Greendale's Oddest Human Beings

Confusion

Abed and Ruth sat on the couch in Abed's dorm watching a movie (as they often did). It was nice. They could talk or not talk and feel comfortable around each other either way. Troy sometimes joined them, but, even in college, he was still fairly popular... and failing most of his classes. This forced him to study with Annie (who was nothing less than ecstatic about having more time with her crush).
As Abed and Ruth sat and rewatched Ferris Bueller's Day Off, Ruth wrote in her journal (a new one since her other one had been completely filled). What was she writing? Well, in short, she was writing an analysis of her new "friend" Sam. She had picked up on a fair amount of things while they worked on their assignment, but there was still so many questions left unanswered and she didn't want to out-right ask. You see, the main way in which she gained information was from observations and eavesdropping. These tactics almost always worked well, but Sam was different; he was always upbeat and always asks questions and listens to others rather than revealing much information about himself. 'What's his game?,' Ruth pondered to herself, trying to solve the complex riddle of a man named Samuel... or maybe it was Samson? Or Samous? Or maybe just Sam? Either way, Ruth would crack his code.
"Ruth?", Abed asked, causing the young woman to look up from her journal. "Yes, Abed?" Abed, still looking at the TV responded, "What does 'like like' mean?" Ruth wasn't thrown by his odd questions anymore, so she wasn't taken aback by the random question she had just been asked. She pondered for a moment before giving an answer. "I'm assuming that it means 'really like' seeing as there's two 'likes' rather than just one." "Hm," Abed said, then continued, "That's what I thought, but Troy told me that it had another meaning."
Ruth tilted her head a bit. "That's odd," she said and then paused for a moment. "Did you ask him to elaborate?", she continued on. "Mhm," Abed said, "but he said 'never mind'." "Have you asked him again since?" "No." "Why not?" "I'm not sure." "Well, I could ask him if you'd like me to." Abed tilted his head and considered Ruth's offer. "Sure," he said.
    "Okay," she said with a smile; she liked Troy... most of the time. Sometimes he could be a self-centered jerk (especially in high school), but he was generally a good guy who was becoming a better friend because of the group, especially to Abed.

    The next day, Ruth say Troy on the way to the study room and walked with him. "Troy?", she said, grabbing his attention. He always seemed a bit tense whenever she talked to him, but that was true with nearly everyone. "Uh... hi?", he said as though to check if that was the right thing to say. "Hello," she responded with an attempted kind smile. "I need to ask you about something you said to Abed." The young man's eyes widen, he clearly knew what she was talking about (or he thought so, at least). "Listen, I didn't expect him to tell you and I didn't mean to make anything weird, but it's pretty obvious," he explained. Ruth stopped walking in confusion, causing Troy to stop as well.
    "What are you talking about?", she asked. "What are you talking about?", Troy questioned back. Ruth decided to answer first. "You said something to Abed using the term 'like like' and you never explained it to him, so I'm asking instead." Troy looked puzzled. "Are you punking me right now?", he asked. "Punking?", Ruth replied; she had never heard that term before.
At that point, Troy was becoming more annoyed than frightened or puzzled. "How do you not know what 'like like' or 'punking' means?", he asked. Ruth thought for a second, tilting her head a bit (a habit she had picked up from Abed). "Well, I've never had a lot of fr—," "Actually," Troy cut in, "I don't care." The young man then continued walking, leaving Ruth standing alone in pure confusion.