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The air in the quaint Californian home's living room was still, thick with a mutual awkwardness. The sound of a nearby clock tick-tocking away and the shuffling of a brown-haired boy's feet were the only things that could be heard. The same boy, wearing a trapper cap that was a few sizes too big for him, twiddled his thumbs nervously, looking at the two opposing couches.
On his left sat a burly red-headed and red-hair-chested man wearing a plaid shirt and jeans, an axe tucked into a belt loop like it was a common thing for him to carry around. To his side was a similarly red-headed and plaid-clad teenager with a blue trucker cap atop her head. She glanced over at the nervous boy, trying to calm him down with a comforting smile. He returned the ginger's smile, but his anxiety was still there as he looked over to the couch to his right.
On it sat a woman in a purple and somewhat frilly dress, her legs crossed as she looked the big lumberjack across from her up and down with an unsure scowl on her face. The man next to her was a bit more sharing in the boy's nervousness, a few beads of sweat on his temple as he pushed up his glasses, trying to not make contact with the red-headed brute across the room.
"Oh man, this is not going well...", the young brunette thought to himself, looking down at his still twiddling thumbs. He nearly jumped off the couch when he felt a hand on his shoulder, completely forgetting his twin sister was sitting right next to him. She shot him a look, nonverbally asking if he was ok. The boy shook his head, although he didn't have to, the look in his face explaining how he was feeling. His twin gave him a comforting smile as well, before speaking up.
"Hey uh, Dip, why don't you go grab us some drinks, I'm sure the Corduroys are thirsty after the long drive down to Piedmont!", the perky sweater-wearing girl said.
"Um, uh, I, uh-" Dipper began to stammer, only to be stopped by a the slightly painful nudge of his sister's elbow into his ribs, followed by a surreptitious wink.
"Um, ok, sure thing, Mabel!", the brunette quickly said, taking the chance to stand up and very quickly walk out of the room.
Once in the kitchen, Dipper quickly grabbed a glass and filled it with cold water, gulping down the entire glassful. He took a deep breath, trying to get over his nervous nature just this once. He filled the glass again and sipped it down, the cooling liquid pleasing to his uncomfortably warm body.
"Hey, you ok, dude?", A voice spoke up behind him, a voice that both calmed him down and tensed him up at the same time. Dipper spun on his heels to see his closest and best friend, the red head that was sitting next to the lumberjack, Wendy Corduroy.
"It's just uh, really hot in here all of the sudden," the boy replied, not wanting to worry the ginger, although it was quite obvious that his facade wasn't going to work. He started to grab some other glasses, opening the fridge and grabbing some cans of Pitt cola, backing out of the chilly compartment and looking up to see the teen standing right on the other side of the refrigerator door, who gave it a bump with her hip to shut the door behind Dipper.
"You want to get some air? I know it's the beginning of summer, but it should be cooler out there than in here, 'sides, looks like you could really use it," Wendy asked, a slight look on concern on her face. The brunette sat the cola cans down on the kitchen counter with the glasses with a smile, nodding as he held onto two of them. He lead the way as the two of them walked through a hallway or two away from the living room and out the backdoor, handing a Pitt cola to the teen who was now leaning against the house.
"So, what's bothering ya?" Wendy said as she popped the can open, taking a sip.
"I just thought this would be a good idea, since summer just started and mom and dad haven't decided if me and Mabel could go back to Gravity Falls this year, if they got a taste of the great people who lived there, we'd be able to go for sure. It totally slipped my mind how completely different your dad and my parents are though," Dipper said, staring down into the glimmering soda in the can he was holding, letting out a sigh, "Guess we might be staying here this summer."
"Pssh, won't let that happen while I'm around," the red head said before taking another swig of soda, grinning down at her dork who was looking up at her a bit confused. "Listen dude, you and Mabel were the best thing to happen to me in like, forever, you think I'm just going to let you guys laze around here all summer? Nuh uh, you dorks are coming back to the Falls one way or another!" Wendy said with a wider grin, downing the rest of her cola and crushing the can in her grip.
Dipper couldn't help but blush a bit, the sincerity and slight ferocity put behind her caring words caused his heart to race, not to mention the way she looked as the sun was just setting below the horizon, the light shining on her fiery hair, the cool collected look with a backdrop of Californian firs and fireflies.
If it wasn't for the sound of a window breaking, he would have stared at her for forever. The two of them quickly ran back into the house, making their way to the living room where the three adults were laughing and having plentiful conversation, seemingly ignorant to the broken window right next to the lumberjack.
"Mabel, what the heck happened?!" Dipper asked his twin, completely confused by the situation.
"Well, after you two lovebirds went off to "get drinks," Mr. Corduroy starting chatting with mom and dad a bit, and within like, two seconds they became like besties! I consider myself a good matchmaker, even for friendships, but this has to be my best match yet, I didn't even have to do anything!" Mabel said, giggling a bit.
"And the window?" Wendy asked next, trying to understand what happened herself.
"Oh, your dad said he could break a window just by flexing at it! I remember him breaking that manly game meter thing back in Gravity Falls, but this tops that!" Mabel said, turning back around to revel in the glory of her "friendship made!"
Dipper and Wendy looked at each other, still a bit bamboozled, but simultaneously shrugged.
"Looks like we might be coming back to Gravity Falls pretty soon."