An Unexpected Feeling, Ch. 6

Mordecai and Rigby walked to the café and sat down at their favorite table. "Okay, I'm just gonna try and undo everything that Merle did," Mordecai said to Rigby. "Then, I'm gonna see if Margaret wants to go out with me."

"Yeah, man, you got this!" Rigby encouraged his friend. The raccoon was eager to see Mordecai ruin the plans. The sooner it happened, the sooner the blue jay would end up with Merle.

Margaret saw the two at their usual table, and noticed that Merle wasn't with them. "Oh, hi, Mordecai," she said sweetly as she walked up to them. "Where's your girlfriend? I thought she'd be here with you."

The blue jay waved a hand at her comment. "Oh, her? Nah, she's old news," he said confidently.

"Oh! Well, that's too bad," the robin lied, leaning on the table in front of Mordecai. "I hope the break up wasn't too hard on you."

"I'm already over it," he replied. "So…um…I was wondering, if you're not too busy…maybe you would like to…I mean to say…" he stumbled for the words, but got too nervous. Finally, he just sighed and said, "Could you just grab me and Rigby a coffee, please?"

Margaret looked at him, slightly confused. "Uh, yeah…sure," she said awkwardly. For some reason, she wasn't nearly as attracted to him as she was before. "I'll be right back." As she walked away, Rigby couldn't help but laugh.

"Oh, man! What the heck was that, dude?" he chortled. "It's like you're right back to where you started!"

Realization hit Mordecai  like a ton of bricks. Rigby was right, he was back to the old routine! Margaret had immediately given up on him again when he ditched the plan. "Crap…I think I messed this up, dude," he said to Rigby. "I need to go and find Merle." He got up from the table and ran to the door.

"Wait, Mordecai! What about our coffee?" the raccoon yelled, but Mordecai was already out the door. Rigby sighed and yelled out, "Margaret! Could you make those coffees to go?"

~

Mordecai was desperate to find Merle. Luckily, he didn't have far to look. She was waiting for him outside, leaning on a golf cart with her arms crossed and a sour expression painted on her face.

"So? Did the 'I'm taking matters into my own hands' plan go well?" she asked him bitterly.

The blue jay rubbed his arm awkwardly. "How long were you waiting there?" he asked her.

"Oh, long enough to see you blow our entire plan," she replied, rolling her eyes. "Dude, what were you thinking?!"

Mordecai hung his head. "Merle, I'm sorry," he said sheepishly. "I thought that you were just trying to make Margaret angry with me so she wouldn't be into me anymore."

Merle looked at him with a shocked expression. "What on earth gave you that idea?" she exclaimed.

"Well, Rigby told me that-" Mordecai began, but the raven simply held up her hand.

"Stop. You've said enough," she replied angrily. "I can't believe he would mess with the plan like that! After I deliberately told him-" she stopped, realizing that she had said too much. "Never mind. What matters now is that our plan is tanking fast, and we need to save it."

"Wait, you can actually save this?" the blue jay asked hopefully.

The raven sighed and said, "It won't be easy, but yes, I think I can." She paced in front of the cart and mumbled, "Just have to think of something…" She quickly stopped and said, "Okay, I have an idea. For this, I need you to walk in just as I'm saying, 'Stay away from him, you man-stealer!' to Margaret. You're gonna have to come up with your own lines from there. Got it?"

"Got it," Mordecai replied, a renewed faith in Merle's plans returning to him.

Neither of them saw Rigby run out of the café and down the street. The raccoon didn't want to be seen by either of them, as he figured that Mordecai had already told Merle what had happened.

"Okay, let's do this," Merle said to Mordecai as she entered the coffee shop. She scoped out Margaret, then stormed over to her in a huff. "You mind telling me what you were doing flirting with my man?" she yelled at the robin.

Margaret was put off by the raven's accusation. "Excuse me?" she replied hotly. "He was the one hitting on me."

Merle rolled her eyes. "Oh, don't flatter yourself! He's just trying to get back at me because we're arguing!" she said. "He knows that you're just the kind of easy girl to take any kind of attention you get!"

The robin saw fire as she grabbed for Merle's shirt. "You take that back," she whispered threateningly to the raven. "I am not easy, and I do not demand attention!"

Merle grabbed onto Margaret's work shirt in retaliation. "Yeah, right! I'll bet you loved it when Mordecai started talking to you!" The raven glared at Margaret as she jeered, "Just stay away from him, you man-stealer!"

At his cue, Mordecai ran into the café and quickly pulled the two ladies apart. "What's going on here?" he asked the two of them.

"Oh, Mordecai! Thank goodness you're here!" Margaret swooned. "Your crazy girlfriend thought I was flirting with you! She was about to kill me!"

"What?! You're the one who laid your hands on me first, you liar!" the raven shouted back, but Mordecai still turned on her.

"Merle, you have got to stop doing this! You get jealous of every girl I talk to, then you jump to conclusions and think that I'm hitting on them!" he shouted.

The raven crossed her arms and looked away from Mordecai. "Just admit it, you'd rather be with her, wouldn't you?" she said quietly.

Mordecai's expression softened, and he wrapped his arms around her. "Don't be ridiculous," he whispered. "You know I love you." He leaned in and kissed her, much to Margaret's shock and disgust. The blue jay then smiled and said, "I'm sorry for getting so mad at you earlier."

"And I'm sorry for getting so jealous…again," Merle giggled. The raven then said sweetly, "What do you say we go and catch a movie tomorrow night?"

"Sounds good," the blue jay agreed, and the two walked out, hand in hand, leaving a confused and angered Margaret behind.

Ugh, I am so much better for him, she caught herself thinking once more.

~

After Mordecai and Merle left the café, got into the golf cart, and turned the corner, they dropped their composure and began to laugh. "Oh, man! Dude, that was awesome! You're great at improv!" Merle complimented the blue jay.

"What about your performance?" he replied to the raven. "I was scared for a moment that you and Margaret were actually gonna fight!"

Merle rolled her eyes. "Oh, please! That's not even me at my worst. You should see me when I'm really pissed," she commented.

Mordecai shivered and said, "Nah, I think I'm good." They laughed again, and talked about their 'fight' all the way back to the house.