Chapter Twelve
Cold Shoulder
He wished that he was wrong, but Benson knew better than to question the thermostat at this point during the day. It was well half past noon and the sun was directly overhead. Still, that didn't stop the weatherman from predicting an on coming cold front moving into the city within the next few days, and the high for the day only confirmed this.
"Forty-four degrees," the gumball machine grumbled as he observed the thermostat hanging next to the outside of the front door. He placed his hands on his hips, hoping that his rising tension would cause the weather and the thermostat to reconsider the situation and go back up. He tried giving the thing a death glare. Seeing no change however, Benson sighed and readjusted his autumn colored scarf he had donned on himself that morning.
"They say it's supposed to snow sometime next week," a voice said from behind the candy machine.
Benson turned around to see Skips skipping up the last step onto the porch. He was wearing the same get up he always did, which confused the grounds keeper, but not by much considering Skips personality. He often wondered if the yeti ever felt cold or warm.
"That's just great," Benson moaned sarcastically.
He turned his head back to the thermostat hoping for at least a degree change for the better. Sadly, it had actually gone down by another degree, causing the man to sigh through his teeth. "Snow," he muttered, "in April."
"Stranger things have happened," Skips said trying to comfort the gumball dispenser.
"Tell me about it."
Benson watched the thermostat for another few seconds before turning around and heading down the steps, with Skips hopping along behind him.
"Let's go get some deicer and some snow scrapers from the hardware store, before the idiots who run it mark up the prices," Benson moaned jumping into the passenger seat of Skips' brand new golf cart.
The yeti nodded to his employer as he propped himself in the drivers seat and started the ignition.
Benson looked down at his feet as the cart began to move and slowly pick up speed. "I need to talk to you about something," he told the yeti.
"What about?"
The gumball machine turned his attention to the driver and adopted a stern expression. A small tinge of pain shivered through his head. He ignored it. "It's about Margaret."
"This is still the most boring job ever," Rigby complained, his body sprawled out on the snack bar counter.
"Ugh, I know," Mordecai groaned as he leaned on the counter himself. "How does Benson expect any of this stuff to sell if he charges so much for them? I mean, really? Two-fifty for a candy bar? Three dollars for a bag of popcorn?"
"It's not that bad," Margaret defended as she swept up the outside area of the snack bar, "no different from when I worked at the coffee house. Prices are about the same too."
"Umm, yeah. I guess you're right," Mordecai added, straightening him self up from the counter. Rigby rolled his eyes at his friend's agreement.
"You complain more than I do about this job," the raccoon said with a smile on his face. "Oh there's nothing to do here," he mocked in his friend's voice, "why are we stuck here all day, I don't even get to call the coffee shop."
Mordecai gasped at his friend's big mouth, and rewarded him with a swift punch to the gut causing the raccoon to wheeze and cough in pain. He then looked over at the other bird and tried to see how she reacted. Margaret had stopped sweeping and was looking at the blue jay questionably.
"Why would you want to call where I used to work?"
Mordecai's mind scrambled to think of something, but every time he tried to tell her an excuse, nothing came out of his mouth, making him slack jawed and vacant. "I… uh…"
Margaret of course knew why he would want to call. She remembered a few times when the phone would ring at the coffee house, and the moment she answered it, the other line hung up with a quick crash. Back then, she assumed it was just prank callers, but now, she was pretty sure who it really was.
"Were you trying to see if your favorite blend was still available?" she asked Mordecai, a sly grin appearing on her face.
"Umm… yeah! That's it! I wanted to see if my favorite… blend… was available."
Mordecai kicked himself at how stupid that sounded coming out of his mouth. It didn't sound any better coming out of her mouth either, but to him, it at least sounded "better".
The female giggled before hoisting the broom over her shoulder. "Good to know," she said quietly. "Hey! I'm going shopping for a jacket after I get off. It's really starting to get chilly. You guys wanna come with?"
Rigby rolled his eyes. He and Mordecai already had plans for a guys night out already since Margaret had been acting as the third wheel for a while now. The raccoon had been looking forward to this night.
"We already got pla-"
Rigby was cut off when a blue feathered hand sealed up his mouth.
"Yes! Yes," Mordecai proclaimed in excitement. "We'd love to come!"
Margaret didn't seem convinced. She was sure Rigby was about to say something. "Did you two already have plans to do something else?"
"No, no," Mordecai answered, doing his best to keep the raccoon from biting down on his wing, "we weren't doing anything after work."
Margaret's eyes scoped down to Rigby who was squirming on the counter, trying to rip the wing from his mouth. She kept a solemn smile glued on her face the whole time as she watched. Still, something about this didn't seem right. "You don't have to come if you don't want to Rigby," she said.
Both Mordecai and Rigby stopped their fight and looked at the red robin.
"You don't have to force him to come, Mordecai," she continued. "It could just be you and me."
The blue jay took in a large breath, causing his chest to expand outward. Was this it? Was this her own little way of asking him out on a date, finally? He didn't know what to think of it, or even what to say. He took in the breath hoping to say something smooth, but just kept it in, until finally letting it out in two large puffs, exhaling a "yeah" and an "okay".
"Great," she said in acknowledgment, "I'll meet you at the gate of the park at about 6:15. How's that sound?"
"Yeah… Okay…"
"Alright then! Oh, and bring a little extra cash. I might wanna get something to drink on the way back. They just opened a new novelty drink shop a few blocks from the mall, and I wanna check that out too!"
"Yeah… Okay…"
"Sounds good! I gotta clean the benches around the park now, so I'll see you later Mordecai!" The robin then walks over to the counter and rubs her wing across Rigby's belly, causing him to jump up in disapproval.
"Hey, hey, hey," he snapped, "keep it above the waist. In fact, keep it all away from this."
The raccoon then proceeded to move his hands from his head to his toes, showing off all the areas she's not allowed to touch.
Margaret raised an eyebrow and put a hand on her hip. "You weren't saying that last week when I started scratching that one spot on your neck."
Mordecai's eyes perked up. "What! Last week! When did this happen!"
She didn't answer, but instead grazed her wing at the bottom of Mordecai's neck and slid it up his chin and across the bottom of his beak. "See you later, Mordecai."
Rigby groaned upon seeing that display of "affection". It had become common place for her now to tease the males whenever she felt it. While the rest of the staff saw it as hilarious to watch everyone's reactions (especially Mordecai and Rigby's) to her false advances, Rigby couldn't help but find it a little cruel (though admittedly funny) that she would do that to his best friend.
She didn't mean any harm, and didn't do it to actually hit on any of the males there. Margaret knew that none of the males, save for Mordecai, had any interest on her, so she just let herself joke around and make fun of herself. Though, Mordecai did tend to take some her flirtatious gags a little too seriously.
"Dude," Mordecai began as he watched the girl walk away, "this is it."
"What?"
"I think she actually wants to go out on a date with me."
"This again?"
"I'm serious this time, bro! I think she really has a thing for me. Did you see the way she flirted with me back there."
"She does that to everyone. Did you see her rub my tum-tum?" the raccoon asked in a playfully low voice while pointing both index fingers towards his belly.
"Dude, this is different! I can totally feel a connection between the two of us this time!"
Rigby groaned again at his friend's stupidity, which was funny in its own right, since it was usually the other way around.
Mordecai noticed his friends disapproving groan and couldn't wait to comment. "What? You don't think it's real this time?"
This time? Rigby rolled his eyes when he heard his friend speak this. It was really almost pathetic. How many times has this happened the past few months since she had started working there?
"You do this every time, man," Rigby commented. "You get your hopes up cause you think she's flirting with you, which she's not, and then when you try to get her alone, she says something or does something that tells you it meant nothing."
Mordecai sneered at his friend.
"Face it, dude," the raccoon continued. "She's just not that into you."
"You're just jealous," Mordecai told him.
"Jealous?"
"Yeah! You're just jealous because I want to spend more time with her than you."
Rigby sighed again. "Of course I'm jealous!" This song and dance was getting old. "You know, lately," he started, "you've been spending more time with her than anyone else. She has to tag along with us every where she goes, she has to come do chores with us even though they aren't her chores, she has to come sleep on the couch with us."
Mordecai couldn't stand to listen to his friend's complaints, as true as there are. Margaret's employment at the park had given the blue jay the opportunity he had been looking for: an infinite number of chances to finally ask Margaret out. It was true that she was always off with some guy at the time, but the shelf life of each boyfriend was surprisingly small, ranging from three days to two weeks usually. In between men, Mordecai found himself hanging around the robin more often, and inviting her to every little thing he did around the house, park, and city. Rigby didn't mind hanging out with her at first, but when it came to the point where she was always hanging around them, he refused each and every invitation to her and always tried to stop it from happening. Mordecai kept his friend shut most of the time, threatening this, and punching that, and just being an all around selfish person to the raccoon whenever Margaret was around. Rigby couldn't stand it, because it made himself feel like a third wheel that Mordecai didn't care about.
"And you promised," the raccoon complained. "You said that we were going to do stuff in the city without Margaret. That it was going to be a guy's night out, just you and me."
"Change of plans," Mordecai responded to him. "I mean, how many chances do I get to be alone with her?"
According to Rigby's calculator inside his brain, since Margaret had been employed, she and Mordecai had been alone together a total of thirty-seven times, the average span of which lasted from sixty seconds to half an hour. This was plenty of time to actually ask the girl out on a legitimate date.
"This is gonna be great," Mordecai chimed, "this is definitely gonna work out."
Rigby wasn't so sure.
Mordecai arrived at the entrance to the park almost a full half an hour before Margaret was said to arrive. He wanted to be punctual and neat. He needed to show her what kind of man he could be and how it was going to work out. The blue jay had opted out of dressing high class, instead choosing something a little more domestic with a black tie around his neck (which Pops had to tie for him).
He waited patiently there for his "date" to arrive, wondering if she was going to come dressed up or down. Was she going to be wearing earrings, or perfume, or anything special like that? What if he was too dressed up himself? Even if it was just a tie, it might have still been too much. And Rigby. What about Rigby?
He glanced around his surroundings to try and see if the raccoon had made any attempt to follow him and spy on their evening. It wouldn't be the first time. Rigby was just too dang nosey for his own good. Luckily for Mordecai, the young man had decided against spying on the two of them and remained at home.
Out in the distance, Mordecai could see a golf cart approaching him. As it got closer, he could see Margaret in the driver's seat, with Skips next to her, pointing at various parts of the dash board and steering wheel. Apparently, the yeti was allowing her to borrow the cart for the evening.
"…and that's all there is to it," Skips finished as the cart came to a halt in front of the entrance. "Make sure you have it back by 8:00pm, on the dot. That clear?"
Margaret flinched at the yeti's stern approach to the golf cart. That strange child like fear about Skips formed in her stomach again as she nodded quickly. The large man nodded back and exited his cart. Without even acknowledging the blue jay in front of him, he began to skip his way back to his little shack in the middle of the park.
"Still creepy," Margaret whispered under her breath. Her sights turned to Mordecai in front of her. She smiled and waved her hand to the male to come on in.
Mordecai wasn't sure what to think of this. She was driving? Shouldn't the gentleman be driving so that she doesn't have to do anything?
"I can drive," Mordecai blurted out. "I mean… if you want me to."
"Its fine," Margaret answered with a neutral expression on her face. "I should learn to drive this thing anyways. Hop on in!"
And so he did, though a little adamant at first. Deep down, he was hoping that she wouldn't be doing everything the rest of the night. He needed to show off his chivalrous qualities somehow.
Rigby often wondered why Benson had to be so cheap on certain things. He didn't mind splurging when it came to keeping the park in its best condition. But god help the world that Benson and anyone else who runs the finances around the park should spend twenty dollars a month to get some basic cable running on the television. Not like it would have mattered anyways. Rigby would still be sitting there complaining about nothing on, and thinking about how his friend was doing.
The raccoon found himself once again in front of the TV staring at fuzz that scattered and danced across the screen. He didn't know what to do with himself. He was hungry though, that much he was completely sure of. The thought of going to Cheezer's or some other little cheap restaurant sounded absolutely fantastic, but he kept himself from going on the offset that he might accidentally bump into Mordecai and Margaret. He didn't want to make his night any worse by getting accused of spying on them.
The TV shut off with a flick of the power button on the remote. Rigby sighed to himself and jumped off the couch. He had found himself sighing a lot lately, only because it was getting harder and harder not to notice it. When he's left alone, he's left to his devices, which means that his mind begins to interrogate itself. The raccoon had spent the last few months trying to keep those voices out of his head but they were only getting louder and louder as time went on. Tonight especially.
He looked up the staircase leading onto the second floor. It seemed longer and higher than usual. Part of him was afraid that he could slip and fall. His mind was playing tricks on him again in this condition. He couldn't stand feeling this weak and vulnerable. He grunted and brought his first foot up.
One step at a time.
He started climbing the steps one at a time, making sure he didn't do anything stupid and hurt himself. As he climbed the mountain, his brain began to poke and prod at itself, almost like it was trying to annoy and agitate poor Rigby. It asked questions like, "why are you feeling so bored?" or "why are you feeling so lonely?" He had all those answers though. It was because his friend wasn't there, that's all.
Was it really like that though? Ask him, and he would deny having any sort of feeling like that when he was around Mordecai. But lately, it was different. He did feel lonely and bored around his best friend. Everything Mordecai wanted to do lately only involved trying to get close to Margaret, and Rigby hated it. Nothing he wanted to do was being humored. It was all about trying to get close to that woman. And the more Rigby thought about, the more it made his blood boil.
Lately, he had found that he was becoming very bipolar around the robin. Rigby couldn't tell if he truly despised her with all his heart, or if she was just a generally sweet girl that he admired. She was strong and funny. Rigby liked that about her, but she wanted nothing to do with Mordecai. She liked him well enough, but maybe not in a romantic way. The raccoon wasn't sure about this though. He did remember how she said she would date him to see how he is, but Rigby never took that to heart.
He could never hate Mordecai for chasing after what he wanted most. It was admirable, but Rigby knew that nothing was going to come of it. No, that wasn't it, his mind told itself. It wasn't that nothing was going to come of it; it was that Rigby wanted nothing to come of it.
Part of Rigby's subconscious ached and moaned to keep the blue jay all to himself. Not just his friendship and his soul, but everything. He wanted his mind so that he could have someone who thought like him, his voice so he had someone to speak to, and he wanted to be the only one to be able to make the blue jay smile. He let out a small grin of his own when he thought about some good times from the past.
His body too. Margaret couldn't have that part of him, he hoped anyways. Rigby refused to allow her to even joke about that. These cravings that had suddenly washed over Rigby were uncontrollable. What do feathers REALLY feel like, and what did they feel like against fur? The raccoon had never had a real chance to really touch Mordecai's feathers. He got a hug every so often, but it wasn't enough to really "investigate". And there was something about that beak too. The curve and design of it and how it changed into something so enthralling whenever the blue jay smiled and laughed. How is it that Mordecai could have such a desirable body? He hated asking these questions, and he hated it even more when his body would react unconsciously to them, usually in the most awkward of times. He would shut them out and keep them hidden in a secret place, like what he was doing at that moment.
But those were easier to keep quiet. He didn't need to worry about cravings like that. He could just keep his mouth shut and all would be well. But there was something different that bottled up in his gut that only got worse and worse as time went on. Rigby kept denying it though, not quite sure what it was or if it had any connection with everything else he had been thinking about the past few months.
No, he would keep all of it bottled up and away from prying eyes. He would find a way to make sure no one ever knew about them until he had figured them out himself. That would take time though. He would just need to deny everything he thinks about that until he figures out what it all means. He would be himself and let all of his emotions hang out except for those ones. This was what he thought as he was climbing the stairs.
One step at a time.
"Prices aren't too bad," Margaret exclaimed looking at a chalk board with various drinks and prices scribbled on it.
Mordecai looked around the little hole in the wall drink shop they had stumbled into. It was definitely a far cry from the coffee house, that was for sure. It specialized in more fruit flavored goodies than anything, and there was really nothing strong or overpowering with the exception of some light flavored java. The blue bird definitely felt like a good cup of coffee right about then.
The "date" that Mordecai so called it in his delusional state, had not gone so well. When they got to the store of her choice, Mordecai was the first to jump out of the cart and over to the front door of the store to pull it open for Margaret. Unfortunately, he wasn't aware of the little girl and her mother who were pushing on the other side of the door, causing the child to fall on her face, and the mother to fall on her daughter. The bird wished that was the only thing that went wrong.
Margaret found herself in one specific part of that clothing store, looking for a jacket to ward off the incoming cold. Sadly, for Mordecai, the jackets were located right next to women's lingerie. And when Margaret started circling the area and ditching Mordecai for this and that, the blue bird found himself in the middle of shit storm.
"What a creep!"
"Why is he wandering around here?"
"Excuse me sir, are you lost?"
"Maybe someone should call security."
When he finally found Margaret again, he latched onto her like there was no tomorrow. A few snide comments from other on lookers later, and a trip to the check out line ended their excursion within the shop. Well, almost. As Mordecai pushed the entrance door open for Margaret, he failed to catch the attention of the father and son right in front of the store, slamming the door into the father's nose, causing him to fall on top of his son. Unlike the first group of parent and child though, this one was an angry force, and decided to chase both birds down as they made their getaway in the golf cart.
"Oh I know," Margaret said as she remained fixated on the drink menu in front of her. "I'll get something with passion fruit in it. Hmmm… what's rose supposed to taste like? Wanna split a drink?"
The blue jay focused his tired eyes on her and nodded kindly.
The sun had almost completely finished setting by the time they had returned to the park. Mordecai had taken it upon himself to drive this time, knowing all the fastest routes back to the house. He had calmed down since earlier and was actually ready to go to bed, even if it was still considerably early. The entire ordeal had been nerve wracking and even if this was the first real extended period of alone time the two had had together in a while, he still acted like a love sick fool, stumbling on some of the sentences he tried to say to her.
"I hope this thing doesn't shrink when I wash it," Margaret commented looking inside a little plastic bag with her purchase in it. "It was pretty cheap. I wouldn't be surprised, knowing my luck."
Mordecai gulped in his throat and tried to think of something witty to say, but as usual, had trouble having anything interesting come out. "Umm… yeah."
"Yeah?" she said in a questionable manner. "You think I'm unlucky now?"
"No," Mordecai exclaimed, kicking himself, "what I meant to say was… actually, the thing is…"
Margaret started laughing at his shy broken dialogue. "Relax," she said with a smile on her face. "You need to loosen up around me."
"Easier said than done," Mordecai unconsciously said. It took him a few seconds to realize what just came out of his mouth.
"And why is that?" Margaret asked him. "Is it cause I'm a girl?" she added putting emphasis on the last word.
"What? Wait! No, that's not it! I mean it is… but I mean, you are a girl… and… wait."
The female let loose a loud laugh that echoed through out the park. She really didn't say anything as she was laughing, enjoying this moment of hilarity caused by her blue friend. Margaret would never have laughed at him in the past, but getting to know him better allowed her to understand him a little better. She only hoped his sense of humor about himself around her would improve.
Mordecai blushed again, feeling that he had hit a low point. Skips shack was just within eye shot now, and the blue jay couldn't be happier to be done with this thing. He felt he screwed everything up, and wanted nothing more than to get home and try to drown out the whole experience. Maybe Margaret would forget by tomorrow morning? Probably not…
They parked the cart in the little car port that Skips had connected to his home. The yeti was waiting for them as they pulled in.
"Hi Skips," Margaret said still recovering from laughter.
The yeti raised his hand and only slightly waved to them as he stood in front of the entrance to his home. Both birds approached the man and relinquished his keys, dangling them in front of him.
"Thanks," Skips said taking the keys from them, "I'll make sure to get these copied for ya tomorrow."
Mordecai grew confused at this statement and looked to Margaret. "What is he talking about?"
Margaret's smile grew small as her eyes looked to Mordecai's. "Benson wants me to live here with Skips… you know, since there's no more room in the house for me."
Mordecai suddenly felt a million miles away when he heard this. Benson was trying to get Margaret out of the house? Or was it Rigby? Did they both work together to try and find a way to get the robin out of the house so that Mordecai could never have her? His mind was propagating crazy situations that always ended up working against him.
The red robin remained smiling lightly at Mordecai, gauging his reaction. "Skips said he's going to add on to the place. Build me my own room. Isn't that nice of him?"
"Yeah…," Mordecai sighed disappointingly, "that's great."
Margaret and Skips exchanged glances, and looked back at the obviously sullen blue jay.
"C'mon," the girl said to him, taking his hand, "let's head back to the house."
"It's not so bad," Margaret added as they walked away from the shack, "you'll still get to see me everyday."
"Yeah I know," he responded to her. "It's just that I had all that time and I didn't get the chance to say something to ya."
"Say something? Like what?"
The blue jay swallowed something in his throat and once again tried to say something, only this time, instead of even trying, he just gave up.
"Nothing," he sighed.
Margaret could tell that tired expression on his. She knew he was only trying to find the right words to tell her. It wasn't a proclamation of love obviously, but it was still something he wanted to ask; a legitimate date. She didn't understood why it was so hard for him to just come out and ask. Then again, she wasn't a twenty-three year old shy male blue jay.
"How's this?" she asked him gripping her hand on his a little tighter.
He looked down at the sight of them holding hands.
"It's good," he answered, a shy smile forming on his beak.
It didn't seem so bad. He had always thought about them holding hands walking along their merry little way. Sure it wasn't a sunset by the beach in their swim suits, and sure it was more friendly than romantic, but it was a start. He could feel that deep down in his heart, this moment was nothing more than two friends seeking comfort in one another. Neither he or Margaret felt any romantic inclinations at that moment, which was fine.
It made him feel like she didn't ignore him after all, like she wasn't oblivious to his advances on her any more. This made that hope within his gut a little bit brighter. He was happy that there was still a chance between the two of them, as faint and simple as it might have been.
When they arrived at the house, Margaret stopped, and looked up at the window leading into the bedroom. No doubt, Rigby was probably up there sulking up a storm about how his friend blew him off to go hang out with that girl. She felt a little bad about it. Didn't mean to take away the one night the two boys actually had planned together. And then she thought about what she and Rigby talked about some time back, and suddenly felt worse about the whole thing.
She turned her head to Mordecai, who was looking right her. She smiled and said, "isn't this the part of the date where you're supposed to invite me inside?"
"Date?"
Margaret giggled again, realizing that she laughed entirely too much. "I guess it's not a real date. But it was nice."
Mordecai didn't have anything to say. He just smiled some goofy grin, and gave a quick nod. An excitement began to grow from within him. Did she really just call this a date? Or was she just joking? Either way, it was a good sign.
"Hey," she started as she let go of his hand, "you should go apologize to Rigby."
"For what?" Mordecai asked.
The female shot an expression of annoyance right through his eyes, tipping him off that she knew exactly what was previous planned for the night.
"Yeah," Mordecai admitted, "I guess you're right."
"You guess?"
"I know you're right," he added, feeling a slight ting of shame creep across his stomach.
Her serious expression faded into a small smile. They both looked at each other for a few seconds before either of them said anything.
"I'm gonna stay out here for a few minutes and think," Margaret finally spoke. "You go on inside."
Mordecai nodded, knowing that their time together was finished for now. He took a deep breath and began to walk up the steps onto the porch. He didn't even get one step up, when he felt Margaret's hand grab his and turn him around. The blue jay was pulled into her space, his bare chest touching her shirt, as their beaks slid across each other. It shocked him at first, until he felt her beak open and her tongue graze along the bottom of his. He froze, and his mind completely emptied out of all knowledge. She was kissing him, and he had no idea how to react. His body felt like it had caught on fire, and was ice cold frozen at the same time. Mordecai had no idea what he was supposed to do.
Margaret, sensing his hesitation and tension, grabbed his other arm and wrapped it over her neck in a sweet embrace. She flicked her tongue along his beak a few more times to try and coerce him into the motion, a teaching exercise that she really didn't mind giving out.
After a few moments, Mordecai caught on and allowed him self to fall into the kiss, opening up his beak and brushing his tongue against the woman's. A lustful giggle escaped Margaret's throat as she rubbed her beak against his in the process, allowing herself to let go and enjoy the sensation.
A minute later, they pulled away quietly.
"So," Margaret started.
"So," Mordecai responded with a cracked voice.
"Did you like it?" the robin asked him. "You looked like you needed it."
The blue jay wasn't sure how to feel. He had just done something he had done nothing but dream and fantasize about for who knows how long.
"Yeah," he answered, "I liked it a lot."
"Good then," she commented.
Mordecai stood there for a few seconds, unsure what to feel or what to say.
"Does this mean," he began with a confused tone in his voice, "does this mean we're…?"
The red robin smiled at him before walking over to the steps and sitting down. "I don't know," she said as she knelt down. "Let's see what happens in the next few weeks, alright?"
Mordecai nodded still confused about what he and Margaret had just shared. She wasn't admitting any romantic feelings, so then why did she kiss him? What did any of this night even mean?
"Hey," the female interjected, "don't you have someone to apologize to?"
Rigby! He had completely forgotten about Rigby. Though he knew the little raccoon could wait for his apology while all that was happening. That kiss seemed a little more important in retrospect.
Mordecai nodded and quickly made his way up the steps, past Margaret, before he was stopped again by her hand grasping his arm. The first thing that came into his mind was if she wanted another kiss… or maybe something more?
"Let's see where this goes," Margaret said with an almost regretful look plastered on her face.
The blue jay nodded to her again and went through the front door, and quickly up the stairs. He walked into the bedroom to find Rigby staring out the window, down onto the porch.
"Hey buddy," Mordecai said, a little out of breath, "how ya doing?"
"How was she?" Rigby asked, getting straight to the point.
"How was she what?"
"You know what I mean," the raccoon raised his voice, turning to meet his friend's gaze.
The bird's eyes looked away from his little friend, darting back and forth between the raccoon and the floor. "You saw that, huh?"
"Yes I saw it," Rigby said in mocking voice. The little animal then proceeded to put his hands on his hips and huff at the blue jay.
Mordecai smiled and walked over to the bed. "Dude," he started as he jumped onto the mattress, "it… was… AWESOME!"
He started laughing like a giddy school girl, curling into a ball and then spreading himself out in excitement. "I mean I didn't see it coming, so it was kind of a surprise to me, but oh man… I mean… dude!"
"Yeah," Rigby replied walking over to his trampoline, "dude…"
He jumped onto it, bouncing a few times before settling himself on his back, staring up at the ceiling. Rigby didn't feel like talking about what he saw, and decided to just push the whole thing out of his mind and get some sleep. Sadly for him, it was still early, and he was still as hyperactive, and moody, as ever.
Mordecai sensed some frustration coming from the direction of his best friend and knew what he had to do. "Sorry about earlier."
"No you're not," the raccoon said miserably.
"Rigby, c'mon, you know I didn't mean to hurt your feelings. You know I wouldn't do that to you on purpose unless it was meant to be funny. Remember that time I kicked you in the crotch?"
"That wasn't funny."
"It was to everyone else," Mordecai chuckled.
The small man groaned and turned his back the larger man. Mordecai sighed at his friend's behavior and did his best to make him feel better.
"Dude, this is like the first time since I've known Margaret where I've actually got a chance to finally be with her. You can't be mad about that, right?"
No answer from the person on trampoline.
"I'll bet if you were me, you would have done it too," Mordecai continued.
"No," Rigby started as his voice grew louder, "I would tell that B to go away and let me hang with my bro!"
That was not what Mordecai wanted to hear come out of his friend's mouth. In fact, that was the last thing he wanted to hear come out of his friend's mouth.
"Rigby! Don't call her that!"
"Well she is!"
"What is your problem?" Mordecai yelled sitting up from the bed.
Rigby mimicked his friend as he sat up from the trampoline and glared at the blue jay. "You want to know what my problem is? You're my problem," he screamed pointing his finger directly at Mordecai. His body leaned into the gesture as if to put more of an emotional load onto the bird.
"Oh look at me," Rigby said trying to impersonate his friend's voice, "my name is Mordecai! And I'll do anything for lady pecs! I'll even cancel plans with my best friend so I can hang out with this girl I'm scared of and get bird kisses and feel her up, and a bunch of other stuff I don't need, instead of hanging out with my best bro that I've known my whole life!"
"Dude!"
"And hello," Rigby said switching the tone of his voice to a much higher one, "my name is Margaret, and I'm a really nice girl. I have lady pecs, so you should come hang out with me and leave your friend alone all by himself, and break all those promises you made to him."
"Stop it, Rigby!"
"YOU STOP IT," the raccoon screeched at the top of his lungs. "I'M SICK OF YOU BLOWING ME OFF FOR SOME GIRL!"
His voice carried all the way through the house, and out the still open front door, right into Margaret's ears. She sighed deeply and placed her face into the palms of her hands, unsure if she should get involved or not.
"Dude, calm down," Mordecai tried to reason, "I don't want Benson coming in here."
"YOU CALM DOWN!"
"What's all the racket!" screamed Benson. His footsteps could be heard coming from the hallway.
Mordecai wasted no time jumping from his bed over to the trampoline, grabbing the raccoon and sealing his mouth with his wing. Rigby squirmed and kicked at him, trying to get himself free so that he could bitch out his friend some more. That was twice in the same day that the bird silenced his best friend.
"What's going on in here?" Benson asked peeking into the room.
"Nothing," Mordecai answered. "Rigby's just being Rigby."
"Well keep it down," the gumball machine screamed at the two of them before exiting the room and closing the door behind him.
Mordecai sighed again as he watched the door, wondering if all this was really worth the trouble.
"Are you gonna behave?" he asked Rigby in a strict voice, "or do I have to do this the whole night?"
He looked down at the raccoon, and found his friend on the verge of tears. He removed his wing from Rigby's mouth and looked down at him with a sympathetic annoyance.
The furry man hiccupped as he did his best to keep his tears in. "Wh-wh-why aren't we best bros anymooooore?"
"Dude," Mordecai said, "we are still best bros."
"But, but, but…"
"Okay! Okay! How about this? Next day off you and I have, we'll go do whatever. I don't care what. We'll just do whatever. No Margaret, or Benson, or anything like that."
"I don't belieeeeeeve you," Rigby sulked.
"I promise this time, man. I won't break it! We'll do something just you and me… just stop crying!"
"I'm not crying," the raccoon cried as he rubbed tears out of his eyes.
"Just… just quit worrying about me and Margaret. You're still my best bro, no matter what happens. Okay?"
Rigby didn't say anything.
"Okay?" Mordecai repeated himself, a little louder than last time.
"Fine," Rigby said in as quiet a voice as he could.
"Alright then," the bird said getting up. "I'm gonna go convince Benson not to tear us a new hole for you screaming up the place."
As he stepped away from the trampoline, the raccoon reached up and grabbed the blue jay's hand, causing him to falter for a moment.
"Dude, I said I promised. What more do you need?"
Mordecai looked at his best friend. Rigby was staring vacantly at the floor, refusing to meet his friend's glimpse.
"Rigby?"
He didn't get a response again.
"Is there something else the matter, dude?"
The raccoon continued to stare into space, looking as though he had something important to talk to Mordecai about. But a moment later, he let go of his friend's hand, and allowed his own to limply fall to his side.
"No," Rigby said sadly, "nothing."
"You sure?" Mordecai asked with some minor concern.
Rigby nodded.
"Okay then," Mordecai said, not sure if his friend was truly alright or not. He stepped over to the door and opened it. As soon as he did a gumball machine, a lollipop man, and red robin all toppled down to his feet.
Benson scrambled to get up saying something about fixing that door, and snatching up Pops who was commenting about how much fun eavesdropping was. Margaret looked up at the blue jay and smiled. He sighed at the girl and helped her to her feet.
"Sorry," she said with an embarrassed smile.
"It's alright," Mordecai told her. "I gotta go talk to Benson. I'll be right back."
She nodded to him before he passed by her and walked away to catch up to Benson and Pops. Her attention shifted to the raccoon on the trampoline, who had now resorted to hugging his own tail for comfort.
"Rigby," she started, "I'm sorry about earlier. I really didn't think you'd mind, and Mordecai was just so excited, and you guys didn't tell me you had plans, and I honestly didn't know until I thought about, and I'm really sorry about it and-"
"What was it like?" he asked her.
She was caught off guard by his sudden questioning.
"What do you mean? What was what like?"
He looked at her with blurry eyes. "Downstairs on the porch… what was it like?"
When she realized what he was talking about, she sighed deeply and walked over to him. "Oh, Rigby," she said with concern on her face as she placed her wing on his head and began to scratch softly.
The little raccoon felt like he wanted to start crying again. But nothing came out.
Cold Shoulder - Adele
Author's Notes
If you go to a drink shop and they have the option to try a drink with rose in it, try it. It tastes very delicious. You know, I don't have much to say about this chapter. It was a fun one to write and I enjoyed it thoroughly. I guess that's probably because I'm actually writing into the romance. Action and craziness are fun and all, but these next couple of chapters were fun to write to advance the plot romantically. What did you all think? The Cold Trilogy will follow the same formula of dates and hinting romance. Yay~! Look forward to the rest!
So Until Next Chapter...
Adieu...
