Dipper's POV:

The four of us just stood/sat there for a moment, not moving. Our mouths were open, but no words were coming out. For the first time in a long time, I had no idea what to do next. If it wasn't for the heavy rain constantly pounding on the triangle-shaped window, you would've been able to hear a pin drop.

Candy was the first, and only, one to speak. "We're, um, gonna go now." She said nervously, tugging on Grenda's shirt sleeve before leaving, with Grenda following suit.

I was about to breathe a sigh of relief when I realized something.

"Uh-oh." I said, beginning to panic.

"Uh-oh, what?" Mabel asked, her tone surprisingly calm.

I grabbed her shoulders and shook her, not really thinking about what I was doing. "Mabel, your friends just saw us!" I almost shouted. "What if they think we're weird and spill the beans? Word could get around. Our lives would be screwed forever." I continued, standing up and pacing around the room, my hands getting a good grip on my hair, ready to pull it out. I was trying to think of something that I could do to undo this, but I couldn't.

Suddenly, I felt a hand on my shoulder. I turned to face Mabel.

"Calm down, Dipper." She said soothingly, but to no avail. I was still freaking out. Then it was her turn to grab my shoulders and shake. "Calm down." She repeated, her voice much less soothing than the first time. Surprisingly, it worked. My breathing slowed and I let go of my hair.

"It's fine, Dipper." She said. "They already know."

"What?" I asked.

"About a year ago, they managed to get a hold of my scrapbook..." She trailed off. She didn't need to say anything else, however, as the pieces of the puzzle were finally put together in my brain.

"Oh." I managed to say. "H-how did they react?"

Mabel shrugged. "They freaked out a little at first, but then we continued on like nothing happened."

"So they won't tell anyone?"

"Nope. We never reveal our secrets, even under the circumstances of death." She said.

I breathed a sigh of relief. "Whew. Okay. Mabel, we have to be more careful next time." I said sternly. "If that was Grunkle Stan, he'd freak."

Mabel pretended to lock her lips and throw away the key.

"Hey! That's mine and Wendy's thing."

Mabel smiled widely. "You still love her, don't you?" She got up and began to dance around me, pointing her fingers at me. "LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE!"

Just then, I remembered a trick that I did when we were kids. "Oh hey, what's that?" I pointed towards the triangle-shaped window. She turned around just long enough for me to flip her long hair over her head, her face now covered in it. She quickly flipped her hair back, clearly not amused.

"Okay, that's it, you dingus. It's on." As soon as she finished the sentence, she flung herself at me. She slipped her hand under my armpit and tickled like crazy. I couldn't stop myself from bursting into uncontrollable laughter.

"Okay, okay, stop it." I finally managed to squeak out, tears rolling down my face. Satisfied, Mabel got off of me, the smile still on her face. I got up as well, dusting myself off. "Besides, I don't love her anymore."

Mabel's smile fell. "Seriously? Why?"

"I love YOU." I tried to say it in the most romantic way possible, but it just didn't come out that way. I felt my cheeks turn red as a fire truck.

"Love you too." She said just as awkwardly as I had. She leaned in and kissed me. It wasn't as long as the others, just a quick peck, but it let me know she meant those words. I was about to lean in and return the favor, but...

"Ahem."

My head turned to see Wendy leaning up against the door frame. Her expression was best described as blank. If she had seen what had just happened, she didn't show it.

"Phone call." She announced, keeping calm in the otherwise awkward moment.

Mabel's POV:

Dipper and I walked into the gift shop to hear Soos humming a tune into the phone, presumabley trying to stall. He saw us come in and smiled.

"Oh, they're here now. One sec." He passed the phone to me. "You're up, hambone."

I took a deep breath. "This is the one and only Mabel speaking." I said in my most cheerful voice.

"Mabel?" I instantly recognized the voice. The same girl who was trying to woo my Dipper just a few days ago.

"Pacifica?" I replied in surprise. "Why are you calling us?"

There was a few seconds of silence. "Well, you see..."

"You're not calling to talk to Dipper, are you?" I said, annoyed. She knew that I would take trying to kiss my brother personally, she just didn't know HOW personally.

"Well, him too..." She sounded shy, but I wasn't buying any of her 'innocent' act. At least I thought it was an act.

Dipper caught my attention by mouthing the words 'who is it' to me. I just shook my head in response. Soos just stood there, not really knowing what to do.

"Why?" I asked, even though I had already assumed the answer.

Another few seconds of silence passed. "Because I wanted to say... I'm sorry."

This caught me off guard. "What!?" That's when I realized that Pacifica's voice wasn't the normal bitchy tone you'd get from her. She sounded... genuinely kind.

"Could you get Dipper on the phone too?" She asked. "I wanna talk with both of you."

I motioned for Dipper to come to the phone. He obliged. I was holding the phone like it was on speaker so both of us could hear.

"H-hey." Dipper spoke up, unnecessarily waving at the phone. I made a mental note to tell him to stop being such a dork.

"Hey." Pacifica's quiet reply, shyer than ever. "Listen, I'm sorry for..." She trailed off. "I don't even know."

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"I-I-I don't even know why I did what I did. I just..." Her voice sounded broken, like she was about to break down right then. "I just... wanted to have a person who isn't practically forced to be my friend to talk to me."

I felt a twinge of guilt and I suddenly felt sorry for her. It was no wonder she tried to make everyone else miserable. She was miserable herself.

I could see in Dipper's eyes that he was feeling the same thing. However, he didn't crack. "That still doesn't explain why you kissed me."

"I wasn't thinking straight, okay?"She nearly shouted, tears in her voice.

Just then, Wendy came downstairs. "Umm... what's going o-"

She was interrupted by Soos pressing a finger to her lips. "Sssh. This is getting good." He whispered.

I refocused on the call. "Are you okay?" I asked. I was surprised at how genuine I sounded.

"Yeah. Just a few tears."Pacifica sniffled through the phone. "Listen, what I'm trying to say is... do you want to be friends?"

The room grew dead silent, as did the other end. I looked at Dipper for a opinion. He didn't help much, just shrugged his shoulders, which left me to my default answer.

"Uh... sure." I answered, trying to sound cheerful about it.

"YAY!" She shouted in such a loud voice that would've hurt someone's ears had the phone been pressed against them. "Hey, my parents aren't home. How about you come over and you can join me in the luxury of being a Northwest?"

"Sure. Why not?" I answered before I even knew what I had said.

"Great! Come over whenever you feel like it." She said in great spirits. I could practically see the biggest smile ever on her face. "I gotta get ready. Talk to you later!"

Dipper and I said our respective goodbyes. The instant I hung up, he said "Mabel, are you crazy? She just called to apologize randomly, which I highly doubt she ever does, then she asks to be friends with us, again randomly, and now, all on the same day mind you, she wants us to come over to her mansion. Don't you find that even a little weird?"

I shrugged. "Not really. Like she said, she's never had real friends before, so she probably doesn't even know she's going a bit too fast." I began heading back up the stairs. "Besides, what's the worst that could happen?"

"She could be a fucking axe murderer!" Dipper exclaimed.

I giggled. "Wow, you really DO worry too much. Now come on. We have places to go and people to see." I smiled.

FINALLY DONE! CELEBRATION TIME! *does horrible dance*. Whew, that took 4 1/2 months, believe it or not. Okay, so now this book is no longer on hiatus, BUT! It is still going to be slow updates. My magnum opus (focus) at the moment is Nothing Can Possibly Go Wrong, second priority is this story and last is Pinecest One-Shots. Just so everyone knows.

Well, what did you think? Was it worth the wait? Let me know by reviewing. Also if you want, I would LOVE to hear predictions for the next chapter.

One more thing. I would be happy to take reading requests for your books. It doesn't have to be Pinecest, just ask me to read it and I'll find time. Just note that I prefer not to read boyxboy.

Anyways, hope y'all are having a fantastic day and that you are carefully guarding your Oreos. Cy'all later. Peace!

-take71

P.S. Season 3 of Steven Universe starts tonight. Who else is watching? Let me know in the reviews!

P.P.S I wrote this at 4am.