(Author note: Warning for brief nudity.)
Annie was doing very good at not thinking about what had happened. It was a silly thought and a stupid burp bubble, which it turns out, can totally feel the same as a Jeff Jump. She refused to think about Abed's stupid story arch. She wasn't going become some tv cliche. It'd been a week and honestly, she'd almost forgotten about it. She was only reminded on the rare occasions that she caught Abed staring at her. He stared at everyone, especially if they were talking, but the scrutiny now made her blush. She knew he must notice, but he never said anything.
She was walking home on a bright sunny Friday with a fresh bagel in one hand and a soon to be read book in the other. She wasn't at all ready for the baby that was thrust into her arms. She dropped the bagel, but kept hold of the book by some miracle. She held the screaming Spanish infant from down the hall and watched as its mother dashed off.
"Miss Garcia!" she started a bit indignant and confused until she saw the older woman rushing towards the street. Her second son, a toddler who had only recently started walking properly, was in the middle of the street. He had chased after a ball and gone straight into the middle of the road. Miss Garcia raced after him and picked the boy up, pulling him out of the way a second before a car drove past honking.
Annie had babysat the two a few times and was glad she was on hand when Miss Garcia needed someone to hand the baby off too. She bounced the baby in her arms as Miss Garcia scolded the child who had begun wailing about the ball on the other side of the street. She understood the woman's need to confront her child, but the baby in Annie's arms wasn't calming down.
"I am so sorry, Annie," the woman said with a thick accent, "Miguel scared me to death; I thought he would really get hit by that car."
"No problem. I'm just glad I was here to-," Annie stopped suddenly as she felt a splash of something warm and sticky go down her shirt. The baby's head had lolled forward and he'd thrown up directly aiming for the v of her v neck blouse. She screamed and handed the baby back as delicately as she could. Her book fell and was soon forgotten on the floor with her snack.
"I'm sorry," Amy said as she backed away, "But I- I'm sorry. Oh my god. I've gotta go clean up."
The smell hit her hard and made her nauseous. It was sickening sweet and milky like baby vomit always was. She gagged and almost added her own to the level of vomit on her. She held herself together, but rushed inside. She bypassed the elevator, fearing someone would smell her. She raced up the stairs double time and got to the apartment door. She had trouble opening it, her hands shaking as her stomach turned in upset knots.
Her shaking hands finally opened the door and the deafening sound of a party poured over her. She ignored them, rushing to her bedroom. She'd almost forgotten that Troy had found most of his high school football buddies. He'd accidently reconnected with them on Facebook and now they were all over for a visit. This hadn't been planned and he hadn't even texted to warn her, but she'd be angry later.
Humiliated she ran past them as fast as she could. She had to edge pretty close to some of the party goers and she just knew they could smell the vomit on her. She wanted to cry right there, but she could feel the mess drying between her breasts and couldn't afford to stop.
The door to her room was easier to open than the front door and she got inside quickly, slamming it behind her. She stripped off her cardigan, then her shirt and tossed them into her trash. She saw that there was vomit all over one of the cups of her bra and quickly ripped it off, letting it join the shirt in the trash. She grabbed the water bottle from her nightstand and poured the water liberally down her chest. She searched for something to use as a towel and decided to strip off a pillow case. She started mopping her front and finally felt somewhat clean. She let out a breath as the urge to be sick was lessening and the smell as well.
"I'd fake a cough again, but you didn't hear the first one so I'll assume you need a more direct approach," said a very familiar male voice behind her. Holding the soiled pillow case firmly against her breasts she turned back towards the door.
Abed stood there, back to her, but she could see his face reflected in the mirror on her door, at least his eyes were closed too. Her cheeks went hot and she screamed in shock and mortification. Remembering the football team outside her room, she put a hand to her mouth. This day could not get any worse.
"How long have you been there?" Annie asked in a stage whisper.
"The whole time," he said and Annie made an audible squeak.
"Why," she said flustered, "Why are you in my room?"
"I came here to escape the party. Troy is acting like a jock again and pretended not to know lines from the best lines from Batman Begins. All the other doors were being blocked by muscle heads that pretended not to hear me when I asked them to move. So, I took the path of least residence and ended up in here. I didn't think you'd mind or be back so soon."
Annie could understand that, but it didn't make her embarrassment any less. He shouldn't be in her room, but she couldn't blame him. She'd hid in a lot more unusual places to escape an uncomfortable party. She put both arms on the pillowcase around her chest, wishing she'd grabbed something that didn't smell so bad.
"Did you see anything?" she asked dreading the answer.
"I turned my back and closed my eyes."
Annie awed at that. Abed could be so sweet sometimes. If it had been Troy or Jeff they would have gawked for as long as they could.
"You know, you can be a real gentleman. I'm impressed."
"In the interest of full disclosure, I should admit that I did open my eyes for one point seven seconds. As a hot blooded male I couldn't resist the temptation. I expected to get a flash of bare back and had no intention of seeing everything down to the color of you n-"
"No, no, no! I take it back. I don't want to know what you saw," she said, but she already did. He'd seen everything. She whimpered at that and would have covered her face in shame, if it wouldn't risk exposing her further.
"Should I apologize?" he asked sounding lost and worried. She felt bad for making him so upset. He hadn't done anything wrong, not really. It wasn't as if he was the first guy to sneak a peek in a similar situation. She wondered if he didn't open his eyes because every normal guy in this scene always did. Or maybe he'd just wanted to see. The thought made her body run hot for a second, but shame quickly followed on its heels. He'd already made it perfectly clear that he was not interested. She refused to make this a Jeff situation all over again.
"No, no it's okay. Just keep your back turned and your eyes shut this time. I just need to grab another shirt," she said quickly moving to her dresser, doing her best to keep her back to him.
"Cool, cool, cool," he said sounding a bit awkward, even for him.
She opened the drawer with one hand and tenderly picked up a shirt, careful to keep the filthy pillow case against her bare breasts. It was a bit tricky. She glanced back and saw Abed was keeping his promise. She rolled her eyes, because she should have known he would. This was Abed she was thinking about. She could trust him even if they had had some pretty intense conversations lately.
"This could get awkward, like on that episode of Friends where Chandler sees Rachel semi naked. She insists on seeing him naked and the whole group ends up trying to spy on one another. You might even see Peirce naked," Abed said a hint of worry in his voice.
She tried to ignore his brattling as she slipped into a loose fitting shirt, another v neck, but she doubted she'd have the same trouble twice. In the process she had to expose herself a few times, which was awkward knowing Abed was in the room, but she trusted him to stay turned. Annie heard him shifting behind her, but didn't think any of it.
Now fully covered, she turned to look at him and let out a gasp. Abed was standing with his pants and boxers pulled down to his thighs and his shirt pulled up exposing his smooth stomach. She could see everything from the fact that he surprisingly kept everything trimmed , as well as the fact that what he was working with was a bit bigger than any other that she'd seen. Although, if she wasn't mistaken, he might be somewhat excited; this only made the whole situation even more awkward.
She squeaked and turned away, putting her hand over her eyes.
"Abed!" she cried, "What the Hell?" Sometimes curses were needed and deserved, this was one of those situations. Abed had flashed her.
"I'm sorry. I couldn't let you see Peirce naked. That'd be unforgivable," Abed said and she thought she heard him zippering up his pants, but she didn't dare took, "I'm willing to consider us even though you did look for three seconds compared to my one point seven."
"Even," she agreed refusing to admit that she'd looked longer than him. She just wanted them to drop this topic and never admit it happened ever again. She didn't know how they'd never be able to talk again without things being weird between them.
"Cool, cool. Should we go back to the party?" Abed asked, casually changing the subject. Annie slowly peeked out between her fingers and saw that he was dressed. The mental image of him nearly naked was burned into her mind and she had to fight to keep her eyes above his waist.
"I don't know," Annie said sitting down on her bed, "I just ran through a room full of my arch enemies from high school covered in vomit. I mean these are the same people who made me feel invisible and worthless, who had mocked me after they found out about the drugs. I don't know if I can go out there and pretend everything is okay."
"Annie, it's been four years. You're a different person now. You've grown and you've changed a lot. You've got friends who'll have your back no matter what," Abed said insightfully before adding, "I'm stepping on Jeff's toes a bit here, but he's not here to do his job. I had to improvise."
Despite herself she had to smile. She didn't mention how glad she was Jeff wasn't here, but the thought was amusing.
"Friends like Troy? He's been treating me differently all week; in fact, he's been treating us all differently. I thought he was past this, but maybe it never really leaves a person. I'm afraid I'll go in there and he'll act like I'm invisible again."
"Troy is being strange, but I'm pretty certain it's just the pressure of trying to live up to who these people expect him to be," he said his voice even, but his face looked hurt.
"Did he even introduce you?' she asked reaching out to take his hand, to ease that discomfort. It was something she'd done before, a casual gesture that she did all the time, but after the talk about skipping the romantic mistake, she couldn't leave her hand there. She let it drop, trying to make it as normal as possible. He noticed the loss and put his hands into the pockets of his hoodie.
"As his roommate."
"See," she said slumping down on her bed, "I'll be invisible again."
"No, you won't, because you're..." he said and trailed off looking at the decor, when he glanced back at her his eyes were alight with an idea, "A princess."
"A princess?" she asked the light in his eyes making her smile.
"Isn't it obvious?' he asked jumping on the bed and swatting behind her. She didn't even chide him for putting his shoes on her bed. He put one hand on her shoulder and then did a sweeping motion of the room. "You're a princess and this is your tower. You're trapped here, fearing that when you step outside the masses will rip you to shreds. The enemy is at the gates and your only knight has become a traitor."
The room changed then, turning from her boring room and become a castle, the window a opening in cobblestone. She imagined herself in an elegant, but hard to move in gown with her hair down up and grabbed a nearby hairband to use as a crown.
"Who does that make you, good sir?' she asked looking back at him.
"The misunderstood wizard who uses his magic for good and to give the princess courage to fight the hordes of the mindless muscle men," he said his voice hinting at a European accent.
Abed gracefully jumped off the bed and Annie could picture in a wizard's robe and pointed hat. Her imagination suggested that maybe he was naked under that robe. The previous situation hadn't left her mind, no matter how hard she tried. She felt like a pervert for the misguided thought and blushed.
"And how do you plan to do that?" she asked a slight British accent creeping into her voice.
"With a magic mirror," he said holding up a mirror of silver that sparkled with an unnatural light, "That shows her true beauty and reminds her that she no longer is that toad, but is now the princess." He handed her the mirror and she looked into it sheepishly. She didn't see a stunning princess, but a shabby community college student that still didn't know how to do her hair right.
He must have known that wasn't working since he grabbed her comb, which was really a wand.
"And I'll use my magic," he said as he started dancing around, the comb held above his head, "To make her see the truth." That made her laugh, especially when he started jumping about, the "wand" doing silly little circles.
The door to her room opened suddenly and Abed stopped a moment later, interrupted but not embarrassed. Annie was staring at the man in the door, a handsome guy with blond hair and muscles bulging under his shirt. Today was the day she was going to die from embarrassment. It was the only option. She quickly put her mirror down.
"Well, this isn't the bathroom," he said a bit bewildered and then turned to yell out across the party, "Hey Troy! Your roommates in here being all crazy with your girlfriend."
"What?" Troy demanded sounding completely unlike himself. He came to the door and gave them both a look, guilt written all over his features. "Oh that's just Annie. She's not my girlfriend, just another roommate."
"And your friend, close friend," Annie said standing up, defending herself from being invisible. The magic dance had done it's work and she felt strong. Abed stood beside her, back still particularly to the door. He gave her a nod of encouragement.
"In fact, we're both his best friends. He spends all his free time watching movies with Abed these days, not guys who treat people badly," she said memories of her high school senior year playing in her head.
"Okay," the guy said slowly, looking over at Troy, "Is that true?"
Troy paused then nodded, "Yeah okay. I like Inspector Spacetime and cosplay. I lied about the pillow fort being for my nonexistent cousin. I helped build that and..and I love it."
"Alright," the guy said nodding his head, "No need to get all emotional on me. No one really cares what you do now. It's been four years; we're not all the same. I'm gay and no one seems to care anymore."
Troy's mouth hung open and he didn't say anything for a moment.
"Then why is everyone acting like nothing has changed?" Troy asked.
"Because we're all saving face," the guy said and shrugged, "But I got a feeling, it's all a show. It's been four years, shit happens."
"Like you going gay?"
"I was always gay."
"I have one very important question," Troy said serious and the guy waited, "Did you ever have a crush on me."
"Huge one."
"I thought so," Troy said with a huge grin before turning to Abed and Annie, "Do you guys want to come watch the movie with us? We're watching Fight Club, because it's manly and stuff."
"Troy, you're forgetting the first rule. Don't talk about fight club."
"Hey, I just feel like destroying something beautiful," Troy said walking over and offering his hand to Abed. They did their secret handshake and Troy looked over at Annie before giving her a hug. She hugged him back, grateful that he'd gotten out of that stupid mindset. With his arm slung over both their shoulders, they headed out into the living room. It would have been a smooth, beautiful move if they didn't have to turn sideways as they exited the doorway.