Britta Perry reached into her bag and slid her hand over her Taser as subtly as she could. Which probably wasn't very subtle at all, but nobody seemed to pay any attention to her so it probably didn't even matter. It was just comforting is all, considering she was a at least mildly attractive woman travelling alone at night through a dimly lit part of town which had a well learnt reputation for being the most dangerous, and certainly most sleaziest, place in probably the whole state. Honestly as she turned down her third offer of 'a little something-something', whatever that was supposed to be, Britta couldn't help but wonder how anyone could actually live here, let alone a sweet, innocent 19-year-old college student.
Then Britta had to blush as she remembered her friend Annie Edison wasn't as sweet and innocent as she had originally thought she was, and she was more than partly responsible for whatever innocence Annie had possessed being taken away, Britta being reminded of that as the image of Annie's head in between her legs flooded her mind. Of course that image was a memory and it was only making Britta's need for her friend's touch grow, the blonde picking up speed as she finally made it to Annie's apartment building.
It just so happened to be on top of a sex store, and not the type of woman-friendly type stores which could help you discover your sexuality, or at least Britta didn't get that impression from the outside as she found herself giving a polite smile to a chubby guy in a trench-coat before rushing past him and up some graffiti filled steps to the sanctuary of her friend's home. Once at the door Britta immediately knocked, hard and rapidly, although her dodgy surroundings was only part of it. A big part of it was she was genuinely worried that given the dodgy surrounding something had happened to dear sweet Annie, so Britta was overwhelmingly relieved to see the brunette open the door and smile at her with her big bright eyes.
"Britta, I-." Annie began.
"Annie, you're ok!" Britta exclaimed, her relief evident but short lived, "Why didn't you answer your phone?"
"I-" Annie gulped, "I... would you like to come in?"
"Sure." Britta said, grateful to get out of the dimly lit corridor.
Once Britta was inside her apartment and she had securely locked her front door Annie took a deep calming breath and then turned to the blonde with a small smile, "Can I get you anything? Coffie, maybe? I have some juice drinks, but no alcohol. I considered trying to get Jeff to buy me something, but... well, you know, he'd just be all gross Jeff Winger, making jokes and asking questions, and I wasn't sure it would even be that appropriate, you know, all things considered, and... erm, I can make you something, if you want. Do you want something?"
"No I'm good." Britta said, which was kind of a lie, but to be fair she was feeling the same kind of awkwardness Annie was. Still, she didn't risk her life coming here to make small talk, so she pushed herself to add, "Well actually, there was something..."
"Oh." Annie mumbled, and then as Britta obviously struggled to find the words prompted her, "What is it?"
"I, I just..." Britta stammered, before relaxing and telling herself she was being ridiculous and then adding forcefully, "Where were you? Why didn't you answer your phone?"
"Oh." Annie softly murmured while looking down, almost casually adding, "I, I turned my phone off."
"Why?" Britta asked forcefully, and then when Annie shrugged followed up with, "Where were you?"
Forcing herself to look Britta in the eye Annie asked, "Were you expecting me to be somewhere?"
There was a long moment of silence and then Britta stammered, "Well, you know."
"Do I?" Annie questioned, and then after another long moment of silence added, "We never talk about it."
"That's because there isn't anything to talk about." Britta said dismissively, and then when Annie gave her a look added, "I mean, I thought we had an understanding."
"We did. We do. It's just that..." Annie trailed off, searching for the right words, "I wanted to double check what that was."
"We're fuck buddies." Britta shrugged, and then when Annie pulled a face Britta added, "I mean we did agree to keep this casual, right?"
"Yeah. We did. Casual. Super casual-ish." Annie agreed, trying and dismally failing to sound cool, "Because this is no big deal right?"
"Right." Britta nodded.
"Ah-huh, then why are you here?" Annie questioned.
Britta frowned, "Because you didn't show up at my apartment as normal, and you didn't answer your phone."
Annie smiled, "You were worried about me?"
"Yes... but any half decent person would worry about someone under those circumstances." Britta said.
"Is that all?" Annie asked.
"Well." Britta began, and then seeing the look on Annie's face quickly added, "Fine, I was worried about you. Like, probably more than anyone else in the study group, if it had been one of them. Not that I'm screwing any of them, well there was Jeff, but that's over now, I swear, and I know you said you can take care of yourself, but God damn it Annie, you shouldn't be living here."
During Britta's little speech Annie could feel her smile growing and growing and growing until she was beaming ridiculously wide, "So... what you're saying is... I matter to you? That if something did happen, you'd be upset?"
"What the hell are you on about?" Britta frowned.
Her smile quickly fading Annie said flatly, "Answer the question."
"Questions." Britta said, emphasising the 's' at the end before sighing, "Yes and yes, you matter to me and if something did happen to you I'd be upset. Now please stop tempting fate and tell me what's going on? Is... is this a prank? Is Jeff going to jump out with a camcorder?"
"No, no, no, NO! I swear, it's just you and me, and I would never do that to you." Annie interrupted firmly, before taking a deep breath and forcing the next few words out, "The thing is... I think about you. Like, all the time. You're the last thing I think about when I go to sleep, and the first thing I think about when I wake up."
"That might be because you've been sleeping in my apartment." Britta said dryly.
Ignoring her Annie continued, "I think about you when I'm eating, when I'm brushing my teeth, when I'm studying, when I'm in class... whenever we're in the same room I count the number of times you look at me, and I try not to spend too much time staring at you, and I know this is freaking you out, it's freaking ME out, but... I've never felt this way before."
"It's just a crush. It will pass." Britta said dismissively, not looking Annie in the eye.
"I, I don't think it is... but I want to find out." Annie said firmly, not allowing her nerves to get the better of her for once, "I wanna go on a proper date with you. See if we could, you know, work as a couple. I mean sure, it might be a disaster, but so far it's been really, really great. Awkward sometimes, but always great. I like being with you, and you must like it too, otherwise you wouldn't be here. You like me. You... like-like me. And you're addicted to my sweet loving."
Despite herself Britta laughed as Annie wiggled her eyebrows and did a ridiculous little dance at those last words, the blonde allowing them both to enjoy the moment and even murmuring, "Dork."
"You love it." Annie beamed, quickly going pale as she realised she'd mentioned the L word, "I mean, you like-like it... erm, like it? You know what I mean."
"I do." Britta confirmed, getting serious, "But we can't do this Annie."
"Why not?" Annie asked, briefly impressed with herself that she only sounded a little petulant, before she concentrated on adding, "And don't lecture me about the group or our age difference again, because I'm perfectly ok with dating in secret for a little while and if our age isn't an issue for sex why should it be an issue for dating?"
"Our age difference is always an issue Annie." Britta pointed out, "And it's easier to get caught dating than it is casually hooking up."
"Well, age has never been an issue for me and why do we have to care what the group thinks. They're our friends, they should be happy for us." Annie pointed out.