A Regular Romance - Ch.7: Roasting on an Open Fire

The guys finally got off work, after doing countless jobs for Benson, half of which probably didn’t even need to be done. Naturally, the entire time they had talked about the girls, but they didn’t get very far in their conversations. Most of them just went something like this:

“So… My man, Mordo… You gonna make you mo-ove tonight?”

“Whatever, Rigby. Like you ever make a move…”

“Oh please! I don’t even like Eileen!”

“Whatever you say, dude…”

As soon as they were done, they sprinted to the cart and drove straight to the coffee shop. They drove up to the door and the girls walked up to the cart. The two waitresses looked utterly exhausted, as if they had to run a marathon while getting chased by a semi-truck.

“Are you guys okay?” Mordecai asked in surprise.

Margaret managed a weak smile. “Oh yeah, were fine. Just a hard day’s work at the good ol’ coffee shop…” She and Eileen laughed half-heartedly, but they looked pretty miserable.

“Man,” Rigby fidgeted, “I guess it was pretty hard at work with no glasses, huh?” The look on his face was more ashamed then Mordecai thought was possible.

“Ya think?” Eileen snapped. At first Rigby thought she was actually angry with him, but then she hopped into the cart next to him and grinned, almost like she thought the whole glasses thing was comical.

The four didn’t talk about much as they drove towards the park. Margaret told them about how Eileen kept spilling coffee all over the place, and they all laughed, except for Eileen. She didn’t look very pleased Margaret had brought it up.

When they got back to the house, they all sat and chilled for a bit until the sun began to set. They were all in the family room, having a debate about which celebrity would be the worst player if they were put inside a video game. They were in a heated debate when Skips came in and addressed the entire house.

“The fire is ready.”

Muscle Man and High Five Ghost paraded down the stairs cheering and hollering. “WHOOO! campfire PARTAY!” Muscle Man called.

“Oooo! A fire of camps?!” Pops said, coming out of the kitchen.

Everyone walked together out to the thicker forest, where Skips had set up an elaborate campfire setting for them.

“Oooh! Jolly good show!” Pops clapped as they all gazed at his handiwork. They had a beautiful, bright campfire surrounded with stones. There were four long benches, made from logs, which sat around the campfire.

“Wow Skips! This is amazing! How nice of you to do this for us!” Benson said.

“Oh, it’s no problem. I had my fair share of campfires back in my day.” He said, almost wistfully.

They all sat down on the surrounding log benches. The boys happened to score benches with their ladies, and they thanked their lucky stars that they did. Mordecai was on edge sitting next to Margaret, but as always, as the night wore on, he became more comfortable.

“So, who wants to start crankin’ this party, huh?” Muscle Man said, pulling out a bag of s’mores supplies.

Eileen’s eyes almost popped out of her head. “You brought stuff to make s’mores?!”

“You bet your blind little eyeballs, chickie-poo!” Muscle Man replied, shaking his bag of sweets.

Rigby turned to Eileen curiously. “You like s’mores?”

She nodded vigorously. Then the wheels started to turn in Rigby’s brain. “Wait… How do you know he had s’more stuff? How could you see that?”

She looked at him blankly. “What? You think I can’t smell it when chocolate is in my presence?” Eileen was trying really hard not to smile.

A small smile passed his face as Muscle Man began to pass out marshmallows on roasting sticks. Eileen tried to roast her marshmallow, but she couldn’t see where it was and it just burned up and fell into the fire. Muscle Man graciously handed her a new one, but the same fate came to that marshmallow as well.

“Oh, dang it!” Eileen shouted frustrated.

“It’s okay,” Rigby said, “I can help.”

Eileen stared, flabbergasted. Rigby got another marshmallow and put in on the stick that Eileen held. He put his hand over hers and guided it to the fire, all the while Eileen was a blushing mess.

Nearby, Mordecai and Margaret could barely contain their laughter. Mordecai very much wanted to say some sort of smart aleck remark to Rigby, but he decided against it. Rigby would probably never forgive him… or just punch him out. But he was really curious as to what was going on with Rigby. Maybe it’s just campfires… Because this was really strange.

Luckily, instead of embarrassing his friend, Mordecai just decided to whisper to Margaret instead.

He leaned close and whispered, “Since when did he become so caring?”

Margaret could barely stifle her laughter, “Pffft! I have no idea! He’s been brainwashed!”

They both giggled quietly. They finally composed themselves and the group went on with the campfire.

They all sat around chatting and munching on s’mores. Rigby and Eileen probably ate five or six each. Muscle Man was covered in marshmallow and graham cracker crumbs. Mordecai noticed that Pops had eaten the remaining chocolate bars.

“Alright,” Skips said, dusting graham cracker crumbs off his pants. “Time for scary stories.”