Author's Note: Hi guys! Here's the next chapter! Enjoy! :D
A half-hour after leaving Rigby with TJ, Thomas and CJ arrived to his college on the other side of town. They both stepped out of her car, going up the steps and inside.
"So, who are we going to see again?" she asked, following close behind the goat.
"Oh, it's my art teacher, Mr. Harrison." They came to his classroom, but he stopped in front of it. "Hold on CJ, before we go in, I gotta warn you: Mr. Harrison is pretty...intimidating. Like, he's really, really good, but he might be hard to convince to help you." They stepped into the classroom, with Mr. Harrison looking up from his desk at the noise of a shutting door.
The teacher narrowed his eyes and greeted sarcastically, "Oh, good afternoon...Thomas. What are you doing here? If you have a question on schoolwork, make it quick, as I'm very busy."
Thomas waved nervously, "H-hey, Mr. Harrison. Actually, I, um, wanted to ask you if you'd help my friend CJ here? She's, um, wanting to become a better artist."
He looked past the goat, "Oh? I don't see anyone except you."
"Huh?" He turned around and saw CJ was quivering in her boots.
Mr. Harrison was a gorilla, wearing a red sweater and brown pants. He also appeared to be very intelligent, what with the monocle over his right eye. Quickly, Thomas pushed CJ out in front of him. Mr. Harrison stepped up the stairs, the floor shaking a bit with each stride. When he stopped in front of her, she wanted to make a break for the exit.
He pretty much towered over the cloud girl.
Unexpectedly, the massive gorilla stuck his hand out and smiled, "Why hello, my dear! I am Mr. Harrison."
CJ hesitantly shook his hand, "Uh, h-h-hi. I'm, um, CJ. N-n-nice to meet you, sir."
He looked over to Thomas, "Why Thomas, you never told me you had such a beautiful young woman with you!"
CJ relaxed a bit and grinned, "Thanks!"
Thomas blushed, "Hey!"
"Oh, I'm dreadfully sorry Thomas. My apologies, but are you two an item?"
He rubbed the back of his neck, "Well...I, um, yeah we are, sir. Anyways, can you help her out?"
"I'd be more than happy assist your girlfriend here, but unfortunately, I'm starting a class soon." He walked down to his desk, pulling out a card then came back to the cloud girl, "Here you are, CJ. Please, give me a call when you want to schedule a session with me. Oh, and Thomas..."
"What's up?"
"Be sure to show up to our next class together ready to learn and on time. No sleeping! Honestly, I can't see how this charming girl became attracted to you. Regardless, farewell!"
Thomas grumbled to himself and walked out to the hall, "Yeah, whatever..."
CJ came up behind him, putting her arms around his chest, "Hmm. I don't see what your fuss was all about. He seems pretty nice to me!"
The goat sighed, "I think that's because he likes you, and hates me."
"Oh, come on, he doesn't hate you! I think he was just giving you a hard time, that's all. Besides..." she pecked him on his cheek, "you're the one for me."
Thomas blushed once again, "T-thanks, uh, CJ."
"So, where to now Tommy?"
He groaned, "Please don't call me that."
She frowned, "Aw, why not? It's cute!"
"My mom called me that when I was a kid and I'm trying to be more mature now with going by Thomas." he explained.
"Oh. Hmm, well maybe you need to act like a kid sometimes! Have some fun, ya know?"
"I guess...but only you can call me that, okay? Not around the guys, especially Muscle Man."
She smiled and crossed her heart giggling, "Okay, I promise. Anyways, where are we going now?"
Suddenly, Thomas' walkie-talkie chimed in, "YO, THOMAS! I NEED YOU OVER TO MY TRAILER LIKE, NOW, BRO!"
Thomas slapped his forehead, 'Ugh...speak of the devil...'
They drove back to the park, pulling up into the house's driveway. "CJ, go in and see how Rigby is doing with TJ. I'm gonna go see what Muscle Man wants." he said. CJ headed up the steps, opening the door. When she came inside to the living room, Rigby in the middle of the room on top of the table, panting. TJ was just wagging his tail and running around Rigby in a circle.
"Hey Rigby! So, how did watching TJ go?" she asked.
Rigby slowly got up off of the table and walked past her upstairs, "I'm...never...dogsitting...again...C...J..."
TJ just barked happily. CJ scooped him up, "Aw, did you tucker Rigby out?" She scratched his ears, "Well don't worry, I'm here now. Come on, let's get you a bath, you're covered in dog food for some reason. But, so was Rigby...?"
Meanwhile, Thomas knocked on Muscle Man's trailer door. "Hey Mitch, I'm back!"
Muscle Man opened the door. He wasn't wearing a shirt and had a chicken leg in one hand. "Oh good, you're here bro. You ready to pay me back for helping you that day?"
Thomas sighed, "Yeah, sure, whatever."
"Okay I-"
Suddenly, a shrill voice pierced the goat's ears. "MITCH! I NEED HELP WITH THIS STUFF!"
'Oh God...not her...'
Mitch stepped to his side, "Well, you heard her bro! Go help my woman!"
"Okay, I'm going, I'm going!" the goat replied.
Thomas walked inside. He saw Starla attempting to lift a very heavy-looking box.
"Uh, what're you guys doing?" he asked.
"Duh, Spring cleaning of course, bro!" Muscle Man answered.
Thomas sighed, "You do realize it's summer right?"
"Shut it Thomas! Just help Starla!" he ordered.
"Whatever..." he replied, picking up a box. Well, he at least tried to pick it up. "What the heck is in here?!" he strained, lifting it up.
Muscle Man chomped on his chicken leg and spoke, "Oh, ya know, just some old magazines, some broken weights, and other junk from before I met Starla."
Thomas moaned, "Okay, so where do you want this?"
"Just take it and put it outside bro, I don't care where."
Thomas did as he was told, setting the box down. He came back into the trailer, "Okay, it's done man."
Muscle Man grinned, "Oh, you're just getting started, bro! That was just one box, and you've got five more to move out."
"What? Why only me?!" he argued.
"Hey, don't backtalk me Thomas, you're still only an intern!" He took another bite of the chicken leg, "Besides, it's my day off."
The goat gave in, "Fine, I'll do it." He put his voice to a whisper, "If it'll get you to shut up..."
Forty-five minutes later, Thomas was almost finished with his chore. "Okay, one last box, and I'm done." he said to himself, wiping some sweat off his forehead. When he lifted up the box, Muscle Man came up behind him.
"Wow, I'm surprised, bro! You actually did a good job." He reached to pat Thomas on the back, just as he was going off the edge of the trailer.
"CRAP!" the goat yelled, falling down to the ground. The heavy box landed directly on his already-bent right arm, pushing down with everything inside.
He heard a sickening crack of the bones.
"Thomas?! Are you okay, bro?!" Muscle Man asked, kneeling next to him.
Thomas attempted to stand, but fell back down to the dirt, clutching his arm, "YOU IDIOT! YOU MADE ME BREAK MY ARM! DAMN IT, THIS HURTS!" he screamed.
CJ heard the commotion going on outside. Rigby had come downstairs as well, with both of them looking out the window. "Hey CJ, what's going on?" Rigby asked.
"I don't know, but I think something happened to Thomas." She handed him the puppy, "Here dude, watch TJ for me, I gotta go see what's wrong!"
"But-but I-" he looked at down the dog in his arms, "Whatever, let's go eat something..."
CJ ran outside, only to see Thomas on the ground in horrible pain. Benson and Mordecai had driven over in the golf cart, stepping out.
The gumball machine spoke, "Okay guys, what happened here?"
"Well, Thomas owed me back for driving him to work a few days ago. I had him clean out the boxes in my trailer, and when he was on the last one, I patted him on the back and he somehow tripped and fell." Mitch explained.
"HEY NOW, DON'T FORGET HOW I HAVE A BROKEN ARM!" Thomas shouted sarcastically.
"You broke his arm, dude?! What the hell, Muscle Man?!" Mordecai yelled, putting his wings up.
"It was an accident, bro! I-" the green man argued.
Benson interrupted, "That doesn't matter, Muscle Man! Accident or not, you're going to have to be docked pay for causing a fellow employee to be hurt on the job."
CJ was already turning grey, "OH, I'M GONNA 'DOCK' HIM ALRIGHT!"
Benson stepped in front of her, ironically being the one to calm her down, "Whoa, CJ, cool it! Just call 911 and go with Thomas in the ambulance to the hospital. I'll handle Muscle Man."
CJ stared menacingly at Muscle Man, but gave in as she didn't want a repeat of the coffee shop, "UGH! Fine!" She pulled out her phone, stepping off to the side.
Ten minutes later, the paramedics arrived. They had to put Thomas' arm into a brace, then loaded him up onto a stretcher for safe transport. CJ hopped in the back, squeezing his good hand.
"C-CJ? Where are we?" he asked. He'd gone into shock from the trauma of breaking the bones, so the paramedics had given him some morphine, making him woozy.
She smiled, but was almost on the verge of crying at the sight of him like this, "We're going to go fix you up."
"Really? That's nice." he smiled back weakly. "You're the best, CJ. I-I love you..."
Even though she knew it was the drugs talking, she couldn't help but reply, "I love you too, Thomas."
"I think I'm gonna-gonna take a nap now..." he yawned, closing his eyes.
CJ simply kissed his forehead, "Sweet dreams, Tommy."
