"Dipper, are you okay?" Mabel was really worried about her brother. He had been sunken into a sullen, almost Robbie-esque state over the course of the past four days, and had barely even touched the book, which was very unusual for him. Dipper rubbed his eyes and looked over at Mabel, who was sitting across from him on her bed with Waddles at her feet.
"Yeah, I'm fine. I still just feel like such an idiot. Y'know? I'm just a kid to her. And I need to remember that, I guess." Mabel sighed, knowing that it was true. She had heard those words straight from Wendy's mouth less than an hour earlier.
"She is a little old for you, Dipper…and besides, that isn't what this is about! How could you ask her on a date right after she broke up with Robbie? She lov-…she likes him a lot." Dipper ran his hands through his hair, tossing his pine adorned cap on the ground.
"She can't love him, Mabel! He's a jerk! He tried to hypnotize her and I was just trying to help.
Ugh. Boys. "DIPPPER. Listen, we don't even know if Robbie knew about that message! From what I've heard, he just bought that dumb CD from a record store and passed it off to impress Wendy." Dipper glared at her.
"It doesn't matter. He's still a jerk and a bully and he doesn't deserve her." Mabel, after her talk with Wendy herself, was having trouble not yelling at her brother.
"You don't know that, Dipper! We haven't even been here a whole month yet. And…and…", Mabel hesitated, knowing that what she was about to say would set Dipper off. "…he was here first." Dipper tried to muster up all the resentment and jealousy he had for Robbie and…couldn't find any.
"You're right, Mabel." he said quietly. "And you know what? I'm okay with it." Dipper thought about the events from four days previously. Despite the fact that he wasn't Robbie's number one fan, he knew that the breakup had killed the teen. As much as it pained Dipper to even think it, the amount Robbie cared for Wendy was clear. He coughed. "So, ah, Mabel, do you think…do you think he really didn't know about the subliminal messages on that CD?" Mabel shrugged.
"I don't know. It's possible. It's…" Squealing, Mabel jumped up. "He said he got that CD from somewhere, right? Like, a thrift store or garage sale?" Dipper squinted at her, confused.
"Uh. Yes? Why?" Mabel started bouncing around, curly brown hair flapping everywhere and Waddles, catching on to Mabel's excitement, began to run around the middle of the room squealing.
"It's a mystery! I feel like we haven't had a mystery in forever!" Her brother gaped at her.
"Seriously, Mabel? You just released a group of cloned boy band members into the wild four days ago! One of them keeps coming back to make out with the tree in front of the Shack! I'd say that's pretty mysterious!" Mabel grimaced.
"Hey now, cut Creggy G a break. He's never been outside befo- HEY. Stop distracting me with beautiful boys, Dipper! We need to figure out where the heck this freak-o CD came from!" Dipper groaned.
"Mabel, you know I love finding the mysteries in this place, but this isn't the time. I really messed up, and everyone is hurting and I…I just don't know what to do. It's not like I have any friends back home, and I don't want to hurt the people I like here and…" Dipper paused, tears springing to his eyes. Upon seeing the look on Dipper's face, Mabel hopped up and sat next to him on his bed.
"Aw, Dipper, cheer up. Wendy'll come around. She likes you a lot, Dipper. Just not…just not the way you want. And Robbie…he's not so bad. I think he's like you, Dipper. He's just a big dork who doesn't know what to do with himself and sometimes that's bad for him. Just like you. Dipper wiped the tears running down his face on his arm and looked at his sister.
"I'm not a dork." Mabel chuckled and pulled her brother into a hug, ignoring the fact that Waddles was chewing on his cap which was still lying on the floor. What would this town do without us, Waddles?, she pondered. Clearly, we're the only ones holding it together.