Study Buddy
All right Mordecai, take a deep breathe. It's not a date; you're just helping her with her project. Don't effing blow it.
I paced back and forth across the room, thinking of how the day was going to turn out. Finally I get to spend time with Margaret ALONE. Get to know her, connect with her.
Gotta keep your distance.
Yeah…for now.
"Dude calm down," Rigby said while sitting on the trampoline.
"What do you think of this?" I pull out a blue hoodie from the closet and put it on.
"It's fine, and besides that's your only outfit. That and your formal wear."
"Hmm…" I look inside my closet. "Maybe I should-"
"Dude No! Your fine with what you have on. Gah I hate it when you're like this."
"Like what?"
"You start losing your balls when you start crushing over a girl."
"I do not."
At that point all Rigby could do was stare at me. I guess he was right. I mean I was desperate enough to use a cologne that didn't even smell that good, not to mention summoning unicorns. Or the crap I went through trying to make a website for her.
"You know what's strange though?" Rigby stood up from the trampoline. "She actually likes it when you're nervous around her. She thinks it's cute."
"How would you know that?" I cross my arms and waited for an explanation.
"Well you know I…heard from a friend of hers," Rigby said while looking away from me and rubbing the back of his neck. It took me a while to realize what he meant by "friend". I soon came to a conclusion and smiled.
"Rigby…" I said teasingly.
"What?" Rigby threw his arms in the air.
"There's only one 'friend' you could have gotten that info from."
"…"
"Eii-leen," I said while pursing my lips.
"SHUT UP!"
"Hehehe. I though you didn't like talking to her?"
"She's alright…"
"Yeah keep telling yourself that."
I left the room still laughing to myself.
I'll give him two weeks.
I went to the kitchen and went inside one of the drawers to get a piece of gum. I pulled out a piece and started chewing. A nice, icy feeling went through my mouth. I spent the next couple of minutes looking out the window. The sky was blue with big white clouds partially blocking the sun. To the far left though, you could see a line of dark looking clouds slowly coming over to invade the beauty of the sky. Better get an umbrella. I went into the hall closet and pulled out a blue umbrella with a wooden handle. I twirled it with style by the handle. Skips walked in the house from the front door.
"I'm guessing you're going out?" He asked while seeing me twirl my umbrella.
"Yep. I'm taking this thing for to reasons: One because it might be raining pretty hard later and two, to show how much of a gentleman I am when I let Margaret stand under my umbrella."
"What if she already has one?"
Dammit Skips, don't jinx me!
"…" I stopped twirling and just stayed quiet.
"Well either way, don't over do it with the whole gentleman thing. You don't wanna be like Pops was."
You see a year ago, we suggested Pops try to find a girlfriend. He agreed and said he'd "Woo the mistresses!" Since his way of being a gentleman was old styled, women thought it was sweet. He'd put his jacket over puddles for them, pull out their chairs, and let them borrow his umbrella or his coat, the whole thing. After a while they thought it was creepy and tried to avoid him. Poor guy. But did that stop him? Nope, he still does it to this day. Still single. I knew actually what Skips meant by his warning.
Soon I heard a honking sound from outside. I looked out the window and saw Margaret's red van outside. I spit out my gum. Didn't want her thinking I was one those addicted gum chewers.
"Okay," I said to myself. I rub the back of my head and take a deep breath. I open the door slowly and am greeted with a blinding light. I walk towards the van while waving to her. I open the passenger door and immediately smell coffee mixed in with the natural smell of the car…and her. She was wearing a black shirt and blue jeans.
"Hey Margaret," I sit down and buckle my seatbelt.
"Hey Mordecai. You ready?" I nodded. I watched her put her foot on the gas pedal, then my eyes wandered up to her waist line to see how her jeans hugged her waist so perfectly. Eyes up. I quickly turned the other way and rested my elbow on the inside of the door. We drove out of the park. When we got on the road she decided to turn on the radio, and to my horror, a Jojo Geaver song came on.
Oh no. My dream girl has a flaw.
"Ugh I hate this song," she groaned. She changed the station and tuned in to a smooth rock station. Phew. "I can't stand that Geaver kid."
"Neither can I," I chuckled. We smiled at each other. I had to think of another topic to keep the smoothness of the ride going. That's until she said something before I did.
"So how's it been?"
"Oh you know. The usual. You?
"Meh. I'm just trying to figure out how I'm gonna tackle the school year along with my job."
"Well if you ever need my help, I'm always available."
"I'm glad, and thanks again…for helping me…" her voice grew softer
"Ah it's no problem." I started to sweat. Her voice was so beautiful.
We soon made our way to the library. It was fairly sized. The outside had gray brick walls and medium sized windows. Marble columns surrounded the door. Margaret parks parallel from across the street and we walk towards the building. I held the door open for her when we got to the entrance. Smooth. The inside of the library had a smell of freshly printed-paper and carpet. There was a check out desk in the center of the room where an old lady was helping someone check out there books. To the left and right of the desk were dozen and dozens of bookshelves. The back of the room was lined with computers. (Surprisingly up to date I might add) There were desks equally spaced out across the carpet. The ceiling had a sunroof that illuminated them.
"So what exactly do you have to do for your project?" I asked Margaret as we made our way in.
"Oh it's on plate tectonics. Thing is I don't know where to start…" She looked around, seeming overwhelmed.
"Well I'm good with computers; I could find some info."
"Cool. I'll try to find some books on it."
We split up and searched for info. Took me 10 minutes to open the browser. 10 MINUTES! I guess the computers only looked up to date. Margaret had already found 3 books on plate tectonics. I tried to search up one thing and it froze. Margaret had already written notes. I gave up and sat down with her.
"Okay so I have to pick at least one plate to do research on. I'm thinking of picking the Eurasian Plate."
"What?"
"Eurasian."
"No I'm not"
"What?"
"You said Eurasian. I'm not Asian." It took Margaret five seconds to get the joke. She started laughing.
Wow! She actually laughed at a joke I made. Her laugh made me smile. Her face just seemed so full of life.
We looked up some info for about thirty minutes. It was actually pretty interesting. Margaret and I were looking at the same book. When she turned the page, I had meant to turn it also. Our fingers touched. She giggled, "Sorry."
I blushed, then answered, "It's cool." Truthfully I didn't want to let go of her hand. Okay that sounded kinda creepy. After a couple more minutes passed, she asked me something.
"Hey what took you so long on the computer?"
"Oh it was slow as H."
"I could tell; you kept on groaning and banging you fists on the desk," she laughed. Soon an old memory popped into my head.
"You know I remember an incident I had on the computer once."
"What happened?"
"Well I was searching something for a class project when I was 12. I tried looking up exotic birds for a poster, and when I clicked a link, a naked lady showed up on the screen with her legs open."
She busted out laughing, "Oh my god! How did you react?
"I was…confused. Curious. Scared that my mom would catch me and I would have to explain myself. So I clicked out immediately. Funny thing is I wanted to look it up again."
We both laughed. I only tell that story to my closest friends.
Closest friends.
It was getting late and both started getting hungry.
"Well I think that's enough studying for one day. We can meet up here tomorrow to continue if you're available," Margaret said while stacking up books she wanted to check out.
"Yeah I'm available." We walked to the check out desk and got the books stamped.
"So you want to eat somewhere." Now I get to eat with her? My God am I getting punked?
"Uh sure, what do you have in mind?"
"Well there's a Chinese restaurant down the block; we could walk there. They have the best dumplings."
"Cool." We walked outside and were surprised to see it was pouring down. How long were we in there?
"Crap, I didn't bring an umbrella."
"Hmph Hmph. Looks like she does need an umbrella Skips."
"What?"
I realized I said that out loud. "Oh nothing."
I put up the umbrella for her. She smiled and thanked me. We made our way across the street. It smelled of mildew outside and the wind blew softly. The sky was gray with no light in sight. I looked at my watch. 4:30pm. I guess we were in there for a long time. I tried to hold back the feeling of putting my arm around her, had to stay out of creep territory. The least I did was look at her and smile, and she smiled as well.
We finally made it to the restaurant and ordered 2 small plates of chicken dumplings. The place was bland but nice. The only thing that really stood out was a golden cat with its hand going up and down. She grabbed two pair of chopsticks and picked a table for us.
"Here, use these," She handed me a pair of chopstick. I looked at the directions on the paper wrapping and followed as best as I can.
"There you go!" She said with approval. "Just a little more practice and you'll get it."
We spent the next couple of minutes eating and talking. Small things. Sometimes I couldn't help but look at the cat and just getting hypnotized at the bobbing hand.
"You're still into that cat?" Margaret joked.
"Yeah. Check it out for yourself," I said still in a trance. We both looked at it and were put in "stoned" like state. Took us five minutes to snap out of it. After that we just chatted for a bit. Turns out she had almost all the same interests as I do. It was 5:00 o'clock and we decided it was time to go home. We walked to her car and she drove me home. After a couple of minutes we got back to the park.
"Well thanks again for helping me Mordecai."
"No problem. It was actually quite fun."
"Yeah…well I guess I'll see you tomorrow?"
"Yep."
"Cool. Good night then." She waved and smiled at me.
Damn she's been smiling at me a lot lately.
I waved as she drove off. I went into the house and saw Rigby playing Shooter Booter again. I sat down next to him and grinned seeing him take down all those players.
He caught sight of me and said, "I'm guessing you're in a good mood."
I looked at him and then looked back at the screen. "Dude. I'm in a great mood."
Author's Note: Phew! This chapter was tiring to write, but satisfying to finish. Next chapter should be up by next weekend. If near the end this seemed rushed, I truly apologize. I was trying to finish this before the end of the day, so I could wish everyone a happy thanksgiving. It's too late now, but what the hell: HAPPY THANKSGIVING! :) Btw, Jojo Geaver is meant to match Justin Bieber ;) (laughs) I hope you enjoyed this chapter. R&R
