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Abed was in the midst of a conundrum. He was conflicted, so to speak. It was one of those moments where what he wanted might conflict with the interests of his friends. Sometimes when these situations came up, he wouldn’t realize it until everyone had become upset with him for forging ahead with what he wanted. But this time, things were different. He could see the dilemma ahead of time, and now had to make a decision about that dilemma. And that decision was the source of the conundrum.
After the whole Lukka incident, he and Troy had made an agreement with Britta that it was probably better to let each other’s friends remain, simply, friends-of-friends. Anything more would complicate things a little too much. Abed liked complicated, sometimes. Complex cinematic storylines were fascinating to follow along. But complicated emotions had never really been his strong suit. Which was okay, because he was aware of it. On the downside, that made these types of situations… not exactly ideal, to say the least.
This was complicated. At this point, Abed would prefer less Lord of the Rings-nuance and something a little more Marvel: straightforward and simplistic. Still a moderately entertaining adventure, but easily resolved.
Britta had somehow found someone outside of the study group that didn’t think she was the worst. Which wasn’t a problem at all. Abed thought it was good for her to branch out of their “creepy circle,” as Jeff had put it. The problem was that Abed had a crush on Britta’s friend.
What if this turned into a reverse Lukka scenario? Britta really liked this girl, and if he screwed things up or found out something horrible about her, he would be taking away one of his best friends’ best friend.
Complicated.
And potentially messy, very messy.
“Abed?” Annie got his attention, and it was then he realized that the whole study group was looking at him.
“Sorry, I wasn’t listening,” he said. “What was the question?”
Britta looked at him with what he thought was an almost hopeful expression.
“Well, Abed,” she started, in that tentative-sweet tone of voice she usually used when she wanted something, “I was just wondering if my friend (Y/N) could come to the study group tomorrow.”
She must have seen the panic on his face and misread it for hesitation or disapproval, because she quickly continued, “Not to permanently join the group or anything, I just mean like, sitting in for one study session.”
Abed sat there for a moment, unsure how to react. He had to say something, though…
“Why?”
The others exchanged glances. Concern, maybe?
Britta floundered a bit, slightly caught off guard by his question.
“Um- Well, just… just so everyone could meet her, you know?”
“But we’ve already met her. I’ve met her. We know her, I know her. Why does she need to come for a whole meeting?”
Everything had just become ten times more complicated, and he was trying to avoid it, but all he was doing was talking too fast.
Britta blanched and seemed to deflate a little.
“I mean, it’s fine… If you don’t want her to come, then just forget it.” She gave a small smile, and she looked like she was okay, but sometimes she smiled when she wasn’t okay, and Abed was too caught up in his worries to take the time to figure out which one she was doing right now.
Annie did that little scoff she sometimes did, and gave Abed a look.
“Abed, I think we should let Britta bring her friend. True, maybe we have already met her, but don’t you think we should get to know her better?”
“I mean, it couldn’t hurt…” Troy offered. But he didn’t know. Abed hadn’t even told him. That’s how big of a deal this was.
Abed looked at each of his friends across the table, ending with Britta.
There was a perfectly timed dramatic pause, then…
“Sure thing, Britta. You can bring (Y/N) to the study group tomorrow.”
The whole table seemed to sigh in relief, and Britta’s smile changed, which probably meant that it hadn’t been a good one before.
“Thanks, Abed,” she said.
“Alright then,” Jeff said, glancing around the table. “Until then, I guess.”
“Cool,” Abed said, though internally, his thoughts were racing. “Cool cool cool…”
Abed had arrived to the study room half an hour early, hoping that somehow, that might prepare him for the situation. He knew he liked (Y/N). He hoped she liked him too. Their conversations always seemed to go well, at least. But his struggle had to do with how to proceed. He could confess his feelings in a fun homage style and take a risk for something real and not a bit, or he could stay silent, hopefully preserving his friendship with Britta, as well as Britta’s friendship with (Y/N).
He sat there, thinking it over, until each of the others wandered in one by one.
“Hey man,” Troy said as he sat down.
“And I couldn’t even be mad because it was just so darn adorable…”
Shirley and Annie were deep in conversation.
“All I’m saying is, this could really benefit us both… Think it over, why don’t you? And we can discuss it again tomorrow…” Pierce had paused to speak to Chang at the back door, his tone low, giving the impression that it was a subject of questionable taste.
Jeff said nothing as he wandered in and sat down, immersed in whatever text he was finishing up.
Then, Abed heard it. That laugh. He looked over to the front doors of the study room. There she was, with Britta, walking in. He was probably staring. He should probably stop staring.
“Hey guys,” Britta said, “This is (Y/N), which, you already know that, but… Anyways, (Y/N), this is the study group. And you know them all already, so this introduction is kind of pointless…” She paused. “I’ll just… sit down now.”
“It’s okay Britta,” (Y/N) said with a soft laugh. “Hi, study group, it’s good to see you all again.” When she met eyes with Abed, she gave a small smile. “Hi Abed…”
“Hi (Y/N),” he said back automatically.
There was a pause, then (Y/N) glanced back at the rest of the group, suddenly seeming to realize that they were all observing the interaction with curious expressions. She bit her lip and looked away.
“I… can’t stay long, I just wanted to say hi… and I said hi, so…” Now, she seemed… embarrassed. She was easier to read than most people. Maybe it was because Abed paid more attention to her than most people. He paid more attention to his friends’ faces than anyone else, but he paid even more attention to the way her expressions changed.
“No, you should stay,” he said quickly. A little too quickly, maybe.
“Oh, well, we don’t want to keep you if you have somewhere you need to be,” Annie said, shooting him a look.
“Maybe we do,” he shot back. He didn’t want her to go. As risky as it was, he knew what he wanted, and he wanted to spend time with (Y/N). He wanted… to tell her how he felt. Even if it meant risking that things might be rocky with Britta for a while. He had weighed the consequences, and he felt so strongly about this that he had to take that chance.
“Abed, is everything alright?” Britta asked.
“Yeah, I’m fine…” he said.
“Are you sure, man?” Troy asked. “Cause yesterday, you didn’t want her to come, and now you don’t want her to leave.”
At his words, (Y/N)’s face changed.
“Oh… You didn’t want me to come?”
There was an awkward pause, and Troy seemed to realize he’d let his words get away from him a little.
(Y/N) gave a little smile, but it was different than before. Less happy.
“I should just go, then… I’ll see you later, Britta.”
She turned to walk away, but Abed found himself standing from his chair.
“No wait, you can’t go,” he said, and she turned to look at him. The whole study group was looking at him. If this were a bit, he wouldn’t care. He would be confident, because he knew every quote from every movie ever. Not really, that was an exaggeration, but it did feel like it sometimes. If this were a bit, he would be playing a character, but he wasn’t.
He was just… Abed. Making it up as he went along.
“Yesterday, I wasn’t sure I wanted you to come, because I was afraid I wouldn’t know how to act or react with you here. And, well, I was kind of right. It’s just that you make me nervous. Because… I like you. And I was scared to like you, because you’re Britta’s friend. Britta has a hard time making friends-”
“Hey…”
“-and I didn’t want to be the person to mess this up for her. So I was scared to be around you, because I know I can’t just stop liking you. But I also don’t know how… not to show that.” He took a deep breath. This was no Winger speech; this was an Abed speech. And no Abed speech would be complete without an homage. “Basically… I was just scared of my own feelings. But most of all, I'm scared of walking out of this room and never feeling the rest of my whole life the way I feel when I'm with you.”
This was one time where he just couldn’t tell what her expression meant, and it was making him a little nervous, but he waited as calmly as possible.
“Abed, I…” (Y/N) started. “I don’t know what to say…” Then, she paused. “Scratch that, did you just quote Dirty Dancing?”
His mouth twitched in a knowing smile, and she laughed softly.
“Okay…” she continued. “Well, that’s not exactly what I pictured for today, but… I really like you, Abed. And I… I feel really strongly about you, too.”
The two of them stood there, smiling sheepishly, then both of them simultaneously snuck a glance at Britta, who snorted softly and rolled her eyes.
“You don’t need my permission, you guys, just be happy! Go for it. For the record, I think you’d be great together.” Then, she grinned. “And, I think I should get a little credit for founding this--”
“Don’t push it, Britta” Abed said, but he really was happy. Britta wasn’t mad, and things had turned out alright for him. He looked back at (Y/N).
“Wanna go to lunch?”
“I’d love to…” she said. “Oh, wait, what about your study session?”
“I don’t mind skipping a day,” Shirley suggested to the others. She was probably just happy to see Abed with someone.
“Yeah, I mean, it’s not like we’ve got a test or tomorrow,” Troy said.
“I’m confused,” Pierce started. “What--”
“All in favor?” Jeff interrupted, and the rest all raised their hands. “Alright then.” He nodded to Abed. “Get outta here, then.”
(Y/N)’s smile was crystal clear. The two of them began to walk out of the library, side by side.
“I know this great place downtown… They just serve different types of noodles.”
“Buttered noodles?” Abed asked.
“Their signature dish,” she confirmed.
Maybe the conundrum had been a little more Marvel than Abed had anticipated, with just a straightforward solution. And maybe… sometimes, that was okay.