So, come to find out I have other stories to add to this. No end planned so it will be kept as a 'work in progress'. Feedback in any form is always appreciated. Enjoy!
Jeff woke up with his face mashed into Annie's shoulder.
He felt like melted butter he was so relaxed. The early morning sun was shining through his curtain enough to wake him up and if it hadn't been he was sure he'd still be snoozing away. He was on his side, turned so much that he was crowding Annie's space with his cheek on her shoulder. He stayed still, not seeing a reason to move just yet if she were still asleep. Still half asleep himself, he was content to soak up the warmth she was giving off.
The events of the night before were coming back to him as he laid there. Opening his door to find her distraught and looking for a friend. The two of them literaly spending over two hours just sitting on the couch talking and watching TV. It was low key and as stress free as it could be. Things were simpler when it was just the two of them, less crazy and hectic like it could be with the rest of the group. Not that he didn't love the rest of them, because he did, but sometimes it was nice to take a break. And last night had been pretty ideal. Minus the Annie being upset because of her parents part.
And then he had given her something that he never thought he would give anyone. Jeff tilted his head back and opened his eyes to look at Annie, and he knew it was more than just the clothes she was wearing. This thing he felt for her had been growing since he met her. She was one of those things in life he just couldn't shake and he felt like it was time to stop trying so hard.
He was missing a part of himself, but it was okay; because when he looked at her he knew exactly where that piece was.
Jeff needed to take this quiet time to reign in all the things he was feeling. It wasn't new but it had definitely taken a more prominent spot in the forefront of his mind since last night and he still wasn't sure how Annie felt about him enough to let that show. Yeah, she liked him, and he thinks she always has but having a crush and actually having feelings for him were two different things and he would keep his mouth shut and his hands to himself till he knew for sure.
That didn't mean he couldn't enjoy this now though. Slowly, he reached his hand up from under the cover and ran the back of one finger very lightly on the skin of her arm, below the shoulder he was leaning on, where her skin appeared past the sleeve. Her skin was soft and sleep warm. She was sound asleep, her face smooth and peaceful and the skin around her eyes no longer red like they had been last night.
Her dark hair was spread out against his pillow and she had her other arm thrown up above her head as she lay on her back. It was a bit scary how badly he wanted to wake up like this every morning, and all it took was one time to know that as fact.
In the back of his mind Jeff knew he was a little bit screwed but he decided to just close his eyes again and relax his head back on Annie's shoulder and he was asleep again in minutes.
He woke up for good the next time when Annie had turned on her side facing him. He could tell by the little puffs of air he could feel on his hair. When he cracked his eyes open he saw Annie curled towards him, higher up on the bed then he was, with her face resting on his pillow. All he could see of her was her neck.
Jeff smirked and started blowing air towards her, moving the hair that was in front of him to tickle her exposed neck. After a second she twitched a bit so he blew again till her hand came flying up in the general direction of the irritant but missing the mark a little and smacking his chin instead.
He let out a sound halfway between a groan and a laugh rubbing the offended part of his face and Annie raised her head up surprised by the noise.
"Oh my gosh, I'm sorry!" she said, her voice still quiet and groggy from sleep. She covered her face with her hand and fell heavily back on her pillow.
Jeff just laughed and said good morning and rubbed the grit from his eyes, "I was just messing with you."
He heard her laugh quietly and give a sarcastic, Thanks.
Jeff raised his arms, grunting in satisfaction as he stretched them out above his head. "How'd you sleep?" he asked through a yawn as he brought his arms back down.
"Surprisingly well. I slept the whole night through which I didn't expect to do. I thought it would be too uncomfortable," Annie said, laughing a little sheepishly.
Jeff turned to her, "Well I am a great sleeping partner," he said giving her a super exaggerated wink.
He laughed when she snorted and smacked his arm, "Oh, shut up. It's just because your bed is way comfier than mine. I'm a little jealous." She rolled to her back and bounced a bit for emphasis. She sighed in pleasure, "Yeah, definitely jealous."
"Well," Jeff didn't let himself think about it too much before he finished, "Mi casa es su casa. If you ever find yourself in need of a bed to sleep in, I'm always available. My bed, that is. Is available. If you need it." Maybe he shouldn't have spoken without thinking. He rubbed his eyes with his fingers, "Just...you know what I mean," he finished in frustration and a bit of embarrassment.
Annie laughed next to him and she rested her hand on his forearm, "I know what you mean, and I'll definitely keep it in mind for the future." Jeff turned his head to look at her. "Really, I appreciate it, Jeff." She had her sweet little sincere smile on and he gave her a grin, thankful that she didn't let that stay awkward.
"Yeah, no problem. Hey, you want to get breakfast? I was thinking of trying that little place––" He was interrupted by his phone going off from his nightstand. He reached over to snag it and saw that it was Abed, "Odd."
"Hello?" he answered, looking over at Annie and mouthing that it was Abed and she had an equally confused and intrigued look as he did.
"Hey, Jeff."
"Hey, Abed. What's up?" he asked, wondering what was up with the early morning phone call. With Abed it really could be anything.
"Is Annie with you?"
He looked over at her and she raised her brows, "Yeah she's here."
"I suspected. Her parents just called me."
Jeff frowned, "Ahh, sorry about that. She forgot her phone at their house before she came over here to hang out." He was still looking at Annie and she gave him a little smile in thanks for not saying anything else.
"Yeah, that's what they said. Annie's mom got high pitched when I told her Annie didn't come home. Then she told me to call her other friends to find her."
Jeff winced, "Sorry about that and that you had to bug the others. Can't see that being pleasant." Jeff could imagine both Shirley and Britta's annoyed but worried faces so early in the morning. He didn't give a crap if her mom got high pitched or not. Let her worry.
"No, I didn't. I called you first. It was the most logical place to look."
Jeff felt his face heat up a bit at that, "Oh. Okay. Good," he said awkwardly and Annie had a confused look again but he shook his head like it was nothing. "Well thanks, Abed, for letting us know. We'll take it from here."
"Cool. Cool cool cool. Tell Annie hi. And buy her pancakes. She likes pancakes." Then he hung up.
Jeff blinked slowly and then pushed the end button on his phone. He could never walk away after a conversation with Abed without feeling strange.
"Well? What's going on?" Annie asked impatiently, leaning up on one elbow so she was looking down at him.
"Your mom called Abed this morning asking for you," he answered, looking at her out of the corner of his eye wondering how she would take that. Annie's face fell at the mention of her mom and Jeff hated ruining the perfect morning they were in the middle of. "She asked him to call around and find out where you were."
"Oh," was all she said, looking down and picking at a loose thread in the comforter.
He had to fix this. He got up on one elbow facing her and gripped her shoulder tight in his hand, "Hey, it's okay. We'll just call them quick, tell them that we'll pick up your stuff later and then forget about them. We'll come back here and, I don't know, watch a movie or something. Hey! We'll even get stuff to make that caramel popcorn they used last night for one of those cakes. Yeah?" He was shaking her shoulder a bit and smiling at her all goofy and excited, trying to get that smile back on her face.
It worked. She smiled at him up through her lashes, "Yeah, okay. We can do that." She sighed, "Can I borrow your phone? Might as well get this over with."
She reached for his phone but he jerked it out of her reach at the last second, an idea hitting him, "No, it's okay. I can handle it. Just tell me the number."
Annie was shaking her head no at him, "It's fine, Jeff, I can do."
Jeff laid back down on his back and got comfortable, holding his phone in front of him and waiting for her to give him the number.
They stared each other down for a few moments before she caved and sighed, giving him the number. She gave him a guilty look as he raised the phone to his ear.
He winked at her when he heard a clink and a ladies voice answer hello, "Hi, Mrs. Edison?" He didn't wait for her to confirm, "This is Jeff Winger calling on the behalf of Annie. After walking all the way across town last night, alone, she came here. Crying. Of course I then took her in and let her stay with me since she declined to return for her belongings at your house, stating that there was conflict that she wasn't comfortable facing just yet." He was looking at Annie the entire time and her eyes were wide and her mouth open in shock, but she wasn't stopping him. So he just kept going, and it felt fantastic to take this kind of tone with Annie's parents, "Later on today, I don't know when, I will be stopping by to retrieve her things. If you could leave them inside the front door, that would be great. Just wanted to call and let you know the whereabouts of your daughter. Have a good day." And hung up.
Annie covered her mouth with her hand and fell back down to the bed next to him, on the verge of laughter. Jeff placed his phone on his chest and put his hands behind his head, smiling all smug and satisfied.
"I can't believe—" she pushed at his chest playfully and he laughed. "You just—Oh my gosh! I wish I could be that confident when talking to her. Did she even say anything?" Annie was up on both her elbows now, excited and bouncing.
Jeff smiled at her, "Nope."
Annie laughed and covered her face with her hands for a second then bounded off the bed in excitement, throwing the comforter off the both of them, "Come on! I'm hungry, lets get some breakfast." She shot him a smile over her shoulder as she headed out the door to the bathroom, "Get up, get dressed."
Jeff sat on the side of the bed, still feeling high from his talk with her mom, "How do pancakes sound?" he called out to her through the bathroom door.
"Oh, I love pancakes! Let's do that."
Jeff smiled to himself and went to get dressed.
They had decided on Denny's and Annie had ended up texting the rest of the group out of guilt for doing something without them. Jeff had tried to convince her otherwise, that it was okay that it was just the two of them but she made a deal with him not to mention their plans for after breakfast and he had relented and let her text them. It was a relatively nice breakfast he had to admit. Abed didn't mention Annie not coming home outside of the initial question of whether she actually called her parent's or if he should be expecting another call from Annie's mother again later. She quickly said yes I called, and Jeff stepped in to change the subject. Abed had been looking at him funny ever since, but really, that wasn't far outside of the norm so he let it go. They had all sat in the restaurant long after their meals were finished just talking among themselves. It was times like that when Jeff was assured that they really were friends outside of college and that it wasn't the only thing tying them all together. He had nothing to worry about. They were family and you couldn't get rid of family.
They parted ways, with Jeff and Annie straggling behind the rest of them so they could leave together without any of them questioning what their plans were and if they were, heaven forbid, doing anything fun without the rest of them. It went smooth, if you didn't count the odd look Abed was giving Jeff through the passenger side window of Troy's car as they drove away. Jeff shook it off and headed to his own car with Annie, asking her if she wanted to go to the store first or if she wanted to bite the bullet and just go to her parent's house to get it over with.
Jeff didn't start the car, waiting patiently for her to make a decision. She took a deep breath, "I need my purse. Let's just do that first." She didn't look confident, but Jeff gave her a supportive smile and told her to lead the way.
It kinda sucked really, driving to their house and seeing how far Annie had really walked the night before. She must have been desperate, he thought, with a frown.
When she pointed the house out he pulled up out front, not bothering to park in the driveway where Annie's own car was sitting. It was a nice house; not too big but slightly above averaged. The neighborhood looked pretty friendly and he could see how a pill addiction wouldn't go over so well in a place like this.
Annie looked like she was going to be sick, staring out the window towards the house where he assumed she grew up. He couldn't imagine there being too many happy memories associated with the place.
Jeff nudged her arm with his elbow to get her attention away from the house and smiled at her, trying to act like this was no big deal, "It's going to be okay, I promise. Because after this we're going to go to the store and buy a giant bag of caramel and then veg out on sweet sugary popcorn all afternoon." He leaned down a bit to look at Annie's side window and up at the house. "Now, you stay here and I'll be right back."
"What? No way. I can't let you go alone." Annie unbuckled her seat belt with the intent of following him even with the look of dread on her face.
He reached over and grabbed one of her hands. "Hey," he said quietly and caught her eye, "I got this."
Her eyes were sad but she looked a bit relieved, despite her protest at him going. She nodded her head and didn't say anything more.
Jeff got out of the car and shook out his coat and made his way around the car to the little walkway leading up to the front door. His heart was beating quicker but not from nerves, it was more adrenaline at the possibility of meeting Annie's parent's. He wasn't there for a nice chit-chat though. He had one goal; get Annie's things and get out of there so they could get their nice day back on track.
He got to the door and knocked a few times. He would have liked to just open the door and peek inside to see if they actually left her bag by the door like he had asked but he didn't feel like getting yelled at for entering someone's home without permission. It didn't take long till he heard footsteps coming his way though, then the door opened and he got his first look at what he could only assume was Annie's mother. She was shorter like Annie with lighter brown hair pulled back in a clip at the top of her neck, wearing pressed khakis and a blue sweater. She did not look pleased to see him.
Jeff gave her a pinched smile, "I'm here for Annie's things."
The lady in front of him set her jaw and crossed her arms. In one of her hands she was holding Annie's purse, and for a split second he imagined himself snatching the bag from her hands and running back down to the car, "You must be the other man I spoke to on the phone." Her voice had a hostile note to it.
Jeff didn't let it faze him, nodding the affirmative, "The one and only." Behind the lady he could see a man walking down the hall towards them and he sighed to himself. So he'd get the pleasure of meeting them both. The man reached them and stood behind his wife, taller and less threatening with his hands in his pockets. Besides her height he could see more of Annie in her father than in her mother.
"You must be Mr. Winger?" her dad asked, his eyebrows raised in question. His voice was soft and his eyes earnest. Jeff had to tamp down the urge to like the guy and he instantly knew where Annie got it from.
He nodded his head, "Jeff; your daughters friend. I'm just here for her things, then I'll be on my way."
The man looked around Jeff to his car in concern, "Is she with you?"
Jeff sighed, not wanting them to be bold enough to actually go over there and bug Annie, "Yeah, she's with me." He turned a bit to look over his shoulder at her sitting in the car looking at them with wide scared eyes and it solidified his need to make this quick and get the hell out of there.
When he turned back to the two in front of him he saw her mother giving him a hard stare, "Am I to assume Annie stayed with you last night?"
She was making it a little too easy for Jeff to not like her. He gave a smile that didn't reach anywhere near his eyes, "Yup. Because she's my friend and I care about her."
She gave him the side eye like she didn't trust him, "Oh really? And in what way do you care for my daughter?"
Jeff clenched his jaw, "In a better way than what I'm coming to understand you care for her."
"We love Annie," she said in a huff, lowering her arms and clenching her hands, "And want what's best for her. And that certainly doesn't include her staying with some man twice her age."
Okay, Jeff took serious offense to that and was on the verge of saying something in his own defense but that wasn't why he was there and he needed to refocus. Taking a deep breath he let it fly, "Well, sometimes what's best is to let her find her own path and to follow her and support her; even if you don't agree with it. Because that's what a good parent is. Supportive and nonjudgmental." He kept his voice calm and low. He wasn't there looking for a fight but he sure as hell wasn't going to walk away without setting a few things straight. "Your daughter is an amazing student and an even better person, because she makes the people around her want to be better too. She's hard working and caring to a fault. For Annie's sake, it's pretty sad that you and your husband don't allow yourselves to see that and look past her mistakes. She deserves better from the two of you." He reached forward and took Annie's purse out of her mothers limp fingers. She was standing there staring at him in shock, not able to speak.
Annie's dad stepped forward before he could make an exit, looking intent and worried, "Can you please just...make sure she's alright?" He was looking over Jeff's shoulder, staring at his daughter.
Jeff took pity on him, "Trust me, I always do."
He gave them both one last look before taking a step back out the door and shutting it behind him. As he walked back down the walkway towards his car and Annie, he took a deep breath. She was looking at him through the window with concern and he gave her a reassuring smile.
He got in and placed her purse in her lap and she looked as if she were waiting for him to tell her bad news of something. "Well? You were up there a long time," she said, fidgeting in her seat.
He really hadn't been, it was only a few minutes but he could see how it might have seemed like forever to her, "Your parents and I had a nice chat." He leaned forward again to look out Annie's window and she did the same and they saw her mother standing at the front window with the curtain pulled back, looking at them sitting there. Annie looked away and back towards him and he could see her eyes had gotten glossy. He needed to just get them out of there. No reason sitting out in front of the house longer than they needed too. Jeff put the car in drive and left without a backwards glance.
Neither of them remembered that Annie's car was left sitting in the driveway.
It was quiet for a few blocks till he heard Annie ask quietly, "What did they say?"
Jeff waiting till he hit a stop light so he could turn to look at her, "Your dad was worried. Your mom...not the nicest woman. I got the strong feeling she didn't like me. I think a lot of it had to do with you staying with me last night."
Annie rolled her eyes at that, "Of course."
"Your dad just wanted to make sure you were okay," Jeff said softer. He wanted to give her something positive about his meeting with them and he figured it would go a long way for her to know that at least her father had his priorities somewhat in order that morning. The light turned and he drove on but glanced at her every so often.
Annie smiled sadly, "My dad's not like my mom. He's not assertive and he hates confrontation. I know he loves me, it's just...he never stood up for me. When mom would start laying into me...he would just stand there with his hands in his pockets, looking sad. Just once I wanted him to say something, anything in my defense. But he never did." She turned to look out her window, "I suppose I'm just as disappointed in them as they are in me."
"You know, I think it's pretty normal for kids to be disappointed in their parents from time to time," he gave her a crooked smile, "Let's just count our blessings that you don't have to live with them anymore."
Annie chuckled and nodded her agreement, "One nightmare I'm glad to be out of." She let out a huff and shook her hands as if washing herself of the situation, "Okay, enough talking about them. Let's pretend it never happened and go get sick on caramel popcorn."
"Now that's more like it," Jeff gave her a winning smile and held his hand out for a high five and just like that they were back on track again.
Crisis averted: two points to Winger.
End note. Okay holy crap. I was finally able to watch the last episode of season 5 tonight...and HOLY CRAP. Be still my beating heart. I watched that scene about a dozen times. Season 6 (and a movie) can't come quick enough.