Ch. 2
With work at the shack ending and the lazy summer sun beginning its decent behind the gravity falls mountain ranges Dipper was in the attic packing and getting ready for his camping trip with Wendy tonight. "Hmm… let's see, sleeping bag? Check. Flashlight? Check. Inflatable blowup doll… EW! Gross, why is this even up here? So, definite no on that." "Bombs away! Attack his giant head." Mabel screeched in her best impression of a fighter pilot as she lobbed a glitter encrusted paper airplane at Dipper's head. The plane flew rather gracefully through the air before gliding straight into Dipper's forehead. "Ow! What the heck Mabel?" Dipper exclaimed as he rubbed the spot hit by the plane. Great, it was bleeding now. Why did he have to be such a wimp? When was puberty going to grant him a six pack and actual biceps with definition? Oh well, until then he would just have to contend with his "noodle arms." "Sorry Dipping Sauce I just wanted to make sure you were ready to go, Wendy is waiting for us downstairs. Also, I don't think I want to go. Why am I going again?" Dipper sighed. "Because Wendy asked both of us to go and if only I went then she would think something was up." Mabel laughed "no offense Dipper but everyone knows something is up. It would be kind of hard not to know." Truth be told he wasn't happy about his sister coming either. Sure he loved her but she had twice already ruined his attempts to get close to Wendy like forcing him to help her win waddles at the fair instead of preventing Robbie from asking Wendy out or that time when she got him fired from his job as a lifeguard he had with Wendy. Granted, each time it was for a good cause and Mabel meant well, but good intentions can only go so far before they begin to grate on other people's nerves.
As they headed down stairs Mabel couldn't help but comment on the acrid stench that permeated the air "Do you smell a gallon of body spray and sweaty angst?" Sure enough Wendy was downstairs waiting for the twins with her wannabe rocker boyfriend, Robbie. As per his usual attire he had on his black hoody with a picture of a stitched heart on the front and his greasy hair stuck to his forehead like black tendrils. Why is Wendy even with this guy? Dipper couldn't help but think to himself. "Ugh, why are we taking the little fairy princess and his sister with us again?" Robbie questioned indignantly before receiving a playful punch to the arm from Wendy. "Shut up man they're cool. Now let's get going, it's going to be dark soon." She said as they all walked out to Robbie's car packed they're things and left.
The car ride itself was fairly uneventful except for Robbie's ill-disguised attempts to smooth talk Wendy and Dipper's subsequent growing frustration that things were already not going as he had planned. When they arrived at their destination they were greeted by the gang from their last excursion to the Dusk 2 Dawn convenience store: Nate, Lee, Thompson, Tambry, and some new guy sporting a moby warp (probably ironically). Dipper didn't even take the time to commit his name to memory. Together, the twins and the raucous teens embarked down the dirt path that would take them to their destination deep within the Gravity Falls woods. As they walked, Dipper couldn't help but shudder at Lee's now hideously swollen tongue (Nate had dared the poor halfwit to lick a suspicious looking trifoliate plant with red green leaves that Dipper had correctly identified as toxicodendron radicans, poison ivy). He could have warned Lee in time but something about watching another person actually dumb enough to lick poison ivy was just too good to pass up. Though now, as Lee struggled to keep up or even breath properly he felt kind of bad about not stepping up. A gentle nudge to his shoulder quickly snapped him out of the melancholy thoughts of what a horrible person he was. Mabel moved in close so only her brother could hear her "psst, hey man what's your plan to get Wendy tonight? I'm guessing that's why I'm being dragged out here." Dipper's annoyance began to show across his face. "You wanna know a secret about being romantic. Huh huh do ya?" She emphasized each word with a little poke to his soft features. "It's really easy because the plan is to not have a plan. Just go with it and if it was meant to be then she'll laugh at all of your dumb jokes, smile, and ask you to hang out with her." At this point Dipper's frustration had reached a boiling point and he let the whole world know "Enough, I don't have a plan!" he shouted to know one in particular. The whole group stopped at turned to look at him. Face visibly getting Redder with each passing second, Dipper couldn't help but stammer out an excuse "I…uh…I mean I don't have a plan to party any harder than I will tonight *heheh* yeah." He flinched at the terrible excuse but everyone else seemed to buy it or they just didn't care as they turned around to begin walking again in awkward silence.
They reached the clearing where they would set up camp just as the sun had set and left the woods cloaked in darkness. The only thing that could be said about the location was that it was remote enough to ensure privacy for any party, or murder, whichever one struck your fancy at the time. Everyone let out a collective sigh, especially lee who dug furiously through every pack looking for some succor to his now blistering ailment. It felt as if they had been walking for hours and no one was there for a nature hike as evident by their excited chatter as they set up camp and a fire; ignited by a single match, a few scattered branches, and what appeared to be a whole can of gasoline that Moby guy graciously provided. Thompson was still wheezing from having to carry the cooler from the cars to the camp site when he opened it up"Huh huh…*cough*…oh man, whew. Ahem, let's gets this party started. Both Dipper and Mabel had hoped that the cooler was full of sandwiches and ingredients for s'mores, but they were disappointed as their innocent naiveté was shattered when the contents of the cooler was revealed to be nothing but beer, everclear, and what looked like some partially eaten donuts (Thompson must have been really hungry). Everyone save for the twins gave out a collective "woot, woot!" Dipper and Mabel both visibly recoiled wondering what they had gotten themselves into.
The night wore on as more and more alcohol was consumed and the cacophony of shouting, music, and drunken, clumsy advances were made when the teenagers' hormones finally started to kick in. Dipper couldn't take it anymore and sighed as he walked off further into the woods. Mabel had long since retreated to her tent attempting to drown out the din of noise with the latest Sev'ral Timez CD. Truth be told Wendy didn't really know what to expect when the guys planned this night and invited her and Tambry to come along but as she slowly lost more and more of her cognizant thought to the alcohol that was shoved into her hand she cared less and less. Lost in the music and company of others she began to relax letting herself go as the party itself became all but a whirlwind to her. People laughed, Robbie played a touching song on his guitar dedicated especially to her (though she could hardly remember the lyrics now), Thompson, Nate, and the hipster guy (no one seemed to remember his name) all had a throwing contest to see who could chuck the heaviest object the furthest (everyone burst out laughing when Nate picked up Thompson and threw him a sizable 5ft.). Somehow through it all she ended pressed up against Robbie as they sat beside the fire. Maybe it was the song he played for her, the alcohol eating away at her ability to make rational decisions, or whatever but right then and there she gave her boyfriend a full on kiss. The sloppy and inexperienced make out session lasted briefly as Lee, miraculously recovered, shouted out "Ha ha oh man, looks like I owe you some money. Nice job man." "N-no you idiot we bet…ugh… we bet him that he could get past first base with her so we l-like don't owe him anything" Nate chimed in. Wendy was mortified, her own boyfriend had bet her friends that he could have sex with her and worse yet, she would have let him. With tears streaming down her face and too ashamed to even look at the circle of her so called friends, Wendy ran off into the woods but not in time to avoid hearing a "nice one, idiot now I'll have to wait even longer" from Robbie.
Dipper ambled along in the darkness not really heading in any particular direction. Sighing to himself he couldn't help but think that he didn't know what he expected this night to be. Camping, sleeping bags, s'mores... Ugh that was such kid's stuff, a simple and innocent way of looking at the world. They were teenagers, of course they were going to drink. and rock out. As Dipper neared what appeared to be the edge of a ravine overlooking a moss covered grave site he let his thoughts turn towards Wendy. What was I thinking? This was such a stupid idea. She already has a boyfriend and she's like 3 years older than me. How was this ever supposed to work out? Lost in a myriad of what was sure to be the world's most depressing thoughts he never heard Wendy come crashing through the woods, tears streaking down her face.
Visibly, startled Dipper took a step back and nearly fell over the edge he had just been peering over. Something had obviously upset Wendy greatly as Dipper couldn't recall seeing the tomboy shed a single tear, he honestly never thought she would as it would be deemed too "girly" an action by her. Yet, despite popular belief, here she was practically bawling her eyes out. Timidly, Dipper ventured a bold but short "Is something the matter?". Now it was Wendy's turn to be startled as she had thought that Dipper retreated to his tent along with his sister when the party started. Face glowing red from embarrassment she began to wipe the tears from her eyes when an idea began to take shape in her head Dipper is such a nice kid and he always seems to be there for me and he definitely has a crush on me (Wendy had found Dipper's backpack of secret love letters to her when gruncle Stan had told her to clean the twins' room as part of her job which at first she thought was a little creepy, but now…). A horrible plan flashed in her mind for a split second but it was enough. Alright Robbie you want to bet on how far you can get with me, well let's see how you like it when this kid gets farther than you ever could. Normally Wendy would have thought better of the idea, something that was beneath her, but humiliation, pure rage, revenge, and maybe a little bit of everclear clouded her judgment. She began "It's nothing really. Robbie is being a bigger asshole than usual. He bet on our love life and now I think it's really over this time." Dipper's mind swirled with a torrent of emotions at this news. On one hand Robbie and Wendy seemed to be broken up for good but on the other hand that jerk hurt the girl he loved pretty badly. Never had Dipper experienced such a strange mix of elated anger and disgust. It felt tingly, as he would later come to describe it reflecting on this moment in later years. He knew this was his chance but he had to play it just right and not do something stupid like ask her to go bowling or hang out more at work. "Listen I'm sorry to hear that. I know you two were close but you were right, Robbie is a jerk and if he can't see what a good thing he had then he really doesn't deserve to be with you." Surprised by this so called kid's poignant candor Wendy egged him on "well then who should I be with?" Taking a deep breath and diving in Dipper made his big move "I'm not saying that you should be with anyone, especially so soon after what you went through, but I know I would treat you a lot better if you were my girlfriend." It was an invitation that Wendy's devious plan wouldn't allow her to miss because she knew if she could just get her and Dipper in front of Robbie for a few minutes tonight, he would completely lose it. "Well then, I am happy to be all yours." It was these words that set Dipper's heart on fire as he leaned forward for a kiss and Wendy began to reciprocate the action. Maybe it was the alcohol once again taking its toll on her higher motor functions or it could have been the stinging regret of her actions impairing her somehow, but whatever the case she leaned too far into the kiss too quickly and head-butted Dipper off the ledge.
Great the best moment of my life finally happens and now I am going to fall to my death because I screwed up a simple kiss. As this raced through Dipper's mind another funny thought flashed into existence "The lord giveth and the lord taketh away." Well, thanks a lot god. At least I got to experience a little bit of heaven before actually going there. Man, how far down is th-OW! Dipper landed hard on the soft earth bruised and embarrassed but alive. Looking up to examine his surroundings he immediately noticed two things: that there was no foreseeable way back up and he was now standing in the moss covered grave site that he had been overlooking earlier. Maybe it was the wind blowing through the trees or the mounting concussion, but Dipper thought he could hear a faint and raspy ashen voice whispering to him. "Let's play a game."