Chapter five: Game night
The next morning Dipper woke up with a pillow smacking into his chest and Bill yelling for him to turn off his alarm.
"That damn thing is giving me a head ache!", he complained as he stalked back into his bed and retreated under the covers. Dipper sat up and rubbed his eyes, "No, I think that's called a hang-over..." He mumbled reaching over and smacking the alarm clock. Once his vision cleared up he realized that it was almost ten o'clock. He was going to be late for work!
Dipper practically jumped out of bed and ran to the bathroom, stomping around unintentionally. Bill groaned at how much noise he was making and pressed his pillow against his ears irritated. Dipper quickly changed into his uniform and combed his wavy curls. He grabbed his keys and wallet before slipping on his shoes, still stomping. Bill sat up from his bed and huffed, "Can you be any louder?!"
"Sorry man, I have to go to work." Dipper said as he left the room and made his way down to the parking lot just outside of campus. His work was about ten minutes away and he had to be there at 10:30 and it was currently fifteen after. Dipper only hope that there was no traffic on the highway.
Once he arrived he quickly rushed into the small building. "Tsk, tsk. Mr. Pines, it seems that you're late again." A slightly high pitched male voice came from behind him. Dipper turned around, "I'm sorry Gideon. But I'm only one minute late." He paused regretting already what he was about to say, "I can stay over time if you'd like."
The short man hummed in thought, "Hmm... Okay Pines. But you don't earn your overtime pay." He sneered and cackled before turning and walking away.
Dipper sighed in defeat before heading off to his department in the car dealership. Which just so happened to be the janitor's closet. Dipper was a part-time janitor at a car dealership ran by his childhood enemy and his father. The only reason Gideon treated him like that was because he didn't like him in the least. He hated Dipper because Gideon had a crush on his sister who was two grades above him at the time. Gideon claimed that Mabel did like him and Dipper was jealous and tried to keep them apart. When in reality, Mabel didn't like him that way. She found it awkward that a ten-year-old wanted to date a twelve-year-old at the time. They were in seventh grade going on eighth when Gideon was in fifth going on sixth in the summer.
Why had fate landed him working as a janitor for Gideon Gleeful? Grudgingly, Dipper started to mop the floors around the entrance. It was amazing how dirty it could get. A gnome could probably be buried alive with all of the dust that collected on the ground.
Dipper continued to clean the ground for a good fifteen minutes when he heard a familiar voice burst through the entrance doors.
"Geez, kinda slippery here, huh? So Jack, what kind of car do you want? Only the best for my little bro!" a female said as laughter could be heard from her and another person, presumably her brother. Dipper looked up to see a slim red haired women head locking a smaller male and ruffling his hair playfully. Instantly he recognized the female to be his childhood crush, Wendy Corduroy. He felt a sudden flood of embarrassment. What if Wendy recognized him and laughs at him for being a janitor? What if he does something stupid and slips and embarrasses himself even more? What if Wendy tells him that she has a boyfriend? What if she's already married?! Dipper will never have a chance to be with her!
As questions ran through his mind he stood there staring at them in embarrassment and shock when he came to his senses and quickly turned away. "Hey, is that you Dipper?" Wendy called out. Dipper halted and flinched. Oh god, don't freak out. Don't freak out. Don't freak out. He slowly faced her again, stiff and hunched down as if he was prepared for something. "O-oh. H-hi Wendy. What a-are you doing here...?" his voice cracked slightly.
"Oh, just looking for a car for my bro!" Wendy pulled Jack over by his shoulder. "So, do you work here now? For that little punk Gideon?"
"Uh... Y-yeah. I do." He felt embarrassed to admit it. "But I also work at the Diner down the road on Tuesdays and Thursdays. And I work here also on Thursdays and Saturdays. My only days off from school. I pretty much have no time off..." He explained briefly. Wendy gave an amuse look, "Oh, so you're going to college now, huh? Have you been getting any chicks yet?" she nudged his shoulder with her elbow and wiggled her eye brows. Dipper pulled away and laughed, "Man, I wish! I've just been so busy lately I don't have time to. But I made a few friends."
Wendy chuckled, "Yeah, well it'll come in time. Don't sweat it too much dork.", she ruffled his hair. "See you later dude." She smiled before walking away with her younger brother.
Dipper smiled and felt his cheeks warm up as he clenched the mop in his hand close to his chest. "Why do you have to be so beautiful?" he whispered quietly to himself.
"Mr. Pines! Stop googling over those women and get back to work r-right- I said right this instant." Bud Gleeful called over to Dipper from across the store. Dipper nodded and apologized before going back to mopping up the floor.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
After a few hours of labor at the dealership Dipper clocked out and checked his phone. He flipped up the case to see a message from Wirt.
"_Hey, Dipper. I was wondering if you were still coming to the DD & D group thing. It started like 30 minutes ago. _"
Wirt had sent him that about fifty minutes ago. And Dipper had completely forgot about it! Dipper quickly texted back his message
"_Yeah. Just got off of work and I need to take a shower first. Where is it? _"
He put his flip phone back into his pocket and headed out to his car and started to drive back to his dorm room.
Once returning to his dorm room, he quietly shut the door behind him to not wake the fearsome dragon by the name of Bill. Luckily, he did not wake up from the squeaking of the closing door. Dipper was alive. For now.
He pulled out his flip phone and checked if Wirt texted him back. Wirt did- his text message saying:
"_We're at Sara's house on 88 Bagby Hill Drive. And it's snowing over here, so be safe okay? See you in a little then_" Wirt had also added a smiling face at the end of his message.
Dipper smiled sheepishly at the message, thinking that it was really sweet of him. Closing his phone, he tossed it onto his bed and stalked over to the bathroom quietly. The dragon laid asleep snoring quietly under the covers draped over him.
Dipper had arrived at Sara's house thankfully in one piece. By now the snow was cascading down and piled onto the road. The radio said as Dipper drove to her house that if you can stay off the streets you should. _I'll probably have to spend the night here at this rate, he thought to himself as he blew into the palms of his hands for warmth after closing the bone-numbing cold car door. Unfortunately, Dipper hadn't got the chance to unpack his winter clothes yet, so he had to wear his thin navy blue jacket and cheap cloth gloves he found on Bill's desk instead.
Dipper hastily treaded through the piling snow to Sara's porch. He heard laughter coming from inside the house before hearing Wirt's annoyed voice as the laughter died down. His voice was partially absorbed through the wall and sounded to Dipper like, "_Oh come on guys. It's not like that! _"
Dipper tapped on the wooden door with his knuckles before stepping back just in case the door opened outwards (he's been hit by doors countless times before). An unfamiliar female, presumably African-American, answered the door and scanned Dipper quickly. "Some pizza guy. Doesn't even have the pizza with him." She smirked before stepping to the side and flicking her head, gesturing him to come inside, "Come on, you look like a cat who just had a bath. I'll make you a cup of coffee if you'd like." Dipper nodded gratefully, his jaw clamped shut from the cold and stepped inside. The female added, "You do drink coffee right? If so, does black coffee fancy you? It's all we have left."
"Uh, y-yeah. Thank you." He stuttered through chattering teeth, "It's like ten degrees out there..."
"Pft. Tell me about it. Anyways, I'm Sara. Nice to meet you. I'm guessing you're Wirt's friend, right?" Sara held out her hand and smiled up at him since he was only a few inches taller than her. Dipper took her hand and shook it, "Uh, yeah. My name is Dipper. Nice to meet you too, Sara."
A voice boomed from around the corner, "I hear love blossoming over here!~" It was female, the blonde girl with glasses who spoke was peering around the corner gawking at them holding hands.
Dipper quickly pulled his hand away and pulled off his gloves, "W-what? No."
Sara snickered at the girl, "Pft, he wishes. This is Veronica. Come on, let's get you some coffee." Sara led him into the kitchen were a group of six people crowded around a round table with DD & D set up. Wirt immediately called over to Dipper to sit next to him, grinning widely. He pulled up a seat next to Wirt and scanned over the board. Everyone was separated into different rooms sparring against enemies. "Sorry about being so late. My boss made me stay overtime today because I woke up late this morning." Dipper explained to no one in particular.
"Oh, it's no problem. So, um I'll introduce you to everyone. Everyone, this is Dipper. And Dipper this is", Wirt gestured over to each person as he introduced them, "Veronica, Sara, John, Kate," he lowly mumbled the last person's name, "and this is Jason Funderberker..."
Dipper nodded slowly, Wirt had told him about Jason before. Jason was Wirt's quote on quote, "love rival" back in Middle school. He felt like Jason was the "total package" and was way cooler than him. Jason, so far, had taken every crush of his before he had the chance to ask them on a date. Wirt never really forgets. To Dipper's surprise, he was a very jealous person, not to mention a hopeless romantic. He had also told him he would embarrassingly write love poems for his crush (whose name wasn't mention) before deciding it was a stupid and throwing it away before giving it to them.
Dipper sometimes feels like Wirt regrets telling him that since Dipper would always tease him about it when he first told him, which usually ended up with Wirt getting really embarrassed and defensive.
Sara sat down a mug in front of Dipper, "'ere you go. But it's still a bit hot, so don't burn your tongue." Dipper nodded in acknowledgement, "Yeah, thank you again."
"So, are you in collage, Dipper?" the short blonde haired man named John asked. "Umm, y-yeah I am. I'm a freshman. I'm guessing that you're in collage too, right?"
"Yup, everyone 'ere is, dude." John nodded and grinned, gesturing to everyone at the table. "So, who's next?"
"John, it's been your turn for like, ten minutes. Go already!" Kate snickered and tossed him the dice from across the table.
Dipper turned to Wirt as people started to talk within their own little groups. Wirt was laughing at Sara who had made a joke when Jason jumped in and gained Sara's full attention. So Dipper decided to make a little conversation.
"Hey, Wirt. Have you been able to find a job yet? We just got a new worker at the Diner and I was curious if it was you." Dipper explained swiftly.
"Uh, I mean, yeah I got a job. But not there. I got a job at the gas station. Do you know how dirty those bathrooms get? It's crazy!", Wirt threw his hands in the air for emphasis," And, of course, my co-workers always make me clean it since I just started there."
"Wait, dude, you have no idea. I have a part-time job at the car dealership- and I swear, if a family of fairies walked in there they would all suffocate from all the dust on the ground. And guess who has to mop the floor each day."
"Oh, so you're the janitor, right?" Wirt asked. Suddenly the feeling of embarrassment flooded back to Dipper. Dipper choked on his words, feeling even more embarrassed, he crammed potato chips into his mouth and looked away from him. Wirt looked really confused before bursting out into laughter.
"Hey, be quite, you!" Dipper cried through the chips in his mouth, almost swallowing a whole chip. Wirt covered his mouth in attempt to quiet down, "Wh-why did you do that...?" he asked through giggles. Dipper shrugged and frowned in response.
The night went on in similar fashion, someone at the table would crack a joke that would cause a huge conversation, then pause to play the game, rinse and repeat. Dipper really didn't talk to anyone besides Wirt that night and ended up completely forgetting that they had a duel. A few people decided to try to leave despite having snow five inches high, leaving only Sara, Wirt, Dipper and Kate. Sara and Kate arranged the sleeping areas that comprised of them both sleeping in Sara's room while Wirt slept on the loveseat and Dipper slept in a sleeping bag on the ground in the living room.
As Dipper crawled into his sleeping bag his phone rang. He got a message from Bill.
"_Hey, meet me at the coffee shop tomorrow at 11_"
"_How did you get my number and how are you already a contact in my phone_?"
"_Do you really think that I wouldn't check your phone to make sure if you're a felon? I am very serious about this_"
"_Good night Bill_"
"_Good night! Hope you sleep well! :3_"
Dipper closed his phone and rolled his eyes. Tomorrow is going to be a rough day...
(AN: Hey, guys, I'm so sorry about the late chapter. I've been busy with school and family and I got the flu for a while there and it's been pretty crazy. Thank you for being so patient with the new chapter and I'm setting a goal for myself to have the next chapter done in two weeks. But I wouldn't give my hopes up. We'll see what happens. I hope you enjoyed, thanks again)