~Chapter 1~
(Dipper's POV)
I sat back in my chair and continued browsing through the journal, wondering all sorts of things about it. My biggest concern was who the author was. It didn't seem like any ordinary mystery... I was seriously stumped on that.
I had almost gotten to the point of true frustration when Mabel walked in, apparently thinking I didn't see her.
I waved to her. "Hey, Mabel. Where were you?"
It was getting a little late, now that my head was out of the journal.
"I was at Josh's," she answered. "We were playing games and I lost track of time."
I almost laughed, imagining her jumping up in victory as she beat her boyfriend, Josh, at whatever game they had been playing. And poor Josh would just have to deal with it.
"Oh, alright. Don't stay too long next time, you had me worried."
It wasn't really a lie. As determined as I was to decode this journal and find out all the mysteries of Gravity Falls, I also kept track of Mabel. I liked to know where she was just in case I needed to find her. Sure, she was safe with Josh, but I was a bit protective of her. It frustrated her before and she nagged me about following her around or something. I wouldn't, but I could see why she thought I would.
"Hey, is something wrong?" I asked, noticing how unusually quiet she was being.
"Huh?"
"You've been kind of quiet lately," I said. "Is something bothering you?"
"No, I'm fine."
"You sure?"
She nodded in response.
But just in case, "You know you can talk to me, right?"
She looked away and I swore I saw tears in her eyes. It gave me all the answer I needed.
"Is it Josh?"
She didn't respond.
I didn't want to pressure her too much. All relationships had their ups and downs, and Mabel's relationship with Josh was no exception. In fact, their relationship was one of the best I'd ever seen.
I chuckled lightheartedly and said, "Don't worry, Mabel. You know how Josh is, he'll make things right again."
For a moment I thought I saw even more distress in her, but she seemed pretty calm as she walked away to go to bed. It was late so I didn't worry about dinner. She probably ate at Josh's house. Maybe they went out on a date to a restaurant. Either way, Josh was such an amazing guy and I couldn't see one other person more fit for my sister. I knew for a fact that she was safe with him around.
A/N
This is the companion to A Rose Without Petals. It will be entirely in Dipper's POV. That said, more action is currently happening with Mabel than Dipper, so the first few chapters will probably be shorter. As the story moves on though, they'll grow longer.
ARWP will have more angst than this. Anyway, what do you think so far?