Chapter 5
"Woah, what the heck happened to you Benson?" Rigby asked their boss, who glared at the raccoon. The rest of the employees all stared at the gumball machine; he had dark rings around his eyes, lights stubble was on his chin and he looked like a complete wreck, as if he hadn't slept in an entire week.
Mordecai felt a rock drop in his stomach. Oh god, he thought.
Benson frowned. "Nothing. Now can we get back to reading out the jobs please?"
Rigby went quiet, but he still stole the occasional look to their boss.
As the gumball machine went through the jobs list, Mordecai noticed he kept messing up words and his voice was shaking. He cocked an eyebrow and glanced at Skips, wondering if the yeti had talked to their boss like he'd promised.
When he'd finished, Benson tucked the clipboard under his arm and looked at his employees, who'd all gone back to staring at him. "What?" He said harshly, making everyones eyes divert to the ground. With an irritable sigh, Benson started for the stairs but before he got to the door, he sighed again and turned his head to look at his most faithful employee; "Skips, can you meet me in my office please?" Benson stopped when he saw Mordecai looking at him in curiosity and concern. "I-I need to talk to you." Benson swallowed hard and opened the door. Skips stood and followed and shut the door behind them.
The employees all looked at one another, wondering what the heck was going on with their boss. Despite it being the main focus on everyones mind, no-one questioned it and just decided to get up and go off and do their job they'd been assigned.
When everyone'd left, Mordecai turned to Rigby. "Dude, can you just go and get the buckets and sponges? I just need to go do something." He said and he started to get up but the raccoon stopped him.
"Wait, you're not gonna follow them are you?"
Mordecai hesitated for a quick moment then headed up the stairs, ignoring Rigby who frowned after him but didn't say anything else. The blue jay got to the door and waited to hear the raccoons footsteps to fade away before opening the door and sneaking inside.
He managed to creep upstairs and lean against the door to Bensons office to eavesdrop on their conversation to hear if his theory had been right.
"You didn't take my advice did you?" Skips asked.
Benson let out a frustrated groan. "No." He caught sight of Skips' intimidating expression. "I'm trying Skips, honestly, but...I've never felt this way before about a girl. It's-it's killing me inside, this crush, and I can't stop it. If you're wondering how many hours of sleep I got last night, I got 2. I was up all night thinking about her."
"Well you gotta stop-"
"I can't Skips, that's the problem!" Benson sighed in defeat. "Do-do you think I'll have to fire her?"
"This isn't a legitimate reason to fire an employee Benson. All of this is your own fault. You gotta control your emotions."
Benson swallowed. He went silent for a long time. "What do you think I should do?" He looked up at the yeti and Skips thought long and hard despite him already knowing what was going on.
"I think you should tell her, first off."
Mordecai's eyes grew wide and his heart slammed in his chest.
The gumball machine stared at Skips. "WHAT? Why would I do that?"
"Because if your feelings are said out in the open, you can finally get some closure."
"What, to know her answer?"
"No, to finally get these emotions off your chest. You've had them bottled up for almost a week that you've almost lost sense of what it's like to be you again."
"What do you mean be me again?"
"Face it Benson, you've gone from a workaholic to a loveaholic within these 6 days. Just look at yourself."
Benson stopped. He sat still in his chair and looked himself over, feeling his body to find he had aches and pains where he'd never had them before, and his teeth felt hard and gunky from having not brushed them for those days; all because of his crush on the blue jay.
He swallowed hard. "You're right." Skips nodded. "Wow, I hadn't even noticed."
"So are you going to tell her?"
The gumball machine kept his eyes on the carpet for a long time. Then he met Skips eyes and he knew the yeti knew the answer.
"Yes."
Mordecai almost fell back. He felt his stomach churn and he had the sudden urge to tell Benson everything but the handle twisted and the blue jay pressed himself against the wall so when the door opened, he was hidden from view.
Benson sighed. "Thanks Skips."
"No problem Benson. You better keep your promise because to put it blunt, I really don't want to be called in this office for the second time in two days."
The gumball machine let out a nervous laugh. "Yeah..."
Mordecai caught sight of Bensons fatigued form in the crack of the door before it swung shut and the blue jay let out a breath he hadn't even realized he had been holding.
Skips started down the stairs and Mordecai waited for him to get halfway before quietly following him and when they got to the bottom, the yeti stopped and the blue jay waited, his heart pounding against his chest.
"It's rude to eavesdrop Mordecai."
Mordecai stared at the back of Skips' head, both ashamed and curious as to what the yeti'd say next.
"I'm sorry for what I suggested to him but he's not gonna get any better if he doesn't tell you."
"I know." Mordecai said. He groaned. "Why does this have to happen to me?"
"Blame Rigby. He was the one who knocked the potion wasn't he?"
Mordecai's eyes went wide and he followed Skips out the door. Thankfully, he found the raccoon washing the truck and when he was questioned, the blue jay answered, Mordecai's eyes on the bucket when he felt a wave a nausea in his throat.
The next day came and Mordecai's mind was spinning. Benson's state had improved and after taking Skips words onboard, he had calmed himself and had taken a hot bath the other night to give himself a break from all this love stuff. When he met Mordecai's eyes, he was forced back to the conversation he had with Skips and he needed to take a few breaths to make himself stable.
"Morgan..."
Mordecai looked up, bracing for the words that would send him to impending doom.
"You've got the day off."
Great, Mordecai thought, more impending doom
5 agonizing minutes later and the gumball machine was up the stairs and in the house, not bothering to call the yeti for another repeated conversation. Mordecai sat still, wondering why their boss hadn't called him up specifically when Skips turned to him with an expression that said "i know what you're thinking".
"Don't worry. If Benson does talk to you, just give him your honest answer. At least he'll have it out of his system once he confesses."
Mordecai nodded uneasily. "Thanks Skips."
The yeti nodded and Mordecai watched him skip away before getting up and heading inside, leaving Rigby to groan loudly at not having the day off.
The blue jay started off with playing video games for about an hour till he realized that playing games without Rigby was just as boring as playing it with him where you won every round without even trying so he went upstairs and into their room to take a nap.
A few more days followed and Benson hadn't said a thing to the blue jay but Mordecai had another problem on his plate and that morning, he confessed to Skips, who took the news with a nod and a piece of advice that left Mordecai feeling happy and sad at the same time.
