Now freshly dried off and ready to go, I stand up and walk over to the food stand, stomach still growling with hunger. An older lady appears in my sight, staring at me with her wrinkled eyes, probably waiting for me to speak first. "Uhhhh, I'll get the nachos?" Not changing emotions, she leaves silently, looking like she hates her life, and prepares my nachos.

'Ok, that just happened...' I straighten my mouth and rock on my heels awkwardly. My head shoots up when a ding is heard and I briefly see the lady's figure before going behind a wall. Glancing down, I see a nice, hot, tray of nachos. 'Yessssssss!' I grin widely and snatch the tray, turning on my feet, I walk back to my chair with a spring in my steps. Finally sitting back down, I set the tray on my lap and grab a chip with cheese.

I gingerly pop it in my mouth and savor the cheese taste and salty crunch of the chip. "-ACIE!" I splutter and I spit out some chip crumbs when Dipper shouts behind me in my ear. Doing that, Dipper also caused me to stand up in my shock, successfully causing my Nachos to topple and splatter all over the concrete ground.

"OH MY GOSH, DIPPER! YOU JUST MADE ME DROP MY NACHOS!" I gesture down to the ground, where all of my chips have gone to. He looks down to the ground with wide eyes, then looks at me. My, soon to be dead, brother rubs the nape of his neck as he shyly laughs in embarrassment and probably fear.

"OhmygoshI'msosorry,Ididn'tknowyouhadfood!" I face palm as he starts going on about how sorry he was, but I mostly tuned him out til he's finished. "-and I'll definitely buy you a new one."

"Sorry what? I tuned you out there, thinking about how I was gonna kill you..." I put a finger to my chin and look up into the sky.

"NO! I'll be right back!" He shouts and leaves, generating laughter to erupt. I shake my head as I sit back down on my chair, a smile on my face. "Ok- *Huff*- I'm back. Take your nachos." Dipper leans down while extending his arm above his head and hands me the nachos. I dutifully take the red and white checkered paper tray and set it down on my thigh, graciously chowing down.

"So," I continue chewing but I hover my hand in front to be polite, "why did you scream in my ear?"

He looks up innocently and then stands up straight. "Oh! I forgot about that, heh heh, uh, did you not hear the whistle? The pool is closing and I have to lock up...also I'm super nervous about messing it up!" At the mention of messing stuff up, Dipper starts to sweat profusely.

'Oh my poor, poor, nervous, wreck of a brother.' "Well, what's there to mess up? It's just locking a couple doors and a gate."

"That's just it! I could forget to lock a certain door! And then a thief, or, or a, er, some type of evil guy could waltz right in!"

I laugh and place a hand on his shoulder, "Dipper, you're over thinking everything! Want me to stay back and help?"

He smiles and places his hand on top of mine, "Thanks, that'd be great."

"Okay!" I rip my hand away, "I'm eating more nachos now, want some?"

He chuckles and sits to my right, "Do I!?" and starts digging in with me.

~~Time Skip brought to you by: Mabel's forwardness towards boys!~~

I walk out of the bathroom, the door swings shut and closes tightly, as I readjust my backpack on my shoulders, now fully dressed and dried. It's dark now, so Dipper should be starting to lock things up. I walk around until I find him by the supplies door, just now pulling a key out of the door knob. "Did you lock everything up already?" I ask, shoving my hand into my pants pocket, grabbing my phone for reassurance that it's there.

"Oh, hey. Yeah I think I locked everything up, but I think I'll go check everything to make sure." He darts off in the other direction as I stand and wait for him here. A minute goes by and Dipper jogs back up to me, giving me a thumbs up.

I smirk and raise an eyebrow, "You sure you got everything? Nothing left out or unlocked?" His smile turns to a frown just as he turns and runs off in the same direction, no doubt triple-checking everything again. I laugh tiredly but joyfully.

Dipper comes back, opening his mouth to speak then shutting it promptly. I just stand there with a straight face, Grunkle Stan stands to the side of me. Dipper looks from me to him and tries to find words to say. "Wha- what the heck is he doing here?" he finally asks, pointing a limp arm towards the old man.

"I-uh, I'm sleep walking! Also now I'm sleep talking," Grunkle Stan then points to his red lifeguard's hat, "Nice hat, by the way."

Realization sets in, shown by the angry spark in his eyes, as Dipper all of a sudden glares and points to our great uncle, "You! You're the one destroying pool supplies!"

Stan immediately looks taken aback but then coolly waves my brother off, "What? No! My crime is a lot better than that. I'm gonna get that seat and be ready in the morning when Gideon comes. And maybe I'll destroy some pool supplies. Night's still young," he shrugs.

I snort, but when Dipper quickly looks at me, I hastily stop and look into the sky, pretending to whistle. My brother then takes a deep breath and blows, loudly might I add, into the whistle that is hanging around his neck. Stan puts his hands up in a defensive stance and starts backing off, "Yeesh, alright, I'm going." Looking like he's about to leave, Stan speedily turns back and runs past Dipper before he could grasp the situation.

"Hey!" Dipper speeds off to catch Stan, leaving me to stand here and laugh at everything that's happening. I proceed to laugh until Mabel drives up in a golf cart.

She gets out and addresses me, "Macie? What're you doing here?! *Gasp* Do you know my plans for tonight!?"

"Ok, first of all, yes, I know your plans," I ignore her shocked look, "And second of all, I'm not here for you, I'm here to help Dipper lock everything up."

"Oh, ok, well have you seen Mermando? He should have came out when he saw me..."

"Well maybe he didn't come out because I'm standing here as well," I say matter-of-factly.

"Good reason! Hey Mermando?! You can come out!" Mabel shouts through cupped hands quietly. We stare into the pool for a second before a figure comes halfway out of the water, staring up at us.

"Mabel! And, uh, other girl?" I shyly wave.

"Mermando, that's my sister, Macie. Are you excited to see your family!?" She quickly introduces me then goes back on script.

The merman waves to me before looking back at Mabel with a worried look, "Yes, but how can I, a merman, possibly escape?" 'I'm sorry, but I don't like this guy's voice...' I zone out while Mabel tells him her original plan with fish sticks and what not.

I come back to reality when I hear splashing noises and I turn my head to see Mermando getting into the water-filled cooler. "Hey! Who's there?!" Dipper's voice is heard off screen and the man-fish starts panicking.

"Quick, hide me! My kind must not be seen!" he tells Mabel as he ducks while Mabel slams the lid to the cooler shut.

"Mabel? Is there anyone not breaking into the pool tonight? What, is Soos here too?" Dipper deadpans, not noticing Soos struggling to climb over the fence right behind him. I giggle and point behind him. Without turning around, Dipper deadpans again.

"Go home, Soos."

"On it." Soos takes his leave. I laugh internally, so much as not to interrupt the twins.

"So why are you here?" Dipper narrows his eyes towards Mabel. Hands behind her back, she rocks on her feet, not making eye contact with our brother.

"Uh, no reason." At that point, Mermando clears his throat for some stupid reason that I'll never understand, and causes Dipper to glance to the box and then back at Mabel.

"Did that cooler just clear its throat?"

"Don't be silly. There certainly isn't a merman in there, if that's what you're implying. Who said anything about a merman?" Mabel rambles nervously and waves her hand sporadically.

"Seriously Mabel?" I ask.

Dipper doesn't even take note of her obvious terrible cover up and looks to the cooler, "Mabel, I don't have time for your games. If you don't give me those supplies, I'll lose the coolest job ever!"

Mabel looks down in defeat, but then shoots her head back up and points to her right, "I understand. Hey, look! Wendy in a bikini!"

"Really? At night?" 'I freaking love this part!' Dipper looks to where she points to find that there is no Wendy in a bikini.

"Sorry Dipper!" Mabel grabs my arm and practically shoves me in the golf cart with her and she speeds off before Dipper or I could say anything.

"Mabel! What the actual heck!" I scream through the wind blowing in our faces.

"I needed your help!" she shouts back.

We hear Dipper's voice come through a megaphone, "Hand over the pool supplies in the name of pool law!" I roll my eyes and try my best to keep them on the road.

Mabel throws back an insult, but I don't think it reached Dipper's ears. "Look! Gravity Falls Lake!" My sister points to the sign for the lake and I freak out.

"Dude! Keep BOTH hands on the steering wheel!" She just grins but places her right hand back on. 'These twins give me such bad anxiety...' We crash by the lake and fall out of the cart, "I'm okay, Mabel?" I ask, patting myself down of dirt.

"I'm okay." She reassures as I sigh in relief.

"Alright! The jig is up, hand over that cooler!"

"Never!" I stand awkwardly watching the two go at it, when Mermando rolls out of the cooler. 'Uhh...what do I do?'

I kinda just awkwardly kick him, causing him to roll as I do, until he reaches the water line. He jumps into the water, generating a big splash and the two bickering kids stop and look at us. "What? You guys were bickering and I got bored, bam just saved you two, like, five minutes of dialogue." 'I know, I know, now we don't have the scene where Dipper kissed the merman, but like, I just wanna go home! Plus, I could always search it up online!' I internally laugh evilly.

"Ooookay then, now what?" Dipper asks. Mabel just runs over, a big smile on her face, to the dock and talks to Mermando for a second before he jumps up and crashes his lips on hers. "Woah okay! That's gross. Ugh." Dipper swiftly turns on his feet to not look at the two. I cringe and look away as well.

After Mabel poses on the rock and the merman jumps past it, we all head back home.

~~Time Skip brought to you by: "Haha, blackmail!"~~

Everyone went to the pool again today but I decided to stay home and relax. Two hours after the group left, they all come shuffling back in, tired and partly wet. I run downstairs to greet them, "Hey guys! How was the pool again?"

"Fine! Wendy got fired as well so we hung out the whole time!" Dipper tells me excitedly.

"AMAZING!" Mabel squeals, "Mermando kept spamming me with bottles!"

I laugh and tell her, "That's awesome, Mabel."

Grunkle Stan already walked off when the three came in the door so I talk to them some more. "Hey, you guys wanna watch some TV?" 'I really want to show them my favorite shows, but I think it'd be better if I waited until all of this is over. I know I won't be going home and that this is my home, but I still don't want them knowing things until this series is over...'

"Sure!" The twins exclaim in unison.

I smile and race them to the living room.