Spoilers: Current
Disclaimer: I don't own Community.
Author's Note: So I've wanted to write this story for about a year, and I finally got around to it. It takes place in the summer after season 5. The title comes from the song From Finner by Of Monsters and Men.

Thanks to my friend Caitlin for the beta. On here she's Wandering Violinist but regardless I'd thought I'd throw her a shout out.

#

It's the last week of June and Jeff finds himself in one of the recliner seats at Annie and Abed's apartment. He's drinking a glass of iced tea while reclined as far back as he can in his chair. Annie's sitting in the recliner next to him splitting her attention between watching TV and painting her nails a cheery shade of yellow.

Nothing's on, so they're watching a special on the Travel Channel on the top fifteen most expensive hotel suites.

This is pretty much his life for now.

One of the few perks of working at Greendale is the fact he receives random vacations in the year, and from now until a few weeks after the Fourth of July he has off before he has to begin his summer school classes. But for right now lounging around doing nothing is pretty typical, that or he hangs out with Annie a lot.

Because they're friends.

And friends do that sort of thing.

They'll see a movie every once in a while, or they'll get coffee at the coffee place a few blocks from his apartment (correction: they'll both buy coffee with their own money. He doesn't want to get any more annoying lectures from Shirley and he sure as hell is not going to be giving her ammunition like: "he buys her coffee therefore they must be dating."). He once had her over at his apartment to help him rearrange furniture, and about fifteen minutes in he received an angry phone call from Shirley saying she didn't approve of Jeff and Annie's non-existent relationship. So he played it off and invited her over to help. Once she came he assumed that she had forgotten all about why she nagged him in the first place, and he sat back and watched the two girls bicker over where the bookshelf should go.

Annie's life doesn't seem all that hectic either, at least he doesn't think it is. She has her job at the police station where she's a receptionist and she gets to keep her future career in mind. He hears her whine about the early hour and hears her rejoice over the fact that she gets off work in time to beat the Greendale traffic on the main street. Everyone is doing something this summer, whether it be traveling, or seeing family, or working, and for the most part neither Jeff nor Annie are horribly busy at the moment, and they spend a lot of time doing nothing.

Doing nothing together.

"Jeff?" Annie asks in the midst of blowing on her nails.

He takes his eyes of the TV that was showing some suite in Hong Kong to raise his eyebrows at her.

"Do you mind," she holds out her right hand lacking yellow polish, "I'm right han-"

"Nope," he shakes his head interrupting her. "Not happening."

She offers him a tentative smile, "Please! I'm so bad at my right hand you have no idea."

"Annie, I'm your friend. Not your manicurist. Besides, how do you know I'd even do a good job?"

"Because you'd be painting my nails with your dominant…" she mutters.

"Whatever, not doing it."

She purses her lips and rolls her eyes as she begins to attempt to paint her right thumb. She focuses in and sticks out her tongue a little bit and he can't help but snicker.

"Shut up, you're distracting me!" She cries without breaking focus to look up. He sees a smile creeping up on her face as she tries to concentrate on her thumb. She finally finishes her thumb and looks up at him, her hair falls in her face and she's trying to move it without getting her wet fingers in her hair. Much to his amusement she does a dramatic hair flip to get it all out of her face.

He's snickering into his glass, "That was cute." He offers her a smug smile.

"I'm going to paint my middle finger next for you," she sneers.

He snickers and returns back to the TV to see the host touring a hotel in Hong Kong. It had breathtaking views of the city from the rooms own private terrace. The suite had sleek modern furnishing with futuristic appliances. They toured the spa, gym, bar, restaurants, and lobby as well as a few other rooms before cutting to a commercial.

After one break Annie's done with her nails.

"Look Jeff," she shoves her hand in his face. "Look at how horrible this is."

He snickers and grabs her wrist and pushes it away. "They're fine," he reassures without really looking.

"No they're not!" She picks at the dried yellow on the edge of her nail. "They're really messy," she huffs.

He tunes out her whining to look at the new room showing on the screen. It's somewhere in Turkey on some beach he can't pronounce.

"Holy shit!" Jeff exclaims when he hears the price.

Her eyes go wide and she stares at him in shock, "Jeff! What?"

"You can spend up to sixteen thousand a night at this hotel! That's crazy!" He doesn't take his eyes of the screen as he scoots forward.

"WHAT?!" She lurches herself forward and ends up at the edge of her seat.

"Sixteen thousand," he repeats. "That's just- wow," he shakes his head at the thought of throwing sixteen thousand dollars out of his bank account for just one night.

"I don't even think I have sixteen dollars in cash right now…" she mutters to herself before snapping back to reality. "This is so crazy. Where is this place anyway?"

"Turkey, some city I don't know, but look at the crown molding on the walls! It looks so fancy."

"Really Jeff, the crown molding on the walls, that's what makes a room worth sixteen thousand a night? Look at the bathroom and the marble, it's everywhere. And the view of the beach, oh my goodness," she gasps nearing the edge of her seat.

"I want to live there," he chuckles as she sighs with her hands on her face, staring at the lavish world on the other side of the television.

"I want to be a princess and live there."

He snickers at her, but honestly can't really blame her.

There were hearts in his eyes as the host talked about the twenty four hour gym with top-of-the-line equipment with personal trainers available, and the spa amenities. The man walked out the infinity pool and the extravagant courtyard that overlooked the Sea of Marmara. The ottoman architecture was evident throughout the whole palace, but especially in the lobby. Turkish patterns covered the floor and marble and mahogany cover the walls. The camera panned to show the chandeliers as the TV faded to black for a commercial break.

"Wow," he sighs.

"Yeah," she laughs, eyes wide in disbelief.

"You know, the crazy thing is that the show just started and, that means there are thirteen more hotels more expensive than this."

She gets up and heads toward the kitchen, "I'm making popcorn, we are definitely watching the rest of this," she calls.

"Won't you mess up your nails?" he teases.

She pops out from the kitchen pinching a bag of popcorn between her thumb and index finger and ripping the plastic with her teeth, "Not my first rodeo," she smirks. "Plus the polish I use only takes about ninety seconds, but I appreciate your very sincere concern."

She comes out of the kitchen with a few bags of popcorn composited into a bowl and sets it on a dining room chair placed between them.

"It's about to start again," he mumbles sticking his hand into bowl grabbing a fistful of popcorn.

"Did he say where the next one would be?" She questioned while checking her nails for any sign of damage.

"Russia."

She carefully tosses popcorn in her mouth and sits comfortably with her back against the seat, "I don't think I'd do Russia for more than sixteen thousand a night," she laughs.

"I don't think I'd do anywhere for more than sixteen thousand a night," he qualifies.

The show comes back and they're both gaping at the extravagance and the elegance of the hotel suites. The order went Moscow, Dubai, Paris, Bahamas, and then Tokyo until Rome.

European architecture, elegant mahogany floors and walls, a private spa, paintings on the ceiling, and Jeff was in heaven.

Well, he could be in heaven for thirty thousand dollars a night.

"That one was my favorite," Jeff announces when it cut to a commercial.

"I think the one in Turkey was my favorite, or maybe the one in Paris. I don't know, I wouldn't be too picky if I could stay in either hotel," she grins. "But I'm not sure I'd go to Turkey, Paris maybe. Who even goes to Turkey?"

"People that have seen most of the world and are running out of places to go."

"Well, that certainty isn't me. I've never even left this country," she chuckles quietly.

"I've never even made it out of Colorado," he retorts.

"Right," she remembers. "I find that hard to believe."

"Why?" He chuckles.

She shrugs, "I don't know, you seem like the type that would have seen the world already."

He makes a face, "Okay—I'm not Britta you know."

"I'm not saying that's bad! I'm just saying you fooled me."

"Where have you been?" he asks after a moment of zoning out at the commercial that was playing.

"Arizona. Woo," she cheers unenthusiastically.

"Hey, it's one more place than me," he reaches for his tea to take a sip. "So the Grand Canyon in Arizona?"

She nods, "Yeah, it was a family vacation. The first and last," she sighs.

"Sounds fun," he teases.

"Oh, you have no idea, it was thrilling. It was before the divorce so as you can imagine it was a blast," she mumbles as the sarcasms drips from her lips. "The actual Grand Canyon was cool but other than that…"

"So that's it? The Grand Canyon?"

She shoots him a look.

"Hey, it's one more state than I've been to."

"Yeah, that's it. I've never really traveled to anywhere important or been anywhere cool, besides Denver."

"Denver isn't cool though," Jeff chuckled.

"Yeah it is, it's a city. It's fun."

"But you live in a subdivision of Denver."

She tries to come back with a counter, "Doesn't count. That's not traveling, go to a big city that you don't live in."

"Okay, Mister I've traveled nowhere, what are some places with the Jeff Winger stamp of approval?"

"I don't know? New York, Chicago, Vegas, Seattle maybe? Nashville if you're into country music? Beaches? Other countries?" He pulls from his head. "Those count, those are cool places. Just get out of Greendale."

"You should take your own advice," she rolls her eyes.

"I'm actually going up to California at the start of the month, so watch your tone with me," he points.

"Ooh, California," she smiles. "Are you going with…" she trails off, trying to think of someone that would go with him.

"Alone," he answers. "I'm just going to do my mom and her husband a favor. Rob invests in real estate in California and rents out these really nice multi-million dollar homes. He just got a property renovated so I'm going up there to take photos so he can rent it out. Oh, he's a millionaire by the way," he chuckles, "not some guy who's irresponsible with money or any of that."

"I didn't know she was remarried."

"Yeah, she remarried in ninety-seven or ninety-eight. So I didn't get a chance to reap the benefits of a rich step dad."

"Jeff!" She exclaims.

"What? I didn't!"

She rolls her eyes and tosses more popcorn in her mouth, "Still. So, are you going to do anything cool in California? Other than stay in a million dollar home."

"Eleven million dollar home," he corrects with a smile.

Her eyes go wide and her mouth drops open but no words come out.

Their show comes back before Annie can express her want for him to see as much as he can on the drive up and while he's in California. They both quiet down as the host was showing off some place in Italy, then Athens, Vegas, Cannes which is in France? Then there was New York, somewhere in India, and finally number one at about sixty five thousand dollars a night, Geneva.

The suite was equipped with a billiard room, library, a grand piano, and its own private fitness center (which he's in love with). The suite took up the entire top floor of the hotel it was on and had twelve rooms. Jeff and Annie both gawk at the top of the line furnishings, the views of the lake and mountains, and of course, the price.

Jeff may be staying in a mansion but at least he isn't paying for it.

Sixty five thousand a night is a bit too much.

The special is over and they've successfully spent an entire evening doing nothing productive. Annie gets a few yawns out and Jeff figures he better get going, because she's working in the morning and he's somewhat tired himself.

When he gets home he heads for the shower before he has the chance to lie down and fall asleep. He gets under the warm spray, and thinks of the house. Honestly, he's excited not to leave the state or anything but to go stay in a really nice house before summer school starts.

But the moment he thinks of the fact that he's making the trip alone he feels kind of bad.

Unless…

No.

Maybe he could just send Annie a snarky post card saying 'I went through Utah, Arizona, and Nevada to get to California, take that.

He's washing his hair when he gets soap in his eye and his thoughts about California cease for the night.

#

The next morning he refuses to think of the idea of him and Annie in California together.

Just with the way he feels about her, he doesn't want to lose whatever friendship they have.

He has all these thoughts before he gets out of bed and he's already regretting letting himself think about that stupid house and the thought of him and Annie possibly occupying it.

#

He calls his mother before lunch to see if he could add a few days to his trip. She says 'of course' and then he asks if he could maybe take a friend up there. He feels like a teenager bringing a friend on a family vacation, but when his mother says its fine he stops caring- and somehow he does all of this without revealing that his friend is a girl named Annie.

He's all set to go up there on the first and come back on the eighth and she gives him a million "thank you's" for doing them the favor.

#

He stares at his phone for a good portion of the afternoon. He has composed the same message, or something similar, about a dozen different times. He takes out all the information about California, and beaches, and vacation, and just sends to Annie: "Give me a call when you're off work tonight."

#

He's watching old Friends reruns and tries to think of a safety topic. Something safe to fall back on when she asks him what he needed to talk to her about, something that didn't involve traveling with him. When he can't think of anything, he figures that he should at least ask her what her plans are for the beginning of next month.

After all there are people out there paying sixty five thousand a night to stay in some glamorous suite when Annie hasn't even seen the beach.

#

He ignores that weird twinge of nervousness in his stomach because he knows there isn't any logical reason to worry about asking Annie to go to the beach, or at least that's what he's convincing himself of. He doesn't think about it because he's just going to ask her and if she wants to worry about what it would look like to their friends he won't stop her. She's bound to worry about something anyway.

He decides to approach it in a very nonchalant manner, and then tries to push all thoughts about his trip away as he thinks about whether or not he should to go to the gym. He's not sure if he actually wants to go because he has a lot on his mind, but he digs through his closet and finds some gym clothes, and a pair of tennis shoes. He packs a bag of some toiletries and a few water bottles and throws them in the car and chooses to go, despite his very compelling argument that fighting himself about taking Annie to California was basically a workout anyway.

#

Annie taps her phone to end her phone call as her smile fades. She rests her back on the door and glares at her phone.

"What's wrong?" A figure in green pajamas asks from the kitchen.

"Abed!" Annie almost drops her phone as she clutches her heart. "Abed! When did you get there?"

He shrugs, "Since you came out of your room." He knits his eyebrows together and cocks his head to the side, "Was that Jeff?" He asks pointing a finger at her.

Her eyes go wide as she looks down, "Yeah," she sighs. "About that."

"What happened?"

"Just- he invited me to go on a trip with him," he voice goes higher than she anticipates. She sinks down against the door to the ground despite the fact she's wearing dress pants.

"And you don't want to go?" He guesses as he sits down next to her.

"No, I do," her voice takes on a dreamy quality, "It's to the beach and I've never seen a beach, and neither has he. It's a really nice opportunity because where we'd be staying is really nice. I just don't think it's a good idea for me to go… with him," she falters.

"Because you think feelings will resurface."

"No," she says more irritated this time, partially because he's somewhat right. "I just- I see why he'd want to take me because I've never seen the ocean and what not. It just isn't a good idea."

"What did he say exactly?" He shoves his hand into a popcorn bowl that he seemingly produces out of thin air and offers the bowl to Annie.

"Thanks," she says taking a handful. "Well, his mom's husband invests in real estate and rents out these spectacular homes, like multimillion dollar mansions. And Jeff told me he needs to go up there and update the pictures they use to rent out this one particular home, so he asked me if I wanted to go with. I think he felt awkward about asking, I'm thinking he didn't want to seem like he was coming on to me… which would explain why he was being extremely apologetic," she mumbles.

"Apologetic how?"

She sighs and readjusts herself against the door, "He ended almost all of his sentences with 'sorry'. Like, 'Hey, sorry, you know how I'm going up to California, sorry, do you maybe want to go, sorry, I know you've never been so I figured I ask, sorry,'" she mocks him in a deep "man voice."

"He didn't want to seem too forward about it."

"Which means he didn't mean for this to be taken that way."

"Which means you could go because you don't have anything to worry about, romantically speaking that is. You both feel the same way about each other… Right?"

"Yeah, no of course. Totally platonic," she assures him, and tries to convince herself that that's all true. "How could you be so sure we don't have anything to worry about?"

Abed stuffs his face with popcorn and begins with his mouth full, "You had the biggest crush on Troy."

Her eyes go wide and she smacks his arm, "Abed!"

"What," he mumbles as he swallows, "you did."

"Okay, and what's your point."

"You lived with him and nothing happened. You both have walked in on each other naked. You once found his stash of condoms right in front of him and he's found…" Annie gives him a glare that says don't you dare say it, "…girl-toy-things," he finishes quickly and Annie slaps his arm again.

"He told you!" She gasps. She feels her blood rising to her cheek, and she just knows Abed can see her blushing.

"My point is," he started, ignoring her question completely, "that you've survived living with Troy. I think you can survive a vacation with Jeff."

He pauses for a moment to get another handful of popcorn and tosses it in his mouth, "What I'm saying is there might not be that much of a reason to worry."

"So you think I should go?"

"I think you should do what you want."

"I want to go," she whispers up to the ceiling more but more to herself than to him.

"Then go," he says wiping his mouth with the corner of his sleeve.

She shuts her eyes, and knocks her head against the wooden door again.

The beach was somewhere she always associated with colorful beach balls, popsicles and those summertime Bath and Body Works candles, and to her that's what summer was. It was hot sand and cold water, sugary cocktails and colorful swimsuits with big floppy hats. Just the thought of the beach sent her there. Being able to step out into the waters and have the wave's crash at her ankles, looking out and seeing a flat blue surface until the sky met the water, getting able to cross something off her list of places to see and…

"You're thinking about the beach aren't you?" It's less of a question and more of a statement.

"Get out of my brain, Abed."

#

She tells Jeff that she had to check with her boss to make sure she could get the time off. It isn't a lie, but what she really needed that time for was to convince herself to go or to convince herself not to go. Since talking with Abed she's thought about how excited she is to pack, and buy a new swimsuit, but she's also thought of the ways she could tell him she can't go.

She wakes up the next morning gets ready for work and pushes everything out of her mind. She gets to the police station and sits down behind the desk that she shares with her co-worker and sighs audibly.

"What's wrong?" Amber asks.

"Nothing," she says running her hand on the back of her neck. "I must have slept funny."

Amber nods and gets back to filing a pile of paperwork.

By one o'clock she's already switched her mind back and forth between going and not going several times. She feels stressed and panicky and makes a mess of the paperwork she's been trying to sort through. At some point while she's working she looks up at the calendar the police department has hanging on the wall. It's a year of beaches and this month it's a picture of some hammock overlooking a Mexican beach. She figures she could either go to see a real beach or she could have a calendar taunt her for the rest of the year.

So by two o'clock she's already spoken with her boss and is granted the time off.