"What about truth or dare? That's a little more appropriate and comfortable for me," Shirley says.
"After spin the bottle, sure," Abed asserts.
With the wine in my system I agree to play, and sit on the floor beside Abed with Jeff plopping down next to me.
Everyone eventually comes over to us, with the exception of Shirley who is sitting outside of the circle that has been formed around the empty beer bottle.
"Okay, who wants to go first?" Pierce asks.
"Me!" Britta shouts before spinning the bottle. For her sake, I hope it doesn't land on Pierce. Instead, it lands on Troy.
Abed raises his eyebrows at the two knowingly.
They look at each other and Troy shrugs. Britta leans in as Troy does. Their lips meet, and after a bit, when it seems they have forgotten where they are, Jeff clears his throat. Britta and Troy jump apart, both of them blushing, and avoiding eye contact before taking their spots back in the circle.
"Annie it's your turn," Abed says breaking the silence.
Once again praying to not get Pierce, but even stronger since it's my lips on the line. The bottle spins for what feels like forever and finally stops…on Britta. I look to her and she shrugs. I take in a deep breath for courage and scoot over to her.
Britta is the one to lean in first and I, somewhat reluctantly, lean in too. When our lips touch I notice how different hers feel compared to Jeff and any other guy I've kissed. I can taste her lip gloss and smell the fruitiness of her hair. Britta's hand on my thigh brings me back to reality and I jump back with a blush.
"That was hot," Troy announces with a dumbfounded look on his face.
"Nicely done, ladies," Pierce says creepily.
I quickly move back to my spot and I meet Jeff's eyes. They're dark and full of desire, his mouth slighted parted.
He leans down to whisper in my ear, "That image has been burned into my brain."
My blush intensifies. I clap, "Okay, let's move on. Jeff, it's your turn."
Jeff is compliant and spins the bottle. It slows down and almost lands on me. Oh, wait, scratch that, it did land on me.
His hand cups my cheek and looks right at me. "Thank god it landed on you," Jeff says before bringing me in for a kiss.
His soft, warm lips mesh with mine. Jeff weaves his fingers of one hand into my hair, while the other rests on my thigh. I sigh as he deepens the kiss and shift my hand from his neck to his sculpted chest. His hand on my thigh moves up and down my exposed skin. I lose track of time, indulging in everything Jeff. His skin, his warmth, his lips, his taste, his smell. Neither of us break contact of our lips until we hear a loud cough and some whistling.
We open our eyes and I see the same fear that he probably sees in mine.
Jeff removes his hands from me as I do the same. We turn back into the circle and I attempt to fix my hair and right my dress.
"Awesome," Troy proclaims.
Abed mutter something about how he had a feeling this would happen.
Britta sits slack-jawed, Pierce is clapping, and Shirley wears almost the same expression as Britta, but with more disapproval mixed in.
"Sooooooo…Abed it's your turn, right?" I say as an effort to move on from what just happened.
Luckily, since everybody besides Shirley is drunk, we refocus on the game. I can see Shirley mentally filing it for later dissection.
After Abed and Pierce go we decide to do something else.
"How about Yaht-"
"Suggest Yahtzee one more time, Troy, and I'll strangle you," Jeff says with a straight face.
Troy sulks, "What about truth or dare?"
"Or," Abed speaks up, "we could end the night with a game of Hot Lava."
"YES!" Troy shouts.
"Everybody find someplace they want to start. Game begins in three minutes," Abed explains.
I jump up and bring an unenthusiastic Jeff with me.
"Is this about to get ridiculous?" He asks and I nod. He tries to pull away, but I give him, as he likes to say, my Disney princess look. "Ugh, fine."
Jeff takes my hand and leads me to the basement, but we find it already open so we race upstairs. He opens a random door and it just so happens to be a guest bedroom. When he tries to flick the lights on, I smack his hand away.
"Are you trying to get us found?" I ask quietly.
"We're starting!"
I hop onto the bed and Jeff follows after silently closing the door. "I think we'll be safe in here for a while," he assures.
We end up laying down and talking for a long time. As it nears two, my eyes get heavy. Jeff pulls the covers over us and wraps his arms around me as I snuggle into his chest. The sound of his heartbeat and the lazy circles Jeff is drawing on my lower back soothe me to sleep. Just before I'm completely out, I hear Jeff whisper, "I love you."
The next morning Abed is the one to wake us up warning us that the others are looking for us. With that, he leaves. Jeff and I sluggishly roll out of bed.
As we head downstairs, I can't help but think about what Jeff had said to me last night when he thought I was asleep. The others are all in the kitchen in different states of disorder. Shirley is making breakfast while Britta, Troy, and Abed sit at the table.
Britta's hair is spiking out in all directions and by the look on her face, her hangover must be pretty bad. Troy and Abed look exhausted, and Troy is being quiet.
"Where's Pierce?" Jeff asks.
"He left last night during the game," Abed answers.
After scarfing down the meal, we say our goodbyes. When Troy, Abed, and I get back to our apartment, I immediately head to my bedroom and collapse onto my bed. I curl up under the sheets and play over the whole previous day, ending with those three little words that continue to replay in my mind.
Jeff Winger loves me.
A/N: Finally got around to typing this up! Sorry for the long delay. I hope to get another chapter up without forever going by. I do have SAT studying to do, but I promise to at least get my other story updated soon. Thank you for reading! Comments are very appreciated:)