Chapter 9: A Day with Mabel

'Have you ever had a sibling that you have been out in the public with and they have just embarrassed you to the point of you not wanting to look at them the rest of the day? Well today, Tyrone will know what being out in public with an overactive Mabel will be like!


"I can't wait to go grocery shopping today!" Mabel shouts in excitement as she looks over her grocery list. "I'm going to buy everything on my list! The marshmallows, the suckers, and those little candies that are individually wrapped! I can't wait to buy it all! "

Dipper, who is lying on his bed with his hat pulled down over his face, sighs at the thought of going to the grocery store with his hyperactive slightly older sister and their cheap money grubbing uncle. Between his uncle and his overly active sister, he didn't know who was worse!

"Dipper, when are we leaving?" Mabel happily asks as she hops onto the end of his bed. "I don't want all of the candy to be bought up before I get there!"

"Mabel, it's a grocery store." Dipper says with a sigh. "They will have plenty of candy for you to buy, eat, give yourself a ton of cavities, and then have a major sugar crash tonight."

"And when you crash for the evening, I'll actually get some rest." Dipper mentally says to himself.

"So when are we leaving?" The bouncing girl continues her questioning. "I can't wait until we go!"

Sitting up, Dipper pulls his hat back into its original position and faces his jumpy sister.

"Mabel, please promise me when we get to the grocery store that you will not do anything to embarrass me." Dipper calmly says to Mabel. "I want to go out, handle this, and come back home without bad nerves this time."

"You are so silly, Dippy." Mabel laughs, jokingly pushing dipper. "When have I ever embarrassed you at the store?"

With Mabel having asked that question, Dipper's mind now reels back to when he and Mabel followed their mother to the grocery store back in California.

Flashback

"I have to have this, and this, oh and I HAVE to have this!" Mabel shouts as she happily runs through the candy and magazine aisle grabbing handfuls of candy bags and throwing them into the cart that Dipper is pushing. "I haven't had candy caramel in a long time, I have to get this!"

Dipper, who is pushing the cart, is watching as his sister loads down the cart with items from her list. Their mom is another aisle with her own cart and is picking up items form her own list. That week's dinner items, household supplies, cleaning supplies, etc.

"Mabel, you are aware that you have braces on right?" Dipper asks, reminding his sister of her eating limitations. "You can't eat suckers or any of this hard candy. You will bust a row in your braces again. Do you remember the Jolly Rancher hard candy incident six months ago? You were in pain for two days thanks to you 'needing' to eat the entire bag and the dentist having to realign your entire top row of your braces. I wasn't even in the chair and I felt your pain."

"That was the past Dipper." Mabel replies, now placing a Jolly Rancher sucker bag in the cart. "My mouth doesn't hurt anymore and the same thing can't happen twice."

"Mabel, as your brother, I am trying to look after you." Dipper says, irritation evident in his voice as he stops pushing the cart. "Now I'm telling you to put some of this candy back before history repeats itself. I don't think mom wants to go through another week of dental visits."

Watching as Mabel continues down the aisle, Dipper knows that his words weren't heard. Sighing, Dipper decides not to say another word, knowing that his sister will do what she wants, regardless of the outcome. With Mrs. Pines done with her shopping, she now makes her way to the isle where Dipper and Mabel are.

"Are you kids ready to check out yet?" Mrs. Pine's asks as the woman now enters the aisle with her own cart.

"We will be as soon as Mabel is done." Dipper answers, continuing to watch his hyper sister run down the aisle.

Mrs. Pines now looks into the cart and notices that it is half filled with bags of candy.

"Let me guess, Mabel?" Mrs. Pines inquires to Dipper.

"You guessed it." Dipper replies. "She thinks that what happened six months ago won't happen again."

Mabel, who has finally picked out the last of the candy on her list, now returns to the cart and her brother.

"I'm done." Mabel smiles.

"Mabel, honey, you might want to pick just one or two bags of candy." Mrs. Pines gently speaks to her daughter. "This is sort of going overboard and with you wearing braces, you can't possibly eat all of this."

Hearing her mother asking her to put some of her list items back, sadness overcomes the girl.

"But mom, they won't be here when I come back." Mabel sadly speaks.

"She's trying to look after you now put them back!" Dipper snaps. "NOW!"

Tears begins welling up in the girl's eyes with her poking out her bottom lip in a pout. Not being able to hold back any longer, Mabel bursts into a waterfall of tears right in the middle of the aisle. Mrs. Pines runs to Mabel's side to comfort her and to prevent any further attention from being drawn to the three. Having shouted at his sister, Dipper begins feeling guilty and joins their mother in comforting Mabel.

"I'm sorry Mabel." Dipper whispers as she embraces Mabel in a hug. "I didn't mean to yell at you. I am just looking out for you, we both are."

Pushing Dipper and their mother off, Mabel runs away from the two and into another aisle, where she regresses into sweater town.

"I'll go talk to her." Dipper sighs as he begins walking out of the aisle to go find Mabel.

End of Flashback

Having had the flashback, Dipper shutters at the thought of Mabel drawing attention to him once again, this time in a different town and state.

"I so can't live through that again." Dipper mentally says to himself. "I have to find a way out of this or else I will have bad nerves by the end of the night."

Quickly thinking through every scenario possible, the boy's mind lands on the one thing that can help him out in a time like this.

"So are you going to ask gruncle Stan when we are leaving?" Mabel continues asking.

"Yea, I'm going to get right on that." Dipper replies, now getting to his feet. "You stay right here and once I find out, I'll be right up to get you ok?"

"Ok!" Mabel happily cheers.

Now exiting the room and reaching the first floor of the shack, Dipper begins making his way to the shack's shop.

Mystery Shop

Wendy and Tyrone are currently working in the shop with Tyrone sweeping the floor. Now sweeping the floor content into the dust pan, Tyrone dumps it into trash.

"So Tyrone, I meant to ask." Wendy begins. "When did you find out that you were Dipper and Mabel's cousin?"

"Oh I found some pictures of them in an old photo album." Tyrone answers, now turning to the teen. "I asked my mom about them before she passed away. She told me about them and where they normally go for the summer."

"You guys never attended a family reunion before?" Wendy continues asking.

"No, my family really weren't into family gatherings." Tyrone answers, now taking a seat on the stool at the end of the counter.

"I hear ya, neither is my family." Wendy replies. "My dad hates them and rejects every invitation we get. But I have to tell you, I can't get over how much you and Dipper look alike. You can pass as his twin brother instead of his cousin."

"I get that a lot." Tyrone says with a smile. "So Wendy, I was thinking. After work if you're not doing anything, would you like to catch a movie with me?"

"Sure." Wendy agrees. "What's playing?"

"Oh an adventure film by the name of Attack of the Meteor People." Tyrone replies. "I heard that movie is the movie of the century and they have a romance film playing as well, but it's in French."

"Ok, if the first movie sucks, then we'll catch the second one right after." Wendy replies with a nod. "That way the first movie can be forgotten almost immediately."

"Great." Tyrone says. "So about 5?"

"Yea, that'll be great." Wendy nods.

Just then Dipper enters the shop and notices the two are talking. Noticing the look on Tyrone's face as he talks to Wendy, Dipper can feel his jealousy rousing, but quickly contains it.

"Hey guys." Dipper speaks up, now getting the attention of the two.

"Hey double dip." Wendy greets to Dipper.

"Hey cousin." Tyrone greets. "What's up?"

"I'm glad you asked because Tyrone I need to speak with you for a moment." Dipper informs the clone.

"Sure." Tyrone nods, now stepping off the stool and joining Dipper's side. The two boys now step out in the hall.

"What's up Dipper?" Tyrone inquires.

"You are going to trade places with me today and go to the store with Mabel." Dipper informs him.

"Wait, why me?" Tyrone asks in shock.

"Because I don't want a repeat performance as to what happened back home in California." Dipper replies. "Mabel embarrassed me so badly, I had bad nerves the rest of the night."

"So you want me to switch places with you so I can endure that?" Tyrone retorts. "No way! I have plans to tonight."

"And they are?" Dipper asks, folding his arms across his chest.

"I asked Wendy if she would go to a movie with me later." Tyrone reveals.

Dipper can feel his heart sink and his anger bubbling upon hearing that, but keeps it well controlled.

"Why did you do that?" Dipper calmly asks to the clone.

"If you're about to ask me what I know you will, you don't have to worry about that." Tyrone says, hoping to correct Dipper. "I do work with her so I figured it will be best to spend some time with her and get to know her on a friend's basis."

"Well not today." Dipper replies. "You are going to spend time with our lovely sister Mabel and help her grocery shop."

Removing his hat, Dipper switches his with Tyrone's. Now Dipper is wearing Tyrone's two and Tyrone is wearing Dipper's pine tree hat.

"You do know that is never going to work." Tyrone protests. "Wendy does know the difference between us and she will find out that you're not me."

"We can pull it off." Dipper replies with a sly smile. "Besides, no one can really tell us apart without our hats and with me wearing yours and you wearing mine that makes it hard for anyone to tell which Dipper is which. So today, Dipper, you're going to go spend time with Mabel while I, Tyrone, spend time with Wendy. By the way, what are you going to see anyway?"

"Attack of the Meteor People." Tyrone replies as he crosses his arms across his chest. "And a French film as a second choice."

"Good thing I can speak French then." Dipper says with a grin.

"Ok you two let's go!" Stanford's voice calls out from the den. "I want to get a parking space in front of the doors so I won't have to walk too far!"

"Coming gruncle Stan!" Mabel's voice replies from the attic.

"Ok, I guess spending time with Mabel wouldn't be too bad." Tyrone nods. "Besides, I don't get a chance to spend time with her enough and after all, she is my sister too."

"Exactly." Dipper replies as he straightens Tyrone's vest. "And don't worry, I'll tell you all about the movie when you come back."

"I really hate you, you know that right?" Tyrone laughs.

"I know." Dipper laughs. "Now off you go 'Dipper'."

With that, Tyrone heads off to join Mabel and Stanford in the den for departure. Now entering the den, the clone notices that Mabel is going over her list. Releasing a deep breath, Tyrone smiles. With as much time as he and Mabel never spend together, spending the day with Mabel at the grocery store shouldn't be too bad right? At least not as bad as what Dipper described.

"Hey, Mabes, ready to go?" Tyrone speaks up, now getting the girl's attention.

"I so am!" Mabel happily replies.

"Alright you two, let's get going." Stan demands. "I don't want to be out later than I have to be. Considering you kids gotta eat, it'd be a crime not to feed you so let's move it."

With that, Tyrone, Mabel, and Stanford pile into the car and soon drives away to their destination.

Shack's Shop

Dipper has made his way to the counter and is seated at the stool at the end of the counter.

"Hey Tyrone, why don't we close up for 'lunch' and go catch the movie now." Wendy suggests. "This place is a ghost town and the hour that we will be gone, I seriously doubt anyone will show up."

"Well, just in case someone does, we can leave Soos in charge." Dipper replies. "He can watch the store while we're gone. Wait, let me take that back: He will watch the cash register while we're gone."

"Haha, you are funny." Wendy laughs. "I see Stan is rubbing off on you, but you make a point kid. Soos!"

Within seconds, the man child now enters the shop, having heard his name being called.

"You called Wendy?" Soos happily says.

"How would you like to watch the store and the register for me and Tyrone while we take a lunch break?" Wendy convincingly asks. "It'll really impress Mr. Pines and a promotion can come from such responsibility."

Having worked for Stan for free long enough, Soos has been hoping for a position that will finally pay him.

"I will watch it like a hawk Wendy." Soos replies with a salute and a smile. "I will not let you down."

"Happy we can count on you Soos." Wendy nods as she turns to Dipper, winking at him. "Let's go take our 'lunch' break now Tyrone."

Dipper now jumps off the stool and quickly grabs Wendy's jacket. Handing the jacket to her, the two now make their way out the door with Soos taking Wendy's place behind the counter.

"Like a hawk!" Soos declares as the two now leave the shop.

Gravity Falls Community Market

Stanford, Tyrone, and Mabel are currently doing their shopping, but have split up into two groups. Tyrone is shopping with Mabel and Stanford is shopping by himself while trying to advertise the shack's deals for the week to two fellow customers.

"You will be amazed at what you see in my Mystery Shop." Stan continues. "I guarantee that what you find there you can't buy anywhere else in the world!"

With Tyrone and Mabel, Mabel has begun filling up the cart with her favorite bags of candy. Watching as the girl fills up the cart, Tyrone is inclined to speak, but doesn't know how to form his words.

"I have to have these!" Mabel squeals as she places the caramel-green apple hard candy suckers in the cart. "Can you believe they don't have these back home Dipper?"

"Um, Mabel, are you sure you want to buy all of this?" Tyrone begins. "You do have on braces and you could really hurt yourself and them if you try to eat this hard candy."

"No way Dipper, we are not going to go through this again!" Mabel says in defense. "You are not going to tell me what I can and can't buy with my allowance!"

"Mabel, I'm just trying to look out for you." Tyrone begins, feeling his temper beginning to flare. "You have on braces, which severely limits what you can and can't eat. Remember the dental visit and the pain you were in for two days straight? Do you really want that again? Please listen to me before you hurt yourself again."

"But if I don't get these now they won't have them when we come back here next week." Mabel begins pouting.

"Mabel, this is a grocery store." Tyrone says with a sigh. "What they run out of, they always reorder to restock."

"You said that about the jolly rancher candy back in California." Mabel retorts. "When we went back two weeks later, they were gone!"

"But when we went back a week after that, they had more." Tyrone calmly replies, trying his best not to argue with Mabel. "Listen, all I'm saying is that I don't want to see you go through that again Mabel. Seeing you in pain like that really bothered me. So please, pick more of the gummy chews so you can enjoy what you love without hurting yourself."

Mabel now folds her arms and narrows her eyes in anger at Tyrone.

"What?" Tyrone asks in confusion.

The Falls Multiplex

Dipper and Wendy are currently viewing the movie Attack of the Meteor People in 3D. While the regular movie tickets were at a reasonable price, the manatee for the 3D showing was much cheaper. Who can scoff at five dollars a ticket with a free tub of large popcorn?

Theatre six is packed and a loud crash from the movie now occurs with the movie goers jumping in their seats, including Dipper and Wendy.

"Man, this movie is awesome!" Wendy cheers. "I am so happy you invited me to come Tyrone."

"I told you this movie was awesome!" Dipper replies with a wide smile.

"When the next movie is playing, you have to invite me along!" Wendy says as she and Dipper jump in their seats again.

"You have my word." Dipper smiles.

An action movie with the girl of his dreams is all the boy could ask for. This day can't possibly get any better. Or can it?

Having jumped once more from an asteroid crashing into planet earth in the movie, Dipper now feels Wendy's right hand on top of his left. Wanting so badly to jump up and dance in the aisle the two are seated in, the younger pines has settled for writing this down in his journal later while currently melting into the girl's touch.

Gravity Falls Community Market

After trying to convince Mabel about picking more suitable choice candies for her situation, Mabel has gone into sweater town with Tyrone currently trying to bring her out.

"Mabel, will you please come out of sweater town?" Tyrone sighs, this being his fifth attempt with trying to coax the girl out of her hiding/comfort zone without causing a scene. "You know I wasn't trying to tell you what to do. I am just trying to save you from hurting yourself. A loving brother does that for his sister."

"You were trying to tell me what to do!" Mabel whines inside the sweater. "Just like in California!"

Sighing once more, Tyrone now takes a seat next to the girl.

"Mabel, if I did or said anything to hurt your feelings, I'm sorry." Tyrone apologizes. "I just want you to be safe is all. Alright, how about this: How about I buy one of your favorite bags of hard candy for you and when you get your braces loosened or taken off, then the candy will be right there for you. I'll make sure of that, no matter how long it takes."

"Really?" Mabel asks, now popping her head out of the top of the sweater.

"Absolutely." Tyrone smiles. "Hard candy doesn't go bad and can last a lifetime. So let's say that you get your braces off when you're 20, the candy will still be good."

Smiling, Mabel now embraces Tyrone in a hug.

"Thank you Dipper." Mabel says with Tyrone returning the hug. "For being a great brother and looking out for me."

"You're welcome Sis." Tyrone replies. "Now let's get going before gruncle Stan barks at us."

Getting to his feet, Tyrone now helps Mabel to hers as the two begins making their way to the cart.

"Are you knuckle heads done yet?" Stanford says to the two, now entering the aisle. "The Duchess Approves will be on in an hour and I don't want to miss the opening credits."

"Yea, we're done." Mabel replies, now turning to Tyrone with a smile. "But before we go, I have to put some things back first."

"Well make it quick." Stanford replies. "The drive back is long enough."

Mystery Shack

Dipper and Wendy now walk through the doors of the Mystery shack's shop, still wearing their 3D glasses.

"Man that movie was totally awesome!" Wendy cheers as she and Dipper remove their glasses. "That has got to be the best movie of the summer!"

"So happy you could join me Wendy." Dipper replies. "A movie such as that deserves the company of two people."

"You said it." Wendy agrees.

Soos now returns to the shop with a box in his hands and notices Wendy and Dipper are back from their 'lunch' break.

"Hey dudes, how was your lunch break?" Soos inquires, now placing the box on the counter.

"It was awesome." Wendy and Dipper say in unison with wide smiles.

"So did anyone come into the shop while we were gone?" Dipper inquires.

"Not a soul." Soos replies. "But I watched the shop and the register like a hawk!"

"I knew we could count on you Soos." Wendy says with a smile.

Tyrone now enters the shop and spots Wendy, Dipper, and Soos.

"Hey guys." Tyrone greets, getting everyone's attention.

"Hey Dipper." Dipper sly greets to Tyrone.

"Hey Tyrone, can I talk to you for a moment?" Tyrone asks Dipper as he adjusts his hat.

"Sure." Dipper agrees, as the two boys now step out into the hall.

"So how was shopping with Mabel?" Dipper inquires, knowing that the clone's next words are going to be words of horror.

"Well it was interesting to say the least." Tyrone replies, he and Dipper now switching their hats back. "She did give me a hard time about what candy she could eat, but we eventually came to an agreement and she listened to me."

"I told you that she would do that." Dipper says. "Mabel doesn't like being told what to do or what to eat. That's why I try to avoid doing that when I'm anywhere with her unless we are going monster hunting. Mabel is Mabel."

"Well despite that, I had a pretty nice time with her." Tyrone smiles. "She may have given me a hard time just a bit, but otherwise, I enjoyed shopping with her. I'd do again if I got the chance again."

As the two boys continue talking about Tyrone's outing with Mabel, they don't notice Mabel approach them with a bag of Jolly Rancher hard candies in her hands.

"Hey guys." Mabel greets to them. "Dipper, I want to give you this. I really appreciate you looking out for me like you have and glad that you have been so patient with me, despite me disagreeing with you about this. This is a token of my appreciation."

Dipper now takes the bag of candy from Mabel with Mabel embracing him in a hug. Dipper returns the hug with the two now releasing each other.

"No problem Sis." Dipper nods. "Anytime."

"So Tyrone." Mabel begins, now turning to the clone with a brace-filled smile. "Despite what happened today, would you consider going shopping with me again?"

Tyrone and Dipper now turn to each other in shock, surprised that Mabel knew who followed her to the market today.


And here I thought Mabel couldn't tell the difference between the two even with their hats switched, but guess I was wrong lol! Well at least Tyrone got the chance to spend time with his sister while Dipper finally got his first date with Wendy, if it can so be called that!

Next week's gala entry: Mabellita and Mordecai are expecting their first child and when Mabellita goes into labor, will Mordecai remain calm to help his wife though the labor process or will he loose his cool along the way? Keep reading to find out!


To reviewer Illusion: Tyrone wasn't present in Versus Mabel as I didn't plan his presence, but you will find him in my continuation story, The Return of Catherine, the first chapter due to be posted Saturday morning!

As always, Please Review!