Annie Edison was impatient, glancing at the door instead of the Futurza forms scattered all over her coffee table; Zanophrax could wait. Selling pills had never exactly been an intentional career choice anyway, not that she had intended for a lot of things; hence the meeting she was waiting so impatiently for. Seeing the group together again would be nice. Seeing Britta Perry again would be awkward.
Turning another page of the legal document: Annie attempted to pretend she was studying the paperwork, even as she rolled the small dye absentmindedly between her fingers.
When Britta had suggested they meet via text Annie had been positive; better they cleared the air before the 'Save Greendale' meeting anyway. But it was hard to forget where they'd left things; not that the blonde would let it go. The 'therapist' was stubborn like that.
Hearing a knock at the door snapped Annie out of her daydream with a start; time for the conversation she'd been dreading. Standing up from the couch, the brunette dropped the game-piece and quickly checked her own appearance, smoothing down her orange and white striped sweater as she quickly stepped forward.
Opening the apartment door she found Britta Perry smiling awkwardly back at her, one arm raised:
"Knock knock! Therapist making a house call!!" Britta squawked with trademark goofy-ness. Annie smiled back, genuinely pleased to see the blonde; even after everything that had happened.
Stepping forward for a hug, both women froze; physically uncomfortable in each other's presence. Deciding against this, Britta stepped into the apartment warily.
"Nice we're getting the gang back together huh," Britta said evasively, striding into the centre of the open room as if escaping the awkwardness that had just transpired.
"Totally!" Annie replied, voice rising a full octave as she spoke. Then there was more silence.
"Sooo... I figured we should clear the air," Britta began, eying her counterpart with hopeful blue eyes, "you know, since we'll be seeing a lot more of each other again."
"We did leave our thing kind of open ended..." Annie replied, avoiding the Therapist's eyes, "where do we even begin?"
Britta blinked hard, guilty even after all this time. It was weird how embarrassing events never cease to be embarrassing. When she spoke again the blonde was evasive:
"Sooo... Pants now?"
Annie stared back at the blonde incredulously, before realizing what she meant, eyes dropping to look down upon her own legs:
"Ohh! Yeah, ever since, well, you know... we graduated. I just want to be more grown up."
"I liked your little skirts!" Britta said confrontationally.
"They were a bit.. Schoolgirl," Annie mumbled, uncomfortably remembering the other reason for her change in attire.
"I guess.." the dark blonde combed her fingers lightly through wavy hair, locks noticeably less dyed, brown roots showing through. It wasn't just that she couldn't afford hair-dye; a lot had changed over the summer.
Not knowing how to approach the elephant in the room, both women eyed each other silently for a few seconds. Exhaling sharply, Annie retreated over to the couch, the blonde following slowly. Taking a seat on the brightly coloured cushions that festooned the chair, Annie watched her friend do the same, only to be confronted with Britta's attempt to both speak about, and not speak about, their previous tryst:
"So things are still awkward huh?"
Annie nodded slowly; this was another therapist trick, Britta was using leading questions to initiate a dialogue. The smarter brunette refused to take the bait:
"Mm hmmm," she responded evasively.
"So it's not cos of, well you know, last time. Things got a little... deviant."
"And who's fault is that?!" Annie replied shrilly; before realising she'd already lost her cool. Britta recoiled, shocked by the sudden outburst, even as it continued:
"You were the one that was supposed to be all experienced, Miss 'I lived in New York!'"
"You told me you could handle it!" Britta replied weakly.
Annie frowned, her pretty nose crinkling agitatedly. Britta glared back. As always, Annie bit the bullet, Taking a deep breath and trying to be mature:
"So now we need to know where we stand... maybe like, couples therapy?"
Britta shook her head slowly:
"Annie, we're not 'a couple', we had sex 'a couple' of times; admittedly in increasingly unlikely and weird ways. Things, took a turn that last time..." Britta paused, thinking about it momentarily before shuddering:
"...then we graduated. Honestly I don't think either of us realized it would go this far." The blonde cleared her throat hesitantly:
"After all, our last semester was well into that gas leak..."
"Don't blame it all on the gas leak year!" Annie responded, crossing her arms.
"If only it were just gas you leaked..." Britta muttered under her breath.
Annie glared at her, face reddening:
"What did you just say?!"
The therapist backtracked hurriedly:
"B-but I mean who cares? That was ages ago, water under the bridge. We've moved on! Right??..."
Even after all those rumours at school?" Annie countered: "Maybe we should just tell the group, get everything out in the open. Get the old dynamic back!"
Britta frowned, reluctance colouring her features:
"I dunno if admitting we've hooked up will fix anything for anyone Annie. Even if our flings weren't wildly inappropriate, inter-group relationships always fizzle out upon announcement, trust me."
Annie looked up, eyes widening: "So you're saying you see more... "hook ups,' in our future?"
"I dunno..." Britta mumbled, staring back at the girl awkwardly:
"I kinda had a good time... Would kinda like to again. Minus that last little hiccup."
Annie rolled her eyes:
"Trust you to come up with the 'let's sneak around and avoid labeling things' option."
Britta opened her mouth to reply, before closing it reluctantly; Annie was right. Lost for words, the blonde slumped backward onto the couch.
"Owwhh!" The psychologist yelped, realizing she had sat on something. Shuffling, Britta pulled the dice from between the cushions.
"Huh, the dice from that weird game of Dungeons and Dragons?" Britta asked, studying the lump of plastic earnestly.
Annie smiled, perching against the nearest armrest:
"No, we used it to play Yahtzee one time though, remember? Abed kept insisting it differentiated between alternate time lines?"
"Yeah," Britta chuckled, "sure would be nice to know what things would be like if we'd acted differently from the beginning."
Smiling wistfully, the blonde tossed the dye casually into the air.
....
The Annie that lazily caught the dye was somehow different; like she lived in a whole other world. Snatching the small lump of plastic out of the air with her hand, the brunette smirked disdainfully, before turning to face her captive.
Slinking across the room, this 'other Annie' flipped long glossy locks over her shoulder, making eye contact with her ex-friend. The study room itself was dark and derelict, lit only by a reading lamp and the moonlight streaming in through the blinds covering the windows.
"I-I thought when you said we'd try some role-play you were talking about, you know, to help in your stress relief sessions..." Britta stuttered nervously, watching the predatory brunette from her inclined position.
"Seeing you like this does relax me silly," Annie giggled, running a hand up the inside of the blonde's outstretched thigh.
"How does tying me to a table help to get over your time at the mental hospital again?" Britta replied indignantly, wriggling in her restraints.
The Former mental patient had used belts to tie the blonde down, buckles wrapped tightly around the therapist's wrists and ankles; forcing the blonde into a spread-eagled position upon the hard wooden surface.
Annie blinked, thinking hard even as she leant over to tighten the strap connecting one of the blonde's ankles to the study room furniture:
"I guess I just felt, you know... when they strapped me to the cot in the asylum? And this will help me feel strong again! Like... Female empowerment??"
Britta snorted, raising an eyebrow: "Its degrading."
"Exactly! Poor baby!" the brunette exclaimed in reply, clapping her hands excitedly before turning away.
Evil Annie rolled her eyes: The blonde could be sooo stupid sometimes. Sure, it was true that she had turned to Adderall due to what the doctors had called, 'pent up sexual frustration'... but this little post rehab escapade had nothing to do with recovery. More like payback: On the inside Annie had been on the wrong end of several eye-opening encounters; you do what you have to in a female mental institution. Now she simply wanted to come out on top: Literally. And who better to top than miss more righteous than vow.
Annie turned the dye over between her fingers; staring at it mischievously.
Leaning on her elbows, Britta attempted to right herself: straining against the leather belts that held her back against the familiar table. Hair falling haphazardly over her pale face, her features turned sour; forced to wave dyed- blue strands from over her eyes:
"You learnt all this in a psych ward?" the faux-therapist asked disbelievingly, "I knew the government couldn't be trusted to make people healthy!! Wait.. how did you get out?"
Annie tutted, raising her hands to her hips, before speaking in a no-nonsense, albeit slightly guilty tone:
"Got out, broke out... the important thing is I'm here now!"
