"Well, here we are. Gravity Falls Grocery. Do you want to come in with?" Dipper asked as he pulled into a spot in the parking lot.
"Yes, please. It's been years since I've gotten to be in a store."
"Oh, right, wow. Yeah. That must be...really weird, honestly."
Rose shrugged. "I think we all got thrown into the apocalypse so fast, we never truly had a chance to ponder the oddity of our situation. We adapted and we made do. But...It is nice to be back in a normal world." She looked a little wistful for a moment, before opening the door and getting out of the car. "C'mon, I thought you said you had a lot of these errands to run."
"I'm coming, I'm coming. Jeez." Dipper followed suit, grabbing a basket on his way into the store and making for the leftmost aisle first, casually remarking, "Did you know that people tend to go to the right in stores first, so they put more of the attention-grabbing displays on the right?" He looked over at Rose, briefly expecting a response, then realizing what a strange thing that was to say. "Sorry, sorry, you probably don't care about market psychology."
"I love psychology, actually. I've always found it intriguing, what goes on in people's heads."
"Really? Me too! Never been too great at it though, I'm better at math. People just have too many variables." He shrugged, grabbing a carton of eggs and a package of butter off the shelf.
"Funny, I've always felt the same thing about math. Once they brought letters into it, it was tough for me to parse together. And calculus? I tried to learn it from some textbooks on the meteor, but it all went over my head. Too many shapes and variables and changing variables."
"I like calculus. To me it felt like the moment that all of the math I'd been learning kind of came together into this set of patterns, and it all clicked into place." He felt himself blush a little. "Sorry. I tend to ramble about stuff sometimes."
"It's fine. It's kinda cute," Rose said with a grin. Dipper blushed even brighter, looking back down at the grocery list.
"Heh, yeah. Um…" He stammered a bit, walking over to the next aisle to grab a loaf of bread and some stuff for breakfasts, cereal and pancake mix and oatmeal for Stan.
"So, how long do you think the calculations will take?"
"Honestly? It could be tomorrow. It could take a month. I wish I knew, and I'm sorry there's not a lot we know for certain. Why?"
"Just wondering is all." Rose was starting to seriously worry. She had no clothes or food, no money, and nowhere to go should the Pines family not want her to stay. She sighed quietly as she dug her nails slightly into her wrists, an old nervous habit from fighting with her mom.
"Hey, is everything okay? I mean, besides the being a dimension away from home and not knowing when you'll get back...That was a stupid question, actually. Nevermind."
"It's fine, and I'm quite alright. Just thinking."
"If you say so…" Dipper shot her a worried glance. "Hey, since you'll almost definitely be here at least tonight, what's your favorite meal? I'll cook you dinner, maybe it'll help you feel a little better."
"Oh! How thoughtful. I don't suppose you know how to make pasta carbonara?"
"You'd be surprised. My parents work late a lot, and Mabel once managed to set fire to a pot of water, so I've gotten pretty good."
"Is that so? Well, we'll just have to see then, won't we?"
"Is that a challenge I hear?"
"Mm...Perhaps. Depends. Are you up for it?"
"Rose I'll have you know that Dipper Pines is always up for a challenge. I'm gonna make the best damn pasta carbonara you've ever had."
"I look forward to it immensely. Shall I go grab cheese from the last aisle back?"
"Yeah, that'd be great. You like ice cream, right? Favorite flavor?"
"Mint chocolate chip, but you don't have to buy it special for me. I'm not terribly picky."
"Don't worry, it's my favorite too. Besides, Stan made the grave mistake of giving me his debit card for this run." Dipper grinned, almost cackling.
"Well, that's...disturbing. I'm going to go grab that cheese. Meet you by the ice cream." Rose turned the corner to grab a chunk of parmigiano reggiano and take a deep breath. She knew she had to get home as soon as possible, but every minute she spent here made her miss the home she knew was gone now. She almost wished she could stay here, but she knew the others would be too worried about her. She sighed softly, headed toward the frozen foods section, smiling a little as she saw Dipper trying to keep three different cartons of ice cream in his arm as he reached for a box of popsicles. "You know you could just put those in the basket."
"Yeah but they're all in the same freezer. It's a waste of time. Besides, it's not too bad."
"If you say so." She stooped to put the cheese in the basket, then deftly took the ice cream cartons out of his arm and added them as well. "But that's better."
"I would've been fine," Dipper grumbled as he stuck the popsicles in the basket as well. "Just a few more things and we'll head out." They stopped by the meat section for bacon for the pasta, and by the bakery for garlic bread, where a beautiful, small purple cake caught Rose's eye.
"Ooh," she said quietly, pausing to look at it. It was a rectangular chocolate cake with purple frosting, with sugar pearls and chocolate flowers for decoration, and it was the perfect size for two people to share.
"Do you want it?" Dipper asked, noticing her pause.
"Oh, I couldn't. You've already been too kind to me."
"Nonsense. It's only three bucks. I'm sure Stan can spare it."
"If you insist…" Rose stammered, blushing. Dipper took it from the display and brought it with them up to checkout, with Rose still pink the whole way through.
"Ooh, Dipper, I see you finally got yourself a girlfriend! Nice!" the clerk grinned.
"What? Oh, no, Lee, it's not like that, she's not..." Dipper trailed off, now blushing furiously alongside Rose.
"I see how it is. Don't want to make it a big thing just yet, that's fine. I won't tell a soul." The clerk gave him a wink and a sly grin.
"No, I mean she's not...Augh, nevermind. Thank you, see you next Sunday."
"See ya kid!" The two teens walked out to the parking lot, and Rose put the groceries in the trunk while Dipper started up the car.
"Sorry about that. It'll happen in a town as small as this one, everyone wants to know the latest gossip."
"Don't worry, I know the feeling. There were only a few of us on the meteor, gossip got around fast. It's fine. Where to next?"
"Just a couple deliveries to make, and I've gotta pick a few things up for Stan and run to the hardware store for Soos. You might wanna stay inside for the deliveries. They're quick, but the people are...unconventional."
"Typically I'd argue that I'm not exactly the most conventional person you've met, but from your stories I'll trust that unconventional from your perspective must be strange indeed."
"Yeah...Some strange people in these parts, that's for sure." Dipper pulled out of the parking lot and ran his deliveries and pickups without a hitch, with Rose waiting idly in the car.
"That was the last one, yeah?"
"Yep. Just the hardware store, and then we can head back to the shack for dinner, or to the Greasy Spoon for pie. We'll see how much time we have."
"Sounds good to me," Rose agreed as they left.