Pant, pant, pant. I'm...safe...here.
Rigby rushed to sit down on his usual stool in his favorite coffee place. He wiped the sticky sweat that rushed down his face. Eileen noticed her crush gasping for air and quickly walked over to him.
"What's wrong, Rigby?"
"Nothing," he said, waving her away. "Just get me the usual."
"Okay, Rigby, coming right up!" She happily said as she eagerly went to the kitchen.
Normally, Rigby would be rolling his eyes, wishing he hadn't came in on her shift and whatnot. Alas, more than a handful was on this little critter's mind today.
I'm never going back there, EVER AGAIN.
He rested his head on his hand, a tear rolling down his eye.
The guys'll never respect me again, Benson'll fire me, and Mordecai? Forget it.
Eileen brought back a steaming cup of coffee. "Here you go, Rigby." She told him, a truly genuine smile on her face. "So, umm, I was wondering if-"
"Eileen," Rigby cut her off. "I-I'm kinda not in the mood to talk right now. Can you like...go..do something...away from me?"
Eileen's smile seemed to wash away quickly. "Uhhh, sure Rigby. I'll be right in here if you need me...you know, in the coffee shop.." She slowly walked away, awkwardly as usual.
Rigby didn't care that he just flatly rejected Eileen, but hell, when did he ever care, right? Right now, all he cared about was his dignity, his heart, his feelings..
Ring!
His self-respect, most of all. Rigby gulped his hot coffee down in one gulp and put his head down, not even feeling the intense heat from the fluid as it rushed down his throat. Ever since he rushed out of the park, embarassed as can be, the little things didn't seem to matter.
"Hey dude."
Rigby spazzed as he felt a wing pat his head. He looked to his right to see...him.
"Oh,..." Rigby slightly smiled. "Hey." He turned his head, not wanting to feel the rejection.
"Dude, what's with you?"
"What's with me?" Rigby turned back to his cru-er, friend. "What's with the people who I thought were my "sorta friends"?"
At first, Mordecai didn't remember what Rigby meant, but it all soon came back.
"You what? HAHAHAHAHA! Hey Fives, Rigby's got it bad for Big Bird!"
Typical.
"Ah Rigby," The calm yeti facepalmed. "That's...that's just not right."
He's so old anyway, what's he know?
"Oh, dear.." The lollipop man sadly shook his head. "I'm afraid I don't know how to react, Rigby..." He sulked his head.
"I'll never tell Pops anything secret ever again.." Rigby said, resting his head on his hand.
Mordecai simply smiled and playfully punched him. "Well, you weren't even being secretly quiet, dude. I mean.." He looked into Rigby's eyes. "Even I heard, and I was like plenty of feet away."
Rigby facepalmed himself. "Just go ahead and end it, man. If you're gonna make fun of me and whatever, I don't wanna deal with it. We don't have to be bros anymore if you think of me differently it's oka-"
"Rigby!" Mordecai shook his little buddy's shoulders, laughing. "That's not what I'm trying to do!"
"...W-w-what?"
Mordecai let go of his shoulders. "Just let me talk, okay?"
Rigby nodded and looked at his friend, showing he was listening.
"Yes, I admit that what you said...kinda freaked me out a bit at first. It's not the whole concept though dude, you were just...so forward with Pops and everything-"
"I know, I-I just had to let it off my chest an-"
"Dude.." Mordecai said, annoyed. Rigby simply put a hand over his own mouth, nodding.
Mordecai rubbed the feathers on his hand back. "A little while after it happened, I thought about it. On my way here, I felt something weird in my stomach. But, I mean, it was the good kinda weird." He saw Rigby was grinning while raising his hand. "Yeah?"
"Is there a point to this? I'm turning into a grampa here."
"Yeah, there is. Wanna go do something, just us two? You know, like a movie or something?"
Rigby smiled at the idea, but he wanted a few changes. "Sure, dude, but on one condition. Can we go somewhere where there's like...no people? I just don't feel like showing my face to anyone else right now. Embarassment is a "b"."
Mordecai nodded and smiled. "Hm hm. I know just the place."
30 minutes later, the duo saw nothing but trees dancing to the wind, birds that seemed to fly into the sunset and flat dirt and grass.
Rigby looked around him. "Is this the same set of woods Pops drove that creepy taxi into?"
"Same one." Mordecai looked around at his surroundings. "If it helps Pops clear his mind, it should help clear yours too. And a bit of mine."
Rigby just crossed his arms. "Maybe those jerks back at the house should come here, then. That way they forget what I said.."
"Dude, it's not about them, okay? It's about us, me and you. Let's just try to enjoy ourselves."
They were much farther into the woods now. The sky was still painted light pink.
Mordecai looked up and noticed the tree to his left had a vine. "Ah awesome!" He went and climbed onto it. "Dude, look, I found a vine!"
Rigby couldn't help but look at the sky, concerned. "Uhh, Mordecai, maybe we should go back. I'm scared of the woods in the dark."
"Pfft, c'mon man, it's not dark yet. Plus, we've still got plenty of time 'til the sun goes down."
Rigby was still skeptical. What if..
Ah, what the heck, might as well "try" to enjoy myself..
Rigby jumped up and climbed the vine, making his way to Mordecai's level. Mordecai reached his foot out to the tree branch.
"Ready?"
"..Ready."
With that, Mordecai kicked the branch, causing the vine to swing back and forth. They both held on and smiled, enjoying the breeze that brushed their faces.
"Man, this brings back memories!" Mordecai happily yelled so that Rigby could hear.
"I know!" Rigby yelled back. "I remember when we were 8 and we were on one of these things-"
"And we were trying to fly as high as we could.." Mordecai added.
"...so we could try to reach the moon to see if it was made of cheese!" They both happily said, laughing together. They still continued to swing. Rigby nudged his friend.
"Hey dude, check this out!" He attempted a traditional Tarzan yell, sounding a bit like a hyena.
"Heheh. Dude, that totally blew. Watch this." Mordecai also attempted and, of course, did very well, sounding almost close to Disney's Tarzan, except if he was half bird.
Rigby just frowned at his friend's outstanding yell, in which Mordecai noticed.
"Don't sweat it, dude," Mordecai said, resting a hand on Rigby's shoulder. "Not everyone is meant to be a Tarzan." He grinned. "Maybe you're just meant to be like..a Jane or something."
"Pfft," Rigby replied. "I am so not a Jane. I'm all man, baby."
"Doesn't matter, dude, I call dibs on Tarzan."
"Ah what?"
Mordecai chuckled. "Looks like you're my Jane."
Rigby just punched his friend weakly in the arm. "I'm so better than Jane, dude, SO better!"
Mordecai was gonna respond, but looked up a bit and saw some berries hidden in the leaves. "Sweet, I found some berries!" He grabbed them and offered Rigby some. Rigby happily took 3 and ate them.
"Let's hope they're not posionous, man."
Mordecai eats a few. "Don't worry about it, it's not like they'll kill you. Probably give you some can troubles, but nothing major."
Rigby ate a few more. "That'd be an awesome excuse to miss work, right? " 'Sorry, Benson! I can't stay off the can long enough to work today!' "
Mordecai laughed at Rigby's awesome Benson impression. "That's not a bad idea." He looked up and saw the sky was turning a purple-ish black and hopped off the vine.
"It's getting dark, we should probably head back."
"I dunno, Mordecai, I might just live out here." Rigby said, still holding on to the vine. "That way no one'll badger me for being me."
Mordecai sighed. "C'mon, dude, I don't wanna go through the woods alone."
"Agh, fine." Rigby jumped off the vine, walking alongside his friend.
While walking through, they started hearing creepy noises, the same usual nature you hear when you're out camping. Mordecai noticed Rigby was a bit shaken and offered his wing.
"Take my wing, 'Jane'." Mordecai chuckled at his own line.
"Well, how can I say no to that, 'Tarzan'?" Rigby grabbed onto the gentle, fluffy wing and walked with Mordecai outta the forest.
"Let's hope the guys aren't too hard on you tomorrow, dude." Mordecai said, looking down at Rigby.
Rigby just shrugged, still holding on tight. "I'll just have to wait 'til everyone forgets it is all. Haters gonna hate, you know?"
"Yep, and I'll be there to send 'em to the cheese moon if they go too far."