Monday rolled around too soon for Jeff's liking, as he was still thinking about his shitty/not shitty weekend. Taking Annie home had been the highlight of it, they'd gotten coffee from a 24 hour Dunkin (Annie had said it made her feel scandalous to 'cheat' on Starbucks) and they had talked and laughed and shared stories long after he had parked in front of her apartment building (she had finally gone inside when Britta had text her saying that Frank told her what happened and if she'd gotten home safe). It was the longest they'd talked about anything not school related, and both had remarked how easily the conversation had flowed, regardless of it being about nothing and anything. Sunday was less exciting, as he woke up tired from the late night before, still trying to shake some of the shame and guilt he was feeling about the company he kept (regardless of how close he wasn't to some of them). Ted had text him asking if he was alright several times, all of which he ignored until around 1 pm, and Mark had sent him a wrestling gif and text that said something or other about kicking Alan's ass. Alan, fortunately, had not reached out to him, and Jeff almost thought he didn't remember anything from the night before. He exercised and went grocery shopping, fielding texts from his coworkers and instead focusing on the discussion in the study group chat b (the one without Pierce) about when their 'family' dinner should be and whether they could agree on a movie to watch. So by Monday he felt a little spent, unsure of how to feel about the last few days otherwise. He didn't know where he stood with his coworkers, and he didn't know how much he cared. The only thing he did know was he had not slept enough, and so he was going to have to get an extra shot in his Americano today.
He wandered into Starbucks, sunglasses still on and black button down loosely undone at the neck and yawned upon reaching the register. Annie was there, of course, smiling at him from the bar (he didn't notice, pen in hand). "What'll it be stranger?"
"Grande quad americano today."
"Ohhh, feeling alright?" She grimaced, writing his order on his decorated cup.
"I have no idea," He laughed hoarsely as she returned to the register to ring him. "I didn't get much sleep last night."
Annie frowned, keying in his drink and studying him, "Everything okay?"
"Um, I think so, I just was up all night. It happens. I might've overdone it on the cardio yesterday, so I had a lot of energy."
"Mmm. No more late-night iced coffee for you, then."
"No." He laughed, regardless that the iced coffee was the least of his thoughts when running five miles yesterday. He smiled, remembering that she had told that she was still learning to like coffee (which is why she always ordered white mochas), and held out a five to her, but she shook her head. "The boss said it's on the house today."
He gave her a puzzled look and glanced behind her at the three people working with her, who all happened to look about the same age and station. She laughed and said, "The boss isn't out here, she's making the schedule in the back. Erin, the tall lady with curly blonde hair?"
"Oh." He nodded, having absolutely no idea who she was talking about. He genuinely only remembered her, Vicky, and Josh (and that's only because they also went to Greendale and he seemed to see them… everywhere…), but it was always better to agree than disagree with Annie. He stepped away as another customer got in line, but when his drink was delivered he leaned over the glass to ask, "Why is the boss giving me a drink?"
"She asked me how my last night at the club was, and I told her how you stood up for me when some guy was being a creep. She said it was the least she could do."
Jeff rolled his eyes, grinning as he sipped his coffee, "I'm sure it was an interesting story."
Annie shrugged, "Greendale isn't that big of a city, not too many cool bars. Of course one of the regulars was bound to show up at some point. Especially the regulars like you."
"Like me? As in 'the cool customers'?"
"The customers that think they're cool, yes." She grinned as a timer went off, and she quickly reset it and went to grab one of the red buckets. "I'll see you in class?"
"Yeah," He smiled, already feeling better. "I'll see you in class."
. . . . .
Ted called as Jeff got out of his car in the school parking lot, and he groaned deeply before leaning against his car and answering it, "Hello?"
"Hey, are you okay man?"
"Yeah." He sighed, kicking at the ground softly. "Is uh… Alan pissed?"
"Alan doesn't remember anything, and if he does, he's too embarrassed to say anything to us."
A weight lifted off Jeff's chest, and he felt like he could breathe for the first time all weekend. The last thing he wanted was Alan making his life hell at work if he went back. When. When he went back. "That's good."
"He definitely deserved it, but that was a little unlike you. You know that girl or something?"
"Yeah, she goes to my school. But it shouldn't matter if I know her or not."
"You're right. But uh, I just wanted to make sure you weren't losing it. You've been gone a month now and you just don't seem yourself."
"No, I'm good. I feel great, actually. I just… I fucking hate Alan."
"Yeah, join the club." Ted laughed and Jeff pulled his phone away from his ear as it buzzed, alerting him to a text from Annie. He grinned when he opened it to see a picture of the study group in class, and she'd edited a circle around his seat. He was amazed at how quickly she could get there after work, and at how long he could sit in his car playing Bejeweled.
"Hello?" He heard from afar as he shot her a message back that he was on his way in.
"Sorry Ted, my class is about to start. But I'll call you later this week, and we can meet up, maybe you, me, and Mark?"
"Sure." It sounded like Ted sighed. "You take care Winger."
"You too." He quickly clicked his phone off and grabbed his coffee out of his car, making his way to class while texting Annie about his fact of the day on the cup (her favorite flowers were daisies, just like Kathleen Kelly… whoever that was). He rounded a corner and almost walked directly into Professor Kingsley, who laughed at his surprise. "Mr. Winger."
"Uh, hey! Professor..."
"Going my way?"
"Absolutely. I should probably actually be a few steps ahead of you, huh."
"I agree." She smirked at him and held his pace as they walked toward the classroom, "May I ask you something?"
"Sure." He answered nervously, narrowing his eyes slightly. Since he was a kid, he'd never been fond of teachers having direct conversations with him, and apparently this was something he hadn't grown out of.
"I heard through the rumor mill that you're a practicing lawyer."
"I am."
"Why are you here?"
"Why does everyone ask that?"
They stopped in front of the door to the classroom, and she put her hand against it to keep him from opening it as she smiled up at him. "Because this is where dreams come to die, Mr. Winger."
"Wow, that's very promising, coming from an educator."
She chuckled and shifted her weight to one hip, bringing a hand to her chin in contemplation. "Are you a good lawyer?"
"I haven't lost a case yet." It was his turn to grin, and he crossed his arms over his chest with a bit of smug satisfaction.
"I may need some legal help. Could I perhaps get your card, or the card to someone at your firm who deals in embezzlement?"
Jeff's jaw dropped slightly as he stared at her, "Uh…"
"It's a long story." She sighed. "But my former lawyer was also my accountant, manager, and my ex-partner, and he is the person who embezzled from me."
"That um… That seems like a lot. But yes, I can definitely get you that information."
"Perfect, I so appreciate it." She smiled and opened the door for him, "Age before beauty."
He gave her a puzzled look and declined to make a joke that they'd be there all day if that were the case, and he quickly walked in to take a seat behind his puzzled study group, noticing that all of them were staring at him quizzically. He'd often wondered if they were all this weirdly obsessed with each other, or if it was just him (but then he remembered needing to wind his watch the other day and reset the time, and all the girls hissing at him while Troy glared and cradled Abed's head, whispering that everything would be fine. It was clearly the former).
"Why were you talking to the teacher outside?" Troy asked in an almost whisper as Jeff slid into the seat beside him.
"And why was she smiling at you so lasciviously?" Pierce added, significantly louder. Jeff's ears got hot and he knew he was blushing as Professor Kingsley raised an eyebrow at Pierce. Thankfully she ignored him and turned her attention to the board where she began writing notes for today's class, and Jeff whispered back, "It's no big deal, I'll tell you all in the study room."
"Sure." Pierce scoffed, rolling his eyes and grumbling. "Making plans without a wingman. Typical Jeff."
Jeff rolled his eyes and did his best to ignore his friends. Britta, however, was turned around with a look that wasn't quite a glare, but wasn't only inquisitive either, "Everything cool?"
"Yes, please, I will tell all of you just not in class."
"Hmph." She grunted, turning back around and pulling out her phone. A moment later his buzzed in his pocket, and he was thankful he'd remembered to turn the ringer off. He pulled it out and rolled his eyes upon seeing a text from Britta on the screen.
'R U hot 4 the teacher?"
He groaned internally at her unfortunate texting skills and replied. 'No. Not what that was about, thanks'
'She hot 4 u?'
'Probably, but who isn't?'
'Ur disgusting.'
'It's u're.'
'Shut up.'
'Stop texting me. You're sitting right in front of me.'
'Duh doy, but ur not telling us what happened'
'JFC I WILL'
'Fine.'
Jeff rolled his eyes and sighed, slouching in his chair and pressing a thumb to his temple. His caffeine buzz was dwindling, and he took a swig of his Americano, pleased that it was still hot. His phone buzzed again, and he almost screamed as he saw Pierce's name on the screen, 'If ur not gona hit it, mind if i do?'
. . . . .
The group filed into the study group quietly (except for Abed, who was talking about the movie Kinsey, since they'd started discussing the Kinsey scale in class). Abed slumped his bag onto the table before taking his seat and finishing up his speech, "Anyway, it wasn't one of Liam Neeson's better performances. He should probably stick to action films, although The Grey wasn't great. I didn't find him to be believable in Love Actually either."
"First of all, Abed, Love Actually is an actual treasure, and second Liam Neeson can do whatever he wants." Troy looked absolutely offended as he sat beside him before looking around and deepening his voice. "I mean… As far as chick movies go…"
"Oh no, Troy, I agree, it's so sweet." Shirley smiled, peering at Jeff. "So, Jeffrey, what was Professor Kingsley so… interested in earlier?"
The entire group turned to look at him, and Pierce scoffed, clearly offended, "Yes, Jeff. What does Professor Hotpants want with you?"
He rolled his eyes and sighed, "She's trying to sue her ex for stealing from her. He was her accountant, which I'm assuming is why she's teaching here. Desperation."
"She's written fourteen books and doesn't have her own lawyer?" Britta asked, looking at him with disbelief.
"She did. He's the accountant ex."
"Wait, was he an accountant, or a lawyer?"
"Yes."
"I'm confused."
"Me too…" Troy said, eyebrows furrowed together. "Aren't those two really different things?"
"Not really, anyone can be your financial advisor if you're dumb enough to let them."
"So…" Annie finally broke into the conversation with a raised eyebrow. "Are you going to help her?"
"I'll refer her to one of my colleagues, probably." Jeff shrugged. "I don't know why you all were so pressed to know what she wanted."
"Well you didn't see from our side of the door, Jeff." Shirley shook her head. "That woman was all sorts of lookin' at you."
"Yes, Shirley, that's what women do. Why wouldn't they?"
Britta rolled her eyes and Annie blushed, but he didn't think anyone noticed but him. Shirley shook her head and looked at him, "I'm just saying I've seen women look and I've seen women look, and she was definitely looking."
"I think the main point should be, regardless of her looking, I wasn't looking."
"Of course not." Pierce scoffed. "Why would you be interested in a woman?"
Jeff deadpanned at him and Annie cleared her throat, "While this is all fascinating, what mess Professor Kingsley might have gotten into in her personal life shouldn't have any effect on us or our studies."
Jeff noticed Troy and Abed shoot each other a look, and he raised an eyebrow, filing away that later he'd need to investigate that.
"I agree." Britta nodded, pulling out her book. "Let's do our Kinsey ranking."
"We already know Jeff's." Pierce laughed, elbowing Troy and hoarsely whispering, "Six."
"You're wrong Pierce. I'm off the charts."
Jeff wandered towards his car without any real urgency, scrolling through his phone until he landed on Mark's number. He pressed call and slid onto a bench as he pressed the phone to his ear.
Mark didn't even let the phone ring twice before answering, "Well, well. To what do I owe the honor?"
"Well, first of all, I wanted to apologize for how I left the other night-"
"No, no, it was great! I didn't care at all. I love the drama, you know me."
Jeff laughed and threw an arm over the back of the bench, "That's actually why I'm calling."
He hummed softly, intrigued, "Tell me more."
"So there's a professor at this school-"
"Male or female?"
"Does it matter?"
"I need to create the scene in my mind, Winger, I need details."
"Female, late forties, 5'9", PhD. Can I tell you the actual, important information?"
"Yes, continue."
"Her ex was her accountant, lawyer, one of those sad all in one types-"
"Oof, mistake."
"Yeah, anyway, he embezzled a bunch of her money and she's kinda screwed, so she's looking for some help. I figured it sounded like something you'd like."
"I mean… It does… but she doesn't have money, currently?"
"I'm sure she has some money, we talked in passing, I assume you can get some more information if you want to."
Mark was quiet on the other end, clearly thinking it over. "You said she's single?"
"Oh my god." Jeff groaned. "Can I give her your information, or do I need to call Ted?"
"No, no, give her my info, Ted won't give a shit. I'll take her on. Also, uh… Don't share this information with anyone but… I'm on my way out."
"…What do you mean?"
"I've… created some capital and I'm going to be setting up my own firm with a couple guys. I would love- LOVE- if you'd consider it."
"I… I dunno Mark-"
"Come on man, this place is toxic. You're clearly the best guy here and they won't make you partner because of a shitty piece of paper? Have you ever stopped to think that maybe they just like having someone who kicks ass doing so much work because of how ambitious he is?"
"Ted told me Harold was retiring and that-"
"You were next?" Mark scoffed. "What authority does Ted have?"
It was Jeff's turn to be quiet as he pondered what Mark said. He wasn't wrong… But Jeff was also pretty comfortable. Wasn't he? But what if Mark was right and they were just using him? Should he consider the offer? Wasn't he happy? Well, currently, of course, he wasn't working and it was lovely, but when he went back?
"I'll think about it, but-"
"Your teacher, yeah-"
"Professor."
Mark ignored him, "Give her my information and I'll set up an intake appointment with her."
Jeff smiled and looked around the courtyard, squinting in the bright, early afternoon light. "Thanks. I told Ted it'd be cool to hang out again, but just us. No Alan."
"For real. Screw Alan." Mark laughed, but it was cut short with a 'Sorry, Margaret'. "Look, I have to go. But we'll talk more about that other thing, yeah?"
"Sure."
"You're the best Winger. Stay sharp."
Jeff clicked out of the call and smiled, opening a text from Annie about how she couldn't understand how he could use so much hair product just to look like he'd just woken up. He responded quickly, in no rush to leave the bench as he talked to her.
