Chapter 10: Coffee and Games

Dipper again was early to rise on his Sunday morning. He actually felt sore from yesterdays practice. Well… either that or from Robbie beating on him. Thinking back on it he wished he had the chance to beat Robbie's ass. But it would only cause trouble for Wendy and probably get him kicked of the Track team. Dipper couldn't do that to Wendy after just joining the team.

In the end, Dipper believed he made the right decision in not fighting back. Though Mabel disagreed when he told her last night.

Dipper decided to actually not work out this morning. He decided to go downstairs and have a real breakfast for once than just eat a piece of toast.

Dipper started to make some eggs, bacon, and pancakes. By the time he was done cooking, Mabel had worked her way down the stairs following the smell of his good cooking.

"Dipper! I hope you made enough for me too!" Mabel begged

Knowing her twin would come down to the scent of breakfast, Dipper had already prepared for his sister.

"Here, I knew you wouldn't pass it up." Dipper said as he handed Mabel her loaded breakfast platter.

"Orange juice is still in the fridge." Dipper stated.

Dipper cooked enough for Stan as well when he woke up.

Dipper then turned off the stove and took his plate to the table to join his sister who had poured them both some orange juice.

"It's been a while since we had breakfast like this." Mabel said with a mouth full of scrambled eggs.

"I know. Sorry." Dipper said as he bit a piece of bacon.

"Don't worry about it! But what changed?" Mabel asked

"Would you believe I'm actually sore. Didn't feel the need to work out this morning."

"Sounds like joining the track team is helping you get rid of all that extra energy you've been having." Said Mabel as she began to stuff her face with pancakes.

"That could be one reason." Dipper said thinking about Robbie.

"What are your plans for today?" Mabel asked after swallowing a mouth full.

Before Dipper could answer. His cellphone vibrated. He opened it up to find a text.

"Apparently getting coffee with Tambry." Dipper said to his surprise on the invite.

"And so the battle begins…" Mabel said in a deep voice as if it was from a movie trailer.

She had already finished her plate and was taking it to the sink when Dipper asked "What does that mean?"

Mabel could only give him a smile and say, "Oh my cute, innocent, and clueless brother. It's a girl thing. And unfortunately for you, you're in the middle of it."

Mabel never did explain what she meant in any more detail. No matter how much Dipper asked to explain. So Dipper decided to just ignore it and head to the new coffee house in town Tambry told him to meet her at.

"I don't get it…it's just coffee, right?" Dipper thought as he entered the coffee shop.

The smell of roasted coffee beans was like a punch in the face. He stood at the entrance to take a deep whiff. It was thick, warm, and even calming.

He looked around the modern coffee shop until he found Tambry waving to him. He casually walked over to where she was sitting.

"Morning Tambry. You look good this morning." Dipper said starting off the pleasantries as he sat in the chair across from her.

"Thanks, I feel good! Finally, I get a day where I have no homework and Wendy isn't asking me to help her with activities." Tambry chuckled before she took a sip of her coffee.

"Ya you caught me on a good day too. For once I don't feel like working out until I drop in the morning. Seems track is a good fit for all the energy I usually have."

"I'm glad you're enjoying yourself. It looked like you were having fun yesterday with Wendy and the upper classmen."

"Ya what happened to you? I never saw you at the end of practice." Dipper questioned

"Oh that's because I had to help put stuff away. By the time I was done I think you already headed for the showers."

"Hey kid! You want anything?" suddenly shouted the guy at the register. He was done with the morning rush at the moment but saw Dipper walk in and take a seat.

"Sure, but nothing fancy. Just a large black with sugar. No cream." Dipper yelled back.

Tambry blushed for some reason.

"What?" Dipper asked looking at her confused.

"I never figured you were a coffee guy. I even questioned if you'd show up to a place like this."

"It's true I don't go to coffee houses that often, but I got hooked on coffee a couple years back."

Dipper ended up drinking the bitter stuff Grunkle Stan always made. He didn't like it at first, but in the end he got used to it. Unlike Mabel, she only likes her coffee if it's a frappuccino milkshake covered in chocolate, caramel, and whip cream. She never liked the bitter stuff.

"I always stayed up late readings books and stuff so I always found the strong bitter stuff more enticing since it helped me stay awake. What about you? What kind of coffee did you get?"

Tambry blushed as she said, "Want to find out?" as she held her drink out to Dipper.

Dipper took the warm coffee cup in his hand. At his first attempt of sipping the coffee it burned his lips so he didn't really get a taste.

Tambry giggled as she knew it was hot and even she hadn't taken a sip yet. But she was surprised as Dipper's second attempt. He took a large gulp of the hot coffee. Tambry couldn't help but stare at his soft lips as they left the cup. She could see the steam coming from his breath from the heat of the coffee as he swallowed to cool his mouth.

"Mmmm" groaned Dipper as he let his taste buds cool down so he could tell what exactly he drank.

"…Wait…is this?"

"Black with sugar, no cream" said Tambry with a smile on her face.

"Who knew we would like the same bitter coffee?!" Dipper and Tambry both thought.

"How did you end up liking the same dirty, bitter, water as me?" Dipper chuckled

"I spent a lot of late nights on my blogs, so I needed something strong to keep me up or get me out of bed. I asked someone who worked here a year back for a recommendation. They gave me this stuff as a prank to see my face. But I ended up liking it and have been drinking it ever since."

Dipper and Tambry laughed together at the coincidence as the worker from the register brought Dipper's coffee to him.

Before he could warn Dipper to let it cool, Dipper took a big swig of his coffee.

"Pwaaahhh! Nothing beats a hot cup of coffee to wake you up!" Dipper said with a smile as steam faintly left his mouth as he spoke.

Dipper looked over to see Tambry's soft lips taking a drink out of her cup.

"Mmmm…yep it sure does." Tambry said.

"But the indirect kiss makes it taste even better!" Tambry thought.

Dipper and Tambry spent the rest of the morning chatting, laughing, and telling stories. Basically just enjoying each other's company, which was surprisingly easy as they had similar interests.

"Xbox?" Dipper asked

"For a while until I got into PC? What kind of games did you play?"

"Just the big brands. Halo, Call of Duty, Gears of War, ect. I still play them once in a while but I either lost interest or don't have the time. You?" Dipper asked.

"The same, but when I got to PC it was a game changer with all the mods. I especially got hooked on league of legends for a while."

"Ever play World of Warcraft?" Dipper asked

"I thought about it, but I didn't like how I would have to pay every month. I didn't have that kind of money."

"Good, don't! It will ruin your life!" Dipper chuckled

"Though if I play anything now, I usually just go to the arcade. God the amount of hours and money I've put into those places with Mabel."

"That's true for me too. I had to get rid of the Xbox and PC games when I entered high school. It was too much of a distraction. So if I ever feel like playing I just go to the arcade for an hour." Tambry said

"Wanna go?" Dipper asked

"What? Like right now? Are they even open on Sundays?" Tambry asked

"Of course they are! The weekend is when they make most of their profit."

"Ok, let's go!" said Tambry.

They made their way to the arcade which was open. It was packed with classmates they recognized at school that were also looking to waste some time.

Tambry and Dipper went from game to game, playing against each other. They laughed and teased each other whenever they could.

Suddenly some familiar faces entered the arcade.

"Yo Dipper! Tambry! Didn't expect to see you two here!" Yelled Lee

Nate and Thompson followed in behind him.

"Hey Tambry! Finally get a date with Dipper? Sorry for interrupting!" Nate teased

Tambry began to blush and couldn't look at Dipper.

"Come on guys stop teasing her." Dipper intervened

"What it's not a date?" said Thompson

Dipper looked at Tambry, who was waiting for Dipper to see what answer he would give.

Dipper looked back to the guys and said, "It's whatever she wants it to be. And frankly that's none of your business."

Tambry hid a small smile.

"Ok chill dude, we are just teasing! We'll drop it. Anyways, since we are all here why don't we have some fun." Nate said with an uncomfortable grin.

"Like what?" Said Dipper

"How about 2v2. You and Tambry vs me and Lee" said Nate

"What game?"

"Dance Dance Revolution of course!" Said Lee pointing to the huge four player stage.

"No way! The only reason you guys want to play that is because you've never lost and just want to make us look bad!" said Tambry

"Really?" said Dipper intrigued. He looked towards the machine. It was the only one Tambry and him haven't played yet.

"Oh come on! Don't be such a sore loser!" Said Nate

"All right! We'll take you on." Said Dipper

"But Dipper!" Said Tambry

"It's the only game we haven't played yet… Besides, we might just surprise them." Dipper said confidently with a smile.

Tambry didn't look convinced but followed Dipper to the giant dance machine.

Everyone got in their places. Tambry took the spot on the far left. Dipper was in the middle separating Tambry and Nate. And Lee was on the far right.

Dipper looked down to Thompson who was waiting on the side lines. He waved him to come over. Dipper then started to whisper in Thompson's ear so Tambry and the others couldn't hear.

Thompson then gave Dipper a thumbs up and Dipper returned to the game.

The game had two huge screens in front of the four players. One for Dipper and Tambry, the other for Nate and Lee. It was covered in speakers and flashing lights. Everyone had a set of four buttons in front of them. Each said easy, normal, advanced, and expert. Dipper knew these buttons were to change the difficulty during the game, so you could try to earn more points, or slow down if you made to many mistakes. Dipper then looked down at where he stood. There were eight arrows total. But the four that were the corner arrows only lit up when you were playing on expert. So the only ones you really had to focus on were the up, down, left, right arrows. Dipper bumped into the bar behind him. There was a bar behind each player so that they wouldn't fall off the dance stage of the game.

"All right let's do this!" Said Nate enthusiastically

"Wait a second! Since you challenged us and chose the game, we get to decide the song!" said Dipper

Nate and Lee couldn't argue.

"I've already got a song in mind? But I was wondering if there were any songs that you were good at since you've played before?" asked Dipper as he looked to Tambry next to him.

"Well all the songs are the same for me. I'm not particularly good or bad at any of them. And I'm afraid I'm only good enough to play on normal." Tambry said

"That's fine, just have fun and leave the rest to me, ok?" Dipper said

Tambry watched Dipper as he went through to find the song he was looking for. As he found it, a big smile spread across his face. A smile that Nate and Lee didn't like."

Dipper selected the song on the screen and the dancing game all of a sudden came to life, demanding everyone's attention who was in the arcade.

A sudden loud voice came through the speakers from the game shouting:

DANCE DANCE REVOLUTION!

You've selected:

The Maze of Mayonnaise!

By Bossfight!

GET READY!

Everyone made sure to be in the center of their platform as the screens began to count down. A crowd began to form around the game and its players to see the upcoming dance battle.

3…2…1…GO!

[ ] = moment in the song

[0.00] The game started everyone on easy difficulty. No arrows showed on the screen so everyone could get a feel for the pace of the song.

[0.12] Arrows slowly started to appear in the same pattern for everyone on the screen. As the arrows passed, everyone stomped on the arrow that was shown.

[0.35] Being comfortable with the song, everyone pressed the "normal button" at the same time to change the difficulty. More arrows started to show up more often in a faster pattern. Everyone was now doing a steady pace of stepping and it was finally starting to look like they were dancing.

[1.31] Dipper and Nate both quickly glanced at each other and slammed the "advanced button" leaving Tambry and Lee on normal since they weren't comfortable going any higher in difficulty. This is when everyone watching started cheering now that it was starting to look like a real dance off.

[2.14] Dipper decides to surprised everyone by slamming on the "expert button" bringing the corner arrows under him to life. His screen started to look extremely complicated as arrows started to fly by at a fast pace on the screen. But Dipper kept up with the arrows and didn't let himself miss any that were shown. His legs and feet moved quickly and precisely as he aimed for the arrows, not able to take his eyes off the screen for a second.

The lights on the game started flashing and the music started blaring as Dipper continued to step on the arrows perfectly, pulling him and Tambry ahead in points and leaving their opponents in the dust.

At one-point, Dipper looked like he was about to trip up, but he surprised everyone by grabbing and leaning on the bar behind him so he didn't have to move as much as he watched the screen and flailed his feet around to the lit up arrows.

Regaining himself, a huge smile appeared on Dipper's face as it seemed the worse of the song was over. Having spent so many hours playing this game before with Mabel, he had basically memorized the rest, so he decided to show off a little.

Dipper suddenly turned away from the screen and faced towards Lee and Nate as he continued to frantically step and dance from arrow to arrow while still not missing any points and arrows that were shown on the screen.

The complete shock of what Dipper did not only caught them by surprise but messed them up as well. As Lee and Nate tried to catch up on their mistakes. Dipper turned again to face the crowd behind him, then again to face Tambry.

Tambry couldn't help but chuckle at Dipper's smug smile knowing that he won. She tried to push him as she continued to dance, but dipper danced around her arm not missing a beat or a point to the fast pace of "expert difficulty".

[3.06] Turning back around towards the screen and seeing that the song was almost over he gave a twirl as his planted his foot on the last arrow. Then taking a stance he flung his arm in the air and pointed towards the ceiling.

As the song fainted out, the game screamed from its speakers:

NEW RECORD!

YOU…ARE…LEGENDARY!

The game then posted Tambry and Dippers points up on the screen. Then after a moment it added them together giving them an overall score.

"Oh My God! I can't believe we scored this high!" Tambry shouted enthusiastically as she hugged Dipper. Nate fell to his knees in defeat. Lee didn't care as much but was still impressed by Dipper.

Upon realizing how long she was hugging Dipper, she suddenly let go as her face turned pink.

"Way to go dance buddy! You got the highest score you could on normal difficulty. In fact, I'm confident you could go advanced if you tried." Dipper said with a smile.

"You kidding me? I'm quitting while I'm ahead. Besides you were the one you did all the work. How are you so good at Dance Dance Revolution?" Tambry asked

"Mabel loved this kind of thing so it's what we mostly play if we were together at the arcade. The amount of hours we've put in this game are ridiculous." Dipper chuckled

The screen on the game then showed three empty slots to put initials for the new record.

"Hey Dipper, you have to put your initials to record your score. Maybe go D.I.P. Every will recognize the short version of your name!" Tambry said

Dipper thought about it. After a few minutes he put in D&T.

"What does that stand for?" Tambry asked

"What? You can't figure it out? It stands for Dipper & Tambry. This was a group effort after all!" Dipper chuckled.

Tambry's face became pink again. She was so flattered she couldn't look at Dipper. Though he earned most of the score, he treated it as if he couldn't have done it without her, when it was actually the other way around. It was really sweet.

"In fact I doubt anybody will beat that score anytime soon. And if they do, that score of mine wasn't even in my best ten back home. We'll just come back and beat it again. Those initials are going to be at the top of that score board until the game breaks down!" Dipper said cheerfully.

Now Tambry's face was red in embarrassment thinking about their initials being on there together forever… She became flustered and started to make her way off the game platform. Dipper, Nate, and Lee followed.

Thompson came over to Dipper.

"Dude that was awesome! And smart thinking using that handle bar during the hard part of the song! Here's your phone. I see now why you asked me to do that."

"Do what?" said Tambry, Lee, and Nate.

"Oh nothing… Just catch your humiliation and our victory on video for all of Gravity Falls to see." Dipper smirked as he played the video on his phone.

"Dude! No Way!" Lee said

"Delete it now man!" Yelled Nate

"No Way! You guys got full of yourselves and interrupted a girls date. Somebody had to put you in your place. But don't worry I just texted you all copies so you can relive this moment forever." Dipper laughed

Tambry's, Nate's, and Lee's phones all vibrated or pinged in their pockets to receive the texted video.

"Sorry to humiliate and run, but Tambry and I have now played every game in the arcade so we are going to leave." Dipper said grabbing Tambry by the hand and waving back to them as he headed for the exit.

Dipper and Tambry walked through town for a while until they both noticed that the sun was going down.

"Wow, never expected to be out the whole day." Dipper said.

"D-Dipper… Did you mean it?" Tambry asked

"Mean what?"

"T-That this was a date. That I can think that it was one…"

Dipper began to look nervous.

"D-Do you want it to be?"

"Well… When I invited you to coffee. I was hoping it would be. But I realized you would probably just think it was chatting over some coffee or something that wasn't special."

"Well that is what I thought it was at first. But after everything that happened today and how much fun we had… I honestly can't think of an excuse to say it wasn't a date." Dipper said

"…S-So if it was good enough to be our first date… then… I don't mind saying it was." Dipper said nervously.

Tambry looked at Dipper who was blushing and not making eye contact with her.

"I never did turn you down after you wrote your name and number in that notebook. So… let today be whatever you want it to be."

Dipper suddenly felt a warm, soft peck on his cheek.

Dipper looked to Tambry who was smiling.

"Thanks Dipper…Thanks for the date. I had a great time." Tambry said

"…Me too" Said Dipper