A Study in Vacation Part 3
Summary: Ficcy Friday promt by sinecure. "Jeff sneaks away for a few weeks at the beginning of summer, avoiding everyone, wanting to clear his head of everything school and friend related. Out of the blue, he calls Annie and invites her to join him. Can be friendship/romance/full on 24-hour-a-day smut, whatever."
Rating: M for Languange and Smut
Disclaimer: Not mine!
Word Count: 11,766 This kind of got away from me.
A/N: I sort of hate this and sort of don't, but I've been messing with it for long enough. Also, it's set where it is because it's where I've spent the majority of my vacations so it's easiest for me to work into a story.
The next morning when Jeff woke up, he knew he had a headache before even opening his eyes. He also knew he was in bed and Annie was beside him, her face pressed into his bicep, but he had no idea how they got there. The last thing he remembered was laying on the floor in the living room. He slowly opened his eyes, preparing himself for the onslaught of light, and was eternally grateful when he realized it was cloudy outside. A quick glance at the clock told him it was 12:15. He found himself in the struggle between wanting to crawl under the covers and stay there, or getting up for water and Advil. Years of hangovers eventually swayed his decision and he forced himself out of bed and into the bathroom. After downing a glass of water and two Advil he refilled the glass and grabbed two more for Annie when she woke up.
When he shuffled back to the bedroom Annie was already beginning to stir. She moaned and covered her eyes with her hand. “Jeff?”
“I’m here. Here, I got you some Advil.”
She propped herself up just enough to swallow them with a sip of water and went to put the glass on the bedside table.
“Finish the water,” He instructed as he climbed back in bed.
Annie did as she was told then laid back down. “I don’t remember coming to bed,” She mumbled quietly.
“I don’t either. But my jeans are off and you’re still dressed.”
“Ugh, you’re right. I hate sleeping in my bra.” She wiggled around a bit then pulled the red garment out from under the covers and threw it on the floor.
“I must be hung over, I don’t even care that you just did that.”
“Because you haven’t seen them enough lately?”
“Babe, trust me, I’ll never get tired of seeing your tits.” He rubbed his eyes with the heel of his hand, “We should eat something.”
“Ugh. Do you want me to throw up on you? Because I will.”
“It helps. Trust me, I’ve been doing this a hell of a lot longer than you.”
Annie sighed into her pillow, “If you cook it then fine, I’ll try it your way.”
Jeff leaned over and kissed her head then dragged himself out of bed again and headed downstairs. He searched the kitchen for something that was quick and settled on a box of frozen waffles in the freezer. After forcing themselves to eat they decided to head to the beach. They set up two chairs under an umbrella even though it was cloudy and they both had sunglasses on. The light wasn’t their friend right now.
Annie pulled off her baby blue cover up to reveal a white bikini with pink and orange polka dots. Jeff’s eyes wandered over her curves. “I’ve decided that’s my favorite bikini.”
She laughed and sat down, “I would think it would be the red one, it’s a little smaller.”
“Oh, I appreciate the merits of the red one, too, believe me.”
She stretched out on the lounge chair and turned her head to look at him, “I hate to admit that you were right, but I do feel a little better after eating.”
“Told you. I know my hangover cures.”
They sat in silence for a while, both of them drifting in and out of sleep as they rode out their remaining hangovers. A seagull landed next to Jeff’s chair, he heard the noise and forced his eyes open to see the bird staring back at him. He hated seagulls. He clapped his hands together loudly to startle it and it flew off again.
Unfortunately it startled Annie as well. She jumped and turned her head towards him, “What the hell? I was half asleep.”
“There was a seagull.”
She blinked at him, “We’re at the beach.”
“No, I mean it was right there, it was looking at me.”
“So?”
“So it was looking at me with it’s creepy, beady little bird eyes! Don’t look at me like that.”
Annie rolled her eyes, “You’re so weird.”
“There’s the pot calling the kettle black.”
“Whatever, I’m not freaked out by a bird looking at me.”
“Anyway,” He said, abruptly changing the subject, “I’ve been thinking, we should probably head back to Colorado soon. I’ve been here for a month already and I don’t want Pete to think I’m taking advantage of him or anything. Plus I think I’m ready to go back.”
“Yeah, I guess you’re right. But, umm, what’s gonna happen then?”
Jeff shrugged, “We clean up the house and hire a car to take us to the airport.”
“No, with you know…us. I mean this isn’t exactly real life, at least not our real life. What’s going to happen when we get back to Greendale? Is this just a secret vacation-world thing?” Her voice was quiet and she was looking down at her hands. All of the worries that she had done such a good job of suppressing over the past few weeks suddenly came flooding to the surface.
Jeff held his arm out and motioned for her to come to him, she got up from her chair and went to sit on his lap. He put his finger under her chin and titled her head up so she would meet his eyes, “Hey, listen, I don’t want this to end if you don’t.”
Annie took a deep breath, “I don’t want it to end, either.”
He smiled, “Well then it seems like we’re finally on the same page doesn’t it?”
Annie allowed herself to relax a bit and returned his smile, “I guess so.”
Jeff wrapped his arms around her, “And I guess we should probably have the talk we’ve been avoiding for the past few weeks.”
She raised an eyebrow, “Jeff Winger is initiating a DTR?”
“What’s a DTR?”
“The ‘define the relationship’ talk.”
“You kids and your lingo.”
Annie laughed and dropped her forehead to his chest before looking up at him again. “And now that you know what it means you can see why I’m surprised.”
“Hey, I’m shocked, too. As Abed would say, this isn’t really my jam.”
“There’s the understatement of the century.”
Jeff rolled his eyes but he was smiling, “Yeah, yeah. But I’m ready now, or as ready as I’ll ever be at least.”
“Okay, you go first.”
“Well, I want to be with you. And not in a secret or weird, undefined way. I want to be with you in a boyfriend-girlfriend kind of way.”
Annie beamed at him, “That’s what I want, too. You can say the ‘R’ word you know, or even the ‘D’ word.”
“Dick?” He teased. She laughed and swatted his chest. “Okay, okay. Annie, lets officially start dating. Otherwise known as being in a relationship.”
“Aww look at you using grown up terms like that! I’m so proud. But what are we going to tell everyone?”
Jeff sighed and pulled her into his chest, “That is a bit of a problem isn’t it? They all think you’re in Pennsylvania with your Aunt.”
“I love our friends but sometimes they really are a pain.”
He rubbed her back, “Yes they are. I can’t believe I’m going to say this, but we should probably just tell them the truth. They’ll eventually find out somehow anyway and then it’ll blow up in our faces even more.”
“I think that’s the best way to go, too,” Her voice muffled slightly against his skin. “Wait, when has Abed ever said something isn’t his jam?”
“During the My Dinner with Andre thing.”
Annie pulled back to look up at him, thoroughly confused, “What? What’s My Dinner with Andre?”
Jeff chuckled and kissed the top of her head, “Don’t worry about it.”