"...Wendy, what gives? I told you to fix these prices ten minutes ago." Stan impatiently pointed to the rack of low-quality merchandise. "C'mon, get to it!"
As a Mystery Shack employee, the order to jack the merchandise up a few bucks was anything but out of the ordinary. In spite of this truth, Wendy reacted as if she had just been ordered to walk barefoot over a pile of burning coals. With obvious reluctance and a heavy scowl, she slowly got up and sauntered over as bid.
Her boss furrowed his wrinkled brow and growled gruffly. "Hey, don't give me any of-"
"Hey, I'm going!" She snapped. "See?"
As the two traded light barbs, across the gift shop Dipper was just barely pretending to sweep while he observed intently. One didn't need to be a genius to notice the uncharacteristically obvious. Wendy had been practically oozing aggression since she had stomped in a half hour earlier and slumped at her customary spot behind the register. Since then it had been nothing but angry sulking and terse, one word responses. The teen just didn't seem to be herself in any way, shape or form, and it was unnerving the daylights out of the twelve-year-old boy.
Dipper continued to anxiously watch as she practically attacked the store merchandise, moving in quick jerky movements that were a far cry from her usual calm grace. Stan tapped his foot. "Careful, will ya? Don't-"
Her elbow sent a cheap snow globe tumbling from its perch, and landed with a tiny burst of water, fake snow and jagged plastic shards that scattered around the floor. Wendy drew back and hissed loudly.
"Fuck!"
Dipper's jaw dropped. In his eyes, his secret crush was practically the living embodiment of cool and relaxed. To hear her curse in honest rage came as shock that the boy momentarily froze up. His great uncle frustratedly hurled his arms high in the air.
"Oh for cryin' out loud, kid! What the heck you think you're doin'?"
"I got it! I got it!" Without even needing to be specifically ordered, she growled and stormed out of the gift shop. "Look, I'll go clean it up, just..."
The teen trailed off as she gestured agitatedly, then headed out of the shop. The old man sighed, rolled his eyes and sauntered off to his office, all the mumbling darkly to himself about this was no way to run a business.
Dipper now found himself alone, save for the alarm in his brain that was blaring with the strength of an air raid siren. Either something fishy was going on, or his friend desperately needed to see an eye doctor; he still clearly held the broom right in his hands. The twelve-year-old let it fall to the floor with a clatter and hustled off in pursuit.
"Wendy?" He wandered about the first floor, honestly unsure of what on earth he was going to find. The worry gnawed furiously within as he meticulously carried out his search from room to room. "Uh...Wendy?"
The boy stopped dead in his tracks as he detected a telltale sign of distress. He strained his ears, and there it was again; the unmistakable sound of a muffled sob. In an instant the amateur investigator pinpointed its source, and bounded off.
Soon he was standing outside the door to the bathroom door, and now it was plain as day where Wendy had retreated off to. However, no sooner had he arrived when near-crippling apprehension brought him to a total halt, and at first he could do little more than awkwardly linger. Usually, just trying to have normal conversations with his secret rush could be excruciatingly awkward. Now he was about to walk into wholly uncharted territory, and the realization sent his gut crawling up into his stomach.
It took about minute of delay, anxious dallying, and several aborted tries before he finally worked up enough courage for a simple knock. He raised a quaking hand. "We-"
A startled yelp rang out in response, sending him into a hasty retreat. On humiliating cue, his voice cracked spectacularly into a hoarse disaster. "Sorry! I'm sorry, I-I...I just...just needed to use the bathroom, that's all. It's all right, I'll go upstairs. Yeah, I'll..."
The words increasingly became clogged in his throat, until for a few moment he was stricken mute. Before he could convince himself that worst and come to worst and that everything had been permanently ruined forever, the door cracked open to reveal half of a teary-eyed face. Wendy sniffled and confusedly peered outside.
"...W-what'd you say?"
"Uh..." It took a few hardy coughs to loosen up his vocal cords. "I mean...hey...are you okay?"
She paused, then reluctantly gave a silent nod. After all, she was the one who opened up. It was going to do her little good trying to deny the painfully obvious. Her friend had tracked her down, and now she was caught redhanded and red-faced. Uncertain what to do next, she idled nervously in the doorway until Dipper hastily mustered the pluck to speak again.
"...Can I come in?"
Wendy thought about it for moment. It was now his turn to mill about anxiously until she noted the genuine concerned stamped all over his face, "S-sure..."
Dipper sighed heavily in relief, and took care to shut the door behind him as he entered. The teenager plopped herself onto the cold tile floor and hugged her knees. Her younger friend folded his legs beneath him and gingerly took a seat beside her. He was having trouble recalling a moment where he felt more awkward than now. An entire a flock of butterflies fluttered in his stomach as his mind raced at a mile a minute.
Finally, he took a long, deep breath and bravely broke the excruciating quiet. "So...what's going on?"
Silence descended on them again. Wendy looked like she was about to speak, but then pursed her lips. This kind of one-on-one obviously wasn't the kind of thing that she was comfortable with, not even when she honestly did want to talk to at least someone. Now she had a ready and waiting audience, but getting the words out was as easy as yanking teeth. It really was quite a sight to see the agitated teen so far out of her element. It took two more false starts before she could begin.
"It's...I just..." She gently pounded the back of her head against the wall with a despairing groan. "It's stupid...I'm sorry, this is just so freakin' stupid."
"Is it...anything that we did?" Dipper cautiously checked. Wendy shook her head, and the tight knot in his stomach automatically loosened a little.
"Dude, not even close. I'm just being psycho today for no good..." She wiped her eyes on a flannel sleeve and sighed heavily.
"What happened?" He pried again. Wendy stared out absentmindedly into empty space, collecting her thoughts. Dipper fiddled uncomfortably with the corner of his vest as he patiently waited. Finally her teary green eyes turned back to him.
"Okay, so...th-this all kinda started yesterday. See..." Another pause, followed by another sniffle. "There was an accident at my cousin's lumberyard upstate."
"Was everyone okay?" The boy immediately gave himself a hard mental kick in the rear. If everything was dandy, then he highly doubted they'd be sitting here right now. He silently cursed his tactlessness.
"Nope." She answered bluntly, quickly realizing that there was no easy way to put it. "Someone died."
A flash of panic coursed through his system, and Dipper briefly felt a near-overwhelming urge to run up to the roof and hurl himself off. Hastily he apologized. "I'm sorry, I didn't-"
"No, it's okay." Wendy gestured forgivingly. "It was nobody I knew. All we got was a phone call about it last night, and...see..."
This felt far too difficult to talk about than it had any right to be. A bubble of frustration popped, and the girl rolled one of her hands into a fist and pounded it against the floor. Dipper jolted anxiously, but quickly recovered before she could notice. Wendy struggled on to keep up a coherent narrative.
"It's just...this crap happens, and it's just...its's just tough to deal with sometimes, y'know? I try not to freak out about it, but then there will be another accident, and...and then I seriously just can't think of anything else."
"Think of what?" Dipper was having trouble following the stream-of-consciousness confession.
"About what could happen next time. Nothing's stopping another one from happening tomorrow right here in town, or even today, and...I meant, yeah my dad's good at his job, but it's not like the guys who end up in the hospital were slackers or anything. Accidents happen, and I'm not saying that the next time one does down, it's gonna be..." She shuddered violently at the hideous thought. "But...I know it could. And if he goes one day, then it's just..."
She was interrupted by a poorly suppressed sob. "He's it...y'know for my brothers and me. He's all we have. My mom's already gone, Dipper. I've done this already, and...but it can happen again, like so easily. I hate it...I hate it, but seriously, what can I do? This morning I just had to lie there in bed and l-listen to dad go to work like normal, like nothing bad went down at all last night...and just think about what could h-happen to him...me... and it just doesn't feel fair. It's not...it's n-not..."
A fresh wave of tears was already trickling down her pale cheeks. With a groan, Wendy buried her face and began weeping into her arms. Dipper gnawed on his bottom lip as he sat quietly by her side.
This all felt so extraordinarily out of his range of experience, it was painful. He could handle almost anything strange and otherworldly that this strange town could throw his way, but heaven forbid he could handle a moment like this. He desperately wanted to be able to say something to her. Seeing her so torn-up like this genuinely hurt. Yet no matter how furiously he wracked his mind, he couldn't come up with anything that he felt would help one shred.
Wendy continued to cry.
Dipper couldn't tell whether a few seconds or ten minutes had passed. The one thing he was certain about at that moment was that he felt like an absolute failure. Not merely as the boy who would move the stars for his crush, but at the most basic level as a friend. With crushing helplessness weighing on him like a leaden cloak, he squirmed a little closer, took a deep breath, and went with what seemed like his sole option. He raised a skinny arm, and started to pat her back.
She looked up and gazed at him through bleary, red rimmed eyes. Dipper fought back the urge to freeze up, and slapped on what felt like the wannest, flimsiest excuse for a reassuring smile that he had ever sported. Suddenly she leaned over, and fresh panic flooded through as he automatically assumed he was going to get shoved move. Game over.
It wasn't until her flannel-sleeved arms had fully enveloped him that he realized it was nothing more than a thankful hug. For a couple moments he was so stunned he nearly forgot how to breathe. His heart flip-flopped in his chest as he clumsily returned the soft embrace. A good several minutes passed as the two held one another in a near dead silence, broken only by the teen's occasional sniffles. A thousand thoughts tore through the boy's mind, but fortunately he managed to keep them at bay as he focused on keeping his arms wrapped around her lanky frame.
After what felt like an eternity, Wendy finally seemed to work it all out of her system. With a sigh she let go, and Dipper hurriedly did the same. As he planted his hands back at his side, he asked, "Feeling any better?"
She wiped her face with a cautious nod. "Yeah, I think so..."
Wendy looked up towards the mirror, and made a face. Obviously she was no fan of the mess staring back. Her face soon began to redden as she fast realized just how much she had exposed herself.
"Oh, man...I'm..." The teen fumbled over her words. After striving to think of anything better, she finished lamely, "I'm...I'm really sorry you had to deal with that."
Dipper went out on a limb and slapped on the closest approximation to a silly grin that he could. "You seriously think this is worse than the Lamby Dance?"
Once the absurd memory popped into her mind, the corners of her mouth automatically started to curl. The chuckle that followed was very hoarse, but as far as Dipper was concerned it was the most welcome sound in the entire world. Together the two shared a desperately needed laugh as the mood lightened.
"Nope. Nothing will ever be worse than that." Wendy snorted as the first faint trace of her good humor returned. He tore a piece off the roll of toilet paper and thoughtfully handed it over. She blew her nose and chuckled sheepishly. "Seriously, sorry you had to...y'know."
Dipper tucked his hands into his vest pockets with a gentle shrug of his shoulders. "Don't worry about it. It happens."
"Yeah, I just get so worked up about it and..." Having just had more than her fill of emotional stress for one morning, she laid the matter to rest. "Sorry...we're done for now...we should probably get back to the shop."
"Yeah. Stan doesn't pay the big bucks to lounge in here all day." He cracked, bringing her mood up a little further. She laughed, clambered to her feet, and after quickly splashing some water on her face the two began to make their way back towards the gift shop. Silence temporarily reigned again, but as they sauntered to the den she looked to her young friend and broke it with a gentle murmur. "Hey, Dip?"
"Yeah?" He looked up to meet an unmistakably thankful smile lining her face from cheek to cheek.
"Thanks...for just...y'know." She was still lingering a little out of her comfort zone. Finally she managed a shrug and a weak laugh. "For bein' there. You're pretty good at that."
Dipper tugged down the brim of his hat a little to try to hide the rush of scarlet to his cheeks. His heart skipped several beats as he awkwardly chuckled back in reply. "Uh...no problem. I'm just happy to...um, yeah..."
"Doofus." She affectionately teased. Together they reentered the shop, where a young girl was busying herself with the remnants of a cheap snow globe.
"...I told you, Waddles, you gotta be careful!" Mabel gave her pet a soft push as he tried to investigate the mess. "I don't want you cutting up that cute snuffly snout, or those piggy-wiggy feet, can we? Nosiree! Now you take a couple steps back, mister!"
She booped him affectionately in the snout. Then with a couple quick strokes of the brush, she swept everything into a dustpan just as she noticed the others. "Oh, hey guys! What happened in here?"
Dipper paused, and instinctively passed Wendy a glance. In defiance of expectations, he couldn't find a trace of concern, an anxious grimace, or even a warning glower. All he received was a coy grin, signaling nothing but the utmost trust. As she flashed a barely perceptible wink, the boy grinned and nodded back. The secret was more than safe for now.
"Oh, this? Nothing much." He turned back to his sister and calmly fibbed. "Just a little accident. Other than that, it's been a pretty slow morning so far..."