A/N: Not really too much to say other than the fact I think I've put off the Margaret meeting long enough. Hope you're ready. :)
"Uh Benson, could I talk to you?" Mordecai said.
"What are you trying to buy now?" Benson asked, not even looking up from his papers.
"Er, textbooks," Mordecai said, scratching his head.
Benson swiftly looked up from his papers. Whatever he expected Mordecai to say, it certainly wasn't that.
"You must be pulling my leg," he said.
"Uh, no. I actually want to get back to college, but it's not cheap. The textbooks are over three thousand dollars for the entire 4 years, and I don't have anywhere near that amount," Mordecai explained.
"Neither do I. This park isn't exactly swimming in money. Why'd you come to me with this?" Benson asked, looking back down at his papers.
"I didn't expect you to give me the money. I just wanted to know if I could switch my hours over 8:00 PM? Because those are the hours I'm not going to be working if I can get that job at the coffee shop," Mordecai explained.
Benson again looked up quickly, eyes widened. He and Rigby didn't normally want to do their work here, but Mordecai's talking about working from day until night? He must be serious about this.
"Alright. If you can get your work for the day done before the day starts or the night beforehand, you are allowed to keep these hours. They are pretty irregular from the park's original hours, but I'm willing to work with you," Benson said. Mordecai sighed in relief.
"Thanks Benson. I'm really trying to make this happen. It would take me forever on the income of a hundred and twenty bucks a week," Mordecai said. (Yes I took the 5 Nights at Freddy's income. Don't judge me)
"No problem. But how does Rigby feel about this whole thing?" Benson asked. Mordecai's expression quickly turned into a bitter one.
"I don't want to talk about it," he mumbled.
"That bad?" Benson asked, raising a knowing eyebrow.
"Very. Wish me luck on the job application," Mordecai said, walking out of the door.
He grabbed the cart and began to drive toward the coffee shop.
Then there was the sign he saw in the window for the longest: "Waiter/Waitress needed. Salary: Ten dollars an hour for a full day's work of fifteen hours. Vacation days depend on how well you work."
Mordecai quickly went over the details in his mind. That's one thousand and fifty dollars a week a week and forty-hundred dollars a month. He'd have enough money for one year in a week. This would work perfectly. Mordecai walked inside and knocked on the door.
"Come in," a voice said.
Mordecai was about to walked inside, when he remembered he had never seen the person who owns this place.
"Um... hello?" Mordecai said, walking into a faintly lit room. There was a desk right across from the doorway and a man was inside, arms crossed and head down.
"You actually here about the job?" the man asked.
"Um... yes sir," Mordecai said, his apprehension growing.
"You're hired," the man said simply.
"Wait, it's that easy?" Mordecai asked in disbelief.
"Well, considering no one applies for the job anyway, more help, no matter how good or bad it may be, is always a big help. What's your name?" the man asked.
"Mordecai."
"Well Mordecai, grab a uniform, and get to work," the man said, gesturing to a long hallway of uniforms. It seems like he had one for every size and shape.
Mordecai grabbed one that looked like it would fit him and walked outside. The uniform turned out to be strangely comfortable. Like he was lying in his two mattress bed the whole time. He felt like he could fall asleep standing up in this.
Mordecai walked out of the back room stretching his arms and facing Eileen.
"Mordecai? You work here now?" Eileen asked, her expression shocked.
"Uh, yeah. I needed some extra money and I decided to work here," Mordecai said.
"But it's from 6 AM to 8 PM. Doesn't that interfere with your job at the park? Oh, don't tell me you quit," Eileen said, her expression slightly fearful.
"No, of course I didn't quit. While this job may be good, it won't instantly give the income for an apartment. No, I just asked Benson could I work during the night rather during the day and he granted me that," Mordecai explained.
"Well, that's good, but why are you working here? You never decided to work here before," Eileen said.
"Well, I've decided to go to Twin Pines college, but it's not cheap," Mordecai said, recalling the prices.
"You're going to college? What changed that made you decide to go back to school.? From what Rigby told me, you dropped out of art school," Eileen said.
"Rigby seems to tell everyone that," Mordecai said through gritted teeth. "But I dropped out because I slacked off and my performance suffered for it. I figured that I couldn't handle it, so I took the easy way out and dropped out. But now I realize that this is not how I want to spend the rest of my life. Living in someone else's home for the rest of my life, working at minimum wage. When you start to think about things, you decide to make a change."
"Well, I'm proud for you making that decision, but how does everyone else feel about it?" Eileen asked.
"Only Rigby and Benson know. Benson was understanding, but... Rigby hated the idea," Mordecai said, his tone bitter again.
"Of course he would hate it. His best friend's going away," Eileen reasoned.
"I'm not going away. I would understand it more if I was going to another state to go to college, but I'm not. I'm staying here in the city so he doesn't have to go through that. He just won't see me as often because of my college work. I told him things would not change between us, but he seems to be acting like the selfish turd from high school," Mordecai said, his tone getting louder. But he took a deep breath to calm himself. "Look, even he is unable to talk me out of this, so don't you even bother to try."
"I wasn't. I do understand why you want this," Eileen said. Mordecai nodded in satisfaction.
"Thanks for understanding. Now, is this place always empty?" Mordecai asked.
"Every once in a while, but most days it gets insanely busy. You joined on a good day. It's hard trying to service everyone when you're the only one in here," Eileen said.
"Yeah, I bet. Well, at least I'll get some exercise," Mordecai said, jokingly jogging in place. Eileen laughed at his antics.
"You're in a good mood, strangely enough," Eileen said.
"Well, the fact that I know CJ doesn't completely hate me now is very uplifting," Mordecai said.
"You talked to her?" Eileen asked, raising both her eyebrows.
"Yup, and things are good. They aren't what they were before, but good," Mordecai said cheerfully.
"When you say you two aren't what you were before..."
"We aren't in a relationship anymore. Yes Eileen, I need to figure this out first. I got that," Mordecai said knowingly.
She smiled sheepishly.
"Sorry. You know I have to check with you, Mr. Stubborn," Eileen said.
"Stubborn? Me?" Mordecai said, feigning shock. "Surely you jest."
"I'd say... Oh, wow," Eileen suddenly said, turning the other direction.
"Wow, wha-" Mordecai said, turning around. "Oh, hey Margaret."
There was that particular cardinal that Mordecai needed to talk to.
"Hey, Mordecai. G-Good to see you," Margaret said, her voice sounding nervous.
Mordecai furrowed his eyebrows in concern.
"You alright? You look nervous about something. I promise I won't bite. Probably," Mordecai joked, smiling widely.
The last thing Mordecai expected after that was for Margaret to run out of the shop.
"Margaret?" Mordecai called, but she was already gone. "What was that?" (Hey, I didn't say how long they would talk. *Insert troll face here*)
"I still don't think she's ready to talk," Eileen said.
"I guess, but it wasn't necessary to run out of the room. Made it look like she saw a ghost," Mordecai said.
"Ghost of Christmas Past, Present, and a possible Future," Eileen mumbled at a volume that Mordecai was unable to hear.
"Anyway, so we're getting paid to just stand here right now. Anything to do around here?" Mordecai asked.
"Uh, just the TV. It's just like yours at the park," Eileen said.
"Cool," Mordecai said, turning the TV on.
He flipped through the channels, but nothing was on that interested him. Eileen was wiping the counters when Mordecai decide to bring up a topic that interested him.
"So what's up with the boss?" Mordecai asked.
"No one really knows. I get my paycheck through the mail and I never saw his face. It weirds me out, but I learned to ignore it," Eileen explained. "He still pays even for the days no one comes in the shop. As long as we're in here, we get paid."
"Well, that's awesome. So I'll have an easy first day. That's more than I can say when I applied for the park. I was nearly killed by a black hole that spawned from me and Rigby tying 100 times in a row on Rock, Paper, Scissors," Mordecai explained.
"How is it even possible to tie 100 times in a row?" Eileen asked.
"Don't know, but we hardly ever tie anymore. If this day is gonna be chill, I'm going to enjoy every minute of it," Mordecai said.
"You and me both. Should we get CJ and Rigby over here?" Eileen asked.
Mordecai fixed here with a stare that said, 'Are you kidding me?'
"Ok, just CJ then. You're going to have to talk to him sooner or later," Eileen said.
"I'll pick later when I get back to the house. I'd rather not end up punching Rigby today, even though I do it most days of the week," Mordecai said.
"All right, I'll call her," Eileen said, walking toward a far corner before making the call. Mordecai then remember what happened with Margaret and shook his head.
"What's with you Margaret?" he muttered in thought.
A/N: This was meant to be uploaded a lot sooner, but I got lazy. But anyway, I'm sure all of you are used to it, right? Anyway, next chapter is uploaded whenever. Peace. PS: Sorry for being a troll about the Margaret thing, but I had to do it. :)