Fic: The Physiology of the Human Heart 1/2
Title: The Physiology of the Human Heart
Rating: M( for some explicit sexual situations)
Word Count: 13,842
Disclaimer: I don't own 'Community' or its character. I do own a Casio Keyboard and a brand new box of Girl Scout cookies.
Day 1
This is how it starts, which is actually not the beginning at all. She rubs the double-knit fabric of his Mariners jersey between her fingers. Her legs are restless, getting tangled in what are surely six hundred count sheets of a slate gray color. She had snuck in here when she noticed the last of the other party guests filtering toward the door. Seizing this opportunity had been pretty easy, really. Now, she just has to be able to get through it without losing her nerve.
Well, the vodka she’d snuck a couple shots of helped.
“Annie?”
His voice sounds strange, echoey in her ears. It seems much farther away than it probably is.
“Annie?” he questions again, opening the door to his bedroom merely on a whim. His eyes flicker over her for only a moment and his brain doesn’t register it at all. He shuts the door and then, comically is back again only a second later. His face is pale and his mouth hangs open. “Umm….” is all he can manage to get out.
“Jeff.” She says it as directly as she can, imagines herself making a case to him in front of a courtroom full of people.
“Annie,” he counters, slowly coming back to himself. “You can’t be doing this.”
“What exactly do you object to here?” she asks boldly as she draws her knees up to her body. Jeff exhales loudly. “You really can’t tell me what to do.”
“I can when it involves you lying in my bed,” he answers in a strangled tone. “Wearing my shirt!” he adds after a moment with a gesture toward her. “Annie, you have to put your clothes…” He motions to the pile of her clothes near his feet and trails off for a moment. She had purposely placed her bra and panties on the top of the neatly folded pile. “Put your clothes back on and go home. We can pretend like it never happened.”
“Like the kiss,” Annie quickly interjects with a curt nod to herself. ”..kisses…”
Jeff’s eyes close in what Annie can only assume is frustration. “Annie-”
“What?”
H steps into the room and shuts the door. “I’m trying to be a good guy here, Annie.”
“Really?” she asks sarcastically as she rises to her knees on his mattress. “’Cause I think you’re turning me down because you’re afraid I’m in love with you.” There it is. Direct as she can be. Jeff’s eyes narrow almost imperceptibly. “And you don’t want to deal with a clingy teenager thinking you’re going to marry her.”
Jeff sighs. “Annie.“ He pauses and sighs again. “I know how this entire thing works out. We start casually dating, except you can’t do casual, especially not when you’re sleeping with someone because it’s your first real relationship and you haven’t really figured out who you are in this type of scenario.” He begins speaking with his hands, and even in the middle of such a spectacular letdown, Annie can’t help but think that he is probably a damn good lawyer. “So, we’re all of a sudden in a serious relationship, which causes me to freak out and do something insane and completely me. I pick up some cougar at a bar one night and have sex with her in a public bathroom. You’re hurt and break up with me. The particulars don’t matter, it could be any woman at any location. It always ends with Jeff breaking Annie’s heart because he doesn’t know how to do anything else. Then I’m a jackass and we can’t be friends anymore. So, can we please not?” He finally takes a breath, and gives her a slightly manic look.
Annie glances away from him and smoothes her hands over the ends of her hair. “Thanks for giving me the benefit of the doubt, Jeff.”
Jeff stares at her incredulously for a moment, his eyebrows furrowed. “Why can’t you understand that I’m actually helping you, Annie?” He crosses his arms over his chest. “I’m protecting you, you know.”
“I really appreciate that,” Annie retorts, her voice dripping with sarcasm. “Thank you so much for being such a big strong man who needs to protect me.” She smoothes his jersey down demurely. “I’m so lucky to have you around, alpha male.” She narrows her eyes menacingly. “I’m being sarcastic,” she adds.
Jeff smirks at her. “I got that, kid.”
“Stop it,” Annie answers with a shake of her head. “I’m not kid or sport or kitten or any other pet name that describes something in its…infancy, okay?” She purses her lips angrily. “I’m a nineteen year old woman. I can drive, I can vote, and I can have lots of really aggressive sex with whomever I want.”
Jeff eyes widen as he stares at her in the ensuing silence. “Are you done now, babe?” he finally mocks and Annie feels her jaw tighten. He cocks his head to the side and shoots her a look. Look, it’s…you’re not just some nineteen year-old, you’re…Annie.”
She swallows hard over the dry lump in her throat. “So, I’m not pretty enough for you?”
Jeff frowns. “Wait, what? No, trust me. That’s definitely not it, Annie.”
“Really?” Annie asks, getting irritated. “Because the way I see it, if I was just some other random nineteen year-old sophomore asking for the first orgasm of her life, it would be a no-brainer for Jeff Winger.”
His eyes close almost involuntarily, but Jeff overcomes it a moment later. “What if it a romantic relationship ruins our friendship though? What about the study group?” She knows this sounds as lame to him as it does to her, because a moment later her is literally rolling his eyes.
“I don’t think you’ve actually been listening to what I’m saying, Jeff.” Annie reaches up and slowly unbuttons the top button of the shirt she‘s wearing. “What if all I’m looking for is to learn about sex from someone who knows?” Jeff cocks his head to the side in confusion. “We don’t have to hold hands between classes or share fries in the cafeteria. This isn‘t a manipulative trick to get you into some sort of…relationship.” She smirks. “Who says I would even want that?”
All in all, this performance she’s putting on is pretty good.
The look he gives her is unsure.
“C’mon Jeff, I’m rare. Exotic even.” She undoes another button. “An exotic fish, swimming by you.” She levels him with narrowed eyes. “If you want me, take me.”
And so he does.
Day 4
He kisses her hipbone once she stills against the mattress before kissing his way back up her naked torso. Annie lays with her eyes fixed at the ceiling. The only light in his room is the glow coming from the television, set to a late night talk show.
“So, that was what that’s like then?” she asks breathlessly.
“Well, I can’t guarantee it will always be just like that,” Jeff corrects as he trails a fingertip over her tight nipple and she hums. “But the mechanics are always pretty similar, yeah.”
He had practically attacked her the moment she’d opened his apartment door an hour earlier, unable to get out that she was him his English Literature book he‘d left in the study room. Within minutes, he’d had her stripped down and wrapped around him.
“So, I think we need to take care of you.” Annie turns onto her side facing him, propping her head up on one elbow. She traces one finger down his well-defined chest.
“I’m good,” he answers as he looks down at her finger before concentrating on her face. “Honestly….” He trails off
“Yeah?” Annie says uncertainly.
“It sounds…stupid,” he answers hesitantly and Annie feels her face fall slightly. “I mean…” Jeff rolls onto his back and stares at his ceiling. “I mean that…okay, this isn’t going to sound good.”
“Jeff?” Annie asks with a raised eyebrow.
Jeff chuckles. “Okay…It’s like..I have a new toy.” Annie makes a disgusted noise. “So I get to do all these things to you that you’ve never done before and somehow, watching you…feeling you experience all these things is kind of enough for me.” He furrows his brow. “It’s making me a really selfless lover, actually. Weird.”
Annie swallows and licks her lips slowly.
“That is unless you keep doing that,” he murmurs almost to himself.
“Well then,” Annie answers with a grin. “Maybe it’s time to see what I’ve learned then.” She pushes him backwards with more force that she realized she was capable of before crawling on top of him.
“Oh good. A pop quiz,” Jeff quips as he let his hands start at her hips and then travel up to her rib cage and back down again as he feels her start to move. “God, so tight.”
“Jeff,” Annie admonishes even as she begins to ride him. “What would Craig Ferguson think of this?”
“He would think it was awesome,” Jeff murmurs as he bucks up into her before pulling her down for a long kiss.
Day 13
He grunts and surges forward, emptying into her mouth.
Annie swallows as quickly as she is able to, using the same technique as when her cousin taught her to shotgun beer in high school. When he stills above her, Annie pulls her mouth off of him and licks her lips. Honestly, the taste is nothing great. She understands why nobody had ever made it into an ice cream flavor.
His head is thrown back against his couch, arms spread out at his sides. He’s breathing heavily, as if he could have just collapsed here after running three miles instead of letting a teenager give him a blowjob in the middle of the afternoon on a Thursday.
“Was that…?” she trails off, unsure of what is supposed to happen now. Jeff’s head finally snaps up and he looks as relaxed and happy as she’s ever seen him. Wildly, he reaches down and pulls her up to the couch. Annie awkwardly lands on his naked body before readjusting herself so she‘s straddling his lap. Jeff groans.
He’d innocuously invited her over during lunch, not ever even glancing up from his sudoku game. They’d figured out the best way to not draw attention to themselves was to be as dismissive toward each other as they had always been. Jeff pretended that she didn’t exist for the most part, and Annie was allowed to give him worshipful glances every once in a while. They had walked to his car together after her last class, not even really speaking. It wasn’t until they’d been safely out of the school parking lot that she’d even allowed herself to talk.
“There’s something I want to do, if it’s okay with you,” she’d simply stated as she glanced out the window. Once inside his apartment, she’d promptly unbuckled his belt, determination heavy in her eyes. Instead of holding her off, telling her she didn’t have to do anything she didn’t want to do, Jeff had merely helped her undress him as quickly as possible.
“Yeah,” he finally answers in a still slightly breathless tone. “That was good.” His hands skim along her bare thighs before grazing up her cotton dress and landing on her hips gently.
“We can practice if I need more work,” Annie offers, making her eyes as wide and innocent as she can. Jeff lays his head back against he couch cushion again.
“You really are a good student,” he tells her, his voice changing to a moan when Annie leans forward to begin kissing down his throat to his chest. A moment later, she feels one of his hand working it’s way back under her dress and pressing lightly against her center. “Okay, well you kind of enjoyed it too I think,” he notes with a lazy grin before fully committing himself to his task at hand.
“So, are we not going to study at all then?” Annie squeaks out as she allows herself to squirm against him.
“Not everything is about book learnin’,” Jeff rebukes easily as he works his hand against her.
It’s another three hours before Annie even remembers she didn’t bring her books anyway.
Day 25
She is sitting in the passenger seat of his Lexus, hands tucked under her thighs awkwardly. His hand lingers on the gear shift momentarily before he digs into his coat pocket. He hooks his iPhone into the stereo system before handing it to her. Annie merely looks at him questioningly.
“Pick something,” he answers with a tone that tells her this should have been obvious to her.
She pulls her lower lip in between her teeth as she scrolls through his library by artist. The scent of tacos they had just picked up from a drive-thru two miles from his house was permeating the car to the point Annie was surprised he’d gone for it at all when she’d stated she was craving hard shells. Her thumb hovers over her choice for a moment before pressing against the flat screen and a moment later, the car is filling with the familiar opening strains. She nods her head to the beat, glancing out the window next to her. A moment later, she feels his eyes on her and turns to acknowledge him.
“Really?” he asks, an eyebrow raised. “Going with Tom Petty?”
“I like this song,” Annie answers easily. Her hands move to grasp the bag that sits in her lap.
“Isn’t it a little… old for you?” Jeff persists, his fingers still against the gearshift.
She notices the double meaning before he probably does and swallows a smile before shaking her head. “No, I…my dad used to listen to this album in the garage on weekends when I was little.” She runs one hand through her hair. “I would go out and help him and we would dance together.” She feels a wave of sadness that she wasn’t expecting. It crests fairly quickly and all that is left in its wake is an awkward stillness even as Tom Petty wails from the speakers. She chews her lip again.
“The day after their divorce was finalized was the first time I ever took Adderall,” she finally bleats out, almost hoping he can’t hear her. “I thought if I could be better…”
One large hand covers her own trembling hands immediately and she feels him squeeze. Annie feels the smile crack her face.
“Oh yeah, all right,” Jeff begins to sing loudly along with the stereo. “Take it easy baby.”
“Make it last all night,” Annie joins in loudly, turning to him with a wide smile.
“She was an American girl!”
Day 37
“So?” he groans.
“Um,” Annie answers as she rolls her hips. “Yeah, I guess.”
He stops. “What’s wrong?” He sounds almost irritated.
Annie throws her arms up in frustration. “I can’t see you.” She struggles for a moment before looking back over her shoulder. “All I can see is your hairy shins and knees, which no offense, is not your best angle.”
“You can see yourself,” Jeff counters as he sits up and supports his weight on his extended arms. Annie looks forward at the large mirror he has above his dresser and her naked reflection makes her flinch. She bites her lip, feeling weird for complaining about the different kinds of awesome sex he’s willing to have with her.
“Yeah, it’s just that…I don’t really turn myself on,” Annie reasons in a small voice and slumps slightly. If this wasn’t mood killing, she didn’t know what was. Maybe if one of them had died during, that would be worse. As gracefully as she can, she climbs off of him and settles on the mattress next to him, her knees drawn up to her chest. “I want to see you,” she continues, hoping he will understand this.
Jeff’s mouth opens, but no sound comes out and he clamps it shut again. Annie nervously tucks her hair behind her ear and glances down at his pink toenails. He had said it was just a one time thing and it was only because it wouldn’t be sandal season for another two months.
“Okay,” Jeff finally says, fully sitting up. “Try this.”
He physically pulls her up next to him and she takes the rare opportunity of being at eye level with him to drop a kiss onto his lips. He deepens it immediately, wrapping a large hand around the back of her head. She feels him, still hard and wet, against her stomach and she flushes. A moment later, Jeff breaks the kiss and manhandles her into a position on her hands and knees in front of him. Annie realizes what’s happening and sits back upright. “Jeff…” she starts, unsurely, searching his face.
“Trust me?” he asks, his eyes dancing slightly. Annie nods and slowly gets back into the position he’d put her in. He settles behind her and Annie feels her whole body relax when she feels him back at her slick entrance. He pushes in and she surges forward, only to press back against him a moment later. “Look,” he murmurs to her as he leans his muscled torso against her back. Annie meets his eye in the mirror and clenches around him at the sight. Jeff hisses before he begins rhythmically thrusting forward.
“And now you don’t have to look at my gross hairy ankles,” he grunts out.
Day 46
“Wait, hold on a minute here. You’re telling me you know how to play the piano?”
He looks up from his Scrabble easel and narrows his eyes at her. “Technically, yes.”
“Oh my gosh,” Annie giggles as she lays down the word ‘basket’. “I never would have guessed that you’re musical.”
Jeff rolls his eyes at her. “Just because my mom made me take piano lessons for two years when I was in elementary school doesn’t mean I‘m sitting home composing sonatas.” He grins before adding an ‘s’ to her word. Annie sputters wordlessly before smacking him on the arm. “I could maybe pick out some notes if I had a gun to my head. That’s all.”
“I’m guessing Pierce doesn’t know about this?” Annie asks in a sing song tone.
Jeff feels his jaw tighten. “And there is no way he ever will.”
“Jeff.” Annie bats her eyelashes at him.
“Annie,” Jeff shoots back threateningly.
“You’ve been blatantly cheating this entire game, and now you expect me to do you a favor?” She cocks her head to the side innocently and continues to bat her eyes.
“Making a word plural is not cheating, read the rules. And if we really want to play the ‘Tell Pierce A Secret’ game, I think I can give him something more interesting on you .” He gives her a pointed look.
“You wouldn’t,” Annie mock gasps before moving toward him with a glint in her eye.
Jeff puts up his hands in defense, but merely draws her into his embrace a moment later. “Let’s just call a truce then.” He presses his lips against the top of her head. “I would hate to have to take a picture of that birth mark under your left breast and e-mail it to the entire campus.”
Day 54
“Come on,” Annie implores as she tugs on his shirt sleeve. He looks down at the sleeve, as if he’s offended that it’s allowing itself to be tugged upon. “You have to have one.”
“I’m not…” He shakes his head. “No.”
“Just one fantasy,” Annie pouts before pulling her feet up onto the couch in front of her, knees drawn up against her chest. “Tell me one fantasy.”
Jeff chuckles humorlessly. “And then what?”
“I might do it,” Annie answers enticingly, batting her eyelashes at him. Jeff flinches and pulls out his iPhone to fiddle with it idly.
“This is a bad idea,” he intones as he presses his thumbs against the screen.
Annie sighs and climbs off the couch and ambles to his kitchen to find something to eat. “You know, I told you about my Professor Snape thing,” she calls out as she pulls a box of Cheez-its from the top of his fridge. She can’t help grinning at his.
Jeff hates Cheez-its.
“I definitely didn’t ask you to tell me that,” Jeff counters, looking up at her as if she’s grown a third head.
Annie plops back down next to him on the couch, crossing her legs underneath her on the cushion. Jeff easily drapes one of his arms over her thigh, letting his hand rest in the open triangle of space she’d created with her legs. “Didn’t stop you from taking points away from me last night,” she cracks as she pops crackers into her mouth one at a time.
“You were being naughty,” Jeff answers, a serious expression on his face. A moment later, it is replaced with one of revulsion. “Okay, I just grossed myself out.”
“I won’t tell anyone,” Annie tries again. “I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but I’m actually pretty good at keeping secrets.”
Jeff lays his head back against the cushion and thinks. “I think it’s more about everyone else not really paying any attention to anything that happens around there.”
“Is it really kinky?” Annie asks, scrunching up her face. “Is it suffocation?” she asks and Jeff glares at her. “Or…I haven’t peed on you yet.” She taps him with the box she’s holding. “Is it a peeing thing?”
Jeff squeezes his eyes shut and reaches the hand that had been in her lap up to scratch the back of his neck. “God, no.” He pauses and cracks one eye open to look at her. “And the way you phrased that makes it seem like ’peeing’ is on some checklist you have. Like ’Oh, we haven’t tried water sports yet’.” Annie chuckles.
“I’m just trying to help,” Annie asserts as she wipes her hands on a napkin she brought with her and closes the box. “Is it a lingerie thing?” Jeff raises one eyebrow. “I mean…on you. Like Kelsey Grammar?”
Jeff sighs and runs a hand through his hair. “Okay.” He winces at nothing and Annie feels something close to fear but more like exhilaration filling her chest. What he is about to say was either really sick or really awesome. “It’s….” He clears his throat and finally turns on the couch to look at her. “It’s….kind of a…” He screws up his entire face, like he can taste the embarrassment of the whole thing. “…Disney princess…thing.”
Annie stares at him in shock. There are about a million things that she would have thought were more likely to come out of his mouth. She feels her jaw drop slightly, waiting for him to soften his face back into a smirk and say he just wanted to see her reaction. But he’s not moving, which means it’s her turn.
“What?” she asks, trying her absolute hardest not to giggle, because…seriously?
Jeff sighs and rolls his eyes at her, realizing just how much she’s enjoying this. “My first…sexual fantasy was for…Sleeping Beauty,” he grits out through his clenched jaw. “Since then, it’s always kind of been something in the back of my mind. But, it isn’t entirely my fault. I mean, that little…mermaid was hot, right?” He lurches forward and drops his head into his hands. “I am a sick, sick person.”
Annie almost can’t believe he doesn‘t see the opportunity in front of them. “Okay,” Annie moves forward and touches his shoulder. “Well, there are plenty of good ones here. Really, we could do this every night for a week and still have some of them leftover.” Jeff narrows his eyes at her, clearly thinking she is crazy. “But I think, given my coloring, that the best place to start would be Snow White.” She rises from the couch, but doesn’t step away. He has to look up her torso to see her face. A smile is forming on his lips finally, as if he’s just getting that she isn’t going to immediately go post this tidbit on her twitter account. “So, I guess there’s really only one question left to ask here.”
“Um, okay?” Jeff answers unsurely.
Annie smirks at him. “Do you have a corset, or do I need to go buy one?”
One sharp tug later, she’s on top of him. “Turns out this,” he says as he gestures between them with a mock serious tone. “Was a great idea.”
Day 68
“No, I understand that.”
Annie looks up from her bowl of cereal at the way he paces around his kitchen in the bleak morning light, which streams in from the window. She pulls her lower lip into her mouth and bites down on it unsurely. She tries to catch his eye, but he is determinedly not looking at her. He instead alternates between squeezing his eyes shut in anger and opening up his cupboards to stare at the contents blankly.
“There must be some mistake then, because I can guarantee I paid that already,” Jeff says into the receiver in a clipped tone.
Annie lines up the marshmallows on the rim of the bowl by color. Three pink, two green. Four yellow. They leave a trail of colored goo down the inside of the bowl, coloring the milk. She suddenly isn’t hungry. Here she is, sitting at his kitchen table like a small child and playing with her Alpha-Bits while Jeff has a tense conversation with someone whom Annie is guessing is his landlord.
She is rising from her seat and moving toward the sink before she even realizes it, but her eyes are filling with tears suddenly, and she doesn’t want to think about why it’s happening. She sees him react to her movement and sees a trace of a smirk on his face before she is turning away from him quickly. One large hand wraps gently around her wrist and Annie discreetly wipes her eyes before facing him. His eyes search her face for a moment.
There is a connection between them that is extremely tangible. It is everything she has been trying her hardest to avoid. They are in a relationship. She somehow hadn’t even realized it, had purposely not looked for it, because acknowledging it was the same exact thing as ending it. She had managed to accomplish something that presumably many women before her had tried, but none had succeeded at. She knows somewhere deep in the recesses of her brain that she should be celebrating over getting what she had honestly wanted all along, which is Jeff. Real Jeff, not the one he offers to other people, not the one who takes his mom out on her birthday and still talks about fake law cases.
She celebrates in her brain for exactly one second before allowing reality to take back over. She knows what happens now, he told her what happened next and she couldn’t fault him for being able to accurately see into the future of this…thing they’d created for themselves. She looks up into his eyes and he must notice the rapid change of emotion crossing her face, because his face fills with concern.
Concern for her. She swallows over the impulse to throw up right there in his kitchen.
“Yeah, I actually. I have to go.” He hangs up the phone before the person on the other end can respond. The phone drops to the counter next to them and he continues to look at her in silence. “What….?” He shoves his hands into his pockets. “You okay?”
She nods dumbly, not meeting his searching gaze. “Yeah.” It comes out thickly and Annie grimaces. She clears her throat and finally looks up at him. “I’m just…” She shakes her head.
“Ann,” Jeff says in a soft voice. Annie frowns and feels her insides tighten at the small term of endearment.
“This is a bad idea, isn’t it?” she asks in a tiny voice.
Day 76
“Okay, there is nothing on.” Jeff drops the remote into her lap before settling against her on the couch.
Annie rolls her eyes at him before flipping over to a rerun of ‘How I Met Your Mother’. “You’re just too picky.” He grumbles before pulling his iPhone out to play a game of Fruit Ninja. She looks at the television, figuring out which episode it is, before glancing over at Jeff. He’s wearing an old Columbia tee shirt that he claimed had given him some sort of real ’cred’ and sweat pants. The pizza box they’d been eating out of all night still sat in front of them on the coffee table. “You know,” she says with a grin. “I kind of thought this would be more dangerous.” She leans forward and picks up a small slice of pizza before peeling the pepperoni off of it.
“The pizza?” he asks without looking up from the small screen.
“No,” Annie replies. “This whole thing with you.”
Jeff turns and gives her a questioning look. “Why would you think that?”
Annie shrugs. “I don’t know. I guess last year, before any of us really knew you, I imagined that when you left study group you were driving your Lexus off to some penthouse apartment where you were given top secret assignments that involved teaming up with tall women who dressed in leather jumpsuits.”
Jeff frowns. “I’m confused, did you think I was Batman or James Bond?” He sits up more fully. “So, I’m not dangerous enough for you?”
Annie tries to smother a giggle. “Jeff, we ordered pizza and watched ‘Top Chef’ tonight,” she answers.
“I had a bunch of episodes on my Tivo,” Jeff reasons, pointing toward the television. “Okay so you’re saying you’re disappointed that I’m just a regular boring guy?”
Annie licks grease off of her finger before raising her eyebrows. “Jeff, you’re definitely not boring.” He smirks. “I just kind of thought sex with you would be…I don’t know.” She shrugs. “I figured you were breaking me in before you started pulling out the whips and chains.” She waggles her eyebrows at him. “You know, you haven’t even tied me up at all yet.”
“You actually do have a checklist, don’t you?” Jeff shakes his head, but smiles.
“I’m trying to give you a compliment,” Annie assure him before leaning over and kissing the corner of his mouth.
“By calling me a dull middle-aged man,” Jeff finishes for her. Annie bites her lip to keep from smiling. “I’m not middle-aged,” he asserts edgily.
“That depends on how long you live,” Annie retorts before easily climbing on top of him. Jeff growls deep in his throat as she settles against him.
“I don’t know if you should be rewarded for being so rude to your elders,” Jeff notes even as he brings a hand up to palm her breast. Annie hums and he grins at her. “It’s your turn,” he says after a moment.
Annie frowns at him. “No, I picked the shower thing.”
Jeff shakes his head. “And then after that, I picked the thing with the harness in my closet.”
She flushes at the memory. “You’re sure that wasn’t before the shower?”
“No,” Jeff readjusts, trying to sit up underneath her. “Before the shower was the school girl thing.”
“That was mine,” Annie points out. “So, it has to be your turn.” She grins at him in triumph and feels something inside of her uncurl at the look on his face. He simply smiles at her before pulling her forward to kiss her chastely.
“I’m sure we can think of something,” he murmurs against her neck and Annie wraps her arms around his torso.
When she’s finally panting against his mattress almost an hour later, he still doesn’t seem hurried. He watches her closely, keeping his eyes on her the entire time. He caresses her arms, her thighs, chest. When she seizes underneath him, he watches her with indulgent eyes before pressing a gentle kiss to her lips and pausing to breathe against her mouth.
It’s the most exciting sex she’s ever had.
Day 84
Annie looks up from her Psychology book at the sound of the knock on her door. She rises with a frown from the floor, where she’d laid out all of her homework in an orderly fashion as well as the copies of notes Jeff would need in the morning. A half eaten tube of Pringles and a diet Coke had been her dinner five hours earlier, but still lay on the carpet near a textbook. This wasn’t a Jeff night, so Annie was making the most of being alone for the evening.
Annie checks the peephole warily. Jeff stares back at her, bleary-eyed and cranky looking. One of his arms is braced against her door.
He’s drunk.
“Jeff,” she calls through the door.
“Annie,” he slurs back, something strange about his voice that she can’t place. “Can I come in?”
“Back up a second,” she calls back and waits until he takes his weight off the door before she opens it to him. He stumbles past her with a sidelong smile at her. He leaves the stench of scotch behind him and Annie wrinkles her nose.
“How much time do you spend in the store downstairs?“ he asks with a sleepy smirk before taking in the nest she’s made for herself on the floor of her small living room. He flops down on her couch. “What are you doing?”
“I’ve been doing homework,” Annie answers slowly before stooping to pick up the remote from the floor and passing it to him. He takes it from her hand and stares at it blankly. “I would ask what you’ve been doing, but I think I know.”
“I went out to a bar,” Jeff answers anyway. “With Troy.”
Annie grins to herself and begins to gather her books and folders into neat piles. “And how was that?” she asks. Jeff shrugs. “Jeff, how did you get here?” He shrugs again and quickly starts changing channels until he finds something he likes. “Jeff,” she says again and climbs onto the couch next to him. “Did Troy bring you here?” She’s feeling something close to dread in her stomach.
“No,” Jeff answers with a frown. “That wouldn’t be very sneaky of me, would it?”
“No,” she replies. “It wouldn’t.”
“I mean, you don’t want people to know, right?” he mutters and closes his eyes. Annie watches him worriedly for a moment in silence.
“I’m going to get you some aspirin and a glass of water,” she finally says before turning to go to her small kitchen area.
“Do you have any beer?” he asks, climbing off the couch to follow her.
“No,” Annie states patiently. “I’m not old enough to buy beer.”
Jeff winces and swallows. “I’m going to bring some over to have here.”
“Why?” Annie asks in an incredulous tone as she reaches into the cupboard to retrieve the bottle of aspirin. “You’ve never even been here before.”
“It’s not a very good neighborhood,” Jeff mumbles back with a yawn.
“Thanks,” Annie answers, dropping the bottle onto the counter in front of him. She’s almost hoping he will pass out quickly. He’s a perpetually annoying drunk. Jeff opens the bottle and drops two pills into his hand before tossing them into his mouth. “You can’t dry swallow them,” she admonishes as she quickly pulls a bottle of water out of her fridge and passes it to him. “Why are you acting like a little kid?”
“Just trying to match the age of my girlfriend,” Jeff mutters before stumbling back to her couch.
There’s a swooping sensation in Annie stomach but she tamps it down as quickly as she can. “Jeff,” she says in as strong of a voice as she can manage. “If you came over here for sex, I really can’t tonight.”
Jeff sits up and frowns at her. “God, is sex all you think about Annie?”
Annie rolls her eyes at him. “Yes, you have turned me into a wanton woman.”
“Awesome,” Jeff murmurs.
“Are you going to sleep on the couch?” Annie asks as she takes in his prone position there.
“I need to tell you something,” Jeff says, ignoring her question as he stands on wobbly legs.
“Okay.” She bites her lip.
He exhales. “I made out with someone tonight,” he says in a low voice, staring right at her. Annie lets all the air out of her lungs. “I kissed a woman at the bar and it wasn’t…I didn’t…it didn’t mean anything. I don’t even know what her name was.” He shrugs again. “I just thought I should tell you before Troy mentions it at study group.”
Annie is nodding her head, not really listening anymore. There’s a tightening in her chest that she wishes would just go away. “Okay.”
He moves toward her. “It didn’t mean anything, Ann.”
“Okay,” she repeats, still staring at his left elbow.
“Annie,” he says in a quiet voice. “You’re making me feel like a jackass here. Could you please say something?”
“Okay,” Annie says again. She nods her head. “I think…” She exhales shakily and moves backwards from him slightly. “I think…that I said when this…thing started that it wasn’t going to be a real…” She moves her hands in between them. “So…” She shrugs. “I mean, I wish you had just told me you wanted out rather than passive aggressively making out with a stranger and then telling me about it.”
“That wasn’t what it was, I just…I forgot about you and…” He trails off.
Annie nods her head. “You forgot about me,” she echoes in a small voice.
“Annie,” Jeff says. “I didn’t want to hurt you. I mean I don’t want to hurt you.” He moves forward again and Annie steps backwards. “I’m really sorry.”
Annie nods. “Yeah.” She sighs, but it sounds like a shudder to her own ears. “I’m going to go to bed. There’s a blanket on the couch for you.”
“Annie, don’t be…a sad little girl here. Come on, yell at me. Throw something.” His voice is imploring and whiny.
She moves past him smoothly, ignoring the way his hands draw across her arm as she passes. She bends over and retrieves a neatly stapled packet of paper from her stack of books. “Anger implies that there were feelings involved here.” She hands him the packet. “I typed notes for you.”
“Annie.”
“Jeff,” she answers in a warning tone. “Sleep.”
“We’ll talk about this tomorrow?” he asks.
“Yeah.”
He’s gone the next morning when she wakes up.
*
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Part two is here http://elsiesnuffin.livejournal.com/8838.html#cutid1