The rest of the night played out rather boring for Jeff. Abed, Troy and the boys had grown very tired from constantly playing pirates before dinner, and so they opted instead to just watch movies. Britta joined them and sat pretty close to Troy on the couch, which caught Jeff's eye. Perfect, he thought. Now, all he needed was a little more proof that something was up between them and she wouldn't be able to call him out on his new girlfriend. Pierce meanwhile was currently being driven home by Annie after once again insulting the Bennett's home unknowingly and also for being a little too intoxicated. He imagined she wasn't having a very fun ride. This was ideal however, for Jeff to get Abed alone so that Annie wouldn't be able to notice. He would still have to be on the lookout for Britta and Shirley, but with Britta preoccupied with Troy on the couch and Shirley preoccupied with Andre cleaning the dishes, it was the perfect moment to get Abed alone. So Jeff sat on the recliner and pretended to look at his phone, waiting for Abed to get up and go to the washroom. He was also secretly watching Britta and Troy, and smirked to himself when he noticed Britta put her head on his shoulder.
Finally, Abed excused himself to head to the bathroom, and Jeff waited a moment before nonchalantly following behind from a safe distance. He looked back and sure enough, no one had noticed him leave. While he leaned on the wall next to the closed door, he heard the sink running and knew Abed was done. When Abed opened the door, he was startled slightly but didn't say anything. "Bathroom's free, Jeff." Jeff however, grabbed his arm lightly and led him into the closest room he could find to the bathroom, which happened to be Shirley and Andre's bedroom. After closing the door, Abed quirked an eyebrow at him. "Jeff, I don't know what this is about but in most movies that feature dinner parties at someone else's home, being led into the host's bedroom never really leads to anything good. Also, the two people are almost always caught by the host in a matter of minutes." Jeff sighed, but continued hastily as he hoped to get this over with as soon as possible. "Abed listen, I have to tell you something important. But it's a secret, alright? Heavy lid, just like what we talked about at your birthday last year." Abed cocked his head slightly, but didn't say anything. Jeff continued, "Look, remember what we talked about at dinner? Well it turns out I do have a girlfriend. Her name is Natalie and she's great. You know how everyone is though, and I can't have them finding out. So this is just between us alright, Abed?" Abed seemed to contemplate this information for a moment, before nodding his head. However, just as Jeff was about to leave, he suddenly spoke up.
"This is about Annie, isn't it Jeff?"
Damn. Abed was always one step ahead of Jeff and knew exactly what he was thinking at all times. It was remarkable, but also unbelievably annoying. Although he assumed Abed knew about his fragile relationship with Annie, he was hoping to avoid talking about this. He was also getting increasingly uncomfortable in Shirley and Andre's bedroom. Abed seemed to recognize this and gave Jeff a knowing look before heading towards the door. Before he left though, he turned back to him one last time. "Jeff," he said. "I'm not going to make a television reference here, but you know Annie fits the know-it-all but still naive to the real world girl archetype. If she were to find out about this, naturally she'd be extremely upset. I know I'm usually an observer, but I'd be willing to try and comfort her as best I can at home for you. But I can only do so much." Jeff understood what Abed was saying and nodded in agreement. "Thanks, Abed. I'd appreciate that. And I feel like they will get along somewhat after the first initial awkwardness and then we should be all good again, right?" At this, Abed's expression didn't change in the slightest and he simply said, "We'll see" before turning the knob to leave the room.
Of course, Jeff's luck being what is was and Abed's predictions being what they were, the two of them walked straight into Shirley who was blocking their path with a stern look on her face. "Hello boys," she said in her not-so-innocent miss piggy voice. "Care to explain why you were in my bedroom?"
Jeff and Abed had no choice. They had to tell the world's worst gossiper about Jeff's new girlfriend. Although Shirley was initially very excited for Jeff, he reminded her what the news would do to the rest of the group, particularly Annie. Shirley may have been bad at keeping secrets, but her sympathy overpowered even her desire to gossip. So, after explaining the situation to her and why it would upset Annie with her and Jeff's past history, a slightly peeved Shirley reluctantly agreed to keep it secret. Jeff however, knew that this wouldn't hold for long. He would need to introduce Natalie to the rest of the group quicker than he thought. As he uneasily went back to his recliner, he silently cursed himself for showing up to this dinner party in the first place. Annie was right, it totally wasn't his scene.
On Monday, Jeff sat in his chair at the study table looking preoccupied in his thoughts. Annie snapped her fingers in his face and brought him back to reality. "Jeff! I'm trying to give you your notes for biology!" Jeff shook his head slightly to get the nerves away from his system, and thanked her before shoving the biology notes in his binder. When everyone was getting ready to leave, he stood up from the table. "Everyone, wait. I have something to tell you guys." Jeff glanced over at Shirley, who looked concerned but didn't say anything. Abed simply stared at him with the rest of the group.
Making sure to avoid Annie and Britta's gaze, Jeff awkwardly stared at Troy, who shifted uncomfortably in his seat. "So," Jeff started, "remember when you guys thought I had a girlfriend? Well, you were right." He was expecting some sort of reaction from the group, but they were surprising silent. Although, Jeff noticed Britta grinning slightly. He still wasn't looking at Annie. "So yeah," he continued, "her name is Natalie and she's actually really sweet and I thought I'd just get this all out of the way now so that you aren't surprised when you finally meet her. I also don't want this to be a big deal, so now that you know, let's just move on, alright?"
The group was still silent for a moment until Pierce stood up from his seat and walked over to Jeff, embracing him in an awkward hug. "Good work, Jeffery. I'm happy for you and Nathaniel, and I'm also happy you've embraced your gay roots." Jeff pushed him away, looking clearly irritated. "It's Natalie, Pierce, and I can assure you she's female. You will see for yourself at some point in the future." And with that, he gathered his books and left the room, making sure not to give the rest of the group anymore time to scrutinize him. He happened to chance a glance at Annie on his way out, who was looking down at the table and avoiding his gaze. He didn't get a chance to read her expression.
A week or so passed, and Jeff hadn't encountered anything too out of the ordinary from his study group. There were tiny signs that things were off however. Britta for example, spent the first day after he told everyone mocking Jeff, but stopped abruptly when he brought up Troy. This led to a very private discussion between the two of them, in which Britta neither admitted nor denied her feelings for Troy. The two of them did reach a consensus though about not bothering each other with relationship stuff for the time being, and Jeff was grateful.
The thing that really bugged Jeff however was that Annie hadn't really spoken to him since he revealed the news. She had completely engrossed herself in her schoolwork, and according to Abed, she had been spending more and more time in her room. Jeff felt like shit. He really wished Shirley hadn't caught him and Abed a week earlier. Things were weird now, and Annie was obviously upset. But as much as Jeff wanted to, he couldn't bring himself to talk to her about it. How could he? Even though Jeff Winger always knew what to say, that rule didn't apply to his conversations with Annie. He almost always said the wrong thing, and with a subject as fragile as this, he didn't want to take any chances. He had explained this to Abed, who had agreed with him. Jeff was lucky to have Abed; he seemed to be the only one who understood how awkward this situation was for him. Abed had encouraged Jeff to not bring up his girlfriend as much as possible so to spare Annie's feelings somewhat, which he was more than happy to do. He was grateful that the group at least understood this, as they hadn't brought it up either.
Slowly, things were getting slightly back to normal. The group had gone back to their normal dynamic of making fun of Pierce, and Abed had gone back to making constant movie references. Shirley had gone back to wedging her religious views into irrelevant conversation topics and guilt tripping everyone. Troy, who hadn't really changed at all during the whole thing, just continued being his dim-witted but lovable self. Britta had gone back to being annoying to the entire group – not just Jeff. Only Annie had continued to be rather despondent, but she was doing a good job of hiding it. Jeff knew better though, and noticed that whenever the group was having a conversation together she wouldn't chime in like usual. Jeff had tried nonchalantly approaching her in group conversation a couple times, but each time she abruptly shut him down and went back to her biology notebook. A week later, the group's dynamic had completely returned except for Annie's demeanor, so Britta approached Jeff one day when he was by himself.
The blonde was actually looking genuinely concerned for once since this whole thing had started. "Jeff, Annie's acting strange and it's obviously because of your new girlfriend. You know you need to at least talk to her about the whole thing," said Britta. Jeff sighed in frustration, "You think I haven't noticed how she's been acting? I won't lie, it sucks, but I'm trying to spare her feelings, Britta. She's still my friend, and I don't want her to hate me even more. I still care about her feelings." Britta actually smiled at him, taking Jeff by surprise. "You know, you've grown up a lot in three years, Jeff. The old Jeff would never have been so considerate of his friend's feelings. But Annie's my best friend, and also yours. Sometimes you just gotta go through with shit like this to make things better in the long run. And I'm sure it'll help her get over it in time." Jeff sighed, but nodded at his friend. "You know, Natalie's not even bad at all. She's actually the nicest person ever. I know you guys would love her." Britta looked as if she was contemplating something for a moment before replying to Jeff.
"Jeff, I think it's time we met her."