Annie is staring at the door. She reaches into her bag to retrieve a small piece of paper that has the numbers 204 carefully written on it. Annie knows that she's at the right apartment, but she's a little afraid to go in. She doesn't know why because they've been friends for over three years and he was the one who asked her to come over. Usually she wouldn't be so nervous, but this was different. She was going to be at Jeff Winger's apartment. It was going to be just the two of them... at his apartment. Not that she still has feelings for him or anything because she doesn't, but a part of her just can't shake him from her system. She finally decides she's ready and knocks the door.
"Annie."
"Jeff!" She knows what she says is coming out a bit too enthusiastic but she hopes he'll shrug it off. "Do you have all your books? because if you don't I have mine."
He smiles at the fact that she's so excited to study. She walks in and looks around. It's a lot like she thought it would. There's a nice tv and weights on the floor by a shelf with some books, three RC cars and some other miscellaneous things. She thinks back to when he and Troy were completely obsessed with racing their toy cars. It seems like so long ago. Annie walks past the couches to get to the dining area. When she does, she sets all of her stuff on the black table and looks up to see a Monaco poster. Annie smiles to herself because of course he has one. There's a painting of a dancer next to it. She turns around at see's another painting by the tv that's drawn in the same style.
"Where did you get these paintings? They're beautiful."
"My mom likes to paint." He lets out a small chuckle. "She likes to send me these sometimes around the time of my birthday."
Annie starts doing that thing where her face melts and Jeff knows what's coming up next. "Aw, Jeff! Thats so sweet!"
"Annie, they're just paintings."
She pulls out one of the speckled grey chairs and sits in it before grabbing her backpack and pulling out a light blue binder. She opens it to pull out her notes and says, "You're a big softie." before gesturing to the seat next to her
Jeff feels a small smile pull at his lips. He sits in the seat and says, "Should we get started?"
Twenty minutes later Annie is regretting her decision to have Jeff sit by her. She can smell his cologne.
Jeff pinches the bridge of his nose, "Ugh, Annie can we take a break?"
"Jeff, You can't just take a break every time you get a stress headache."
He gets up and walks over to the small shelf of food. He grabs a box of Cheez-Its and puts it on the table. "You want some?"
Annie's a little confused because she never would have thought Jeff ate any form of junk food. "Um, okay... but why do you have those? You never eat carbs."
"Chang made me buy them when he lived here." He shuddered at the thought. "I'd rather not talk about him."
"Okay, well we should talk about this assign-" She was quickly interrupted by a loud exasperated Ugh. He moved to the kitchen to grab a bottle of scotch. Jeff grabs a glass from his cabinet when he gets interrupted.
"Jeff, what are you doing?"
"Getting a drink."
"In that?" she says motioning to the glass he's holding.
He looks at her confused. "Um, Yes?"
Annie gets up and opens one of his cabinets to pull out a small nosing glass. She takes the bottle of scotch from him and pours a small amount into the glass. She takes the glass and swirls the scotch around before dumping it in the sink.
"Annie, what are you doing?" He says in a confused voice.
"I'm getting rid of impurities in the cup." She pours more scotch into the glass and grabs a cup of water.
He looks back at her with an impressed expression on his face. "Since when do you know so much about scotch?"
Annie sticks her finger in the water to test it before pouring a small amount into the glass. "I watched my dad do this all the time when I was younger. I used to research this kind of stuff because I thought it would impress him." She looks down feeling embarrased. "It's stupid, I know."
He cups her face so she's looking at him. "Annie, that's not stupid." Jeff drops his hand and pauses because he knows what he is going to say next will make Annie give him that look of pity that he always got from anyone who knew about his situation. "I used to sneak behind the counters at stores to steal boxes of cigarettes, so my dad wouldn't have to leave the house to buy them."
There's a pause as she looks at him. It's not a look of pity or sadness. Annie is looking at him with concern. Like she truly cares about him. It's a look so genuine, Jeff is taken aback. It's a look he's never experienced before. He feels this pull towards Annie because they're so different, yet they've had very similar encounters in their lives and he doesn't really know what to say to her so he doesn't say anything.
Instead he pulls her face towards his closing the space between them. He kisses her and it's slow at first, but it grows in intensity when Jeff moves his arm down to her waist to pull her closer. Annie feels herself melt into him and it's been so long and the kiss becomes desperate as she clings to him. Finally, she pulls away for air. Annie looks up at Jeff. He looks.. nervous. She smiles at this because Jeff Winger does not get nervous especially around women. This thought gives her the confidence to release herself from his grip and pull him towards the bedroom.
