Standard I don't own Gravity Falls or Life is Strange and/or their characters and all that legal stuff…

Underage Discoveries On A Reckless Night

Chapter 6

The quartet of teens sat in the waiting room, each minute passing slower than the previous. Tambry was on her phone; updating Nate about Wendy's condition. Part of the conflicted teenager wanted to leave the hospital and return to the party, where her tattooed crush awaited. However, she thought it best that she remain by her best friend's side in her hour of need. Mabel and Pacifica had a lively conversation about a reality show that Dipper had never seen and based on their talk about it, never cared to. The brown haired teen boy stared at the digital clock that hung on the wall, trying to will it to move faster so that he could see Wendy and know that she was alright. He was worried about his once crush and still good friend. The teenager had seen a few nurses and doctors enter and leave the emergency department, each time holding onto a faint bit of hope that one of them would bring news of his fallen friend's condition.

Mabel glanced over at her twin, who seemed to be staring a hole into the digital clock that hung on the tan wall of the waiting room. The brunette wanted to say something, anything to try and cheer her brother up, but feared of just annoying him instead. She began to pick at the police jacked she had been wearing for a few hours now, noticing all of the golden buttons that adorned it. The teen thought of how nice it was of Officer Winston to give her his jacket, as she would be freezing without it. She'd have to write him a nice letter and make him some cookies when this was all over, she thought to herself. The party was fun and the new feelings from the alcohol felt great, but she couldn't enjoy any that now. One of her good friends lay in an operating room and the teen girl wasn't sure of her fate.

Inside the operating room, doctors worked furiously to repair the damage that Wendy had taken from Chloe's fists. The surgeons had inserted a chest tube and removed the blood that had been drowning the auburn haired teenager. They had managed to seal the wound that Wendy had received to her lung by making an incision in the side of the pale skinned teen. A nurse whose green scrubs, which had been stained by some of the teen girl's blood, crossed her fingers as they began to re-inflate her lung. Lying on the operating table, the teenager's body was motionless as the doctors performed the surgery; however, the redhead's mind was racing.

Wendy remembered exiting the car and standing up, only to be unable to draw a breath. Fear raced through her mind as she felt as if she were drowning. The auburn haired teen tried to yell, but nothing came out of her mouth. As the light of the world around her began to fade, terror came over her. Wendy was scared by the fact that this was how it was going to end for her. Not being killed by a mind demon from another dimension or even an accident, but from a fight that she wanted no part of. The terror inside the redhead's mind was soon replaced with sadness that she would never get to experience the many things in life that she wished to do. She would never get to see her family again, even though they stressed her out. She wouldn't get to see her friends, who she cared very deeply about; especially a certain brown haired boy. She wouldn't get to figure out what she wanted to do with her life.

The sadness was supplanted by a rage that she had never felt before. The freckled teen was angry that out of all the reckless and crazy things she had done in her short life, that this is what would take her down. She was angry at Max, for kissing her and starting this whole chain of events. She was angry at Chloe, for not hearing her out when she got caught. Most of all, she was angry that she would never get to tell Dipper Pines how she felt about him. Although she initially rebuffed his feelings that first summer, the redhead had grown more infatuated him as time had moved on. He was smart, kind and caring; all things that the boys her age were not. The teenage girl had realized that the age difference between them was a bit of an obstacle, but that his maturity was far beyond his years. She liked the sense of danger and adventure he brought, whereas the teens her age were more than content to sit at home, get high and play video games. That kind of life might have been fine for them, but she wanted that adventure; that danger in her life. The redhead not only wanted it, but needed it; craved it even. She felt smarter just by being around the younger teenager, who seemed to have an unquenchable appetite for knowledge. The redhead made a promise to herself as the world around her had almost vanished; she would tell Dipper how she felt if she was somehow able to survive this.

Dipper glanced at the clock on the wall as it read '12:26am'. Mabel and Pacifica had fallen asleep, their heads resting against one another. The brown haired teenager smiled a bit, as he was happy that Mabel and Pacifica had become best friends and practically sisters over the past few years. Tambry had retreated to a corner of the waiting room, where she sat on the floor with her phone plugged into the wall outlet. Dipper was convinced that if she were separated from her phone for extended period of time, she very well could die from the withdrawals. The brown haired teenager yawned as his eyelids began to feel heavy. The flannel clad teen closed his eyes and fell asleep, unsure of what he would awake to.

"Excuse me… are you here for Miss Corduroy?" asked a soft voice as Dipper felt a hand shake his shoulder, causing him to stir. The brown haired teenager opened his eyes and yawned as a young woman in purple scrubs emerged from his blurred vision. "Sorry to wake you hun, but are you here for Miss Corduroy?" the voice enquired yet again. "Ye-Yeah… we are" Dipper replied as he let out a rather large yawn. The digital clock on the wall displayed '4:42am' as he caught a glance of it. "Miss Corduroy is in recovery if you would like to visit… she's a bit out of it, but she wanted to see her friends since her family was out of town" the purple scrubbed woman said to the groggy teen boy. The nurse had made her way down to Mabel, waking her the same way she had just awoken her brother. "Five more minutes Mommy…" Mabel replied to the soft voice as she rolled over. The nurse chuckled to herself at the worn out teenager's response.

Dipper had sprung to his feet, eager to see Wendy. As he stood, he stumbled a bit and almost fell back down into the plastic chair. His head felt like he had been in a mixed martial arts fight, radiating with pain. "Mabel… Mabel… Wake up… Wendy can see us… she's gonna be okay" Dipper said as he put his hand on his twin's shoulder and gently shook her awake. "Oh… Wah… That's awesome!" the brunette exclaimed as she stretched and let out a big yawn. The brunette caught sight of her brother walking over to Pacifica, his new girlfriend. The teen boy bent down and pecked the golden locked teen girl on her lips, causing her to stir. "Hey Dip. So… we're really going out, right? It wasn't just a wonderful dream?" she questioned to her boyfriend with a hopeful look on her face. "Yeah, of course we are" the teen boy reassured his girlfriend. "Where's Tambry?" asked Mabel. The trio looked around the room for the violet haired teen girl, who had seemingly disappeared. Dipper walked by a set of the plastic seats that lined the wall when suddenly he tripped over something and fell to the carpeted floor below. Rolling over, he spied the fourth member of their group lying under the seats, sound asleep. The brown haired teen had tripped on her charging cord, which lay haphazardly across the ground. "Hey, Tambry… Tambry… wake up… Wendy's alright! She wants to see us!" the brown haired teen boy exclaimed to the olive skinned girl who currently resided under the seats. The teenage girl shot up as she heard the good news, hitting her head on the stiff plastic seating above. "Ow!" she let out with a yelp as the violet haired teen rolled out from under the seats and rose to her feet, a large smile breaking across her face.

The four teens were led by the young nurse towards the intensive care unit. The group passed by several large rooms until the raven haired nurse came to a halt. "Miss Corduroy is in here. Now be careful, as she's still coming out of anesthesia and may not be herself entirely…" the woman cautioned the teenagers before leaving. Dipper was first to break the threshold of the doorframe and enter the room. The sight that lay ahead of him tore at his soul. Wendy rested in a hospital bed, chords hanging off of the redhead teenager's thin frame. As Mabel, Pacifica and Tambry entered the room, the auburn haired woman opened her eyes. A smile came over Tambry's face, as she was relieved to have seen that her friend pulled through. Mabel fought every urge in her body to rush in and give the injured friend a gigantic hug. Pacifica, while not as close as the other teenagers in the room were to Wendy, still was happy to see that the outdoorsy woman was going to be alright.

The freckled teen girl opened her emerald eyes, confused about where she was. Looking ahead, she saw her friends surrounding the bed. A sense of relief came over the teenage girl as realized she would live to see another day. "Hey… you scared us there for a bit.." Tambry said as she broke the silence in the room, rubbing the back of her neck with her hand. "Wha… What happened guys?" the confused young woman asked in an uncertain and weak voice as she rubbed her eyes, pain coming from her side while raising her arm to do so. "Well… you kinda fell out in the parking lot dude…" Tambry said to her best friend. Wendy looked on as the violet haired teen continued. "That blood you were coughing up was because a rib you broke ended up ripping your lung wide open. The nurse said you were kinda drowning in blood… I-I'm just so glad you're okay… I'm just so…" the olive skinned teen said as she broke down into tears and put a petite hand on her friend's shoulder. Mabel wrapped a comforting arm around the relieved teen girl's back and was next to speak.

"Good to have you back Wendy" she said with a smile. Wendy returned the smile and opened her mouth to speak. "Good to be back Mabes. So dude, I gotta ask… what's with the police jacket?" asked the somewhat confused redhead. "After we left the party, we found Pacifica… she ended up crashing her car and Dip rescued her. I called the cops and this nice state trooper gave me his jacket to stay warm" the brunette explained. "It's a good look for ya' kid…" Wendy said with a bit of a chuckle in her voice. It relieved Dipper to know that Wendy was getting back to her old self already. "Does my Dad or my brothers know I'm here?" asked a concerned Wendy. "Yeah… I called your father and told him what happened. He's on his way back from upstate and should be here later today. I kinda fibbed a bit and told him that someone jumped you over a boy that you were talking to. He took it pretty well… I think. Especially after he asked if you won the fight and I said of course you did. It's hard to tell with your dad… he's kinda angry all the time, so… yeah" the olive skinned girl said in an unsure tone. "Yeah… that sounds like him. Thanks Tambry" the auburn haired woman said to her best friend with a soft smile.

Wendy spotted Pacifica standing towards the back of the hospital room, near the doorway. The two weren't good friends, but had grown closer as they had begun to work alongside one another at the Mystery Shack. "Pacifica… I'm glad you're okay… but I gotta ask…. What the fuck, dude?" the redhead asked the somewhat shocked teen girl. The golden locked young woman approached the side of Wendy's hospital bed, Dipper following in tow, their hands locked together. "Look… I wasn't… I dunno… I was upset and I wasn't thinking. I could have really hurt myself or someone else. I'm glad I didn't, but it was still really selfish of me. I'm sorry…" the blonde said as tears began to fill her eyes yet again. "Dude, dude… It's cool… look… like I said, I'm kinda angry about what you did, but I'm that much more glad that you're alright. I know we're not that good of friends, but I still care about you. We worked together to stop the end of the world, so that kinda makes us friends for life" Wendy said to the teen girl as she glanced down and noticed that she was holding the hand of her own crush. To the auburn haired teen, the sight of that had hurt worse than broken ribs she had received earlier in the night. "Thanks Wendy. I'm lucky to have a good friend like you" the teen girl said.

"I'm glad you're doing better… You scared me there for a minute Wendy" Dipper said to the bed ridden teen girl. "Hey, I scared myself there… I thought that was it… that I-I was gone. I've… I-I got to thinking while I was between planes of existence… and I swore to myself that if I woke up that I'd say something that I'd been meaning to say for a long time" the redhead said to the brown haired boy, unsure of her words or how they'd be received. The four friends that surrounded the hospital bed looked on as Wendy swallowed hard and continued. "I-I… I just wanted to say that I love… I uh… I love you… I love you Dipper… an-and Mabel… and Pacifica… and Tambry… I love you guys and I'm so glad that I got to see you again" she said to the group, who had smiles on their faces. The redhead had wanted to profess her love for the adventurous teen boy, but thought better of it. She cursed herself inside her head, as she knew she had made the right choice, but not the one she wanted to make.

"We love you too Wendy!" Mabel said to the bed ridden redhead. The brunette teen girl had picked up on Wendy's true declaration of love. Mabel was a lot of things, but stupid was not one of them. While her brother liked to gloat about his 'keen sense of observation', she had decided to keep her power of deduction to herself. Over last two summers, she had noticed Wendy stealing admiring glances of the teenage boy. Mabel was well versed in the art of swooning over boys, so she had quickly picked up on the auburn haired teen's crush of her twin. She found it cute, but at the same time it caused a bit of anger in the usually happy go lucky girl. Mabel found it a bit hypocritical that when her brother was crushing on the then fifteen year old, Wendy felt that their age was an obstacle that they would not be able to overcome. Now, her brother was fifteen and the eighteen year old Wendy apparently saw no problem with the age difference.

"So… are my eyes deceiving me, or are you two holding hands?" asked Wendy with a bit of an upward inflection in her voice. The golden locked teen girl blushed and looked away as Dipper buried his free hand into the pocket of his jeans. "Y-Yeah… we are…" Pacifica said as she broke the silence of the room. "You know what? That's pretty awesome! I had a feeling you two had a thing for each other" Wendy said as she tried to keep up the act with a huge and fake smile.

"So… it's getting pretty late and… like, I'm pretty sure that I'm stuck here… so why don't you guys go on and get outta here" Wendy said to her friends. "Are you sure?… I mean, it's like five in the morning… we really have nowhere to be…" Tambry asked her bed ridden best friend. "Yeah… we're exactly where we need to be right now…" Mabel said to Wendy. "Yeah… I'm sure. Besides, somebody's gotta run the Shack today. I promise… I'll be alright" the auburn haired woman reassured her friends. "Okay… but if you need anything… and I do mean anything, I'm just a text away" Tambry told her best friend. The four teenagers bid farewell to their injured friend and left the hospital room. The friends took a moment to reflect on the crazy night that had taken place as the morning sun began to rise over the horizon.

"Tambry, are all parties as wild and dangerous as this one was?" Mabel asked with genuine intrigue as she stared down at her swollen wrist. "Well kid, I'm not gonna lie here… no… not really. I promise the next one will be just a little safer" the olive skinned girl said to the younger brunette. "Hey… here's my keys… why don't you and your brother go and get settled in… I gotta talk to Pacifica here for a minute…" Tambry said to the dress clad girl. "Why?..." Mabel asked with a tone of confusion in her voice. "Remember yesterday when Wendy pulled you aside and explained 'Girl Code'?" the violet haired teen asked. "Yeah… I do…" the brunette girl replied. "Well… I kinda violated it myself… so I gotta make it right with blondie over there" the older teen explained. "Oh… okay!" Mabel enthusiastically replied as she took off the catch up with her twin brother.

"Hey, Pacifica!" Tambry called out to the golden locked teen girl. Pacifica turned around and acknowledged the older teen girl's call. "Yeah?" she replied as Tambry approached. "Can we talk for a second? You know… just us two girls?" the violet haired teenager asked. "I guess… what's up?" the purple jacket clad girl questioned. "Well… about what you saw… last night… Dipper and I… look… I.. uhh-" Tambry began to explain with an unsure voice before being cut off by the young blonde. "Look… I know what this is about, and it's cool. I think we all were acting a little unusual last night, so it's cool…" Pacifica said as she locked her blue eyes with Tambry's green ones. "It's really not cool… I didn't know you guys liked each other… if I had; I never would have made a move on him. To be honest… I was just really drunk and really… and I mean really, horny. I let my hormones get the best of me. I feel so bad that you got hurt because of it, and I-" the olive skinned girl said to the blonde before being cut off again. "It's alright. Really. I believe you. Just promise me one thing Tambry?" Pacifica asked the unsure teenager. "Sure… anything… what is it?" the violet haired teen girl uneasily questioned. "Never… and I mean, NEVER… bring it up again. 'Kay?" the blonde said with a smile, which confused Tambry. "You got it kid…" the older teen girl said as a look of relief came over Pacifica's face. "Actually… Can you promise me something?" the olive skinned girl asked the blonde girl. "Okay? What?" she inquired. "Don't break his heart… he's one of the good ones" Tambry instructed with a serious tone. "I promise" Pacifica said as she nodded.

The two teen girls caught up to the Mystery Twins, who had made it to the black import car. They drove off into the uncertainty that the new day brought. Their minds remained with Wendy, who no doubt was in an incredible amount of pain. Mabel wondered how long she could keep Wendy's secret about her love of Dipper. Beside her in the driver's seat, Tambry was rife with fear. The fear that she may have missed her only shot with Nate; the fear that she almost lost her lifelong best friend. She tried to put on a brave front for the sake of both her reputation and the younger teens that now accompanied her, but deep inside she was awash in a sea of despair. In the back seat of the car were Dipper and Pacifica, who had begun to hold hands yet again. The blonde teen could not shake the feeling of how right it felt to be Dipper Pine's girlfriend. It was everything she had wanted since that fateful hug at her parent's mansion more than three years ago. Dipper had taken the hand of his girlfriend; something that had been incomprehensible to him a few years ago. The brown haired boy had seen a change in the teen girl over time and grew to love the girl who lay just beneath the surface of the illustrious Northwest name.

Wendy lay in her hospital room; once again alone with her thoughts. She had thought about how close she had come to professing her hidden love for the younger teen boy. Sure, she could have been selfish, but that just wasn't her way. In the auburn haired woman's mind, if it were meant to be, they would eventually find their way to one another. For now, the young woman just wanted her friend to be happy. She smiled to herself as the pain medication began to settle in to her system, the world once again fading away from the redhead.