Friday September 4th, 2020
Broken Tree Bar
Beaverton, OR
Dipper Pines sat at a table in the off campus bar on the first friday after his twenty-first birthday wondering how he even got there, he wasn't much of a drinker before he turned twenty-one and he really didn't plan on changing that tonight. But his sister and her girlfriend showed up at his Bear Mountain University apartment last night and told him that since he had to miss their birthday, because one of his courses starting early, that they were going out partying tonight.
He had been able to Squeek with her and the family once he got back from his class on Monday. But apparently that had not been good enough for her or Pacifica. Pacifica, man that was still strange to think about. After the fall out from that summer eight years ago he thought he would never see anyone from Gravity Falls again.
At first when they got back to Piedmont everything seemed to be fine. Their parents were ecstatic that they had fun with their great Uncle Stanford. They were a little shocked to find out about the whole Stanley/Stanford situation but believed the cover story that Stan had agreed to watch over the property for Ford when he needed to go abroad for his studies suddenly and had agreed to take over as him to keep up his credentials in the US. His faked death came supposedly came after an ex who had become a stalker had tracked him down and threatened to ruin things for Ford, so Stan had rashly decided that "Stan" had to die. Yeah. It sounds complicated but the old shyster pulled the wool over everyone's eyes again, especially after Grampa Shermie remembered some of Grunkle Stan's old habits from when they were all kids.
He and Mabel stayed in touch with most of the gang for awhile through email, Squeek, and phone calls. Melody moved back to Gravity Falls, Wendy stayed on at the Shack and worked weekends once school started, Candy and Grenda fell under the protection of Pacifica and all of them prospered. We all thought "Never Mind All That" was gonna be able to suffice and then the national news broke the story of Weirdmageddon. While the locals all subscribed to the agreement to keep everything quiet, apparently one of the tourist families that got caught up in everything did not. They had recorded nearly everything and after sitting on it a few months trying to figure out if they thought anyone would believe them they sold the video to some publicist who in turn spread it among the networks. Within days the town was descended upon by wanna be occult experts and news crews from around the world.
Then the government came, they bought all of the land in the valley and forced everyone out. There's now a military base and federal think tank that covers the whole area and who knows what they have found. Last he had heard Soos and his abuelita had first moved in with one of his cousins (not cousin Reggie's though, he had to move also) and finally they moved to Florida. Wendy and her family moved even further north to a family members logging company and they lost touch.
And the Stans, well once his parents saw the video and realized that they had been lied to. Well it didn't sit good with them. They basically disowned the Stans. That and the loss of the Shack took a toll on Stan. A couple of years after the the loss of while the brothers and Fiddleford were out at sea, Stan had a heart attack. He was airlifted by the Swedish coast guard copter to a hospital but they were unable to resuscitate him. Dipper and Mabel didn't find out about it till six months later. Ford had sailed off and no one has heard from him since.
Dipper and Mabel had tried to get to the town the summer before they started college, but the valley was closed off due to the military think tank. They did happen to encounter one of the gnomes, it seems that sometime shortly after the government took over the valley someone snuck into the area and destroyed several key areas (the Mystery Shack, Ford's bunker, the hill where the shuttle was, and McGuket's lab in the old northwest mansion) before helping the area's cryptids flee the government. The gnome (His name was Steve) had come back in an attempt to reclaim an old family heirloom but the weirdness field that once keep the weird in the lil town now prevented it from entering.
Most of the rest of what Dipper knows about what happened is thanks to Pacifica. Pacifica, now there's an interesting story. Apparently after the twins left Pacifica stuck to her guns and strove to make herself what she wanted to be and not her parents mini me. She found she had a love for a lot of the cheesy anime Mabel had suggested to her, befriended Candy and Grenda, and even told off her old hanger ons when they tried to bully the girls at the beginning of the school year. When the town was taken the Northwests ended up moving to the Midwest where they still had a Mudflap factory. She ended rebelling from her parents for awhile before she settled down and while she was not her parents idea of a perfect princess she was before she met the twins but she had done stuff to earn her father's respect. Apparently she found a way to increase the company's profits while she was still a junior in high school and that got her dad off of her back.
Mabel ended up running into her at freshman orientation at Summerfield University. Mabel was going for a master's in Art Education while Pacifica was going for her bachelors in business. Dipper's school was actually just about an hour away and at first Mabel tried to again play matchmaker between another of her friends and her nerdy brother. After a few subtle and not so subtle hints slipping between the two, it took Pacifica flat out telling her that she was trying to set her up with the wrong twin before Mabel realized what was up. Now Mabel had realized she was Pan back in highschool and had to admit that she had been to fixated on finally hooking her bro up that she hadn't recognized her own developing feelings.
"And now look at them," Dipper uttered to no one in particular as he finally snapped out of his own train of thought, "Out there dancing like there's not a care in the world."
While he watched he saw another lady tentative walk over and tap Mabel on her shoulder. At five foot ten, Mabel came up a good three to four inches short to this good looking redhead.
'Man why did she have to be a redhead,' Dipper thought as he saw Mabel and then Pacifica pull the redhead into a hug. He spent too much time recently thinking about his time in Gravity Falls and about Wendy. He never got over her. and as he watched the exchange going on with his sister and the redhead he thought of her again, but dismissed them almost as fast as he thought 'She's probably just another of Mabel's college school mates.'
It wasn't too much longer before he saw his sister point in his direction and the redhead looked his way.
'Oh, ho. So this must be the reason that the girls decided to drag me out here tonight, Mabel must be on another matchmaking expedition.' He thought as the redhead looked over at him before she hugged his sister and her girlfriend again. 'But it appears that she may have just stuck out before I could even step up to bat."
And then she stepped away from them and started heading his way. With her short bobbed hair, her black leather jacket, jeans, and a black top he had to reevaluate his earlier assessment. She wasn't just good looking, she was drop dead gorgeous. And she was heading his way. 'Oh man, what do I do? What do I say?'
"Dude, you're just exactly how Pacifica described you." She said as she pulled up a chair at his table.
He looked at her and before he could say anything he threw back his drink and signaled to the waitress that needed another one. She had continued on talking and he realized he hadn't heard a thing she had said. Hell he hadn't even realized he was going over every pick-up line he had ever heard (even the terrible ones Stan had taught him on that road trip all those years ago).
"So, you know Pacifica huh?", He said as the waitress brings over pitcher of beer and his glass of stout. He vaguely heard her response as he was too busy inside his own head thinking, 'So it was Pacifica who set this up. That's surprising. I can understand Mabel's eternal optimism that I'll find someone, but Pacifica is usually more pragmatic about things like that. Maybe Mabel is rubbing off on her. Wait a minute, what was she just saying?'
"So criminology, huh, whatever happened to film school?", the redhead asked as she took a sip of her beer.
"Well, I started out pulling a double major between the two." He started explaining while he tried to figure out how she had known he had planned on studying filmmaking when he was younger before deciding that Pacifica had probably told her. "But really my passion for film school died out after a family tragedy."
"Yeah, I heard about Stan. That royally sucked man. He was a good guy for a shyster." She said as he realized he was getting lost in the pools of emeralds that she called eyes He remembered falling into similar pools when he was younger. Man he can't be falling like this again, he just met her but she seems so much like her… He quickly downed another deep chug from his lager then slammed down his glass.
"So do you go to school around here?" he asked after he found his voice.
"Yeah, Pinewood College." she said as she took another swig of her beer.
"Ah, really." He said as he started thinking he better start paying better attention to what was being said, who knows how much he had missed as he was off in his own little world.
"Yep, I took a couple years off after high school and worked with my family before I decided I need to get out and better myself. I mean this place is not Portland but it's definitely better than home." she said with a wistful smile.
"I know what you mean. I was so glad to leave of Piedmont and come back north again." Dipper said as prepared to take another drink.
"Well I came south some but yeah it's good be back in the state. Man I never thought I'd say that," she said with a lil laugh in her voice. "I spent most of my life trying to get out of my old hometown and now I'd love to visit at least one more time."
"I had my choice of colleges but I came up here cause there used to be a town up this way that in one summer became like a second home to me and my sister. We had family and friends there. It's actually where Mabel first met Pacifica, you couldn't tell it now but back then they were bitter rivals." He said as he waved a hand towards where the two were dancing cheek to cheek.
"Well, what about you?" she asked as she looked over the rim of her glass.
"Wh-what," Dipper started with a catch in his voice, "do you mean?"
"Well did you have anyone at your second home that you wish was Pacifica to your Mabel? Maybe someone special from your second home perhaps?" she reiterated with a twinkle in her eye and a smile on her lips that he didn't see as she had her glass back up to take another drink.
"Uhmm, well…" he started as he sat there squirming under the gaze of those gorgeous green eyes, "There have been a few times that Mabel has tried to sat me up with friends and classmates of hers. Heh, when you first came over here after talking to the two of them I thought you were another of her ventures. Not complaining mind you, you're by far better looking and more interesting than most of her attempts."
"You flatter me, but that doesn't answer my question." the smirk in her voice was just as evident as the smile on her face, "Was there someone there that you wish you could be out there dancing with right now?"
He quickly chugged the rest of the beer in his glass and sat there for a moment. he was really starting to begin to get flustered like he was twelve again. As he began to speak he was rubbing his left arm as if he had suddenly developed an invisible rash, "Well there was one person. In the short time we were there she became my best friend and well, heh, I had the biggest crush on her. But there was an age difference and well, uhm, she let me down gently. I haven't talked to her in years, and it really wouldn't matter much anyways. I've never been much of a dancer."
"Hey man, don't you remember me telling you not to be itchy." She said with a smile as she saw him finally putting two and two together, "Besides I remember you being a pretty good dancer for a short stuff."
"Wait Wendy, is it really you?" Dipper asked as he was getting up. He already knew the answer, his mind had been trying to tell him since she first walked up to his sister. But in his mind's eye he still saw her as she was eight years ago and she had definitely aged for the better.
"Yeah man, it's me." She said as she stood up and pulled him into the hug they both wanted.
After they finally separated Dipper looked around and saw Mabel giving him a thumbs up. He backed up some and started, "You know what, this isn't really my scene. What do you say we head to either your place or mine and do a movie night."
She got a look on her face like she was thinking for a moment before she turned and headed for the door.
Mabel and Pacifica walked over after she left.
"Whoa, what happened Broseph?" Mabel asked with a hand on his shoulder.
"Yeah it looked like it was going good Dip," Pacifica added from her side.
"We were reconnecting, it was going good but I think I rushed it. I suggested that we get out of here and do a movie night like we used to and she just left. I screwed it up. Look, thanks you two for trying this but I'm just gonna head home." Dipper said before he leaned over and hugged both of the girls.
"You gonna be ok Dip-dop?", Mabel asked as they pulled apart.
"I guess so, I'll see you two later ok." he replied before he turned and headed towards the exit.
"Yeah, don't worry Dip I'll cover the tab." Pacifica called to his retreating form.
"Oh, quit complaining you. You already were covering the tab." Mabel said as she pulled her girlfriend into a kiss.
Meanwhile Outside
Dipper headed out towards his truck trying to figure out what he did wrong, he would swear that he didn't read the situation badly. The one thing he was certain of was that he had enough to drink that he knew he shouldn't drive home. He planned to just double check that his truck was locked up tight and then order a Hoyst to run him to his apartment. As he got to his truck he found a green moped in it's bed, moments later a familiar redhead popped up from the other side.
"Well, what took you so long man?", Wendy said as she came around and pulled him into another hug.
"I thought I had done something wrong, I seriously thought I had said something to upset you." Dipper said into her shoulder almost crying from relief.
"Nah, man. I just figured it would be best that we only take one vehicle wherever we go, so I put ol' Missy here..." she said as she reached over and slapped the moped, "in the bed of your truck while you covered the tab."
"How did you know I had a truck, let alone that this was it?" Dipper asked as he released her from the hug.
"Pacifica showed me a picture of you with it. She said it was the one thing you allowed yourself to buy with the inheritance you and Mabel got from Stan." Wendy said before she pointed down towards a bumper sticker, "Anyways, your the only one with Ghostharassers emblazoned on it."
"Well yeah, I guess that explains it." He said as he walked up to the driver's side door and unlocked it.
"Whoa, Dip. You were downing them pretty good back there, Man. Are you sure you wanna try to drive?", Wendy said with some concern in her voice as she walked up to him and placed a hand over his as he went to open the door.
"Oh, no worries. I was just making sure I had everything buttoned down in here. I planned on taking a Hoyst home till I found you out here. Now though we can take one wherever you want to go," Dipper replied as he felt himself go flush over her concern. To hide it he reached on into the truck and flipped up storage console he had installed under the center seat and pulled out a bottle of water. He needed to rehydrate some so he wouldn't have that bad of a hangover tomorrow. Closing the seat he turned around and took a swig of the water.
"Hey I only had that one beer, I can still drive wherever. If you'd let me that is," she offered even though when Pacifica had shown her the photo she told her that even Mabel hadn't been allowed to drive his truck yet and it's been three years since he bought it.
He thought about it for just a couple of seconds and then reached behind the driver seat and pulled out a container of bungee straps. "You're right. There's no need to leave the vehicles here. Better strap down, Missy I think you called her, so she doesn't get messed up."
"You're right man thanks," she said before she walked to the back of the truck and climbed into the bed. Dipper handed her some cords and they fastened the moped.
As they finished up he asked "So for this movie night, where do you want to have it?"
"Well I'm in an on campus apartment and I have an annoying roommate, what about you?", Wendy said as she started to climb over the side of the bed, Dipper offered his hand to help her down which she took. "Thanks Dip."
"No problem, you didn't look like you needed it but I was raised to be a gentleman.", he said as he once again got lost in her eyes. Realizing he was staring he shook his head and said "To answer your question, I live a solitary life devoid of accompaniment so my place would be free of distractions. Plus I just got the full Jed Forest movie collection including 'Blueprint 7'. And finally my place is only a five minute drive from here."
"Sold," Wendy said as she walked up to the driver's side door. she was about to grab the door handle when Dipper placed his over hers.
"Here let me get that for you," he said as he gently removed her hand and opened the door.
"You didn't have to do that man. My arms work just fine," Wendy said as he pulled the door completely open.
"Oh I know I didn't have to, but I wanted to." Dipper said with a realization that he was probably overstepping his etiquette boundaries here but he also was just drunk enough that he thought he may as well go for broke. He bowed and said, "Your chariot awaits mi'lady."
Shaking her head with a smile wendy climbed into the cab and belted in as he shut her door. Dipper then quickly rushed around to the other side. As he climbed in he slid her the truck keys. A quick trip later and he was showing showing her around his apartment.
They began watching movies and soon it was as if they had never left each other's side.
"Man I missed this," Wendy said halfway through the second movie, "none of the old gang ever shared my love of bad movies like you do. We were great together back then."
"Yeah we sure were." Dipper started till Wendy scooted closer to him and leaned over into his chest, "But.."
"No buts man," she replied and then she wrapped his arm over her shoulder and hugged it to her chest. "I know I turned you down all those years ago, I was scared. Yeah there was the age difference but it was mostly an excuse. I mean look at my record back then and here I found a great guy who not only was my best friend but we fit together like two pieces of a puzzle. Add to that the fact you were leaving at the end of the summer and I just couldn't risk putting either of us through that. And believe me I nearly changed my mind when you gave Gideon that speech outside your sister's bubble. In the end I was right, I mean you were never able to go back to Gravity Falls and I thought I would never see you again."
She had turned her head away from him and hid her eyes behind her fallen bangs. Not wanting to see if she was crying Dipper turned away as he said, "C'mon we both know I was just a love struck lil tween. I definitely didn't deserve a friend like you."
"Dude don't say that, you were so smart and brave back then." Wendy said as she looked back at him, "And you know man, the age difference doesn't really matter anymore."
"Are you saying?", Dipper said as he turned to look back at her. As he finally completed the turn he was met with a kiss.
When they finally broke the kiss Wendy said, "I've thought about doing that all night."
"Well I hope it lived up to your expectations." Dipper said as his head cleared.
"It did," Wendy replied with a smirk. "Look, I already lost you once. I finally found you again and after finding out you're still the same great guy, I'm not gonna lose you again."
"Sounds good to me." Dipper said as he leaned back in for another kiss.
Saturday September 5th, 2020
Tanoak Terrace Apartments
Outside Apartment 42
Mabel Pines was carrying a tray of coffee and a box of fresh Hex doughnuts. She figured it would be the least she could do after her and Pacifica's abysmal attempt to fix up Dipper last night. She hoped he was ok, his truck wasn't in the bar's parking lot when they finally left. Pacifica tried to convince her that he more than likely had a friend come get it for him but she had to make sure. And so she brought a peace offering and ibuprofen.
After she found his truck in his spot she headed up to his apartment. Using the key he gave her after he got tired of her picking the locks, to honor Grunkle Stan, she got a little more worried as she walked into the living room and found it disheveled. Dipper may be a guy but he had come along way from their youth. but this, this looked bad. There were couch cushions on the floor, a lamp was knocked off its end table, and his recliner was on its side. He must have been furious. She picked up the cushions and lamp before looking for any other signs of distress. Seeing the shirt Dipper was wearing last night on the floor of the hallway leading towards his bedroom, she went that way.
After deciding it would be for the best to confront his broken heart head on Mabel flung open his bedroom door say, "Hey broseph, I come bearing…"
She stopped mid sentence and dead in her tracks as she realized that she not only saw her brothers tousled bed head but also the ginger mane and taut derriere of their old friend.
"UhmHiDip,ICameByToConsoleYouButISeeThat' .LoveYouBye." The now red faced Mabel said as she quickly rushed out of the room.
As she shut the front door her phone went off, she pulled it out after reading the message from Pacifica she typed, "Yeah, I believe Dipper is gonna be just fine."
This story started out as just another song fic til I decided to change it up some. I took the title and basic premise of American Hi Fi's The Geeks Get The Girls and that was it. No lyrics. Initially I thought this would only be a short 500 to 750 words in length but boy was I wrong. I hope you enjoy it.