[for Abed and Annie]

[wingerguarantee]

When Jeff hadn't bumped into Britta in a couple of days, he didn't really think much of it at the time. There'd been times before where she made herself scarce, for one reason or another, and he just assumed that was the case this time as well. Even when Abed approached him after the third day of not seeing her around, he more or less shrugged it

Comments

[psychoenough]

Because she was only scheduled for one afternoon class, Tuesdays and Fridays were designated homework days for Annie, who needed the downtime to catch up on the busier school days, go over her notes, and practice the latest exercises from Women's Self Defense. Needless to say, she scarcely has time for much else, but it was worth it (or so she told herself), and she loved all of her classes. She was even enjoying Abed's film class, although ideally there would be fewer black and white films, more epic retellings of classic love stories. Not that she had time for those, either.

The knock at the door was as unexpected as it was unwelcome. Without looking up from her work, sprawled over a blanket on the floor of their shared living area, Annie called for Britta to get the door. Ten to one, it was her visitor, anyway. One of her good friends, perhaps. When no response came from the room adjacent, Annie rose to her feet and stomped across the expanse of the hut, only to find that Britta wasn't asleep in her room as expected. Finally, she dragged herself over to open the door, moaning the entire ten seconds it took to reach it.

An apologetic smile. No hello. "Guys, can you come back later? I'm really busy."

[wingerguarantee]

While he'd been hoping for Britta to show her to Abed so they could drop the entire thing, Annie was just as good in this instance. If she hadn't shown up at the hut for days, it had to be something that'd be noticed, right? And Annie didn't seem particularly upset.

"One second, Annie," he said, stepping forward a little just so she didn't close the door in their faces to go...do whatever it was she was doing. Work, probably, because she'd taken a ridiculous amount of classes (in his mind, anyway). In a tone that was obviously showing he was just humoring their friend, he continued, "Look, Abed here thinks Britta might be missing. Have you seen her around lately?"

[cool_coolcool]

"I told him you've been busy with schoolwork and might not have noticed, but he wouldn't listen."

As usual, he could have added, but Abed really wasn't capable of that kind of bitterness.

"It's impossible for me to say for sure that she hasn't been seen by anyone. I had considered that someone said something to her, most likely Jeff, and she's decided to put some distance been herself and the offending party, but that seems unlikely."

[psychoenough]

"You guys, we live together, I think I would realize if she went missing," said Annie, looking both hurt and offended that either one of them could expect so little of her. Then she thought about it carefully, and her face fell even more than it already had. Slowly, she craned her neck to glance back into the hut and finally noticed that the most recently dirtied laundry scattered about Britta's area of their home had been lying there for a few days at least. She couldn't recall seeing Britta in Introduction to Sociology or History and Appreciation of Film, either. There were a number of reasons that could be cited for the void in her memory, but each one fell short; she knew as well as anyone in the group that Britta was not the kind of women who flew under the radar. Even when she was trying to remain unnoticed by the Man, she made it her exact intentions known to all, and was frequently easier to catch for it. "Okay, now I'm not so sure. Neither of you have seen her?"

[wingerguarantee]

"Hey, what do you mean, 'most likely Jeff'?" he asked, scowling. And, okay, he was probably right, but at that moment he was in no mood to be blamed for something he didn't do. They'd even been getting along better recently. Whatever 'better' was in comparison to how they usually were. Before he could think more about it, Annie cut in, and his attention was immediately on her.

For the first time since this all was brought up, he felt a weird twist in his stomach that he refused to acknowledge was worry. "Wait, you mean you haven't seen her either?"

[cool_coolcool]

"What I mean is, statistically, Britta's most dramatic emotional responses occur when you're directly involved," Abed explained, politely stepping out of his shoes before walking over to sit on the blanket spread out in the living area.

At that point, Abed fell quiet, thinking it best to let them work the rest out for themselves.

[psychoenough]

Despite how long they had been friends, Annie was not sure that she would ever completely warm some of Abed's quirks. He has an unsettling way of being nonchalant about things that cause others such as herself deep, emotional stress, and it both disoriented her and made her envious. She would not have turned down the ability to remain levelheaded at a time like this, for example. Her eyes widened as they followed him into the living area that she and Britta had shared - still shared, because despite her reluctance to show it, she cared a great deal whether Britta came or went and refused to believe the latter until she had incontrovertible proof.

She directed her attention back to Jeff, and, with a rueful half-smile, admitted: "I can't remember! I've been really busy, Jeff, not all of us are content to slack through life with nothing to show for it and oh my god, I'm such a terrible friend! I live with her and I didn't notice she was missing."

[wingerguarantee]

He wanted to point out that there was a huge difference between being busy and being completely unaware of her surroundings, but she pointed it out for him. Working his jaw, he tried his best to think of the last time he'd seen her. It'd been days, at least, but how many of those were on purpose and how many weren't?

"Look, when was the last time you did see her?" he asked. Maybe they could ask other people she knew if they'd seen her since that day. Not that he knew more than one or two people who spoke to her, but they'd burn that bridge when they got there. He was doing his damndest to be level headed about this, though there was a tenser tone to his voice now that the information was sinking in. Glancing at Abed, he added, "You too. When was the last time you've talked to her?"

[cool_coolcool]

"Three days ago, after class. She asked if she could have an extension on an assignment," Abed answered, needing no time at all to recall the last time they'd spoken. He could've given the exact time if they'd asked for it, but after two years, he'd finally learned that giving the minimum amount of detail, at least to start, was always best for them.

"I gave her the extension, even though she'd written down the wrong date and she wasn't technically late with it, yet. I probably should've told her."

[psychoenough]

Annie's heart stopped at Abed's mention of an assignment. Frantically, she raced through the imaginary agenda and various to-do lists she kept filed away in her head, none of which included a film assignment due around the appropriate time. Only when Abed explained further did she relent, releasing a heavy sigh. Returning her thoughts to Britta, Annie tried to recall the last conversation they had had and saw little success. She was having trouble distinguishing one argument from the other, and because they had yet to implement the laundry and cleaning schedule Annie had suggested, there was no way for her to double check. "I told you, I don't know!" she snapped, making an enormously exaggerated effort to cross her arms over her chest. "Sometimes she doesn't come home at night and I just assume she's off... you know, doing Britta things." It sounded better than what she had originally though to say, which included such words as questionable and debauched. "And it's not like I can always be around to log her at-home hours, you guys. I have responsibilities!"

[wingerguarantee]

Jeff had given up hope on getting from Annie an exact timeframe of when she might've stopped showing up. He could say the same as Abed, mostly - three days ago, after class, they'd hung out a while, and that was it. That was the last time he'd seen her. Which didn't really help much at all. She could've gone anywhere in three days.

"There has to be something on the island for when things like this happen," he said, still trying to remain logical in a situation that made no sense. She couldn't be gone. "Right? Maybe up at the Compound."

[cool_coolcool]

"Unless someone reported her missing, it isn't likely anyone knows any more than we do. Even then, it seems to be widely accepted that people disappear from here without warning or explanation."

Written in and out of the story like reoccurring guest stars.

[psychoenough]

"The Island Council keeps a running record of disappearances, and so does Loss Services, I think, but all of that information is offered by citizens on a voluntary basis," Annie informed them. She spoke quickly, sounding just as frantic and distressed as she felt, and didn't gasp for breath until the entire sentence had been blurted out. That she had read up on how the island's government operates was admittedly proving useful, and she was grateful just to have something to contribute, but it didn't get them any closer to finding Britta.

[wingerguarantee]

"So that's it? We're just assuming she's gone?" he asked, looking between the two of them with a scowl. Even as he said it, though, he knew he was fighting a losing battle against logic at this point. Where else would she be? The jungle? No one would go looking for someone who wouldn't go into the jungle usually if he even tried to suggest it. That he couldn't come up with a single thing they could do didn't strengthen his argument any.