Applied Human Mechanics (2a/?)
Title: Applied Human Mechanics - Group Support Systems (2a/?)
Author:
rorge
Character/Pairing: Jeff, Annie, Britta, Jeff/Annie
Rating: PG-13
Genre: Drama, Angst, Romance
Word Count: 2329
Summary: The group gets Jeff drunk, to find out what the problem is.
Disclaimer:I own the seven bucks in my pocket, and a few other odds and ends. No TV shows, though.
A/N: This chapter ended up being much bigger than I anticipated, so I've had to split it in two. As a result, this half is all Annie POV, and is light on those frivolous things like dialogue and plot movement. Oh well....
Annie peered at her reflection in the mirror critically. The dress looked pretty good, she decided. Sleek, simple and black, with a smidgin more than a hint of cleavage. A year ago, she'd probably have blushed at the mere thought of wearing it. But then, a year was a long time, she'd come to realize.
This time last year, she had been living in a rat hole above a marital aid store, fretting about how to survive on the remnants of her savings, contemplating transferring away from Greendale, and from her friends, and lusting after an arrogant, superior, infuriatingly handsome guy who just happened to be one of her closest friends.... OK, maybe not everything had changed since then. She sighed in frustration, and slumped down to sit on the edge of her bed.
Still, at least she had a nicer apartment now. She could hear Troy and Abed chattering away about something she probably wouldn't understand, and smiled to herself. In the weeks since she'd moved in, they'd been pretty good roommates, all things considered. After that initial blow up about their Dreamatorium, and then the drama over Abed's Batman DVD, Annie had feared that they'd be a little skittish around her, but luckily, they both had thicker skin than she did. On the downside, she was getting a little tired of being forced to stay up until two in the morning, watching movies that Mystery Science Theater 3000 would have turned their noses up at. That was a small price to pay, she supposed.
Her eyes were drawn back to the mirror, which inevitably drew her mind back to Jeff Winger. She sighed again. Why bother dressing up? She wondered darkly. It's not like this is a real birthday celebration. Just some scheme Britta's concocted to get him talking. Then, even less charitably, she thought, why doesn't she just bang it out of him?
The image made her stomach twist dully. It wasn't like the sharp stabbing she'd felt when Abed had revealed that Jeff was sleeping with Britta, and had been for months, so she supposed she could thank heaven for small mercies. But again, why bother dressing up? To impress Jeff? It's not like he'll even notice if Britta's planning on monopolizing his time tonight. Well maybe that didn't matter. Maybe she could meet a nice guy who would actually be interested in her, and honest enough about it to actually do something. The reflection in the mirror was frowning at her accusingly, as though offended that she would think herself capable of moving on that easily. Face it, you're completely hung up on him. Have been for the best part of two years now.
Thinking about Jeff was difficult. Annie really had no idea where she stood with him, or how he might decide to treat her on any given day. She'd wanted to forget all about him after finding out that he and Britta had been having sex all last year. Hell, she'd wanted to rip his heart out and stomp on it for leading her on with all those smiles and twinkly eyed looks. For letting her get the wrong idea. Again. And then for pointing out to the whole group how foolish she'd been. But it seemed that the old adage was true. Absence does make the heart grow fonder, and after barely seeing him for three months over the summer, she'd felt a little jolt in her chest when she'd hugged him hello on the first day of semester.
Somehow, she was forgiving him. How did he do that? And just a few weeks after that, they had ended up in that Model U.N. Battle Royal. Jeff's words that day were seared into Annie's brain. “When you feel the way I feel about you”. She'd tried, over and over, to piece together what he was trying to tell her, and to figure out whether it meant what she desperately wanted it to mean.
He hadn't given her much chance to ask any follow up questions, though. Annie could count on the fingers of one hand the number of times they had been alone together since that day. He was avoiding her. That was the only conclusion she'd been able to draw. Still, at least he wasn't calling her 'kid', or verbally patting her on the head every time he spoke to her. Sighing, she thought she should probably be thankful of that, at the very least.
As she stared miserably at herself, Abed knocked on her door and said they were ready to head out to the bar. Annie gave the reflection one last frown, and grabbed her purse as she strode purposefully to the door.
*
The bar was pretty quiet, which Annie hadn't anticipated, though now she thought about it, 8:30 on a Thursday evening probably wasn't exactly peak time for drinking and carousing. Jeff and Britta were already ensconced in a booth, sitting opposite one another and looking very cozy, by the time Annie arrived with Troy and Abed. She gave them a quick wave, then grabbed both of the boys by the arm and dragged them towards the bar. She didn't really feel like watching Britta coax Jeff's secrets out of him.
“Hey, what's they hurry, Annie?” Troy asked in bemusement. “You know you're still not old enough to drink. But maybe if you ask nicely, I'll buy you one or two to tide you over.”
She fixed him with a withering glare. “I'm not drinking, Troy. Designated driver, remember?”
“Oh. Right. Well in that case, I guess I'll have to drink your drinks as well.” He grinned broadly and signaled to the bar tender.
Annie fixed both hands on the edge of the bar, squaring her shoulders, back firmly to Jeff and Britta, and peered around curiously. This was the infamous bar that the two of them had argued about on Troy's birthday, without realizing they were talking about the same place. Annie didn't think it looked to be anything special. Pool table in one corner, television hanging off the wall in another, generally clean and well maintained.
She was distracted from her overview by Troy poking a glass of lemonade towards her, and then leaning on the bar in what Annie assumed was an attempt to look cool. “Not a bad place this, is it?” He said, airily. “Though, I've been to better bars.”
Annie rolled her eyes. “Right, Troy. You're the expert.” Reluctantly, she looked over at Jeff and Britta, expecting to see them almost cheek to cheek as they talked about something intimate. Instead, Jeff was looking right back at her, a bemused expression on his face, and Britta was gesturing them over almost manically. “OK, well it looks like we should head over there.”
She was surprised when Abed zoomed past her, dragging Troy with him, and pushed his friend into the booth next to Britta, before sitting down next to him. Annie hesitated for a moment, realizing that meant sitting next to Jeff. She shot a brief glare at Abed's studiously blank face, and sat, inching along the vinyl seat until she was close enough to not look uncomfortable.
“Hey, Jeff,” she tried, jovially. “So, happy birthday. Officially.” Troy and Abed chorused their own salutations.
Jeff smiled back at her, one eyebrow quirked. “Thank you, Annie. Troy, Abed.” Then he peered down at her glass with what looked like disapproval. “What's that you're drinking?”
She suddenly felt the urge to throw the lemonade in his face. Paternalistic again, Jeff? Screw you! Of course, all she said was, “I'm the designated driver. Well, along with Abed. So don't worry. No alcohol for me.”
He just smiled, and Annie felt her cheeks heat. “I can't think of a better candidate to be the 'responsible one'.”
And just like that, she wanted to apologize for words she hadn't even said, for things she hadn't even done. He was some sort of wizard! Before she could respond, Shirley appeared, flapping her hands for Annie to move up so she could sit next to her. “Good evening, guys. Jeffrey, I'm glad you've chosen to be with your friends tonight.”
“It's just my birthday, Shirley, I'm not dying.” He turned slightly in his seat, and Annie found herself in unnervingly close proximity to his chest as she made room for Shirley. She could smell him, she realized, as her stomach tightened. Something that she assumed had to be very expensive aftershave, a fresh, spicy scent, layered over an earthier, almost musky smell that was just Jeff. It wasn't the first time she'd been close enough to appreciate it, but it had been a while. It took all her willpower not to breathe in as deeply as she could.
“Well, I just think it's nice to share it with friends.” Shirley carried on, oblivious to Annie's torture.
Jeff raised his drink in mock salute, and smiled. Annie tried not to look at him, and instead watched Britta and Troy as they exchanged a few words that were too quiet to hear. Intrigued, she glanced over at Abed, to see if he'd spotted the byplay, and he waggled his eyebrows at her, producing a giggle, before casting his eyes over the rest of the group.
“Hey, where's Pierce?” Annie asked, suddenly realizing that the booth was only big enough for six people. “Someone grab an extra chair for him.”
“Oh, don't you worry about Pierce,” Britta said, pointing across the bar. “He's been and bought Jeff a drink, now he's 'casting his net' as he put it.” Sure enough, Annie spotted him leaning against the bar on the other side of the room, chatting to an older woman with rigid looking platinum blond hair.
“Ew.” She wrinkled her nose, leaned back in her seat, and almost gasped in shock. At some point in the last couple of minutes, Jeff had draped his arm casually across the back of the booth, behind Annie's head. Just at the right height that, as Annie leaned back, her neck came into contact with the bare skin of his arm. He was warm, very warm, and she could feel the firm musculature of his forearm and the curve of his elbow. She resisted the urge to lean further into his touch, and glanced up at him. He was peering down at his drink avidly, as though it held the answers to all of life's secrets, but she could see the tightness in his jaw, and felt a tiny surge of victory. She decided to leave her head where it was.
*
The next couple of hours passed interestingly for Annie, as she watched the rest of them become more lugubrious and less inhibited with each drink. She imagined that this was what it was sometimes like for Abed, as he sat, observing the group. Right now, he was engaging Troy in a frankly stimulating conversation about the practicalities of Blorgon design if they were to invade Earth, while Troy divided his attention between his best friend and trying to grab snatches of conversation with Britta. Britta herself was painstakingly obvious in her efforts to have casual conversation with Jeff, who spent most of his time looking around at the group, an odd little half smile on his face.
Annie engaged him in brief conversation several times, but somehow, she didn't quite know what to say to this Jeff. The guy lounging in a bar, looking like he owned the place, cradling a glass of scotch and water in his hand. He was still Jeff, of course, but somehow there was something unfamiliar about him. After his initial discomfort when she had rested her head in the crook of his elbow, he had soon relaxed again when no one commented on it, and perhaps when he realized that she wasn't going to move away. Or maybe that bit was just wishful thinking on her part.
Pierce never did make it back to their table. She spotted him trying to leave covertly, just a couple of minutes after the woman he'd spent the evening talking to had walked out, casting a loaded look back at him. Annie had tried not to think about that.
When Shirley announced that she'd better get home before Andre locked Elijah and Jordan in a closet to get some peace, Britta apparently took that as a sign that the rest of them should clear the table so she could have her all important talk with Jeff. She suddenly blurted out, “Hey, Troy, the pool table's free now, if you and Abed want to play a few games.”
Troy looked baffled by the segue, and was about to ask what she was talking about, when Abed, clearly quicker on the uptake, stood.
“Yeah, I'll show you that trick shot I saw the guy do on youtube.” He said, and Annie took the opportunity he offered.
“Ooh, I want to see that too. I love... trick shots.” She squirmed away from Jeff and out of the booth, the back of her neck suddenly cold. Casting a quick look back, she saw that Jeff clearly knew what was going on. Oh well, she thought. Good luck, Britta. Though for some reason, she couldn't quite muster the full force behind that wish. The idea of Britta knowing things about Jeff that no one else did made her uncomfortable enough, but now that they were expecting Jeff to confide in her as well? Annie frowned, realizing how selfish she was being. If this was what Jeff needed, then she should want Britta to get through to him. Firmly stamping down her jealousy, Annie fixed her eyes on the pool table, and tried to think about anything but the conversation that was happening twenty or so feet behind her.