Fic- 5 Ways Annie & Jeff Might Spend Her 21st Birthday- Way 2
Title: Where A Kid Can Be A Kid
Rating: PG
Word Count: 3387
Disclaimer: Still not mine. Please quit asking, it makes me feel bad.
“This was such a good idea!” Shirley chirped as the tabletop was covered with trays of hot pizza. She clapped her hands together and smiled aggressively around the group. Annie returned the smile somewhat nervously before pulling her root beer up to her lips and taking a sip.
It had all happened so suddenly. They had been at study group that afternoon when the dean had breezed into the room, rubbing a hand across Jeff’s shoulders on his way toward Annie. “Miss Edison,” he had cooed with arms waving at his sides. “I just happened to notice in your student information file that today is the anniversary of your day of birth.” A choked noise of surprise had come from the general direction of Shirley. Annie had cleared her throat and tried to brush it off only to have Shirley go on to insist that they throw a party that evening.
And that was how Annie had ended up sitting at a formica table in the middle of a Chuck E. Cheese on her twenty-first birthday, sandwiched between Abed and Britta. Abed had been told by Shirley in her strictest mom voice that he had to eat his pizza before he could go play games, and so he sat next to her with a jiggling leg and several pointed stares toward the arcade. Troy was chewing as quickly as he could, just as anxious to ‘dominate skee ball’. Annie glanced across the table to Jeff, who was slouched away from his plate, punching his thumbs into his phone with intent. The askew party hat on his head was at odds with the irritable expression his face held. He had been very clear on the fact that this was not how he wanted to spend his evening from the moment the words had left Shirley’s mouth. Still intent on making sure people knew his feelings, Jeff continued to scowl as he fiddled with his phone before glancing up at Annie and offering a tight fake smile that looked more like a grimace. She merely frowned in response, but Jeff’s eyes had left hers as quickly as they’d landed and he had instead opted for shooting an imploring look toward Britta. He had clearly expected her to join him in his disdain, but Britta was currently scolding Pierce on eating a slice of pizza with some vegetables on it before going to play pinball, which he claimed was ‘old school’.
Annie chewed her food silently as she glanced around the table slowly. ‘It will be good family fun’, Shirley had assured them that afternoon as she had swept out of the room. Abed chewed quickly and swallowed from Annie’s left before shooting Troy a look and jerking his head toward the game portion of the building. They were both on their feet and racing away together. “Happy birthday, Annie” was called out as they exited in a cloud of cartoon dust. She waved at them before staring at her plate.
This was actually a lot like her family. Scattered and awkward.
“Okay, so are we going to wrap this thing up here?” Jeff asked with a glance at Shirley. “We sing, we eat some cake…”
“Jeffrey,” Shirley admonishes, clearly angry.
“Can’t you take a night off from being a douche?” Britta asked from beside her. Annie kept her eyes on Jeff, feeling a fresh wave of sadness wash over her. Slowly, she rose from her seat.
“This is why I didn’t tell anyone it was my birthday,” Annie said softly without making eye contact with anyone at the table. “I didn’t want to have to watch people pretend to care about me. Just go, Jeff.” She backed away from the group and wandered toward the arcade area, careful to not reach a hand up to wipe her eyes until she was sure she was far enough away. She walked over to where Troy and Abed were playing skee ball and watched silently for several minutes, turning down their offers to throw the ball.
It had been a last minute thing, he could have just said he had plans. Was it really better to come along and make sure everyone knew how miserable you were? She knew Jeff was a selfish person, but didn’t think it would be this bad, didn’t think he would ever be that hurtful toward her. Their friendship was tenuous at best, and he clearly didn’t even care to keep it at that level. Annie swallowed, willing the tears she felt welling in her eyes to stay away. Soon it was going to start weirding people out to see a grown woman in a party hat crying in the middle of an arcade.
“Hey,” a voice said from beside her and Annie stiffened. She didn’t have to look up to know it was him and she didn’t have to see him to know the look on his face was one of practiced embarrassment. Shirley had clearly yelled at him and he’d come to apologize.
“It’s not a big deal, Jeff.” She turned away and was walking as quickly as she could without drawing attention to herself. Unfortunately, Jeff’s legs were twice as long as hers and he had no problem keeping up with her. “This was a last minute thing, I’m sure you had plans.” She could hear the weakness in her own voice and hated it. What she wanted to say to him was that he was a sucky friend who could maybe find time in his busy schedule of copying off her homework and sleeping with random co-eds to pretend to care about her for a night. She wanted to punch him in the stomach. “No, you know what?” She stopped dead and turned toward him. Jeff’s eyes widened in surprise but he mirrored her stance. “You suck.” She exhaled loudly. “Britta was right. You can’t put your ‘cool guy’ persona on hold for one night for someone else?”
“I’m a dick,” he grimaced with a sincere nod. He glanced to his side to see a woman pull a young child away with a disapproving glance. “Sorry,” he called to her belatedly. He turned his attention back to Annie. “I don’t know why I do this.”
“Neither do the rest of us,” Annie answered, crossing her arms over her chest defiantly.
Jeff chuckled. “So, you’re not gonna make this easy for me then, huh?” Annie simply raised an eyebrow at him. “I am really sorry, Annie.” Annie pulled her lower lip into her mouth and chewed on it apprehensively. After a moment, she nodded slowly, looking down at the empty space between them. He shoved his hands into his pockets uneasily and kicked at the stained carpet with a large boot. “So, are we good?” She turned her face up toward him and swallowed before nodding at him, a tight forced smile on her face. Now was the part where he made his exit. She could feel it coming. “Then there is just one question left,” he continued with a serious expression.
“What’s that?” Annie asked.
“Does this place have that game where you hit things with ridiculously large mallets?” He looked around for a moment before letting his eyes land on her face again. “Because I? Am incredible with that game.” He gave her a confident smirk, one eyebrow quirked. Annie grinned to herself. “You in, Princess Elizabeth?” Annie dropped her hands to her sides to keep from clenching and unclenching her fingers in front of her like a ten year old with an ill-advised crush.
“On one condition,” she stated resolutely, her face a mask of sincerity. Jeff raised an eyebrow nervously in question. “With your winnings, you have to pick something out for me from the counter.” She fought to keep her face straight as Jeff sarcastically rolled his eyes toward the ‘store‘ that had the prizes. “I’m serious.”
“I think I may have oversold my prowess here,” Jeff replied with a chuckle as his eyes scanned the room. “There it is,” he pointed. “We just have to push those little kids out of the way.” Annie sputtered and smacked him in the stomach. “God, I was kidding.”
They played countless rounds in a row, Jeff having to make three trips to the token machine before Annie decided she couldn’t bring herself to smack any more dinosaurs on the head. He held their small ropes of tickets toward her, but Annie shook her head. “Nope,” she answered. “I said you had to pick something out.”
Jeff’s eyes narrowed at her. “Crap,” he stated flatly. Annie chuckled.
“I can’t believe you didn’t challenge that when I said it,” she retorted as she followed him to the prize counter.
“I was so relieved that your request wasn’t something way worse,” Jeff answered honestly as he perused the items. “I didn’t even think about it.”
“Okay,” Annie announced as she backed away from him. “I’m going to go see how many tickets Troy has won.”
“Whoa, wait a minute.” Jeff turned away from the counter with narrowed eyes. “You have to at least give me some ideas here.” He gestured back to the teenage boy behind the counter. “He isn’t going to be much help.”
“He’s right,” the boy spoke up and Jeff shot Annie a pointed look.
“Sorry, helping you wasn’t part of the deal.” Annie gave him a falsely apologetic smile before striding away from him. She felt his eyes on her the entire trip back to the table and tried to tamp down the tingle she felt at that idea.
“How’d you guys make out?” Britta asked when Annie took her seat.
Pierce looked up at her in alarm. “Who’d she make out with?”
Britta rolled her eyes at the older man before turning back to Annie. “Did Jeff leave?” She looked over Annie’s shoulder toward the exit.
“He’s buying something with his winnings,” Annie responded as she rose to help Shirley place candles into the store-bought cake they had brought with them. Shirley looked up at Annie in surprise.
“Really?” she asked, clearly unsure if she’d heard correctly. Annie simply nodded without making eye contact with any of them. A moment later, Troy and Abed came marching over to the table, standing close together.
“Annie,” Troy announced loudly. “Being that it is your birthday, Abed and I pooled our tickets to get you something nice.”
“Or as nice as we could get at an arcade,” Abed supplied before he and Troy parted and pulled a stuffed elephant from behind their backs.
“You guys,” Annie simpered as she rushed toward them. She caught them each in a one armed hug, pulling them together in the process. “This is so sweet of you.” Abed held the stuffed elephant out to her and she took it.
“I think you should call him Babar,” Abed noted as he glanced at the elephant as Jeff joined the group. His eyes landed on the elephant in her hands.
“Where did that come from?” he asked, pointing to it.
“You mean Babar?” Troy piped up from Annie’s other side.
Jeff looked at Troy questioningly for a moment before turning his attention to Annie. “Troy and Abed got it for me.” She brought the elephant up and hugged it to her chest. “Although he kind of smells like stale cheese.”
“Yeah, I noticed that too,” Troy said, his eyes still on Jeff.
“Man, I should have gone in with you guys,” Jeff whined as he let his face fall into a scowl.
Shirley cleared her throat from behind them and Annie turned to take in Shirley holding the cake, lit with twenty-one candles. She was flanked by Britta and Pierce and they advanced on her as everyone sang to her. Shirley set the cake down carefully on the table in front of her and Annie bent over it to blow out the candles.
“Don’t forget to make a wish,” Abed called to her and Annie looked up and met his eye before she allowed her gaze to flicker to her right and land on Jeff, whose eyes widened ever so slightly. Annie closed her eyes and blew, extinguishing all the candles in one breath. Everyone clapped and Annie smiled to herself. By the time she had opened her eyes again, Shirley had moved into birthday party mom mode and was expertly slicing the cake into squares with one hand while elbowing Pierce out of the way with the other. Brita approached Annie with a piece of cake on a small paper plate that had the face of Dora the Explorer on it. “It was all I could find on such short notice,” she shrugged as she handed Annie the plate.
“She means it’s what she had in her closet at home already,” Jeff spoke up as he approached them.
“Shut up, ass.” Britta frowned up at him, but he just smirked easily in return.
Annie scooped up a forkful of frosting and pushed it into her mouth, carefully keeping Babar tucked under her arm. The sugary sweetness dissolved on her tongue and Annie licked her lips clean before glancing around the group. Pierce was giving a play-by-play of his amazing pinball victory to Abed, who was staring off into space. Britta and Troy were talking quietly at the table as they shared a piece of cake. Jeff was busy gossiping with Shirley, party hat purposely askew on his head. He looked up and met her gaze and gave her a smile that Annie was sure he would never bestow on anyone if he knew that it caused the corners of his eyes to wrinkle. She felt something in chest flutter and studiously ignored the idea in the back of her head about the ridiculous wish she’d just made.
After another piece of cake and a re-enactment of ‘Sixteen Candles’ in it’s entirety from Abed and Troy, they all agreed they should call it a night. Britta suggested going out for a drink, but was met with lukewarm response. Annie glanced at Jeff, expecting him to agree to a pub crawl. He was instead not even listening to her and instead talking to Shirley about the drama coach knocking up one of his leads. Annie stood and put her jacket on.
“I have an early class,” she said to the group. “But thanks everyone for…this.” She glanced around the table. “It was really, really sweet of you all to do this.” She grinned at Shirley, who was positively glowing. “Everyone have a good night.” She waved at them before wrapping her scarf around her neck and exiting into the chilly Colorado evening.
Ten feet outside, Annie realized she had left Babar behind. She turned and ran into Jeff, who had exited holding it in his hands. She just stared at him.
“I didn’t want you to forget him,” he shrugged as he held the elephant out to her. Annie took it into her mittened hands.
“Thanks,” she offered with a smile. He just stood there, watching her. “I’ll see you tomorrow?”
“Yeah,” he answered. He glanced over her shoulder. “Well, I figured as long as I was out here I should walk you to your car.” He dug his hands into his pockets and Annie realized he’d come outside without his jacket.
“How chivalrous,” Annie cracked as he switched to her other side so she was blocking the wind.
“It was more that…” Jeff trailed off as they reached her car. “I just didn’t want to give this to you in front of everyone.” He pulled something out of his pocket and handed it to her. A small thick neon pink rubber band landed in her palm. She looked up at him questioningly. “It’s a glow in the dark bracelet,” he stated in an exaggerated tone, as if she should have known that right away. Annie chuckled at the sad piece of rubber in her hand before sliding it onto her wrist. “Except it doesn’t really glow in the dark apparently.” He rubbed a hand across his forehead in a frustrated swipe. “Hunter lied to me.”
“So, it turns out we’re not very good at that game then,” Annie smiled up at him. He grinned at her.
“Yeah, we suck.” He looked at the wrist when she held it up for him to see. “But, that can work for lots of other things.”
“Really?” Annie asked with a giggle. “Like what?”
“Well, you could shoot it at people you don’t like.” He snapped it against her wrist. “Or you could use it as a hair tie if the need arises,” he added with a gesture toward her hair. Annie nodded encouragingly. “And it can hold stuff together.”
“Like a rubber band,” Annie finished.
“Which is what it is,” Jeff agreed.
Annie turned to push her key into the lock. “How much did this rubber band set you back?” she asked.
“About forty bucks,” Jeff replied with a chuckle. Annie turned to him in horror.
“Oh my god, Jeff.” She pulled it off her wrist. “I didn’t realize it was going to cost you so much money. It was just a joke.” Annie shook her head. “You shouldn’t have spent that much.” She held it up to him.
“What am I going to do with it now?” he asked, giving her a smile. “Return it?” He looked over his shoulder to the building. “I don’t think that is how Hunter rolls.” Annie opened her mouth to protest, but Jeff pulled it from her hand and slipped it back over her wrist. “Keep it. Something to remember this fantastic party by,” he cracked. Annie forced a smile onto her face when his hand lingered on her wrist. She hoped he couldn’t feel her pulse racing and consciously slowed her breathing in case he could. He coughed and backed away from her slightly. Annie reached up and adjusted her wool hat. “So, what did you wish for?” Jeff asked after a beat.
Annie pressed her mouth into a firm line. “If I tell you, it might not come true.”
He blinked in the dim sulfuric light of the parking lot and she saw his adam’s apple bob. “If you do tell me, I can make sure it does though.” He moved almost imperceptibly closer to her. Annie pressed herself back against the side of her car without thinking.
“It isn’t something you really need to hear, though.” She said it very softly and couldn’t make her eyes leave his chest. “Is it?”
Jeff leaned in, surrounding her before she could even pay attention and enjoy it. His lips pressed against hers softly, chastely. Annie barely had a moment to respond before he was pulling away again, his breath making clouds of vapor in the cold evening. “Happy birthday, Annie.” It was a murmur, quiet and raspy in the space between them.
“Thank you,” Annie whispered up to him, holding his gaze longer than she should. She smiled and opened her car door. Jeff backed away slightly and watched her in silence for a moment. Annie bent and placed Babar in the passenger seat of her car before straightening up and facing Jeff again. “See you tomorrow?” she asked again. He nodded and Annie smiled unsurely at him. “Thanks for the bracelet.”
“Hey,” he called just as she started to slide into the driver’s seat. He moved into the open space, his knee almost resting against her outstretched hand that held the door. “Just out of curiosity, was that your wish?” He looked down at her, his expression open and questioning.
Annie looked up his torso, past the broad expanse of his chest and shoulders to his face. She remembered the feeling of his fingers lacing through her hair on a spring night, the way he’d pulled her to him so desperately. The way his hands had clung to her hips on a stage in front of two hundred people. Her face flushed and she grinned up at him.
“Not even close,” she answered honestly with a smirk. Jeff’s eyes widened even as he backed away from her. “Night, Jeff,” Annie called as she pulled her door closed firmly.
She barely even noticed in the rearview mirror that he watched her the entire way out of the parking lot.
But he totally did.
Way #3 http://elsiesnuffin.livejournal.com/10463.html#cutid1
Rating: PG
Word Count: 3387
Disclaimer: Still not mine. Please quit asking, it makes me feel bad.
“This was such a good idea!” Shirley chirped as the tabletop was covered with trays of hot pizza. She clapped her hands together and smiled aggressively around the group. Annie returned the smile somewhat nervously before pulling her root beer up to her lips and taking a sip.
It had all happened so suddenly. They had been at study group that afternoon when the dean had breezed into the room, rubbing a hand across Jeff’s shoulders on his way toward Annie. “Miss Edison,” he had cooed with arms waving at his sides. “I just happened to notice in your student information file that today is the anniversary of your day of birth.” A choked noise of surprise had come from the general direction of Shirley. Annie had cleared her throat and tried to brush it off only to have Shirley go on to insist that they throw a party that evening.
And that was how Annie had ended up sitting at a formica table in the middle of a Chuck E. Cheese on her twenty-first birthday, sandwiched between Abed and Britta. Abed had been told by Shirley in her strictest mom voice that he had to eat his pizza before he could go play games, and so he sat next to her with a jiggling leg and several pointed stares toward the arcade. Troy was chewing as quickly as he could, just as anxious to ‘dominate skee ball’. Annie glanced across the table to Jeff, who was slouched away from his plate, punching his thumbs into his phone with intent. The askew party hat on his head was at odds with the irritable expression his face held. He had been very clear on the fact that this was not how he wanted to spend his evening from the moment the words had left Shirley’s mouth. Still intent on making sure people knew his feelings, Jeff continued to scowl as he fiddled with his phone before glancing up at Annie and offering a tight fake smile that looked more like a grimace. She merely frowned in response, but Jeff’s eyes had left hers as quickly as they’d landed and he had instead opted for shooting an imploring look toward Britta. He had clearly expected her to join him in his disdain, but Britta was currently scolding Pierce on eating a slice of pizza with some vegetables on it before going to play pinball, which he claimed was ‘old school’.
Annie chewed her food silently as she glanced around the table slowly. ‘It will be good family fun’, Shirley had assured them that afternoon as she had swept out of the room. Abed chewed quickly and swallowed from Annie’s left before shooting Troy a look and jerking his head toward the game portion of the building. They were both on their feet and racing away together. “Happy birthday, Annie” was called out as they exited in a cloud of cartoon dust. She waved at them before staring at her plate.
This was actually a lot like her family. Scattered and awkward.
“Okay, so are we going to wrap this thing up here?” Jeff asked with a glance at Shirley. “We sing, we eat some cake…”
“Jeffrey,” Shirley admonishes, clearly angry.
“Can’t you take a night off from being a douche?” Britta asked from beside her. Annie kept her eyes on Jeff, feeling a fresh wave of sadness wash over her. Slowly, she rose from her seat.
“This is why I didn’t tell anyone it was my birthday,” Annie said softly without making eye contact with anyone at the table. “I didn’t want to have to watch people pretend to care about me. Just go, Jeff.” She backed away from the group and wandered toward the arcade area, careful to not reach a hand up to wipe her eyes until she was sure she was far enough away. She walked over to where Troy and Abed were playing skee ball and watched silently for several minutes, turning down their offers to throw the ball.
It had been a last minute thing, he could have just said he had plans. Was it really better to come along and make sure everyone knew how miserable you were? She knew Jeff was a selfish person, but didn’t think it would be this bad, didn’t think he would ever be that hurtful toward her. Their friendship was tenuous at best, and he clearly didn’t even care to keep it at that level. Annie swallowed, willing the tears she felt welling in her eyes to stay away. Soon it was going to start weirding people out to see a grown woman in a party hat crying in the middle of an arcade.
“Hey,” a voice said from beside her and Annie stiffened. She didn’t have to look up to know it was him and she didn’t have to see him to know the look on his face was one of practiced embarrassment. Shirley had clearly yelled at him and he’d come to apologize.
“It’s not a big deal, Jeff.” She turned away and was walking as quickly as she could without drawing attention to herself. Unfortunately, Jeff’s legs were twice as long as hers and he had no problem keeping up with her. “This was a last minute thing, I’m sure you had plans.” She could hear the weakness in her own voice and hated it. What she wanted to say to him was that he was a sucky friend who could maybe find time in his busy schedule of copying off her homework and sleeping with random co-eds to pretend to care about her for a night. She wanted to punch him in the stomach. “No, you know what?” She stopped dead and turned toward him. Jeff’s eyes widened in surprise but he mirrored her stance. “You suck.” She exhaled loudly. “Britta was right. You can’t put your ‘cool guy’ persona on hold for one night for someone else?”
“I’m a dick,” he grimaced with a sincere nod. He glanced to his side to see a woman pull a young child away with a disapproving glance. “Sorry,” he called to her belatedly. He turned his attention back to Annie. “I don’t know why I do this.”
“Neither do the rest of us,” Annie answered, crossing her arms over her chest defiantly.
Jeff chuckled. “So, you’re not gonna make this easy for me then, huh?” Annie simply raised an eyebrow at him. “I am really sorry, Annie.” Annie pulled her lower lip into her mouth and chewed on it apprehensively. After a moment, she nodded slowly, looking down at the empty space between them. He shoved his hands into his pockets uneasily and kicked at the stained carpet with a large boot. “So, are we good?” She turned her face up toward him and swallowed before nodding at him, a tight forced smile on her face. Now was the part where he made his exit. She could feel it coming. “Then there is just one question left,” he continued with a serious expression.
“What’s that?” Annie asked.
“Does this place have that game where you hit things with ridiculously large mallets?” He looked around for a moment before letting his eyes land on her face again. “Because I? Am incredible with that game.” He gave her a confident smirk, one eyebrow quirked. Annie grinned to herself. “You in, Princess Elizabeth?” Annie dropped her hands to her sides to keep from clenching and unclenching her fingers in front of her like a ten year old with an ill-advised crush.
“On one condition,” she stated resolutely, her face a mask of sincerity. Jeff raised an eyebrow nervously in question. “With your winnings, you have to pick something out for me from the counter.” She fought to keep her face straight as Jeff sarcastically rolled his eyes toward the ‘store‘ that had the prizes. “I’m serious.”
“I think I may have oversold my prowess here,” Jeff replied with a chuckle as his eyes scanned the room. “There it is,” he pointed. “We just have to push those little kids out of the way.” Annie sputtered and smacked him in the stomach. “God, I was kidding.”
They played countless rounds in a row, Jeff having to make three trips to the token machine before Annie decided she couldn’t bring herself to smack any more dinosaurs on the head. He held their small ropes of tickets toward her, but Annie shook her head. “Nope,” she answered. “I said you had to pick something out.”
Jeff’s eyes narrowed at her. “Crap,” he stated flatly. Annie chuckled.
“I can’t believe you didn’t challenge that when I said it,” she retorted as she followed him to the prize counter.
“I was so relieved that your request wasn’t something way worse,” Jeff answered honestly as he perused the items. “I didn’t even think about it.”
“Okay,” Annie announced as she backed away from him. “I’m going to go see how many tickets Troy has won.”
“Whoa, wait a minute.” Jeff turned away from the counter with narrowed eyes. “You have to at least give me some ideas here.” He gestured back to the teenage boy behind the counter. “He isn’t going to be much help.”
“He’s right,” the boy spoke up and Jeff shot Annie a pointed look.
“Sorry, helping you wasn’t part of the deal.” Annie gave him a falsely apologetic smile before striding away from him. She felt his eyes on her the entire trip back to the table and tried to tamp down the tingle she felt at that idea.
“How’d you guys make out?” Britta asked when Annie took her seat.
Pierce looked up at her in alarm. “Who’d she make out with?”
Britta rolled her eyes at the older man before turning back to Annie. “Did Jeff leave?” She looked over Annie’s shoulder toward the exit.
“He’s buying something with his winnings,” Annie responded as she rose to help Shirley place candles into the store-bought cake they had brought with them. Shirley looked up at Annie in surprise.
“Really?” she asked, clearly unsure if she’d heard correctly. Annie simply nodded without making eye contact with any of them. A moment later, Troy and Abed came marching over to the table, standing close together.
“Annie,” Troy announced loudly. “Being that it is your birthday, Abed and I pooled our tickets to get you something nice.”
“Or as nice as we could get at an arcade,” Abed supplied before he and Troy parted and pulled a stuffed elephant from behind their backs.
“You guys,” Annie simpered as she rushed toward them. She caught them each in a one armed hug, pulling them together in the process. “This is so sweet of you.” Abed held the stuffed elephant out to her and she took it.
“I think you should call him Babar,” Abed noted as he glanced at the elephant as Jeff joined the group. His eyes landed on the elephant in her hands.
“Where did that come from?” he asked, pointing to it.
“You mean Babar?” Troy piped up from Annie’s other side.
Jeff looked at Troy questioningly for a moment before turning his attention to Annie. “Troy and Abed got it for me.” She brought the elephant up and hugged it to her chest. “Although he kind of smells like stale cheese.”
“Yeah, I noticed that too,” Troy said, his eyes still on Jeff.
“Man, I should have gone in with you guys,” Jeff whined as he let his face fall into a scowl.
Shirley cleared her throat from behind them and Annie turned to take in Shirley holding the cake, lit with twenty-one candles. She was flanked by Britta and Pierce and they advanced on her as everyone sang to her. Shirley set the cake down carefully on the table in front of her and Annie bent over it to blow out the candles.
“Don’t forget to make a wish,” Abed called to her and Annie looked up and met his eye before she allowed her gaze to flicker to her right and land on Jeff, whose eyes widened ever so slightly. Annie closed her eyes and blew, extinguishing all the candles in one breath. Everyone clapped and Annie smiled to herself. By the time she had opened her eyes again, Shirley had moved into birthday party mom mode and was expertly slicing the cake into squares with one hand while elbowing Pierce out of the way with the other. Brita approached Annie with a piece of cake on a small paper plate that had the face of Dora the Explorer on it. “It was all I could find on such short notice,” she shrugged as she handed Annie the plate.
“She means it’s what she had in her closet at home already,” Jeff spoke up as he approached them.
“Shut up, ass.” Britta frowned up at him, but he just smirked easily in return.
Annie scooped up a forkful of frosting and pushed it into her mouth, carefully keeping Babar tucked under her arm. The sugary sweetness dissolved on her tongue and Annie licked her lips clean before glancing around the group. Pierce was giving a play-by-play of his amazing pinball victory to Abed, who was staring off into space. Britta and Troy were talking quietly at the table as they shared a piece of cake. Jeff was busy gossiping with Shirley, party hat purposely askew on his head. He looked up and met her gaze and gave her a smile that Annie was sure he would never bestow on anyone if he knew that it caused the corners of his eyes to wrinkle. She felt something in chest flutter and studiously ignored the idea in the back of her head about the ridiculous wish she’d just made.
After another piece of cake and a re-enactment of ‘Sixteen Candles’ in it’s entirety from Abed and Troy, they all agreed they should call it a night. Britta suggested going out for a drink, but was met with lukewarm response. Annie glanced at Jeff, expecting him to agree to a pub crawl. He was instead not even listening to her and instead talking to Shirley about the drama coach knocking up one of his leads. Annie stood and put her jacket on.
“I have an early class,” she said to the group. “But thanks everyone for…this.” She glanced around the table. “It was really, really sweet of you all to do this.” She grinned at Shirley, who was positively glowing. “Everyone have a good night.” She waved at them before wrapping her scarf around her neck and exiting into the chilly Colorado evening.
Ten feet outside, Annie realized she had left Babar behind. She turned and ran into Jeff, who had exited holding it in his hands. She just stared at him.
“I didn’t want you to forget him,” he shrugged as he held the elephant out to her. Annie took it into her mittened hands.
“Thanks,” she offered with a smile. He just stood there, watching her. “I’ll see you tomorrow?”
“Yeah,” he answered. He glanced over her shoulder. “Well, I figured as long as I was out here I should walk you to your car.” He dug his hands into his pockets and Annie realized he’d come outside without his jacket.
“How chivalrous,” Annie cracked as he switched to her other side so she was blocking the wind.
“It was more that…” Jeff trailed off as they reached her car. “I just didn’t want to give this to you in front of everyone.” He pulled something out of his pocket and handed it to her. A small thick neon pink rubber band landed in her palm. She looked up at him questioningly. “It’s a glow in the dark bracelet,” he stated in an exaggerated tone, as if she should have known that right away. Annie chuckled at the sad piece of rubber in her hand before sliding it onto her wrist. “Except it doesn’t really glow in the dark apparently.” He rubbed a hand across his forehead in a frustrated swipe. “Hunter lied to me.”
“So, it turns out we’re not very good at that game then,” Annie smiled up at him. He grinned at her.
“Yeah, we suck.” He looked at the wrist when she held it up for him to see. “But, that can work for lots of other things.”
“Really?” Annie asked with a giggle. “Like what?”
“Well, you could shoot it at people you don’t like.” He snapped it against her wrist. “Or you could use it as a hair tie if the need arises,” he added with a gesture toward her hair. Annie nodded encouragingly. “And it can hold stuff together.”
“Like a rubber band,” Annie finished.
“Which is what it is,” Jeff agreed.
Annie turned to push her key into the lock. “How much did this rubber band set you back?” she asked.
“About forty bucks,” Jeff replied with a chuckle. Annie turned to him in horror.
“Oh my god, Jeff.” She pulled it off her wrist. “I didn’t realize it was going to cost you so much money. It was just a joke.” Annie shook her head. “You shouldn’t have spent that much.” She held it up to him.
“What am I going to do with it now?” he asked, giving her a smile. “Return it?” He looked over his shoulder to the building. “I don’t think that is how Hunter rolls.” Annie opened her mouth to protest, but Jeff pulled it from her hand and slipped it back over her wrist. “Keep it. Something to remember this fantastic party by,” he cracked. Annie forced a smile onto her face when his hand lingered on her wrist. She hoped he couldn’t feel her pulse racing and consciously slowed her breathing in case he could. He coughed and backed away from her slightly. Annie reached up and adjusted her wool hat. “So, what did you wish for?” Jeff asked after a beat.
Annie pressed her mouth into a firm line. “If I tell you, it might not come true.”
He blinked in the dim sulfuric light of the parking lot and she saw his adam’s apple bob. “If you do tell me, I can make sure it does though.” He moved almost imperceptibly closer to her. Annie pressed herself back against the side of her car without thinking.
“It isn’t something you really need to hear, though.” She said it very softly and couldn’t make her eyes leave his chest. “Is it?”
Jeff leaned in, surrounding her before she could even pay attention and enjoy it. His lips pressed against hers softly, chastely. Annie barely had a moment to respond before he was pulling away again, his breath making clouds of vapor in the cold evening. “Happy birthday, Annie.” It was a murmur, quiet and raspy in the space between them.
“Thank you,” Annie whispered up to him, holding his gaze longer than she should. She smiled and opened her car door. Jeff backed away slightly and watched her in silence for a moment. Annie bent and placed Babar in the passenger seat of her car before straightening up and facing Jeff again. “See you tomorrow?” she asked again. He nodded and Annie smiled unsurely at him. “Thanks for the bracelet.”
“Hey,” he called just as she started to slide into the driver’s seat. He moved into the open space, his knee almost resting against her outstretched hand that held the door. “Just out of curiosity, was that your wish?” He looked down at her, his expression open and questioning.
Annie looked up his torso, past the broad expanse of his chest and shoulders to his face. She remembered the feeling of his fingers lacing through her hair on a spring night, the way he’d pulled her to him so desperately. The way his hands had clung to her hips on a stage in front of two hundred people. Her face flushed and she grinned up at him.
“Not even close,” she answered honestly with a smirk. Jeff’s eyes widened even as he backed away from her. “Night, Jeff,” Annie called as she pulled her door closed firmly.
She barely even noticed in the rearview mirror that he watched her the entire way out of the parking lot.
But he totally did.
Way #3 http://elsiesnuffin.livejournal.com/10463.html#cutid1