Chapter Twenty-One—Feelings Can't Make It Smell Better
At a red-light, I quickly tied my long, blonde hair into a high ponytail and, just as I finished, the light changed and I pressed my foot on the peddle.
It's Friday, now. It feels like time is going by way too fast. I'm almost to Gravity Falls now, about five minutes away, actually.
"I hope they don't notice." I said to myself. If they find out I'm in town, they might even make me leave the second they do—which cannot happen!
A few minutes passed by and I was now entering Gravity Falls. The nostalgia flooded over me as I drove passed all the trees, then through the town—it hasn't changed much—and made my way to that damned Mystery Shack I missed so much over the years.
By now I was already stepping out of my car and shutting the door. I looked up at the sign that read "Mystery Shack."
"They are seriously never going to fix that, are they?" I said to myself, referring to the letter "S" that ceases to stay up. The vision made me chuckle a little. I walked up to the door and, just as I was about to knock, it swung open and nearly hit me right in the face—it would have had I not backed up as quick as whoever the idiot who opened was did so.
"Whoops! S-Sorry!" Yelled a high-pitched voice. The accent the voice carried was unmistakable. Candy Chiu. As an adult, she now had short hair that just barely touched her shoulders and had pink highlights at the ends of each strand. Her naturally straight hair was currently curled, too. Like when she was younger, Candy still had little curves to her, and she still very short—though, her posture was better than when I'd first saw her. She pushed up her signature oval-shaped glasses back to the top of her nose before continuing her speech,
"Ah! Pacifica, right? That crazy blonde hair is unmistakable! How's it going?" She smiled sheepishly at me and stepped back as to give space for me to enter, "Ma-Mabel told us you'd be here!"
"Uhm, yeah, thanks…" I spoke in kind of a quiet voice and averted my gaze from her. I didn't realize she'd be here, too. "'Us'?" I questioned, her words finally processing in my mind.
"Oh, yeah! Grenda's here, too!" Her face lit up when she spoke of her friend. The two girls are utter opposites, I'm kind of jealous of how close they are.
I merely nodded and stepped further into the old shack, immediately seeing three familiar faces. Mabel, Grenda, and the Corduroy girl—I never bothered to remember her name. (Candy didn't mention her…)
"Hm?" Mabel turned her head in my direction as I approached her slowly, "Oh, Pazzi! You made it! It's about time!"
"I told you to stop calling me that…" I said. I felt l a little odd being here now. The four of them, Mabel, Candy, Grenda and Corduroy; they're all so close. I'm, like, the odd one out.
She, Mabel, just brushed off my comment and began talking about something else. Not following whatever it was she was saying, I looked around at the other two girls in the room. Grenda wasn't much different now than she was as a child, but she was noticeably taller. Like, way taller. Though, Corduroy wasn't very different than when I first met her, either. She was only a little bit taller, and her hair only reached a few inches below her shoulders now. Her chest was a little bigger too, and she seemed to be wearing some makeup, but not much.
Eventually, Corduroy caught me staring at her, and lowered her phone in her hand as she spoke up,
"'Sup?" Was all she said.
"Uh, yeah, hello." I replied. I didn't really know her very well—if you couldn't tell already—so I didn't really know what to say to her.
"You got somethin' on your mind?" She asked, a relaxed look on her pale face. She was really pale, looking at her, especially compared to myself. (And I'm pretty tan, more than when I was thirteen, that's for sure.)
"No, not really, though, what is your name? First name, I mean?" Might as well just get to the point.
She laughed at me—I, personally, would've been offended had someone said that to me—and spoke once more,
"Wendy. My name's Wendy." She told me.
I laughed at her back, though for a different reason.
"You should style your hair in twin-braids." I said, chuckling at her matching name and appearance to the iconic Wendy's mascot.
"Never. Again." Was her reply, and we both started laughing.
All five of us spoke for a bit longer after that. I have to say, I was enjoying myself with Mabel and her friends.
Eventually, as it grew later, I began to feel tired, and let out a yawn.
"No way! Nope! Not happening!" Mabel said, obnoxiously throwing her index finger in my face.
Wendy had left a while ago, and now Mabel, Candy, Grenda and I were sitting in Mabel's room all doing our own thing. Candy was painting her toenails while talking to Grenda—who was looking at a magazine—about boys; and Mabel was playing on her phone.
"What?" I said, backing away from her slightly.
"No yawning! We're staying up all night!" Mabel replied.
At that, I cringed.
"Seriously?" I asked in an annoyed tone of voice.
"Yes!" The other three girls in the room all yelled at once.
"Whatever…" I said and sighed, face-palming as I did so.
"Hey! I know what'll get the night going!" Candy said as she finished painting her nails.
"Ooh! What?" Grenda said, her manly voice sounding extremely gay in the tone of voice she used—which, admittedly, made me laugh a little.
"A game of Truth or Dare!" Just as she finished speaking, Mabel and Grenda both squealed at her words. All the while, at the same time, I let out a groan. Everyone knows nothing good comes out of a game of Truth or Dare.
"Well, since it was your idea, I nominate Candy to go first!" Mabel said, giggling at herself.
Candy blushed a little at what Mabel said.
"Do I have to?" She spoke. Mabel and Grenda nodded vigorously while I just shrugged. With a quiet, and kind of cute, sigh, she chose one of the two options.
"Truth." She said.
Mabel thought for a moment, glanced at her phone, then came to a conclusion.
"What's your phone password?" She said.
"Phone password?" I replied, "What kind of 'truth' is that?"
She just shrugged and looked away, a smug look on her face that made me want to throw a pillow at her.
"The password to my phone?" Candy interrupted my plans to ambush Mabel with pillows, "If I have to, it's just the classic four-number code; 0147." Her last words made my eyes widen a little bit. Is this girl for real? Like, that's her password? That's my password. Jesus I need change my password now.
"I'll be sure to remember that one!" Grenda spoke, then winked.
"Okay, Candy, now you choose someone!" Mabel said, looking at both Grenda and me before moving her gaze back to Candy.
"Hmm…" She hummed before choosing someone, "Pacifica!"
"Seriously?" I replied almost immediately.
"Yes!" She replied back.
"Uhm, I don't know, Truth?" I think I just made the worst decision of my life.
Before Mabel could speak, Candy asked me the most unexpected-yet-totally-expected question ever,
"What size bra do you wear?"
"You're kidding?" I looked at her with utter shock and confusion plastered all over my face. Of course she'd ask that, she's, like, the opposite of me. Short, shy and flat-chested.
She merely looked at me after my question, giving me a half-way death glare that demanded and answer. This is the stuff teenagers do, not twenty-four year old women. (Or maybe it's just me. I don't exactly do this kind of stuff often.)
With a sigh, I answered her question, "36D, happy?" My expression was the opposite of happy.
"But you're so skinny!" Was her first reply, which made me raise an eyebrow at her.
Next, I asked Mabel 'Truth or Dare' and, of course, she chose dare. Because of the dare, she ended up with a bead stuck up her nose—I swear, I did not dare her to stick a bead up her nose, she was just doing something stupid.
Eventually, Mabel ended up falling asleep, I none of us wanted her to wake back up—she would've made us stay awake for longer—so we all just went to sleep. Candy and Grenda both had sleeping bags that they brought, and us three managed to get Mabel into her bed without waking her up. I definitely did not want to sleep on the dirty floor of the shack, so I decided to take the other bed in the room.
When I lied down in the bed, it smelled weird. (Like sweaty socks, dandruff, and over all pre-pubescent boy.) This was definitely Dipper's bed, and he never once thought to clean the sheets. With the heave of a sigh, I took off my coat and laid on it so I wouldn't have to smell the bed as I slept. But, when I pulled the blanket over my shoulder, the smell filled the air around me once more. Letting out a groan, I just dealt with it.
Though I didn't fall asleep right away, so I just lay there, thinking for about an hour or so.
'This is where Dipper slept when he would visit Gravity Falls…I'm sleeping in his bed right now. Sure, it stinks like hell, but damn.'
For a while, I just thought about the same thing over and over. I yawned once more, finally drifting off to sleep. My cheeks and nose were warm, and tinted a light pink colour. I pulled the blanket closer to my face, now used to the smell.
"Damn…" I whispered, and I was out.