Chapter 3
"I know in my heart that you're not the one"
Mabel
It had been a week since the night of the party. Mabel hadn't seen Pacifica once since then. Not even on the streets. It was almost as if she had completely disappeared off the face of the earth, or she just stopped leaving the mansion altogether! "Why would she do that?" Mabel wondered, resting her head on her arms, which were folded on the smooth wood of the table in the employees-only section of the Shack. "She said 'See you soon', didn't she? But it's been like, a week since I saw her! I haven't seen her at all since the party, actually! I wonder why she hasn't been out since then." "Maybe she really DID disappear off the face of the earth." she murmured.
"I doubt it." Dipper called from across the room, seated comfortably in the single armchair of the Shack's living room. He stared down intently at the journal that was propped up on his knees, chewing thoughtfully on a pen. He looked deep in thought. Mabel was surprised he had even heard her. "What're you doing, bro-bro?" she asked, trying to distract herself from thinking about Pacifica. "Mm. Nothing much. Just re-reading the journal." Mabel frowned. "Oh. But then what's got you all… Frowny-like and concentratey?" She waved her arms around to emphasize her point. "Mm-" Before Dipper got the chance to respond, the Shack's back door slammed open. Everyone looked up to see an excited Candy Chiu standing in the doorway, accompanied by an equally ecstatic Grenda. "MABEL!" the pair chorused loudly, their excitement apparent in their voices. "Girls!" Mabel brightened up instantly, rushing forward to partake in a group hug. "What brings you here?" she giggled, pulling away. Grenda giggled, "I wanna use your phone again to call Marius!" "Oh, sure! You know where it is! Go get him, girl!" Mabel winked and snapped at her buff friend, giving her the OK-sign. Grenda rushed towards the phone and instantly dialed in the number of her international lover. "Hello? Marius? Hey, baby. What have YOU been up to?" she purred, in the gruff way that only Grenda could.
Mabel smiled. Grenda had been doing this almost every day since the party. She was happy to see her friend so happy, but a feeling of unrest nagged at her every so often that the only reason Grenda even came over anymore was to use their phone to call Marius. She turned back to Candy, whose eyes were still glimmering with excitement. Candy was practically bouncing on the spot, and Mabel giggled at the sight. She looked like she had just consumed 5 cups of Mabel juice. "Whuzzup, Candy?" "Eeee! Yesterday, Gabe took me on another date!" Mabel resisted the urge to sigh or roll her eyes. Instead, she continued to smile encouragingly, forcing herself to be happy for her friend. "Oh wow, where did he take you? How was it?" Candy sighed, a dreamy look on her face. "It was perfect! He took me to the diner and he bought me a sandwich and told me all about himself and his puppets! He is so dreamy!"
*SLAM!* Mabel jumped a little at the sudden noise behind her. It was followed succinctly by a loud *SNAP!* She turned to see Dipper hastily spitting out half a snapped pen, along with a considerable amount of blue ink. The journal had been slammed shut with what must have been a considerable amount of force, and Dipper's cheeks flushed red as he coughed awkwardly. "Um. I'd better go… Wash out my mouth… Now. Get rid of the ink. Yeah. Okay." He quickly scurried away, gripping the journal in one hand and the snapped halves of the ruined pen in the other.
"Hmm. Weird." Mabel shrugged and turned back to Candy, who looked slightly alarmed. She asked, "Does this happen a lot?" Mabel shrugged. "Kinda, yeah. He's probably already ruined more than 20 pens this summer alone." Candy adjusted her glasses. "Oh. Okay. Anyway, back to Gabe! He is so cute! He told me so much about him and blah blah blah blahblahblahblah" Mabel started tuning out of the conversation. Wow, Candy was obsessed with Gabe. What did she see in him anyway? Other than a really pretty face, he didn't have much going for him. He was picky, petty, puppet-obsessed, made out with his hands?! Eugh. "For Candy, Mabel. Humour her."
About an hour later, Grenda had finally finished talking to Marius, Candy had finally finished talking to Mabel about Gabe, and Dipper had hidden himself in the attic with the journal, refusing to come out. "Bye Mabel! Thanks for letting me use your phone again!" Grenda waved, skipping away. Candy wrapped Mabel in a goodbye hug and grinned, "Thanks for talking to me about Gabe, Mabel! You totally understand me. Bye! See you again!" She took off after Grenda, raven hair whipping in the wind. "Bye…" Mabel waved half-heartedly, slumped against the doorframe. She closed the door and slid to the ground. Her besties had been coming over every single day, yet…
She had never felt more alone.
Candy was always either spending time with Gabe or talking about Gabe. Grenda was always talking to Marius. Dipper had been continuously doing his own thing, whatever it was, and rarely even came downstairs to talk to her anymore. About anything. She had no idea why. And now, she hadn't seen Pacifica at all since the night of the party. Was she deliberately avoiding her?
Mabel felt her heart clench. She wasn't exactly sure why, but she assumed it was because each of her besties were going out with one of her ex-crushes. She sighed. "I've never been able to get the guy, huh? Not a good one anyway. I mean, Gideon doesn't count. And Norman was technically a bunch of gnomes that wanted to abduct me, so he doesn't count either. Mermando… He actually liked me back! But then he had to be taken away to marry that Walrus princess! I couldn't get Gabe, but somehow Candy could. I couldn't get Marius, but somehow Grenda could. Am I just… Incapable of being loved?"
Mabel felt something warm on her cheek. She reached up and wiped her cheek. It was wet. Slowly, more tears began to roll down her cheeks and she whimpered weakly.
"Mabel?" She heard a rough voice call her name. Looking up, she saw Grunkle Stan in the living room, staring at her with a concerned look on his face. "Are you okay?"
Mabel quickly wiped away her tears and stood up, a little shakily. She forced a smile. "I'm fine, Grunkle Stan. Nothing to worry about." Stan looked like he didn't quite buy the act. "It's fine, I'm fine!" she insisted, then muttered under her breath, so no one but her would be able to hear, "Nothing you would understand anyway…" "Well, okay, if you say so…" Stan adjusted his red fez and slowly backed away. "I'll just… I'll just go back to helping Soos and Wendy re-stock the shelves." Mabel nodded encouragingly. "You go do that. I'll just… I'll just go back up to the attic right now…"
She quickly climbed the stairs, two steps at a time. She bit her lower lip, struggling to hold the tears in. She burst into the attic, stumbled forward a couple of steps and collapsed onto her bed, face down. Dipper jumped. He quickly scrambled off his bed, shut the journal and rushed to his twin's side. "Mabes! Are you okay?! What happened?!" Mabel spoke through the pillow, her voice muffled, "I'm fine… You should really go downstairs and help Wendy and Soos and Grunkle Stan restock the shop… I'm sure they could use a little extra help. Ha! Little! Ha… That joke's not even funny anymore… Just go down and help them out, Dipper."
Dipper knew something was up with his twin, but he could take the hint. She wanted to be alone for a while. "Okay. I'll be back in a few minutes." "Don't forget to knock…" Mabel called as he left. Once she heard the door click shut, she sat up and let the tears run freely. "I'm never going to find love… But all my friends have. I wish I had someone to talk to about this. I can't talk to Dipper about this. I mean, c'mon, it's Dipper. Do I really want to talk to him about romance? I wish I could talk to Pacifica, but… She hasn't shown her face since the party. Nobody has time for me anymore. Nobody…" Her body slumped over onto its side. She hiccuped, sad thoughts flying through her brain. She curled up into a fetal position and buried her face in her sweater.
"Nobody loves me…"