There's Only One Girl In the World For You (7/?)
Title: There’s only one girl in the world for you (7/?)
Author: lapacifidora
Spoilers: Season 1 and into an AU Season 2
Rating/ Warnings: PG-13, for the time being
Word Count: 1,654
Disclaimers: Not mine. Although I think Dan Harmon knows this friend of mine and based Troy on her… The title comes from a Wreckless Eric song.
Author’s note: This is for shan21non ’s Ficcy Friday prompt for Greendale’s inaugural study abroad program. Gold stars for everyone who has responded thus far. This chapter sort of kicked my ass, even though I had such high hopes for it. Bugger. On to the next part, I guess. I think that one should be less of a pain to write.
Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6
***
If Jeff was going to act all bajiggity about Faux Celebrity Teresa (Real Name: Darla Ann. No lie.), then Annie was allowed to be pleasant to Luc Tacconet.
She drew the line at true flirting; but the guy was 25, if he was a day, built like a movie star body double, with bed head to rival Jeff’s and a face that wouldn’t have been out of place in a Macy’s Sunday flier.
But if she laughed at his jokes and asked for the name of Luc’s favorite coffee shop, bemoaning a little too earnestly the lack of a decent cup of coffee anywhere on campus - so far VCC’s only gastronomical failing, as far as the group was concerned - that was her prerogative.
And if Luc gave her his full attention and offered to show her the stationery good store a couple of blocks from campus sometime (it claimed the largest college-ruled notebook selection this side of the Rockies), who was Annie to begrudge a polite, attractive, smart guy her time and focus in return?
(Annie resolutely refused to believe Jeff’s behavior the rest of their first week in Vancouver - acting sullen; being unhelpful with comparing class notes; not setting foot inside her bedroom; and claiming the cafeteria was out of fries by the time he got there - meant anything.
He still hadn’t told her what had happened with Britta. They weren’t dating. The last physical contact they’d had was at the beginning of the week on the plane up here.
And rather than ask Jeff why he was acting like this, she’d pop a piece of gum or chew on her pen whenever she thought she might ask him how the weather was on Planet Crazy and if he’d had a nice trip to the Bay of You’re-acting-like-a-baby.)
***
The first weekend was busy, with trips to the Art Gallery and the Museum of Anthropology.
(The group had practically had to flank Annie on all sides to keep her from slipping off to go visit the Admissions office once she got a good look at the University of British Columbia’s campus. Jeff had finally had to lure her toward the museum with a promise to visit the office before they left the province; even then, she continued to look wistfully in the direction of the administrative buildings.)
The bright spots were Saturday night’s dinner at Delilah’s Conviction gastropub, where the food was good (if a little overpriced), and the study group had been able to relax in their new city and have some fun. And Shirley’s pumpkin waffles the next morning had everyone, Professor Whitman included, asking her why she was focusing on brownies when she ought to be looking at opening a little café or restaurant.
But the entire time - as Troy and Abed had argued about doing an entire stop-action movie about burgers and fries, a la “Better Off Dead”; as Britta had sulked, frustrated that despite breaking out her black miniskirt, Dean Wentworth still hadn’t noticed her; as Shirley had hovered, making it clear the study group would be filling in as her kids until she was stateside again; as Pierce had, amazingly, become less offensive the better the food got - Annie couldn’t think of anything except Jeff talking to her only when it seemed he had to.
So it was no wonder Annie lay in bed early Monday morning, wondering if Luc was ever going to get around to asking her out on a date.
***
Jeff was surveying his hair when he felt someone eyes on his back. He looked up in the mirror and met Annie’s eyes.
“Morning.”
“Good morning.”
“I was wondering if I could get in for a few minutes?”
“Oh, of course. I didn’t realize you hadn’t done your hair yet.”
“Oh, I have.” Annie ran a hand through her hair, which she’d pulled back on one side with a clip. “I just need to brush my teeth. Fresh breath adds so much to a good impression, you know.”
***
Annie was out of her seat before Jeff had closed his notebook. He looked up to ask her what the rush was, but she was already out the door. Shaking his head, Jeff grabbed the books he’d tucked under his seat.
“Jeffrey, isn’t it?” Jeff looked up and, for a moment, dark red cotton filled his field of vision. He craned his neck up farther, then stood to face the woman standing in the row of seats in front of him.
“It is, but I prefer Jeff. You’re…uh, Darlene?”
“Darla Ann, actually. But I supposed I can understand the mix-up.” The woman smiled and Jeff thought for a minute that she might pretty - if her plastic surgeon hadn’t apparently had a vendetta against her. “I was wondering if, seeing how your girlfriend seems awfully cold, you maybe wanted to meet up later for lunch?”
“My girl-? Annie? No. She’s not my girlfriend.”
“Then it won’t matter to her if I show you this fab sushi place I know, will it?” Darla Ann tossed her long, dark hair and shifted her weight, her massive rack looming across the back of the row of seats and coming ever closer toward him.
“That’s actually a very kind offer, Darla, but-”
“Darla Ann. Though I suppose you could call me Dee, if you’re nice.”
“Darla Ann. It was very sweet of you to offer to take me to lunch, but I’ve got a standing lunch date.”
“I thought you said she wasn’t your girlfriend?”
“She’s not. But if I’m not there to have lunch with my friends-”
“They’ll miss you terribly?”
“Maybe. More likely, someone’ll come out with a black eye.” Jeff nodded politely to her and left the now empty classroom.
***
Heading toward his next class, Jeff was deep in thought. He managed to bump into only a few people, absently excusing him self as he went.
But he wasn’t paying enough attention to see that Blaine had come round a corner ahead, seen him and stopped and was now waiting for Jeff.
“Dude.”
“Wha-Blaine.”
“Dude. Um. Jeff? Listen, I need to talk to you.”
“Blaine, let me stop you right now. I can’t tell you what Annie thinks of you. I barely even know what’s going inside her head most of the time. But I can tell you that she doesn’t seem interested, so it’s probably a good idea if you just leave her al-”
“Dude. That’s not what I wanted to talk to you about. I get that Annie’s not interested in me, but I still think she seems like a groovy chick, and I’d be soarry to see-”
Jeff sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. “Lying about being a lawyer can’t be enough to deserve this.”
“What?”
“Nothing.” Jeff rubbed his forehead and shifted from one foot to the other. “Look, Blaine, I’m sure that, under the right circumstances, you’re a decent human being. And maybe, y’know, if you bathed regularly, and I didn’t already have an ingrained loathing of hackey sack players, we might even be guys who’d nod to each other when they saw each other in a bar. But I’m not going to be your way to get to Annie. If you don’t mind.” And Jeff took off around Blaine onto his next class.
“Dammit.” Blaine looked after Jeff and shook his head. “Now, where’d that blonde chick get to?”
***
The strain between Annie and Jeff hadn’t yet been enough to throw off the group’s dynamic, but by Tuesday lunch, the others were starting to notice that something was off.
It didn’t improve when Annie was intercepted by Luc on her way back to the table while she was on a cookie run. The group watched the way Luc leaned into Annie, the way she laughed and gestured animatedly and the way Luc’s hand hovered by her elbow. Luc said something to Annie and after a moment’s thought, she nodded and pointed to the table. Luc turned to look over his shoulder at the group and six heads snapped to stare down at their trays.
Annie reappeared, literally vibrating with energy.
“Hey, Annie. You look like Mr. Muzzles when I’m opening a bag of treats.” Britta smiled and Shirley nodded emphatically.
“She does.” Annie blushed a little as she sat down and handed round the cookies she’d gone up to get. “Annie, did that nice boy ask you on a date?”
“He did.” Annie looked pleased with herself, but wouldn’t look at the rest of the table.
“Details, girl. Where’s he taking you?” Shirley leaned forward, her hands clasped to her chest and a wistful look on her face.
“He has a friend who runs an art gallery downtown. There’s a show opening Saturday night, and Luc says there’s a nice coffee shop down the street. It’s nothing fancy, but it sounds like fun.”
“Oh, that’s nice. We should find a mall, and get you something to wear.”
“Shirley, Annie doesn’t have to go out and buy some piece of sweat-shop-manufactured frippery to get Luc’s attention.” As she often did, Britta had missed the point of Shirley’s suggestion entirely. Pierce and Troy were carefully avoiding each other’s eyes, their faces showing they were having trouble not laughing.
“‘Frippery’?” Jeff said quietly, leaning toward Abed.
“In an interesting but not unexpected turn of events, the English classes Britta and I are taking have provided her with a new and improved vocabulary. Her astute observations on the reading assignments so far - not to mention the miniskirt she’s been rocking - have made her a popular feature in those classes. She believes the popularity is related entirely to her intelligence, and consequently she has begun using her new words in every day conversation.”
Jeff nodded and sat back in his seat, watching as Shirley, Annie and Britta went back and forth about the possibility of a mall trip before Saturday night.
***