Pacifica suddenly remembered why, despite all the fairs and festivals she attended, some willingly, others to keep up appearances for the Northwest family name, she NEVER did any ride more intense than a carousel ride. She easily got VERY sick. The next tourist trap had involved an upside-down house. It was a simple trick for everyone to rub velcro on their shoes before stepping on the wheel that flipped them upside down. But the blood in Pacifica's body began to run to her head, as well as whatever she had eaten thay day. Desperate to relieve herself of the pain, she deliberately jumped up to fall back to the ground floor before rushing outside and vomiting in the nearest bush.
That is not dignified, Pacifica thought, Northwest or not.
She decided it would probably be best if she just went and relaxed inside the R.V. Walking by the gift shop, however, she saw everyone else running back to the R.V as well. Somehow, the upside-down house was now right-side-up. Probably part of Stan's revenge trip. She quickly made her way onto the R.V with them as yet another angry proprietor cursed out Stan Pines.
The other three girls (and Soos) were in the back playing a card game (the cards had Dream Boys High memorabilia printed on them) while Dipper rode shotgun. Pacifica simply laid down on one of the seats, giving her stomach, and her mind, a much needed break.
"I can't believe it worked," Dipper told Stan, "What do I do now? Do I email her?"
Her? Pacifica asked herself, Who's 'her'? Is he still talking about that Wendy girl?"
"No, no, no, you practice," Stan replied, "The more girls you talk to, the better you get at it."
What, I'm not a girl? So much for resting my mind.
Since she was looking up at the ceiling, Pacifica didn't notice Dipper turning his head backwards, noticing she was laying down on the seat.
"Is she okay?" he asked Stan, "She's been like that for a while now."
"She'll be fine, kid."
No she wasn't. She stayed in the R.V during the remaining stops of the day. Which worked out fine for Stan, it meant he wouldn't have to keep an eye on her knowing she was back on board the R.V. Oddly enough, though, every time Dipper came back, he had a new e-mail address written on his arm. Who were these people just randomly giving him their e-mail?
"What's with the e-mails on your arm?" Pacifica asked him.
"Only the results of the best girl advice a grunkle could give," Dipper replied confidently.
"...so those are girls' emails," Pacifica said.
"Y-yeah," Dipper replied, suddenly uncomfortable, "Hey, you alright? You've been kinda zoned out since Upside-Down Town."
"I'm a little better," Pacifica said, "Just thirsty."
"Well, Grunkle Stan says we're almost at the R.V camp," Dipper said, "We can probably grab something while we're there."
"That would be great," Pacifica replied.
"So was that a date you dudes just made, or what?"
Dipper and Pacifica jumped back when they saw Soos sitting across from them, watching their conversation like a soap opera.
"Uh, Soos?" asked Dipper, "How long have you been sitting there?"
"Funny story," Soos explained, "I had almost gotten lost in the cornfield from our last stop...probably would have if it weren't for that ice cream truck that drove by just before we left, might have been able to chase it down..."
Soos was interrupted once Pacifica realized what Soos had previously been implying.
"Hey, wait, what did you mean by dating?"
"A guy and a girl having dinner together? Sounds like a date to me, dudes," Soos replied nonchalantly.
"Whoa, whoa!" Dipper exclaimed, "We're not dating, it's just grabbing a bite with a friend!"
"Y-Yeah!" Pacifica stammered, hiding her blushing cheeks behind her hands, "Nothing romantic about that."
Pacifica and Dipper looked away from each other, both trying to forget the awkward moment. Soos, despite his simple existence and lack of common sense, noticed this quite easily.
They clearly like each other, but neither of them are willing to admit it! But Dipper's had my back before, so it's up to me to help him realize what his heart truly wants! Great idea, Soos! Thanks, Soos!
Pacifica didn't say much when everyone was getting off the R.V. While she didn't physically see Stan giving her the stink-eye as she walked by him, she could definitely feel it. Stan and Soos got the R.V set up while the kids headed towards the quaint diner just across the street from the R.V camp. It felt a lot like Greasy's Diner, but less rustic and more retro, like something straight out of the 50s. Since it was one of those 'seat yourself' joints, Mabel, Candy, and Grenda got themselves seated at the bar while Dipper went by himself to an empty booth. Pacifica thought it would be more natural for her to sit with the other girls, but...
"Well..." Pacifica pondered.
While she had been getting along better with Mabel, she wasn't exactly in the mood for Mabel's generic silliness or hopelessly optimistic outlook. Plus, she was pretty sure Candy and Grenda still didn't like her. So after seeing the trio get a quick order of chili fries and slurpees, Pacifica decided to sit with Dipper instead. During the time she contemplated which twin to sit with, a waitress had already made her way to Dipper.
"Just a strawberry milkshake," Dipper said, then noticing Pacifica walking towards him, he added, "Actually, make that two."
The waitress finished writing down the order and walked to the back just as Pacifica sat down across from him.
"How'd you know strawberry was my favorite?" Pacifica asked, crossing her legs.
"I didn't, actually," Dipper replied, "This is my first time hearing that."
"Mm-hmm," Pacifica playfully smirked, "Like you haven't been reading my tumblr...DD&Dgeek618."
"Man, of all your thousand-plus followers, you picked me out from that?" Dipper groaned.
"How many other mystery geeks do you think would follow my blog?" asked Pacifica, "Most of my topics are just about clothes or jewelry...Mabel begs me to post more personal stuff, but there's...not much about my home life to brag about."
The following awkward silence provided just enough time for their strawberry milkshakes to arrive. Dipper started sipping out the straw from his when the most seemingly random question popped out from Pacifica's mouth.
"Your uncle hates me, doesn't he?"
"Grunkle Stan? Nah, he's cool with all sorts of people, even if he's a little rough," Dipper replied.
"He never yells at any of you," Pacifica said.
"He yelled at Soos for almost forgetting the spray paint," Dipper said in reply.
"He wouldn't leave Soos for dead over it," Pacifica said, before muttering "...like he would to me."
She thought she had said it quietly enough that Dipper wouldn't hear, but he did. He did a double take at Pacifica's morbid assumption.
"Where would you get an idea like that?" Dipper asked incredulously, "Just because he's grumpy and old doesn't mean he would..."
"He wanted to hit me at the mini-golf course!" Pacifica said, "And you wanted him to!"
He remembered that. At the time, he really wanted to hit her himself, despite the fact that she was a girl, even though he settled for reminding her about her family's false history. But then he remembered everything else...
"In all fairness," Dipper said, "He wasn't there for everything after that. He might have driven you home afterwards, but he didn't know about the Lilliputtians who tried to kill you over Mabel's sticker. And he wasn't even there at all for all the stuff that happened the night of the party. He hasn't seen the real you, or at least the person you're trying to be, the way me and Mabel have."
"I didn't like being that mean, you know," Pacifica said, "I just had appearances to keep up."
Pacifica finally decided to take a drink from her milkshake. But unlike Dipper, who drank through the straw, Pacifica brought the rim of the glass to her lips, unwittingly leaving a red milk moustache above her upper lip. She didn't feel it as she brought the glass down to the table, but Dipper sure did, and didn't hold back his laughter.
"What's so funny?" asked Pacifica.
"Got milk?" asked Dipper.
It took a while for her to get the joke, but she did faintly remember those commercials. Running her finger over her lips, she found milk dripping from it, and finally caught on to what was so funny. And to her own surprise, she laughed too, almost as hard as Dipper.
"See?" asked Dipper, whose laughter finally died down, "The old Pacifica would have been embarassed and throw an insult at anyone that laughed at her. You keep this up, Grunkle Stan will have to start warming up to you!"
"You really think so?" asked Pacifica.
"I know so," replied Dipper.
Pacifica used her straw this time to avoid unnecessary laughter, no matter how good it felt to genuinely laugh. Like when they trashed her parents' favorite carpet and she didn't care.
"There's...one other thing the old me wouldn't do," Pacifica said, "She wouldn't be caught dead on a road trip with you. Yet here we are."
Pacifica started to feel herself melting inside when Dipper gave her that smile of his. It only lasted for a second though before they both caught on.
"W-Well not just you," Pacifica said, "Mabel and the others, too."
"Oh y-yeah, I know!" Dipper coughed, "Wasn't, uh, thinking anything like that. Of course not."
For once, Mabel had been so invested in her chili fries that she didn't realize the potential matchup forming right behind her. But Candy did. She kept quiet, but she recognized there was a bond growing further between the two.
If she didn't want to lose, she would have to tell someone.
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P.S, for those of you who didn't catch it, YES, I threw the famous 618 in Dipper's username.