Just so you all know, I know that this is technically gearing up to be a holiday sort of story, even though it's only November. The reason for this being that I sort of wanted to do a holiday-themed story, but at around this time, my writing isn't as fast as it is during the spring, (or at least that's how it was around this time last year), so I wanted to make sure I got some holiday chapter's done by Christmas.
Gravity Falls: The Pines Meeting
Chapter 3
Piedmont, Saturday, December 1st, 2012
It was eight in the morning when the Pines family were standing at the bus stop, waiting for their guest to arrive. And boy was Dipper nervous.
"Though why should I be?" He asked himself. "I mean sure this is the first time in three months that I've seen Wendy in person. Despite Mabel's claims of the two of us having a romantic attraction for one another, we're just friends, best friends to be exact."
"Psss, Dipper," Mabel said, interrupting her brother's train of thought. "When Wendy gets off the bus, give her these." She said before handing him a bouquet of flowers, (roses to be exact).
"Mabel!" Dipper shouted while, at the same time, throwing the roses away.
"What? Roses are like the most romantic items there are," Mabel pointed out.
"Ugh. I told you a hundred times, Wendy and I are just friends."
The two of them began arguing. Unbeknownst to them, a bus pulled up at this time and out came an all too familiar red head.
"Dipper! Mabel!" Wendy called out. Drawing the twins away from their argument towards the lumberjack girl standing at the bus entrance.
"Wendy!" They both said in unison before running over towards their friend, who in turn also-ran to meet up with them.
"It's so good to see you, Wendy," Mabel burst out.
"Yeah it feels like forever since we left Gravity Falls," Dipper added in.
"I know right?" Wendy agreed. "I mean sure we chatted a bit online, but it's not the same as talking to someone in person."
"Amen," the twins said simultaneously.
"Eh hem!" came a cough from behind the twins.
Turning their attention from each other, the three of them saw the twins' father looking at them impatiently. Their mother stood beside her husband, though she had a softer appearance than him.
"Hon," Sheryl said while giving her husband the look.
"What?" Sherman asked. His tone turning from stern to innocent. "I didn't come all the way out here early in the morning just so that I could get ignored by my kids and their friend."
"Well next time wait a little longer and let the kids bring you into the fold when they're ready," Sheryl scolded before turning her attention to Wendy. "Hello there. I'm Sheryl Stone Pines, Dipper and Mabel's mother. This," points her thumb at Sherman, "is my husband, Sherman Pines Jr, (aka my kid's father). It is a pleasure to finally meet you. Sherman and I have heard so much about you, especially from Dipper."
"MOM!"
"Heh, heh," Wendy chuckled awkwardly, while also giving out a blush matching her mood. "Did you now?"
"Yes. From what he, along with Mabel, have been saying, you're very close with them, especially Dipper. You even exchanged hats when he and Mabel left."
Wendy couldn't help up look up at the blue and white ball cap she wore, then down at the old lumberjack hat that Dipper had on his head. It sure brought back some memories.
"Heh, heh. Yeah well, we saw quite a bit of action during the summer. It was the most bizarre, and definitely, best summer of my life."
"Coincidentally, that's how the twins summarised the summer. Heck, they're hoping to go back to Gravity Falls next year."
"That'd be awesome," Wendy burst out, not realizing just how excited she sounded.
"Well that's good to hear," Sherman chimed in as he had his eyes fixed on his phone. "But we really need to get going. There's a documentary about computers on the 'Revived History Channel' soon and I don't wanna miss it. Dipper, Mabel grab Wendy's bags and take them to the car."
Within a few minutes the Pines, (plus Wendy), were all inside the Pine Wagon, "the nickname for their car", heading towards the Pines residence.
Saturday, December 8th
It had been a week since Wendy arrived in Piedmont. During which Dipper and Mabel were a bit occupied with school, (since their break didn't start till December 10th), so Wendy spent that time exploring the town, and hanging out with Sheryl, (who Wendy learned was definitely were Mabel inherited all her matchmaking traits from). Though when Dipper and Mabel weren't at school, they spent their time hanging out with Wendy.
It was during that time that Mabel would attempt to leave Dipper and Wendy along in order to get the two to hook up. She even "accidentally" pushed and locked them in her mother's shoe closest on multiple attempts to get them to make out, all of which failed.
But they were showing signs of a romance about to blossom. Especially at this very moment as the two of them were sitting in Dipper's room while the young teen explained his new theory.
"So it's logical to assume that Santa is capable of shrinking all of the presents he delivers down to microscopic size in order to fit them all onto one sleigh."
This amused Wendy a bit. Here Dipper Pines, (the world's youngest detective), was trying to unlock the secrets of Santa Claus. For some weird reason that Wendy couldn't explain, she always felt herself feeling happy whenever she watched Dipper getting himself involved in these bizarre mysteries that most never bothered to look into.
"Ha, ha, ha," Wendy laughed.
"Um did I say something?" Dipper asked.
"Sorry, it's just that after everything that happened last summer, you're still chasing after the most ridiculous things. Seriously, Santa Claus!?"
"Yeah, um well, this is only a December project," Dipper said defensively. "Throughout the year I've been looking into all sorts of mysterious sightings, comparing them in order to determine any sort of link they may have."
"Pffffff, like I said, you haven't changed a bit."
"Well from all our video chats throughout the fall, you haven't changed much yourself," Dipper combated but in a more humorous sounding tone.
"Oh is that so," Wendy responded with a similar tone in her voice as Dipper.
They didn't know when, but one moment they were playfully arguing, the next their faces were just inches away from one another till.
"GUYS!" Mable burst into the room causing the two teens to awkwardly back away from each other.
"You're not going to believe this, hey wait a minute," Mabel said, suddenly taking notice of how her brother and friend were acting. "What were you two doing?"
"Nothing!" they both responded.
"Oh really?" Mabel asked with a huge smirk on her face.
"What do you want Mabel?" An annoyed Dipper asked.
"Oh right," Mabel said having completely forgotten about what had just happened with Dipper and Wendy as she focused on why she came in the room in the first place.
"Well, I called Grampa earlier to ask if he knew how Mom and Dad met…"
"Ugh, Mabel. I told you to lay off that," Dipper complained. "The answer to that will be revealed to us when the time is right. So don't go snooping around."
"Pfff, you're one to talk Mr. Mystery Twin," Wendy combated.
"Ohhh burn!" Mabel hollered out.
"Hey at least my snooping is to unlock secrets that'll help mankind better understand the mysteries of the universe," Dipper defended.
"You were just talking about how Santa Claus is able to store all his presents in one sleigh," Wendy pointed out.
"Yeah well... ugh never mind," Dipper said defeatedly. "So Mabel what exactly did Grampa say?"
"Not much. Just that mom and dad met at some high school Christmas party around fourteen years ago. When I asked him for more details he started acting like mom and dad do whenever I ask them. Then without so much as a goodbye, he hung up and wouldn't respond, no matter how many times I called the retirement home. I even used a pay phone downtown and still got no response."
"Okay," Dipper spoke up after thinking his sister's story was over, "Well that…"
"But then I ran into this familiar looking guy who was walking out of some alley," Mabel continued. "This gave me an idea: the three of us will travel back in time to when the party that our parents met at took place and see for ourselves how it all happened. Hopefully, we'll also be able to figure out why everyone won't tell us what happened. So what do' ya think?"
This left both Dipper and Wendy utterly speechless, not to mention confused. Eventually, Wendy spoke up.
"No offence Mabel, but WHAT THE FUCK?!" Wendy asked bluntly. "I mean this is the craziest, and weirdest idea I've ever heard of in my life. And that's saying something after what we went through during Wierdmageddon."
"Yeah seriously Mabel," Dipper added. "Of all your ideas this one really takes the cake. The cake of insanity to be exact. Seriously do you have any idea on how you're going to be able to travel into the past? Or what about the consequences of doing this, (if you're actually able to)? Chances are that if you manage to travel back in time, you probably alter the course of space-time-continuum, or at least prevent you and me from being born. Honestly, your idea is so insane that even I don't wanna analyzes and compare the benefits over the consequences, and I love analyzing."
Unsurprisingly Mabel wasn't hurt by these remarks since it wasn't the first time that people had criticized her ideas. In the end, they still succeeded, (well most, maybe some of the time). So in response, Mabel just continued to explain her plan in the same positive manner that she always spoke in.
"Not to worry bro, and future sis-in-law," the in-law caused both Dipper and Wendy to blush in embarrassment, "for the familiar guy that I mentioned earlier happen's to not only be an expert in time travel, but also a friend. C'MON IN BLENDIN!"
At that moment an all too familiar man walked into the room. Well familiar at least to Dipper, Wendy had no idea who this goggle wearing guy was. In fact, it made feel even more confused than she was just a couple minutes ago. The only thing that she managed to say in response to the guy's appearance was, "Who the hell is this guy?
TO BE CONTINUED...