Chapter 3

Dipper was pedaling hard and fast. I can get there in 5 minutes. His twin-think knew where she would be.

When they were younger, they would explore the suburban flood control ditches and concrete gullies, it was the closest to Oregon they could find this close to the city.

Periodically from the sides were openings from the pipes that joined the gullies, pipes that ran under the streets. They could even find the iron barred gutter peek-a-boos that looked out across the streets from under the sidewalks. The subterranean network of pipes and manhole ladders was theirs alone.

Mabel loved the echoes and funny sounds they would create. They would howl a passing dog to see their reaction, the dogs coming to sniff and bark at the drain humans, or trying to call a cat to get a scratch behind the ears from these strange humans living underground.

Dismounting the bike, he opened the chain link fence and then road the bike down the cement slope to the nearest entrance, a small trickle of water dripping over the edge where the pipe exited the gully. Just inside was Mabel's bike. Dipper sat the bike on its side, and took off his jacket revealing a black band shirt and jeans. He entered and began walking, not caring about stepping in the shallow and narrow stream of green algae lined water with his new-for-school sneakers, listening for the echoes of her voice. Then, in the distance:

"Here kitty kitty! Here kitty kitty. Nice kitty!"

It was her. He ran down the pipe in a crouch, sunbeams from the occasional gutter drain opening lighting the way. Now he could see glimpses of houses outside each one. He came to a pipe intersection and looked around and there she was. Her white sneakers wet and a little muddy, blue jeans with rainbows on each back pocket, and a dark purple sweater with another, larger rainbow on the front.

She was reaching through the rain gutter and then heard him, and withdrawing her hand turned to face him.

"Tyrone!"

"Mabel." He walked up to her with a sad smile. Very briefly she smiled and then it vanished and she looked down.

"I'm sorry Tyrone. I sure made a …"

"Dipper. We're alone. Call me Dipper. Please." And tried a half-hearted smile again.

Her face lit up. "Dipper."

He walked up to her and reached for her with both hands, and then holding her began to rub the tops of her hands with his thumbs. He swallowed and then looked at her in the eyes.

"I'm sorry Mabel. School and everybody and everything…it just all made me a little crazy, I feel a little…overwhelmed. You know?"

She nodded and smiling, leaned against him, leaned her head on his shoulder.

"It's OK Dip. I feel crazy too. I don't like sharing you with everyone. With the world. But the butt-faced world keeps butting in."

He laughed. He could feel the resolution melting away his tension. Or maybe it was the feeling of her head on his shoulder and her holding his hands and rubbing them back too.

"Yeah, well, the world can never butt in between TWINS! HELLA!"

And Mabel looked up in time for the high five and slapped back with gusto.

"TWINS!" And then she wrapped her arms around him and bear hugged him.

"Oh Dipper."

And he wrapped his arms around her neck and shoulders, she was a little shorter than him. He kissed the top of her head.

"Oh no, you are not getting away with just that!"

She leaned up on tip toe with lips puckered, and without even thinking he leaned down and kissed her.

"Muwah! There, is that better?" And he looked for approval. And what he saw was more than approval.

As he began sinking into her gaze, her sparkling eyes and delicate feminine face began calling him, and something deep inside him began to prod him to do something, to start some action. She was asking a question with her look, and he suddenly knew how to answer.

He leaned over and kissed her again, but this time slowly. Now he could take the time to feel her. To feel how soft her lips were, how soft her cheek felt against the tip of his nose, the sweet powdery scent of something else, her hair or clothes or skin.

As he kept the kissing going, she parted her lips and gave him a quick lick. He opened up and licked her back one, two, three times, and then she joined the delicate tasting as they expressed just how much they loved one another.

Now she began circling her hands around his sides and back and finally grabbing his shoulders from behind as if to climb him. He encircled her neck and shoulders more until finally placing a warm hand behind her head and kept her in the kiss.

Mabel began to melt. She leaned against him, her right leg bending in between his legs as she squashed her bosom against his chest. She felt his hand trace her side to her butt and squeeze. She moaned in delight and then had to come up for air.

"Oh yeah, is that better!" And she tilted her head the other way and kissed him again.

Dipper could not believe that a drain pipe was going to be one of the most romantic memories he ever had, but now in this privacy, this strange place would always be theirs. The cat looking in the rain gutter entrance looked with curiosity as it listened to the echoes of their moans and whispers.