August 11, 2014

Dipper and Mabel were both excited for today because they had the day off from work at the Mystery Shack today. Not to say that Soos as the new owner of the Shack wasn't any good, he was doing great in fact. But the reason this day off was exciting, was because they were going to take Pacifica on her first real hike through the forest of Gravity Falls.

She had been friends with them since last year. Though up until now, her parents had still been attempting to control her and keep her as the "perfect girl". Only this year had they finally accepted the fact that they were never going to get back to the same financial and social status they had been previously. While they still had mixed feelings about the Pines, at the very least they tolerated her hanging out with the Pines family. So she didn't have to lie to them anymore about where she was going now.

Mabel was currently working on a new matching set of sweaters for her and Waddles, and Dipper was in the middle of editing his most recent youtube tutorial on Paranormal Investigation when there was a knock on the door. Mabel instantly dropped what she was doing and in the blink of an eye, had moved from the living room to the front door.

"Hi-ya Paz!" Mabel trapped Pacifica in a rib-crushing bear hug.

"Hi, Mabel. Can you let me breathe now?" She strained. Mabel obliged and released her. Dipper closed off his editing software and got off his laptop (a special one designed by Mcgucket). They told her the plan of where they were going to be taking her and the whole time Dipper had this odd feeling in his chest that seemed somehow related to Pacifica. He ignored it for now and he and Mabel grabbed their packs and helped Pacifica pack a few more things she hadn't thought to bring (and get her to leave behind some unnecessary things also). They said goodbye to Soos and Melody and with that, they headed for their first destination, the entrance to where the Gnomes lived. Though they had no intention of actually visiting for obvious reasons. When they got there Pacifica was fascinated by the pretty colours that the mushrooms in that area had.

"Are all mushrooms edible?" She asked. Dipper and Mabel looked at each other and then laughed at the same time.

"Sadly, not a lot of them are. Out of 50,000 species, only about 614 species are edible and only 20 of those are actually sold commercially. The other 49,386 species are either used specifically for medicinal purposes, hallucinogenic, or poisonous," Dipper explained.

"The fact that you know the specific number is both impressive and slightly worrying," Mabel commented.

"I think it's kind of cute," Pacifica complimented. She suddenly blushed.

"Uh… I mean, y-you're such a nerd," She fumbled. Dipper stood silent, unsure how to process what either of them had just said. Though he did notice that the feeling had returned. Mabel meanwhile, looked back and forth between the two of them suspiciously, and Pacifica was still blushing. Mabel then looked over to the entrance to the Gnomes' territory and saw one. Luckily it hadn't seen them yet, but that was their cue to move on. She snapped the two out of their trances and they moved on to their next stop. Dipper then asked Mabel,

"What do you mean it's slightly worrying that I know the specific number?"

"The fact you know more about numbers than how to socialize," She explained.

"Although, that might not be a problem with her," Mabel teased as she gestured to Pacifica, a smirk on her face. Pacifica halted in place, her face turning red as a tomato.

"Wha-I!? Um, wh-what gave you that impression?!" She asked defensively.

"Well, you did say that, and I quote, it's kind of cute," Mabel continued to tease. Pacifica's face twisted into that disgusted and annoyed look that only she could make.

"I-I never said that!" She yelled. Mabel giggled and skipped onward.

"That's not what I heard," She teased in a sing-song voice.

As the hike went on for the rest of the day with them showing Pacifica all the strange but safe stuff that Gravity Falls had to offer, Dipper couldn't help but think about that feeling he had in his chest. It was the same feeling that when he was younger Wendy gave him. Though, since the end of his first summer in Gravity Falls, he'd stopped feeling it around her. In fact, during that same summer, there was one other time he'd felt that way, and it hadn't been around Wendy, it had been when Pacifica hugged him when he'd gone to the Mansion to help them with a ghost problem. He thought more and realized that ever since last year, the few times he had felt that feeling, it had been around Pacifica.

Do…do I like her? Well I mean, obviously I like her. I'm friends with her after all. But do I like her that way? I never really-

His train of thought was interrupted when he saw the silhouette of something in the trees. He stopped everyone and pulled out his binoculars to get a closer look. The silhouette turned out to be a Bigfoot. He gave the binoculars to Pacifica and took an actual good-quality video of it. Once the Bigfoot moved on, they continued their way to the last hiking stop, a small lake that, via a river, eventually connected to the much larger, public Gravity Falls lake. He and Mabel had planned to visit this lake as it was in a relatively quiet part of the forest, and the lake looked amazing in the evening.

Hours later, it was starting to get dark, so they decided to leave the lake. Mabel could tell that Dipper and Pacifica were being extra awkward around each other and made up an excuse to go to the bathroom so she could hide behind a giant rock and spy on them. To her dismay, neither of them was brave enough to confess anything and both defensively decided to forget about what happened previously.

Guess I'll have to take matters into my own hands. She thought to herself in a calculating way. As they hiked back to the shack, Mabel began brainstorming ways to play matchmaker with them.