Chapter 4: Getting To Know You

Throughout breakfast, Dipper couldn't help but constantly have his gaze linger over Lily. Of course, he had to duck his gaze if she ever glanced back over his way. Despite his fears of being entranced in her eyes, he wanted to see them again. He wanted to hear her voice. He was afraid though that he would make her uncomfortable with his stare, especially since he knew he wasn't the most impressive of guys. She would think he was a creep or a weirdo.

"Why do you keep lookin' across the room?" asked Grunkle Stan.

"Oh-uh-uh, no reason!"replied Dipper, turning his attention back to his plate, and quickly shoveling food into his mouth.

"I know why," said Mabel with a look of mischief on her braced smile.

"It's nothing! Don't listen to a word she says," said Dipper, leaning closer to Mabel's ear and speaking in a whisper. "You promised not to tell!"

"I won't," she assured.

"You better not have your fingers crossed."

"I don't."

"Are you wearing the 'Scout's Honor' sweater?"

"Dipper, you know me better than that. I wouldn't spoil your secret. I never told Wendy that you liked her."

"All right," he conceded, concentrating back on his plate. The big difference between though between Wendy and Lily other than age was that Wendy was out of his league, and he knew it. Lily was totally in his league, but that didn't mean that she wouldn't reject him either. What chance did he have with her?

Meanwhile, Lily lingered long over breakfast. She wasn't too eager to get back to Great-Uncle Jack's too soon.

"Well, Lily, here's the schedule today," her grandfather explained. "I checked in Jack's fridge last night, what we had for dinner last night was all that was left of his provisions. Also, the bathroom was out of toilet paper. So I'm goin' down to the bank to make a transaction, and then I'm goin' to buy everything that we'll need for at least the next week. Is there anything in particular that you want? Lily?"

But Lily wasn't listening. She was watching Dipper and his twin talk from across the room. She thought he was pretty cute, not in the strong-jawed, flowing hair, muscular build kind of way, but in his own way. She was sure that any other girl would have told her that he wasn't the sort of guy she should fall in love with, but she saw something in him that seemed … well, unique. She couldn't quite figure it out, but there was something about him that intrigue her. She was hoping that she would have another chance to talk with him.

"Earth to Lily!" She jumped at the sound of Pop's exasperated patience.

"Sorry, Pop! I guess I was, um, daydreaming. What did you say?"

"Oh brother," he sighed. "What were you thinkin' about anyway?"

"Nothing. Nothing important."

"Were you thinkin' about your family?" "Uh... well, sometimes I do."

That wasn't a lie. Ever since she left home, she was wondering how they were all doing. They were at as much risk as she was with the family secret, and she worried that all the bad things her parents described that could happen to her were happening to them.

"Then we should do somethin' to make you happy," decided Pop. "This ain't the Lily I know and love. What would like to do?"

Lily knew just what she'd like.

"Could we stop back at the Mystery Shack?"

"Hmm," Pop thought well for half a minute, then answered her with an even better proposition. "You know, I plan on gettin' more than just groceries for us to survive on for the duration of our stay, so we would be out all day long. How 'bout this? I'll go out shoppin,' while you stay at the Shack all day. That doesn't sound too long?"

"Not all! Thanks, Pop!" Lily cried hugging him. "Thank you thank you thank you!"

"Well, I need to go and talk with Stan first and see what he says."

Pop got and walked over to Stan's booth. He asked him the favor that he could do his old friend.

"Well, I don't know, Popper," Stan replied uncertainly. "I mean, these two pipsqueaks are enough trouble."

He gestured at his grand-niece and -nephew. Popper simply pulled out a wad of bills, and held it out to Stan.

"A pleasure doin' business with ya," said Stan, grabbing the money.

"Drive safely," said Pop, walking away from the booth. "I'll see ya later, Lily," he called to his grand-daughter, exiting the diner. Lily waved until he left, then jumped out of her booth and headed to the Pines family as they were getting up to leave themselves.

"So you're the little scamp who ran out yesterday," Stan said to her. "Well, any relative of a well-paying patron is a good friend of mine. Mabel, Dipper, make sure she gets her seat belt on straight in the car." He began walking out the front door.

"Sooo, Lily," said Mabel. "Did you see anything you liked at the Mystery Shack yesterday?"

Your brother. "Um, well, I saw you guys," she replied. "I mean, you seem like really nice people. And, um, I saw all that candy."

"I set up those rows myself," she said proudly. "I wanted Waddles to help, but Stan told me he would just eat all the merchandise and that it was bad enough since we have a goat who does that."

"Who's Waddles?" asked Lily, as they boarded the car. "He's my pig," replied Mabel. "And my soul mate."

"You have a pig? I've been begging my parents to our family a pig for years. They're as intelligent and fun as dogs."

"You get in first, Dipper," said Mabel chivalrously. "Why don't you sit between us, Lily? Between me and my brother?"

Lily seated herself down, buckled her seat belt, and Stan started the engine and headed back to the Shack. Dipper began to feel jittery and nervous. He was afraid that he would begin to sweat with his heart pounding so much. While Mabel asked Lily about what bands she listened to, what her favorite flavor of ice cream was, what she wanted to come back as in a second life, Dipper willed himself to keep his heart rate down, which within the few minutes didn't take long. He just listened to Lily's honey-sweet voice, and felt himself get taken away by it, like he was listening to the notes of beautiful, calming music. If all he had to do for the rest of his life was sit and listen to Lily talk, he would have no regrets.

"So Dipper, what do you to do?"

It took him a full three seconds for Dipper to realize the question Lily asked was directed at him. But his mind went blank.

"Uh..." Say something, dummy! Say something! She asked you a simple question! "I... like... to... go... mystery solving?"

"Really? What do you do?"

He punched himself in the face to get his act together. "Oh, I just look for clues, take evidence, search for monsters, all that crazy weird stuff."

"Did you just punch yourself in the face?"

"Pretend I didn't."

"Well, here we are," announced Stan. "Home Sweet Shack. Just don't break anything inside. It doesn't come cheap, you know."