Chapter 18 – Nontraditional Genealogy

Jeff parked his car and let out a sigh. It was the first day of the fall semester, his sixth now, a thought that both depressed and confused him. He rested his forehead on the steering wheel in hopes that it would bring him strength to survive this semester, or at least this day. He felt Annie's tiny hand begin to rub his back. Suddenly, his head cleared and a smile emerged. He turned to see her smiling back at him.

"I love you. You've got this." Her words dissolved any last bit of regret he had left. He placed his right hand along her cheek and she melted into it. He kissed her as if it were the first time again: The moment he realized she wasn't "little Annie Edison" anymore and was someone worth fighting for, or at least dropping a disabled kid for. As they separated, he watched her beautiful eyes open slowly and refocus on him.

"I couldn't do this without you. I am so fucking lucky that you took that Spanish class."

"Lucky?" Annie laughed a little.

"I'd rather be teaching at Greendale and coming home to you than being an incrediblysuccessfully lawyer bringing home girl after girl-" She playfully smacked him on the arm and he giggled. "But seriously. No one ever gave a shit about me during that time. When I turned thirty, I walked home from the bar I was at with my lawyer buddies. I drunkenly fell into a ditch off the side of the road and sprained my ankle and broke my phone. A nice old lady walking her dog finally found me the next day. I didn't show up to work that Monday and not one person asked if I was okay. When I went back to work limping on Tuesday: nothing. Those people didn't care about me. They liked that I could win cases and make them money."

"Jeff, that's horrible."

"When I accidentally OD'd on my fortieth, every single one of you were there when I woke up."

"We care about each other. We care about you."

"I've never had that before. Aside from my mom, I've always been alone. I don't have siblings, my friends always sucked. That's why when girls started liking me, I collected them like pogs."

Annie hesitated for a minute. "What's a pog?"

"You've got to be kidding me. You were born in the 90's!" Jeff was oddly passionate on the subject.

"Yeah, I wasn't collecting…pogs?...in my diaper."

Jeff winced in pain. "Why do you like me? Apparently, I'm old as shit." He laughed.

"Because I don't care how old you are. I care about what kind of person you are and how you treat me. Besides, you act half your age anyway." She leaned over, kissed his cheek and got out of the car. He watched her as she began to walk away and couldn't help but be distracted. He loved everything about her, including those curves. He had dated plenty of hot women before, but none like Annie. He never openly told them about himself. He rarely saw them more than once and he would never invite them to move in. A knock on his window snapped him out of his self-realization and he looked over to find Abed and Rachel staring at him. He grabbed his coffee and opened the door.

"Good morning, Jeff. Ready for your next season?"

"Abed, always a pleasure to question my reality with you."

"Jeff, this is Rachel. I don't think you two have met yet."

"Ah, yes. The famous Rachel. Very nice to meet you." Jeff held out his hand to shake hers and she took it, looking baffled.

"But Jeff, we just had coffee-"

"Oh, was that you we ran into the other day? My mistake. Well, we have to get to class. See you guys later." Jeff rushed off to Annie and they headed onto campus. Rachel looked over at Abed, who seemed just as perplexed as she was. She couldn't understand why he didn't want Abed to know that they had met already. She decided to let it go for the time being and started walking to her Ladders class with Abed.

Jeff and Annie walked in silence for a few seconds but couldn't hold it in any longer. "So, why don't you want Abed to know that you've met Rachel already?" Jeff smirked at her, knowing that she was not the type of person to just let something go. It reminded him of her dropping to the floor 'blowing everything off'. She somehow made rolling on the floor speaking gibberish sexy. "Jeff!?" He snapped out of his daydream of her on the floor and focused back on the version of her who gets easily frustrated by his life choices.

"What? I didn't want Abed to know that we were involved in that whole thing. I'd rather it just be Rachel's win."

"You don't want your friend to know that you were concerned about him?"

"Honestly, the less they know, the better."

"Why are you so afraid to let people in?"

"Hey, I let you in."

"After 4 years and endless flirting. We're your family, Jeff, whether you like it or not."

"They say you can't choose your family. They weren't kidding." He looked over at Annie to see an offended look on her face. He smiled. "See you after class?" He leaned down to kiss her on her pouty lips and he felt them change to a smile.

"I've got my eye on you, Mr. Winger." Annie said as she walked down the hall, leaving him at his office.

"Promise?" She turned around, giggling and blushing, then continued to her class. Annie had done something to him. He found himself smiling more and drinking less. He always felt...good. He then entered his office with his name on the door.

Oh right, now that shitty feeling is back.