//------------------------------// // Chapter 3- Not a Regular Morning. (Also Bubbles) // Story: Not So Regular Romantic Comedy Show // by Morex25 //------------------------------// Chapter 3 – Not a Regular Morning. On any other normal day, the inside of the house would’ve remained still for at least another hour waiting for Benson to arrive and enter his office to arrange a work plan and schedule for the day. However, today was different to any other day, because today the new resident of the house was already up and working. Twilight was very accustomed to wake up on the early hours of the morning; it granted her more hours for whatever project she was working on. But since she hasn’t begun with her ‘investigation’ yet, it left her with nothing to do. And never being one to waste time, the researcher decided to look around the house. She found out that on the second room, besides being were bedrooms and bathroom were, there also was Benson’s office with a plaque that said so in the door, and a computer room with just one computer and for personnel use only. The first floor was where the kitchen and the living room were. And oh boy! Oh boy! What a mess the latter was! All around the couch, there were cans of soda, bags of chips, plastic wrappers and all sort of things littered around. And Twilight, despite not being a neat-freak, couldn’t stand the sight of such disorder and messiness and began cleaning up. She began by going to the kitchen to search around the cabinets for a plastic bag. When she found one, she return to the living room and collected all the trash on the floor. In the end she collected a total of 12 cans of soda 5 bags of chips, and 21 wrappers of all sorts of candy. After she finished with the trash, Twilight continued by picking up some magazines she found on the floor, and rearranged them by title and by topic and place them on the table in front of the TV, where she noticed something peculiar. “Uh? What’s this?” she asked out-loud to herself as she touched a black and red device that was hooked up to the television. “Master System? Is this a videogame console?” The studious girl wasn’t exactly a fan of videogames or knew much about them, the only things she knew about there the things her friend Pinkie and Dash told her when she was on high school. “Looks quite old!” she commented while she took a closer look at the console. “Cartridge Input…it’s definitely old.” She didn’t remember the last time she heard of a console that still uses cartridges. They all used CD’s or were downloaded into the consoles themselves. “I wonder why they have it.” Probably it was for sentimental value. Finally, after taking her eyes of the old console, Twilight took a step back to observe her handy-work. It definitely looked cleaner than before, but there was still crumbs in the rug what she couldn’t pick up. If only she knew were the vacuum was. Suddenly, her belly complained with a grumble demanding to be fed. “I better get something to eat.” Thankfully, she didn’t have to get her own food since the previous night before going to bed, Pops told her she could take what she needed from the kitchen. Hesitantly, Twilight opened the fridge’s door. Even with permission from Pops, she still felt like uncomfortable taking food that didn’t exactly belonged to her. “Maybe…instead of preparing breakfast to myself, I should make some for everyone else” Yes, that would be a nice gesture and a way to show she wasn’t going to freeload during her stay. “But what to make?” Twilight wasn’t sure what to prepare. She barely knew everyone so she had no idea what they all liked. What if she prepared food everyone hated? Or if she used an ingredient that someone is allergic to? It was a really difficult decision. “Maybe something simple and easy to make.” But what was the most simple breakfast aside from cereal and milk? “Fried eggs! And toast! With coffee or orange juice!” Yes, that was simple enough, and most of the people she knew liked at least one of those things. It was perfect. “Okay! Let’s make breakfast!” ----------------------------- “Ugh!” Mordecai, didn’t know how long he has been awake. Could’ve been just a few minutes or even a whole hour. Either way, he didn’t want to get off the bed just yet. He just wanted to fall back asleep, but no matter what he keep trashing around, fixing his position, trying to find the most comfortable position. It was a difficult task to achieve, since he didn’t have a pillow and he couldn’t sleep facing down because his nose hurt a lot! This whole thing lasted until Mordecai couldn’t take it anymore and accepted the fact that he had to get up. “Ugh!” But even when he got up, his mind began screaming at him to get back to bed for some more rest. It was a battle of two fronts: One demanded sleep and well-deserved rest and the other knew that that was already impossible and there was no returning to the land of the sleeping. While Mordecai’s mind was on this state of conflict and disarray, his body kept moving in auto-pilot, doing his daily routine that just recently had been ingrained into his subconscious mind. He got up, opened his drawer, took some clothes, walked out his room and down the hall, turn on the corner, keep on walking until he reach the bathroom door, open it, get inside, close the door behind him, took off his clothes, get inside the tub and open the shower. Thankfully, the splash of water was enough to get him off of the trance-like state he was and regain enough mental functions to start cleaning his body under the lukewarm water. “Man, I hate waking up so early!” ------------------------- Down below another person who just entered the house, shared Mordecai’s same thoughts. “Ugh, I didn’t get enough sleep…” Benson mumbled to himself. And how could he? He spent the whole night worried about the future of the park and his job. Being the park manager was his whole life, and if he loses his job, it was all over for him. Of course, he still retained his skill as an expert drummer, pinball machine and a stick hockey player. But none of those lifestyles really suited him. The constant travelling of a band member, the late night competitions and pressure of a professional stick hockey player, were too much for him. He’s afraid that he was already too old for that. His only hope, despite sounding horrible, was for something to happen to that university researcher that prevents her from even being her or begin her field research. Speaking of which, as he entered the kitchen, Benson found none other than the girl that prevented him from getting some shut-eye the previous night. “What are you doing?” he asked her out of the sudden making the girl jumped in surprise. “Wha!...Mr. Benson! You startle me!” the girl responded not with an accusatory manner, but more like just stating a fact. “I didn’t expected you to come here so early!” or come in so silently for that matter. “I always come in early to work on today’s schedule.” The red head responded not bothered in the slightest from startling her. “Still you haven’t answered my question. What are you doing?” Really, with the night he had, he wasn’t in the mood to babysit this girl or put on with any sort of unruly behavior. “Um…I’m just making some breakfast!” Twilight answered hesitantly. For the short amount of time she had seen of him, she had come to know not to say something to make him angry. Yesterday, she saw who angry he was with Mordecai for the state of the golf cart and he didn’t even waited to hear any sort of explanation of the bluenette’s part. As a student and most of her life, Twilight has come to become accustomed to having all sort of different kinds of authority figures; all with different kinds of temperament and attitudes. So she was familiar with the strict kind of boss figure. But Benson somehow was in another level. He didn’t have any sort of real power over her, per se. and still she was intimidated by him. On his part Benson, either didn’t noticed or simple ignored Twilight’s uneasiness towards him. He was too preoccupied with his own thoughts which were mostly peeves. “Oh, great! Not only she’s freeloading and the catalyst for ruining my life and others’, she is now eating our food too!” How much he wished he could say something, but unfortunately, she wasn’t his employee and in fact she was a ‘guest’ of both Mr. Maellard and son. “Here I hope you like it” Twilight said, bringing Benson out of his thought. He look down at what she presented him and found a plate with two fried eggs and toast. “what’s…?” The red head was out of a loop. Did she just serve him breakfast? Why did she serve him breakfast? “What do you prefer, Mr Benson? Coffee or juice?” She asked him with a smile, furthering confusion the restless manager. “Uh…Coffee, I guess.” He had no clue what was going on but at least he understood her offer for the greatly needed beverage. “I’ll get it in minute!” she said as she turned around to look for a cup to serve the coffee in. By now, Benson was far past the confusion and was now in the weird-out state. Nobody, and he meant, nobody had ever served him breakfast in a LONG time. And the weirdest part was that the person doing it was the one who could potentially get him jobless. With nothing to lose, the manager decided to try out the food that was served in front of him. He didn’t have anything to lose and he had skipped eating breakfast back at home. He took a fork and knife and quickly cut the fried egg into piece from which he took a small one and taste it hesitantly. It wasn’t bad. But it wasn’t that good either. But heck, it was better than not eating anything at all. “Here’s your coffee.” she said while serving him with a smile. Benson was pleasantly surprised by it all. It made him wonder if she had experience working as a waitress before. After putting some sugar into his coffee, he took a sip of the much needed drink and sigh in pleasant relief. “It’s good.” And after a small pause, he added. “Thank you, Miss Sparkle.” “It was nothing, I’m happy to help.” Twilight replied, relieved that Benson liked his food. Despite him not being her boss, she still saw him as an authority figure, and she couldn’t help but to try and make the best impression she could. Similar to a teacher’s pet if you will. “Mr.Benson, you said you come in early to work on the schedule for today right?” She asked for confirmation which she received in the form of a nod from the red headed manager. “Does that mean that the rest aren’t going to come down anytime soon?” “Yes, usually when I arrive everyone is still sleeping or just waking up.” The manager informed her between sips of his coffee. “So, the rest should come down in half to one hour.” Twilight nodded and said a small ‘thanks’. It seemed that she began making breakfast a little too early. Well, it didn’t matter now; she could seat down and eat breakfast. As she sat down to enjoy her own breakfast, which was the same as Benson’s but with juice instead of coffee. Benson finished with his own, and quickly got off his seat. He had work to do after all. But standing up so quickly resulted in accident when he accidently bumped into the table making Twilight’s glass full of juice to fall and spill its content into her clothes. “My god, I’m sorry! It was an accident!” Benson apologized which sounded very uncharacteristically coming from him. “D-don’t worry! It’s nothing!” Twilight said no longer on her seat, she was standing up looking at the mess her shirt and skirt was. “I just need to change clothes. That’s all. Now if you could excuse me for a moment.” “Yes, off course. Go! I’ll clean this mess.” Benson would’ve usually sent someone else to do the job of cleaning up, except this time it was directly his fault, so he was responsible for cleaning up the mess he made. “Thank you, Mr.Benson!” She said before exiting the kitchen, going into the leaving room, climbed up the stairs to the second floor and walked into her room. “Now I have to change once again!” Twilight quickly went directly to the closet and took out another shirt and skirt. “Now to take this clothes off!” as she buttoned off her stained shirt she noticed her bra was also wet. “Great, now I need to change bra too.” With a sigh of silent frustration, Twilight walked towards her duffle-bag and took out another bra from it. Then she stopped for a second. “Should I take another shower?” she pondered out-loud. If she was going to change clothes might as well. So she took off the rest of her clothes until she was only in her underwear, and walked towards the door with a fresh set of clean clothes and a towel. Thankfully, the bathroom door was just a few steps across her door. Peeking through the door, she made sure there was no one on the hall before walking out and opened the bathroom door. All she had to do was to take a quick shower and then she could return to breaaa…. Twilight mind could process that last thought, because the moment she entered through the door in went into complete shock when she saw who was inside. It was Mordecai. Who in that exact moment was stepping out of the tub reaching for the towel, and who was also frozen in place. The underwear clad Twilight, stood there with her eyes so widen they almost fell off her eye sockets. But instead of doing that, her eyes began inspecting every inch of the tall boy’s body. From his long neck to his well shaped torso that completely shredded his lanky image. Though he wasn’t buff or well toned, there was definitely some muscle in him. From there her eyes went lower and lower…and then… “Twilight! What are you doing here!” after two seconds of being frozen, Mordecai grabbed the towel and put it around him waist as he turned around to try and cover himself the best he could. “Ah! I’M SORRY! I DIDN’T MEAN TO…!” Twilight responded with her face completely red finally snapping back from her trance and realized she just ogled him. Trying to hide her embarrassment, she burrowed her face into her clothes and with a fast turned she exited the bathroom and into her room closing the door behind. The poor towel-clad Mordecai stood with an equally red face and his back facing the door until he heard the door close behind. He couldn’t believe what just happen. Twilight just walked in on him and saw him full blown naked! How did this happen? Then Mordecai looked towards the door and noticed that it didn’t have the lock on. Crap! He forgot to lock the door when he walked in the bathroom. In fact, he never locked it when he takes a bath. Since until this day the only ones who lived here were only dudes, he didn’t think it was that big of a deal seeing another dude naked. Unless it was Pops, thankfully Pops had his own bathroom on his room, so there was no chance of ever seeing his old, wrinkly … “Gah! Don’t think about THAT! Think of something else, think of something else!” the blue head said trying not imagining THAT! He needed to think something else. Then his mind went back to the issue at hand. What would Twilight think of him now? Would they be able to look at each other after this? Should he say something? Should he even bring it up? Or wait for her to bring it up? Should they pretend it never happened? Yes, that was for the best. Sighing in frustration, Mordecai finished drying himself and put on some underwear before exiting the bathroom with the towel around his waist and walked back to his room. - Back inside her room, Twilight was trying to make sense of what just happened too. “I can’t believe I did that!” the poor red faced girl said with her face burrowed in her clothes. She was so embarrassed she wished the earth to open and swallow her whole. Not only she walked in on Mordecai, she also ogled him like a hormone driven teenager! From his neck down to his… “Gah! DON’T THINK ABOUT IT!” but she couldn’t help it. It was her first time seeing something like THAT. Well, not exactly, she did saw pictures and models in her Sex-Ed class but she had never seeing the real thing before. It was so… “I SAY DON’T THINK ABOUT IT!” she repeated trying to get rid of the mental image. “Think about something else! Think about something else!” And that something else was once again Mordecai, but not his body but the person. What would she think about her? Would she think of her a pervert voyeur? Would he ever talk to her again? Would they be able to look at each other again? What should she say? Should she say anything? Should she even bring it up? Would he bring it up? Or should they pretend that nothing really happen? Yes, that was the most sensible thing to do. ------------------------- Half an hour later, Twilight came down with her new change of clothes to eat breakfast, trying her best to pretend nothing happened. She was doing a perfectly good job, until she Mordecai, with clothes this time, already eating breakfast. The moment their eyes fell on each other, their faces light up in a very bright red and turned their heads to the side to avoid looking at each other. The two embarrassed ‘youngsters’ stood there in silent for a whole minute before Mordecai, stepped up and broke the awkward silence. “Uh…hey Twi!...um…”Unfortunately the tall boy didn’t have anything to say. That is until his gaze fell upon his breakfast. “Um…Benson told me you prepared this breakfast! Um…it’s really good.” Better try talking about stuff before things got too awkward. “Um…thanks…glad you liked it” the red faced girl answer uneasily. She was glad that he still talked to her, but she could tell that it was difficult for him as it was for her. But after those short sentences that counted as ‘conversation’ the silence fell upon them again. Both of them were waiting for the other to say or do anything. “Hey Mordecai! Why didn’t you wake me up for breakfast!” came the voice of Rigby as he enters the kitchen, providing their desperately needed distraction. “Yeah, sorry dude! I woke up earlier than usual.” Mordecai apologized appreciating for the first time for Rigby’s loud and obnoxious persona. “Yeah! You better not have eaten all the breakfast for yourself!” the small brunette continued talking unaware of the silent relief that the other two occupants felt by his presence. “Don’t worry, I could make some more for you, Rigby!” Twilight said trying to sound as natural as ever. It wouldn’t do if someone else were to find out what happen by looking at the way she and Mordecai were acting, so focusing on doing breakfast should provide a much necessary distraction of her own embarrassment. “Really? Hey thanks Sparkly Vamp!” Rigby replied pleasantly surprised by her offer. But that didn’t stop him from using another of his nicknames for her. “No problem, I get in a minute!” Twilight ignored his ‘nickname’ and do as she said, turning towards the fridge to get some eggs. “Maybe having the Vamp chick around wouldn’t be so bad after all, right Mordecai” the shorter of the two boys laughed as he nudged his taller friend. On his side, Mordecai wanted nothing more than to punch Rigby for that comment and educated him in proper manners, but he couldn’t bring himself to do it this time. “Dude, she’s not a Vamp.” was the only thing he said. The art school graduate still remembered some seeing people who follow that fashion and being confused at what were the differences between Vamps, Goths and Emos. “Whatever dude!” Rigby replied not really caring his nickname didn’t make sense. The rest of breakfast was spent mostly on Rigby who kept talking about all sort of things, never noticing that Twilight and Mordecai weren’t talking with each other. ------------------------- Bonus: From the computer screen, XeroM smiled at her handy work while MoreX was still unconscious on the floor from her Karate Chop. “You’re for a surprise when you wake up, MoreX” she laughed and gloated in her own sense of superior writing prowess. “He..he…he..Let’s see what else is happening in other parts of the world!” - An island on the Pacific “Hey, Edward! Wanna blow some bubbles? Only 5 cents!” said smiling a young blond haired boy behind a stand that advertised Bubble Blowing. Edward, a green haired man with a large nose, just looked at the blond boy that was his neighbor like he was crazy. Just why did he had to live next to a 10 year old kid in a body of a 18 year old? “Oh, right. Like I would spend a moment of my time blowing bubbles.” Edward responded sarcastically trying to sour the young boy cheerful attitude. But the only response his sarcastic comment received was a smile and an ‘Uh huh!’. “Oh please! I mean, who in the world would pay to blow bubbles?” really, how in their right mind would pay for something that could be done for free at their own houses? “Wow! Bubbles for 5 cents? Can I try?” came a voice from behind, surprising the heck out of Edward. “Sure! In fact for being my first costumer the first blow is free!” the blond boy said with a big smile happy to receive his first costumer! Edward confounded by the fact that indeed was a person willing to pay money to blow bubbles from a stand on the side of the street, turned around and look at the ‘costumer’ expecting to find an idiot but what he found was something much different. It was a girl. A young blond haired girl who look to be around his neighbor’s age. She was wearing a grey blouse and blue shorts. But the most peculiar and noticeable trait of the girl was her eyes. Being an underappreciated artist, Edward noticed that her eyes were a bright set of moderate gamboge. Still, what caught his attention wasn’t the color, but the position of the eyes. They were cross-eyed. ‘Thank you very much, Mister!” the cross-eyed girl said with a voice that didn’t inspired an expectation of being a genius girl. “No need to call me mister! I’m Robert! Robert Squarepants! But my friends call me Bob!” “Nice to meet you Bob! I’m Ditzy! Ditzy Doo!” "Oh god! Not another one!"