CHAPTER SIX / intricate brithday bash

Jeff Winger had been dragged by Adelaide Santiago to visit the nearest supermarket they could find at Greendale. Because of her insistence, he drove her to buy a gift for Troy. She'd been very resilient to find something special for him, even at a supermarket, because she found out a little too late that it was his special day.

"You really don't have to do this,"

"Let me do something for him," Adelaide whined, "It has to feel scary having a stranger be apart of your friend group out of the blue. I need him to feel like I've been around forever," She explained.

Since her involvement with the group, Adelaide felt it was very important to form bonds with everyone outside of her fake relationship with Jeff.

Besides Abed and Shirley, Adelaide hadn't taken the time to know the rest. But this was something the two of them disagreed heavily in. He found unnecessary for her to place additional effort into something that would be temporary.

And from personal experience, he himself had grown attached to the group, and he didn't want the same to happen to her when it was time to cut the act.

"Troy's happy with whatever you give him. You could give him a pencil and he'll find a way to have fun with it," He scoffed.

No amount of comments would make Adelaide change her mind about getting something nice for Troy. She felt like it was important that she did, it was a unique chance to demonstrate that she was more than just Jeff's new girlfriend.

"That's exactly why I have to get him something. No matter how big or small,"

Jeff scrunched his nose in utter confusion, "No it isn't?" He looked down at her, watching the unfazed look on her face.

Ignoring Jeff's protest, Adelaide thought about all the things she could buy. She had a general idea of Troy's interests, thanks to Abed. As much as she appreciated Abed's suggestions, she didn't have enough money to afford Troy's interests.

In a mutual agreement, Adelaide instructed Abed to get a gift for Troy on her behalf. She assured she would pay him in some way soon, but it mattered more to her that Troy got something.

While in the store, Addy had dragged Jeff to the food area. Especially to observe the selection of pastries. Behind an acrylic wall were a lot of different flavored cakes to choose from, and Adelaide suddenly got an idea of how she could contribute. Given her low budget, she thought she could spend her little money on a treat that the majority could enjoy from.

"I could pay for his cake," She suggested as she turned to look over her shoulder, watching Jeff towering behind her as he examined all the options.

He gave her an indifferent shrug, not interfering in the process. Whatever she wanted to do, he was okay with.

Taking his silence as a 'yes', Adelaide directed herself at the employee behind the counter. She informed them what cake she wanted, picking a big rectangular cake. What had caught her attention, besides its size, was the decorative blue and yellow flowers in icing, along with its green leaves surrounding it.

As beautiful as it looked by itself, Adelaide felt like there was something missing. The cake had too much white space in the center, making it look empty.

"What do we put there?" Adelaide asked Jeff. The two of them staring at the big blank space, "I think happy birthday should do just fine,"

Jeff shook his head, before Adelaide could take his silence for an answer, again, "No. Troy's a Jehovahs witness. They don't celebrate birthdays or anything, so I don't know what we could put instead," He sighed in slight defeat.

"Do you know someone who does?" Adelaide asked.

Without much hesitation, Jeff pulled out his blackberry and began searching through the phone numbers registered in it. He searched for 'Britta,' which was still under the name of 'Blonde from Spanish Class.'

He really needed to change that soon. 

When he found her number, he marked it, placing the phone beside his ear. The ringing reverberated through his ears as he waited for her pick up.

"Is she your speed dial contact?" Adelaide asked.

While waiting for Britta to answer, which took longer than expected, Jeff felt taken aback by her question. Dialing her number a second time, Jeff really took in Adelaide's unamused expression when waiting for Britta's voice to get through him.

"Yes. Why are you bothered by that?"

"I'm not. But it's kind of sad that she's your go-to whenever you're in trouble. I'm assuming," Jeff couldn't figure if she was being serious or not. But she did have a point, he could give her that. After all, wasn't he trying to get away from Britta? "We all know that I should be your new speed dial contact,"

"Britta, hey!" Jeff answered enthusiastically, his voice tone changing drastically. Even his entire face changed, wanting to be expressive enough to let Adelaide know he was currently on the phone with Britta.

She rolled her eyes in response, leaving him to it. While busy with Britta on the line, Adelaide turned to inform the employee that they were figuring what to write on the cake, estimating that it would take them only a few minutes to come up with something to replace the typical 'Happy Birthday.'

As they waited, Adelaide's gaze studied Jeff. She kept a close eye on his expressions, watching the exact moment his once enthusiastic expression dropped upon listening Britta talk for too long.

"You want me to write all that on the cake?" Jeff asked, to ensure he'd listened correctly. "You know we'll end up eating the cake no matter what it says, right?"

"This is Troy's cake," Adelaide could hear Britta protest. "Besides, I'm trying to be respectful —."

Tired of Britta's instructions, Jeff cut her off mid sentence. He only wanted her to cut to the chase, as they were running out of time, and they were the ones in charge to bring the cake for Troy's surprise party.

"Britta, I don't have time for this. Just repeat what you want me to put on the cake, Addy'll get it written,"

"You're with Addy?" She asked, confusion laced in her voice.

Little did they know they were on speaker in the study room. Not only was Britta aware that Jeff and Adelaide were together, everyone except for Troy, became aware of this as well. It was strange but at the same time, it wasn't.

Britta had ordered only for Jeff to pick a cake for Troy, while he was at it, Jeff decided to bring Adelaide along.

"Hello? What do you want me to put on the damn cake?" Adelaide waved her hand in front of his face, gaining his attention.

His eyes had glossed over for a moment, Britta went on to talk and he even lost track of whatever she was saying. Even Annie joined in the conversation, but he wasn't alert to know what she said. Adelaide's gesture brought him back to reality, and his mind refocused on Britta's instructions from before.

Jeff detached his phone from beside his ear, covering the end of it as he approached the employee, making Adelaide step aside.

"Write this: Hello during a happy dessert. The month and day of which coincide numerically with your expulsion of the uterus,"

"Really? You would rather write all that instead of going with Happy Birthday?" She released a scoff-laugh. Baffled by the decision, Adelaide couldn't hold back from doing anything to change it, there wasn't really much she could do.

However, she remembered. It was a religious thing. She found best to zip her mouth and keep all opinions to herself.

"I don't make the rules," Jeff hung up on Britta before she could torment him further.

The confectioner handed him the cake while Adelaide paid with her own money.

𐙚

Arriving at Greendale's parking lot in the middle of the night. Jeff found the nearest parking space to the library, making their trip with the cake an easier task, and because Jeff feared that by now, someone had spilled their surprise to Troy. He wanted to make sure to arrive there as soon as possible to ensure things were rolling smoothly.

In the middle of the cold night, Jeff ran around the car, opening the door for Adelaide as she carried the cake, carefully, with both hands. While making their way towards the entrance, Jeff followed behind, monitoring her every move to ensure the cake wouldn't suffer any damages.

At the entrance, the group took notice of the couple's presence outside the study room. They felt like they had to hold in their breaths up until Jeff and Adelaide arrived, sighing in relief when finally seeing them at the door.

While Annie had been standing for minutes behind Troy, covering his eyes until his surprise arrived, Jeff carefully opened the door for Adelaide to walk through. In between all the shushing, Adelaide gracefully made her way next to Troy, placing the dessert in front of him.

Annie took it as her cue to slowly remove her hands away from his eyes. At the sight of the cake, a wide smile graced Troy's features. His genuine reaction when seeing the cake made Adelaide's heart flutter. His happiness would never make up to the price of a gift that she could ever give him.

Before Troy could say anything about the cake, Britta jumped in and began humming the words to 'Happy Birthday'. Of course, without the happy birthday part. Eventually, everyone joined in, their voices mixing to finish the rest of the song while following the young Perry's lead.

Because of this, Adelaide now understood the respect Britta had for everyone's beliefs, and how much she cared for Troy's practice as a Jehovahs witness. However, not everyone was as comprehensive as Britta, as Pierce was lost during the entire song and instead hummed the tune alone.

"How come we only sang the last two words, what happened to the 'happy birthday' part?" Pierce questioned.

"You know that he's a Jehovah's witness," Shirley replied.

More interactions reinforced Adelaide's doubts from before. While Britta had showed respect for his beliefs, it was actually Annie and Abed who came up with the message for the cake. Nobody knew Troy like they did, and they came up with the perfect words to plaster on there.

She should've guessed. Britta didn't strike her as capable of coming up with that much amount of words for the sake of keeping the party at peace.

Finally, Troy went on to read the message on the cake. To Adelaide's surprise, it made him tear up. Troy thanked the group for the gesture, going to claim that he usually didn't get emotional over things, which was false.

"After the cake, we cram, for realsies. Guys, finals are coming up," Britta said, worried.

"Yeah, this group is starting to use occasions to avoid studying," Jeff interjected.

He proceeded to complain about the celebration they had for Shirley's niece once. Though it resulted into a stupid festivity, it was more than sacred for Shirley's niece to have taken her first bubble bath. Then, Pierce interrupted the conversation by saying that the group had totally missed his birthday.

Everyone stopped in their tracks when finding this information. Had they really forgotten his birthday? Or was this another of his attempts to get everyone's attention? Whichever it was, the group gaslit Pierce into thinking they had celebrated his birthday and that he just forgot about it.

As Troy opened his gifts while Annie said some facts surrounding his special day, Pierce struggled to cut a singular piece from the cake.

"Who bought this crappy cake?"

Adelaide shook her head, "Oh, my God. Pierce, I didn't buy that cake just so you could tear it up," She tried her best to keep her cool. She knew Jeff would interfiere in the case that she lost her temper.

"Then you bought the wrong one or something because I can't take a piece." Pierce continued to fight with the cake slicer. He failed to even cut through it correctly, resulting in a mess.

Adelaide glared at Jeff. She was slowly losing her temper, and preferred to give him a look rather than keep looking at Pierce continuously fail cutting a cake. Jeff gave her a 'calm down' look, inviting her to practice some breathing exercises before inviting her to help Pierce.

She let out a tired sigh, putting her pride aside and walked up to him. He rejected help once, Shirley had already tried this and got shut down. And he wouldn't hold back from doing it again to whoever offered their help next. If helping didn't result in anything positive, Adelaide already had a few insults up her sleeves.

Calmly, Adelaide wrapped her fingers around Pierce's dominant hand, slowly guiding him to cut a piece of the cake.

"Get your hands off me!"

While Pierce and Adelaide fought who gained ownership of the cake slicer, Annie, Britta, and Jeff realized that Troy was actually 21 years old, and not 20 like he claimed to be. This was due to him believing that the average human being was 10 years twice in their lifetime. Reality was, he took fifth grade twice and his mother proceeded to give him the previous lie in order not to shatter his beliefs.

As intriguing as it was to find out that Troy was 21, as in, the legal drinking age, Adelaide and Pierce's fight unraveling at the end of the table was very distracting.

"Enough you two!" Jeff yelled at them.

"She started it!" Pierce complained.

"I don't care who started it. Just... leave the cake alone,"

Adelaide scoffed. He'd given up so easily, which felt like an insult to her. But having any fight with Pierce was wanting to win a war where you've already lost, it was useless.

"I spent my well earned little money on this," She complained as well. As if it were a competition for who had the best reason to lash out angrily at an innocent cake. With all their fighting, the cake had gone to waste at this point.

"It's fine. You could get me another one next year. When I turn 22?" Troy said doubtfully.

His gaze searched for Britta and Jeff's approval of his words. Finding out his real age was awful enough as it was, and now he doubted everything he knew about himself.

"We have a deal then," Adelaide patted Troy's back with a smile.

Although Pierce and Adelaide's fight had flown over everyone's head by now, the discovery of Troy being of drinking legal age hadn't. Britta and Jeff bickered over which bar was best option to go to. Trying to provide the best first drinking experience for him.

The study group wasn't unfamiliar with their constant fighting, which annoyed everyone surrounding them for the most part. Adelaide, however, couldn't take their stupid fights. She couldn't begin to imagine how the study group dealt with them for the years they've known each other.

Adelaide clapped her hands to gain everyone's attention, "Alright! Why is it so important which bar we go to? Last time I checked, a bar is a bar."

"Not really. Britta hasn't gone to a single non offensive bar in her whole life," Jeff argued, "And that's why my recommendation is better than hers."

"I've certainly gone to non-offensive bars."

"Usually, I could care less what you two fight about, but I'm with Jeff on this one." Adelaide said.

"Thank you." Jeff sighed in satisfaction.

"Of course you're on his side. You're his girlfriend!" Britta groaned.

"Or... probably because I won't go to an offensive bar. Is your white privilege getting to head or something?" Adelaide argued, arms folded across her chest.

Britta rolled her eyes, "Look, this doesn't need to be a big issue. But for some reason, it is."

"You're the one who started fighting about stupid bars!" Adelaide yelled at Jeff. All the yelling between the adults, who are supposed to be the mature ones, caused the rest of the group to quiet down. Accustomed to this, they listened to their words that mixed between them, making their arguments indistinct to the human ear.

"Guys!" Troy yelled, a firm stomp of his foot causing the adults to shut up. "It's my birthday. Can you please just stop fighting. I'm okay with any bar,"

"I don't like it when you guys fight. It's like watching my dad and two moms fight." Abed interjected, his voice with a hint of sadness. Only Jeff and Britta truly understood the hidden meaning behind his words. Giving them flashbacks from the previous semester.

"Two moms?" Adelaide and Britta exclaimed at the same time. Their faces turned to look at each other. They weren't old enough to be someone's mother, right? Their gazes returned to Abed, watching him respond with a nonchalant shrug.

"Alright. It's settled. Troy's coming with me." Jeff determined before Britta or Adelaide could argue about it, "You too, Abed," He ordered, his fingers beckoning the young boys to follow his lead.

"Then, I guess Annie's stuck with us moms," Britta chuckled. Her attempt into making Abed's comment hurt less was feeble. She raised her hand, palm in the air for Adelaide to high-five.

"Please, don't repeat that ever again." Adelaide shook her head. Disappointment evident in her tone before moving towards the exist. The young Santiago girl ordered Annie and Shirley to tag alone with them, now baptized as the 'mom's club' thanks to Abed. While Shriley, the only real mother from the group, was the designated driver for the night.

𐙚

As the group divided themselves between guys and girls, guy's riding in Jeff's car while the girl's were in Shirley's, one thing had still remained unsolved — the location. While on the phone with each other, Britta and Jeff still hadn't settled on a place to go for Troy's enjoyment.

Heightening Adelaide's level of annoyance was Annie's constant commentary about one of her main worries, her ID. Due to being the only underage girl, Britta provided a fake identification for her to use.

Annie was very unsure with proceeding to walk into the bar with a fake ID at hand. The girl's reassurance were no use. She still worried about it, while the other bothersome thing that echoed through Shirley's car was Britta's arguing with Jeff.

"Give me the phone," Adelaide demanded. Tired of the bickering, The young Santiago girl extended her palm over Britta's shoulder.

From the backseat, Britta released a defeated sigh. She knew how stress inducing her argument with Jeff had been, but none of them would take a step back or even agree on something. As she passed her phone onto Adelaide, leaving Jeff ranting to himself for a few seconds.

"Ask him where we're supposed to be. I'm assuming we're talking about the same place," Britta explained.

"Where are we going?" Adelaide asked, as per Britta's instructions.

As everything went down, Shirley drove nervously. She didn't have the most remote idea of where they were headed, and it felt like she was aimlessly driving until Jeff and Britta agreed on a place, which seemed like it would never happen. "You're confusing us, Jeff!"

"Put Britta back on the phone," He ordered.

Adelaide didn't know if he was inducing stress to himself on purpose, but she would do anything but that. "No! Listen, Britta isn't the only woman in her thirties that likes to have a drink from time to time. So, whatever place you're thinking about, I've been there,"

"Do I need an accent?" Annie's eyes were glued to her identification at this point, only finding more things to worry about.

"Annie, you don't need to build a whole identity! They probably won't even look at the picture," Britta assured, a soft attempt to calm down her visible paranoia.

"I need someone to give me directions now because I don't know where the hell I'm supposed to be going!" Shirley panicked.

"Tell Shirley to go to The Ballroom,"

"A-Are you sure? Can't we go somewhere else," The older woman stuttered.

"Oh? Now you're doubting it?" Adelaide asked, "And no, we can't," She couldn't ignore Shirley's evident troubling reaction to Jeff's instructions.

After a few minutes of Shirley driving, finally having a sense of direction, the group of girls arrived at The Ballroom. Luckily, they got a good parking space near the entrance. While exiting the car, the girls gathered around Annie to ensure she kept her cool. She hadn't stopped rambling about her worries, and she would get caught if she didn't quiet down soon.

Britta being the most supportive of all, having experienced going in with fake ID's before, kept reminding Annie there was nothing to be afraid of.

At the entrance, it was time for the security guard to go over everyones ID's. Annie was glossed over quickly. The guard noticed her apparent young age, and let her go in without any problems. This was contrary to what happened with Britta after.

Looking of age, the guard didn't let her in without having a look at her ID first. This offended Britta, with much reason. Reluctantly, she handed her identification. The guard proceeded to verify its authenticity.

After going in, Adelaide was next. Expecting the same treatment as Britta, she handed her identification without much thought.

Upon inspecting it, the security guard held it up to his eye level, inspecting it carefully while having her face behind it. Adelaide smiled widely. Since she was gaining attention from their interaction, she might as well profit from it. The guard handed back her ID, granting her access. But not before Adelaide gave him a subtle wink before going on, leaving the guard a little confused, but not entirely displeased with her gesture.

Already inside, Jeff, Troy, and Abed were by the nearest table they found. The three of them sat at the booth side of the table, and across from them were two chairs that got occupied by Annie and Britta.

Jeff insisted that Troy granted Adelaide a space between them. Forcing him to slide out the booth and wait for her to slide in, now being squeezed in between them while also sharing the space with Abed, and then Shirley, who had mysteriously fallen behind and arrived minutes after everyone was already settled in.

While talking about the place, some of their conversations getting lost in the noise of the place, Jeff draped an arm over Adelaide's shoulders. The two were finally outside their usual locations — classrooms, libraries, cafeterias.

They needed to take advantage from it as much as they could. Not only fooling the eye of their friends, but of any stranger that looked in their direction.

𐙚

Though she'd been very against the idea, hours had passed by until Annie finally embraced the identity from her fake ID. Caroline from Corpus Christi. A cheerful southern girl who couldn't help but be kind to her own friends and bring them an entire round of drinks. Accompanied by an accent that Britta couldn't stand the sound of.

"Hey y'all! Another round for ya!" She quipped.

With a smile on her face, Annie left the drinks at the table and disappeared in between the customers. Like her, the majority of the group had split into their own sub-groups.

Abed had gone to a corner, targeting a specific arcade video game that he liked. Annie was busy being Caroline with the bartender. And Shirley kept doing rounds around the bar. That left all the adults with Troy.

"Who the hell was that?" Jeff asked.

Confusion washed over him, unaware of the entire fake ID ordeal between Britta and her. With a glass of whiskey in hand, almost being done with it, Jeff kept a close eye on Annie before diverging his attention back to their conversation.

"Didn't you hear? That's Caroline from Texas!" Adelaide imitated Annie. Her voice emitting the same southern accent, silly head movements, and awfully cheerful attitude. Managing to gain a chuckle out of Britta.

"She should've dropped the accent by now. She's already in the bar," Britta remarked. "Well, I gotta go now. I'll go see a woman about the female equivalent of a horse," She announced, getting a sip from her drink before she up stood up.

"Classy. Way to show Troy the ropes,"

"Shut up, L street," Britta replied, her voice sounding slurred already. She turned in her heels, walking out of the conversation and around the bar in hopes to find something entertaining to do, away from Jeff.

All three of them kept their gazes on Britta, slowly lowering to observe her behind.

Forcing himself to stop admiring Britta, Jeff took notice that Troy was the most out of the three to have particular interest in her. Before addressing him, Jeff's eyes fell upon a very interested Adelaide.

"You too?" He exclaimed.

Adelaide blinked rapidly. His voice sounded loud. She didn't know if it was because he was basically next to her, or the drinks had enhanced her hearing.

"What? Those jeans fit her well,"

Adelaide grabbed a drink from the table, one of the round of martinis Annie brought before. As she nervously gulped down the drink, Jeff directed himself to Troy.

"That woman is a hurricane," Jeff said.

"Yeah!" Troy agreed with a dreamy sigh. A sigh which turned sour quickly, as it turned into a whine he wanted to repress.

"Hurricanes are bad, Troy,"

"I know."

𐙚

They didn't know if Britta's departure had been a detonator for the rest of their evening but the only thing they knew was that everyone's night had began unfolding awfully after that. Since they had gone their separate ways, everyone became a mess of their own.

Annie was still at the bar area, feeling down for an apparent crisis she had, due to playing Caroline for too long. Abed experienced being flirted on by a man. Resulting in getting drenched in his drink after Abed failed to pick up any of the hints, and the man going away furiously at the failed attempt to get with him.

Shirley spent the entire night taking down Polaroids of herself that captured all the moments she'd been — blackout drunk — at The Ballroom before. Facing mockery from Troy and Britta because she found another picture of her hung in the women's bathroom, Shirley decided to call it a night and leave.

After this, it was when it really kicked in for Troy that his night wasn't as fun as he thought it'd been. His gaze wandered around the place. He couldn't bare seeing his friends in different stages of loneliness, no matter what the cause was.

Suddenly, he felt the responsibility to gather everyone and leave before things turned out for the worse.

However, in a corner of the place, Troy noticed that Jeff and Adelaide had moved from the table, and into a nearby couch that only fit the two of them. Although he tried to ignore it for most of the night, Adelaide and Jeff had consumed alcoholic drinks, one after the other. Slowly losing their minds at the bar and sense of awareness.

They laughed over the silliest and stupidest things they could come up with and say. With that same level of silliness and stupidness, they fought over the same things as well. Awkwardly, Troy walked over to them in order to put a stop into their mindless drinking.

Caught in their conversation, Troy felt trapped with them. Like he had no valuable input for the dumb topics they were discussing. But none of his complaints were being heard. In return, he got ridiculed for them.

"Aw! He's like our little son!" Adelaide's voice slurred through her sentence. Her loud laughter echoed through the room, holding her index finger to point at him.

"Yeah," Jeff agreed aloud. Infected by her laughter, he proceeded to laugh as well, leaving an awkward Troy to stand before them and wait for the couple to regain their senses — which wouldn't be any time soon.

Adelaide tried to stand up, tumbling in the attempt, an arm reaching to pinch Troy's cheeks. But Jeff pulled her back down in place before she could even get near the boy.

"I'll check up on Abed," Troy declared, fed up with them, he walked away.

Adelaide waved as she watched him leave, still laughing her ass off with Jeff. 

"You know what we should totally do?" He asked. Having an arm placed over her shoulder while having her sat in front of him, appreciating every feature on her face.

"What?"

"We should, like, totally make out. Like, right now," Jeff suggested.

"It's not like we are going to remember this tomorrow," Adelaide said aloud, a thought meant for herself but failed to repress. At the moment, it didn't seem like a bad idea. It would blend with their plan, why not roll with it while they were at it?

"That's the whole point," He laughed.

"Whatever,"

Without much hesitation, Adelaide caved into his suggestion. Almost instantly, Jeff wrapped both his arms around her torso, pulling her toward his chest as she mounted her leg over his thigh. Their lips found each other quickly, not wasting time with sweet tender kisses.

Jeff was the first to accidentally let soft moans escape his lips, which prompted the customers around them to glare at them from afar. While getting judged, Troy failed to ignore the unpleasant noises that reached his ears. Embarrassed, Troy walked back to them, having a drunk Britta draped over his shoulders.

While talking indistinctly into his ears, Troy tried his best to break the couple on his own, "We're leaving," He demanded.

"Go away, Troy!" Adelaide shooed him in between kisses. Her hand was enough indication to make him aware she wanted him to leave, but he would do anything but just that.

He let out a tired sigh. It was too late for this. He couldn't believe this is how his special day had ended. Babysitting his own friends, the same people that presented themselves as mature, but yelled at each other at the tiniest disagreement.

With Annie and Abed's help, they managed to break Jeff and Adelaide's heated make out. Leaving Troy to drag Britta back to Britta's car while the rest followed behind.

𐙚

After a long car ride, Troy arrived near Jeff's apartment complex. Steering the wheel to take one last curve to park right in front of the building, Jeff couldn't stop giving him instructions, which managed to annoy him a little. By now, Troy felt nothing but utter defeat, and decided not to fight with anyone anymore.

All he had to do was focus on getting his friends safe and sound, back to their respective homes. Finally parked, Troy looked at the couple through the rearview mirror.

Just as before, the couple was all over each other. The one to blame was the car's tight space. While Annie was in the passengers seat, the rest had to cram in the back, forcing Adelaide to sit on Jeff's lap.

Or more like, Jeff begging Adelaide to sit on his lap through his impaired speech.

"Okay, we're here," Troy breathed.

While he was relieved they arrived to Jeff's complex, he felt unsure of leaving the drunk couple by themselves on a Friday night. At the end of the day, they were both adults, and he couldn't do much about it.

"Thank you, Troy!" Adelaide smiled.

Wanting to get out first, Jeff shifted under Adelaide's lap, struggling to get her off his lap to get out. This caused her to harshly fall over Abed, who shifted his face away from her as soon as she landed on top of him. Containing his anger, Abed decided to stay quiet instead of unleashing his emotions.

Left behind, Adelaide accommodated herself and took Jeff's seat. While the door was still open, she extended her arm, her fingers beckoning for something that Jeff couldn't figure what it was, "Give me the keys," She instructed. 

"Screw you, it's my apartment!" He yelled as his hands tapped on each pocket he could possibly have all over his clothing. "Thanks for the ride, Troy," He peaked his head inside the car, giving Troy a smile before he continued his search to find his apartment keys.

"Happy Birthday," Adelaide added.

Abed and Annie quickly turned to look at Troy. He knew why they looked at him, she'd used the 'prohibited words.' Given to how worn out he was from all the chaos, he didn't mind correcting her and let it fly over his head.

Upon finding his keys, Jeff turned around, distracted with finding his apartment key in his collection of keys. Suddenly, he felt himself getting yanked from behind. Adelaide had grabbed a fist of his clothing to support herself while exiting the car.

Successfully back on her feet, Adelaide closed the door behind her and Troy was on his way to the next destination. However, Adelaide was left to deal with an angry Jeff Winger, who stared at the woman in utter bafflement.

"What the hell? This suit is very expensive!" He yelled.

"Who. Cares?!" She groaned. 

"You're not calling for a cab?" Stopping in his tracks, Jeff realized he was stuck with Adelaide.

They didn't need to be with each other anymore. In fact, he wanted to get rid of her. He just wanted to get home and sleep, but Troy had already driven away.

"No! I thought we were staying at your super amazing apartment," Adelaide exclaimed, a joking undertone in her voice, recalling Jeff's tales about his luxurious place.

"Right,"

He himself forgot that he'd said that, "Then, tonight is your lucky night," He assured. With an arm draped over her shoulders, he guided her to his place. All while trying to keep himself stabilized. The two were drunk enough and could barely walk on their own, and had to recurr to each other on their feet.

Finally at the door at his apartment, Jeff pulled out the keys from the pocket he found them in. But as soon as they were out, he dropped them. Clumsily, both of them reached down to pick it up, their foreheads bumping along the way.

"Ouch!"

As he slowly rubbed the bump in his forehead, his fingers caught onto the keys.

"God, why would you even try reaching for my keys?" He asked. It bothered her that she even considered being considerate enough to reach for his keys.

"I was trying to help out, geez." She shrugged. 

Jeff slowly regained his composure. After getting ahold of his keys, he extended his arm, an attempt to lend a helpful hand for her to reach. At first, she considered rejecting his offer, given that he'd just got pissed off by her own kind act. But she wasn't up for the fight, too tired to argue at this point in the day.

Though hesitant, she grabbed his hand. His fingers wrapped around them, having a firm grip on them and pulling towards him to help her stand on her feet again. As she stood beside him, he entered the keys inside the lock, unlocking the door and swinging the door open, revealing the insides of his apartment.

Before doing anything, Jeff focused on Adelaide. He wanted to witness the look on her face when she experienced seeing his apartment for the first time.

"So?"

Adelaide clung onto him for support, "It's okay," She shrugged, looking up to see the perplexed look on his face.

"Okay?" He repeated. "Yeah, right. Admit that my place is much better than yours."

"Not until you've seen what a real apartment looks like," Adelaide replied.

As she let go his arm, she slowly stepped inside his apartment, leaving her heels beside the entrance.

Adelaide felt the weight of her entire day on her shoulders. She felt like her body could drag itself for the nearest furniture she could find. The copious amounts of alcohol had made her feel uneasy, a common effect as a consequence.

She'd forgotten how much she disliked drinking too much alcohol. The eventful night served as a well deserved reminder of why she didn't do sporadic trips to bars with friends.

Meanwhile, Jeff was in the kitchen. He found himself standing in front of his opened fridge. The white light from it making his eyes squint in response, was the fridge usually this bright? He couldn't even recall if it was.

His eyes searched for more whiskey. His throat still craved more of it, the drinks at the bar hadn't been enough. But he didn't have any more left, so he had to deal with whatever else he found that could cease his thirst.

Distracted with pouring himself a glass of water, Adelaide finally found somewhere to rest. As much as she missed her cozy room, Jeff's room appeared much cozier. The white sheets in his bed were neatly cleaned and accommodated. It's like they were asking to be messed with.

"No, don't even think about it," Jeff warned, arriving to his room at the right time.

Adelaide released a satisfied sigh, "It's perfect," She jumped up and down a few times on the edge of his bed before laying her back over it. "I'm tired and I'm not going anywhere without getting the proper rest,"

Jeff stood under the door frame, staring.

"As long as you don't touch anything else, we're fine," He determined. Adelaide took his instructions as a dare, as he turned around to take off his coat, Adelaide accommodated herself in the bed.

Like in a marital marrige, a couple twenty years into their healthy relationship, Adelaide took the left side of the bed. She undo the sheets, sliding under her side of the bed and bringing the sheet over to her chest.

It took Jeff a while to notice how comfortable she'd made herself. He followed his routine, getting rid of his clothes, changing into a grey t-shirt and black shorts, brushing his teeth, and doing his skincare with his expensive products.

Exiting the bathroom in his room, turning the light off on his way out, Jeff stopped in his tracks. He couldn't help but admire Addy already entangled in his white sheets. Knocked out of her mind, her tiredness already got to her.

The only thing he worried about was the possible stains she could leave behind. He wouldn't be surprised if his pillows appeared to have some trail of makeup and drool all over them in the morning. As of now, he was too tired to tell her anything about it. Besides, she looked too peaceful in her slumber.

He would leave the teasing and scolding for the next day in the morning. For now, all he wanted to do shut his brain off and get some well deserved rest.

✷ Another (kind of) long chapter!!! My summer semester ended about a week ago, so now I have plenty of time to write! Expect more frequent updates in the upcoming days/weeks 👀