"You do realize you're sitting in the shade, don't you?"

Annie glanced up from the copy of 'People' that she'd bought at the Greendale airport to see Jeff looming over her, smirk firmly in place. "The sun is about to shift," Annie answered, rolling onto her side to look up at him. Jeff's eyes flicked down her body for a fraction of a second before settling on her face again.

Did he think she hadn't seen that?

"And then what happens?" he asked with raised eyebrows.

She rolled back onto her stomach. "And then I get a perfect tan in time for the party I'm hosting tonight?" she replied. She licked her index finger to grip the page and turned it slowly.

"Or you misjudge the fairness of your skin and end up looking like a lobster," Jeff answered from above her. "Again."

"I have sun block on," she replied as she fully sat up. Glancing over her shoulder, she raised a finger to swipe at the layer of lotion that was there.

"I would have helped with that," Jeff said in a tone that sounded suggestive no matter how Annie tried to interpret it differently. She pulled down her Gucci sunglasses to look up at him, butterflies flapping wildly in her stomach in response to his expression. "Just trying to be helpful," he added.

He'd been looking at her in the same way all day. It was cautious and enigmatic and wonderful. Annie couldn't really tell if he was holding their kiss over her, mocking her in his own Jeff way. He'd seemed to enjoy it the previous night when she'd impulsively leaned toward him and done it. But since then, he hadn't seemed in any hurry to talk to her about much of anything. The overall effect was completely unsettling when she spent too much time thinking about it.

Annie wondered if that was what he was going for.

"So, what brings you outside?" She tilted her head to the side. There was a definite answer that she wanted to that question, though she knew there was a ninety-seven percent chance that she wouldn't actually get that response from Jeff.

His eyes narrowed down at her before his lips quirked up on the sides. "Just taking in the sights," he smarmed in the direction of the tennis court and, despite the fact that Annie knew he was not really being serious, she felt her heartbeat pick up. "Does swimming fit into your grand plan for the day?" he asked as his gaze shifted toward the pool she was lounging next to.

"Do you have…swimming trunks?" Annie asked hesitantly before letting her eyes drift down his body.

Shoot.

Maybe he hadn't noticed that.

No, he'd definitely noticed. He was smiling widely down at her now. He opened his mouth to speak before his eyes widened and he jumped, stepping quickly to the side to reveal Camilla. "Oops," she said with a shrug that she didn't mean. "I guess I missed."

"Really?" Jeff asked. "What were you trying to pinch?"

Camilla raised an eyebrow at him suggestively and Annie frowned over at Jeff, who looked like he was smelling something foul. "Annie," she said, finally acknowledging her. "I have brought my team of stylists over, they're waiting inside." She glanced down at Annie's body and Annie wrapped her arms protectively around her bare midsection. "What are you doing out here?"

Annie swallowed, feeling fear roil up her spine.

"She might be enjoying her vacation," Jeff offered sardonically. Annie looked over at him, but he was looking at Camilla.

"Well, I hope you're done," Camilla continued to Annie. "Because it's time for them to start getting you ready."

Annie's mouth dropped open in surprise. "I thought the party wasn't until eight though." Camilla raised her eyebrows in question. "Why would it take that long to get ready?"

"You're not exactly starting with Jabba the Hut here," Jeff piped up.

"Don't you know anything about this, Annie?" Camilla asked, an edge creeping into her voice. "Didn't you do this before prom?" Annie felt her cheeks flame up as she stood from her lounge chair, beach towel in hand. "Annie?"

Annie cleared her throat before wrapping her towel protectively around her shoulders. She could feel Jeff shift closer to her. When Annie glanced over at him, he was looking at her with a slightly troubled expression. "I didn't go to prom."

"Where are we setting up the table for beer pong?" Jeff spoke up from Annie's side. She looked over at him to see a mock serious expression on his face. She grinned thankfully up at him and he jerked his head slightly toward the house. Annie nodded discreetly before walking past them into the house. Sergio was standing in the kitchen surrounded by half a dozen other men, all speaking Italian. Rich stood nearby, watching everything with wide eyes. When the men noticed her, the kitchen fell silent.

"Anna," Sergio greeted her with a bow of the head. Annie noticed several sets of eyes slide down her form and struggled to tie her towel around herself. "Enjoying la sole before your soiree?" Annie furrowed her brow in concentration before nodding.

"I was going to," she answered with a gesture toward the pool. She could no longer see Camilla, but Jeff was still there, currently stripping off his-

Wow.

"Annie?" Rich called to her and Annie shook herself back into consciousness before turning to look at him. He was giving her a grin that was too knowing. "You okay?"

She cleared her throat and nodded as primly as she could manage before leaving the men in the kitchen and making her way up the stairs slowly. She really had no idea what to expect from the entire thing. Her stomach was a mass of nerves, all coiling around each other tightly. There was no real logic behind being panicked about the party. Annie wasn't stupid. She knew it had nothing to do with her. But for some reason, Camilla was still going through the motions with her, her strange fascination with Annie becoming quite pointed in the last twenty-four hours.

Stepping unsurely into her bedroom, Annie was met with a woman and a man, both apparently waiting on her arrival. The woman popped up from the bed the moment she saw Annie, extending her hand. "Anne Marie Edison?" she asked in her heavy Italian accent. Annie nodded slowly and shook the woman's hand. "I'm head of detail, Lucia." She gestured toward the man who was leaning against Annie's dresser. "We are your team." It was said in a tone that made Annie wonder if Lucia thought the younger woman actually had some say in this whole thing.

Her team clearly didn't understand the situation, because she wasn't in control of anything in her life at the moment.

"Okay?" Annie murmured. "Hi."

"This is Marco," Lucia pointed. The short well-coifed man nodded his head as Annie tried not to stare at the disconcerting patch of hair under his lip. "Where would you like to begin?"

Annie opened her mouth to answer before realizing that Lucia wasn't acknowledging her at all, but was talking to the man.

"There's a lot to work with here," he observed in an American accent that took Annie by surprise. "I had been worried by the way Camilla described her." Annie frowned at that before clutching her towel tighter to her body. "Oh, sweetie." He shook his head. "There's no shyness here." Lucia slid behind her to shut the bedroom door. "Take it off." The brunette did so hesitantly, already conscious of the way she held herself.

Huh.

They were really good.

She was ushered into the bathroom with Lucia on her heels, where she was pushed under the hot spray of the shower. As the brittle woman on the other side of the bevelled glass gave instructions on how to wash her hair and which unscented soap she was supposed to you, Annie let her mind wander away from the humiliating experience she was in the middle of.

To Jeff.

Annie could practically hear Britta's groan of disgust in her ear, but couldn't stop herself from smiling despite that. For the first time since she'd known him, it seemed like they could actually be on the same page. Annie wasn't entirely sure what page that was exactly, and they still hadn't really spoken about anything. But she felt like it could turn out okay. Good even. And she was going to take advantage of whatever this was as long as she could, dig her nails in if need be.

What followed felt like three straight hours of plucking and fluffing and powdering at the hands of two people with whom Annie was barely on a first name basis. Come to think of it, she was really barely on a first name basis with Camilla, who had sent them to her. How had Annie not even questioned it yet? Was the blasé fashion in which Marco placed his hands on her naked skin normal? He was a professional, but it was still bewildering.

"These were the gowns that were pre-approved for you this evening, honey." Marco held up a bathrobe that the young brunette gratefully shrugged into before following him to the rack of dresses that he'd set up next to her bed. Her fingers reached out to touch the yards of silk and satin and chiffon in front of her, but she was slapped back by small manicured male hands.

First the pink was lifted over her head. It was a suffocation of tulle. Annie and Marco both blanched at it and it was discarded a minute later. "I want your mouth to be red," Lucia explained from behind them. "It needs to be the most color you have on." Marco turned toward Lucia, who was systematically sorting through the immense fold out case that contained only lip color. He nodded in agreement before inclining his head to the side to study Annie's face as she watched Lucia bend back over the table full of makeup.

"Let's try the black, sweetie." Annie gave a faint nod before shimmying into a strapless black dress with a long slit up the side. Annie turned to look at herself in the full-length mirror, immediately straightening her shoulders at the sight. She looked like someone else. She looked like a paid assassin. She looked dangerous and adult. Annie didn't ever want to take the dress off. She would give up all her other worldly possessions if it meant she could keep the dress and always feel the way she did at that moment. "Oh lord, no." Marco was shaking his head vehemently. "This is not right at all." When Annie opened her mouth to protest, the diminutive man raised a hand to quiet her. "You are not Angelina Jolie, princess."

"It needs to be sweeter," Lucia pronounced as she approached them slowly. Annie bit her lip in dread. The possibility of her having to enter the party in something poofy made her not want to go downstairs at all. She couldn't look like a little kid.

Please.

Didn't they know how important tonight might be?

The thought had of course crossed her mind that the party could be the opportunity she'd been waiting for with Jeff. They hadn't really had a chance to talk in the last day. If she looked pretty enough, if she could just get him to look at her in that way he sometimes did, things would work out.

Annie was almost sure.

"Try the other black," the Italian woman noted as Annie stepped almost petulantly out of her dangerous tango dress. The dress she was handed was much more formal than the last, with a matronly cut her mother would approve of.

She hated it with a passion.

"Hmmm," Lucia said as she tipped her head to the side and stared at Annie with narrowed eyes. "I think it is too much…"

"Really old," Marco agreed with a nod. "Not it." He motioned for Annie to hand it back to him and she worked quickly to get it off and back into his waiting embrace. She watched as he went back to the rack, his fingers tracing the lines of the waiting gowns. "I wonder…" He held one out toward Lucia who wrinkled her nose.

"I don't know if that one is going to be a good fit," she stated as she crossed her arms over her chest.

"She's got the chest for it," Marco announced loudly, pointing to Annie's breasts. She brought a hand up to her collar bone, feeling her cheeks heat up. "Annie," he pulled the dress from the rack and held it out toward her. "What do you think?" Annie took in the garment he was presenting her with and she felt a thrill race up her spine.

Yes.

This was the one.

She could feel it.

She was nodding silently long before she even realized it. Marco chuckled at Annie before actually handing the dress to her. Her fingers trembled at the feel of the delicate satin. "Put it on," Lucia commanded clearly. Annie wasted no time in doing just that, only jumping slightly when Marco slid his hand right inside to adjust her breasts. He motioned for her to turn around and look in the mirror. When Annie spun, her breath caught in her throat. The white satin clung to her figure, showing off her curves to their best advantage. It gathered at her bust before smoothing down to into a sleek flowing skirt.

This was the dress.

Annie felt as if her entire life was changing. This dress wasn't dangerous tangos or dinner parties with senior citizens or even ballroom dancing with Prince Charming. It was classic, classy. It was Hemmingway. It was live bands playing Glenn Miller songs and drinking flutes of champagne under the stars.

It was perfect.

It was the dress that could make Jeff fall in love with her.

She could feel it

"That works, I guess." Marco wasn't quite having the same epiphany that Annie was. "Take it off and I'll fix a couple things on it while you and Lucia work on hair and makeup." Annie dutifully pulled the dress off before allowing Lucia to lead her over to the work station she had set up. The woman went to work without a word, her eyes cold and focused.

"How long have you been doing this?" Annie asked, trying to start a conversation with the woman.

Lucia exhaled. "A long time," she answered in a clipped tone. "Don't lift your chin."

"Sorry," Annie replied, tipping her chin down.

"Don't tilt down either," Lucia said in a stern tone. This time she physically gripped Annie's face to manipulate it into the position she wanted it. "You need to hold still and stop fidgeting."

"Oh, let her be." Annie glanced over to see Marco sitting on the edge of her bed, sewing the dress by hand in a spot. "She's young and excited." He offered a kind smile to Annie. "We're used to dressing Camilla, who is always half in the bag." Annie nodded unsurely at that before turning back to Lucia, who was huffing angrily.

After she was finished with the makeup, Lucia started methodically curling sections of her hair in loose spirals, accidentally burning her neck in one spot. Annie hissed and pulled away and Lucia glared at her. "Stop moving," she warned darkly. When it was fully curled, Lucia gathered all of the hair in a loose twist at the nape of Annie's neck. The older woman stared at her with a serious expression for close to a minute in silence before giving a curt nod toward Marco.

"Come back over here, princess." Annie rose from her seat and walked over to Marco. She was only too happy to slip back into her dress and reveled in the feeling of the cool satin sliding against her skin. When Marco was happy with what he was looking at, he turned Annie back toward the full-length mirror. The woman staring back at her was a stranger, elegant and sexy at the same time. She strode quickly to her dresser and picked up her phone before stepping back in front of the mirror and snapping a picture of her reflection. After checking it to make sure she hadn't accidentally lopped of her head, Annie made the decision to send the photo to Britta. She somehow knew the blonde would understand how important the moment was to her.

Her phone vibrated in her hand a mere minute later, startling Annie. She answered the call with a shy smile. "Hey, Britta."

"Annie," Britta breathed. "You look so gorgeous."

"This dress is half a year's rent," the brunette replied.

"Why are you wearing it?" Britta inquired as Annie let herself out onto the balcony, earning disdainful glances from her design team.

"There's this party," Annie explained. "Pierce has this…desperate housewife neighbor and she planned this party for tonight and sent over her stylists to work on me."

"Really?" Britta asked, and Annie could hear the skepticism in the blonde's voice. "That's…"

"Weird? I know," the younger woman responded.

"Hey, have you talked to Pierce?"

"No. I've been calling him almost every day, but he keeps ignoring me or something." She frowned. "Why, what's up?"

"I'm not sure," Britta replied. "Troy thinks there is something strange going on with him." She sighed. "It's probably nothing. So, how is every...thing else going?"

The brunette rolled her eyes. "You can say his name."

"I cannot believe he did this," the blonde responded instantly. "It was such a bad idea." Annie frowned. "But then, that's pretty much Jeff Winger's M.O, isn't it?" She paused. "Is he being a total dick?"

"No," Annie answered slowly. "He's being…really great, actually."

Britta let out a disappointed groan. "Oh god, you're already sleeping with him, aren't you. Are you under his thrall?"

"I am not under his thrall, Britta." Annie felt her temper rising. Why was it that every one of her friends thought they knew what she wanted better than she did? "And we are not," her voice dropped to an emphatic whisper, "sleeping together."

"You will be," Britta answered flatly and Annie sighed loudly. "I'm sorry, Annie. But you don't understand-"

"Yes, I do," Annie cut her off. "You guys need to understand that I can take care of myself."

"Annie, I know you." Britta sighed. "And you will never be happy with halfway. You deserve better than halfway." Annie frowned. She did not want to talk about this now. Britta was ruining her fashion-related high. "And Jeff Winger will never be able to do better than halfway."

Annie narrowed her eyes. "This from the woman who spent the last year…doing it with him all over campus."

"Yes, Annie." Britta made a frustrated noise in the back of her throat. "Yes, fine. We had meaningless sex with each other all year because we were both lonely and wanted to have a good time. It was wrong. We hurt people and you were one of them. I get it." Feeling chagrined, Annie swallowed down the response she'd almost given. "Annie," Britta murmured sadly. "He just is so not worth it."

"That's not your call, Britta." Annie was feeling worse and worse by the second.

The blonde gave an tired sigh. "Fine. Do…whatever. Hook up with him."

Annie's mouth fell open. "Are you going to lecture me about hooking up with one of my friends?"

There was silence on the other end for a full five seconds. "I knew he couldn't keep his giant trap shut."

"You and Troy?" Annie asked. "How long?"

"I don't know," Britta replied, sounding as if she'd rather be answering questions about anything else. "It just happened I guess."

Annie chewed her lower lip. "Well, I'm happy for you guys."

"It's not a big deal, Annie."

How did Britta manage this kind of thing? Annie had felt strongly about exactly three men in her life, and Britta had already slept with two of them. At least her high school boyfriend was gay now. Annie had tried so hard for three years to get Troy to notice her, to absolutely no avail. She'd spent the last year in what she'd thought was a flirting contest with Jeff only to learn that he'd been having sex with Britta the entire time. How could she ever compete with Britta?

She and Britta were nothing alike.

At all.

"I'm not a negative person," Annie said.

"What?"

"I'm a genuinely happy and optimistic person," Annie stated. "I'm not cool. I…I think Radiohead is overrated and I don't know why it's hip to buy jeans that look old and dirty." She sighed. "I don't even own a leather jacket."

Britta had the gall to chuckle then and Annie felt her indignation rise. "I know that, Annie. And…so does Jeff."

"He said he came because of me," the younger woman responded, uncertain of why she was even saying it out loud.

"He did," the blonde said reluctantly. "He was really…" She sighed. "Just…trust me." Annie wanted to scream at the top of her lungs. She was tired of trusting people. She wanted to hear something real. Was there a way for her to get into the wine cellar before the party?

Maybe immediately?

"Hey," Britta spoke up after a moment. "Do you know what kind of movie Abed is making?" she asked. "Troy won't tell me what they're doing."

"No idea," Annie answered. "Why, are you in it?"

"Yeah," Britta replied. "I filmed some stuff yesterday at Pierce's mansion."

"Was Pierce there?" Annie asked, furrowing her brow in confusion.

"Pierce is never around," Britta responded. "Troy never sees him either and they live together."

Annie glanced down as an army of uniformed waiters filed onto the patio and shook her head. She was in so far over her head she didn't even know where the surface even was anymore. "So, what did you film?"

"I don't know really," Britta answered. "I was a drunk. I wore pearls and pushed someone in a pool."

Annie frowned. "I think this movie is going to be kind of weird."

"Yeah," Britta agreed.

There was a staccato knock on the glass door behind Annie and she jumped before turning around to see Marco glaring at her. "I gotta go," she said distractedly while giving the slight man an emphatic nod.

"It shouldn't matter, but you look beautiful," Britta announced. "Have a great time, Annie."

Annie smiled to herself despite the tense conversation she'd just had with the other woman. "Thank you." She ended the call and stepped back into the cool bedroom, smiling apologetically at the two irate people who were staring at her. "Sorry."

"She chewed off her lip color," Marco pointed out acerbically, holding out his hand for Lucia to hand him the tiny tub of color. "Don't bite your lip," he commanded as he grabbed her chin to re-apply her makeup.

"Can I ask…" Annie muttered around the brush he was pressing against her lips. "Do you guys know why Camilla is doing this?" She watched as the two exchanged a weighted look. "I mean, it's really nice of her, but…"

"We just set the scene." Lucia stepped toward her holding a fresh magnolia in her hand.

Marco plucked it from the tall woman. "What you choose to do with it is up to you, honey." He tucked it into her hair before cocking his head to the side. "What do you think?" he asked, looking over toward Lucia.

She shrugged. "I think we've done what we can," she answered.

Marco rolled his eyes toward Annie before smiling at her more warmly than she'd seen him manage all afternoon. "You look lovely." He lifted his chin. "Now, chest out." Annie straightened her back. "Knock 'em dead."

Annie nodded mutely and allowed herself to be pushed toward her bedroom door. Lucia opened it for her and the sound of muffled conversation wafted up toward them. She felt a bony hand clamp onto her shoulder and turned to looked up at the older woman. She nodded silently at Annie and Annie shrank away from her slightly before nodding in response.

She took a deep breath.

Here went nothing.