The energy in the car during the drive home from the turtle hatching bonfire was slowly dying down. After the turtles swept over the beach, the evening consisted of Mordecai and Rigby swapping their perspectives of the "turtle wave", Eileen breaking the ice between CJ and Margaret with some success, and eventually the whole gang laughing and enjoying the summer beach air.
CJ and Mordecai started talking to each other about possibly coming back to the beach for a more peaceful visit, leaving Rigby and Eileen to lean back and shoot the breeze.
"What a day" Rigby yawned "Was it everything you hoped for?"
"You mean besides being held captive and seeing Mother Nature at her most vicious?" Eileen said, leaving a moment of awkward silence to hang in the back of the car before letting out a giggle. "Yes, it was a little scary there for a second but all's well that ends well and I'm pretty sure the turtles will be able to fend off any threats from now on."
"Yeah-yuh they will! They'll be all 'nobody interrupts our ecosystem' then morph into a heavyweight boxer and uppercut some fool into the next ocean!" Rigby exclaimed, acting out the whole scene, earning another giggle from Eileen. "And hey! That was pretty awesome how you rallied them together! You saved them all!" Rigby said with an encouraging grin.
"Thanks Rigby" Eileen returned with a smile and slight blush at the sudden praise. "You were pretty brave yourself, fighting off all those brutes."
"Heh, oh that? Rigby asked a little modestly but then played it off. "No big deal, I wasn't just gonna let those jerks think they can push around people just 'cause they're bigger!"
At this point, Eileen was beaming with admiration. She opened her mouth to speak when the car stopped.
"Your stop, Eileen!" CJ said.
"Oh…" Eileen said, a little disappointed at the abrupt end to the conversation. "Okay, I'll see you guys later."
"I'll help you carry your stuff" Rigby said, jumping out. They both carried her gear in the house and set it all down in the living room. When they were finished Rigby started to make his way to the door.
"Rigby wait" Eileen said before he opened the door. She put her hands on his shoulders "I really want to thank you."
"Like I said, it was really noth-"
"No, not just for that, for everything." She said, drawing him into a tight hug. Rigby returned the hug after a second of registering the quick exchange. "For today, for doing things and coming places with me you usually wouldn't do-"
"Like the Renaissance Fair?"
"Like the Renaissance Fair" she chuckled, looking into his eyes "and supporting me, and always bringing me up."
"You're welcome, Eileen" he smiled sincerely "I'll always have your back."
After a minute more of hugging, they pulled away and opened the door.
"Goodnight Eileen" Rigby gently said.
"Goodnight Rigby" Eileen smiled before going back inside.
He climbed back into the car to see CJ and Mordecai peering at him with wide grins.
"What?" Rigby asked, half-knowing what was about to come.
"Oh, nothing dude" Mordecai said as they both turned around and started heading for the park. Rigby gave a mental sigh of relief at his friends not teasing him. It's not that he didn't want to share his emotional life with his best friend, but the same friend didn't always make it easy to open up. Maybe he'd find a way to have real talk with Mordecai, but for now he'll just appreciate getting off the hook without any teasing. "So you really fought off those goons by yourself?" Mordecai asked with a little smarm. And there it goes, so much for getting off the hook.
"Yeah man! Never saw what hit 'em" He bragged.
"What did hit them?" CJ asked "No offense to you, I can't imagine anyone having enough muscle to take them all down."
"Who said I used muscle?" Rigby answered, a little proud to not be stumped or have to give the run-around "just took a little saaand-boooniiing!"
"Whoa, what?" Mordecai asked. Rigby just gave a 'checkmate' look. "What, did you just slap sand at them?"
"Not just slapped man, sand-boned. Couple clouds to the face and some quick moves kept them busy while Eileen freed the turtles."
"Way to go, Rigby! Eileen was right, you were pretty brave." CJ said, causing Mordecai to snap his head to her in panic.
"Wait…" after a second, it clicked "were you guys eavesdropping?" he wasn't sure whether he should be flattered or upset.
"End of the line!" CJ announced as she parked the car outside the house.
Mordecai and Rigby grabbed their stuff, said good night to CJ, and made their way to their room. They dumped everything on the floor and sat down on their respective bed and trampoline to get settled down for the night. The fatigue of the day caught up with Rigby as soon as he plopped down on his clothes pile. He was about to start burrowing when Mordecai spoke up.
"Hey dude, sorry for eavesdropping, me and CJ heard you two get excited all of a sudden and had to see what was up"
'Oh okay. So they weren't like spying' Rigby reasoned to himself. "It's cool man. You shoulda seen the way I juggled those suckas!"
Mordecai started to lie down "I'll be honest, I wasn't sure to believe you at first, I thought it'd play out like Death Bear did-"
'Oh yeah…Death Bear' It had been a while since Rigby thought about that night. He had always regretted not even trying anything when that monster was barreling for Eileen. They weren't as close back then and he used to think you needed brawn to hold off someone, but he still felt bad, especially after Eileen still thanked him.
"-it's great it worked out" Rigby heard as he snapped back to reality. Mordecai was under the covers giving a quick thumbs up before closing his eyes to fall asleep.
"Ha, thanks man" Rigby replied, hoping he didn't miss anything besides what he assumed was said. Rolling on his back, Rigby stared at the ceiling. 'Man…good thing today wasn't another Death Bear, there wouldn't have been Mordecai or anyone to bail me out…or Eileen. Oh dang! Eileen! She would have been devastated if we didn't save the turtles and no telling what those creeps would have done.' Rigby noticed his fists clenching and his heart picking up speed as his mind started racing until his heart skipped a beat and his thoughts made a soft reset. He sat up '…I like Eileen…' his mind declared 'I mean I've liked her for a while and a lot more since we started hanging out more…but I think I ilike/i her.'
Saying it to himself made it make more sense, things started clicking together: she was sweet, funny, and pretty cool in her way. She always believed in him like no one else did. He wasn't sure of her sincerity at first and was wary of being patronized, but moments like her pull-up training proved her candor. They also shared interests and thoughts much easier than he could with anyone else he knew. And as a result of all that, he had grown protective of her. He hated seeing her hurt and personally knew how her size made her more susceptible to being pushed around. He looked at his sleeping friend 'I wonder what it would be like to be even closer like Mordecai and CJ are…' the recent drama slightly soured the thought but he shook it off 'I'm sure every relationship isn't like that and hey, you work through that stuff. If Mordecai can do it, so can I.'
He glanced over at the clock that read "2:42". 'Oh dang…I'll pick this up during work tomorrow. Hopefully I can get enough sleep to wake up in time…roughly, at least.' And with that he drifted off to sleep.