Rigby had an ace up his sleeve - he offered to pay for the movie and snacks for both himself and Eileen.
She hadn't expected this from Rigby, and Eileen was the sort who didn't expect guys to hold open every door and pay every check. The world had moved past that, she thought. Nonetheless, it was with genuine appreciation that she let Rigby lean up to the box office and buy the two movie tickets.
"I'll get us some popcorn, too," he said, "and I won't even cut a hole in the bottom of the box! Heh heh heh!"
Eileen decided to have some fun with this. "Hole in the box?", she asked in perfect innocence, maintaining eye contact behind her glasses. "Why would you do that? What do you mean, Rigby?"
Rigby's eyebrows arched skyward. "I... uh... wait... I didn't... popcorn... words... aw... uh..."
Eileen held his stare for a good two seconds after he trailed off and then burst into laughter.
"Oh man, Rigby, your face. Your eyebrows! You looked so scared! I'm sorry, dude, that was just too good to pass up," she giggled.
"What... wait, what?" Rigby was taking a while to catch up.
"Of course I know the hole-in-the-popcorn-box thing. You're not the only one who watches TV," she smiled.
"Oh, thank god," Rigby exhaled. "I thought I'd messed up again. You shouldn't scare me like that! I thought I'd messed up!"
"Rigby, maybe the best way to deal with our issues is to confront them, and then laugh at them. Anyway, yeah, get the popcorn. I'll go grab us two seats together while there are still some left. It's gonna be way crowded in there for Strong Johns!"
Grinning at her own deviousness, she left a worried-looking Rigby standing in line for concessions.
The little raccoon was glad Eileen was comfortable enough to crack jokes, but nonetheless stood tense. He hadn't noticed she was kidding. Why couldn't he read women? Why couldn't he read anyone?
Maybe playing Eileen at her own game would help.
Eileen was wholly unsurprised to see the theater almost empty. Strong Johns wasn't exactly tearing up the box office, with just a few kids in the front row and the odd scattered nerd elsewhere. She took a seat up in the very back row right in the corner to wait for her man.
At length he appeared, carrying not just an epic-sized box of popcorn but two sodas.
"I thought you might get thirsty," he said, "so I brought some sodas."
"Oh, awesome! You didn't have to buy me this, you know," said Eileen.
"I didn't," replied Rigby. "I just took these from some kid out in the lobby. You should have seen his face!"
Eileen's eyes grew wide behind her glasses, and then narrowed into a frown. "Rigby! How could you? I thought you were a good guy! Go and take these back right now."
Rigby held her gaze for a few seconds then burst out laughing, earning himself a few angry shh'es from those seated nearby enjoying the trailers.
"Now who's the gullible one," he chuckled, two-fisting the sodas into the cup holders. "Yeah! Rigby's back in the game! In yo' face, kinda-girlfriend!"
Before she knew it, Eileen was laughing along with him, not caring in the slightest that they were interruptin the previews.
Strong Johns sucked. They sat and watched the whole thing, but traded nudges and whispered remarks more than they watched the movie. Even Rigby failed to be impressed - something he wasn't shy about sharing as they walked out of the theater into the cold city.
"Man! Why get the real Strong Johns from the commercial in then give them a dumbass script like that? I could have written better and I can't even spell," he yelled, to the predictable rage of the die-hard fans who were tweeting positive reviews as they walked.
Eileen rolled her eyes, "You sure can pick 'em, Rigby. Maybe next time we can see something we both like."
"Hey, I said I was sorry. I said we didn't have to see it. Anyway, now you have something to blog about."
"And how did you know I had a blog, Rigby?"
"I don't know. Seems like something you'd do. Girls with glasses keep blogs, don't they?"
They looked each other and smiled. Rigby was the first to break out of the moment.
"Man... Eileen, a couple of hours ago I was about ready to throw myself into traffic. But I'm having a really good time."
Eileen's heart fluttered. "I'm so glad, Rigby. For a first date, this is going pretty well after all."
Rigby narrowed his eyes suggestively. "Hey... you know what would make this even better?"
The heart flutter became a full-blown, cartoonish pounding now. Was this it? Was Rigby finally going to kiss her? "... what, Rigby?", she said.
"More cheese fries!"
Eileen's heart resumed normal service. She was so sad that Rigby had misread the situation yet again, but tried to let him down gently. She smiled stoically, looked down at the sidewalk, and said, "Oh. I don't know, I'm kind of full from the popcorn, and it's getting late, and I-"
"Fooled you again, Eileen." He smiled and came closer. Eileen now dared to dream about what was coming next.
And it came. They leapt into each other, all the frustrations, near-misses and disappointments of the evening - of their lives- exploding into a mutual kiss. From him, a light musk, the hint of the sharpest canines at the front of that hot mouth, and the earnest desire of a kid who knows exactly what he wants. From her, a push back just as strong - Eileen knew what she wanted, too. She wanted Rigby. To know that he wanted her too - there were no lies from that mouth, not with a kiss that hard - there was no holding back. She held onto him as if for dear life, and gave just as good as she got. With a free hand she even took off her glasses for him.
Finally Eileen took a step back and looked into Rigby's eyes. She but her glasses back on to see his eyebrows once again on top of the world.
"Hey, Rigby. We might not be too good at dating. But I think we're really, reallygood at making out," she said.
"Totally. Let's do it again sometime."
"How about right now?"
"You read my mind."
And so they walked back to the park house, where Rigby prayed to all gods and none that Mordecai had gone the hell to bed already so that he and Eileen could have the living room for a while.
