Fic: No Time to Waste (2/2), Jeff/Annie (Community)
Fic: No Time to Waste (2/2)
Author: Nakanna Lee
Characters: Jeff/Annie, ensemble
Rating: R for themes
Word Count: 6000
Disclaimer: I don’t own Community or any other pop culture references.
Summary: After a float competition goes awry, Jeff is there to help Annie out.
A/N: I suck at titles. Promise it gets better. ;)
Jeff’s condo was actually pretty nice. Annie knew he’d furnished it expensively, but since Jeff had lived there for over a year now it almost managed an atmosphere of home. There were unwashed dishes in the sink-one glass, one plate, one fork-and a TV remote on the kitchen table. The TV itself was in the living room. It was a flat screen and the only thing on the wall. The couches, though, were black leather and covered with Jeff’s school books. Annie was surprised. She hadn’t realized he’d actually bought all the materials for his classes.
“Sorry if I offend your sense of order,” Jeff said. He walked ahead of Annie, sidestepping the occasional sock-long, black, professional-and scooping up a few magazines, which he then suspiciously tossed into a hall closet. Annie made a note and followed him upstairs.
“You can dump your coat anywhere,” Jeff said.
His voice boomed down the hall, echoing in the narrow corners and bounding off of various walls. There was a spare room that looked like it was largely for storage, given the cardboard boxes. A light flicked on down the hallway further. She kept going, locating the bathroom (second door on the right) which was color coordinated in blue and black and stocked with toothpaste and hair gel; a second bedroom (first door on the left) which had been turned into a study, with a desk, chair, computer, and a large poster of the New York skyline; and then the bedroom-
Annie wasn’t paying attention and almost walked into him.
“Sorry, should I give a tour? Uh.” Jeff gestured vaguely to things. “This is my condo.”
Annie nodded. “It’s nice.”
“It’s a condo,” Jeff said. He stood, Annie thought, awkwardly in the hallway. “There’s a bathroom if you want to dry off or shower. Actually-” He bolted past her, “let me make sure the shower’s okay.”
“I’m sure it’s fine.”
“You don’t have brothers, do you Annie?”
She was playing with her necklace and trying not to drip glitter everywhere. “No.”
“Right.” There was some scuffling and scrubbing and then Jeff called, “I don’t know where you want to sleep.”
Usually Annie liked taking charge, but there was something off-putting about being in someone’s house, Jeff’s house, and getting no direction. She peeked into his bedroom. It smelled like him, even from the doorway. Not that she spent a lot of time smelling him, but sometimes he overdid the cologne and a girl couldn’t help it. His bed had a wooden headboard and the sheets were blue and black, loosely arranged. There was a dresser with a long mirror that ran parallel to the bed.
There were no pictures of family or friends.
“I can take the couch if you want the bed,” Jeff said. Annie jumped, not realizing that he’d emerged from the bathroom. “The sheets are clean, I swear.”
“Okay,” Annie said. “Sure, thanks.”
He looked at her strangely and she wondered if she was supposed to fight him for the couch, and not be so quick to accept his bed.
***
The truth was Annie had never been in a man’s bed before. She and her gay boyfriend had done it in a closet, and the few times she’d slept with Vaughn had been outside. Vaughn insisted making love in nature was communicating with the lost earth-spirit of the soul. He said pillows and mattresses denied the earth. Also, he only had a futon.
Jeff’s pillow and mattress were very, very comfy, though. Annie curled beneath the sheets and let them pool over her shoulders, tuck beneath her chin. In the dresser’s mirror, she could see herself happily cocooned in the queen-sized bed. There was so much space left. She stretched her arms under Jeff’s pillow and inhaled deeply. She remembered him scooping her up earlier that evening. She remembered what it was like kissing him. Though it had happened months ago it was still vibrantly clear, even clearer than things associated with Vaughn.
She’d quickly determined a Jeff kiss was better than Vaughn sex, although it made her a little worried. Maybe sex just wasn’t what she’d hoped it would be. Or maybe she just wasn’t good at it. It wasn’t exactly something she could sit around and practice.
Annie turned over the thoughts in her head. She laid perfectly still, listening to her own breathing. Jeff’s sheets ruffled as she turned to her other side. Kissing him had been really nice. She kind of regretted that the entire time their mouths had been pressed to one another’s, she’d spent it thinking, Take that, Simmons!
Without thinking, she turned her head to the side and pressed her lips into Jeff’s pillow. She remembered touching Jeff’s face that day, how his scruff had itched her palm, and how his hands had dropped right to her hips like it was the most natural thing in the world, like he was relieved to do it, and how he’d pulled them both together, how he’d rocked against her for that split second.
Annie rolled over to her back and stared at the stationary ceiling fan. These were not appropriate thoughts to be having in Jeff’s bed.
“Take that, Simmons,” Annie muttered.
Annie wasn’t tired anymore, and really it was too early to fall asleep. Though her parents required that she go to bed early, usually she stayed up later in her room to study and get ahead of her work. From downstairs, she began to hear the muffle of conversation. She thought Jeff might’ve invited people over but then realized, after hearing a mechanical laughing track, that it was the TV.
She didn’t know if he wanted company, but she did. She got up and glanced over herself in the mirror. She looked a mess. She hadn’t taken Jeff up on his shower offer, too suspicious of what he was scrubbing away. As a result her hair was frizzy and beginning to fall into its natural curls. Her makeup had mostly smeared off, and she’d been trying to sleep in her rain-soaked clothes, because it seemed too weird to ask Jeff for something of his.
But if she was going downstairs, Annie reasoned, she’d need to use his clothes.
Which is how, after a few opened drawers, she stumbled upon his boxer-briefs and, to her embarrassment, some panties. She thought of Slater, but she was months ago and these probably belonged to any number of women who had come through the condo since then. They were black and lacy with small flower designs. Annie had looked at ones like that in the mall but never mustered up the courage to buy them. She was too afraid she’d be checking out with a thong and some friend of her mother’s would stop by to chat and see that little Annie Edison, unstable Annie Edison, was now having sex.
Annie gave up on the drawers and found a striped polo shirt in the closet. Because of course Jeff Winger was a man who would hang up even his polos. As far as she could tell, Jeff didn’t own a single pair of sweatpants or shorts. She glanced at herself in the mirror. The polo shirt fell down to her bare thighs. She imagined having the nerve to stroll downstairs like that, in his shirt only. She’d sit next to Jeff on the couch without a word and slowly, seductively, cross one leg over the other. She pictured his face, maybe panicked, maybe drawing the line, maybe impressed.
She knew she couldn’t do it.
“What are you wearing?” Jeff laughed as she stumbled down the stairs, far less elegant than she’d wanted.
Annie flopped next to him on the couch. “My clothes are wet.”
“So you found the ugliest pair of slacks I own. Didn’t I throw these out?”
“How do you not own any shorts?”
“I’m not a fan,” Jeff said. He hesitated, then admitted, “Honestly? I was told on several occasions I have chicken legs.”
Annie grinned. She kicked out her legs, watching the last six inches of fabric flap past her feet.
“They’re just legs,” Annie said.
“Easy for you to say. You have nice ones.” Jeff looked back at the TV and raised the remote to it. Some cartoon was on, but Annie was repeating his comment in her head.
“Do you like Robot Chicken?” Jeff asked.
She stopped whirling. Annie had never heard of it, but it didn’t take long for her to be appalled. Jeff spent more time watching her reactions than the show. He also found her expressions funnier than the show.
“Jeff, this is stupid.”
“Should we check out what’s on the Disney Channel?”
“I don’t watch the Disney Channel,” Annie said.
“Liar.”
“No.” This time Annie hesitated. Then, “My parents don’t believe in cable.” She didn’t tell him how she used to watch the Disney Channel in high school at her boyfriend’s house. He’d liked The Suite Life with Zack and Cody.
Jeff channel surfed for a little. At one point he got up and came back with two glasses of iced tea and a family-sized bag of ruffle chips.
He found some movie on TNT that featured a terrifyingly muscular Kurt Russell with an eye patch (“Escape from LA. You can’t tell me you’ve never seen this, Annie. It’s great, trust me”) and Annie drifted into a strange, mind numbing zone she’d only felt when popping pills. It was nice, in a way, because it came without rehab. And with Jeff.
Annie thought back to the homecoming disaster. The bag of chips was between her and Jeff, and he had his feet up on the coffee table.
“Why aren’t you at Britta’s party?” Annie asked suddenly.
Jeff shrugged. “I’ve been to them before. They’re fun, if you’re into that feministy sort of thing. As a man, though, you just kind of feel like you’re part of the problem.”
“I’m sure they’re not that bad.”
“I’d rather get drunk with Abed. Wow. That’s weird.” Jeff paused. “And besides, I promised Troy I’d help him sabotage himself. And I wanted to see this float that you obviously like more than us.”
Annie made a face. “That’s not true!”
“You bailed on study group three times for that thing.”
“It had to get done!”
“We didn’t have anyone to announce ninety-second study breaks. And you know how dangerous that is for learning brains.”
“You don’t understand,” Annie said. “This was my chance to redeem myself. I didn’t finish my float in high school. My psychiatrist said it was too much stress after the pill benders and I wouldn’t be able to handle it, and that’s exactly what my mother told the rest of Leo Club.”
“I never understood Leo Club,” Jeff said. “It has nothing to do with lions, right?”
“Jeff. Were you listening to what I said?”
“Sure.”
“It was worse than people hating me, Jeff. They thought I was a joke.”
She got quiet. On TV, Kurt Russell was soaring in a bat-shaped hang-glider and firing a machine gun against the bad guys below.
“My friends kind of think I’m a joke,” Jeff said.
“No we don’t.”
“I mean my friends back East. My lawyer friends. I guess they’re not friends, exactly, more like acquaintances, people I work with-used to work with.” Jeff sighed. “The thing is, Annie, you guys are my friends. And it was only when I met everyone here and was forced to hang out that I realized I’d never really had friends before.”
Kurt Russell was adding grenades to his rounds.
Other than that the room was silent.
“How does he do that and not lose control of the hang-glider?” Annie finally asked.
“My issue is more with depth-perception. He can’t shoot that accurately when he has a leather patch over one eye.”
“That’s not that hard,” Annie said. “It’s not like he’s aiming.”
“He has to be. Look at all the post-apocalyptic enemies he’s taking out.”
“You can do that with only one good eye. Look.” Annie reached over and cupped a hand over Jeff’s left eye. “See?”
“Only half as good as I used to.” Jeff grinned and blinked.
Annie felt his eyelashes brush against her palm. “You couldn’t accurately throw grenades from a hang-glider, though.”
“True, but then again I’m not the ‘80s edition of Kurt Russell. It’s like saying scouts don’t care about Troy because he’s not Chuck Norris. Plus this is TNT after midnight.” Jeff put one hand over her eye. “What do you think now?”
They stared at each other for a moment. Annie was kneeling next to him, the bag of chips crinkling by her legs. She watched Jeff out of her one eye and he did the same. The smile on his face had gotten less clever, more something else. He brushed his thumb across her eyebrow, but it might not have been intentional.
Annie wasn’t sure.
“I think I’m right,” Annie answered him. Her voice was softer than she wanted. Maybe that was a good thing.
But then again maybe it wasn’t. Annie slipped her hand away from his eye.
“And thank you for my depth perception back,” Jeff said. “It’s useful.”
“Yeah.” Annie hadn’t really moved. Jeff didn’t seem like he wanted her to, either. His hand drifted from her eye too, but instead of falling to his side or reaching for the chips again, it settled against her neck.
Annie closed her eyes.
“You really can’t see anything if you do that,” Jeff said.
She opened them and examined his face. It felt like she had all the time in the world.
“I want to kiss you again,” she said. “Can I do that?”
Jeff looked a little incredulous, then laughed.
“Stop, I want to do this right.” Annie didn’t know why she kept talking, but she couldn’t help it. “Because the first time all I could think of was beating City College, but then afterwards all I remembered was that, you know, your lips were…” She glanced down. “Can we move the chips?”
“Things aren’t perfect, Annie. You can’t prearrange everything.”
Annie paused. “I almost came down here without these pants. I mean, without any pants.”
“Okay,” Jeff said, like it was a minor detail, and kissed her. Annie moved her hands to his face, trying to recreate the first time. Only now he tasted less like mint and coffee and more like potato chips. He was being softer, too, maybe because he wasn’t as taken aback this time. His tongue dipped shallowly into her mouth between light kisses to her lips. Annie shifted, heard the bag crinkle and, feeling bold, drove her hands through his hair. He groaned, actually groaned, against her mouth-Vaughn had never done that-and Annie made a note and decided she needed more information.
She left his mouth and brushed kisses down his jawline before nipping at his neck, then raising her head a bit more to lick and suck at his earlobe. She’d seen it in a movie once. It was a part her mother always used to fast forward through when she was little, and then she saw it at a girl’s house when she was over for a middle school project. It was only a half minute of a demure sex scene, but to a twelve-year-old it was very revealing.
“Annie…?” Jeff whispered. He’d turned toward her more, his hands levitating above her waist but not quite touching, not pulling her towards him like she wanted.
Jeff’s clothes she was wearing suddenly felt too hot. She heard herself breathing irregularly against his neck. She bit her lip, grasped the corner of Jeff’s t-shirt once, felt the firmness of his stomach, and then let go.
She dropped her forehead against his cheek. “I don’t know what I’m doing.”
“Could’ve fooled me.” Jeff looked up at her. He ran his hand through her hair. “I like it curly.”
“It’s frizzy.”
“No, it looks nice. Pretty.” He dropped his hand away from her and she frowned. “Annie, I don’t want to do something that’s going to be a problem.”
The word “something” loomed in some large, seductive shape Annie couldn’t quite get a handle on. She wondered how much “something” included.
“God,” Jeff dropped his head back to the couch and rubbed a hand over his face. “You’re eighteen.”
“Nineteen.”
Jeff rolled his eyes as if the number cut their age difference in half. “Well in that case.”
Annie didn’t care. She tossed the potato chips onto the coffee table. Before Jeff could say anything she swung one leg over him so she was straddling him.
Jeff’s face momentarily went blank, his eyes dark. Annie had never been this forward. Every time before, with her old boyfriend or Vaughn, things had started out as kissing and then touching, and usually it was someone undressing her and guiding her the rest of the way.
Sometimes, she figured now, you can’t be taught. You just have to try.
“I haven’t really liked sex,” she blurted out.
Jeff’s brows lifted and knotted slightly, like he was stunned and amused by this sudden outpouring of personal information.
“So you figured if it’s joyless with me,” Jeff said, following her train of logic, “then it’s really across-the-board joyless.”
Annie looked at him expectantly.
“I… don’t think that’s a good enough reason for us to sleep together,” Jeff said. He gave her faux serious look. “Plus it puts a lot of pressure on me.”
“Okay.” Annie pursed her lips, thinking. “What if I want you?”
Jeff looked like he just got punched in the gut. “Shit, Annie.”
“I’m serious. What if I think about you a lot, about how we kissed? And what if I don’t think it’s just some childish thing?” She tilted her head to the side, trying to judge his face. “I’m not saying I’m in love with you. I’m saying… I like kissing you. And I trust you.”
Jeff watched her carefully. “Why?”
Annie shrugged. “Because you’re my friend.”
“You want more than that.”
“Do you?”
“I knew I should’ve locked you in my bedroom.” He paused. “That’s… not as kinky as it sounds.”
“Could’ve fooled me.”
Jeff smiled at her, sighed, and kissed her cheek. “Goodnight, Annie.”
She stared at him. “What?”
“Come on, Annie. You’re… I don’t know, you’re awesome. You deserve-” He broke off, shrugged. “I don’t know. Not this.”
“But I want-”
“Look, experience speaking, Annie? You don’t want this. And I wouldn’t be your friend if I wasn’t saying no.” He patted her once on the shoulder and started scooting away. Annie swung her legs back together and flopped dully on her side end of the couch.
“Jeff-”
“Just go upstairs, enjoy the fact that I just washed my sheets, and get some sleep. Tomorrow we’ll figure out what happened to your keys. Or we’ll-I don’t know, we’ll call someone to let you into your house.” Jeff stood up, gathered the empty iced tea glasses, and grabbed the bag. “You want any more chips?"
Annie didn’t say anything. She stared at the space between them, confused and embarrassed, unable to meet his eyes.
Jeff set everything back down on the coffee table and took her hand. He led her from the couch and to the base of the stairs. Annie linked her fingers between his. His skin was hot and face looked flushed.
“Your bed’s nice,” Annie said. It was a last measure. She took three steps up the staircase, still holding his hand. “Maybe you can just, I don’t know, sleep next to me? We don’t have to do anything.”
“It doesn’t work like that, Annie.” Jeff sighed again. He looked like he was going to say more, then instead squeezed her hand and gave her a small push up the stairs. “Please. Goodnight?”
Annie made herself nod.
***
At 3:34am-so said Jeff’s digital clock on the dresser-Annie woke up from a nightmare. In it, she’d been swallowed by a cardboard box and ended up in an underwater kingdom. Alice in Wonderland style, she ate some chips and sprouted to gargantuan heights. At which point her head popped out of the water and kept going, and finally got trapped against the sky. And still she kept growing. She thought she was going to run out of room when suddenly a giant bat swooped down and started throwing football-shaped grenades at the sky. The bat was talking like Abed.
“Vodka for Leo Club!” the bat said.
Annie woke up. She was grasping a pillow and for a second had no idea where she was. Groggily she remembered and, without further thought, got up to leave, intending to trample her way downstairs.
Jeff’s bed was too big to sleep in alone.
“Are you sleepwalking?”
Annie jumped a mile. Jeff’s voice was coming from the storage room she’d just passed. He was sitting on the ground, feet sprawled in front, his back resting against one of the cardboard towers labeled BDRM or KTCHN. Annie noticed new ones were opened and new things were out in the room.
“What are you doing?” she asked.
“I was bored and I couldn’t sleep. So unpacking seemed like a good idea. Then I got tired again.” Jeff said each sentence in monotone. He sounded as if he was the one who’d been sleepwalking.
Annie stood in the doorway. “Can I come in?”
“Sure.”
She sat down next to him and without hesitation rested her head on his shoulder. He put an arm around her and settled a hand into her hair, rubbing gently against her scalp.
“You can’t sleep either?” he asked.
Annie hummed a no. It was relaxing feeling the rise and fall of his body against hers.
“I had Kurt Russell induced nightmares,” she said.
Jeff laughed quietly. To Annie it felt like a low rumble. “Yeah. That happens to me, too.”
She paused. “I’m not a joke, am I?”
“I think we all are,” Jeff said. “I mean in a good way.”
“I don’t want you to think I’m a joke.”
“Annie. Would I be sitting on a really uncomfortable floor with you if I thought you were a joke?”
Annie mumbled a response, but she hadn’t really caught his whole sentence. She stretched one arm over his chest and snuggled against his shoulder.
She woke up again hours later. Early morning sunlight was slipping through the window. She was lying on the floor with a blanket thrown over her and a pillow tucked under her head. Next to her, Jeff was snoring and his hand was halfway beneath her pillow. He looked a bit like a hedgehog.
For once, Annie felt completely unrushed. She closed her eyes, hoping to sleep until noon, and smiled.
end.