Chapter 13

Jesus, this stuff is hard. Thanks for all the reviews and everything. In response to a few, there probably won't be any alternate universes just as I don't want to confuse myself. I'm not from America so if any of my slang or wording is wrong, it's just how I say it but I'm trying to still keep the America 'authenticity' to it if I can (if that is a thing or not). In terms of characters: Gideon, he will be in this but no massive role. Only reason is because I didn't exactly know how to write his new changed personality and I don't want to make him a bad guy. Pacifica you'll see shortly. Anyway to the story.

"Dudes, was that not awesome or what?" The excitement still buzzing in the air as everyone unbuckled themselves from the harnesses. The cables left swaying in the gentle breeze, in the evening sun, sparkling as the light reflected of the metal coils.

"Awesome is an understatement." Thompson said adding him opinion to the mix. "but I think everyone is more interested in the kid's opinion here." Turning towards me, followed by everyone else's gaze.

"I may… just may have over exaggerated my dislike at the start." This caused a round of laughter as they heard my pitiful excuse. I looked away from them to hid the wide smile I still had on my face. This day had become as blast hanging out with Wendy's friends…my friends. The thought echoed in my head as the laughter began to die down, leaving everyone in a cheerful mood.

"Well, we should probably get moving, before we're left scrambling in the dark." Tambry's words brought everyone back out of our little bubble into reality. The surroundings had already began fading its colour.

"Yeah, let's get going." Nate led the way as we steadily traced our way through the woods, carrying our harnesses with us.

Say Nate, what do you want us to do with this stuff?" Jiggling the harness in my hand, letting the metal clips clang against each other.

"Huh, didn't think of that," scratching the top of his head "Keep them for the moment and I'll be around tomorrow to pick them up with Thompson. After all, can't leave my cables hanging around."

That's all good. If I'm not there I'll let you pick it up with Soos or someone." Lowering the harness back to my side.

"Ok, the images of today are on my blog," Tambry yelled from behind, head probably glued back in her phone again "and already its getting likes."

"You mean people like looking at pictures of us doing suicidal activities?" I joked, getting a few chuckles out of the group.

"People like the dangerous lifestyle," Nate called from the front "Anyway, here's your stop." The group slowed to a stop as we paused at the entrance to the parking lot to the shack.

"Well, I guess this is it then." Facing everyone "Thanks for the invitation."

"Shut up dude. We're all mates here; you don't need to speak like that." Lee said giving me a light punch in the shoulder. After a quick farewell with everyone, leaving Wendy to last as she stepped towards me. I heard slight intakes of breath as she approached me.

"See you tomorrow Dipper." Reaching forwards and pulling me into a hug. I gently hugged her back as the others breath released in disappointment, causing alight smile to form on my face.

"I don't think we're giving them enough of a show."

"What did they expect? Anything more would cause excessive ribbing all the way home." Pulling apart I gazed into her eyes, taking in the calmness of them.

"Well, see you later." Lowering my hands to my side and taking a step back. Wendy followed doing the same with a small smile on her face as I turned and walked away. As I wandered to the door I heard the chatter immediately started up again. I could just hear my voice being mentioned as they walked off. Turning around to watch them leave, I watched them walk down the road before pushing open the door.

My footsteps echoed through the house as I made my way for the staircase. The only noise that rang through the house besides me was the Tick tocks of the clock in the gift shop. Under the impression that no one was home I made my way upstairs on the way to the bathroom, only making a small detour to the attic to grab a fresh change of clothes. Regardless of what Mabel says I did care about my personal hygiene, as I try to avoid spending a minimum of two days in the same pairs of clothes.

Strolling into the bathroom I flicked on the hot water, stripped and jumped into the shower. Instant relief rushed through my body as the water felt like it was eased my muscles, as my mind lost focus of, my immediate surroundings for a while. I stood there for what felt like hours letting the water fall around me, only breaking out of my little trance by a loud commotion echoing downstairs.

Flicking off the water I reluctantly stepped out of the shower, feeling the sudden change of temperature nip at my body. Quickly grabbing a towel, I began the short process of drying myself off. Confident I was dry, I wrapped the towel around my midsection and looked at my reflection in the mirror taking in the face that stared back. Only then did I notice the door open up in the reflection. Spinning around I grasped the towel, praying that it didn't fall only to see the individual strut in.

"PACIFICA!" I yelled, half in shock and half in embarrassment. What was she doing here? Only after a walking a few paces into the room did she seem to realise what she'd just done, looking up from her phone in her hands to the horrified expression on my face.

A small gasp escaped her moth as her phone fell to the floor. Her hands flew to her eyes as she spun around and charged out of the room and slamming the door behind her, leaving a very awkward me standing against the sink. I looked down double checking everything was covered, before heading to the door and throwing the lock on it.

Standing with my back against the door, I took several deep breaths to calm my ragged breathing. What in god's name was she doing here? After a few moments I grabbed my clothes throwing them on desperately making sure everything was on properly. Fully dressed I gingerly pulled open the door, hoping that she had gone somewhere else in the meanwhile. My hopes were betrayed though as there she was standing opposite the doorway, eyes still covered with her hands.

"Are you fully dressed now?" a small voice said as she refused to move her hands.

"Yeah, I am now." Upon hearing this she looked up, relief filled in her expression at seeing I had pants on the time. I took joy in seeing the dark red colour in her face, as she looked sheepishly at me.

"Sorry 'bout that. I didn't hear anything, and the door wasn't locked so I just made my way in." I had to mentally slap myself in the face as similar thoughts went through my head.

"My fault that one. No one was home when I arrived and I just jumped out of the shower I didn't think we had guests." She nodded in acceptance at this and we stood there awkwardly for a few moments.

In this time, I took in her appearance, she had changed her style of outfits in the last few years, getting rid of the usual skirts and began wearing much tighter jeans which hugged her legs. There was till the steady transition of shirts and jacket though in her signature colour showing her slender physique. She hadn't grown as much as me ending up with the top of her head at my eye height causing me to slightly look down at her. Feeling the silence reach high tension levels, I tried to change the topic "Why are you here anyway?" curious to hear the answer the moment I was aware of her reply.

"She looked back down rubbing her neck, with me still fully aware of the fact the redness in her face hadn't dissipated "Mabel invited me around for a sleepover. We'd been hanging around all day and she invited me over so I accepted." Accepting her reply I nodded as it answered the question of where Mabel had been all day.

"That makes sense, now first things first. We never speak of what happened ever again." Putting my hand forwards to shake on it.

"Deal." softly she gripped it as we shook on it. I took a high interest in her as she failed to meet my eyes looking slightly down. As intrigued as I was, I said nothing as we broke apart.

"Probably should head down now, shouldn't we." Motioning my head towards the direction of the stairs.

"Yes, yes we should." Leading the way at a quicker than usual walking pace. I watched her go before following her, taking a mental note of her uneasiness the entire time talking to me. Making our way downstairs the commotion and noise grew in volume as I followed Pacifica into the dining room. Sitting around the table was Mabel, with Stan placing a roll of fish and chips in the centre of the table.

"Looks like the lovebirds are back." Stan said being the first one to notice Pacifica's and my entrance. Attracting Mabel's attention with the word lovebirds, I saw her face break into confusion glancing between me and Pacifica.

"It was just a joke, sis." Rolling my eyes at the thought that she nearly fell for Stan's idiocy, pulling up a seat next to her as Pacifica did the same on Mabel's other side.

"I wasn't thinking of anything of the sort." Throwing her hands back in defence, aware of where this was going. Stan just chuckled to himself and I thought I could swear I heard him say "Fight, fight, fight" under his breath.

Giving the man a glare I turned back to Mabel reengaging in our conversation. "Where were you all day?" she asked.

"I was out with Wendy and the gang." Trying to keep it brief and simple.

"Doing what?" I slightly felt my arms tense as prepared for the assault to come.

"Rock climbing."

"WHAT? WHY DIDN'T YOU INVITE ME!?" I watched as her hand clenched into a fist.

"I would have, but you weren't at home." Shifting myself as far away from her as possible. This wasn't need however as she took the response well.

"Oh. True dat." Dropping back into her cheerful persona "I did leave this place early anyway."

"Going to have to break up your friendly 'banter' but can we start now, or otherwise it'll go cold." Pointing at the steaming pile of chips.

"Might as well, as long as you promise never to say banter again. It doesn't suit you."

"Sure, now let's eat." Reaching forwards and grabbing a fistful and dumping it on his plate. Following in his actions me and Mabel did the same feeling the greasy texture in our fingers. I watched in interest, however, as Pacifica used her knife and fork to carefully pick and piece of fish and began to inspect it,

"You're not going to get food poisoning." I said through mouthfuls of food. I watched as her face turned a shade of red again.

"It's not that, it's just I've never had this type of food before." This caused Stan to spit out whatever he had in his mouth and stare wide eyed at the blonde.

"You mean to say you've had greasy deep fried food before?"

"Never, usually all the food comes from the Chef's in the kitchen." Looking back calmly like it was normal to have five-star food every day.

"Miss, you need to live a bit more." Squirting a bit of tomato Sause onto his chips before heading back into his eating habits. Pacifica continued to look at the fish for a few more moments before shrugging back her shoulder and took a bite out of it.

"UGH." We watched as her body twitched to the taste of it as she squirmed in her seat. Stan and I couldn't hold back our laughter, cracking up as she swallowed the final bit that was in her mouth. Mabel gave us death stares trying to make us shut up, as Pacifica readjusted herself. "Well… that was interesting to say the least."

Her calmness just sent us over the edge, as he increased in volume to the point where we were chocking for air. Pacifica smiled gently, but unable to hide the discomfort visible in her body position. Noticing this, I got a grip on myself, stopping allowing a second to catch a breath of air. "Sorry," feeling guilty about the way I was treating her "Do you want me to grab a salad or something from the kitchen?" trying to make myself feel better for the embarrassment I caused her.

"A salad would be nice thanks." Smiling gently at me, but her eyes filled with hurt and pain. Standing up out of my chair I rushed to the kitchen and pulled out a bowl of a salad from the previous night and sorting it onto a plate.Why would you laugh at her Dipper? You're never that rude to her any more. After applying a salad dressing onto the salad, I picked it up and made my way back into the dining room.

"Here you go, I've just added a dressing to spice it up a bit." Placing it down in front of her, whilst turning slightly to look at her "Is it ok?"

"It's lovely" smiling back up at me "Thank you." She said quietly her voice barely above a whisper. I gave her a reassuring smile as I made my way back to my seat. The rest of the dinner carried on with little conversation, except between Mabel and Pacifica discussing what they should do first. I paid little to no attention to what they were chatting about.

Unaware of the sneaky glances made at me, I ate in relative silence. Letting the day's activity's finally begin to get to me. My eyes fluttered slightly as I stared at the remnants of my dinner. Feeling my stomach at its full point, I pushed the rest towards Stan. "Want any extras?"

"I thought you'd never ask." Pulling it closer before digging in. Excusing myself from the table I stood up and shuffled to the stairwell. Making myself upstairs I accepted the growing silence as I made my way to the attic. Entering the room, I made my way to my bed and lay down on the duvet.

I lay there for what felt like hours trying to nod myself to sleep. But it just wasn't happening. I tried counting sheep but nothing was happening. Groaning I sat back up and glanced at the time. Somehow an hour had nearly flown by. Realising I wasn't going to get anything done just sitting here, I leapt to my feet and made my way to the door.

Noticing the lack of chatter in the attic, I guessed Mabel and Pacifica were downstairs still in the spare room or lounge. Keeping this in mind I quietly made my way down the stairs not wanting to let the girls overhear my presence and drag me into some stupid game. Peeping around the doorway, I saw the kitchen and dining room to be clear. Looking at the mess of dirty plates and old newspaper left on the table, I assumed that Stan had made his way to his room.

Grabbing the dishes, I reluctantly brought them over to the sink, not wanting the whole downstairs to smell of dead fish the next morning. I just dumped the scrapes into the bin and placed the dishes in the sink.

"I didn't know you were OCD." The sudden voice of Pacifica broke the silence, causing me to leap in the air before spinning around.

Allowing a moment to regain my breath again I turned back to her "Why do you do this to me?" Still shocked at her sudden arrival.

"Oh, I'm sorry. Am I too scary for you?" her hands on hips, with a confident vibe coming of her.

"You wish. I see to remember you running into my arms at the sight of a ghost." Striking back with my own comment.

"At least I didn't get turned into wood."

"Fair enough," figuring I was going to lose that anyway "Where's Mabel?"

"Asleep. Seems like today really to a lot out of her," Looking at my weary expression "Same for you too I guess."

"Yeah," rubbing the back of my head. Went exploring with Ford in the morning only to jump of a cliff with Wendy and the gang in the afternoon."

"Oh yeah? How was it?"

"Awesome. Everything this summer has been amazing. Spending time with Wendy and everything."

"You seem to be spending a lot of time with her, don't you?" I thought I could hear what sounded like a bit of hurt in her voice.

"Yeah I am. Is that a problem?" Eyebrows furrowed in interest at her reaction.

"No, no," she rushed to finish "Just heard from Mabel that you and your girlfriend are spending every waking moment together."

"Well she has point there," thinking back on the last few days "but we've just got together so is that so much of a surprise?"

"Maybe for a different couple but you and… 'her' have a big history together." Ok. That last bit seemed to have a bit of disgust laced in her voice. I was thoroughly confused on what was happening now. Pacifica seemed to refuse to say Wendy's name.

"Ok, I've got to stop the conversation here. Why are you acting so hostile when you refer to Wendy? Did you two have a fallout of some kind?"

She let out a sigh and turned away "It's getting late." making movements to the door.

I followed her, stepping in front of her, stopping her "I can't let you do that, until you tell me what happened between you and Wendy."

She looked down, unable to look me directly in the eyes "She's done nothing wrong."

"Then why are you acting so hostile to her then?" curiosity replacing my remaining concern.

"It's just… its' just…" she let out a sigh "I'm going to regret this." Next thing I know a have her hands pulling me down and her mouth pressed against hers. I felt Pacifica almost release a wave of built up feelings as I stared wide eyed back at her. Next thing I knew I was left standing in the room by myself

I stood still I shock at the sudden twist of events. At least now I understood her hatred for Wendy. However, that felt nothing like what I had had with her. With her there was a shared connection, but with Pacifica it felt one way. I turned around trying to see where she went, but I could only hear the sound of a metal lock sliding across a door. I followed the sound leading me to the spare room, where I guessed they were having the sleepover.

Knocking on the door gently, I waited for a reply but got none. Assuming that she was just going to ignore me still, I waited for a minute more before heading upstairs. If she didn't want to talk now, I'd respect her wishes, but in the morning we've got to have a chat. This makes everything so much more confusing now. Pushing open the door to my room. At least Wendy or Mabel wasn't there. I shuddered thinking of all the horrible possibilities that could have happened Entering the dark room, I made my way over to my bed throwing myself in. I should have just gone to sleep. Lying back in bed, I just wanted the day to end as I closed my eyes and felt myself begin to drift off.

Only for the lights to flicker on and off as the house began to shake.

Done. Fair warning. I am going on camp next week which will take up the whole week, making my painfully slow writing even slower. All apologise in advancement. God, I've written like five multiple versions of this chapter just trying to make it fit but here is the final copy.

Till next time.