Dipper stares at the Ghost Harassers DVD set in his hands, fingers already itching to take this to the Shack and have a marathon before he leaves the town. Mabel's gift is just as spot-on. Hers is a new mini-golf club, and he figures she's going to make good use of it once they're back at California. Pacifica sure knows how to give the best gifts. But he doesn't want to say that to her face. There's honestly nothing big in Pacifica other than her ego.
"Dude, are you just going to quietly obsess over that for the entire party?" Wendy cuts him off from his thoughts. He glances up at her and sees a calm smile on her face with a drink in her hand. It has always been that way in any party with her: drink in hand with a look so carefree.
He won't be able to see that again until next summer.
He forces a little smile. "I guess I've been brooding for a while. I mean—" He looks at the crowd enjoying themselves before him, going about as if Weirdmageddon hasn't happened just a few hours ago. "—looking at you all, it does feel like it's been forever."
Wendy follows his gaze. "Yeah. It has only been one summer and loads of stuff had to happen." She pauses.
When she looks back at Dipper, she gives a wistful smile. "But it's been fun, don't you think?"
And he returns her gaze for a long time. His brows knit—perhaps in sadness—as he contemplates on her words. It has been fun, really. She's right.
His summer wouldn't have been that way if not for her.
Finally, he answers, corners of his lips tugging into a smile. "Definitely." Then he grins. "Best part was still when we got caught trying to break into that school."
Wendy laughs hard. And she gives his shoulder a playful punch. "I wouldn't have it any other way, man!"
Dipper starts laughing as well, rubbing the familiar, sore feeling on his shoulder.
Wendy's friends call out to her from the distance. As she turns to look, she sees Thompson mixing all kinds of drinks in a pitcher and trying to down it all in one fell swoop.
'Thompson!—Thompson!—Thompson!'
The smile on Wendy's face brightens. "I'm so not gonna miss this." She glances briefly back at him. "I'll see you in a few, Dipper!" Then she heads off to the group before he can say anything.
Dipper watches with a small smile as Wendy and her friends go all out on their clique-y riot. He can stay like this all afternoon.
"You like her?"
That voice.
"Oh!" His eyes flick to Wendy then back at Pacifica like a deer caught in headlights. "Hahahaha…" He rubs the back of his head. "Hey, Pacifica. You definitely scared me back there."
And this time, Pacifica does smirk. "Oh, leave it to me to ruin your precious moment."
"Precious?" There's a nervousness in his laughter that's getting redundant. "I wouldn't say 'precious', I mean uh—…" He stops once he sees the look of boredom on Pacifica's face, sipping from her drink.
Dipper sighs.
"Oh-kayyy, so I guess I'm still bad at hiding it."
Pacifica hums in acknowledgement. "Did you tell her?"
Dipper gives off an ear-splitting grin that leaves little to the imagination of what he may be feeling. He rolls his fingers over one another as if that'll be of any help to the explanation. "She had me in place at the friends department."
"Like, obviously, she's out of your league. Tall and old. You've got to be some special kind of dork to fall for that." Pacifica smiles, adding with a shrug, "Seriously, though? I can imagine you groveling on your bed against the pillow just thinking about her. You're lucky she tolerates creeps."
His eyes widen briefly. In any other situation, Dipper would have lashed back, but he finds himself laughing instead. And he doesn't know why. "Snooty and straightforward as always. Why am I not surprised?"
She chuckles this time. And he finds himself pausing just to listen to it.
"Just kidding. You had this stupid look on your face. I've honestly seen better."
Dipper's lips part, taken aback by her words. Then he finally cracks a genuine smile. He realizes she has been trying to cheer him up.
She's quite bad at it. But he appreciates it.
"Thanks, Pacifica." He lets the words hang in the air. Then he adds, "And—also for the gift."
She rolls her eyes. "I decided to risk being here with the rest of you just because you and your family saved the town."
Dipper playfully retorts, "Oh yeah? Well, good for you, we're out of your hair by sunset."
Pacifica's smirk recedes into a thin line. And she doesn't say anything for a while.
"We had a long run in one summer, huh?"
Dipper can almost hear it, a trace of something sad in her voice, and he's not sure if he should address it. Or if it's something he should understand.
"I've been meaning to thank you. And Mabel. For everything."
He stops. Replays every word in his head and commits it to memory until it sinks enough for him to smile. These are things Pacifica will never say. This must be a cosmic joke. But a part of him is glad that this is reality.
There's a smug look on his face that makes Pacifica regret what she just said. And she scowls as soon as he speaks up, "Well, I guess it really does take an apocalypse just to make you say something right for once."
Her eye twitches. She can't help going on for an exaggerated defense. "Look. Don't get a big head just because you saved our lives. And I'm not going to say it again or I'll sue you so hard that I'll—!"
He places a hand on her shoulder and she stops. Pacifica switches her gaze to it, recognizing it to be the same spot and she can remember: back in the mansion when he told her that she doesn't have to be like the other Northwests. That it's never too late. Never has been.
When she looks back up, there's a calm bout of happiness on his face. Content and grateful.
"It was a rough summer. But—it was nice knowing you, Pacifica."
She hears time stop. As well as her line of thought. She grapples for a word or two to say, or even a simple insult, but it's not like they have all day for this conversation.
It's not like they have all summer.
"Are you coming back here again to visit?"
Dipper chuckles. "Yeah, definitely. We'd miss this town too much."
Pacifica gives him a cheeky smile. "Hah. I figured. Well, I've got something else to give you."
He quirks a brow. "More?"
She reaches into one of her pockets then shoves something in his hand. As Dipper gets ahold of it, he studies the little rectangular box, with the letters "NW" imprinted in gold. Judging from its shape, it's probably a pen inside. And his guess is right as he pulls the lid off the box, staring into a fountain pen; truthfully, he hasn't owned anything like this in his life. It has Pacifica's name on it, printed in the same fashion. It's not anything big, but definitely sophisticated and fancy.
"You could use it to write on your dumb books. Or you could just stash it away for keepsake or whatever."
Dipper finds himself smiling. He feels something warm well up in his chest, not sure if it's because of the gift or because of Pacifica.
He stops thinking before he can answer it.
"I love it! I've always wanted to own one of these. I had to use Mabel's markers most of the time."
She scoffs. "Her dumb markers? Even mine's a thousand times better."
Dipper looks back at her. "I'll take good care of it."
Pacifica returns the stare. He looks lame, stupid, and goofy.
"You better."
She gives him a small smile. "Happy birthday, Dipper."
He nods. "See you next summer."
Dipper blinks once, noticing that there are still words aching to be said in her eyes, and he blinks twice only to see them gone.
"I'll be waiting for you two."
He gives her a wave of farewell as he slowly turns to walk away. He feels like looking back, but he ends up not doing so.
Dipper can still feel Pacifica's gaze even as he's already far ahead.
He can only clutch unto the pen.