE THAN ANYTHING IN YOUR LIVES!"
Without caring that the entire restaurant was now staring at him for his outburst, Jeff grabbed William and Katherine's wine glasses and threw them both in their faces before turning on his heel and storming away from their table. Jeff faintly heard William trying to call him back but heard Katherine tell him to let him go and he's better off without him. Jeff stomped out of the restaurant, fishing his keys out of his pocket and searching around for Annie, wanting to get the hell away from his father and his new wife as quickly as possible. Finally Jeff spotted Annie sitting on the ground next to his car and felt his body go completely numb as the color drained from his face. In the light of the streetlights, he saw something glinting in her hands that was pointing at her head.
"ANNIE, NO!" Jeff yelled out as he took off running towards her.
*BANG!*
Jeff froze as the gunshot rang through the parking lot. Time seemed to stand still as he stared at Annie and watched the gun drop out of her hands. But Annie didn't slump down at all; she stayed sitting upright. Jeff regained control of his brain and took off sprinting to her. When he got there, the first thing he noticed was a large hole in his car door. Much to his relief, Annie had somehow missed, probably due to the violent trembling she was still doing. Jeff noticed her dress was stained with vomit and there was still some traces around her mouth and chin and all of her makeup had run down her face from her crying. As Jeff kneeled down to try to comfort her, he kneeled right onto something hard and plastic beside Annie. He lifted up his knee and retrieved what he kneeled on to discover that it was Annie's bottle of Adderall, now completely empty.
"Oh my god…" Jeff quickly got out his cell phone and dialed 911. "Yes, my name is Jeff Winger and my friend just took about 30 Adderall pills at once. We're currently at Rioja. I need to know where the nearest hospital is."
Jeff listened as the dispatcher informed him of where the nearest hospital was. Jeff thanked them and denied the need for an ambulance before hanging up and scooping up the hysterical Annie into his arms.
"Come on Annie, we've got to get you to a hospital. I'm not going to lose you, you hear me? Please don't leave me now Annie," Jeff begged as he strapped her into the passenger seat. Once she was secured, Jeff scrambled around to the drivers side and jumped into his Lexus. He fired up the engine and tore out of the parking lot, determined to get Annie to a hospital before she OD'ed on the dangerous anti-anxiety medications.
