Fic: 5 Times Annie Was Kissed In The Way She Wanted To Be (And 1 Time She Wasn't)
Title: 5 Times Annie Was Kissed In The Way She Wanted To Be (And 1 Time She Wasn't)
Word Count: 5798
Rating: PG-13 (for sexual suggestions?)
Pairing: Annie/OC, Annie/OC, Annie/Vaughn, Annie/Jeff, Annie/Troy
i. sand
“Would you like some more tea?” Annie held up her make-believe teapot toward him, but he was too busy digging a small hole with a plastic shovel to even acknowledge her existence.
Patrick was a first grader and almost a whole year older than she was, but he was still on the small side. He had told her last week that some kid named Blake was making fun of him for being the size of a baby. Annie liked it when he told her things. It made her feel like they were best friends. She’d never had a best friend, but she thought that Patrick would maybe be a good best friend if she could get him to stop digging holes in her living room.
“Patrick?” she asked again and he finally glanced up. “Would you like some more tea?”
He stood in the cramped space and gave her a discerning look. “Annie, wives gotsta make lemonade and bring it to their husbands at where they work at.”
“This is where you’re working at,” Annie answered with raised eyebrows before bringing a hand up to rub her tired eyes. Patrick’s mommy Nancy usually had them lay down for their naps right after lunch, but today she’d sent everyone back outside while she watched ’The Bold And The Beautiful’ in peace inside the air-conditioned house. “Do you think we’ll ever be able to go back inside soon?”
Patrick shrugged his shoulders, still intent on his hole. Just then, the entirety of the plastic molded house they were currently playing in shook with alarming force and there was a torso pressed against the small window to Annie’s left.
“Annie and Patrick, sittin’ in a tree,” came a loud cackle from outside. “K-I-S-S-I-N-G!”
Annie huffed at this, glaring at Patrick when he didn’t seem to notice the taunt that was being thrown at them. “Knock it off, Carly!” Annie yelled back indignantly. A moment later, Carly Kurtz’s freckled face dropped into view in the window.
“Why don’t you kiss her Patrick?” she sneered with a glance between them. “I know you want to.”
“Gross,” Patrick squealed as he threw his shovel at the ground in anger. “I do not! ” Annie frowned at him. “I would never do that!” He turned and stepped to the door before pushing against it to exit. It wouldn’t budge.
“Don’t let them out, Maria!” Carly screeched from the window to her unseen accomplice. Annie knew Maria was the biggest eight year-old she’d ever seen. Patrick was never going to get out of there.
“Well, we’re not going to let you out,” Maria’s voice came from the other side of the plastic door, “until you kiss her!” Carly gave her a high pitched giggle. At this, Patrick finally looked over at Annie for the first time since the hostile takeover. His lower lip stuck out, so much so that Annie thought he might begin crying at any moment. She dropped back to the sand angrily.
It wasn’t that she necessarily wanted to be kissed, least of all by Patrick. But the fact that he was close to tears at the idea of having to kiss her was not all that comforting. Her cotton dress bunched under her as she crossed her legs in front of her into the cool sand. Patrick’s mommy Nancy had covered the entire back yard with sand because she said kids tore up the grass too easily. It was July and the only sand that wasn’t painfully hot was under the shade of the Little Tykes house she had ducked into with him only ten minutes prior.
“I don’t want to,” Patrick whined as he kneeled next to his beloved hole and pitifully pulled his shovel back into his grasp.
Annie shrugged her shoulders. “It won’t be so bad,” she said to him quietly. He looked over at her forlornly.
“Come on,” the older girls taunted from outside, their bodies effectively blocking the sun out of the hut altogether. “Or you’ll never get out.”
Annie felt a trickle of fear run through her. If it got too late, would Nancy tell her mommy that she couldn’t leave? Her mommy had told her that morning when she got dropped off that they were having pizza for supper, and Annie didn’t want to miss-
His dry lips were pressed against her before Annie really knew what was happening. She squeezed her eyes shut as tightly as she could and balled her hands into fists at her sides. The cool sand under her thighs was digging in painfully, but Annie ignored it. She felt tingles run all the way down to her pink-painted toes and her heart felt like it was jumping in her chest. A moment later it was over, and Annie heard the girls laughing again. But it sounded far away, as if they were at the end of a long tunnel. Patrick pulled away and stared at her in surprise. His mouth hung open slightly. Annie let a tiny squeak escape her lips before she clamped them shut. Patrick shook his head the same way Annie had seen her dog Fozzie do after he’d been swimming out at the lake. Then, Patrick frowned and stood up again.
“Let me out,” he called before successfully pushing the door open and stepping out into the summer sunlight. Annie watched him go before licking her lips absently.
He tasted like black cherry Koolaid.
ii. carpet
She grasped his hand tightly in her own as he pulled her into the closet. Annie took the opportunity to admire the space he had here and the sheer volume of clothes he had in relation to her own meager closet at home. Racks of shirts, sorted by color, stared back at her.
“I’m so happy we’re going to do this,” he noted, smiling at her in a secretive way.
Annie felt herself nod before she could find her voice. “Me too, Eric.”
They had met in concert choir the previous year. He sang tenor and wanted to go to college to teach music. He’d already made her listen to things like ‘In The Heights’ and ‘Rent’, which according to him was the greatest thing ever written. She knew people talked about him, about them as a couple. She’d overheard girls talking about how he was using her as a beard because he wasn’t ready to come out yet. Annie knew they were wrong. How could they be right? Those girls didn’t know anything about the incredible guy he really was. Did their boyfriends have the collected works of Judy Garland on their computer for whenever she wanted to listen to a song?
He grabbed her other hand and pulled her farther into the closet before pulling the door half-shut behind him. His mom was downstairs and neither of them wanted her to walk in and find them. He looked at her adoringly and Annie simpered. He leaned in and kissed her softly on the cheek before trailing his mouth down the side of her neck, his lips soft and dry against her skin. Annie felt a fluttering in her stomach and she tightened her grip on Eric’s hands. They settled themselves on the floor as gracefully as possible and Eric reached up to start his CD Player. Madonna started crooning to them from the speaker system he had built into the closet and Annie closed her eyes. This was it.
It had been the night before when he’d boldly suggested that they do it, pointing out in a very practical way that they loved each other and it was better than doing it with someone they didn’t care about. Annie had thought about doing it with Eric before, after all he was her boyfriend and somewhere inside of her head she thought it would be cool if Troy knew she wasn’t a virgin. She hardly ever thought about him anymore, which meant she really was getting better. But sometimes he still snuck into her subconscious and at that moment, his face was one she had in her mind. Shaking herself out of her own stupor, Annie lifted her hands from Eric’s grasp to the buttons on her cardigan. Slowly, she started to unbutton the sweater, never taking her eyes from his. He held her gaze even as she undressed herself in front of him and only when she finally looked down at herself did Eric’s eyes stray from her face.
“Your bra is really pretty,” he murmured and brought up one hand to touch a delicate strap. Annie inhaled sharply at the feel of his fingertips on her bare skin. He very lightly let one finger follow the line of pink lace that lined the top of the cup all the way to the front clasp, grazing her skin the entire time. Annie felt a heat rush to her belly suddenly and gasped. His eyes on her own again, Eric unhooked the bra and coaxed the straps off of her shoulders, his cold hands resting there. Annie pulled her lower lip into her mouth unsurely. “So beautiful, Annie.” At this, she smiled and leaned toward him.
He met her halfway and kissed her more deeply than he ever had, even opening his mouth a little bit. Annie sunk into it and moaned when she felt him push her backward and climb on top of her. The berber carpeting underneath her was scratchy on Annie’s naked back, but she didn’t care at all. The boy she loved was about to make love to her and it was as perfect a moment as she could ever conceive of.
iii. tree bark
Annie shaded her eyes with one hand as she looked up into the sky. “Oh, I see it!” she exclaimed, bringing her other hand up to rest against his bicep. He smiled over at her before turning his face skyward again.
“And see that one? It looks like Snoopy.” He pointed to another section of the bright sky and Annie’s eyes followed to land on the lumpy cloud Vaughn was gesturing to. It honestly didn’t really look anything like Snoopy, but Annie nodded anyway. Vaughn was so happy, so good that Annie wanted to be able to be a part of it. Even if that meant stretching the truth a tiny bit from time to time. She stepped back and settled against the large oak tree he usually sat under and watched him with smiling eyes. The way he always looked at her sent a tiny thrill down her spine. Nobody even noticed her most of the time. This was the guy she wanted to be with and it had actually worked out perfectly.
She was still feeling slightly off-balance by the look Jeff had given her not ten minutes prior in the study room, but it had probably meant nothing. Everything with Jeff seemed to add up to nothing. No, Vaughn was the perfect guy for her. Sweet and kind and honest and beautiful and-
“-still don’t like grandpa,” he frowned as he moved toward her and Annie nodded understandingly.
“Yeah,” she agreed. “A lot of people don’t really like Pierce.” Vaughn stepped toward her slowly with a nod of his head. She smiled at him shyly. “So, did you want to do something tonight?”
“Oh yeah, absolutely.” Vaughn moved into her personal space and Annie actually felt her heartbeat speed up. “I thought maybe we could pack a picnic and go up to the lake and meditate.” Annie grinned up at him nervously. “How does that sound?” He brought his hand up to her face and gently tucked a lock of hair behind her ear.
“Perfect,” Annie breathed out. Her heartbeat was so loud against her ribcage that she was sure Vaughn could hear it. She let her tongue slip out of her mouth to wet her lips and watched his eyes move down to her mouth. Subconsciously, Annie pressed herself back against the tree and felt the bark dig into her back even as he moved closer and she let her eyes flutter shut a split second before his lips landed on hers. He tasted like blackberries and something slightly bitter that Annie couldn’t place. She raised a hand to rest lightly on his chest as he languidly kissed her, never allowing it to deepen. Vaughn pulled away slowly a full minute later, a secret smile on his face that she was sure she mirrored.
“Perfect,” she echoed quietly to herself.
iv. linoleum
Annie heard the door across the hall open and then close and climbed out of bed as quickly as she could manage. She knew she was going to have to move quickly if this was going to work. The robe she’d laid across the foot of the bed was grabbed and the tie secured around her waist before Annie took a deep breath and exited her room. A noise came from the direction of the kitchen and she moved toward it, her resolve disappearing ounce by ounce with every step she took.
The plan had fallen into place only hours after she’d received the e-vite from Pierce, inviting everybody to his lake cabin over Memorial Day weekend. It was only the fact that Pierce had mentioned in the invitation that there would be plenty of liquor that seemed to make people RSVP. Really, there wasn’t that much of a plan in place and Annie was relying on her ability to wrap him around her finger to help her make the whole thing work.
When she reached the kitchen, his back was to her as he looked through a cupboard. He was dressed in a pair of boxers and nothing else and Annie was glad he hadn’t turned the light on, as she was sure her entire body flushed at the sight. When he turned around, he let out a small noise of surprise. “Oh,” he breathed out after a moment. “Hey.” Moving closer to her, he smiled tiredly. “What’s up, can’t sleep?” Annie shook her head hesitantly.
“No,” she finally answered when she felt she could trust her own voice. “The bed is too comfortable and I don’t have the low end vibration from a really loud sound system under the floor.” Her fingers played nervously with the tie on the robe and in that moment, Annie almost smiled sheepishly and fled the kitchen. But Jeff kept talking.
“So,” he yawned as he opened the fridge, positioning the open door between them. “Do they really have sales there in the middle of the night?”
“Yeah,” Annie answered with a grimace. She could do this, she could do this.
Jeff raised a teasing eyebrow in her direction and Annie started to breathe faster. “Ever go downstairs for really good deals?” Annie couldn’t slow down her shallow breathing, but shook her head at Jeff’s question. “Annie?” he chuckled unsurely.
She swallowed. “For a long time now, I’ve thought there was something between us.” Jeff’s expression changed immediately, his face slackening in the cold light from the refrigerator. “And I think that… even if you feel it too, you’re going to stay away from me because you’re supposed to think it’s a bad idea.” Annie paused, expecting him to interrupt her. When he didn’t, she screwed up all of her courage, untied her robe and dropped it onto the linoleum floor behind her. Jeff’s eyes widened in shock and he made a choked noise in the back of his throat. She was fairly confident that she looked good. It was obviously not something she could have gotten a second opinion on from Britta or Shirley, but the midnight blue lace teddy she had brought along left just enough to the imagination that it worked. Or so she hoped.
“I’m not a kid, Jeff.” He let out a breathy laugh. “You don’t want to say yes, but you can’t seem to say no.” Annie wasn’t quite sure where this feeling of power was coming from, but she stepped toward him boldly and Jeff held the fridge door between them like a shield. The cold air hit her chest and Jeff inhaled sharply. “If you say no, I promise I will never mention it again.” His eyes met hers and Annie felt her belly heat up. “But if you’ve been staying away in some misguided effort to help me, then I’m tired of waiting Jeff.” She took a deep breath. “I want you. Now.”
Jeff’s eyes darkened in the dim light of the kitchen and Annie felt exhilaration flow through her like a river. But in the next instant, he was clenching his eyes shut and physically turning his head away from her to rest his chin against his shoulder. “Annie…” he said slowly, sadly. No, no, no! Without giving him another glance, she stooped to retrieve her robe and hurried out of the kitchen.
She never mentioned it again.
v. metal
Dry leaves crunched under her feet as she moved forward. The park was empty, which wasn’t surprising since it was the middle of October. Snow had actually been forecasted for that night. Even as she moved toward the swing set, Annie berated herself for it. What was she, eight? When she reached the swings, she dropped gracelessly into one and slid her backpack off to the sand below. She started swinging, pumping with her legs to move but didn’t pick up much speed. She closed her eyes and just focused on the feeling of gliding through the air. It wasn’t until he was ten feet away that she even heard him.
“You’re not going very high, Annie.”
She rolled her eyes but smiled. “Troy, to go really high you need to be pushed.” She stuck her feet out to dig into the sand and stopped moving. “Do you come here a lot?” she asked with a grin. Troy shrugged.
“Sometimes. Abed and Britta are filming something top secret tonight, so I thought I would come to the park.” He sat down in the swing next to her. “What are you doing here?”
Annie shrugged her shoulders. “I walk past this park all the time and today I just…don’t want to go home yet.” Troy nodded. “When my dad left he said it was because being alone would be freeing, but being alone is kind of sad sometimes.”
“Yeah,” Troy agreed quietly and Annie shared a look with him. The moment passed and he grinned. “So, why the swings?”
Annie smiled self-consciously. “I don’t know. I’ve always loved the swings, and…” She sighed and dropped her hands to her lap.
“And?” Troy prompted from her side.
She looked over at him before inhaling. “Okay, when I was in third grade I had a best friend named Erin. She and I were inseparable.” It was the first time Annie had ever talked about it, and it felt better than she would have expected. She smiled ruefully to herself. “Having a best friend means always having someone to push you on the swings, and we would always take turns pushing each other.”
“What happened?” he asked after a beat of silence.
Annie’s fingers tightened around the cold metal links of the swing chain. “She moved away,” she answered sadly. “And I never really had another friend. I was the girl who didn’t get invited to slumber parties and…” Annie paused to sigh. “…and would get the lame valentines that nobody really wanted. You know?”
“Yeah,” Troy answered guiltily and Annie smiled at him.
“She moved back in ninth grade and she was immediately popular and…perfect.” The word almost physically hurt to say. “And I had bad hair and bad skin and bad fashion sense and…” Annie felt the tears at the corners of her eyes and stared up at the giant tree over their heads. “And she never spoke to me again. Acted like I didn‘t exist.” She shrugged again, even though Troy’s eyes were forward, staring blankly at the merry-go-round.
“Erin Iverson?” Annie nodded silently. “I dated Erin for like a year and a half,” Troy said slowly. He turned to face her. “I took her to junior prom.”
Annie closed her eyes for a moment. “Oh, I know.” She sniffled and Troy twisted in his swing to face her. He looked at her as if he might have just shot her in the stomach. Annie gave a chuckle. “It was a long time ago, Troy.”
“No,” he answered. “It really wasn’t.” Annie slumped in her swing, her head resting against the chain closest to him. “Annie, I’m really sorry.”
“That’s okay,” she replied quietly. She smiled at him and he returned it after a beat. Then, ever so slightly they each leaned in, eyes still on each other. They moved in further and then their lips met and Annie’s brain shorted out because Troy Barnes was kissing her! He pulled away, keeping the kiss extremely chaste and Annie’s breath caught in her throat at the shy smile he gave her in the following silence.
“You’re kind of awesome,” he said, somewhat surprised. Annie chucked at this and leaned away from him slightly and gripped the chains on each side of her again.
“So are you,” she responded honestly. She smiled at him again and then he was rising from his swing to stand in front of hers. “What are you doing?” she asked unsurely.
“I’m going to push you,” he said as if it should have been the most obvious thing in the world, which it probably should have been given the situation.
“Troy,” Annie started hesitantly. “I’m not so sure. I’m wearing a skirt,” she gestured down at her short skirt. “That doesn’t seem very appropriate.”
“Annie, you’re wearing black tights. What do you think I’m going to see?” he reasoned even as he began to push her. She grinned at him as he worked back and forth and let out a squeal when he finally gave her an underdog push. “You do realize you have to push me next, right?” she heard him call from somewhere underneath her and she let out a loud laugh into the waning sunset.
vi. brick
“And you’ll come to my house for dinner on Saturday?” Shirley asked her as Annie began to pack up her notebooks full of personal information and pens.
“Of course,” Annie cooed tearfully. “I wouldn’t miss it for the world.”
And with that, the two women were hugging again. They’d always been the worst of the group when it came to carrying on, but the last week of their last year together had been constant waterworks. Annie had not expected the consistent rush of emotions that she was feeling over leaving everyone on this campus. She’d found herself pulling Garrett into a hug that morning. He’d stood very still until Annie had slackened her grip and then he’d quickly extricated himself and made a run for it. It was basically the same response she’d been getting from the majority of the student body and most of the teachers. The simple fact was that, like always, Annie was going to miss everyone else much more than she herself would be missed.
When Annie had pulled away and dabbed at her wet eyes again, she had glanced over at Jeff. He’d always tried to keep distance from the group, but lately it had been worse. She knew he was trying to phase them back out of his life to make it easier to return to the person he’d been before Greendale. Annie hoped it didn’t succeed in that, but didn’t dare tell him. They’d hadn’t been close since the night she’d blatantly tried unsuccessfully to seduce him, and in the last few weeks he’d become almost skittish around her.
“And Jeff?” Shirley asked even as he was rising from his seat. “Are you coming to my house for dinner on Saturday?” The look on her face was one of pure hope and Annie could almost see the explosion before it happened.
“Uh, I don’t know.” He glanced down at his watch. “I’ll try to stop by though.” Shirley’s face showed the devastation she felt at that response, and Annie shot a look at Britta for support. Britta was moving around the table to comfort the woman in another moment, giving Annie the opportunity to stalk out of the room after Jeff. Annie glanced over at Troy, who nodded, before she left the room. She had to hurry to catch up, given his legs were twice as long as hers.
“Jeff,” she called out and he turned in surprise to face her.
“What’s up?” he asked guardedly as he waited for her to join him before they began walking together. Annie noted to herself that he had slowed his gait down to compensate for her height.
“Are you seriously going to blow us all off like this?” Annie questioned, deciding that the direct approach was the best one. “Shirley is devastated.”
“Isn’t it better that I be honest with her and not get her hopes up about the idea of me coming when there’s a good chance I won’t?” he shot back with raised eyebrows.
Annie wrinkled up her nose in response. “I’m sorry, do you think you’re like Denzel Washington or something?” He smiled at this but didn’t respond. “I just think it’s sucky the way you’re treating everyone again, like…” She trailed off as she glanced up to take in his profile. He was so handsome, almost distractingly so. When he looked down at her in anticipation of the end of her sentence. “…like you used to,” she finished lamely.
“Annie,” he sighed as they continued down the hallway. “I am transitioning back to my old life, and in order to do that, I have to become the guy I was before Greendale.”
“Why?” she challenged and Jeff stopped walking. “Jeff, that guy was a dick.” He seemed more entertained by her comment than offended and Annie frowned. “Do you really want to be that guy again? The one who didn’t care about anything but money or anyone but the woman he was sleeping with at any given minute?”
“Okay,” he cut her off before she could reload and start again. “I’ll go.” She looked up at him suspiciously and Jeff rolled his eyes. “Annie, I promise I will go to Shirley’s on Saturday.”
“For the entire night,” Annie corrected, noticing the loophole he’d made for himself immediately. She’d gotten very good at doing that over the years.
Jeff’s mouth quirked up on one side. “For the entire night,” he echoed.
“Well, that’s a start.” She smiled, happy that she’d managed to at least make a dent in his douche armor.
“So,” he said in a conversational tone. “Now that you’ve sufficiently chastised me, what are your big plans for tonight?” Annie blinked up at him in confusion. “To celebrate the last day of classes at Greendale?”
She honestly hadn’t thought about it. It was just another Thursday night for her and was still feeling conflicted about leaving the school, or at least more conflicted than the man at her side. She shrugged. “I don’t know. It’s Thursday, so watch television? Make a peanut butter and jelly?” He chuckled at this and Annie gave him a sidelong glance. “You?”
“I am going to be dining at Morty’s Steakhouse this evening,” Jeff announced and Annie nodded.
“Oh right,” she recalled. “It’s been a long time that you’ve been planning your ‘leaving Greendale’ celebration.”
They walked in silence for another ten feet before Jeff spoke again. “Do you…” Annie looked up at him questioningly. “…want to join me?”
She honestly thought she’d misheard him. He was asking her to come to dinner with him? There were probably seven hundred and eighty three different ways to read that and Annie didn’t know which one to go with. They’d been politely detached around each other for the last three semesters and now on the last day of school he was asking her on a date? No, it couldn’t be a date. There was another meaning. They were just friends eating at the same table. Or maybe his date cancelled at the last minute and she was the closest female at that exact moment in time. Belatedly, Annie realized she’d just been staring into space confusedly for the last thirty seconds and Jeff was waiting for an answer.
“I…” She scrunched up her face. “Are you…I mean you’re probably not…” She hated that he still managed to make her this unglued and inarticulate. She had been sure that whatever feelings she’d had for him had disintegrated in the time she’d known him, but even as she was thinking that Annie was coming to the conclusion that she really did love him. Crap.
They stepped out into the bright spring sunlight together, Annie still not able to form complete sentences. “Here,” Jeff said in a short tone and then he was propelling her sideways with one hand around her waist. Annie tried to ask what he was doing, but there was a disconnect between her brain and her mouth. “Let me clear this up for you.” She was pushed back against the exterior to the library building and looked up at him questioningly. Before she had the chance to ask what was happening, Jeff’s mouth was on hers and he was kissing her with more passion than she’d ever seen him bestow anything, including his clothes. His hands settled possessively at her hips and Annie flashed back to their first kiss. She could feel the scratchy sensation of brick through her thin cotton dress and reveled in it as she brought her hands up to Jeff’s chest and tugged on the front of his shirt. She pulled him closer and he moaned into her open mouth before he pulled away and waited for her reaction.
It took Annie what seemed like a long time to come back to herself afterward and when she did, Jeff’s blue eyes were on hers. They were intense and very focused and it made Annie feel powerful. There was a good chance that this was just a Jeff Winger trap that she’d fallen into again, but Annie needed to ask the question that was in her brain and on her tongue. “Like a date?”
Jeff exhaled loudly and smiled down at her. “Yes.” There was such decisiveness in his voice, as if he’d been waiting for her to get it. Which couldn’t possibly be right.
She tried very hard not to let thoughts like ‘he wants to sleep with you now that school is over and he can avoid you’ or ‘he’s still a dick, do you need him to prove it to you?’ settle in her mind, but it was difficult. “Why now?” she asked quietly, watching his face closely for some sign that this was really happening.
He blinked in surprise. “I heard you broke up.” He swallowed then. “You guys did break up, didn’t you?”
Annie nodded, smothering a grin. She answered slowly. “Jeff, we broke up at Christmas.“ He furrowed his brow.
“Seriously?” he asked, clearly not expecting that answer. “Why didn’t you tell me? Why didn’t anyone tell me?” He seemed almost perturbed at the chain of events.
She shrugged. “We didn’t tell anyone, everyone else just figured it out.” Jeff gave her a disconcerted look. “We were kind of worried about your reaction.”
Jeff’s eyebrows rose on his forehead. “Why?”
Annie bit her lip. “He’s dating Britta.”
“What?!” He couldn’t have hidden the shock from her even if he had been trying. “Seriously? He broke up with you for Britta?” Annie shrugged in a vague fashion. “And you’re okay with this?”
She nodded her head. “Yeah, I mean we weren’t in love. He was great,” she rushed to explain further when Jeff opened his mouth to interject. “But I knew he was doing it in part to prove he’d grown up from the guy he used to be and he knew that I still had fee…” She trailed off as she raised her eyes to meet Jeff’s. He watched her, the focus he was giving her slightly unnerving. Annie cleared her throat. “So um, who did tell you?”
“Troy,” Jeff answered and Annie raised her eyebrows in surprise. “He uh, gave… me his blessing?”
“Oh my god,” Annie groaned in embarrassment.
He smiled. “No, it was good.” He nodded. “I think he could tell that I’m-” Jeff broke off with a cough and tried again. “How…I feel about…you?”
This was the part where Annie always woke up and any second now she was sure it would happen. Her chest felt so full she was afraid it might burst and she let out a shuddery breath. “So, this isn’t just casual?”
Jeff frowned before forcing his face into a neutral expression. “No, I mean whatever you-” Stealing herself, Annie threw her arms around his neck and launched herself at him, kissing him into silence. He reciprocated immediately, stooping to wrap his arms around her rib cage and pressing her back against the brick once more. One large hand came up to cradle her head gently as he kissed her with an urgency that left Annie literally weak in the knees.
“Yeah, give it to her Winger!” came a shout from somewhere behind them and they broke apart in laughter. Jeff rested his forehead against hers, and Annie felt thankful that he wasn’t allowing the moment to dissipate all together.
“Are you taller?” he murmured to her.
Annie nodded and looked down at her feet. “I’m wearing heels today,” she said as she pointed to her shoes. He glanced down at them before meeting her eye.
“This is nice,” he commented. “Being at a closer altitude to you.” She swatted at him playfully but grinned nonetheless. “You should wear them tonight.” Annie grinned at him before pushing him away from her so she could move. Then ended up back on the sidewalk, next to each other as if nothing had happened. “Troy and Britta,” he muttered.
“Troy and Britta,” Annie agreed.
He turned to her in confusion. “Wait, you said you thought I would be upset about that.” Annie grimaced. “Why did you think I would care about Troy dating Britta?”
“Old habits die hard?” Annie guessed, unsure of how exactly to verbalize all of the insecurities she’d felt regarding the blonde.
He opened his mouth to say something, but no sound came out. Instead, he quietly reached for her hand and grasped it in his much larger one as if it was something they did all the time. Jeff turned his head toward her and gave her a leveling stare. “So, we’re good?” Annie beamed up at him.
“We? Good, yeah.”
Word Count: 5798
Rating: PG-13 (for sexual suggestions?)
Pairing: Annie/OC, Annie/OC, Annie/Vaughn, Annie/Jeff, Annie/Troy
i. sand
“Would you like some more tea?” Annie held up her make-believe teapot toward him, but he was too busy digging a small hole with a plastic shovel to even acknowledge her existence.
Patrick was a first grader and almost a whole year older than she was, but he was still on the small side. He had told her last week that some kid named Blake was making fun of him for being the size of a baby. Annie liked it when he told her things. It made her feel like they were best friends. She’d never had a best friend, but she thought that Patrick would maybe be a good best friend if she could get him to stop digging holes in her living room.
“Patrick?” she asked again and he finally glanced up. “Would you like some more tea?”
He stood in the cramped space and gave her a discerning look. “Annie, wives gotsta make lemonade and bring it to their husbands at where they work at.”
“This is where you’re working at,” Annie answered with raised eyebrows before bringing a hand up to rub her tired eyes. Patrick’s mommy Nancy usually had them lay down for their naps right after lunch, but today she’d sent everyone back outside while she watched ’The Bold And The Beautiful’ in peace inside the air-conditioned house. “Do you think we’ll ever be able to go back inside soon?”
Patrick shrugged his shoulders, still intent on his hole. Just then, the entirety of the plastic molded house they were currently playing in shook with alarming force and there was a torso pressed against the small window to Annie’s left.
“Annie and Patrick, sittin’ in a tree,” came a loud cackle from outside. “K-I-S-S-I-N-G!”
Annie huffed at this, glaring at Patrick when he didn’t seem to notice the taunt that was being thrown at them. “Knock it off, Carly!” Annie yelled back indignantly. A moment later, Carly Kurtz’s freckled face dropped into view in the window.
“Why don’t you kiss her Patrick?” she sneered with a glance between them. “I know you want to.”
“Gross,” Patrick squealed as he threw his shovel at the ground in anger. “I do not! ” Annie frowned at him. “I would never do that!” He turned and stepped to the door before pushing against it to exit. It wouldn’t budge.
“Don’t let them out, Maria!” Carly screeched from the window to her unseen accomplice. Annie knew Maria was the biggest eight year-old she’d ever seen. Patrick was never going to get out of there.
“Well, we’re not going to let you out,” Maria’s voice came from the other side of the plastic door, “until you kiss her!” Carly gave her a high pitched giggle. At this, Patrick finally looked over at Annie for the first time since the hostile takeover. His lower lip stuck out, so much so that Annie thought he might begin crying at any moment. She dropped back to the sand angrily.
It wasn’t that she necessarily wanted to be kissed, least of all by Patrick. But the fact that he was close to tears at the idea of having to kiss her was not all that comforting. Her cotton dress bunched under her as she crossed her legs in front of her into the cool sand. Patrick’s mommy Nancy had covered the entire back yard with sand because she said kids tore up the grass too easily. It was July and the only sand that wasn’t painfully hot was under the shade of the Little Tykes house she had ducked into with him only ten minutes prior.
“I don’t want to,” Patrick whined as he kneeled next to his beloved hole and pitifully pulled his shovel back into his grasp.
Annie shrugged her shoulders. “It won’t be so bad,” she said to him quietly. He looked over at her forlornly.
“Come on,” the older girls taunted from outside, their bodies effectively blocking the sun out of the hut altogether. “Or you’ll never get out.”
Annie felt a trickle of fear run through her. If it got too late, would Nancy tell her mommy that she couldn’t leave? Her mommy had told her that morning when she got dropped off that they were having pizza for supper, and Annie didn’t want to miss-
His dry lips were pressed against her before Annie really knew what was happening. She squeezed her eyes shut as tightly as she could and balled her hands into fists at her sides. The cool sand under her thighs was digging in painfully, but Annie ignored it. She felt tingles run all the way down to her pink-painted toes and her heart felt like it was jumping in her chest. A moment later it was over, and Annie heard the girls laughing again. But it sounded far away, as if they were at the end of a long tunnel. Patrick pulled away and stared at her in surprise. His mouth hung open slightly. Annie let a tiny squeak escape her lips before she clamped them shut. Patrick shook his head the same way Annie had seen her dog Fozzie do after he’d been swimming out at the lake. Then, Patrick frowned and stood up again.
“Let me out,” he called before successfully pushing the door open and stepping out into the summer sunlight. Annie watched him go before licking her lips absently.
He tasted like black cherry Koolaid.
ii. carpet
She grasped his hand tightly in her own as he pulled her into the closet. Annie took the opportunity to admire the space he had here and the sheer volume of clothes he had in relation to her own meager closet at home. Racks of shirts, sorted by color, stared back at her.
“I’m so happy we’re going to do this,” he noted, smiling at her in a secretive way.
Annie felt herself nod before she could find her voice. “Me too, Eric.”
They had met in concert choir the previous year. He sang tenor and wanted to go to college to teach music. He’d already made her listen to things like ‘In The Heights’ and ‘Rent’, which according to him was the greatest thing ever written. She knew people talked about him, about them as a couple. She’d overheard girls talking about how he was using her as a beard because he wasn’t ready to come out yet. Annie knew they were wrong. How could they be right? Those girls didn’t know anything about the incredible guy he really was. Did their boyfriends have the collected works of Judy Garland on their computer for whenever she wanted to listen to a song?
He grabbed her other hand and pulled her farther into the closet before pulling the door half-shut behind him. His mom was downstairs and neither of them wanted her to walk in and find them. He looked at her adoringly and Annie simpered. He leaned in and kissed her softly on the cheek before trailing his mouth down the side of her neck, his lips soft and dry against her skin. Annie felt a fluttering in her stomach and she tightened her grip on Eric’s hands. They settled themselves on the floor as gracefully as possible and Eric reached up to start his CD Player. Madonna started crooning to them from the speaker system he had built into the closet and Annie closed her eyes. This was it.
It had been the night before when he’d boldly suggested that they do it, pointing out in a very practical way that they loved each other and it was better than doing it with someone they didn’t care about. Annie had thought about doing it with Eric before, after all he was her boyfriend and somewhere inside of her head she thought it would be cool if Troy knew she wasn’t a virgin. She hardly ever thought about him anymore, which meant she really was getting better. But sometimes he still snuck into her subconscious and at that moment, his face was one she had in her mind. Shaking herself out of her own stupor, Annie lifted her hands from Eric’s grasp to the buttons on her cardigan. Slowly, she started to unbutton the sweater, never taking her eyes from his. He held her gaze even as she undressed herself in front of him and only when she finally looked down at herself did Eric’s eyes stray from her face.
“Your bra is really pretty,” he murmured and brought up one hand to touch a delicate strap. Annie inhaled sharply at the feel of his fingertips on her bare skin. He very lightly let one finger follow the line of pink lace that lined the top of the cup all the way to the front clasp, grazing her skin the entire time. Annie felt a heat rush to her belly suddenly and gasped. His eyes on her own again, Eric unhooked the bra and coaxed the straps off of her shoulders, his cold hands resting there. Annie pulled her lower lip into her mouth unsurely. “So beautiful, Annie.” At this, she smiled and leaned toward him.
He met her halfway and kissed her more deeply than he ever had, even opening his mouth a little bit. Annie sunk into it and moaned when she felt him push her backward and climb on top of her. The berber carpeting underneath her was scratchy on Annie’s naked back, but she didn’t care at all. The boy she loved was about to make love to her and it was as perfect a moment as she could ever conceive of.
iii. tree bark
Annie shaded her eyes with one hand as she looked up into the sky. “Oh, I see it!” she exclaimed, bringing her other hand up to rest against his bicep. He smiled over at her before turning his face skyward again.
“And see that one? It looks like Snoopy.” He pointed to another section of the bright sky and Annie’s eyes followed to land on the lumpy cloud Vaughn was gesturing to. It honestly didn’t really look anything like Snoopy, but Annie nodded anyway. Vaughn was so happy, so good that Annie wanted to be able to be a part of it. Even if that meant stretching the truth a tiny bit from time to time. She stepped back and settled against the large oak tree he usually sat under and watched him with smiling eyes. The way he always looked at her sent a tiny thrill down her spine. Nobody even noticed her most of the time. This was the guy she wanted to be with and it had actually worked out perfectly.
She was still feeling slightly off-balance by the look Jeff had given her not ten minutes prior in the study room, but it had probably meant nothing. Everything with Jeff seemed to add up to nothing. No, Vaughn was the perfect guy for her. Sweet and kind and honest and beautiful and-
“-still don’t like grandpa,” he frowned as he moved toward her and Annie nodded understandingly.
“Yeah,” she agreed. “A lot of people don’t really like Pierce.” Vaughn stepped toward her slowly with a nod of his head. She smiled at him shyly. “So, did you want to do something tonight?”
“Oh yeah, absolutely.” Vaughn moved into her personal space and Annie actually felt her heartbeat speed up. “I thought maybe we could pack a picnic and go up to the lake and meditate.” Annie grinned up at him nervously. “How does that sound?” He brought his hand up to her face and gently tucked a lock of hair behind her ear.
“Perfect,” Annie breathed out. Her heartbeat was so loud against her ribcage that she was sure Vaughn could hear it. She let her tongue slip out of her mouth to wet her lips and watched his eyes move down to her mouth. Subconsciously, Annie pressed herself back against the tree and felt the bark dig into her back even as he moved closer and she let her eyes flutter shut a split second before his lips landed on hers. He tasted like blackberries and something slightly bitter that Annie couldn’t place. She raised a hand to rest lightly on his chest as he languidly kissed her, never allowing it to deepen. Vaughn pulled away slowly a full minute later, a secret smile on his face that she was sure she mirrored.
“Perfect,” she echoed quietly to herself.
iv. linoleum
Annie heard the door across the hall open and then close and climbed out of bed as quickly as she could manage. She knew she was going to have to move quickly if this was going to work. The robe she’d laid across the foot of the bed was grabbed and the tie secured around her waist before Annie took a deep breath and exited her room. A noise came from the direction of the kitchen and she moved toward it, her resolve disappearing ounce by ounce with every step she took.
The plan had fallen into place only hours after she’d received the e-vite from Pierce, inviting everybody to his lake cabin over Memorial Day weekend. It was only the fact that Pierce had mentioned in the invitation that there would be plenty of liquor that seemed to make people RSVP. Really, there wasn’t that much of a plan in place and Annie was relying on her ability to wrap him around her finger to help her make the whole thing work.
When she reached the kitchen, his back was to her as he looked through a cupboard. He was dressed in a pair of boxers and nothing else and Annie was glad he hadn’t turned the light on, as she was sure her entire body flushed at the sight. When he turned around, he let out a small noise of surprise. “Oh,” he breathed out after a moment. “Hey.” Moving closer to her, he smiled tiredly. “What’s up, can’t sleep?” Annie shook her head hesitantly.
“No,” she finally answered when she felt she could trust her own voice. “The bed is too comfortable and I don’t have the low end vibration from a really loud sound system under the floor.” Her fingers played nervously with the tie on the robe and in that moment, Annie almost smiled sheepishly and fled the kitchen. But Jeff kept talking.
“So,” he yawned as he opened the fridge, positioning the open door between them. “Do they really have sales there in the middle of the night?”
“Yeah,” Annie answered with a grimace. She could do this, she could do this.
Jeff raised a teasing eyebrow in her direction and Annie started to breathe faster. “Ever go downstairs for really good deals?” Annie couldn’t slow down her shallow breathing, but shook her head at Jeff’s question. “Annie?” he chuckled unsurely.
She swallowed. “For a long time now, I’ve thought there was something between us.” Jeff’s expression changed immediately, his face slackening in the cold light from the refrigerator. “And I think that… even if you feel it too, you’re going to stay away from me because you’re supposed to think it’s a bad idea.” Annie paused, expecting him to interrupt her. When he didn’t, she screwed up all of her courage, untied her robe and dropped it onto the linoleum floor behind her. Jeff’s eyes widened in shock and he made a choked noise in the back of his throat. She was fairly confident that she looked good. It was obviously not something she could have gotten a second opinion on from Britta or Shirley, but the midnight blue lace teddy she had brought along left just enough to the imagination that it worked. Or so she hoped.
“I’m not a kid, Jeff.” He let out a breathy laugh. “You don’t want to say yes, but you can’t seem to say no.” Annie wasn’t quite sure where this feeling of power was coming from, but she stepped toward him boldly and Jeff held the fridge door between them like a shield. The cold air hit her chest and Jeff inhaled sharply. “If you say no, I promise I will never mention it again.” His eyes met hers and Annie felt her belly heat up. “But if you’ve been staying away in some misguided effort to help me, then I’m tired of waiting Jeff.” She took a deep breath. “I want you. Now.”
Jeff’s eyes darkened in the dim light of the kitchen and Annie felt exhilaration flow through her like a river. But in the next instant, he was clenching his eyes shut and physically turning his head away from her to rest his chin against his shoulder. “Annie…” he said slowly, sadly. No, no, no! Without giving him another glance, she stooped to retrieve her robe and hurried out of the kitchen.
She never mentioned it again.
v. metal
Dry leaves crunched under her feet as she moved forward. The park was empty, which wasn’t surprising since it was the middle of October. Snow had actually been forecasted for that night. Even as she moved toward the swing set, Annie berated herself for it. What was she, eight? When she reached the swings, she dropped gracelessly into one and slid her backpack off to the sand below. She started swinging, pumping with her legs to move but didn’t pick up much speed. She closed her eyes and just focused on the feeling of gliding through the air. It wasn’t until he was ten feet away that she even heard him.
“You’re not going very high, Annie.”
She rolled her eyes but smiled. “Troy, to go really high you need to be pushed.” She stuck her feet out to dig into the sand and stopped moving. “Do you come here a lot?” she asked with a grin. Troy shrugged.
“Sometimes. Abed and Britta are filming something top secret tonight, so I thought I would come to the park.” He sat down in the swing next to her. “What are you doing here?”
Annie shrugged her shoulders. “I walk past this park all the time and today I just…don’t want to go home yet.” Troy nodded. “When my dad left he said it was because being alone would be freeing, but being alone is kind of sad sometimes.”
“Yeah,” Troy agreed quietly and Annie shared a look with him. The moment passed and he grinned. “So, why the swings?”
Annie smiled self-consciously. “I don’t know. I’ve always loved the swings, and…” She sighed and dropped her hands to her lap.
“And?” Troy prompted from her side.
She looked over at him before inhaling. “Okay, when I was in third grade I had a best friend named Erin. She and I were inseparable.” It was the first time Annie had ever talked about it, and it felt better than she would have expected. She smiled ruefully to herself. “Having a best friend means always having someone to push you on the swings, and we would always take turns pushing each other.”
“What happened?” he asked after a beat of silence.
Annie’s fingers tightened around the cold metal links of the swing chain. “She moved away,” she answered sadly. “And I never really had another friend. I was the girl who didn’t get invited to slumber parties and…” Annie paused to sigh. “…and would get the lame valentines that nobody really wanted. You know?”
“Yeah,” Troy answered guiltily and Annie smiled at him.
“She moved back in ninth grade and she was immediately popular and…perfect.” The word almost physically hurt to say. “And I had bad hair and bad skin and bad fashion sense and…” Annie felt the tears at the corners of her eyes and stared up at the giant tree over their heads. “And she never spoke to me again. Acted like I didn‘t exist.” She shrugged again, even though Troy’s eyes were forward, staring blankly at the merry-go-round.
“Erin Iverson?” Annie nodded silently. “I dated Erin for like a year and a half,” Troy said slowly. He turned to face her. “I took her to junior prom.”
Annie closed her eyes for a moment. “Oh, I know.” She sniffled and Troy twisted in his swing to face her. He looked at her as if he might have just shot her in the stomach. Annie gave a chuckle. “It was a long time ago, Troy.”
“No,” he answered. “It really wasn’t.” Annie slumped in her swing, her head resting against the chain closest to him. “Annie, I’m really sorry.”
“That’s okay,” she replied quietly. She smiled at him and he returned it after a beat. Then, ever so slightly they each leaned in, eyes still on each other. They moved in further and then their lips met and Annie’s brain shorted out because Troy Barnes was kissing her! He pulled away, keeping the kiss extremely chaste and Annie’s breath caught in her throat at the shy smile he gave her in the following silence.
“You’re kind of awesome,” he said, somewhat surprised. Annie chucked at this and leaned away from him slightly and gripped the chains on each side of her again.
“So are you,” she responded honestly. She smiled at him again and then he was rising from his swing to stand in front of hers. “What are you doing?” she asked unsurely.
“I’m going to push you,” he said as if it should have been the most obvious thing in the world, which it probably should have been given the situation.
“Troy,” Annie started hesitantly. “I’m not so sure. I’m wearing a skirt,” she gestured down at her short skirt. “That doesn’t seem very appropriate.”
“Annie, you’re wearing black tights. What do you think I’m going to see?” he reasoned even as he began to push her. She grinned at him as he worked back and forth and let out a squeal when he finally gave her an underdog push. “You do realize you have to push me next, right?” she heard him call from somewhere underneath her and she let out a loud laugh into the waning sunset.
vi. brick
“And you’ll come to my house for dinner on Saturday?” Shirley asked her as Annie began to pack up her notebooks full of personal information and pens.
“Of course,” Annie cooed tearfully. “I wouldn’t miss it for the world.”
And with that, the two women were hugging again. They’d always been the worst of the group when it came to carrying on, but the last week of their last year together had been constant waterworks. Annie had not expected the consistent rush of emotions that she was feeling over leaving everyone on this campus. She’d found herself pulling Garrett into a hug that morning. He’d stood very still until Annie had slackened her grip and then he’d quickly extricated himself and made a run for it. It was basically the same response she’d been getting from the majority of the student body and most of the teachers. The simple fact was that, like always, Annie was going to miss everyone else much more than she herself would be missed.
When Annie had pulled away and dabbed at her wet eyes again, she had glanced over at Jeff. He’d always tried to keep distance from the group, but lately it had been worse. She knew he was trying to phase them back out of his life to make it easier to return to the person he’d been before Greendale. Annie hoped it didn’t succeed in that, but didn’t dare tell him. They’d hadn’t been close since the night she’d blatantly tried unsuccessfully to seduce him, and in the last few weeks he’d become almost skittish around her.
“And Jeff?” Shirley asked even as he was rising from his seat. “Are you coming to my house for dinner on Saturday?” The look on her face was one of pure hope and Annie could almost see the explosion before it happened.
“Uh, I don’t know.” He glanced down at his watch. “I’ll try to stop by though.” Shirley’s face showed the devastation she felt at that response, and Annie shot a look at Britta for support. Britta was moving around the table to comfort the woman in another moment, giving Annie the opportunity to stalk out of the room after Jeff. Annie glanced over at Troy, who nodded, before she left the room. She had to hurry to catch up, given his legs were twice as long as hers.
“Jeff,” she called out and he turned in surprise to face her.
“What’s up?” he asked guardedly as he waited for her to join him before they began walking together. Annie noted to herself that he had slowed his gait down to compensate for her height.
“Are you seriously going to blow us all off like this?” Annie questioned, deciding that the direct approach was the best one. “Shirley is devastated.”
“Isn’t it better that I be honest with her and not get her hopes up about the idea of me coming when there’s a good chance I won’t?” he shot back with raised eyebrows.
Annie wrinkled up her nose in response. “I’m sorry, do you think you’re like Denzel Washington or something?” He smiled at this but didn’t respond. “I just think it’s sucky the way you’re treating everyone again, like…” She trailed off as she glanced up to take in his profile. He was so handsome, almost distractingly so. When he looked down at her in anticipation of the end of her sentence. “…like you used to,” she finished lamely.
“Annie,” he sighed as they continued down the hallway. “I am transitioning back to my old life, and in order to do that, I have to become the guy I was before Greendale.”
“Why?” she challenged and Jeff stopped walking. “Jeff, that guy was a dick.” He seemed more entertained by her comment than offended and Annie frowned. “Do you really want to be that guy again? The one who didn’t care about anything but money or anyone but the woman he was sleeping with at any given minute?”
“Okay,” he cut her off before she could reload and start again. “I’ll go.” She looked up at him suspiciously and Jeff rolled his eyes. “Annie, I promise I will go to Shirley’s on Saturday.”
“For the entire night,” Annie corrected, noticing the loophole he’d made for himself immediately. She’d gotten very good at doing that over the years.
Jeff’s mouth quirked up on one side. “For the entire night,” he echoed.
“Well, that’s a start.” She smiled, happy that she’d managed to at least make a dent in his douche armor.
“So,” he said in a conversational tone. “Now that you’ve sufficiently chastised me, what are your big plans for tonight?” Annie blinked up at him in confusion. “To celebrate the last day of classes at Greendale?”
She honestly hadn’t thought about it. It was just another Thursday night for her and was still feeling conflicted about leaving the school, or at least more conflicted than the man at her side. She shrugged. “I don’t know. It’s Thursday, so watch television? Make a peanut butter and jelly?” He chuckled at this and Annie gave him a sidelong glance. “You?”
“I am going to be dining at Morty’s Steakhouse this evening,” Jeff announced and Annie nodded.
“Oh right,” she recalled. “It’s been a long time that you’ve been planning your ‘leaving Greendale’ celebration.”
They walked in silence for another ten feet before Jeff spoke again. “Do you…” Annie looked up at him questioningly. “…want to join me?”
She honestly thought she’d misheard him. He was asking her to come to dinner with him? There were probably seven hundred and eighty three different ways to read that and Annie didn’t know which one to go with. They’d been politely detached around each other for the last three semesters and now on the last day of school he was asking her on a date? No, it couldn’t be a date. There was another meaning. They were just friends eating at the same table. Or maybe his date cancelled at the last minute and she was the closest female at that exact moment in time. Belatedly, Annie realized she’d just been staring into space confusedly for the last thirty seconds and Jeff was waiting for an answer.
“I…” She scrunched up her face. “Are you…I mean you’re probably not…” She hated that he still managed to make her this unglued and inarticulate. She had been sure that whatever feelings she’d had for him had disintegrated in the time she’d known him, but even as she was thinking that Annie was coming to the conclusion that she really did love him. Crap.
They stepped out into the bright spring sunlight together, Annie still not able to form complete sentences. “Here,” Jeff said in a short tone and then he was propelling her sideways with one hand around her waist. Annie tried to ask what he was doing, but there was a disconnect between her brain and her mouth. “Let me clear this up for you.” She was pushed back against the exterior to the library building and looked up at him questioningly. Before she had the chance to ask what was happening, Jeff’s mouth was on hers and he was kissing her with more passion than she’d ever seen him bestow anything, including his clothes. His hands settled possessively at her hips and Annie flashed back to their first kiss. She could feel the scratchy sensation of brick through her thin cotton dress and reveled in it as she brought her hands up to Jeff’s chest and tugged on the front of his shirt. She pulled him closer and he moaned into her open mouth before he pulled away and waited for her reaction.
It took Annie what seemed like a long time to come back to herself afterward and when she did, Jeff’s blue eyes were on hers. They were intense and very focused and it made Annie feel powerful. There was a good chance that this was just a Jeff Winger trap that she’d fallen into again, but Annie needed to ask the question that was in her brain and on her tongue. “Like a date?”
Jeff exhaled loudly and smiled down at her. “Yes.” There was such decisiveness in his voice, as if he’d been waiting for her to get it. Which couldn’t possibly be right.
She tried very hard not to let thoughts like ‘he wants to sleep with you now that school is over and he can avoid you’ or ‘he’s still a dick, do you need him to prove it to you?’ settle in her mind, but it was difficult. “Why now?” she asked quietly, watching his face closely for some sign that this was really happening.
He blinked in surprise. “I heard you broke up.” He swallowed then. “You guys did break up, didn’t you?”
Annie nodded, smothering a grin. She answered slowly. “Jeff, we broke up at Christmas.“ He furrowed his brow.
“Seriously?” he asked, clearly not expecting that answer. “Why didn’t you tell me? Why didn’t anyone tell me?” He seemed almost perturbed at the chain of events.
She shrugged. “We didn’t tell anyone, everyone else just figured it out.” Jeff gave her a disconcerted look. “We were kind of worried about your reaction.”
Jeff’s eyebrows rose on his forehead. “Why?”
Annie bit her lip. “He’s dating Britta.”
“What?!” He couldn’t have hidden the shock from her even if he had been trying. “Seriously? He broke up with you for Britta?” Annie shrugged in a vague fashion. “And you’re okay with this?”
She nodded her head. “Yeah, I mean we weren’t in love. He was great,” she rushed to explain further when Jeff opened his mouth to interject. “But I knew he was doing it in part to prove he’d grown up from the guy he used to be and he knew that I still had fee…” She trailed off as she raised her eyes to meet Jeff’s. He watched her, the focus he was giving her slightly unnerving. Annie cleared her throat. “So um, who did tell you?”
“Troy,” Jeff answered and Annie raised her eyebrows in surprise. “He uh, gave… me his blessing?”
“Oh my god,” Annie groaned in embarrassment.
He smiled. “No, it was good.” He nodded. “I think he could tell that I’m-” Jeff broke off with a cough and tried again. “How…I feel about…you?”
This was the part where Annie always woke up and any second now she was sure it would happen. Her chest felt so full she was afraid it might burst and she let out a shuddery breath. “So, this isn’t just casual?”
Jeff frowned before forcing his face into a neutral expression. “No, I mean whatever you-” Stealing herself, Annie threw her arms around his neck and launched herself at him, kissing him into silence. He reciprocated immediately, stooping to wrap his arms around her rib cage and pressing her back against the brick once more. One large hand came up to cradle her head gently as he kissed her with an urgency that left Annie literally weak in the knees.
“Yeah, give it to her Winger!” came a shout from somewhere behind them and they broke apart in laughter. Jeff rested his forehead against hers, and Annie felt thankful that he wasn’t allowing the moment to dissipate all together.
“Are you taller?” he murmured to her.
Annie nodded and looked down at her feet. “I’m wearing heels today,” she said as she pointed to her shoes. He glanced down at them before meeting her eye.
“This is nice,” he commented. “Being at a closer altitude to you.” She swatted at him playfully but grinned nonetheless. “You should wear them tonight.” Annie grinned at him before pushing him away from her so she could move. Then ended up back on the sidewalk, next to each other as if nothing had happened. “Troy and Britta,” he muttered.
“Troy and Britta,” Annie agreed.
He turned to her in confusion. “Wait, you said you thought I would be upset about that.” Annie grimaced. “Why did you think I would care about Troy dating Britta?”
“Old habits die hard?” Annie guessed, unsure of how exactly to verbalize all of the insecurities she’d felt regarding the blonde.
He opened his mouth to say something, but no sound came out. Instead, he quietly reached for her hand and grasped it in his much larger one as if it was something they did all the time. Jeff turned his head toward her and gave her a leveling stare. “So, we’re good?” Annie beamed up at him.
“We? Good, yeah.”