Wednesday (2 days left until the big date)
Rigby woke up the next day feeling down, as he believed that he might have ended up hurting his chances with Mordecai due to his episode last night. He decided it was probably best to apologize to the blue jay for his actions, so he turned around, only to find Mordecai already awake as well, sitting on his bed.
He appeared to be lost in thought, as he was staring into space with a wide-eyed look on his face.
"Mordecai?"
No answer.
"Hey, Mordecai!"
Mordecai still didn't reply, so Rigby got off of his trampoline and climbed up on to Mordecai's bed. He snapped his fingers in front of Mordecai's face and whistled, which thankfully did the trick, snapping him out of his trance.
"Wha-Oh, hey dude. Didn't realize you were up."
"You okay there, Mordecai? You kind of zoned out on me for a second." said Rigby.
"Oh, it's nothing. I was just thinking."
"Yeah, I kind of got that. You didn't reply to me when I called your name."
"I just wasn't paying attention, I guess. No worries, though. I'm alright." said Mordecai.
Rigby didn't completely believe what Mordecai was saying, but he decided to move on and leave that for another time.
"Hey listen, I just wanted to apologize for how I was acting last night."
"It's cool, dude. You don't need to apologize to me."
Rigby was admittedly a little unprepared for how easily Mordecai forgave him, but he took it as a good sign and mentally sighed in relief.
"I'm heading downstairs to get some breakfast before work. You coming?"
"I'll be down in a few minutes."
Mordecai then returned to staring into space, as Rigby began heading downstairs, but not before giving Mordecai a look as he left the room.
Nothing really interesting was going on during the guys' work shift, so they decided to use their break time to go visit the coffee shop.
Both Margaret and Eileen were there to greet them as they arrived. Eileen in particular was looking and acting like her normal self, so Rigby was relieved to see that she hasn't went off the rails after the "break-up". Still, he decided that he probably should take the opportunity to apologize to Eileen just in case.
"Hey, guys!" said Margaret with a friendly wave.
"Hey, Margaret!" said Mordecai and Rigby, the latter's greeting less enthusiastic as he had his eyes on Eileen.
Rigby began walking over towards Eileen, earning a slightly confused look from Mordecai.
"Hey dude, where are you going?"
Rigby looked back at Mordecai and responded by tilting his head at Eileen.
"Oh, right." said Mordecai, remembering what Rigby said yesterday.
As Rigby walked off to where Eileen was, Mordecai sat down at his and Rigby's usual table. Once Margaret walked over to join him, Mordecai decided to ask her about Eileen.
"Hey Margaret, did you notice anything strange going on with Eileen recently? Ever since Rigby friend-zoned her, she's been acting kind of weird."
Margaret was curious after hearing what he said.
"Really? How so?"
"Well, according to Rigby, she showed up at the park the other day wearing a dress for some reason."
Margaret was made aware of the fact that Eileen had purchased a dress, but she didn't think she would end up going that far.
"Eileen's been kind of having trouble finding someone to date after Rigby broke up with her, so I think she's convinced herself that she'll be able to get Rigby to like her again. At least that's what she's told me. I suppose that could be part of the reason she's been acting like that."
"Why didn't you tell her it wasn't going to work? I doubt Rigby will just stop being how he is." said Mordecai.
"Sorry, I couldn't really bring myself to bring her back down after she got her hopes up."
Mordecai sighed before replying.
"No, it's okay, Margaret. We're just going to have to tell her the truth."
Mordecai didn't really get the chance to think about it, though, as Eileen came speeding out of the back room, heading right for the door.
"Hey Eileen! Where are you going?" asked Margaret.
"Um…I'm going on my break. I'll be back in a little bit." said Eileen, thinking up a quick excuse.
Eileen then practically flew out of the front door as Margaret gave her a weird look.
Rigby came out of the back room a few seconds later, before sitting down at the table next to Mordecai.
"What the heck happened back there? Eileen just left like she was in a hurry." asked Mordecai.
"I dunno. She seemed like she was alright when I told her that I was sorry for the way that I put her down the other day. Then again, she did look a little unfocused for some reason."
"Well, Margaret told me that Eileen's convinced that she can get you to like her again. That's most likely why she wasn't paying much attention."
Rigby was surprised to hear this out of Mordecai.
"Really? That's why she was acting so strange?"
"Yeah. Mordecai and I were talking about it while you were back there." said Margaret.
"Whoa. I didn't think that would happen. I guess I should tell her the truth once she gets back."
Mordecai looked over at the clock on the wall.
"Shoot, there's no time. Our break's almost over."
"Really? Wow, time went by fast." said Rigby.
Mordecai and Rigby both got out of their seats and said their goodbyes to Margaret before heading back to the park.
Once the two of them returned to work, they spent some time trying to brainstorm ideas on how to tell Eileen of the futility of trying to get back with Rigby without hurting her feelings, but nothing seemed to work out.
Eventually, they just decided to wing it and hope for the best. So, once their shift finished, they prepared to head off and find Eileen, when they were once again stopped in their tracks by Benson.
"We're going out to the bar tonight, so don't go anywhere."
"But I'm banned!" said Mordecai.
"I paid off your tab for you. But don't think that I'm going to bail you out next time you run up a tab that large, because it's coming out of your paycheck!" said Benson before leaving the room.
The two of them were silent for a moment after Benson left.
"I guess there's always tomorrow." said Mordecai, shrugging.
Rigby nodded, before the two of them flopped down on the couch while they waited for everyone else to get ready.
The group (minus Thomas, who was underage) went to the bar and had a good time, except for Mordecai, who reasonably felt a little awkward being there after his episode that day last week. Neither he nor Rigby drank anything alcoholic, as they both remembered what happened. They did end up enduring a bit of teasing from the other guys for it, but neither of them really cared.
Other than that, the time that the group spent at the bar was pretty uneventful. So, they all returned home to the park to find Eileen once again sitting on the steps in front of the house. She wasn't wearing the green dress this time, but it was still a little strange to see her here.
"Eileen? What are you doing here?" asked Rigby as the rest of the group minus Mordecai went inside the house.
"I just came here to see if you wanted to spend some time together before Friday." said Eileen.
Rigby could clearly see that Eileen was hiding something, considering the smile she had on her face looked fake, but he decided to take her up on her offer.
"Um…okay, Eileen. How about we go find a bench somewhere and we can talk?"
"Sure thing."
She began heading towards a bench that was a couple of feet away from where they were standing. Rigby made to follow her when Mordecai grabbed his arm to stop him for a moment.
"You need any help?"
"No, I'm good. Thanks, though." said Rigby.
Mordecai released Rigby's arm before heading inside to join the rest of the group.
Rigby then walked over to the bench and sat down next to Eileen and began speaking.
"Listen Eileen, I have something I need to tell you. Margaret told me that you seem to think that you can get me to like girls again somehow. Is that true?"
"Wait, you didn't know that? I thought I was being pretty open the other day." asked Eileen, confused.
"Well, I thought you just wanted to show off what you bought to me. Sorry about that. I didn't really read between the lines there."
Eileen fell silent; slightly hurt that Rigby didn't get her intentions.
"I just wanted to clear things up with you while you're here. I'm not bisexual, I'm gay. So unfortunately I don't really have any interest in other women. I'm sorry to break it to you, Eileen, but it's not going to work out between us."
"Are you sure that you want to go this way?" asked Eileen, tearing up as the reality hit her.
"Yes, Eileen. I'm really sorry, but that's just the way things end up sometimes."
Eileen paused as she took in what Rigby said. She then hopped off of the bench and turned back towards Rigby.
"Margaret told me the same thing before I came here, and I didn't want to believe it at first. But now I know better. You should have told me about this before, though."
"Can you forgive me for leading you on like this?" asked Rigby.
"I'll forgive you, Rigby, but I'm going to need some time alone to think, so don't be worried if I disappear for a little bit."
Rigby then jumped off of the bench himself and wrapped his arms around Eileen, giving her a hug.
"Thanks for understanding, Eileen."
Rigby then broke the hug, and Eileen left after wiping a tear away.
Rigby then returned to the house to find Mordecai alone in the living room, playing some video games. The blue jay paused the game after noticing Rigby come inside.
"So, how'd it go?"
"Pretty good, actually. She forgave me, but she wanted some time to herself before the date on Friday."
"Didn't expect you to be so good with words, dude." said Mordecai teasingly.
"Shut up!" said Rigby, flushing angrily.
"I'm just kidding. Man, you need to lighten up a bit. Anyway, you want to play some games?"
"Yeah, sure."
Rigby sat down and grabbed the other controller as Mordecai reset the game to accept the second player. And so they spent the rest of the night enjoying themselves, thinking for once they were glad that something went right for a change.
And that's the end of this chapter! So, what was Mordecai thinking about during the morning? Well, that won't be revealed until the date. But as for now, there's only one more day to go. How will Rigby deal with the mounting pressure as the big day approaches? How will Eileen take knowing that she has no chance with Rigby? We'll see.
So, before I go, I'd like to throw in a bit of an advertisement for another story I'm writing. I'm not really going to go into any details, considering you can find out what it's about on my profile, but it's called You Will Remember Me, and it's actually a story for the Sly Cooper archive. So please, I'd really like it if you could check it out and leave a review, as I really put a lot of time into what I have written so far.
Anyway, I'll be seeing you guys next time. Bye!
RK
