"Wait a minute," Annie said, "why are you telling me all this? I mean, I was there! Wait, how do you know any of this?"
"Huh?" said the Dean. He was leaning back in his chair, touching up the paint job on his model plane with a nail polish brush. He'd always known about their pliable versatility, but using them to touch up tiny little propellers? It made so much sense that the was surprised he hadn't stumbled upon it sooner. He definitely needed to subscribe to better magazines. Model Society International just wasn't up on techniques for the man on a budget.
He blew on the propeller to dry out the paint. It spun. "You just zoned out a little, Ms. Edison," said the Dean. "A sort of trance, if you will. After I mentioned Dean Spreck plan to fill the school up with sharks, you rather stopped paying attention. So I turned my attention elsewhere. A good thing, too. Do you know regional competitions are in two weeks? The winner gets their model plane displayed at the Colorado Aerospace Museum! You know, I'm starting to understand why your old Study Group loved doing these competitions so much. Scotch?"
"Uh," Annie stammered, a little confused. Dean Pelton poured a glass.
Annie realized she'd missed doing these team competitions, too. She'd tried hooking up with other groups, but none really stuck. They were too ... ingrained? She tried to study with a group of Korean students, but they seemed to have their own built in repartee and she couldn't help but feel like an outsider. She parted ways after two weeks. Which was fine … she really didn't join study groups for the studying.
Troy and Abed had gone into business together, developing virtual reality software to map out air conditioning vents using levitating position detectors. They got their idea from Prometheus. "It was the only good thing to ever come out of that movie," Abed explained. A test run had managed to locate the furry little monster living in the Greendale air vents.
Britta now had her own radio program on the AM station where she dispensed pop psychology advice to callers between 9 pm and midnight. It turned out that her response to 80% of the call in questions were "penises." It was a pretty popular show in the Greendale metropolitan area.
Shirley's sandwich shop had become a runaway success, with a franchise set to open in Denver. Business dealings kept Shirley and Pierce away from Greendale for a large part of their final semester.
She watched them stroll across the stage in their caps and gowns. She was there in the auditorium, both happy and proud yet sad that they couldn't graduate together. It wasn't going to be the same, anyway. Three months previous Jeff had already left…
"Annie?" said the Dean. "Earth to Annie." He was gently waving the glass of scotch in front of her. "So, like I was saying, Dean Spreck had bought up permits all around the grounds to dig for oil. That's how he got his hand on the earth mover equipment. The serious heavy duty stuff."
Jeff sighed. "A bananarita, Annie? What happened to the appletinis?"
"Welllll," Annie said, "a girl's tastes change, you know?"
"You're going the wrong direction," said Jeff. "Your tastes have to evolve, not devolve. Going from appletinis to bananaritas? That's regression."
Annie rolled her eyes. She squeezed the lime into her drink. He'd taken her to a nearby Cuban restaurant, one she hadn't noticed before. She was a little appalled that there was so much pork on the menu and very little in the way of other options, but she didn't want to ruin the moment. Besides, he was paying. He was just going to have to pony up a little extra for the Parrillada de Mariscos.
"How long are you staying here this time?"
"A week, maybe two," said Jeff. "Then I have to head to Wichita for a month. It's for a property dispute. Small stuff."
Annie looked down. "Did you, you know, ever regret turning on what's-his-face from your old law firm?"
"Alan."
"Yeah. If you'd just caved in, you'd be back at your old job, and you wouldn't have to travel so much. Then maybe you could stay in Greendale a little longer…."
"Annie," Jeff said, his eyes now fixed on her, "if there's anything I learned from you - and the other guys, let's be fair - it's that some dreams aren't worth holding on to. And there's a price for keeping your soul. It's a hard road, but if it means never disappointing you and those Disney eyes of yours … then it's worth it."
Annie formed her smile tightly, small dimples forming on her chin. She picked at her food a little. Something was bothering Jeff. She could sense it.
"About that night," Jeff said, his voice becoming deeper and more fragile. "Before I graduated…."
Annie flashed a hard glance at him. "Are you going to tell me it was a mistake?" she said sternly.
"What?" Jeff said, taken aback. "No. It's just that.… I knew right then that I wouldn't be back in town for a while, and… if I ever took advantage…."
Annie gasped. "Give me some credit, Jeff," she said. "It's not always about you, you know. Did it occur to you that it was something that I wanted? For … a really long time? I mean, wow, I used to fantasize about that moment for three years. But you gave me the cold shoulder, and you pushed me away, and wow, I'm a little shocked it finally happened." She stopped herself, and she chuckled. "And it was great. So… if you're going to apologize … I just want you to shut up."
The shared a nervous laugh together, then ate their dinner in awkward silence.
"So," said Annie, finally, "what's this case you're working on?"