Chapter 4: Celebrations and Revelations
Summary: Annie and Jeff reveal more than they think as Sophie celebrates her first birthday.
Jeff was having mixed feelings regarding his summer "vacation."
Although initially excited about obtaining some contracting work through his old firm, his spirits had been dampened somewhat by the cold shoulders from former colleagues. He spent his days working mainly from home, with occasional meetings after which Alan would usually ask him out for drinks. He tried this a few times before he was reminded again of how much he hated Alan. He attempted to convince Mark to join them, but to Jeff's surprise Mark had a new girlfriend with whom he was "besotted" (Alan's words said with a gagging motion) and therefore, had become "lame." All in all, he was left feeling a bit empty when it came to aspects of his former life.
His new life, on the other hand, was full of exasperation. Although he hadn't been in any regular contact with Shirley or Britta, he somehow saw the rest of the Greendale crew. He'd stop by weekly to give Ian supplies as he nursed his injuries while plotting revenge on Chang. There was only so much of that Jeff could stomach, however, before he needed to high tail it out of there. And there was a limit to how much basketball he could play with Troy on the weekends, although he had to admit they were getting along better. Troy appeared to have softened his stance toward him, especially after he discovered he could beat Jeff most of the time. It was almost kind of nice to have some guy time without drunken lewdness. But inevitably their games were interrupted by weirdness, usually involving Abed's attempts to film them for a documentary. And sometimes Pierce would show up, claiming Troy forgot his bagged lunch. In those moments, Jeff very much wanted to scream.
Not that Jeff was frustrated with his entire Greendale social group. He and Annie were getting along just fine. He'd meet up with her after working from his apartment, and they'd have dinner or sometimes go for a walk with Sophie before moving on to other activities. Occasionally he'd pick her up from her work and they'd make out in his car. On days coming from meetings, he found himself ditching Alan to head to Annie's, showing off his suit (did it every time for her), and then spending quality time with her. And Jeff was very much into spending quality time with Annie Edison.
He realized he was an idiot not to have gone for the arrangement sooner.
He was pleased they had been continuing to take things further. There had been repeats of the pretty spectacular underwear-reveal-and-removal evening as well as some escalations on Annie's part regarding what she was willing to do for him after removing his Paul Smiths. He nearly died in anticipation of that moment and it did not disappoint.
The only downside, as far as he could tell, was that the arrangement was at times distracting from his work, as he kept fantasizing over what he was going to do to her next.
Jeff Winger wasn't used to a slow burn; it was almost becoming too much. There continued to be sleepovers, which made the whole situation even more excruciating. He was wondering if he should start chaining his hands down on her bed in order to stop them from roaming. But then he was reminded of other potential activities (maybe later), and he was almost a goner.
He was beginning to doubt how much longer they could hold out.
The other day he had come up behind Annie as she stood at the sink. Oh what the hell, why not?
He began his seduction with a low growl. "Hi."
"Hi." Annie shivered as she felt him begin to kiss the back of her neck.
"Hmmm…."
"What?" Her voice lilting as he turned her around to face him.
"You know I don't know how much longer I can ease into things, Annie." He stared into her eyes, relishing the way he could make her blush.
She looked down for a moment and then raised her eyes to meet his as the corners of her mouth began lifting slowly into a downright seductive smile.
He suddenly pulled her into a kiss, grabbing her hips. She wrapped her arms around his shoulders and allowed him to lift her up and place her on the table.
"Um…Jefff." She uttered between kisses.
"Hm?" He pushed her down on the table and leaned over her.
Laughing, she placed her hand on his chest and pressed him up slightly. "What are you doing?"
He grinned. "I thought it was obvious. I wanna take you right here."
"Jeff!" She swatted him several times while blushing furiously and then nudged him backward.
He put up his hands in a defensive gesture as he stepped back. "What? We could."
"We are not doing it on my kitchen table."
There had then been some discussions of the feasibility of such an act, Annie's concerns regarding the sturdiness of her table ("What if it collapses and we die, Jeff? Who will raise my child?"), and their mutual realization at the lack of cleanliness of said table ("You're right, Sophie's sticky fingers have been all over it.").
Jeff also had an uncomfortable internal realization that the last time he had sex was with Britta and it was on a table, which slightly tainted the idea for him if he gave it too much thought. He of course was savvy enough not to mention this.
In the end they decided to wait until their appointed "date," which they had now scheduled for a few days after Sophie's birthday party.
Although frustrated at being thwarted in the kitchen, Jeff eventually calmed down. He consoled himself with the realization that they should probably wait until they were someplace more comfortable anyway. Annie Edison deserved to have the high thread count and large bed, he was certain of that much. Others had treated her so crappily. Well maybe not Vaughn, but he couldn't imagine the hippie was into luxuries. And he was damned if he was going to do something with her that the hippie could have done.
He needed the added room of his king size bed in order to fully show her what he was capable of, and it would be a time she would never forget.
He reminded himself of this when he had her pushed up against the wall and was attempting to map her scattered moles with his tongue as her blouse slid open. This time it wasn't his fault. She practically attacked him after he came through the door. Through gasps he was able to redirect the activities to the couch. It took every ounce of his self-control, but he found repeating to himself she's amazing, she deserves high thread count to be an effective method of behavior modification.
He avoided her the whole week around Father's Day. Mostly because he usually shunned everyone around this holiday. The other reason was because he didn't want to have an awkward conversation about if Adam was going to see Sophie. Jeff felt a surge of rage the one time Annie mentioned something about Adam cancelling a visit over the summer. He realized he needed to keep himself in check, as he was sure Annie noticed his reaction.
But it was difficult to keep a lid on it. Some memories of being left at a zoo came to mind. He took another swig of Scotch.
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Dorie was pleased she was able to convince Annie to bring Sophie over to her house so they could celebrate her birthday. She didn't have anything elaborate in mind, but she explained to Annie that she and Maybelle wanted to mark the milestone and perhaps shower the baby with some cute gifts.
Dorie's coup was that she also got her son to attend. Despite him evading her phone calls for a few weeks, she found once she invited Annie and Sophie over, he miraculously returned her calls. To her amusement, he was very apologetic, explaining he had been busy with contracting work. She then politely extended him an invitation.
But she had more than a hunch Annie already told him about it.
After she swept in to grab Sophie from Annie's arms, Dorie was able to position herself closer to the house in such a way so that she could observe Annie and Jeff as they removed Sophie's things from the car. She told herself she was not spying per se, more gathering information. She was forced to do this if no one ever told her anything. Even Ian had been close-lipped lately, explaining he was ill and couldn't get together. What else was she supposed to do?
She watched Annie slow down her movements as she took out a bag and turned to face Jeff. As she began to hand him the bag, Annie reached up to lightly touch the stubble on Jeff's face. She tilted her head to the side slightly, looking up at him while fluttering her eyelashes. While Dorie couldn't see his face, she saw Jeff shift his posture as he began to bring his head down while wrapping his arms around Annie's lower back.
It was at that moment Hank decided to charge into Jeff's leg.
"Hey there, Hank! It's good to see you too." Jeff rolled his eyes as he knelt down to pet the dog under his ears.
Dorie mumbled to Sophie, "Well dear, it's too bad you can only say one word."
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Annie shuffled through Dorie's kitchen in her flip-flops, grabbing Sophie's sippy cup from the counter. She turned to get a pitcher of water from the refrigerator.
"Need some help?" Jeff smirked as he attempted to reach around her body in order to open the fridge.
She swatted at him and whispered, "Stop that! Behave yourself!"
He grinned as he leaned into her and gave her a quick kiss.
Her face turned a deep pink as she moved her eyes back and forth, avoiding his gaze. She turned to open the fridge and removed the pitcher.
"Remember our talk about discretion."
He laughed and then lowered his voice. "I know. Look, my mom is busy trying to coax Sophie into walking. We have a minute."
She shook her head. "Right. A minute. For the things you're envisioning, I think we're going to need a little more time than that."
"Then stop being all sexy cute."
"I don't know what you're talking about." She looked at him innocently and then turned her attentions to filling up Sophie's cup.
"Your toenails are purple again."
She shrugged as she fastened the lid on the cup. "So? I like purple."
He eyed her suspiciously. "Um hm."
She handed him the sippy cup. "Would you please give this to her? I'm going to run to the bathroom while I have freedom."
He sighed and raised his eyes to the ceiling while shifting his weight. "Sure."
"Thank you." She smiled softly as she stroked his arm before slowly walking out of the room.
He bit his lip as he watched her go.
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Dorie eyed Jeff as he knelt down to Sophie's level and handed her a sippy cup.
"Here you go, my curly-haired hobbit."
Sophie smiled from her seated position on the floor. She promptly shoved the cup toward her lips before clumsily dropping it. It rolled away from her and she started to cry.
"Shhhh…. It's right here." He handed the cup back to her as she continued bawling. Sighing, he picked her up and walked over to sit on the couch.
He leaned back and closed his eyes, holding Sophie to his shoulder as the wailing continued.
Dorie arose from the floor and sat in the chair opposite the couch. "You're getting pretty good at that, dear. You must be spending more time with her."
"What? Oh, right." He breathed a sigh of relief as Sophie began to settle down, clutching at him. He dropped the sippy cup on the couch and reached toward her bag to grab her bear.
"She seems to be calming down."
"Yup." He handed her the bear and then picked up the sippy cup, holding it ready. "She'll want this in a minute once she realizes she's still thirsty. I swear if I hadn't seen this a million times I'd not believe it. She forgets she was trying to drink. It's astounding."
Dorie let out a soft chuckle. "How much time do you spend with her anyway?"
"Oh, I don't know. Here and there." He looked down as he rubbed his thumb along the lid of the cup.
She squinted slightly and then cleared her throat before uttering her next words. "I saw you were present for her first haircut."
Jeff nodded slowly as he carefully repositioned Sophie in his lap and moved the cup back over to her. He glanced up at his mother. "Oh right. I noticed you commented on my pic."
She kept her eyes on him as he looked away.
"That's a milestone for a child, you know."
He kept his eyes on Sophie. "It was my birthday present to her. Her hair was a mess and my stylist is really good. That's the only reason I was there."
"I see."
"Mom!"
"You know it was such a shame about Annie and her boyfriend breaking up. I was astounded to hear of it."
"Mom!"
Both of their attentions turned as Annie entered the room.
"Hey, I heard her crying. Is she okay?"
Jeff looked up at Annie and sighed. "Yup. Just another sippy cup mishap. She's fine now."
Sophie turned her head, dropping the cup and bear as she raised her arms and greeted Annie.
Dorie's eyes widened as she placed a hand near her mouth. "I heard her! You're right, she does say mama."
Annie made an exaggerated "Hi, Sophie" to the baby and then sat down next to Jeff, taking Sophie from his arms.
She smiled giddily as she looked at Dorie. "She's saying it more and more!"
Jeff leaned back on the couch, draping his arm over the back. He attempted a bored countenance as he glanced around the room. He wondered when his mom repainted the walls. Wait, who repainted the walls?
Dorie and Annie continued cooing over Sophie.
"That's great, dear. Soon she'll start saying other things, and then she won't stop."
Annie laughed. "I can't wait. She just said mama really suddenly, first thing in the morning, didn't she, Jeff? It was so cute."
Jeff whipped his attention back to Annie, speaking quickly, "Yeah, I came over early to help with that thing, right Annie?" He kept his eyes fixed on Annie.
Annie paled and looked down, playing with the toe of Sophie's sock. "Right."
Dorie rolled her eyes as she stood.
"You know what? I'm going to go get Maybelle and tell her you're all here. She'll be excited." She turned and walked toward the kitchen while sighing loudly.
Jeff gave Annie a look.
"What?"
He leaned toward her and whispered urgently, "You can't say things like that. My mom's nosey. In case you haven't noticed by now."
She shrugged. "I'm sorry, okay?" She then narrowed her eyes. "But I notice how quickly you covered. The thing?" She punched him lightly in the shoulder.
"Hey, you caught me off guard."
She shook her head, pausing to give Sophie a kiss. "I'm sure it's fine."
He leaned back on the couch and ran his hand through his hair. "You get why we need to be careful, right? She wouldn't understand. She'd start mailing invitations to our wedding or some such crap."
"Jeff! Language!"
"Sorry."
It was at that moment Sophie chose to say her second word. Much to Jeff's relief, it was not crap.
Instead, it was a very sweet "Hi" directed at him.
Although her initial focus was on Sophie and her newfound word, Annie soon looked for Jeff's reaction. She didn't think she'd ever seen him melt. So Disney eyes aren't his only weakness.
"Hi!"
"Hi!"
"Hi!"
And on it went, back and forth between Jeff and Sophie until his mother came back with Maybelle, at which point Dorie decided to not say anything at all to her son about his ridiculousness. She figured she'd wait to see how this whole thing played out.
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Shirley busied herself with some last minute preparations for Sophie's party, checking the timer on the oven while sweeping up the kitchen floor. She was pleased everyone in the study group could make it, knowing it was important to Annie they were all together.
Annie popped her head into the kitchen. "We're here!"
Shirley looked up, her eyes shining with excitement. "Oh, sweetie! Did the kids let you in? I told them to be on the look out for you."
Annie smiled as she carried Sophie into the kitchen. "Yes, and they were very polite about it too. You'll have to let me know some of your tricks so that I can train Sophie in a few years."
Shirley shuffled over and gave Annie a hug. "And hello there, Sophie." She paused as she stepped back to admire the baby. "Oh my goodness, her hair looks even more adorable in person! I saw Jeffrey's picture. Was this really his birthday present to her?" She gave Sophie a few kisses on the cheek as she eyed her hairdo.
Sophie squealed.
Annie nodded and laughed nervously. "Yup. You know how he is about hair. He got his stylist to do it once he found out I was going to take her to Cost Cutters."
Shirley let out an exaggerated sigh. "Oh my word, sometimes that boy is insane. But that was touchingly sweet of him."
"Yes, it was. I think he took great pleasure in making Sophie presentable."
Shirley looked at Sophie for a moment and took a deep breath. "But where was her daddy during all of this? Shouldn't he have been with you for her first haircut? I remember Andre and I were together for both of the boys' first cuts."
Annie cringed and hesitated before she replied, "Shirley, that's not the type of relationship Adam has with her. It wouldn't really make sense for him to be there."
"Wait…what do you mean? She's his child. He should be there for the important things." Shirley pursed her lips and looked intently at Annie.
Annie glanced around the kitchen, shifting Sophie in her arms. "Look, I know. I wish things were different. But I can't just make him want to do those things. I'm just grateful he sees her a little bit."
"Um hmmm."
"Shirley, please. It's hard enough without your judgment."
Shirley shook her head and touched Annie lightly on her arm. "I'm sorry, sweetie. I know it's not your fault. I'm just disappointed."
Annie stared into space and closed her eyes for a moment before turning her focus back to Shirley. "So am I."
Shirley winced as she put her arm around Annie. "It'll be okay." She then smiled broadly as she changed the subject speaking quickly and animatedly, "The others will be arriving in about a half hour at the earliest, so I can help you get her settled and maybe we can just go over some last minute stuff. Lacey's so sorry she couldn't make it, by the way. Her friend Allie needed her to help her move her stuff out of her boyfriend's apartment. You wouldn't believe that situation. Lacey felt she needed to get over there and make sure…."
"Shirley, it's fine. She explained it to me. I totally understand."
Annie found herself holding back her relief at Lacey not being able to make the party. While she would have liked Lacey to be there, she still hadn't been sure if Lacey had gotten a good look at Jeff the night of the Tranny Dance. And while they could probably explain the situation innocently, it might arouse unnecessary suspicion.
She told herself she and Jeff had a good thing going, whatever it was. They didn't need the group's judgments in messing it all up. And as wonderful as their group was, they did have the tendency to become over-involved in each other's personal lives.
Suddenly both women heard Jeff's booming voice. "Get off of me! Hey!"
Shirley jumped, placing her hand on her chest. "Is that Jeffrey?"
Annie squeaked in realization. "Oh! I forgot to mention he came with me. He was behind us with Sophie's things. The boys must have attacked him."
Shirley wrinkled her brow as she stared at Annie. She opened her mouth for a moment and then closed it. She spoke her next words slowly as she appeared to be pondering something. "I'm surprised he came with you again. I suppose that was decent of him…"
A crash came from the other room as the boys called out, "Timber!"
"Oh my word. Boys! We talked about this!" Shirley put her hands on her hips and stormed off toward the living room.
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Shirley ended up assigning Jeff the duty of minding the boys while she and Annie finished prepping the outside table and decorations. After being felled like a tree inside, he was not eager to be beat on further. It was not surprising to both Shirley and Annie that Jeff discovered the least involved strategy of playing with Jordan and Elijah. It mostly involved an ongoing bet that the boys couldn't run around the house ten times. And then repeat ad nauseam. He forked over a quarter each time they proved him wrong as he gently sipped his beer from a lawn chair.
Annie surreptitiously glanced over at him, noting his adorableness in his sunglasses and scruff. She was pleased he had been listening to her and growing out his facial hair more. As she continued to carefully ogle him from afar, she pondered how she could make her appreciation known after the party. Not that they had made definitive plans to hang out, but the way things had been going lately, she figured it was likely. Plus they'd have way too much to gossip about afterward.
Soon the rest of the group began to trickle in until everyone was present.
"Good to see you, man." Troy fist bumped Jeff as he plopped down in a lawn chair beside him.
Jeff reached over and handed Troy a beer. "Cheers."
Annie walked overwith Sophie squirming in her arms. Her eyes lit up as she neared. "Hey Troy."
Troy rose and gave Annie a quick side hug and Sophie a pat on the head. "Hey Sophie. You are just the cutest. Happy birthday." He then returned to his reclining position, plopping his feet up with a satisfied sigh.
Annie sat down on the edge of Jeff's chair. She smirked as she glanced back and forth between Jeff and Troy, noting their matching sunglasses and beer.
"You two seem relaxed."
Troy smiled, continuing his friendly and open demeanor. "Yeah, we're just chillin'. You know, like guys do. Right, Jeff?"
Jeff inched back a little as Sophie crawled out of Annie's arms and started to make her way up his leg. He noticed with some annoyance Annie didn't seem to try to stop her.
He nodded as he transferred his beer to his other hand and high fived Troy. "That's right. Troy and I are basketball buddies now."
"Yeah. We do cool things with balls."
Annie's eyes widened as she stifled a laugh. "Well, that sounds like fun, Troy."
"It is. And it turns out Jeff needs to learn more about basketball. He's not the best at everything." He chuckled to himself as he leaned his hand out again, paradoxically looking dejected when Jeff didn't return the gesture from the joke at his expense.
Jeff let out a long sigh as he put his beer in the cup holder and reached down to pull Sophie all the way up to his chest.
At that moment, Britta ambled over, pushing a folding chair so that she could sit smack dab in between Jeff and Troy.
"Hey Annie." She turned, completely ignoring Troy and Jeff as she eyed Sophie. "Ooooh…. Hi Sophie! Happy birthday! You're such a big girl now, aren't you?"
Sophie stared at Britta, smiling tentatively.
"Oh come here, baby. Come to auntie Britta." She began to reach toward Sophie but stopped suddenly when she saw the baby flinch.
She frowned. "Or not."
Sophie's lip began to quiver.
"Oh god, please don't cry. Oh no." Britta turned to look at Annie. "I swear, Annie, I was just trying to be friendly. I'm so sorry."
Annie shook her head. "It's okay, Britta. She's just getting a little fearful of people. It's pretty normal at her age. You did great. Please don't take it personally."
Britta relaxed slightly as she realized Sophie didn't appear to be crying, merely watching her skeptically. "But she's never been afraid of me before."
"She hasn't seen you in a few weeks. It'll take her a little bit to remember you. But I'm sure it'll be fine."
Britta narrowed her eyes as she observed Sophie begin to rest her head on Jeff's shoulder while sucking her thumb. "Hey, she doesn't seem to be afraid of this jackass."
Jeff smiled smugly. "You know you can't use language like that in front of her. Annie can tell you that she's started talking. Do you want her third word to be something so foul, Britta?"
Britta mouth flew open. "You are such an…"
Annie burst in…."Hey!"
"Sorry." Britta leaned back in her chair and rolled her eyes at Troy, who appeared bemused by the whole interaction.
Jeff directed his comments to Annie. "Anyway, not being that familiar with birthday parties for babies, what pray tell are the plans for the rest of this occasion?"
Annie smiled as she did a little bounce on the chair. "Well, we're going to eat soon. Followed by cake, of course."
"Cake? Annie, you're not seriously going to feed her cake are you?" He shifted his position as Sophie began to grab at his facial hair. He frowned as he noted her fingers seemed suspiciously sticky.
She scoffed. "Of course I am. She's never had cake before."
"So why even start it? Cake's terrible for you. And she'll probably just get sick. I am not dealing with that in the back of my Lexus." He scowled as he moved Sophie's fingers away from his lips. Yes, they were definitely sticky. From what?
Annie crinkled her eyes at him. "Maybe you could use a piece of cake, Mister Grouch."
"Oh heck no. And seriously, she doesn't need cake." He carefully pulled Sophie's hand away from his jaw and squinted as he visibly started to inspect her fingers.
"It's her birthday! Everyone should have cake on their birthday." Annie placed her hand lightly on his lower leg.
Jeff winced, remembering Annie's comment about her mom not letting her have birthday cake due to concerns it would make her fat.
"Right. Sorry."
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Despite reluctantly getting on board with the concept of Sophie eating cake, Jeff was slightly unnerved to discover Shirley had prepared a small birthday cake solely for Sophie in addition to the larger cake for the group. He wondered if it was even medically safe for a baby the size of Sophie to consume such an amount. Annie noticed him tense and commented nonchalantly that she wasn't going to allow Sophie to eat the whole thing, merely a few bites.
After the group cheered her on, Sophie dug in with her hands.
Abed snapped a shot with his camera and then gave Annie a thumbs up.
Jeff pressed his sunglasses to his face as he closed his eyes. "Would someone please feed her with a fork or something? Jesus."
"Jeff! I will! Just let her have this moment, please."
He shook his head as Britta remarked, "Way to go jerkwad in trying to ruin a kid's fun at her first birthday party."
In the background, Jordan, Elijah, and Troy were attempting to cut large pieces of cake for themselves as they redirected their attention from Sophie's efforts. Pierce stood to the side looking on proudly at Sophie as Shirley and Annie hovered over the baby.
Jeff sighed at Britta. "I'm just saying she's going to make a mess."
"Babies make messes."
"Look, I know that. It's just…"
And then to Jeff's utter horror, Sophie shrieked with laughter before she planted her face completely in the cake.
Abed began frantically taking more pictures.
Annie and Shirley assisted Sophie in righting herself as she continued to shriek, grabbing fistfuls of the frosting and stuffing it into her mouth.
"Oh my god." Jeff gripped the table and took some deep breaths.
Britta laughed as she slapped him on the back. "Hang in there. I'm sure it's almost over."
After Annie had carefully fed Sophie a couple bites of cake, she looked at Jeff and nodded. He immediately swept into action, adeptly unfastening Sophie from the high chair, removing her bib, and then hoisting her up. By some feat of magic, he already had a wet wipe and began to wipe her hands followed by her face.
"We'll be back in a sec." He walked off with her toward the house.
Annie shook her head and chuckled with Shirley as they scooped up the crumbs and wiped down the high chair and tray.
"Lord, that little girl had the best time!"
Annie turned. "Thanks Abed, for getting the pictures!"
Abed was scrolling through his digital previews. "Oh, they're gold, Annie. She's very photogenic. We should probably revisit that discussion of her being involved in my project…"
Annie glared at him. "Not now, Abed."
Britta, slightly confused, sat staring at the path Jeff and Sophie had taken to the house. Leaning back in her chair with her beer, she kicked the ground with her boot and scrunched up her face in thought.
Shirley began passing around pieces of cake, scolding the boys for cutting such large pieces. Jordan and Elijah's eyes widened as they looked past her.
"Aunt Lacey!"
Annie's head snapped up as she saw Shirley's sister walking toward them.
Crap.
Lacey enveloped the boys in a hug and then turned to Shirley, "Hey! Turns out I could make it after all! Allie decided to stay put. Whatever. That's a whole other thing." She made a dismissive motion with her hand.
Shirley shook her head. "Oh, I'm so sorry to hear that. But yes, at least you can meet everyone in our group!" She turned and made quick introductions.
Annie then gave Lacey a hug. "I'm glad you could make Sophie's party. You just missed the cake part. She got all messy."
Lacey laughed. "That's what they do. Hey, where is she?"
At that moment Jeff and Sophie emerged from the house and began making their way toward the group.
Lacey turned and exclaimed, "Oh there she is!" She paused to take in the sight of Jeff and turned to Annie with eyes wide. "Oh! You guys are back together? That's wonderful!"
Annie paled and bit her lip. "Ummm…"
Shirley turned to Lacey and furrowed her brow. "What do you mean? Annie and Jeff aren't together."
"Jeff? Wait…isn't that Vaughn?"
Annie shook her head and tapped Lacey on the arm. "No, actually that's Jeff, the remaining member of our study group."
"But wait…I thought…"
"No, you must be mistaken." Annie pursed her lips as she tapped Lacey more firmly.
Obliviously, Lacey continued on, "I don't get it. He was with you when you picked up Sophie the night of the dance."
"Whaaaat?!" Shirley clutched her cross as Britta spit out her beer.
At that moment, Annie wished she could disappear into the earth.