Chapter four
Wendy clung onto the edge of the cliff, they sky black and cloudless. The rock bit into her skin, and her arms grew sore just to keep her from plummeting into the void below. Every drop of sweat brought her closer to falling, and she only ceased her attempts to pull herself up, when Dipper stepped in front of her.
She called out to him, her words moving as if slowed by water and depth. He remained emotionless, not budging, not even when her left hand lost its grip and when tears came to her eyes.
He only moved, to turn away, when she finally fell. Her legs touched the side of the cliff as she fell and she heard a mocking voice fill the air, echoing.
"ArE yOu hAPpY nOw?"
Wendy Corduroy woke up with a start, and panted as her eyes opened, and she felt drown in darkness. Gulping, she threw the covers aside and stumbled out the door, and into the tight hallway.
Suffocated and feverish, she gripped the walls as though she was trying to push them aside and practically tore the door to the bathroom off its hinge. Easing the door shut behind her so as to not wake her sleeping family, she splashed water across her face and glanced up at her reflection.
There were dark bags under her normally sparkling emerald eyes, and her hair was a messy tangle of red locks. Her tank top was practically pasted to her skin with sweat, and she felt like vomiting. Tears pooled in her eyes as Wendy realized what an awful state she was in.
This was the third dream. She had experienced the first on the night of the day when everything had gone sour. In the dream, Dipper had watched piteously as Wendy drown in a deep pool.
The night after, she had dreamed of being in a dark and musty place, of hearing sobs in the corner, and following them, only to find Mabel curled up in the corner. The moment she was spotted the brunette slid away across the floor, and suddenly the redhead found herself trapped in a cage, begging the pre-teen to let her out.
She had spent that whole day terrified of falling asleep. It wasn't like the day was much better, though, she had been forced to take extra hours at the Shack just to keep her job, which didn't make things with the twins any easier. Dipper refused to even acknowledge her presence, which somehow made her feel worse than if he had yelled.
She was used to yelling, fighting, that was how they solved problems in her family. They never avoided anything, and they jumped straight into it. But this, this was so much worse than any of that. Her friends were all talking (well, texting mostly) about her behind her back, Dipper was giving her the cold shoulder, Mabel only ever gave her sad or fearful looks, and Stan was extra disgruntled with her, having come to the conclusion that she was responsible for the change in his great niece and nephew's demeanors.
On the second day, Soos had asked her what had happened, unable to take the uneasy tension between his only friends. She had told him it was complicated, but when the handyman had pressed, she told him to please leave her alone because she was tired and needed to return to work.
The hurt look on his face just buried her deeper in her guilt. Yesterday, she had been unable to take seeing the man-child sad and confided in him. It was quite a long, and carefully worded confession, and by the end of it Soos seemed to have experienced almost every emotion on the spectrum.
His answer to her seemingly unconquerable challenge was to "Just say you're sorry." Easier said than done.
She told him that it was too complicated and that she should wait before doing so.
"Besides…what-what if an apology isn't enough?"
Soos had shaken his head. "Mabel can forgive anybody, dude. Especially her best friends. And Dipper, well…he's put himself in harm's way to save you right?"
She nodded, the man smiled.
"Then there's no way he won't accept your apology, you mean too much to him." The ginger was about to interject, but Soos continued talking. "He spends a lot of time with that journal, and looking at clues, right? Then you, me, Mabel, we're the people he spends time with when he's not worrying. And the same goes for Pacifica now I guess…and if I was him, I wouldn't give up one of my best friends just because of an argument."
He returned to the wax filled air vent. "He needs us…and we need him."
That conversation had lifted her spirits a little bit, and she had resigned to apologize before the day was over. Of course, she had gotten caught up in the extra work she was now doing, and had resigned to apologize, first thing tomorrow. After having an unorthodox amount of coffee, she had given in to sleep and collapsed onto her bed.
Well, today's the day. Looking herself over, the redhead's face turned from one of exhaustion to one of weak determination. I'm not gonna apologize looking like this.
Wendy had never been into "girly" stuff like dressing up, or using makeup. But today was a new day, and she wanted to feel new and fresh. So she urinated, showered, dressed, and opened a new bar of deodorant. Exiting the sanctuary of the bathroom, she climbed down the flight of stairs and saw her father putting on his boots, getting ready to leave. She gave him a small smile as she located cereal and milk, and he cleared his throat, before stepping into the kitchen area.
"Wendy…err, I've noticed that you've been rather umm, upset about something recently…" He was clearly uncomfortable with the confession of human emotion.
Sighing, the lumberjack's daughter turned and mustered a smile. "Don't worry dad, I've got it all under control."
He nodded slowly, and she grabbed a spoon before slipping past his bulky form. "A-are you sure?"
Sitting down, she spoke with a mouthful of frosted flakes. "Yeh, did um fie!"
Swallowing, the redhead realized how garbled her assurance had been and repeated herself. "I'm fine dad."
He nodded and stomped towards the door.
Wendy bit her lip. "Wait, dad…I-umm, can I ask you something?"
He picked up the axe which leaned against the wall behind the door and nodded.
Wendy took a deep breath before diving into her question. "Umm, how do you keep going, you know, out into the woods, when you know that there are lots of monsters out there?" The massive redhead frowned, and Wendy stepped closer, "You do remember the monsters? I mean I know those hooded guys wiped your memory-"
Her father smiled and moved closer, with a thundering step, "You mean they tried to! Those hoods couldn't get the best of your old dad. And yeah, I remember the monsters, those giant bull men, those tiny men with the pointy little hats, the hide-behind…"
"Dad, the hide-behind isn't rea-you know what? Never mind. But how do you, you know, how do you go out there every day knowing that those things, are waiting for you? And that, if something goes wrong, one of them could get you."
He rubbed his chin, "I don't have a choice. Sometimes, no matter how much you don't want to, you have to take action. You have to keep pressing on because life isn't easy."
He put a hand on her shoulder, "But every day I come home to you guys, and it's worth it, to see the smiles on your faces."
She gazed up at him, and then looked to the side, fear suddenly returning.
His bushy red eyebrows knitted. "Are you sure you're alright?"
She nodded absently and then turned back to him. "Yeah, I'm great."
The teen slurped down the rest of her cereal, and chucked the plastic bowl into the sink, before rushing towards the door.
Her father spoke with a surprised smile as she stuck her slender feet into her boots. "Getting an early start on work eh?"
She gave him a smile and nod before whipping the screen door open and calling to him as she rushed out the doorway. "THANKS, DAD!"
The lumber jack sighed and rubbed his temple. "I don't understand teenagers…"
[0]
Wendy ran as fast as her gangly legs allowed, her chest on fire as she gasped for breath with every few strides. Her hair now washed and combed, whipped in the air as she leaped over fallen trees and weaved between mossy boulders. Her mind was full of theoretical plans for how to do it, what to say, and who to apologize to first.
The big irony is that Dipper's great at making plans, and I could use his help apologizing to him.
Sighing, the teen ducked to the side so as to avoid a patch of brambles, and darted from tree to tree. She came to a sudden stop as the place of her employment came into view, and the redhead took a deep breath, before stepping out of the forest, and striding towards the entrance of the Mystery Shack.
"Wendy…wait a second!"
The determined ginger stopped in her tracks and turned to see her ex-boyfriend running up to her.
The goth stopped in front of her and clutched his side as he whispered something about how he should start working out. "Save it Robbie, I've got something to do…"
Turning away, the guilt-ridden fifteen-year-old picked up the pace, and was almost at the door, when a hand was placed on her shoulder. "Wendy…I just want to apologize."
Sighing, she turned and looked at the guitarist with a dubious frown. Surprised to see that there was regret in his eyes, her face softened, as he caught his breath, and the lanky red head listened intently. "I came to apologize for what Tambry did."
The frown returned, and Wendy took a step back. "If she wanted to apologize, then she should have-"
"She sent you like, a hundred emails. All of them saying she was sorry. Now I know she shouldn't have told Lee about what happened, and Lee, the blabbermouth, shouldn't have told Nate and most of the school…" Wendy groaned and flipped open her phone, checking her emails for the first time in three days.
"But she uh, she was too afraid to umm, meet you face to face, so I said I'd soften things."
The indignant ginger poked her former boyfriend in the chest, "Oh? She was too afraid to speak to me face to face, but she was happy to text about my problems to the rest of the state?"
Robbie gave a small smile, "Well, not just Oregon, I mean she has friends in Washington and California-"
Looking up, he noticed the enraged face on his companion, and realized he was digging his own, and his girlfriend's graves. "Listen, she wasn't judging you! After you didn't respond to her texts, she got a bunch of people to sign this special document saying that it was alright that you had a thing for Dipper, and then she had all the people who said mean things about you banned-"
Wendy rubbed her forehead, "Listen, Robbie, I get that you guys feel bad about this, but you should have just left me alone, and minded your own-"
"I know, we talked about it last night…and she promised to try and do better."
Wendy was about to speak but he held up his gloved hands and she kept silent. "Now I know you're mad, and I know that she should apologize face to face, so, I came to ask if you could come over to her house later, and you know, we could fix everything?"
Sighing, the redhead sat down on the front step, "I-uggh…I just…"
She desperately wanted to be mad, she wanted to be able to release the tension which was piled up beneath the surface. But she also wanted for things to return to normal, to just be rid of all the ugliness.
She nodded and he smiled.
"Oh, my god! Thank you, you will not regret this!" He insisted and began running off.
"Hey, wait a second!" She called.
He stopped in his tracks and glanced back at her.
"When did you…how did you…why are you so… mature?" She asked with a furrowed brow.
The goth frowned. "What do you mean?"
She shrugged. "I mean, I'm not the best at being mature, but you, umm, you were never really mature. You got into a lot of fights, you picked on younger kids, and you HYPNOTIZED me, to get out of actually discussing the problems with our relationship."
He glanced at the mud sheepishly. "Well, I don't know…love does that to you I guess…it makes you take on things you never thought you could before."
He strode over and sat down beside her, realization dawning on him after he glanced at the redhead's sad expression. "You came here to apologize didn't you?"
Surprised at his empathetic skills, Wendy looked up from her lap and frowned. "How did you…"
He raised a hand as he spoke, "I've experienced enough regret to know when someone is trying to own up to what they did."
She raised an eyebrow and gave him a small smile, "It almost sounds like your bragging…"
He shrugged casually, "Why shouldn't I?"
"I'd punch you right now if you weren't remarkably fine with me having a crush on a twelve-year-old."
He changed position, twiddling his thumbs. "I uh…sort always knew…"
"Wait…what?"
Robbie coughed and avoided her gaze. "I mean that was kinda why I gave Dipper such a hard time. You were always happy to see him…and when you two hadn't hung out in a while you got all wistful. And how you always thought his rants about monsters were cute. Not to mention all the times you-"
She put a hand to his lips. "Wait a second, one thing at a time. First off; since when have you used the word 'wistful'?"
He shrugged casually.
"Second off; how long have you known this?"
The goth scratched the back of his neck, "Since umm…heh, well, the third week of summer is when I picked up on it…"
"AND YOU NEVER SAID ANYTHING?"
He covered his head with his hands. "Could you be a little quieter?"
Wendy stood and began pacing, a garbled mix of swears and questions breeding at her lips. "How could you, you of all people be the one to see that? Not me, or Dipper, or heck, even Mabel!"
He stood and put a hand on her shoulder. "I guess I should have confronted you about it, but uh, it was just really awkward, and I…" Looking back at him Wendy gave a questioning look, "…I was afraid of making you choose between me and him."
Noticing the change in his demeanor, her frustration subsided, and she glanced at the ground, before returning her gaze to his. "Can I ask you one last thing before you go."
He glanced at his Ultra-Death-Metal(™) watch, before yawning and gesturing for her to continue.
She thought for a moment before speaking. "Well…you've handled a lot of rejection in your life…right?"
He glared at her but reluctantly gave a nod.
Composing herself, she continued despite how warm her face was feeling. "So…what if…what if I can't make things right? What if I end up like you were with me, desperate for his affections, desperate to make things right, and unable to because I became a nuisance?"
The goth began to speak, but though better of it, and moved away for a moment before he finally figured out what to say.
"Wendy, that kid likes you way too much to ever think of you as a nuisance. And even if it does turn out like you and me, look at us now! You and me are good enough friends that we can talk about this kinda stuff."
She brushed the wetness from her eyes and smiled. "You really think it's gonna be alright?"
He gulped, "Yeah, I do. And…I'm the most pessimistic person in the world."
She smiled and gave him a brief hug. Pulling away thanked him, and walked towards the shack. "Don't forget, Tambry's house at six!"
The ginger nodded as she opened the door, and heard the sound of his footsteps get softer with distance. "As soon as I get off work!"
Stepping inside her workplace, she averted her eyes when she saw her boss, standing by the stair case, in a bathrobe. "Ughhh, Mr. Pines, PLEASE put something on!"
The old man realized her existence and glanced down at his stolen watch. "Your la-"
He frowned, and looked up at her, then he returned his gaze to the gold fingers that twitched inside the case. Then he looked back up and stared at her like he had just figured out the meaning of life.
With her eyes still averted, Wendy noticed that there was someone watching TV in the living room. MABEL!
The old man began to stammer, but the teen was too focused on her goal to hear him stutter out "…you're early…"
Mabel was sitting with her legs crossed, Waddles was on her lap, and had rolled over, expecting a good belly rub, but he was disappointed to find that his owner was unresponsive. She merely stared at the television screen, emitting distaste for this show she had been ecstatic about not a week ago.
"Hey kiddo, you don't look like you're having fun…"
She shot up when she heard the voice of her favorite redheaded-fifteen year-old-cashier (Mabel had a lot of favorite people, in fact, an entire town's worth of her favorite Gravity Falls residents).
Waddles squealed as she moved with him atop her, and she picked him up and sat him down on Stan's recliner, before stepping closer to her tall friend, and giving her a brace-filled smile.
"WENDY!"
The teen smiled back, and the brunette noticed how tired she looked. "Are you…are you okay?" She asked with the tilt of her head.
Putting on a bigger smile, the cashier girl shrugged her exhaustion off. "I'm fine. I came to-"
Unable to keep it inside any longer, Mabel leaped forward and wrapped her arms around her tall comrade. Pushing her chubby face into the surprised teen's stomach, she began murmuring requests for forgiveness and trying to keep her eyes dry.
Wendy peeled the besweatered girl off her body and raised an eyebrow. "Wait, a second kid, what do you have to apologize for?"
Mabel rubbed tears out of her dark brown eyes and spoke in a heartbreakingly small voice. "W-Well if I-I hadn't suggested we use Waddles then you wouldn't have gotten caught, and y-you wouldn't have started fighting and gotten angry, and everyone would be happy right now…"
She broke into more sobs, and Wendy picked her up.
"Don't you worry about any of that, what happened back there was my fault…have you really been thinking it was yours for the past few days?"
Wiping her eyes with one sleeve, the pre-teen stumbled for the right words. "Well, you weren't talking to me, a-and I thought you were mad for getting you into this mess," That was like a knife to the heart.
"And Dipper was spending all his time in the attic,"
That was like someone twisting the knife.
"And I thought he was mad me too for spying on him after he told me not to..."
She hugged Mabel again, and then sat down on Stan's recliner, careful not to disturb the slumbering pig which lay there.
"Listen, Mabel," She sat the girl up on her lap, and wiped the remaining tears from her eyes. "This mess is my fault, and the only reason I was avoiding you was because…I was guilty…I mean…what kind of jerk yells at kids?"
The enthusiastic brunette frowned. "We're not kids…me and Dipper are practically teens."
Wendy rolled her eyes, "Okay…you're right, but you guys are still smaller than me. And I spied on and bullied you two. Not to mention I got in an ugly fight with one of Dipper's friends. And I am really, really, sorry Mabel. I was angry, and I lashed out. And I'm so sorry for not saying anything if I had known that you were blaming yourself I would have-"
The twelve-year-old leaned forward and wrapped her arms around the neck of her guilty friend. "It's okay. I forgive you."
Well, that was fast. She had a feeling Dipper would not be so quick to forgive and forget.
"I'm just happy that things are back to normal," Mabel stated as she broke their third embrace.
Wendy gulped, and pushed thoughts of her upcoming encounter with Mabel's brother from her mind, enjoying the warmth which the pre-teen had provided.
I have never had a better hug. She realized. She could sell these things, there soul cleansing!
Realizing that she was thinking like her shyster of a boss, Wendy gave the girl a squeeze and untangled herself. "I uh, still have to apologize to Dipper."
Mabel's brow furrowed, and she let out a small "Oh." before avoiding her redheaded friend's gaze.
Climbing off the recliner, she gave the lanky teen a smile and some slightly comforting words. "Don't worry, you'll do great."
While the brace-filled smile did raise her spirits slightly, it still seemed like the girl was unsure as to how forgiving her brother could be.
However, with the words of her father, her ex, and her co-worker in her mind, Wendy ascended the stairs and rapped on the door to the attic. There was no response, and the redhead pushed the door open slightly, calling out as she did so.
"Dipper…it's me, Wendy…I-I came to say I'm sorry."
As the door creaked open, she got a look into the attic and realized that it was empty. However, the window was open.
That meant one of two things, either A) Dipper had been attacked by a thunderbird while close to the window, and right now he was being fed to its babies, or B) the far more likely option, he was up on her special spot.
Easing through the space that lay betwixt the triangular glass doors, Wendy gripped the window sill as she staggered forward, her hiking boots gripping onto the shackle roof.
[0]
Dipper Pines gazed up at the premature sky, the streaks of dawn light navigating the sky beautifully. He sighed and returned his gaze to the mobile in his lap, the pictures of Wendy and him, swimming, biking, goofing off, going on monster hunts, competing for the title of "Best arcade game player in Oregon" and the time they had literally been up a creek without a paddle and to relive his panic, she had shoved him into the water playfully.
A smile crossed his lips as he remembered struggling to surface, remembering he was wearing a life vest, and then pulling the laughing ginger into the mucky water as well, giggling hysterically at the look of her hair when it was all wet.
His eyes got wet again, and he groaned, letting the mobile slip f4om his fingers as he stared back up at the sky and cursed the universe. A strong wind blew, and the mobile began to roll downwards. Panicking at the sight, Dipper leaped forward and grabbed it, only to find himself slipping off the edge now. His arms flailed as he tried to grab onto something to prevent a rather nasty fall, but the roof shingles pointed downwards and were too cheaply glued to support any weight.
He closed his eyes and tried to brace himself for the pain, but before he could embrace the feeling of plummeting through the air, he felt hands wrap themselves around his ankles. Someone, quite strong yet still gentle, pulled him back up and onto the flat piece of roof where he had lain.
"Thanks a lot-" he turned his head and was shocked when his eyes met the dark green of his fifteen-year-old crush. "No problem Dipping sauce."
She was wearing a confident smile, but it slowly disappeared and was replaced by distress as he failed to show any emotion whatsoever. "Listen I-"
He scooted away, and the mobile fell from his grasp again. This time, he grabbed it before it fell from reach, and he hid it behind his back as a smile crept up the side of her face. "Dipper…I came to apologize."
He looked down at the tiles beneath his feet, and Wendy sat up. "It was wrong for me to be spying on you, and the last thing I wanted was to ruin your evening. I got angry at Pacifica, and said things I shouldn't have, and when Mabel interrupted…I don't know what came over me, but I promise I won't yell at her again. I already apologized to her. So can you and I please…umm, just return to the way things were bef-"
He embraced his savior, wrapping his scrawny arms around her, and letting all his pent up emotion out in sobs.
At first, she was completely silent, and he could hear nothing but the rustling of the trees and the sound of her heart.
"Dude…shhh, it's okay…it's okay..." She rubbed his back, hoping to calm the distressed pre-teen.
He felt ashamed for falling to pieces, but at the same time, he felt incredibly warm and safe in her arms.
"I'm sorry for waiting so long to apologize, if I had known how bad things were for you guys, I wouldn't have acted like a coward. I was an idiot."
He shook his head, "Y-you weren't an idiot, you were just scared…you remember how long it took for me to say sorry for being insensitive for breaking you and Robbie up? You had to apologize for something twice as bad."
"I still shouldn't have waited so long…I just…I was afraid you wouldn't be able to forgive me."
He hugged her tighter as he heard her voice crack, and whispered his response. "I know how you feel…"
Finally pulling away, the two looked at one another in admiration, too warm from one another's presence to care about the chilly breeze that struck them. "Oh! And umm, I'm sorry for hitting your eye...I swear it wasn't on purpose!"
He rubbed the eye which had once been bruised subconsciously as he assured her. "It's okay…once I calmed down I figured that you're not the 'vengeful' type."
She raised an eyebrow and smiled. "HEY! I can be vengeful…"
He rolled his eyes and smiled as well. "Okay, I just figured you weren't the 'waits two months for vengeance' type. Or the kind of person to take 'eye for an eye' literally."
She giggled, and he felt the tension dissipate slightly.
He realized he had been staring at her eyes too long, and averted her gaze. She shifted on her feet awkwardly and asked in a hesitant tone, a crippling need for closure. "So…are we, are we good?"
He smiled and nodded, and watched as she gave a mighty exhale.
"Were you really that worried about it?" He asked and stepped closer.
She bit her lip before responding. "I mean; it was pretty bad but…I hope you know that you're not gonna get out of being my friend that easily."
She smiled at his joke but faltered as she tried to answer. "I…it's just, I couldn't get that look, the way you were staring at me by the end of the argument, I couldn't get it out of my head."
He stepped closer, and she sat back down, partly because she was paranoid about being shoved off by a harsh wind, mostly because she was just tired. "The real reason I didn't come apologize was because…I was afraid that you might hate me."
His eyes widened and he stopped in front of her, placing his hands on hers as he spoke. "Wendy…I don't think I could ever hate you."
Her eyes met his and she posed the question which had gnawed at her for the past three days. "Then why did you look at me that way? I mean…I know that you were angry, but it looked like you loathed me."
He sighed and sat beside her. "Wendy I…it was just that…well, part of it was that my sibling protective instinct was kicking in. Mabel and me…we used to get bullied a lot, and we always had each other's back."
Wendy watched as he glared at the roof tiles, his voice almost breaking. "And part of it was my frustration you know about…you rejecting me, and now it seemed almost like you had been planning to ruin the day just when I was starting to forget about my crush on you."
The redhead gulped.
"But seeing you and Pacifica, both of you, the way that you were both talking about me…like I was stupid…or easily manipulated. Like I was just a little kid."
Understanding stuck the tall ginger.
"I get that both of you were trying to look out for me, but…but I'm not a little kid. I can take care of myself, and I hate it when people, especially my friends, act like I'm stupid or naive."
Wendy felt her throat tighten, and she tried to reassure him against this. "But it wasn't about you being young at all, it was because I-"
He looked up at her, his eyes slightly red form all the crying he had done today, and slightly wet from his confession. Wendy, meanwhile, was paralyzed.
Her mind was running at a mile a minute, and all she could do was stare at him, as a war in her conscious decided whether or not to tell him that she had a crush on him. In the end, no matter how much she wanted to admit that she could return the affection he felt for her, the logical part of Wendy Corduroy's brain won out, for once.
"I just was being paranoid. You know how many people in this town are like, werewolves, or sirens of whatever. I was afraid that she might do something to you like what Robbie did with that CD."
He nodded, speaking in a low voice, almost seeming disappointed with her answer. "I guess that makes sense…"
She released a breath and began to get up.
"But you know that I know better than to get drawn in by some kind of monster right?" He asked, tongue in cheek as he continued. "I mean, that happens to Mabel, but I don't give my heart to people that easily. I'm not shallow, and I know when there's something up with someone."
The redhead nodded and stood, helping him up as well. "I know, I know, clearly she actually cared about you, and I was being paranoid and way over the line."
The young detective looked thoughtful and then grimaced. She had a sinking feeling about what he was going to say next.
"You realize you're going to have to say sorry to Pacifica right?" Dipper asked, clearly waiting for her reaction.
Bingo. She should take up palm reading.
Wendy nodded with a sigh. Dipper smiled and took her hand. "C'mon, I'll take you to her house."
He tugged on her arm, but the teen remained reluctant. She spoke with the tone of a small child avoiding the dentist or doctor. "Can't we do it later?"
He gave her a skeptical look.
"It's just that I'm kinda emotionally sapped right now…"
Dipper looked back at her, half rolling his eyes, but the mini detective stopped just as he was about to speak. Unlike Mabel, he had only just noticed the deep bags beneath her eyes.
"I know, but we only have half an hour before the tourists will arrive, and Stan will need you." He admitted.
Wendy rubbed her temple before nodding. When she opened her eyes, he squeezed her hand and spoke in an unwavering voice. "Don't worry, okay? It'll go great."
Nodding again, she rose to her feet, and together they returned to the window from whence they came.
[0]
There was no doorbell to the Northwest mansion. Instead, if one wanted to be acknowledged, and allowed inside, then they had to bang a huge brass door knocker. Which is exactly what Wendy Corduroy did when she and Dipper Pines arrived at the Northwest residence. At first, there was no response, but then she heard a low voice emit from the other side of the huge oak door.
"Who might you be?"
She realized that there was a peephole and moved in front of it so that the person on the other side could see her. "My name is Wendy Corduroy, I'm here to see Pacifica…"
The man on the other side harrumphed. "Do you have an appointment?"
She frowned. "No."
"Well, then I'm afraid you will have to leave."
The redhead frowned harder and leaned away from the peephole. "Listen, I just want to-"
Dipper cleared his throat and took charge. "Horace, she's with me."
The man sighed and no doubt drew a hand across his forehead as he spoke. "Mr. Pines, my employers are going to fire me if I let you in again…"
Dipper smiled, "Only if they find out about it, don't worry, we'll be in and out before they get home."
Horace sighed hard enough to cause the door to creak slightly, and then he opened the door, and Wendy realized that he was a butler. "Welcome Mr. Pines, and Miss Corduroy, Pacifica is in the back."
Dipper gave the stoic man a smile and gestured for his companion to follow as he ran towards the back of the massive house. The house was beautiful, filled with portraits, statues, and was spotless. A crystal chandelier hung high above, the bulbs on it filling the room with light.
Wendy was mesmerized, to say the least, and Dipper had to pull her along via the shirt. If she had thought the inside was beautiful, then Wendy was completely enamored with the back yard. It was filled with topiaries, walls, huge bushes covered in flowers, and there was an immense hedge maze, filled with the statues of minotaur's, satyrs, and the occasional dragon.
"Woah." Was all that she could get out, and Dipper had to tug her past the tennis court,
And over to wear Pacifica was playing croquet.
They arrived just in time to see the blonde strike the ball violently with her hammer, watching as it struck its target. Sighing, she wiped her brow and turned to yelp in surprise at the appearance of Dipper and his teenage friend. Her eyes narrowed, and she glared pointedly at the teenager, before giving Dipper a questionable look. Dipper stepped between them both and cleared his throat before he began to explain.
"She already apologized to me and Mabel," The blonde interrupted, speaking to Dipper but clearly directing her intent towards Wendy.
"Really? Because I apologized to you and Mabel yesterday. I guess some people don't feel as bad about-"
Dipper hushed her with a glare, and calmed Wendy (who was ready to strangle the girl) with a gesture, before continuing. "And now she's here to say sorry to you."
Pacifica looked extremely skeptical, but removed her gaze from Dipper's, and turned to Wendy, her look practically screaming "Well?"
The lanky ginger looked her up and down and then asked. "Do you really play croquet?"
Both pre-teens glared up at her, one in rage and the other in frustration. She held her hands up and spoke in her own defense. "It's a legitimate question, literally no one plays croquet!"
Dipper relinquished slightly, whereas Pacifica only became more pissed off. She looked ready to smash her adversary's head in with the hammer.
Dipper gave his angry friend a small smile and stepped backward, nudging the teen with his elbow. "Okay, I'm sorry…I just um, make jokes when I'm nervous…"
Pacifica rolled her eyes and released a sea of air in her sigh, listening to the guilty party's apology as she regained her composure.
"I shouldn't have been spying on you and Dipper, I'm really sorry. I judged you when I really didn't know you, and I shouldn't have said those things about you when we were fighting…I lost my cool, and I should have been more mature…although to be fair, you were the one who started with the insu-"
Dipper interrupted to prevent his fair headed friend from erupting. "Okay! So, she apologized…Pacifica, don't you uh, don't you have something to say to Wendy?"
The blonde looked ready to belt out all the insults that she had prepared over the past few days, in preparation for just this chance. However, she stopped when she got a stern look from her cap wearing companion and groaned.
"I'm sorry for judging you, and saying you were manipulating Dipper when you had his best interests at heart. It's just that you were more than a tad misguided-" Wendy's left eye twitched and she stepped forward, only to be divided by Dipper once more.
"Okay, okay, that was good. Now why don't you two both-"
They both glared at him hard enough for the word "hug" to be removed from his vocabulary.
"SHAKE HANDS! I was going to say...shake...hands."
They both looked skeptical, and he folded his hands with an indignant look. "What? I'm not Mabel!"
Wendy rolled her eyes, and extended her hand, figuring that she should make the gesture since she had been cocky earlier.
Pacifica regarded the hand as though it were an exotic scorpion, then she sighed, closed her eyes for a moment, and grabbed it, shaking vigorously. Wendy shook as well, perhaps too hard because it caused the young girl to fly up in the air slightly, before crashing back down to her feet.
"Sorry…"
The blonde glared contemptuously up at her, but merely brushed herself off, and turned to Dipper. "You want me to come by the shack later?"
Dipper smiled, "Sure, around five thirty would be great."
The blonde nodded and Dipper gave her a "See you soon." before running off in the direction of the exit, Wendy began to follow him, but stopped, and glanced back at the croquet player, who was watching as Dipper ran off.
She sped back over and spoke in a breathless voice. "Mushroom pizza."
Pacifica frowned. "Excuse me?"
Wendy licked her lips. "You asked what Dipper's favorite food is. You get him some great mushroom pizza it'll blow his little mind."
Wendy put her hands to either side of her head and gestured for emphasis. Pacifica frowned upon this discovery, and glanced at the disappearing form of Dipper, then back at the revealer of this information. But the teen was already running after her friend, yelling "Wait up shortstack," as she closed in.
Pacifica watched as they disappeared inside, sighed, and then returned to her game of croquet.
I hope this was adequate, this story will probably have two or three more chapters. We do have a birthday coming up, and poor Dipper (surrounded by the affection he may be) still has to choose between Wendy and Pacifica. I hope everyone is in character, I didn't want to make Mabel too much of a victim (she still did spy on her brother) but blaming herself seems like something she would do in her own twisted logic. Tell me if it was too dramatic or if this all fit together well. I know it made seem like this would have been a good way to end the story, but I want to wrap things up tighter. I will also have to warn you that there is going to be more angst by the end of this story. Sorry for the "bad dream" cliché, but it seemed to fit well (Maybe Bill wanted her to apologize? I'm not gonna justify myself to you people anymore!).
Disclaimer: I receive no financial gain from creating this story based on Gravity Falls. I own nothing.