Fic: The Group Throws a Birthday-vention (4/?)
Title: The Group Throws a Birthday-vention (4/?)
Word Count: 1,995
Spoilers: The series. Ignores Pierce leaving the group. This takes place in December of their third year--Annie's 21st birthday.
Rating: PG-13
Disclaimer: I do not own Community.
A/N: Sorry this update took so long, guys. I know I promised weekly posts but I've got family in town sucking up all my free time. I tried telling them this was more important but they didn't go for that. Especially when they're your parents. And they're staying with you. But GOOD NEWS! I finally know how I'm going to end this. So yay! And, thank god. I was starting to panic that I was writing a story I didn't know how to end.
This is a birthday present for greta_garbo who had the following prompts: Jeff/Annie, preferably UST, Britta being dorky and cautiously supportive of J/A, side of Troy/Britta, at least one J/A kiss, Jeff and Annie forced to have an awkward conversation about their relationship, it's gotta be somebody's birthday (not all of this will happen in every chapter).
Chapter 1: The Plan
Chapter 2: The Script
Chapter 3: The Explanation
Chapter 4: The Confrontation
Two minutes, 36 seconds ago…
Jeff grabbed Annie’s wrist and pulled her toward the front door. This was not happening. Not if he still had working legs that could carry him as fast as possible out of this ridiculous trap the group had planned in order to ruin his night and the rest of his carefree winter break. Except for the sharp intake of breath when he initially grabbed her and started towing, Annie remained silent and let him lead her away from their friends.
Suddenly, Jeff heard what sounded like a frantic wildebeest charging at him. He couldn’t even get out a “Whaaa…?” before blond hair and hipster leather assaulted his senses. He both felt and heard Annie gasp and tense up next to him as Britta aggressively shoved them both backwards. Jeff finally let go of Annie in order to steady his balance and keep from knocking her down. He did an awkward pivot, arms swinging wildly as his forehead smacked into a low hanging bulb. The bulb swung back for round two and Jeff batted it out of the way. He caught a glance of Britta’s apologetic face before the door closed and he and Annie were left in complete darkness, and even more complete shock. The bulb arced again and bull’s-eyed-hitting him in the back of the head this time, causing him to jerk forward on instinct and curse.
Annie tutt-tutted and ran a hand along a wall until she found the light switch. They turned toward each other and Jeff took a large step backward out of the path of the vindictive swinging bulb, rubbing the back of his head angrily. He didn’t bother to still the fixture, the only source of light in the deep and mostly empty closet casting fast shadows and shapes on the bare walls and the two silent occupants. They met each other’s gazes for the first time since being manhandled into their current den of awkwardness. In the dim and shifting light, Annie couldn’t tell if Jeff looked remorseful or homicidal, but the grimace he shot at the closet door was unmistakable.
“So.”
“So.”
Jeff sighed, the sound filling the room with its heaviness; the delayed gust of air ruffled her hair slightly at her shoulders and tickled her eyelashes as it reached her side of the closet.
“Well, this should be interesting.”
Annie jiggled the handle, even though she heard Britta lock the door after she closed it in their faces. She knew it was locked, but she needed to do something, anything, with her hands. Anything to keep her occupied. The tension in the air was suffocating. She walked over to the other side of the closet, away from the coats and bathrobes (why so many bathrobes?), slid down the wall and sat Indian style. Slowly, Jeff walked over and joined her, dragging his feet and grumbling inarticulately, pulling his phone out of his pocket as he plopped down awkwardly next to her, all knees and elbows. He immediately pulled up a game and the screen on his phone lit up cheerfully, illuminating the scowl on its owner’s face.
Annie tilted her head up and glanced uninterestedly at the bulb. Its revolutions had calmed, almost stilling. She watched the lazy wake of light tiredly, letting her eyes half-close as she hummed softly. A sudden brightness from Jeff’s phone screen drew her attention back to him and his appendage. She snorted quietly to herself, but Jeff still heard her scoff and glanced toward her with a raised eyebrow.
“Maybe this should have been an intervention for you and your phone. It’s ridiculous how often you’re on it. I mean seriously, Bejeweled has to lose its appeal at some point.”
“Bejeweled is so 2010. Angry Birds is where it’s at,” he said, eyes returning to his phone but mouth still quirked in an all-too-familiar smirk.
“So 2010?” Annie wrinkled her nose. “You sound like a Black Eyed Peas song.”
“Saying that proves you listen to them,” he replied, not taking his focus off the screen.
Annie just rolled her eyes and exhaled annoyed. “Ugh. Whatever.”
“Good one,” Jeff mocked. “Maybe you should sign up for the Debate Team again. You’re rejoinders could use a bit of work. You’re getting a bit rusty on the clever comebacks, not that you were ever awesome at them. Not like me,” he smirked, and then winced when she smacked him on the arm-although that was one thing she was getting better at. Pretty soon she’d start leaving a mark.
“Oh yeah? Well …” and she searched for something clever and snarky to dish back at him and prove him wrong, “well, you’re… face could use a bit of work” she finished unenthusiastically, crossing her arms and turning back to stare ahead of her and not at the completely aggravating man at her right.
“Ouch. That one hurt. No, wait, it didn’t. Because my face is awesome and handsome and perfect. And how dare you slander my face like that. I’ll take you to beauty court.”
“Beauty court?” Annie couldn’t fight the genuine laugh that escaped her at the thought. “Sounds like the latest terrible reality show on Bravo.”
Jeff laughed along with her. “Terrible but hilarious… like a train wreck. … Not that I think train wrecks are hilarious,” he added quickly, eyes widening at how bad that sounded, “that’s not what I meant. I meant-”
“I know what you meant,” she pacified. “And besides,” Annie turned back to him, indignant when she remembered where this random conversation had originated. “It’s really rude of you to be playing on your phone and ignoring me. I’m bored. The least you can do is carry on a conversation with me.”
“Annie, we are talking,” Jeff stated obviously, drawing out the sentence in a whine more befitting a seven year old than a man nearing his mid-thirties.
“Yeah, but we’re talking about stupid stuff. I mean, we’re in here for a reason. Maybe we should have the conversation the group wants us to have. Maybe we should talk about us, and what’s going on between us. What did Abed call it? Unresolved sexual tension? Then they’ll let us out of here.”
At ‘sexual’ Jeff couldn’t help the quick glance he shot her, scanning down her body quickly, taking in the low-cut and very adult red dress she was wearing and the way it brought out all her best features. Her eyes looked bluer, her lips looked redder and her body looked… better than it usually did.
He swallowed thickly and turned back to his phone, tapping it to wake up the screen. She was looking at him expectantly, eyes glued to his face. She wasn’t going to drop it or change the subject. She was waiting for an answer. If she had been standing, she would have been tapping her foot. He could tell.
Jeff cleared his throat and started a new game. “No, we just wait it out. They’ll let us out eventually.” He would ignore her and ignore this topic of conversation at all costs. That was the only thing that would save him at that point. That was the game plan.
Too bad Annie always managed to ruin his plans.
“I think you underestimate them,” she challenged coolly.
“I think you actually want to have this conversation, but are too afraid to say so yourself.” He squeezed his eyes shut and swore in his head. He’d wanted to pull the words back into his mouth as soon as they’d burst out of him unthinkingly. He was supposed to avoid this topic and steer the conversation elsewhere.
Annie’s eyes sharpened on him and her head reared back ever so slightly. She crossed her arms tightly around herself in aggression as Jeff tried to school his face into a façade of calm and uncaring. He chanced a glance at her and sudden panic gripped him, and his stomach clenched at the expression on her face. She had her ‘confront Jeff in the men’s bathroom’ face on.
Oh, shit.
“OK fine.” Her voice couldn’t have been more serious than if they were actually in a courtroom. “I’ll be the adult right now. Truth be told? I do want to have this conversation. So… let’s have it.”
Jeff cleared his throat. He was aiming for casual and unaffected but it came out strained. He counted to ten in his head, letting the seconds drag on before he responded. Detachment. Detachment is what would keep him from blurting out what he was thinking and saying the wrong thing.
He needed to be careful. Annie had a way of making his mind go blank at the mere hint of tears or the smallest tone of disapproval in that lyrical voice of hers. She could so easily tear down his cool, lawyer exterior. How did she do that? It drove him crazy. He needed to keep his distance from her and from the conversation she was demanding of him.
“Not gonna happen,” he turned from her and stared at the wall opposite him, focusing on regulating his breathing.
“Why not?” she pushed.
“Because there’s nothing to talk about. And even if there was, I’m not having a conversation with you about feelings in a closet in Pierce’s mansion. Let’s … do something else.”
“Like what?” Her voice was stiff and monotone. “We’re in a closet… as previously stated” she added, as annoyingly as possible in that snotty teenaged tone she occasionally used. At lack of response from Jeff she finally turned her gaze from the side of his face and also stared at the wall opposite them. She shifted her torso, flattening her back against the wall and away from his direction. She slowly uncurled her legs and stretched them out in front of her, pointing and flexing her toes.
“Let’s … look for more things on laserdisc,” Jeff exhaled, with zero enthusiasm in his voice. ““Emmanuelle in Space” can’t be the only embarrassing thing we can use to humiliate Pierce with later. Maybe we can find something to use as leverage to get out of this hellhole.”
“Wow,” Annie responded flatly, “so being alone with me is like being in hell. Thanks a lot. You know just the right thing to say to a girl,” she grumbled, arms still crossed angrily as she stared at her knees.
Jeff felt the pressure between his eyes-a pressure he’d only ever experienced in the presence of the sullen, pouting woman at his left-build to an intense ache as he closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose. He sighed. Heavily. The gust of air could have blown out all 21 candles on her yet-to-be-determined-if-they-got-her-one birthday cake. He rolled his neck and focused on the light bulb above them. By now it had stilled completely and was shining a dim beam of light directly onto them-spotlighting their situation and current state of agitation and non-communication.
“Well,” Annie finally said determinedly. “Can we at least talk about what happened five days ago?”
That grabbed Jeff’s attention like a sale at Burberry. He turned sharply and snapped his eyes back on the petite brunette and her unfaltering stare.
“NO!”
“Why not!”
“Because I said so!”
“Hmph.” Annie scowled at him before turning away and glaring at the door.
“God!” Jeff thought to himself. “How long have we been locked up in this godforsaken closet?” He checked his phone. Seven minutes. That couldn’t be right. They’d only been in there for seven minutes? He cautiously glanced at Annie out of the corner of his eye, fearing any movement would send her aiming for his throat-arms crossed and a seriously pissed off expression written all over her face. He could feel the tension and hostility radiating from her-like the heat from a tanning bed-toward his half of the closet.
This was going to be a long night.
TBC...
Word Count: 1,995
Spoilers: The series. Ignores Pierce leaving the group. This takes place in December of their third year--Annie's 21st birthday.
Rating: PG-13
Disclaimer: I do not own Community.
A/N: Sorry this update took so long, guys. I know I promised weekly posts but I've got family in town sucking up all my free time. I tried telling them this was more important but they didn't go for that. Especially when they're your parents. And they're staying with you. But GOOD NEWS! I finally know how I'm going to end this. So yay! And, thank god. I was starting to panic that I was writing a story I didn't know how to end.
This is a birthday present for greta_garbo who had the following prompts: Jeff/Annie, preferably UST, Britta being dorky and cautiously supportive of J/A, side of Troy/Britta, at least one J/A kiss, Jeff and Annie forced to have an awkward conversation about their relationship, it's gotta be somebody's birthday (not all of this will happen in every chapter).
Chapter 1: The Plan
Chapter 2: The Script
Chapter 3: The Explanation
Chapter 4: The Confrontation
Two minutes, 36 seconds ago…
Jeff grabbed Annie’s wrist and pulled her toward the front door. This was not happening. Not if he still had working legs that could carry him as fast as possible out of this ridiculous trap the group had planned in order to ruin his night and the rest of his carefree winter break. Except for the sharp intake of breath when he initially grabbed her and started towing, Annie remained silent and let him lead her away from their friends.
Suddenly, Jeff heard what sounded like a frantic wildebeest charging at him. He couldn’t even get out a “Whaaa…?” before blond hair and hipster leather assaulted his senses. He both felt and heard Annie gasp and tense up next to him as Britta aggressively shoved them both backwards. Jeff finally let go of Annie in order to steady his balance and keep from knocking her down. He did an awkward pivot, arms swinging wildly as his forehead smacked into a low hanging bulb. The bulb swung back for round two and Jeff batted it out of the way. He caught a glance of Britta’s apologetic face before the door closed and he and Annie were left in complete darkness, and even more complete shock. The bulb arced again and bull’s-eyed-hitting him in the back of the head this time, causing him to jerk forward on instinct and curse.
Annie tutt-tutted and ran a hand along a wall until she found the light switch. They turned toward each other and Jeff took a large step backward out of the path of the vindictive swinging bulb, rubbing the back of his head angrily. He didn’t bother to still the fixture, the only source of light in the deep and mostly empty closet casting fast shadows and shapes on the bare walls and the two silent occupants. They met each other’s gazes for the first time since being manhandled into their current den of awkwardness. In the dim and shifting light, Annie couldn’t tell if Jeff looked remorseful or homicidal, but the grimace he shot at the closet door was unmistakable.
“So.”
“So.”
Jeff sighed, the sound filling the room with its heaviness; the delayed gust of air ruffled her hair slightly at her shoulders and tickled her eyelashes as it reached her side of the closet.
“Well, this should be interesting.”
Annie jiggled the handle, even though she heard Britta lock the door after she closed it in their faces. She knew it was locked, but she needed to do something, anything, with her hands. Anything to keep her occupied. The tension in the air was suffocating. She walked over to the other side of the closet, away from the coats and bathrobes (why so many bathrobes?), slid down the wall and sat Indian style. Slowly, Jeff walked over and joined her, dragging his feet and grumbling inarticulately, pulling his phone out of his pocket as he plopped down awkwardly next to her, all knees and elbows. He immediately pulled up a game and the screen on his phone lit up cheerfully, illuminating the scowl on its owner’s face.
Annie tilted her head up and glanced uninterestedly at the bulb. Its revolutions had calmed, almost stilling. She watched the lazy wake of light tiredly, letting her eyes half-close as she hummed softly. A sudden brightness from Jeff’s phone screen drew her attention back to him and his appendage. She snorted quietly to herself, but Jeff still heard her scoff and glanced toward her with a raised eyebrow.
“Maybe this should have been an intervention for you and your phone. It’s ridiculous how often you’re on it. I mean seriously, Bejeweled has to lose its appeal at some point.”
“Bejeweled is so 2010. Angry Birds is where it’s at,” he said, eyes returning to his phone but mouth still quirked in an all-too-familiar smirk.
“So 2010?” Annie wrinkled her nose. “You sound like a Black Eyed Peas song.”
“Saying that proves you listen to them,” he replied, not taking his focus off the screen.
Annie just rolled her eyes and exhaled annoyed. “Ugh. Whatever.”
“Good one,” Jeff mocked. “Maybe you should sign up for the Debate Team again. You’re rejoinders could use a bit of work. You’re getting a bit rusty on the clever comebacks, not that you were ever awesome at them. Not like me,” he smirked, and then winced when she smacked him on the arm-although that was one thing she was getting better at. Pretty soon she’d start leaving a mark.
“Oh yeah? Well …” and she searched for something clever and snarky to dish back at him and prove him wrong, “well, you’re… face could use a bit of work” she finished unenthusiastically, crossing her arms and turning back to stare ahead of her and not at the completely aggravating man at her right.
“Ouch. That one hurt. No, wait, it didn’t. Because my face is awesome and handsome and perfect. And how dare you slander my face like that. I’ll take you to beauty court.”
“Beauty court?” Annie couldn’t fight the genuine laugh that escaped her at the thought. “Sounds like the latest terrible reality show on Bravo.”
Jeff laughed along with her. “Terrible but hilarious… like a train wreck. … Not that I think train wrecks are hilarious,” he added quickly, eyes widening at how bad that sounded, “that’s not what I meant. I meant-”
“I know what you meant,” she pacified. “And besides,” Annie turned back to him, indignant when she remembered where this random conversation had originated. “It’s really rude of you to be playing on your phone and ignoring me. I’m bored. The least you can do is carry on a conversation with me.”
“Annie, we are talking,” Jeff stated obviously, drawing out the sentence in a whine more befitting a seven year old than a man nearing his mid-thirties.
“Yeah, but we’re talking about stupid stuff. I mean, we’re in here for a reason. Maybe we should have the conversation the group wants us to have. Maybe we should talk about us, and what’s going on between us. What did Abed call it? Unresolved sexual tension? Then they’ll let us out of here.”
At ‘sexual’ Jeff couldn’t help the quick glance he shot her, scanning down her body quickly, taking in the low-cut and very adult red dress she was wearing and the way it brought out all her best features. Her eyes looked bluer, her lips looked redder and her body looked… better than it usually did.
He swallowed thickly and turned back to his phone, tapping it to wake up the screen. She was looking at him expectantly, eyes glued to his face. She wasn’t going to drop it or change the subject. She was waiting for an answer. If she had been standing, she would have been tapping her foot. He could tell.
Jeff cleared his throat and started a new game. “No, we just wait it out. They’ll let us out eventually.” He would ignore her and ignore this topic of conversation at all costs. That was the only thing that would save him at that point. That was the game plan.
Too bad Annie always managed to ruin his plans.
“I think you underestimate them,” she challenged coolly.
“I think you actually want to have this conversation, but are too afraid to say so yourself.” He squeezed his eyes shut and swore in his head. He’d wanted to pull the words back into his mouth as soon as they’d burst out of him unthinkingly. He was supposed to avoid this topic and steer the conversation elsewhere.
Annie’s eyes sharpened on him and her head reared back ever so slightly. She crossed her arms tightly around herself in aggression as Jeff tried to school his face into a façade of calm and uncaring. He chanced a glance at her and sudden panic gripped him, and his stomach clenched at the expression on her face. She had her ‘confront Jeff in the men’s bathroom’ face on.
Oh, shit.
“OK fine.” Her voice couldn’t have been more serious than if they were actually in a courtroom. “I’ll be the adult right now. Truth be told? I do want to have this conversation. So… let’s have it.”
Jeff cleared his throat. He was aiming for casual and unaffected but it came out strained. He counted to ten in his head, letting the seconds drag on before he responded. Detachment. Detachment is what would keep him from blurting out what he was thinking and saying the wrong thing.
He needed to be careful. Annie had a way of making his mind go blank at the mere hint of tears or the smallest tone of disapproval in that lyrical voice of hers. She could so easily tear down his cool, lawyer exterior. How did she do that? It drove him crazy. He needed to keep his distance from her and from the conversation she was demanding of him.
“Not gonna happen,” he turned from her and stared at the wall opposite him, focusing on regulating his breathing.
“Why not?” she pushed.
“Because there’s nothing to talk about. And even if there was, I’m not having a conversation with you about feelings in a closet in Pierce’s mansion. Let’s … do something else.”
“Like what?” Her voice was stiff and monotone. “We’re in a closet… as previously stated” she added, as annoyingly as possible in that snotty teenaged tone she occasionally used. At lack of response from Jeff she finally turned her gaze from the side of his face and also stared at the wall opposite them. She shifted her torso, flattening her back against the wall and away from his direction. She slowly uncurled her legs and stretched them out in front of her, pointing and flexing her toes.
“Let’s … look for more things on laserdisc,” Jeff exhaled, with zero enthusiasm in his voice. ““Emmanuelle in Space” can’t be the only embarrassing thing we can use to humiliate Pierce with later. Maybe we can find something to use as leverage to get out of this hellhole.”
“Wow,” Annie responded flatly, “so being alone with me is like being in hell. Thanks a lot. You know just the right thing to say to a girl,” she grumbled, arms still crossed angrily as she stared at her knees.
Jeff felt the pressure between his eyes-a pressure he’d only ever experienced in the presence of the sullen, pouting woman at his left-build to an intense ache as he closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose. He sighed. Heavily. The gust of air could have blown out all 21 candles on her yet-to-be-determined-if-they-got-her-one birthday cake. He rolled his neck and focused on the light bulb above them. By now it had stilled completely and was shining a dim beam of light directly onto them-spotlighting their situation and current state of agitation and non-communication.
“Well,” Annie finally said determinedly. “Can we at least talk about what happened five days ago?”
That grabbed Jeff’s attention like a sale at Burberry. He turned sharply and snapped his eyes back on the petite brunette and her unfaltering stare.
“NO!”
“Why not!”
“Because I said so!”
“Hmph.” Annie scowled at him before turning away and glaring at the door.
“God!” Jeff thought to himself. “How long have we been locked up in this godforsaken closet?” He checked his phone. Seven minutes. That couldn’t be right. They’d only been in there for seven minutes? He cautiously glanced at Annie out of the corner of his eye, fearing any movement would send her aiming for his throat-arms crossed and a seriously pissed off expression written all over her face. He could feel the tension and hostility radiating from her-like the heat from a tanning bed-toward his half of the closet.
This was going to be a long night.
TBC...