Fic: 5 Ways Annie & Jeff Might Spend Her 21st Birthday- Way 3
Title: Roadtrippin' (With My Favorite Two Allies)
Word Count:4306
Rating: PG
Disclaimer: I don't own the show or the characters
Order had always been the most important thing in Annie’s life.
The feeling when she woke up every morning, that feeling of knowing what her day would entail from start to finish. It gave her traction, something tangible to hold onto. Sometimes it had been the only thing she could hold onto.
Tuesdays she had toast with peanut butter for breakfast and wore a cardigan in the citrus color wheel.
So when he ended up next to her, his long legs catching her easily on the way to her computer class across campus at one o‘clock on her twenty-first birthday and casually told her he was taking off and she was welcome to come along, Annie’s instinct was to ask him where. And why. And when they’d be back.
But she didn’t. Instead, she looked up at him, glaring into the sun high in the sky and studied him for a moment. As always, he was impeccably groomed in a way that said he wanted people to think he woke up looking that way. He stared off into the distance, his sunglasses exuding enough disinterest that people fifty feet away would be able to think he was asking about notes for anthropology class.
Annie exhaled before glancing up at him, all nervous fingers grappling with her backpack straps and shuffling feet in ballet flats. “What about your class?” she asked.
“I hate to break it to you Annie, but Home Economics is not that important to me.” He paused. “Although they are making banana bread today. So you in, kid?” he asked, finally sparing her a glance.
It was the ‘kid’ that made Annie pause. He pulled his glasses down the bridge of his nose just enough so she could see his eyes. He looked at her so seriously that Annie felt herself nodding before she’d even realized she was giving an answer to his question.
“Let’s go,” she bleated out when she found her voice again and the next moment, Jeff’s hand was on her back, directing her toward his Lexus. Annie looked back over her shoulder helplessly, hoping to catch the eye of someone she knew just in case this was the part where the seemingly nice guy took the young girl to the woods and raped and murdered her.
Today was Thursday. She’d eaten two egg whites and was wearing her blue dress and she should be walking into the computer lab right now. That was her life.
He pulled out of the parking lot as Annie fumbled with the seatbelt. “Gum?” he asked, holding out the pack toward her. She have him a quizzical look before shaking her head at him. “You okay?”
Annie furrowed her brow. “I don’t know,” she finally answered slowly. “Are you going to kill me?”
Jeff let a smile grace his lips. “You bet,” he answered airily. “Yeah, I try to murder one coed a year.”
Annie chuckled in spite of herself and shook her head. “Well, what are we doing?”
“Do you trust me?” Jeff asked, giving her a sidelong glance as he chomped loudly on his gum. Before Annie could respond, he continued. “I guess not, considering you think I might be homicidal.”
“I don’t think you’re homicidal,” Annie noted with frustration, smoothing her dress down over her thighs. “I just think it’s kind of strange that you…” She bit her lip nervously.
“That I….?” Jeff repeated.
“That you asked me to ditch school with you,” Annie answered in a stilted tone. “Just…did everyone else turn you down or something?”
“I didn’t ask anyone else,” Jeff chuckled as he pulled easily onto the highway. Annie tried not to think about that too hard.
“Really?” Annie asked. “Because this seems more like an outing for Britta or Troy.”
“You don’t even know what we’re doing,” Jeff reasoned. “We could be going to a petting zoo.”
“You didn’t leave school in the middle of the day to go to a petting zoo,” Annie shot back with a roll of her eyes. “And how is that not better suited to Troy exactly?”
Jeff pulled his sunglasses off and tucked them into the flip down holder built into the roof. “Do you want me to take you back, Annie? You would only be ten minutes late for computer class.”
“No,” Annie replied defiantly.
“Okay,” Jeff answered. “But if I am taking you to the woods to chop off your arms and legs and then have sex with your limbless corpse, that is a bad decision.”
She was going to miss ‘Wheel of Fortune’ that afternoon.
The only traction in her life at that moment was that of his tires against the pavement as they drove away from the order of her life. She watched him, head turned to the side. She didn’t even try to hide the way she gazed at him as he watched the road in front of him.
“What?” he asked after thirty seconds worth of silence.
“Well seriously, Jeff.” Annie chuckled quietly. He raised his eyebrows but didn’t turn toward her. “What are we doing?” He swallowed and narrowed his eyes into the sun. She wasn’t sure why he’d taken his sunglasses off in the first place. “Jeff?” she pushed in a small voice before covering his large hand with her own small one on the gear shift.
“My mom is in the hospital in Denver,” he said, still without looking at her.
Annie’s eyes widened in surprise. That was absolutely the last thing she had expected to come out of his mouth, even more unlikely than him actually murdering her. “Really?” When Jeff just gave her a look out of the corner of his eye, Annie felt a wave of guilt rush over her. “What happened?”
“She fell off a ladder,” he answered, as if almost asking for her to ask the imminent question.
Annie frowned. “What was your mother doing on a ladder?” she asked, unsure if she should be feeling humor or horror at the idea.
“Cleaning the gutters,” Jeff replied with a roll of his eyes.
Annie let out a chuckle. “And why was she-”
“This could be a really long conversation,” Jeff cut her off. “Long story short, she broke her leg in three places and split her chin open because she couldn’t wait for her son to come up and clean the gutters for her.”
Annie set her mouth in a firm line, keeping her eyes on him out of the corner of her eye. “Okay,” she finally said aloud.
“Really?” he asked, clearly surprised that she wasn’t demanding that he turn his car around.
Annie swallowed down the sudden jolt of adrenaline that shot through her at the idea that Jeff was bringing her to meet his mother. It didn’t actually mean anything, it was just that she had been the first person that he’d seen that day. Annie’s phone vibrated in her coat pocket and she pulled it out to read the text she’d just received from her cousin Katie.
Happy b-day babe! go get wasted 4 me!
Annie’s mouth quirked up on one side before she pushed the phone back into her pocket.
“Who was that?” Jeff asked without taking his eyes off of the road.
Annie turned her head to gaze at his handsome profile before biting her lip nervously. “It was no one.”
By the time he had pulled off of the interstate, Annie had looked through the entire music library on his iPhone and had ridiculed half of the songs on it. Jeff had taken the ribbing in stride and had merely replied that next time they went on a road trip, they could listen to plenty of Justin Beiber and that girl with the dollar sign in her name. Annie sucked in a breath at the idea of their ‘next road trip’, but didn’t say anything.
“Okay,” Jeff started as they entered the hospital side by side. “I’m going to go check what room she’s in.” He motioned toward the admittance counter before walking toward it. Annie lowered herself to an uncomfortable chair and glanced over the reading selection that was offered before picking up an outdated copy of ‘Us Weekly’. A minute later, Jeff approached her and Annie glanced up at him expectantly. “You ready?” he asked, jerking his head in the direction of the elevator.
“Yeah,” Annie answered weakly. “I think maybe I should just hang…here?” She raised her eyebrows at the look of terror that crossed his face. “I’m just really into this magazine,” Annie went on as she lifted it up to show him. “Did you know that 2007 was the year that Britney shaved her head?”
“Annie,” Jeff stated. “You can’t sit down here by yourself. Come on up with me,” he urged as he shoved his hands into his pockets. She gazed up at him unsurely and Jeff tilted his head down with a grin. “Come on, Edison.” He held out a hand for her and after a moment’s pause, Annie smiled up at him and took his hand. He pulled her up quickly and they moved toward the elevator in tandem.
They rode up to the seventh floor in silence with four other people and when the door opened, Jeff motioned for her to exit before him. “Okay,” Annie said in an overly chipper tone. “So, what’s your mom’s name?”
“Dorie,” Jeff responded distractedly before turning and grasping Annie’s arm with one hand. “Listen,” he said in a low voice as Annie turned to him in surprise. “I may not have been totally honest up to this point.” Annie rolled his eyes.
“Jeff,” she warned, giving him what she hoped was a stern look.
“Okay,” Jeff threw up his hands in defense. “Look, it’s not that big of a deal. I just…” He glanced around for a moment, searching for his words. “I haven’t exactly told my mom that I’m not a lawyer yet.”
“What?” Annie squeaked. “Jeff!”
“So, this is how this will work,” he went on as if he hadn’t heard her. “We go in, you’re adorable and charming and entertaining and distracting and then we get back in the car and I’m good for another six months.”
Annie closed her eyes in frustration. “Jeff, I don’t think this is a good idea. I mean, if you’re not you, who am I supposed to be?”
Jeff’s eyes widened and he leaned down closer to her. “No, you be you.” He turned and began to walk down the hallway before he realized Annie wasn’t following him. She eyed him suspiciously as he strode back to her.
“Why?”
Jeff furrowed his brow. “Why what?”
Annie frowned up at him. “Why me?” Jeff shot her a confused look. “Why out of everyone did you ask me to come with you?”
Jeff stared at her blankly. “I don’t understand the question.” Annie rolled her eyes and let out a frustrated sigh. “Okay, let’s just run over the candidates, shall we?” he asked in a hurried tone. “Britta,” he started with a significant look at Annie, “would have reprimanded my mother for thinking it was her place to clean her gutters in the first place, because the world owns us, we don’t own it.” He took a deep breath. “Troy would have tried to teach her how to beat box, Abed would have made her watch ‘Kill Bill Volume One’ with the commentary track on.” Annie rolled her eyes again. “Shirley would have led her in a hymn sing-along and Pierce? Would have tried to copulate with her.”
Annie let out a giggle before swallowing it down and Jeff’s face softened into a smile. “Milord,” she finally said with a jerk of her head toward the hospital room. She watched Jeff’s grin widen as she sauntered past him and down the hallway. A moment later he was at her side and they entered the room together, Annie settling behind his right elbow.
“There he is,” his mother intoned from her prone position on her hospital bed. Annie watched as the woman came to life at the sight of her son and felt something well up inside of her. “Thought you would never get here, Jeffy.”
Jeff winced at the pet name, but didn’t comment on it. “I just had some things I needed to take care of first, mom.” He moved forward and leaned over his mom to give her a hug and a quick kiss on the cheek. “You certainly did a number on yourself.”
“The gutters needed to be cleaned,” Dorie argued with a wave of her hand.
Jeff rolled his eye sand shoved his hands into his pockets. “And I said I would come up and do them.”
“Yes, you say that but I hardly ever see you anymore,” his mother retorted quickly. Then, her eyes moved to Annie and landed there. Annie felt her entire face heat up at the scrutiny. “Hello,” his mother greeted her warmly. “Jeff,” she admonished her son, “aren’t you going to introduce me to this lovely girl?”
“Uh, right.” Jeff motioned between the two women. “This is my friend, Annie.” Annie smiled nervously at the woman in front of her. “Annie, this is my mom.”
“Doreen,” she supplied as she held out her hand for Annie to shake. The younger woman took it gingerly before gazing at the bandaged chin.
“How many stitches?” she asked with a wince.
Doreen let a hand flutter up to her face and gently touched the area. “Ugh, eight.” Then her eyes moved up and studied Annie’s face. “So, how did my son ever convince you to come visit his mother in the hospital?”
Annie opened her mouth, unsure of what to say. Something about telling this woman that her son had essentially pulled her into his car without telling her where they were going or what they were doing just didn’t seem right. “Oh,” Jeff piped up from somewhere behind her. “Annie needed to get a…book in town, so she tagged along with me today.” Annie turned her head to catch Jeff’s eye and he held her gaze. “And she wants to work in a hospital when she gro- after she graduates.” Annie smiled tightly.
“So, I know Jeff is taking some foreign language courses at a local community college so he can better serve clients,” Dorie noted as she looked at her son. “Is that how you two know each other?”
Annie looked back at Jeff again for some sort of signal on what she was supposed to say and Jeff widened his eyes at her in response. “Yes,” Annie finally answered haltingly. “We took Spanish together.”
“You look awfully young,” his mother announced. “Do you mind if I ask how old you are?”
“She’s twenty,” Jeff replied for her as he stepped forward to stand next to Annie again.
“Twenty-one,” Annie amended with a smile to herself.
“What?” Jeff asked in surprise and Annie glanced up at him. “Wait, when was your birthday?”
“Today,” Annie answered slowly before tearing her eyes away from his face to glance back at his mother.
Dorie smiled at her. “Well, happy birthday.” She held the remote out. “I didn’t get you a gift, but you can control the remote if you would like.” Annie chuckled at this and moved toward the bed again before looking up at the television mounted to the wall.
“Oh, ‘Wheel of Fortune’!” Annie exclaimed. “I love this show.” She settled into a chair next to the bed and watched with Jeff’s mom, the two sharing comfortable conversation every couple minutes. For his part, Jeff sat in the corner mostly watching them in silence. Every so often, Annie would look over at him and meet his gaze. There was a look of tranquility on his face that she had rarely seen, but was unwilling to read too much into it. After ‘Wheel of Fortune’, the program switched over to a show that involved people getting hit in the face and falling into a giant pool and Dorie quickly nodded off. Annie rose from her seat and Jeff mirrored her, meeting her in the middle of the room.
“I’m going to go to the vending machines,” Annie whispered to him.
Jeff’s eyes widened. “Oh, yeah.” He motioned for her to lead the way.
“No,” Annie answered in a more forceful whisper. “I am going to the vending machine and you are going to stay here.” Jeff blinked at her. “And when your mother wakes up, you’re going to tell her everything.”
“No,” he protested, looking down at the floor. They stood in silence for what seemed like a long time. “Annie, she’s the only person who actually thinks I’m worth something.”
“That’s not true,” Annie whispered up to him, willing him to look at her. When he finally did, she could feel a surge of something flow between them.
Jeff closed his eyes. “I can’t tell her it’s all been a lie.”
“She loves you,” Annie reasoned softly. “She will understand.” Jeff swallowed before opening his mouth to say something, but no sound came out. “I’ll be outside,” Annie told him with a small smile and she felt his hand just barely brush against hers as she left the room.
The fluorescent light of the hallway was a drastic change from the dim lamplight of the room she had just left and Annie blinked several times in rapid succession as she slowly wandered the halls aimlessly for some time before finally walking to the vending machine. She pressed the button for Peanut Butter Twix and then, noticing something, also got a package of Sour Patch Kids on a whim.
“Hi,” a voice said behind her and Annie turned to see a man in scrubs standing there waiting his turn.
She smiled back. “Hi.” Annie glanced down at his attire. “Do you work here?”
He glanced down at his own clothes with a nod. “Yeah, I’m an intern.”
“Oh,” Annie responded. “Is it like ‘Grey’s Anatomy’?”
The guy gave her a funny look before shaking his head. “No,” he answered. “Our on-call room is really skeevy. I don’t think anyone would really want to have sex in there.” He extended his hand to her. “I’m Gavin.”
“Annie,” she replied, juggling her candy in order to shake his hand. From somewhere behind her, Annie heard a cough and she and Gavin turned to see Jeff standing in the doorway of his mother’s hospital room.
“Oh,” Gavin stepped back slightly. “I guess your dad doesn’t approve.” Annie felt something heavy settle in her stomach and gave a half-hearted nod. “Tell him I’m going to be a doctor though.” He gave her a winning smile and Annie returned it with a queasy feeling before moving toward Jeff, who was looking at her in a way she couldn’t categorize accurately.
“I got you some Sour Patch Kids,” she said quietly when she reached him, holding up the bag. He took them gently from her grasp.
“I- thanks,” he answered somewhat lamely before ushering her back into the room.
“So,” Dorie said in a sarcastic voice. “Are you really a student?”
Annie laughed unexpectedly at this and grinned at the older woman. “Yes,” she replied with a nod. “I am.”
“And you really know Spanish?”
“Si,” Annie answered and she saw Jeff smirk out of the corner of her eye.
“And you really are friends with my son here? He didn’t just pick you up outside of a local church?”
Annie glanced over at Jeff and he was watching her with that look again and Annie snapped her head back toward his mother for fear of being caught. “Mrs. Winger-”
“Ms.,” Dorie corrected quickly.
“- Jeff really is a good guy and a great friend.” She sat in the chair next to the bed again. “Last Christmas, he fought the school bully because he’d been picking on one of our friends.” At this, Jeff’s mother looked up at him in surprise. “And when he won the paintball tournament last year, he gave his prize to one of the women in our study group so she could schedule classes around her children.” Annie glanced up at him then and knew she wouldn’t have been able to stop the look of worship on her face if she tried. “And when I needed a debate partner, he agreed to help me, because he knew I couldn’t do it without him.” She swallowed and turned back to Dorie. Something washed over the woman’s face and Annie felt a trickle of dread creep into her, but a moment later the woman was smiling warmly at her again.
“So, I should let him off the hook, huh?”
Annie chuckled at this and shrugged. “He’s not all bad,” she conceded with an roll of the eyes and Dorie laughed.
“Plus he’s tall,” his mother noted.
“So he can get things off of high shelves,” Annie smirked without missing a beat.
They finally left once Jeff promised he would be back up the following weekend to help her get stuff done around the house. The walk back to the Lexus was silent and unusually tense, even for them. When they had finally climbed in and fastened their seatbelts, Jeff finally turned to acknowledge her. “Annie, that was…really cool of you.” Annie shrugged, not trusting her own voice to speak at that moment. Jeff just smiled at her sincerely before pulling out into traffic. Three blocks later, he pulled into a parking lot and Annie looked around confusedly.
“Where are we?”
“Do you trust me?” Jeff asked, sidestepping the question. He waggled his eyebrows at her and Annie chortled awkwardly.
“I guess,” she finally answered slowly.
“Then come on,” Jeff said as he climbed out of the car. “And bring your I.D.”
Annie climbed out after him and looked up at the building they were at. It was a seedy bar, with half of its neon letters blacked out. “Jeff,” she started uncertainly.
He slowly moved around the car until he was right in front of her. “Annie, it is your birthday and you just spent two hours mediating between my mother and I.” He glanced over his shoulder and the bar behind them. “The least I can do is buy you your first legal beer.”
Annie’s mouth quirked up on one side and could tell that Jeff knew he had won. Pulling her by the hand, they entered the bar. There were two guys playing darts in the corner and a leathery looking woman at the bar playing blackjack on a computer screen. Annie raised herself primly to sit on a stool just as Jeff swung a long leg over his own. They settled hip to hip and their eyes met in surprise before edging away from each other slightly.
The bartender, a man with a tired face approached them and rattled off a hurried greeting before asking them what they would like. “Two of whatever is on tap,” Jeff answered. The man glanced over at Annie.
“You got some I.D. sweetie?” he asked in a bored tone. Annie pulled it out and handed it to him. He glanced up at her and smiled. “Happy birthday.”
“Thanks,” Annie answered sheepishly and busied herself with putting the card back into it’s protective sleeve inside of her purse. Then she looked over at Jeff. “No scotch tonight?”
He met her eyes in the bleak lighting of the bar and shook his head. “Not tonight.” He seemed to be answering a question other than the one she had asked, but Annie didn’t push. They sat in silence, watching a muted episode of ‘The Office’ on the television above the bar. When the bartender returned, Jeff held up a twenty dollar bill, but the man waved him off.
“Birthday girls drink free,” he answered. Jeff glanced over at Annie for a moment before leaning forward and whispering something to the bartender that she couldn’t hear. The man nodded his head and disappeared.
“So,” Jeff asked with a sidelong glance at her as he took a sip from his mug. “What were you going to do today before I kidnapped you? Big plans?”
Annie shrugged before shaking her head. “No,” she replied self-consciously. “No plans.”
“Why didn’t you tell any of us that it was your birthday?” he asked in a tone that told Annie he really was curious.
“I don’t know,” Annie answered honestly. Jeff gave her a furtive stare for a long moment before pulling out his phone and punching buttons. “What are you doing?”
“Putting it in my calendar,” Jeff replied evenly. “So that next year, you can’t pretend it isn’t happening.” Annie smiled to herself before taking a drink from her own mug. A few minutes later the bartender returned, balancing a cardboard boat with a lit candle in it in one hand and a stack of party hats in the other. He carefully placed the paper boat in front of her and Annie wrinkled her nose.
“What is this?” she asked, examining its contents.
“Chislic,” the man answered.
“But,” Jeff helped as he took the party hats from the bartender’s grasp. “It’s got a candle, so it’s almost exactly like cake.” He strapped a hat crookedly onto his head before placing one carefully on Annie’s head. She couldn’t help the giggle that erupted from deep in her chest as he arranged the elastic string under her chin gently.
“Just like cake,” she replied softly. Annie inhaled, wanting to take in everything about that moment. The feel of the vinyl beneath her and the smell of the stale air in the bar and the way Jeff’s eyes looked in the flicker of candlelight. Annie felt a tumbling sensation in her stomach and realized it was much better than the traction she‘d been striving for.
“Happy birthday, Annie.”
Way #4 http://elsiesnuffin.livejournal.com/10656.html#cutid1
Word Count:4306
Rating: PG
Disclaimer: I don't own the show or the characters
Order had always been the most important thing in Annie’s life.
The feeling when she woke up every morning, that feeling of knowing what her day would entail from start to finish. It gave her traction, something tangible to hold onto. Sometimes it had been the only thing she could hold onto.
Tuesdays she had toast with peanut butter for breakfast and wore a cardigan in the citrus color wheel.
So when he ended up next to her, his long legs catching her easily on the way to her computer class across campus at one o‘clock on her twenty-first birthday and casually told her he was taking off and she was welcome to come along, Annie’s instinct was to ask him where. And why. And when they’d be back.
But she didn’t. Instead, she looked up at him, glaring into the sun high in the sky and studied him for a moment. As always, he was impeccably groomed in a way that said he wanted people to think he woke up looking that way. He stared off into the distance, his sunglasses exuding enough disinterest that people fifty feet away would be able to think he was asking about notes for anthropology class.
Annie exhaled before glancing up at him, all nervous fingers grappling with her backpack straps and shuffling feet in ballet flats. “What about your class?” she asked.
“I hate to break it to you Annie, but Home Economics is not that important to me.” He paused. “Although they are making banana bread today. So you in, kid?” he asked, finally sparing her a glance.
It was the ‘kid’ that made Annie pause. He pulled his glasses down the bridge of his nose just enough so she could see his eyes. He looked at her so seriously that Annie felt herself nodding before she’d even realized she was giving an answer to his question.
“Let’s go,” she bleated out when she found her voice again and the next moment, Jeff’s hand was on her back, directing her toward his Lexus. Annie looked back over her shoulder helplessly, hoping to catch the eye of someone she knew just in case this was the part where the seemingly nice guy took the young girl to the woods and raped and murdered her.
Today was Thursday. She’d eaten two egg whites and was wearing her blue dress and she should be walking into the computer lab right now. That was her life.
He pulled out of the parking lot as Annie fumbled with the seatbelt. “Gum?” he asked, holding out the pack toward her. She have him a quizzical look before shaking her head at him. “You okay?”
Annie furrowed her brow. “I don’t know,” she finally answered slowly. “Are you going to kill me?”
Jeff let a smile grace his lips. “You bet,” he answered airily. “Yeah, I try to murder one coed a year.”
Annie chuckled in spite of herself and shook her head. “Well, what are we doing?”
“Do you trust me?” Jeff asked, giving her a sidelong glance as he chomped loudly on his gum. Before Annie could respond, he continued. “I guess not, considering you think I might be homicidal.”
“I don’t think you’re homicidal,” Annie noted with frustration, smoothing her dress down over her thighs. “I just think it’s kind of strange that you…” She bit her lip nervously.
“That I….?” Jeff repeated.
“That you asked me to ditch school with you,” Annie answered in a stilted tone. “Just…did everyone else turn you down or something?”
“I didn’t ask anyone else,” Jeff chuckled as he pulled easily onto the highway. Annie tried not to think about that too hard.
“Really?” Annie asked. “Because this seems more like an outing for Britta or Troy.”
“You don’t even know what we’re doing,” Jeff reasoned. “We could be going to a petting zoo.”
“You didn’t leave school in the middle of the day to go to a petting zoo,” Annie shot back with a roll of her eyes. “And how is that not better suited to Troy exactly?”
Jeff pulled his sunglasses off and tucked them into the flip down holder built into the roof. “Do you want me to take you back, Annie? You would only be ten minutes late for computer class.”
“No,” Annie replied defiantly.
“Okay,” Jeff answered. “But if I am taking you to the woods to chop off your arms and legs and then have sex with your limbless corpse, that is a bad decision.”
She was going to miss ‘Wheel of Fortune’ that afternoon.
The only traction in her life at that moment was that of his tires against the pavement as they drove away from the order of her life. She watched him, head turned to the side. She didn’t even try to hide the way she gazed at him as he watched the road in front of him.
“What?” he asked after thirty seconds worth of silence.
“Well seriously, Jeff.” Annie chuckled quietly. He raised his eyebrows but didn’t turn toward her. “What are we doing?” He swallowed and narrowed his eyes into the sun. She wasn’t sure why he’d taken his sunglasses off in the first place. “Jeff?” she pushed in a small voice before covering his large hand with her own small one on the gear shift.
“My mom is in the hospital in Denver,” he said, still without looking at her.
Annie’s eyes widened in surprise. That was absolutely the last thing she had expected to come out of his mouth, even more unlikely than him actually murdering her. “Really?” When Jeff just gave her a look out of the corner of his eye, Annie felt a wave of guilt rush over her. “What happened?”
“She fell off a ladder,” he answered, as if almost asking for her to ask the imminent question.
Annie frowned. “What was your mother doing on a ladder?” she asked, unsure if she should be feeling humor or horror at the idea.
“Cleaning the gutters,” Jeff replied with a roll of his eyes.
Annie let out a chuckle. “And why was she-”
“This could be a really long conversation,” Jeff cut her off. “Long story short, she broke her leg in three places and split her chin open because she couldn’t wait for her son to come up and clean the gutters for her.”
Annie set her mouth in a firm line, keeping her eyes on him out of the corner of her eye. “Okay,” she finally said aloud.
“Really?” he asked, clearly surprised that she wasn’t demanding that he turn his car around.
Annie swallowed down the sudden jolt of adrenaline that shot through her at the idea that Jeff was bringing her to meet his mother. It didn’t actually mean anything, it was just that she had been the first person that he’d seen that day. Annie’s phone vibrated in her coat pocket and she pulled it out to read the text she’d just received from her cousin Katie.
Happy b-day babe! go get wasted 4 me!
Annie’s mouth quirked up on one side before she pushed the phone back into her pocket.
“Who was that?” Jeff asked without taking his eyes off of the road.
Annie turned her head to gaze at his handsome profile before biting her lip nervously. “It was no one.”
By the time he had pulled off of the interstate, Annie had looked through the entire music library on his iPhone and had ridiculed half of the songs on it. Jeff had taken the ribbing in stride and had merely replied that next time they went on a road trip, they could listen to plenty of Justin Beiber and that girl with the dollar sign in her name. Annie sucked in a breath at the idea of their ‘next road trip’, but didn’t say anything.
“Okay,” Jeff started as they entered the hospital side by side. “I’m going to go check what room she’s in.” He motioned toward the admittance counter before walking toward it. Annie lowered herself to an uncomfortable chair and glanced over the reading selection that was offered before picking up an outdated copy of ‘Us Weekly’. A minute later, Jeff approached her and Annie glanced up at him expectantly. “You ready?” he asked, jerking his head in the direction of the elevator.
“Yeah,” Annie answered weakly. “I think maybe I should just hang…here?” She raised her eyebrows at the look of terror that crossed his face. “I’m just really into this magazine,” Annie went on as she lifted it up to show him. “Did you know that 2007 was the year that Britney shaved her head?”
“Annie,” Jeff stated. “You can’t sit down here by yourself. Come on up with me,” he urged as he shoved his hands into his pockets. She gazed up at him unsurely and Jeff tilted his head down with a grin. “Come on, Edison.” He held out a hand for her and after a moment’s pause, Annie smiled up at him and took his hand. He pulled her up quickly and they moved toward the elevator in tandem.
They rode up to the seventh floor in silence with four other people and when the door opened, Jeff motioned for her to exit before him. “Okay,” Annie said in an overly chipper tone. “So, what’s your mom’s name?”
“Dorie,” Jeff responded distractedly before turning and grasping Annie’s arm with one hand. “Listen,” he said in a low voice as Annie turned to him in surprise. “I may not have been totally honest up to this point.” Annie rolled his eyes.
“Jeff,” she warned, giving him what she hoped was a stern look.
“Okay,” Jeff threw up his hands in defense. “Look, it’s not that big of a deal. I just…” He glanced around for a moment, searching for his words. “I haven’t exactly told my mom that I’m not a lawyer yet.”
“What?” Annie squeaked. “Jeff!”
“So, this is how this will work,” he went on as if he hadn’t heard her. “We go in, you’re adorable and charming and entertaining and distracting and then we get back in the car and I’m good for another six months.”
Annie closed her eyes in frustration. “Jeff, I don’t think this is a good idea. I mean, if you’re not you, who am I supposed to be?”
Jeff’s eyes widened and he leaned down closer to her. “No, you be you.” He turned and began to walk down the hallway before he realized Annie wasn’t following him. She eyed him suspiciously as he strode back to her.
“Why?”
Jeff furrowed his brow. “Why what?”
Annie frowned up at him. “Why me?” Jeff shot her a confused look. “Why out of everyone did you ask me to come with you?”
Jeff stared at her blankly. “I don’t understand the question.” Annie rolled her eyes and let out a frustrated sigh. “Okay, let’s just run over the candidates, shall we?” he asked in a hurried tone. “Britta,” he started with a significant look at Annie, “would have reprimanded my mother for thinking it was her place to clean her gutters in the first place, because the world owns us, we don’t own it.” He took a deep breath. “Troy would have tried to teach her how to beat box, Abed would have made her watch ‘Kill Bill Volume One’ with the commentary track on.” Annie rolled her eyes again. “Shirley would have led her in a hymn sing-along and Pierce? Would have tried to copulate with her.”
Annie let out a giggle before swallowing it down and Jeff’s face softened into a smile. “Milord,” she finally said with a jerk of her head toward the hospital room. She watched Jeff’s grin widen as she sauntered past him and down the hallway. A moment later he was at her side and they entered the room together, Annie settling behind his right elbow.
“There he is,” his mother intoned from her prone position on her hospital bed. Annie watched as the woman came to life at the sight of her son and felt something well up inside of her. “Thought you would never get here, Jeffy.”
Jeff winced at the pet name, but didn’t comment on it. “I just had some things I needed to take care of first, mom.” He moved forward and leaned over his mom to give her a hug and a quick kiss on the cheek. “You certainly did a number on yourself.”
“The gutters needed to be cleaned,” Dorie argued with a wave of her hand.
Jeff rolled his eye sand shoved his hands into his pockets. “And I said I would come up and do them.”
“Yes, you say that but I hardly ever see you anymore,” his mother retorted quickly. Then, her eyes moved to Annie and landed there. Annie felt her entire face heat up at the scrutiny. “Hello,” his mother greeted her warmly. “Jeff,” she admonished her son, “aren’t you going to introduce me to this lovely girl?”
“Uh, right.” Jeff motioned between the two women. “This is my friend, Annie.” Annie smiled nervously at the woman in front of her. “Annie, this is my mom.”
“Doreen,” she supplied as she held out her hand for Annie to shake. The younger woman took it gingerly before gazing at the bandaged chin.
“How many stitches?” she asked with a wince.
Doreen let a hand flutter up to her face and gently touched the area. “Ugh, eight.” Then her eyes moved up and studied Annie’s face. “So, how did my son ever convince you to come visit his mother in the hospital?”
Annie opened her mouth, unsure of what to say. Something about telling this woman that her son had essentially pulled her into his car without telling her where they were going or what they were doing just didn’t seem right. “Oh,” Jeff piped up from somewhere behind her. “Annie needed to get a…book in town, so she tagged along with me today.” Annie turned her head to catch Jeff’s eye and he held her gaze. “And she wants to work in a hospital when she gro- after she graduates.” Annie smiled tightly.
“So, I know Jeff is taking some foreign language courses at a local community college so he can better serve clients,” Dorie noted as she looked at her son. “Is that how you two know each other?”
Annie looked back at Jeff again for some sort of signal on what she was supposed to say and Jeff widened his eyes at her in response. “Yes,” Annie finally answered haltingly. “We took Spanish together.”
“You look awfully young,” his mother announced. “Do you mind if I ask how old you are?”
“She’s twenty,” Jeff replied for her as he stepped forward to stand next to Annie again.
“Twenty-one,” Annie amended with a smile to herself.
“What?” Jeff asked in surprise and Annie glanced up at him. “Wait, when was your birthday?”
“Today,” Annie answered slowly before tearing her eyes away from his face to glance back at his mother.
Dorie smiled at her. “Well, happy birthday.” She held the remote out. “I didn’t get you a gift, but you can control the remote if you would like.” Annie chuckled at this and moved toward the bed again before looking up at the television mounted to the wall.
“Oh, ‘Wheel of Fortune’!” Annie exclaimed. “I love this show.” She settled into a chair next to the bed and watched with Jeff’s mom, the two sharing comfortable conversation every couple minutes. For his part, Jeff sat in the corner mostly watching them in silence. Every so often, Annie would look over at him and meet his gaze. There was a look of tranquility on his face that she had rarely seen, but was unwilling to read too much into it. After ‘Wheel of Fortune’, the program switched over to a show that involved people getting hit in the face and falling into a giant pool and Dorie quickly nodded off. Annie rose from her seat and Jeff mirrored her, meeting her in the middle of the room.
“I’m going to go to the vending machines,” Annie whispered to him.
Jeff’s eyes widened. “Oh, yeah.” He motioned for her to lead the way.
“No,” Annie answered in a more forceful whisper. “I am going to the vending machine and you are going to stay here.” Jeff blinked at her. “And when your mother wakes up, you’re going to tell her everything.”
“No,” he protested, looking down at the floor. They stood in silence for what seemed like a long time. “Annie, she’s the only person who actually thinks I’m worth something.”
“That’s not true,” Annie whispered up to him, willing him to look at her. When he finally did, she could feel a surge of something flow between them.
Jeff closed his eyes. “I can’t tell her it’s all been a lie.”
“She loves you,” Annie reasoned softly. “She will understand.” Jeff swallowed before opening his mouth to say something, but no sound came out. “I’ll be outside,” Annie told him with a small smile and she felt his hand just barely brush against hers as she left the room.
The fluorescent light of the hallway was a drastic change from the dim lamplight of the room she had just left and Annie blinked several times in rapid succession as she slowly wandered the halls aimlessly for some time before finally walking to the vending machine. She pressed the button for Peanut Butter Twix and then, noticing something, also got a package of Sour Patch Kids on a whim.
“Hi,” a voice said behind her and Annie turned to see a man in scrubs standing there waiting his turn.
She smiled back. “Hi.” Annie glanced down at his attire. “Do you work here?”
He glanced down at his own clothes with a nod. “Yeah, I’m an intern.”
“Oh,” Annie responded. “Is it like ‘Grey’s Anatomy’?”
The guy gave her a funny look before shaking his head. “No,” he answered. “Our on-call room is really skeevy. I don’t think anyone would really want to have sex in there.” He extended his hand to her. “I’m Gavin.”
“Annie,” she replied, juggling her candy in order to shake his hand. From somewhere behind her, Annie heard a cough and she and Gavin turned to see Jeff standing in the doorway of his mother’s hospital room.
“Oh,” Gavin stepped back slightly. “I guess your dad doesn’t approve.” Annie felt something heavy settle in her stomach and gave a half-hearted nod. “Tell him I’m going to be a doctor though.” He gave her a winning smile and Annie returned it with a queasy feeling before moving toward Jeff, who was looking at her in a way she couldn’t categorize accurately.
“I got you some Sour Patch Kids,” she said quietly when she reached him, holding up the bag. He took them gently from her grasp.
“I- thanks,” he answered somewhat lamely before ushering her back into the room.
“So,” Dorie said in a sarcastic voice. “Are you really a student?”
Annie laughed unexpectedly at this and grinned at the older woman. “Yes,” she replied with a nod. “I am.”
“And you really know Spanish?”
“Si,” Annie answered and she saw Jeff smirk out of the corner of her eye.
“And you really are friends with my son here? He didn’t just pick you up outside of a local church?”
Annie glanced over at Jeff and he was watching her with that look again and Annie snapped her head back toward his mother for fear of being caught. “Mrs. Winger-”
“Ms.,” Dorie corrected quickly.
“- Jeff really is a good guy and a great friend.” She sat in the chair next to the bed again. “Last Christmas, he fought the school bully because he’d been picking on one of our friends.” At this, Jeff’s mother looked up at him in surprise. “And when he won the paintball tournament last year, he gave his prize to one of the women in our study group so she could schedule classes around her children.” Annie glanced up at him then and knew she wouldn’t have been able to stop the look of worship on her face if she tried. “And when I needed a debate partner, he agreed to help me, because he knew I couldn’t do it without him.” She swallowed and turned back to Dorie. Something washed over the woman’s face and Annie felt a trickle of dread creep into her, but a moment later the woman was smiling warmly at her again.
“So, I should let him off the hook, huh?”
Annie chuckled at this and shrugged. “He’s not all bad,” she conceded with an roll of the eyes and Dorie laughed.
“Plus he’s tall,” his mother noted.
“So he can get things off of high shelves,” Annie smirked without missing a beat.
They finally left once Jeff promised he would be back up the following weekend to help her get stuff done around the house. The walk back to the Lexus was silent and unusually tense, even for them. When they had finally climbed in and fastened their seatbelts, Jeff finally turned to acknowledge her. “Annie, that was…really cool of you.” Annie shrugged, not trusting her own voice to speak at that moment. Jeff just smiled at her sincerely before pulling out into traffic. Three blocks later, he pulled into a parking lot and Annie looked around confusedly.
“Where are we?”
“Do you trust me?” Jeff asked, sidestepping the question. He waggled his eyebrows at her and Annie chortled awkwardly.
“I guess,” she finally answered slowly.
“Then come on,” Jeff said as he climbed out of the car. “And bring your I.D.”
Annie climbed out after him and looked up at the building they were at. It was a seedy bar, with half of its neon letters blacked out. “Jeff,” she started uncertainly.
He slowly moved around the car until he was right in front of her. “Annie, it is your birthday and you just spent two hours mediating between my mother and I.” He glanced over his shoulder and the bar behind them. “The least I can do is buy you your first legal beer.”
Annie’s mouth quirked up on one side and could tell that Jeff knew he had won. Pulling her by the hand, they entered the bar. There were two guys playing darts in the corner and a leathery looking woman at the bar playing blackjack on a computer screen. Annie raised herself primly to sit on a stool just as Jeff swung a long leg over his own. They settled hip to hip and their eyes met in surprise before edging away from each other slightly.
The bartender, a man with a tired face approached them and rattled off a hurried greeting before asking them what they would like. “Two of whatever is on tap,” Jeff answered. The man glanced over at Annie.
“You got some I.D. sweetie?” he asked in a bored tone. Annie pulled it out and handed it to him. He glanced up at her and smiled. “Happy birthday.”
“Thanks,” Annie answered sheepishly and busied herself with putting the card back into it’s protective sleeve inside of her purse. Then she looked over at Jeff. “No scotch tonight?”
He met her eyes in the bleak lighting of the bar and shook his head. “Not tonight.” He seemed to be answering a question other than the one she had asked, but Annie didn’t push. They sat in silence, watching a muted episode of ‘The Office’ on the television above the bar. When the bartender returned, Jeff held up a twenty dollar bill, but the man waved him off.
“Birthday girls drink free,” he answered. Jeff glanced over at Annie for a moment before leaning forward and whispering something to the bartender that she couldn’t hear. The man nodded his head and disappeared.
“So,” Jeff asked with a sidelong glance at her as he took a sip from his mug. “What were you going to do today before I kidnapped you? Big plans?”
Annie shrugged before shaking her head. “No,” she replied self-consciously. “No plans.”
“Why didn’t you tell any of us that it was your birthday?” he asked in a tone that told Annie he really was curious.
“I don’t know,” Annie answered honestly. Jeff gave her a furtive stare for a long moment before pulling out his phone and punching buttons. “What are you doing?”
“Putting it in my calendar,” Jeff replied evenly. “So that next year, you can’t pretend it isn’t happening.” Annie smiled to herself before taking a drink from her own mug. A few minutes later the bartender returned, balancing a cardboard boat with a lit candle in it in one hand and a stack of party hats in the other. He carefully placed the paper boat in front of her and Annie wrinkled her nose.
“What is this?” she asked, examining its contents.
“Chislic,” the man answered.
“But,” Jeff helped as he took the party hats from the bartender’s grasp. “It’s got a candle, so it’s almost exactly like cake.” He strapped a hat crookedly onto his head before placing one carefully on Annie’s head. She couldn’t help the giggle that erupted from deep in her chest as he arranged the elastic string under her chin gently.
“Just like cake,” she replied softly. Annie inhaled, wanting to take in everything about that moment. The feel of the vinyl beneath her and the smell of the stale air in the bar and the way Jeff’s eyes looked in the flicker of candlelight. Annie felt a tumbling sensation in her stomach and realized it was much better than the traction she‘d been striving for.
“Happy birthday, Annie.”
Way #4 http://elsiesnuffin.livejournal.com/10656.html#cutid1