Chapter Text
Abed unlocked his apartment. It felt empty without Troy and Annie. He tried to keep in contact with them, but it was difficult. Abed’s correspondences with Troy were few and far between. He had managed to video-chat with Annie at least once a week.
Lately, it had been only once a week. He hardly heard anything from the rest of the study group. Once in a blue moon Britta would email him updates of what was going on at Greendale, by now she had replaced Duncan as Psychology professor, and sometimes they even made sense. He missed them.
He hadn’t had time to socialize recently. Too focused on his career. After several rejected sitcom pitches and two poorly received low budget films, his third movie was a hit among audiences and critics alike. He was taking off.
Abed hung his messenger bag by the door and settled in front of the TV. TV was constant. It would always be there when he needed it. People were trickier. Feeling especially sentimental, he put on The Breakfast Club, and considered watching The Empire Strikes Back later.
The phone started ringing. Abed paused the TV and answered it.
He was wrong.
Cool. Cool, cool, cool.
Abed hung up the phone and went to the airport. He booked the next possible flight and left. He hadn’t even bothered to think about luggage, so he went right on with his messenger bag as a personal item. The time on the plane allowed him to think. He hoped it wasn’t a mistake. But he had spent enough time being resigned to the future, it was time for him to shape it himself. He had been wrong.
He got off the plane and rushed out of the airport. When Abed exited the airport it was dark; the evening had faded into night. He called a taxi from the street. It was just like the movies, or the sitcom Taxi. Cool. The taxi stops at an apartment building.
The elevator isn’t coming down fast enough, so Abed decides to run up the stairs. It’s five flights, and it’s debatable whether this is even the faster approach, but it has more dramatic flourish.
He finds the apartment and knocks on the door. It’s all on the line. He waits a moment, and just when he thinks that he wasted a plane ticket and a dramatic journey the door opens.
Annie Edison stands in the doorway. Dressed in only a large shirt, one Abed suspected was his at one point, she looks as though she’s been sleeping. Abed stepped closer to her and caressed her cheek. She closed her eyes a second, then looked back at him, confused, as though she couldn’t tell if he was really there or discern why and how he could be here now.
Abed leaned in and kissed her. At first Annie was hesitant. Her hands stayed at her side. Then she deepened the kiss, surprising Abed. She threw her hands around his neck. Abed kept one hand on the side of her face and pulled Annie closer with his other on her back. The kiss was urgent, but not without sweetness.
Abed broke the kiss for air, leaving Annie flustered, confused, and a bit embarrassed. She looked at him expectantly; her eyelashes fluttered.
“I made it into Sundance.”