Disclaimer: Carol Edison is still my creation, as is the late Bob Edison
Aside from the small matter of being dead, Bob Edison didn't look too different from the last time Annie saw him. From what Annie made out before tears blurred her vision, he still had the same amount of hair, same mustache, and what was probably the same amount of weight. His stubble had been shaved off, yet Annie didn't know if that was done before or after he died. But the fact of the matter was that he wouldn't be looking the same for long after his casket was put into the ground.
For now, the open casket was right in front of the church pews, with Bob's daughter, his ex-wife, and his daughter's friends as the first mourners to see it. After Annie got her initial look and had to sit down in the left front pew to wipe her eyes, she saw Carol come up to the casket once her vision was clear. Carol appeared to be kneeling down in front of her husband's coffin, and if she was saying anything, Annie couldn't hear.
Whether Carol was repenting or getting in some final insults, it didn't change how Annie needed to go back up there and say words of her own. She had to get them out of the way shortly, or the next two hours of waiting for the service to start would be more unbearable. But she certainly wasn't going to do it with Carol nearby.
It took a few more minutes for Carol to finally get up and take a seat on the right front pew. Even though this might put her in a position to overhear Annie, she had to get up anyway. She signaled that no one else in the group had to join her, so they stayed seated and kept their eyes on both Annie and Carol.
Annie approached her father's coffin for the second time, hoping that she could focus this time. Since she survived her first stint – to coin a very awful phrase – she was able to steady herself before kneeling down. She gazed right at her dad's still face and got herself slightly comfortable with the sight before speaking up.
"Dad?" Annie whispered. "It's Annie….long time, no see. Well, I can see you but you can't see me, at least not on Earth, but….oh, wait, damnit….oh, no, I mean darnit in here," she stifled herself not to say louder, in case Carol could hear her. "Okay, let me get a do-over," she asked before regrouping.
"Dad? It's Annie….it's been a while. Yeah, that's it. I wish it would have been sooner….but neither of us could get past our pride, I guess. Maybe you were waiting for me to come to you….at least that's the way I'd like to see it. But anyway….I suppose there's some part of me that should thank you. Of course, the other part is still mad that you left me with her, and that the one thing you two still agreed about was hating me in rehab. But if you talked her into supporting me, or if you came to get me after I got clean….I would have still lived with one of you and I wouldn't be who I am now. Or be with the people who helped me get there."
Annie made a gesture towards the study group without turning her face to them. "I didn't have anything to tell you about these guys when you….last called me. But they finished the job of saving my life, Dad. I'd like to believe that if you ever wanted to make up with me, the new you would have grown to like them. I've laughed more than once at picturing you and Pierce together in a room," Annie reflected while trying not to actually laugh at a time like this.
"Anyway, I wish you could have seen and possibly liked how Troy and Abed are the brothers I never had, or how Britta's the big sister that would have driven you nuts, or how Shirley would have debated you on God until the apocalypse," Annie theorized while letting a tiny giggle get out. "And Jeff….oh God, I don't know what feelings I would have had if you met him. I'm sure God's already filled you in on how things went when he met Mom." With that, Annie scolded herself for bringing that up now, especially with both Jeff and Carol sitting not too far away. "But maybe you can get past that to see how he's…..the person I care about the most now."
"Maybe if you actually came back, it would have gone as bad as it did with Mom. I'd like to doubt that….I really, really would. Maybe you staying away is the only reason you look better than her by comparison…..well, one of the only reasons. There are so many conflicting things to feel right now…..and now that there's no hope for you to clear them up…" Now Annie started to see her vision blurring again. "I love my life now, and I might not have had it if you were there, and maybe you'd have ruined it like Mom tried to do…..but I still kind of wish we could have found out for sure…."
With Annie's cries starting to get louder, it didn't take long until she felt a few hands on her shoulders. One belonged to Jeff, with Shirley controlling the other and the rest of the group not too far behind. This allowed Annie to clear her throat and start clearing her eyes again. "Okay, I think I'm starting to ramble…..heck, I got here early enough that I have lots of time to say more. If I think of anything else, I'll come back and let you know, okay?"
Annie pretended that her dead father could say okay, which helped her get to her feet easier and allow her friends to lead her back to the pews. She didn't bother to check and see what Carol was doing, or get an idea of whether she heard Annie talk about her. Annie could only sit back down, let the group comfort her some more and sit around until any more family members showed up.
Over the next two hours, the church did thankfully start to fill up more, as Annie found family members she actually didn't mind talking to. Her grandmother, a.k.a. Bob's mother, was one of them – and Britta did manage to discreetly explain to Troy why she was called "bubbie." In between reuniting with accepting family members and tip-toeing past the others, Annie did go back to her dad's coffin a few times and fill him in on the rest of her recent exploits. She had just gotten up to the second paintball war – and leaving out details on her outfit – before they finally had to start the service.
Annie was able to endure the service better than she expected – even though Carol was one of the speakers. But Carol refrained from dropping in any subtle insults or digs at her ex-husband, or anyone else in the family. It was actually a restrained, simple speech about their good old days, with some nice words about Bob's post-divorce life sprinkled in. Carol was quite a little actress and she knew that snide comments wouldn't make her look good, so this could have been one giant acting job. But considering what else she could have done, it didn't matter if it was.
Once they closed the casket and Annie wasn't able to get up in time for a few final words, things started to get a little harder. Indeed, she was crying again by the time they got to Bob's grave and they started to lower the coffin. Yet with her grandmother and Jeff on both sides of her, she was eventually able to breathe easier. In fact, she almost wished she could focus on Jeff and see just how uncertain and out of place he looked at this sort of thing – both to laugh and to admire him for trying to come through for her anyway.
Eventually, she thought she was cried out as they headed over to her father's house for the post-funeral service. There, she was able to relax by talking with family and introducing them to the study group. They were more at ease trying to tone themselves down with them than they were with Carol – perhaps because they were dealing with Edisons who weren't trying to bait them. Before long, they were even starting to laugh as they were told stories about Annie's childhood – at least the ones that weren't filled with teasing, bullying, addiction and rehab.
As for Jeff, he was doing his own exploring through the living room, getting his bearings straight after somehow doing enough to comfort Annie. Although he wasn't showing as much emotion as Annie, he had been a bundle of nerves in trying to find the right ways to be there for her. This was obviously not a situation he was an expert in, and having Carol there to possibly pick him apart didn't help either.
Yet Annie seemed to be calming down and the others were actually making up for whatever errors Jeff had made. Therefore, he felt that he earned a breather as he looked around at Mr. Edison's pictures, trinkets and slightly less fancy furniture than Jeff's. He was still walking on a tight edge, although he was relieved that he looked as different from Annie's father as he had hoped. The last thing he needed was anything that could make Annie compare him and Mr. Edison in an….unsettling fashion. Of course, Jeff had the advantage of not having abandoned Annie yet, but he certainly couldn't point that out now.
"Hello, Jeffrey." Correction, that was the last thing he needed – to now be alone with the last living Edison to abandon Annie.
"Carol, we are not doing this today," Jeff tried to clear up as quickly as possible once he saw Carol. "In fact, me and Annie made it clear last time that we don't want to do this ever again. If you're delusional enough to think we would be flexible at a funeral, that's your business."
"That may be called for on other days, but not today," Carol calmly answered. "I have shown the maximum decorum today, since that's what is needed at a funeral. In fact, I actually came here to complement you on doing the same. I know this sort of….atmosphere isn't something you thrive in, but I must give credit where credit is due to you. Even if you can't do the same."
"That….would be flattering from anyone else," Jeff conceded. "You'll understand if I do a little nitpicking with you."
"Fair enough. That doesn't negate how far you seem to have come since….I last saw you. I imagine Annie is very proud of you." Jeff tried to decode Carol to see what insult and psychological game was buried under that comment, and what he could say that wouldn't trigger more insults and games. Yet he must have taken too long, since it gave Annie time to notice him and her mother and come right over.
"Jeff? Um, there are other family members asking for you, if you don't mind," Annie tried to bail him out. Jeff barely contained a sigh of relief as Annie came over, even though it put her in view of Carol. But Annie figured she would toss one compliment and get her mother out of her way peacefully. "Mom, you did a terrific job with your eulogy….I know it couldn't have been easy for you. But I thought you should know you did just fine."
"Thank you, Annie. I'm just glad I told your aunt how to contact you so you could hear my speech."
"Yep," Jeff commented sarcastically now that Carol let out her insult. "Wait, what?" Jeff asked once he recalled what Carol actually said. Annie was puzzled as well, and so when Carol started to walk away, she followed her to get clarity. "What do you mean you told my aunt to contact me?"
"Well, you just moved into a new apartment months ago," Carol explained as she started to walk and talk with Annie, as Jeff was left with no choice but to follow. "I was the only one that knew how to contact you at your new home. No one else in the family had any idea, so if I hadn't told your aunt who you were living with, she couldn't have looked up how to contact you. If not for that, you might not have known what happened until it was too late to come here."
"Mom, I have a cell phone and I have e-mail. They would have found ways to let me know in time," Annie pointed out.
"But it's not like you've used them to talk that much to them, have you? And your father's death hit them so hard that they were in no condition to do research. So I helped them out and made certain that you finally got to see him at the very end," Carol informed as their walking took them down the hallway.
"Is this some lame attempt to guilt Annie? Because that's what it is, lame. It's bad enough you're even sicker than last time, but you can't even do it right," Jeff chimed in.
"I suppose my guilt trips have gotten weaker since I slept with you, I must admit," Carol theorized as Annie tried to contain herself from groaning louder.
"Well, if that's the one good thing that came out of sleeping with you, I guess I'll take it," Jeff found himself saying to try and get Carol back.
"You got one good thing from who?"
Once again, Jeff had lost to Carol well before he even realized it. He had lost the second she led him and Annie on a walk-and-talk. It had led them right to the staircase where she obviously knew Troy and Abed were sitting and getting their silly talk out of the way in private. But now she had made sure they had overheard Jeff admitting that he had slept with Carol – which was only news to Troy, but that was plenty bad enough.
"Troy, Abed!" Annie panicked. "It's, it's not what you think, Jeff didn't get anything from anyone! And there's nothing dirty about the anything anyway!" she poorly tried to cover up.
"So you really didn't tell them?" Carol asked.
"Huh. I thought when you didn't let it slip to anyone else two months ago, you'd be safe from blabbing more until late May or early September. I thought it'd be overkill to pile it on with a funeral, but I'm not the director on this one," Abed reminded. Although he didn't actually reveal what "it" was that he was referring to, Annie had a pretty good idea. "You told him?" she tried to ask Jeff quietly.
"Well, um….it's not my fault he couldn't find a movie or show to help me beat her! I had to take some kind of shot, though!" Jeff tried to defend although he sensed he had just made it worse.
"To help you beat her? Wait….did Abed know about you and her before I did?" Annie demanded to know.
"Abed, you knew about Jeff and Annie's mom before I did too?" Troy asked to know next. "Oh God…..I don't know whether to be mad at you or owe you my life! My brain is literally at war!" Troy proclaimed before groaning loudly. "Oh God, the owe you my life side just unlocked some nasty Jeff/Annie's mom images! I knew he'd be the one to fight dirty!"
"Troy, how many times did we tell you, no brain wars today!" Britta came over to remind him. "Of course…." Jeff resigned himself to concede.
"Sorry Britta, we can't all have a brain that doesn't know Jeff and Annie's mom had sex!" Troy yelled out before gasping in realization. "Oh God…that wasn't me, that was the evil side of my brain! Apparently he won the war when you distracted me, thank you so much Britta! I would stab him with a q-tip if I already knew that wouldn't work!
"WHAT?" Britta finally yelled – and Jeff knew she wasn't asking about Troy stabbing his brain with a q-tip.
"Well…all right then, I suppose they didn't know until now after all. That's all I needed to know," Carol proclaimed as she slipped out from the scene of the crime. At this point, Annie really needed to slip out too; at least before Britta let it slip to Shirley next; so she went the other way and ran towards the back door.
Jeff had two unpleasant choices of having to see Annie freak out in the backyard, or getting interrogated by Britta over what she just learned. "So here's the thing….Abed, go ahead and explain the thing now," Jeff offered before bolting like hell to unpleasant choice number one.
By the time Jeff found the backyard, Annie was sitting on her knees, not caring if the grass was staining the bottom of her dress. She was too overwhelmed to care, although she knew she should have known Carol would do something like this even at Dad's funeral. Annie had relaxed briefly when her attempts to shame her for not being available to the family failed; but it wasn't designed to succeed. It was only meant to rile Jeff up so he would spill the beans near a group member who couldn't keep a secret. And thus, not only would it further tarnish her and Jeff, but the scrutiny, accusations and likely disappointment from the group would stop them from being helpful today.
As if it wasn't hard enough to deal with her dad's death without this old wound getting opened again. As if the Jeff problem wasn't difficult enough without the group knowing about it. As if she wasn't doing a poor enough job finally getting past it once and for all. She knew it really shouldn't be that big of a deal by now, since it had happened two months ago, their Saturday nights had gone really well and Jeff was still her very best friend. If she could stomach being that close to Jeff, being…..even closer shouldn't be hard anymore, but those…..horrifying thoughts, memories and hard truths still weren't going away.
Of course, Carol probably knew that and that was probably why she did what she did. She saw him being so helpful to Annie today and probably couldn't stand assuming that they were really together, in spite of everything she did weeks ago. Dealing with failure, today's funeral and the prospect of her estranged daughter making her look bad by going out with a so-called dirty old man she slept with first….it couldn't have been a pleasant combination.
But even now, she couldn't put that aside for one day. Even when Annie refused her for good last time, she still had to get her way. Even with all she had done to make Jeff seem less romantically attractive to her, Carol still had to try and kill any chance for them.
But the key word was try.
"Annie?" she finally heard Jeff say behind her. "Annie….please say something. Tell me we should go, tell me we need to set Britta straight before she tells Shirley and Pierce…..or hopefully, say something that leads to Carol getting shot into the sun. I have no idea what I can do for you right now, even more than usual….so I'm at your complete command, milady."
Jeff was still here. Through all of it, he was still here. Through it all, Annie was still the only person who earned that kind of effort from him. And Carol still thought she could help take it away. She still wanted that much after all she took already.
"I'll show her…." Annie muttered and decided. Before Jeff knew what that meant, and before Annie was totally aware of it, she had gotten onto her feet, turned to Jeff and kissed him even more suddenly than she did at the debate. And even more passionately as well.
There were tons of red flags and questions that should have paralyzed them both at this moment. Yet Annie's desire to ignore them was very clear. Given that Jeff had killed himself trying not to ignore them for so long, he had had about enough of it too.
Annie wasn't grinding up against Jeff per se, yet she was holding him as tightly as she could. She was going on such adrenaline that she was pretty much reducing master womanizer Jeff into a puddle, although he was still doing his best to keep up. As she thrust her tongue into Jeff's mouth and let his most experienced one get into the mix, she grinned as much as she could against his mouth and thought that her mother never got this kind of passion from him.
And with that thought, the red flags finally started to get uncovered. The reality of what Annie was doing, the motivation for it – and the timing of it – began to crush her until she finally broke away. "Oh God, oh God…." Annie repeated as it fully sank in. However, Jeff was not quite broken from the spell yet.
"Oh come on, it was just getting good….you have no idea how long I've been ready to admit that I wanted this…" Jeff confessed in hopes of getting Annie back in the mood. But Annie completely missed what Jeff really meant with that statement.
"Wanted this….you wanted this? Do you know what this is? I made out with you just to get back at her…..weeks after you slept with her…." Annie rattled off with increased volume. "And I did it right AFTER MY DAD'S FUNERAL!" she screamed in realization – which was loud enough for Jeff to finally get it.
"Oh…right, that…." was all Jeff could say as it now hit him just how deeply he blew this. But his growing dread was still nothing compared to Annie's, whose adrenaline high was now working in the opposite direction. It got even worse when she noticed that the study group was watching from the open back door – and especially when she saw Carol with them.
"YOU!" Annie screeched as she pointed a finger at her mother. "You planned all of this, didn't you? You wanted me to kiss him and get sick because you did it too! Didn't you?"
"What? Oh come on, you're making me like some kind of psychic supervillain!" Carol defended.
"Well, aren't you?" Annie countered, figuring there was no sense holding back now that the group either knew everything or was figuring it out. "You slept with Jeff before you even knew who he was to me, and then you used it to try and manipulate me into leaving Greendale! You already almost ruined all my dreams of being with him, and now you choose…..now to finish the job? What is wrong with you?"
"Don't you pin that on me!" Carol shot back. "I only wanted to make Jeffrey's friends find out our 'history' and get you two into trouble, and that's all! I had no plans to make you dry hump him as a side effect! I can't say it was a pleasant side effect until now, either."
"Even if that's true, why would you want them to know your 'history'?" Annie asked. "No, you know what, it doesn't matter….that just brings back the larger question of WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU?"
Annie managed to tell Carol off last time without raising her voice, even minutes after she found out about her and Jeff. But this time, circumstances made her far less restrained and ready to break down, yet she willed herself to get a few more things off her chest. "Don't you think it's bad enough that I'm….a biological orphan after today? I'll never fix things with Dad, and we want nothing to do with each other! But you…..you still tried to get between me and the last whole family I have left apart today? They came here to help me say goodbye to my dead dad, and you wanted them to focus on me, you and Jeff instead? Every time I see you, you keep trying to take things you haven't already taken from me….and you couldn't take a break now?"
Annie's ability to stand being in the same area as Carol, Jeff and the group was declining, so she tried to rush out the rest of her words. "Well, congratulations. You made things awkward with the group, and as a side effect, you made kissing the man I'm in love with even more sickening than before. You win again, Mom….so am I enough of a sore loser now? Huh? Am I, you…..you…." Annie got out the letter b a few times, yet still couldn't get herself over the hump to actually say bitch. "B…b…..b-person! You know what, since that's what you are, you can fill in the rest! How about that?"
Since Annie's rants were losing steam and her tears were coming back, she quit while she was still ahead and made her way back into the house. She got through the group, the rest of her family and the mourners to get through the front door, intending to find her car and drive away to clear her head. She had enough of a head start on Jeff, Carol and the group to get into her car by the time the others got to the front yard. And with that, Annie was able to drive away from her father's home before any living friends and family could stop her.
Once it sunk in that Annie was gone and wasn't intending to come back, Jeff, Carol and the group were left together in a very tense silence. All it would take was one comment to erupt everything again, and Carol wound up triggering it by saying "Well, I think that's enough unbecoming theatrics for one memorial, don't you?"
"You know what? I'm pretty sure Annie's dad is gonna talk God into pardoning me for this, so….let me at her!" Shirley ran over to have her way with Carol, but stopped right in front of her. "Wait….no one's really going to hold me back?" Shirley asked when she realized the group was staying in place and not trying to stop her from pummeling Carol.
"Nope, you go right ahead and smite the b-person," Britta offered. The rest of the group's fury and disgust had been turned on Jeff minutes earlier when they learned what he did with Carol. But now that Annie's meltdown had filled them in on what Carol did, both then and now, Jeff was no longer their prime scapegoat at the moment.
"Annie's gone, you know. So you don't have to pretend that you're not selfish, jaded people for the sake of your child mascot right now," Carol proposed. Shirley grumbled under her breath and then finally started to attack her – albeit with words.
"You know that we're both divorced moms, since you have evil psychic research powers and everything. I brought myself to swallow my pride, find my forgiveness and get my family whole again. But you….you did things to keep your family apart that I would jump off a cliff before I did, even though that would send me to Hell! Of course, you were going there no matter what you did, but my point stands!" Shirley ruled.
"Is this really the time to rub your religion in my face?" Carol scoffed.
"No, it's the time to shame you for what you've done to Annie, if that's possible! We came here for her because unlike you, we love her! And it's not because she's a child or we're trying to look good, but because she's the smartest, sweetest, most amazing woman we know! That might not be good enough for some people, but it is for us! And nothing you made us find out just now changed that, it just made us sicker at that sick man over there!" Shirley exclaimed as she pointed at Jeff.
"I mean, look at us! He's sick, Pierce hates everything under 60, Britta hates anything decent and moral, Troy ignored Annie in high school, Abed's best friends are on TV, and I'm not a Jew! But every single one of us loves her, accepts her and admires her so much….even a bit too much for our own good!" Shirley punctuated by pointing at Jeff again. "And you cut her off and tortured her because she hurt your publicity….well, how do you look when 'selfish, jaded' people love your own daughter so much more than you do, huh?"
"Annie's the only real, consistent friend I have, in addition to being like my daughter. So that technically means I still have to go back in time and bang you so she's born," Pierce added on to Carol. "But you clearly don't deserve my special talents, and I bet your boobs weren't as nice as hers back then either! Your boobs just lost out on some really special time travel sex memories, so suck on that! Or rather, don't! Heh, I hope late 1980's me remembers that one."
Carol was left baffled and sickened, so Jeff tried to vein to show some of the old Winger snark – which was better than being on the brink of his own mental breakdown." Well, Carol-" Jeff started before Britta stopped him in his tracks.
"Oh no, don't you dare think you're off the hook for one second, Winger! You just stay quiet while we say goodbye to the rest of Annie's family. Then when we get to the hotel, you will explain yourself as much as we want until Annie comes back." Britta then turned to Carol to finish with, "But we already know his excuse for hurting Annie is being a horny idiot. You haven't begun to earn any excuses for it, lady."
Britta was so mad at her on Annie's behalf that she actually knew to shut up and not ruin the moment. Once that washed over the group, they paid no more heed to Carol and headed back inside to apologize for the fireworks before leaving. As for Carol, she just stayed outside as she felt the withering stares and judgment of the mourners and family members who watched the drama inside.
While that was going on, Annie was focused on driving to the hotel and trying to keep her eyesight clear. Yet her tears didn't make her drive off the road, as she got to the hotel safely, took out her overnight bag and checked into her room. There, she changed out of her funeral dress and back into regular clothes, before heading back outside to take a walk.
She figured the others would arrive at the hotel within minutes, see her car in the parking lot and assume she was back in her room. When they saw she wasn't, they would probably call her phone non-stop. Yet Annie planned to have it turned off for several hours, as she just wanted to walk around and get some of her head cleared before she could begin to face them. After this horror show of a day, the night needed to start more peacefully for her.
It was 7:15 p.m. by the time Annie started her walk, but she didn't care if it ended late. She still remembered this neighborhood from when she regularly visited her dad after the divorce years ago, and it was hardly as dangerous as the one Annie just moved out of. She knew she wouldn't get lost and could find her way back, although getting her mind and senses back was another concern.
She was composed enough to find a fast food place and finally get a nice salad to eat – and only sniffled once or twice while eating by herself. She was briefly tempted to turn on her phone and see how many missed calls and texts she had, but she wasn't ready to risk someone getting through. Annie knew she was being irrational, like she was when she stayed away from the group for three days after Carol's Greendale visit. But after everything that had happened, she couldn't face the group's questions, assumptions and commentary about her, Jeff and Carol – on top of not knowing if she could ever face Jeff again.
If Carol didn't really plot to make Annie kiss Jeff and be more disturbed by him today, then that made what happened even more inexcusable on Annie's part. The memories of her mother had already tarnishing her Jeff fantasies – and now Annie knew she was nowhere near ready to stop them from tarnishing an actual relationship. If that wasn't enough to do it, kissing Jeff out of revenge 90 minutes after her father was laid to rest would make due.
Annie really did have it right earlier – she was a biological orphan. She had no parents left now, and the most important relationship left in her life was officially ruined, after two months of trying to save it. And now the other important relationships she had left would be affected in some fashion because of it. As much as her logical side was still trying to show a pulse and snap her out of it, Annie still felt like she had never been more alone at this moment. No dad, a sadistic mother, being in such limbo with the man she wanted to love, and being unable to explain it to her last remaining complete family could do that.
This led her to just blankly walk through town for another half-hour until she came across a bar. It was just enough to make her remember that this was Saturday, and she was usually in a bar with Jeff by now anyway. Annie briefly worried if Jeff was thinking in those terms and looking for her in there, but in any case, she needed somewhere to sit down and refresh herself.
Annie was used to bars by now, so even though this was an unfamiliar one and she was by herself, she was in no condition to be scared over it now. In any case, she didn't need a fake ID to get into bars anymore, so Caroline Decker wouldn't need to show up. Since Annie couldn't do her justice tonight, this was a relief.
She found a place to sit and wondered if she should order anything alcoholic. When she was with Jeff, she always ordered non-alcoholic drinks, or something with only a tiny bit of buzz. This would be a good night to change that, especially since she wasn't driving home and she could take buses back to the hotel. Yet she had to face the group in some capacity tomorrow when they went home, so maybe doing it with her first hangover wouldn't help the situation. However-
"Well, look who's here….you are still my daughter after all." That stopped Annie from over thinking some more…..especially since that voice froze her mind and body.
It seemed that since she left her mother behind, Carol had taken it upon herself to take refuse in this bar. What's more, she was now coming towards Annie's table, and was quite clearly in the early stages of being drunk.
"Of course…." Annie muttered, trying to somehow ignore how she sounded just like her mother's recent one-night stand.