A/N: Sorry this took a while, I've been busy. I decided to get a bit of Troy's perspective on the situation before getting to the actual apology. Abed is a god.

Troy lay awake in the blanket fort waiting for Abed to return. It was taking an unusually long time, especially considering buttered noodles were instant. He wanted to try and talk to Abed about how to fix things with Annie. He knew that his best friend would be able to help him out here, since he was super good at reading people. While waiting for him to come back, Troy had taken it upon himself to try and come up with what exactly he was going to say to Annie when he apologized. He knew he screwed up pretty badly, and that a simple "I'm so sorry" wouldn't cut it. He needed to explain to her why he wanted to make Trish happy earlier that day.

The more he thought about it, the more it didn't make sense. Why did he decide to embarrass Annie in the supermarket today? He adored Annie; she was fun to be around but also kept Abed and himself in check while they lived together. He cared a lot for her, so why did he make her look like a complete idiot today to appease a girl he hadn't seen since high school?

He hadn't seen her since high school.

Troy suddenly understood why he'd done that to Annie. Or at least he started to understand. He thought back to Riverside's last football game. He remembered the scout being there, looking for him on the field while Troy himself looked on from the bleachers. The scout had been so hopeful, so ready to hand out that scholarship...but Troy wasn't ready to accept it. A part of him knew that he probably could have gotten the scholarship, it wasn't just pressure. It was the fact that he didn't want to move on from Riverside. He was afraid of not being the best anymore. People looked up to him at Riverside High, and to be honest, he loved it. Everyone at that school loved Troy Barnes and knew his name. The only one who didn't particularly care for him in high school was Trish Davidson. They were both at the top of the popular spectrum, but she didn't really talk to him. As a result, Troy had tried to impress her on many occasions. He had played extra hard in football games and asked her out on multiple occasions but she always played hard to get. But in the supermarket she had seemed very interested in him. Or maybe she wasn't; maybe Troy's mind was reading into things again. All he knew was that Trish was talking to him willingly for the first time, and he wanted to keep that going. At least he did want to keep that going, until he saw his best friend close to tears...

Troy tried to conjure up any memories that he had of Annie at Riverside. There weren't many, considering they probably hungout in different groups or something. The only lasting memory he had of her was her pill overdose and the image of her body flinging itself through a plate-glass door. But despite that scary thought, he had no real memories of Annie. Except for one...

He knew Annie was cheerleader at some point during high school. You would think that was all Troy needed to have a lasting memory of her, but she wasn't necessarily eye candy for him at the time. She didn't look as attractive as she did now; in fact, Troy often wondered how Annie even made it on the team in the first place. Of course, he wouldn't ask her that; she'd probably hate him even more for wondering. The bottom line though, was that Troy still had one memory of Annie when she was a cheerleader. He could have sworn it was her that fell off the pyramid at the last game, while everyone laughed at her covered in mud. But that meant...he had laughed with them. He remembered laughing and thinking it was incredibly funny at the time, but he also remembered Annie running off as fast as she could away from everyone, with tears streaming down her face. Troy began to feel increasingly terrible about the whole ordeal. But if it was her that fell off that pyramid, then that meant Annie was on the same team as Trish. Troy furrowed his brow. Maybe Trish had done something to Annie in the past while they were cheerleaders? While trying to piece together everything, Abed finally made his way back into the blanket fort, buttered noodles in hand. He looked to be thinking about something, and barely acknowledged Troy when he sat up in his bed.

"Abed, you took a while. Don't tell me we busted the microwave again."

Abed shook his head while climbing up onto the top bunk, "Nah, I just thought I'd try talking to Annie. She actually let me into her room."

Troy felt himself getting surprisingly annoyed at this new information. "So she let you in and not me? I'm the one who has to apologize to her!" Abed ate a mouthful of buttered noodles before responding to his friend. "Troy, she's pretty upset. Annie probably let me in because she wanted to talk to someone but couldn't talk to you yet. Don't worry, I'll tell you why she's so upset. It's better you hear it from me anyway. We can discuss how you're going to apologize to her."

"Yeah, I've actually been trying to come up with a way to say sorry. I just don't know where to start, y'know? It's like when the Inspector had to take care of the blorgons when they ambushed him and Constable Reggie in that alternate dimension, but he couldn't decide what to do because there were too many of them to disarm."

"So in your analogy, you don't know how to apologize to Annie since her reasons for being upset with you are like a legion of blorgons attacking you from an every direction?"

"Exactly!"

"That sounds pretty awesome."

"Yeah, we should definitely re-enact that in the Dreamatorium after all this."

"Totally. Although, your analogy isn't quite right. Annie's only really upset for one reason."

"She is?"

"Yeah. She thinks your ashamed to be her friend."

"Seriously?"

"Yep."

"But that's dumb! I mean, we've been friends for 3 years now!"

"Is it really dumb, Troy? I mean, look at your history from high school. You and Annie were on complete opposites of the popularity spectrum. You were the popular guy, and she was the nerdy outcast. It makes sense that you two weren't friends back then. The reason Annie is so upset is because she thinks that you would still never look at her the way you look at Trish."

"But I'm not ashamed of her! I never would be, Abed. She's awesome!"

"You know she's awesome now, but how about in high school?"

"I didn't really know her..."

"Would you have tried to get to know her?"

"Well...probably not. But we're still best friends now. And I love being with her."

"Then why couldn't you say that to Trish today instead of saying that 'she wasn't a loser anymore'."

"Well that's...it's complicated..."

"I don't really think it is, Troy. If I had to guess, you liked Trish in high school, but she wouldn't date you. And being the star quarterback of your football team, you couldn't accept that, so you decided to try and impress her."

"Damn you and your mind reading powers..."

"It's really not that complicated."

"I know! I know, alright Abed?"

"Troy, did you ever end up dating Trish?"

"No..."

"Ah. That explains it then."

"Explains what?"

"Why you acted the way you did in the supermarket today."

"And why is that?"

"You still feel the need to impress Trish, even after all these years. Either your harboring feelings for her, or you just want to seem cool to her. Probably also why you didn't want to seem too close to Annie either."

"...How did you figure that out so fast? I've literally been laying here for like an hour trying to figure it out."

"I think you already knew, Troy."

"Yeah, maybe..."

"So then why did you feel so terrible immediately after you made Trish happy?"

"Because..."

"Come on, Troy."

"...because Annie means more to me."

"There ya go. Now all you have to do is figure out why."

"I think...I know that already."

"Then tell her. Tomorrow. That's your apology."

"Wow. You wrinkled my brain, Abed."

Abed climbed down from the bunk bed, holding the now empty bowl in his hands.

"I know, Troy. And sorry for seeming like I was interrogating you. But at least now you know what to say to Annie."

"You're right man, thanks."

Abed left for the kitchen, and Troy lay back down on his bed. He felt better now about the whole apology. Now he could at least spend the rest of the night coming up with a decent apology for Annie.

One that proved he wasn't ashamed of her.

Abed walked towards the kitchen meanwhile, while smiling to himself and humming 'Daybreak'. Now that he had talked to both Annie and Troy, all he had to do was sit back and watch the events unfold.

He was really looking forward to tomorrow.