Friday (Day of Big Date)
It was another beautiful day at the park, and Mordecai woke up to find himself alone in his and Rigby's room.
"Huh, guess Rigby must've gone down to breakfast early." Mordecai said to himself.
He stretched out his body for a second and cracked his back before getting out of bed, quickly washing up in the bathroom and heading downstairs for breakfast.
When Mordecai walked into the kitchen, he found Rigby shoveling down spoonfulls of sugary cereal like he always does. Mordecai sat down at the table across from Rigby and poured himself a bowl.
"Morning."
"Morning, Mordecai."
Mordecai looked up at Rigby and saw that the raccoon had a grin on his face as he was humming some sort of song that Mordecai couldn't hear clear enough to decipher.
"You look pretty chipper today, dude."
"What? Oh…yeah, I guess I am." said Rigby.
"Any reason why that would be? You're usually dead on your feet this early in the morning, especially without your coffee."
"Well, I am looking forward to the big date tonight, I suppose."
Mordecai's sleep-addled brain took a few seconds to process that last statement from Rigby, before it finally hit him and he realized he forgot about it completely.
"Oh yeah, that's right. It is tonight. I guess it slipped my mind."
The room fell silent for the next few minutes as Mordecai and Rigby ate their cereal, until Mordecai decided to take a chance on getting Rigby to spill one of his secrets he was holding until the date.
"So, any chance of telling me who your secret crush is?"
Rigby was about to reply with the answer, when he caught himself.
"Nice try, dude. I've told you before; I'm not going to tell you until tonight."
Even though Mordecai had no intention of giving up his hunt for the answer, he let Rigby have this victory, and returned to eating his cereal.
Nothing important really happened during the work shift outside of Mordecai repeatedly attempting to weasel an answer out of Rigby during times when he thought the raccoon would be caught off guard. Unfortunately for him, Rigby was smarter than that, as he effortlessly dodged his questions and kept his mouth shut.
After the shift ended, the two of them had some free time before they needed to get ready, so they spent their time playing video games as usual. Mordecai was kicking Rigby's butt as usual, when Rigby decided to strike up a conversation.
"Say, Mordecai, why is it that you're so interested in finding out who I have a crush on?"
"Well…um…can't a guy be curious as to what his friend is up to?"
Rigby paused for a second, playing the game as he thought about what Mordecai said.
"I guess so, but that doesn't mean that the friend has to tell the other guy when he asks. I mean, everyone has to have their own secrets."
It hit Mordecai then that he was being a bit of a pushy jerk, so he paused the game and sighed before turning towards Rigby.
"Listen dude, I'm sorry about what I put you through today. I shouldn't be asking you about sensitive things when you don't want to talk about them."
"No, it's okay, Mordecai. I understand. Besides, the date's only a half an hour away, so you'll find out pretty soon."
That last sentence suddenly registered in Rigby's mind a few seconds after he said it, and he looked at the clock which let them know that there was only thirty minutes left until they were supposed to meet Margaret and Eileen.
"Oh crap, we have to get ready!" said Rigby.
"Come on, let's get upstairs." said Mordecai as he rushed upstairs himself, Rigby following close behind.
It was packed at Cheezer's that night, perfect for what Margaret and Rigby were working towards. Speaking of Margaret, she and Eileen were already there, waiting for the guys to arrive. Both of them were wearing regular clothes, considering they didn't really need to worry about dressing up with the place that they were going to.
"I wonder what's taking them so long." said Eileen as she checked her watch.
"I dunno. They're usually pretty good at being on time."
The two of them didn't need to wait any longer, as Mordecai and Rigby pulled up a few seconds later in the cart, looking slightly disheveled.
"Hey guys!" said Margaret.
"Sorry we're late, Margaret. We kind of lost track of time." said Mordecai.
"Don't worry about it. I'm just glad you guys have made it. Anyway, how about we go inside and grab a table?"
"Really? It seems kind of crowded in there. Besides, I see a few open tables out here." said Mordecai, confused.
"Don't you want to get out of the heat, though?"
"Yeah, I suppose. Let's go see if we can squeeze into a booth somewhere inside."
The four of them went inside and eventually found an empty booth inside the dining area off to the side of the main restaurant.
After they all sat down, with Mordecai and Margaret on one side and Rigby and Eileen on the other, Eileen decided to speak up.
"Man, it's pretty busy in here tonight."
"Well, it is Friday. People usually like to go out to eat on Friday's." said Rigby.
"That's certainly true." said Margaret.
So, the group spent the next few minutes chatting about random things until Margaret turned towards Rigby.
"So Rigby, any guys that you're interested in yet?"
Rigby sputtered, not quite ready yet to spill, so he quickly changed the subject while at the same time subtly signaling to Margaret that it wasn't the right time.
"So, uh…are you guys ready to order? I can go take care of getting the food."
Margaret got the message and dropped the subject, but the question caught Mordecai's attention. He was admittedly curious as to what was going on, but he remembered what happened during the afternoon, so he put the thought in the back of his mind for the moment.
After the other three gave their orders to Rigby, the raccoon hopped down from his seat and walked off towards the counter. While he was gone, Mordecai took the opportunity to question Margaret.
"Hey Margaret, can I ask you a question?"
"Sure Mordecai, what is it?"
"Is there something going on between you and Rigby?"
Margaret's eyes widened, causing Mordecai to immediately push his hands forward, signaling for Margaret to wait before responding.
"I don't mean anything romantic, Margaret. I know that Rigby's not into women. What I mean is that you've sent me away from the coffee shop twice over the past week to pick up something from your apartment that's pretty far away. So, is there some talking or something going on?"
Margaret sighed in relief after Mordecai clarified what he was saying, before she decided to respond.
"Yeah, I've been talking to Rigby. He didn't know how to tell his crush about his feelings for him, so he decided to go to me for advice. To be honest, I'm not really sure why, as I'm not exactly an authority on picking someone up."
Mordecai smiled, satisfied with Margaret's answer as Rigby returned with the food.
"Hey Mordecai, do you have ten bucks on you? I'm a little short to pay the cashier."
"Ugh, fine."
Mordecai sighed as he pulled a ten out of his wallet and handed it over to Rigby. After a quick thanks from the raccoon, he hurried back over to the cashier and paid the rest of the balance before coming back over and sitting down.
The group began eating their food in silence, outside of one comment from Mordecai and Rigby.
"Man, all this cheese is really starting to taste a little drab." said Rigby.
"I know what you mean, dude. We really should be spreading out our visits a little bit more."
Margaret was curious after hearing the two of them talking to each other.
"What's this about spreading out visits?"
Mordecai looked over at Margaret for a second, too focused in on his conversation with Rigby to realize that Margaret was talking.
"What? Oh…this is actually the third time we've been here in the past week and a half. Benson's not exactly the most innovative guy when restricted to a certain place to take us and the other guys."
"Ouch. I feel your pain. Too much cheese is never a good thing." said Eileen.
Soon enough, the group finished off their food, and threw away their garbage. Instead of heading outside, they decided to hang out and talk a little more, so that was what they did for the next few minutes.
It was at this point that the restaurant was nearing closing time, and the people were starting to file out, so Rigby needed to act fast if he wanted to get the right conditions together.
"So, are you guys ready to go?" asked Mordecai as he began to exit the booth.
"Mordecai, wait!" said Rigby.
Mordecai looked back at Rigby, half out of his seat with a confused look on his face.
"Yeah, dude? What is it?"
"Can you sit down for a minute? I have something really important to tell you."
Mordecai sat back down in his seat, looking at Rigby with a genuinely curious look on his face.
Rigby sighed, taking a quick glance at Margaret, who gave him a slight nod so as to avoid catching Mordecai's attention.
"Mordecai, I have a confession to make. I…really like you."
"I like you too, dude. Why wouldn't I? We've been friends forever."
Rigby grunted.
"Listen dude, you're not really understanding me. What I mean is that I'm past that point where I like you as a friend. I like you as more than that, if you catch my drift."
Mordecai took a few seconds for it to register. When he did, his eyes widened immensely, finally understanding what Rigby was talking about, before his expression suddenly shifted to sheer surprise.
"Wait, wait, wait. So you're saying that the big crush that you were telling me you had…was on me?"
Rigby blushed immensely.
"Yeah." he said meekly.
Mordecai had trouble wrapping his head around this revelation. Rigby…liked him? As more than just a friend?
"I…I need to go."
Mordecai got out of his seat and immediately rushed out the door and into the cart, pulling away.
Rigby looked to be almost on the verge of tears, thinking that he must have said something wrong and blew it, but Margaret immediately took action and grabbed Rigby's hands.
"Listen to me, Rigby. Just because Mordecai left you here doesn't mean he's rejecting you. I imagine he just needs some time to think."
Rigby smiled, sniffing as he looked at Margaret.
"Thanks Margaret. I appreciate the words of confidence."
"No problem, Rigby. I don't want to see you being miserable all the time."
Eileen suddenly popped in a few seconds later to interrupt.
"Uh guys? I don't want to ruin this whole moment here, but we should get out of here. People are starting to stare."
People were in fact starting to stare, especially with the episode that Rigby has been having, so the three remaining people in the group headed outside.
"So, uh…would you girls mind driving me back to the park? Mordecai kind of took my transportation here."
"Sure thing, Rigby. Hop in." said Margaret.
Rigby did as was asked and hopped into the backseat of Margaret's car and she drove Rigby back to the park.
After pulling up in front of the house, Rigby said thanks to the both of them and waved goodbye before heading back inside the house and up to his room to find Mordecai already in bed facing the wall.
He was already asleep at this point, so Rigby felt that he shouldn't bother Mordecai until the morning, so as he slipped under the laundry and fell asleep, he hoped that Mordecai would be willing to reciprocate his feelings now that he knows the truth.
And that's the end of the chapter! So Mordecai finally knows the truth. How will it affect his and Rigby's relationship? You'll find out next chapter.
Anyway, even though I already mentioned it before, I kind of feel the need to remind you guys that the next chapter will not be the last one. There will be at least a few more, but you're going to have to wait to find out what they will be about.
So, that's pretty much all I have to say, so I'll see you next time. Bye!
RK