June 9th
The past 3 days had gone by in a whirlwind of activity, with the Pine twins finding themselves hard at work in the Mystery Shack; though with added responsibilities compared to their previous times manning the old tourist trap. Mabel had been promoted to cashier in place of Soos (though Stan hastily promoted him to Executive Handyman after he looked wounded by the decision) and Dipper had been tasked with leading the guided tours himself while Stan busied himself with a secret project of some sort that took up most of his time. Dipper suspected that Stans "secret project" was probably just an excuse to spend more time relaxing at the pool hall with his friends from the Lodge, but he didn't mind too badly since he'd actually started to enjoy putting on a show for the groups of rubes who streamed into the out-of-the way old building to gaze in wonder at such attractions as "The Terrifying Eagle Bodied Griffon" (a stuffed eagle covered in glitter) or "the Jackassalope" (a donkey head with antlers glued to it... also covered in glitter). Back when he first started coming here with Mabel he'd resented the shacks corny attractions after all his encounters with real magic and horror, but over the years he'd come to enjoy the creativity of the exhibits and especially his great-uncles ability to bring out the magic in what was clearly a bunch of old junk. When Dipper had tried to present an actual monster captured from those demon haunted woods to the crowds they'd looked for the wires holding it up, but his uncle could convince people to pay top dollar just to get a glimpse of a bunch of his old hunting trophies hastily glued together. Dipper had taken to studying the old man when he was in full showmanship mode and had even managed to do a passable impersonation of his style, which never failed to get a laugh out of Mabel even when she was feeling down in the dumps. He caught her eye as he lead the newest group of suckers into the gift shop and put on his "Stan face" while rubbing his hands together greedily as the tourists swarmed over the gimmicky merchandise and she stifled a giggle in the sleeve of her sweater (a navy blue monstrosity with a smiling moon embroidered on it in silvery thread).
Dipper made his way through the crowd and up to the counter and whispered to Mabel, "Sis, I'm going to head upstairs for a while, I think I saw some stuff up in the attic that might make for a good exhibit. Can you keep an eye on things for a bit?"
"Pfft, no problem bro-bro, Mabel has it covered." she said with a mock salute. Dipper nodded and then headed out toward the shacks living quarters while the customers started lining up with their various goods.
Mabel was quickly buried in money as the tourists left the shack with armfuls of overpriced junk. While she was busy counting up the totals after the last customer had left she was startled by a tap on her shoulder and the sound of "Hey dork." in a cheerful feminine voice.
"Wendy!" Mabel exclaimed, scattering money as she turned to crush her old companion in a friendly bear hug.
"Gah! Easy there girl... gonna want to breathe again eventually." Wendy joked as she patted Mabel's back.
It had been a few years since Mabel had seen the tall red-head and was surprised by the changes that had come over her. The last of Wendy's teenage gawkiness had been softened out and her features had taken on a more mature cast. Her hair was cut shorter into a kind of rough punk-y style and Mabel thought she could see the edges of some colorful tattoos peeking out from under the sleeves of Wendy's flannel shirt.
"So, hows college been?" Mabel asked as she released her crushing grip on her old friend.
Wendy shrugged, "The homeworks tough but I just have one more year of it to go until graduation – I've heard that its you guys who are going to be entering in the fall. Congrats!"
"Wait, what are you even doing here? I thought your school was way on the other side of the state? Are you back to visit your family?" Mabel asked.
"Heh, yeah. Crazy coincidence that I just happened to run into you here." Wendy said with a chuckle, her eyes shifting around slightly.
Mabel narrowed her eyes and jabbed Wendy playfully in the chest with her finger, "Spill it sister."
"Ugh, fine... I suck at lying anyway. Stan's planning on throwing a party for you guys and it was my job to get you both distracted and out of the shack for the afternoon while he sets it up."
"Wait, Grunkle Stan is doing this right? The same guy who has to practically have money dragged out of him with red hot pokers is going out of his way to throw us a surprise party?"
"Yeah, well what can I say? You two have been a good influence on the old coot. You're also pretty much the only people who visit him voluntarily that aren't his employees, so I guess it makes you guys special to him."
Mabel felt herself smile wide. She'd always known that her great-uncle wasn't as crusty as he made himself seem, but it was still touching to hear how much he cared about her and her brother. "Well, I don't want to ruin his plans – let me go get Dipper and you can distract us to your hearts content. What did you have in mind?"
"I dunno, I was just figuring on hitting up the arcade or maybe catching a movie." Wendy said with a shrug.
"Sounds perfect – I'll go extract Dipper from whatever corner of the attic he's gotten himself stuffed into." Mabel said, before skipping off toward the stairs.
She found Dipper with his head buried in some of the piles of cardboard boxes that were jammed up in the cavernous old attic, clearly distracted. With a small smile to herself Mabel quietly tip-toed over to him, knelt beside the box he was inspecting and shouted "WENDY'S HERE!", sending her brother bowling head over heels to end up lying flat on his back and panting.
"Not funny Mabel." Dipper growled as he stood up, pushing aside the debris thrown up by his fall.
"Sorry. I wasn't kidding though, Wendy's downstairs. She came to visit her family and heard we were in town, so we were gonna go off to the arcade. You're coming, right?"
Dipper sat bolt upright and looked around in almost a near panic. "Wendy? Here? Now?"
Mabel shook her head with a chuckle, "What was all that in the car about 'getting over your dorkishness?'. You've still got it bad don't you bro? Tell you what, I'll keep her distracted downstairs for a bit while you fix yourself up and then we can all head into town."
Dipper smiled gratefully at his sister before darting over to his suitcase trying to find a clean shirt, or at least one that didn't smell like he'd been wearing it all through a hot summer day. It's not like I'm still in love with Wendy or anything, Dipper thought to himself as he pawed through his pile of clothes, its just that I don't want to show up looking like a slob. I mean, no one wants to smell like old sweat in front of a hot girl. Crap, I just called her a hot girl. Am I still into her? Stop it Dipper, you haven't seen her in 2 or 3 years, this is just old memories talking. We're cooler than that now. We've actually dated girls. No need to act like a hormone crazed 12 year old again just because she was our first big crush. Don't I have anything to wear that doesn't have a dorky logo on it? Why do I still even have this Monstermon shirt?
"D-iiiiipper!" Mabel called from downstairs, "If you take any longer we're leaving you behind!"
Screw it, Dipper said as he pulled on a plain black tee-shirt and set his cap on his head firmly over his birthmark, I'm as cool as I'm ever gonna be right now, so might as well just go for it!
"Hold your horses! I'm going down already!" he called.
"That's what she said!" he heard Wendy call back up with a laugh and he felt himself actually redden slightly in the ears. Curse my bashful upbringing!
Dipper made his way down the stairs and said in, what was to his mind, a casual tone "Oh, hey – Wendy. Hows it going, long time right?" Though she had always towered over him when he was younger he was surprised to see that he was actually an inch taller than her now when finally reached the bottom stair.
Wendy smiled up at him and gave him a look up and down, "Well look at you, all grown up. Should I call you Big Dipper now?" she said teasingly with a chuckle.
Dipper felt himself redden again and coughed slightly, at a loss for words until he felt Mabel's arm come up behind his neck as she pulled him and Wendy into a friendly headlock.
"Enough chit-chat, I thought we were going to be off rotting our brains with video games instead of babbling all day?" Mabel said cheerfully. Though he was being choked by his sisters surprisingly strong grip Dipper was grateful for the interruption. Any more of that fake casual stuff and I might have made an ass of myself, he thought to himself, Screw this nervousness, it'll just be nice to go out and have fun like we used to again.
Feeling himself relax, Dipper followed the girls out Wendy's truck and the three headed out for an afternoon of fun in town.
–
By the time the trio had arrived back from the heart of town the party was in full swing at the shack, with music courtesy of DJ Soos shaking the old windows in their panes & the sound of the towns residents enjoying themselves from inside. To Dippers surprise there wasn't even a ticket booth, just a donation box at the door (though it did have picture of a glaring Stan pasted above it with the words "...Or else!" in red dripping letters written beneath the word "Donate").
As they made their way in past the crowd of dancing teenagers Mabel was practically flying tackled by Candy and Grenda, who dragged her off in a chattering and giggling huddle leaving Dipper alone with Wendy. Well, if you can call being surrounded by a bunch of dancing people alone, Dipper thought.
"We should go find Stan," Wendy said, "he'd set up this whole thing to surprise you guys so he'll probably want to see you tonight."
"Where is he anyway?" Dipper asked, scanning the crowd.
"Oh my god look!" Wendy said with a laugh as she pointed, and Dipper followed her gaze to the sight of his great-uncle cutting a rug with Lazy Susan. "That old man still has some moves... not good moves, but he has them at least."
"Heh, yeah... Well, no point in interrupting his fun." Dipper said, nodding his head along with the music. "I'm gonna go grab some punch. You want any?"
"Sure, sounds good," Wendy said, "but when you get back we're dancing, got that?"
"Um... sure, ok!" Dipper replied as he nervously laughed and made his way to the refreshments. Ok, play it cool here. Why is she acting so into me? Am I reading too much into things? Maybe she just wants to dance. That's probably it. She did seem to really enjoy playing 'Dancy Pants Revolution III: The Bloodening' at the arcade with Mabel. That was a weird game- who thought that killing zombies with dance moves was a good idea?
While Dipper was distracted pondering the baffling decisions behind the games design Mabel was out on the dance floor with her friends, catching up with all the latest gossip.
"So, there's no chance that Pacifica is going to show up and ruin the party, right?" Mabel asked Candy as she took a breather from her enthusiastic dancing.
"No, she had to go stay with her aunt out of town for a while for medical reasons." Candy replied.
"Candy means that Pacifica got knocked up and her parents didn't want her to ruin their image." Grenda added with her usual discretion and volume.
"Yeesh... wouldn't want to be that kid." Mabel replied.
"Enough about that witch, how have you been?" Candy asked.
"I've been pretty great! Me and Dipper are going to be staying up here for the summer, so I'll get to spend some more time hanging out with my best friends after all!" Mabel said with a gleaming smile.
"Speaking of your brother when did he stop being such a dork?" Grenda asked.
"What do you mean? I don't think that's physically possible." Mabel joked.
"Well, he has gotten kind of... cute." Candy said shyly.
"Your bros hot." Grenda said bluntly.
"What? C'mon, girls – the guys in this town can't be so bad that you think my little brother is a catch?" Mabel replied with a laugh.
"You just can't see it cause he's family, but trust me – he looks good." Candy said somewhat defensively.
"If you say so..." Mabel said. "Say, where is he anyway?"
She scanned the room and found her brother dancing with Wendy, a carefree look on his face. His dance moves were pretty dorky, but looking at him under the crazy lighting of the party he seemed different somehow. Like an optical illusion becoming clear she noticed that he was actually a pretty handsome guy. Well, it makes sense – we're twins and obviously I'm super cute. Still though, its strange that I hadn't noticed before. Or is it strange? Blegh, what am I even thinking here?
"Enough talking about my brother – there's dancing to be done and plenty of cute guys here that I'm not related to that look like they could use some company!" Mabel exclaimed as she grabbed her friends by the hands and dragged them out onto the floor once again.
–
The night wore on and the parties energy started to wind down with it. Dipper had been having a pretty great time; he'd danced, he'd laughed & he'd had his fill of junk food to last a while – Stan had gone all out for this bash. I think I can even recognize some name brand food here... no wait, false alarm.
He'd just finished talking with Stan to thank him for the celebration, and while his great-uncle had claimed that the party was mostly to drum up interest in the shack as a place to rent for events Dipper could see that he was glad that his niece and nephew had been having a good time.
"I saw you out on the dance floor earlier with Wendy," the old man had said, "good to see that you've gotten some guts since you've grown up. I remember back when you couldn't talk to her without your face turning into a sweaty tomato."
"Heh, thanks. I don't know why, but things seem to be going my way lately. This trip was a good idea."
"Actually there's something I'd wanted to talk to you about along those lines," Stan had said, "but we can discuss it tomorrow. I think I see a girl out there who still isn't totally danced out." he said as he slapped his nephew on the back and sent him on his way back to the party.
Now as Dipper walked out onto the dance floor he noticed the music had slowed down, and when he caught up with Wendy they were pulled close into a slow dance.
"I've had a pretty fun night Dip," Wendy said as she swayed along with the music, "how about you?"
"Its been good... gotta say that I've done more dancing now than I usually do." Dipper replied.
"It shows," Wendy teased, "but you got better. Would you want to step out for some air after this song?"
"Um... Sure." Dipper replied, now nervous once again. I think she IS coming on to me.
The song ended, as all songs eventually do, and the two went through the doors of the shack and out under the stars. Dipper found himself at a loss for words sitting there on the porch of the shack, all he could remember were facts from his astronomy class that he was sure would bore Wendy to tears. The silence dragged on for a few moments longer and just when Dipper had gotten desperate enough to try to recall the least boring of the astronomy facts he felt the older girl slide in closer to him and pull his face toward hers for a kiss. Dipper found himself frozen in shock for a moment before he felt himself relax and started to kiss back.
My god this is actually happening! Wait... why is this happening? He thought to himself. Dang it Dipper, don't over think this – just go with it! Oh man she kisses hard.
He felt himself pull back from the kiss to get some air and looked into Wendy's face. "Um, not that this isn't great.." Damn it Dipper, do not ruin this for us! "but, why the kiss all of a sudden?"
Wendy looked at him quizzically, "Does it matter?" she asked as she leaned in for another kiss, this one even longer than the last.
Of course it doesn't matter, this is awesome! Dipper thought, but when their lips separated again he found himself asking "Well... I guess it doesn't matter per se... but you know me and mysteries. Heh... heh..." What are you doing!?
Wendy shook her head. "Dork. Ok, fine... I got dumped a week ago by my last boyfriend, I knew you always had a little crush on me and you looked pretty good tonight, so I thought... why not?"
"So, I'm a rebound sort of thing?" Dipper asked, his heart sinking in his chest.
"Maybe, I don't know... I just thought we'd been having a good time, so why not have some fun?"
"Uh... I don't know... but.." No, no buts, what are you doing? "I'm just not too comfortable with it. I mean, we've been good friends without any of this stuff complicating things and I kind of like it that way." Welp, there goes that.
Wendy shrugged, "Fine by me. We still cool?"
"Yeah. We're good." Dipper said with a smile.
"'Kay, then I'm going to take off for the night. We'll hang out later then."
"Sure, see you around." Dipper replied, somewhat quietly. As he watched her get into her car and drive off he felt a small hollow inside. Well... that could have gone better. Still, if we'd ended up making out with Wendy we might have started getting attached again and she's not looking for a boyfriend. Would have just lead to more heartbreak in the future.
Doesn't make it feel any easier though.
His party mood gone Dipper went in through the back door of the shack and up to the attic. He lay back on his bed and reflected on the day. Honestly the whole Wendy thing was just kind of immature of me... personality-wise we don't really click too well, she's older than me by a few years and would be out of college while I'm still in it and we don't live anywhere near each other. He thought back on his various relationships in highschool and how they'd gone. Though he hadn't had as many girlfriends as Mabel had boyfriends neither of them had ever gotten into a really serious relationship. He'd just never felt that strong of a spark with them and had found that the same spark was lacking when he'd kissed Wendy earlier.
As he sat lost in thought he was startled by Mabel suddenly leaning over him and saying "Hey, what are you doing up here? The parties still going!"
"Gah! When did you even get here Mabel?" said Dipper, confused by her sudden appearance.
"I saw you sneak up here like 20 minutes ago. Whats up? Where's Wendy? I thought you two were having a good time?" she said, the last part said with a waggle of her eyebrows.
"Well I kind of burned that bridge... but I don't really mind I guess." Dipper said, and told her about their conversation outside.
"The nerve!" Mabel said indignantly, "No one uses my little brother for rebound make-outs and gets away with it!"
"Mabel, you're only 5 minutes older than me and I'm bigger than you – I think we can stop with the 'little brother'," Dipper replied jokingly, "and anyway its fine. She didn't do anything wrong, she just sees these sorts of things differently."
"If you say so..." Mabel replied, "but what would you do if a guy I liked made out with me because he'd been dumped, but he wasn't really into me?"
"I'd kill him." Dipper replied quickly.
"Heh, see? The protective streak can run both ways Dipping-sauce. Now c'mon, lets head back down – the parties almost done and we need to get our dance on before the night ends!" Mabel called to him as she ran skipping back down the stairs.
Dipper smiled after her and sat back up on his bed. She always knows what to say to take me out of myself. I'm a lucky guy having a sister like that... funny, caring, and adventurous... she's just great to be around. That's the whole reason I'm here, he thought, to make sure that we can stick together.
He made his way back to the party room and saw his sister there in a group dance with Candy and Grenda, her hair flying behind her as she spun and moved to the beat, laughing and carefree. He smiled at the sight. She looks beautiful when she dances. Wait, did I just think that? Well, its fine if I did... nothing wrong with noticing that. Its like noticing a sunset or a rainbow... just perfectly innocent aesthetics.
Mabel turned and flashed a smile at him when she saw him at the doorway and waved him over, "Hey, come get in on this Dr. Funtimes! Last song of the night!" she called. He noticed, for the first time, the way her cheeks dimpled when she smiled genuinely. Or noticing the ocean, or the way that stars reflect on water... Uh... I'm getting kind of poetic here... Its not like I think shes... He stopped.
Oh no. I think I do think that.
This... This might complicate things.