Chapter 31

That evening Tambry sat on her bed wearing her lavender baby doll nightgown, leaning back with legs crossed, Lacuna Coil's Cold Heritage softly playing in her mp3 ear buds, a notepad on her lap, writing.

Dear Dipper,

I want to thank you for everything. You are so nice to everyone, but thank you specially for being so nice to me. You are the only one who cares about me. I know that when we touched, when we hugged, when we even sat next to each other that there was something between us, something special. For me I know it was love. I don't know for sure about what you feel, but I know that you really care about me, and that we would make such a cute couple. I think you may even love me, if only a little, but don't admit it because you belong to *her*…

Her eyes began to tear up, and she wiped her face and continued writing.

…and so I am alone. The pain of seeing you and not being able to be with you hurts too much.

I want to forget how I feel about you but I can't. So you won't forget me, here is a picture. I know Wendy will probably tear it up but I don't care. I want you to have something to remember me by.

She then paused and sat the notepad down, and then sitting up in the bed, legs folded to the side like a mermaid on a rock, she held out her phone and took a selfie, a sad smile on her face, tears running down her cheeks. Then she picked up the notepad and resumed writing.

I am glad you are happy. You deserve it after everything you have done for me. So I want you to know it's not your fault.

Love,

Tambry

XO

She printed out the picture on her wireless printer and then fetching it, she folded it and the letter and slipped them into an envelope, and wrote To Dipper on the front. Then she posted the picture on her blog. Goodbye. She glanced at the clock. Sunrise is at 6: 40 AM. If I get up at 6, I can get dressed, drop off the letter and then get there by then.

She walked out of her bedroom and checking that no one was around, walked into her parent's bedroom, and into their master bathroom. When she found what she wanted, she walked back to her bedroom and climbed into bed, and found that a strange relief came over her, a sudden relaxation.

Funny how now that I have decided, nothing matters anymore. Now that I know it's almost over I feel better. Letting go…letting go…is for the best…and she closed her eyes and fell asleep.

…

"Before we can pick one, we should try to understand the guys we know she already doesn't like or doesn't get along with, you know, to figure out her type."

Wendy and Mabel looked at each other, smiling.

"Dipper, you never know. Sometimes guys you would think don't have chance make a girl fall the hardest. Sometimes she just needs to be shown that its someone right in front of her." And Wendy nudged Dipper affectionately and kissed his cheek.

"Haha! Yeah…." Then he looked down in thought. "Hmmm well, let's try. Robbie? Phffft. Obvious. No one likes a jerk right?" And knew it was a mistake as soon as he said it, Wendy was crossing her arms and not looking happy.

"Oh yeah, right…" He smiled sheepishly at her. "Sorry, uh, I forgot about you and Robbie." He turned to Mabel. "Nate? Nate had a thing for her, remember?"

Wendy dropped her arms. "Yeah, but she does NOT like Nate. To needy and tooooo jerky."

"Oh yeah. Well uh…" then his eyes lit up. "Oh yeah!"

Mabel and Wendy looked at each other and Mabel smiled, and gave her brother the thumbs up.

"We were wondering how long it would take you to figure out. We knew it already on the way home, but decided to see if you could figure it out!"

Dipper smiled, and then took out his phone.

…

Tambry's father got up early the next morning with a backache. The grizzled middle aged man in an undershirt and pajama bottoms sat up, stretching in pain as he usually did every morning.

"Damn back. Getting old sucks." He climbed out of bed and shuffled to the bathroom, a hand behind him holding his back. "Good thing I got that refill yesterday, one o' these damn days I'm gonna take all thirty pills, I swear."

He opened the medicine cabinet and was very disappointed.

…

"Waitaminutewaitaminute slow down will ya? Slow down, calm down. Tambry's not here."

"WENDY! What the heck are your friends doing calling us at 6:00 in the morning! Tell them never again…"

"Shutup dad! It's Tambry's mom! She's gone."

Wendy went back to the phone. "Now, slowly this time, what happened? What pills?"

…

Dipper's phone kept chiming with text messages, but he kept sleeping. But Mabel was sensitive to texting, and woke up. Yawning she climbed out of bed and walked over to her brother's phone.

"Hmmm Wendy. It figures." And she walked downstairs, still yawning. Then she saw it.

"Whaaa?" an envelope under the door. To Dipper.

"ooooh I wonder if this has something to do with Wendy's messages? My brother has so much more interesting romances than me." And she danced up the stairs with the letter.

"Dipper, wake up! A surprise from Weeeendyyyyyyyy!"

"Mabel? Ugh, what time is it?"

"It's love letters in the morning time, that's what. Open it open it open it!"

He looked at what she was holding. "What? What are you talking about? Go back to sleep." and he rolled back over pulling the bed sheets over himself.

"Dipper! Please? PLEEEEEASSEEEEE?"

He angrily sat up throwing the sheets to the side "Oh jeez Mabel, seriously you gotta let people sleep."

Then he noticed the envelope. To Dipper. It was not in Wendy's handwriting. "What?"

He took it from Mabel and opened it. Mabel was looking over his shoulder.

"Oooooh, a picture! Wait…that's Tambry…and she's crying!"

Dipper began reading the letter. Then his eyes went wide. "Oh NO. She wouldn't. She WOULDN'T!"

"Wouldn't what Dipper? What?"

He threw the letter and picture down and grabbed yesterday's jeans and shirt, and hopping around on one foot as he pulled on a shoe, grabbed his phone, and saw the text messages. He began texting back.

God I hope we're not too late…

…

Tambry reached the top of the cemetery hill with her backpack. She was out of place in the graveyard, wearing converse tennis shoes and a black and burgundy knee length sequin dress. She had worn it to the junior/senior prom. She wanted to look nice today but also knew it would be slow going hiking there in heels.

She continued walking to the other side of the hill, between the Greene family marker and the beginning of the wild forest, where she had kissed Dipper that one and only time, and dropped her backpack. She gazed back and could see the top of the hill, and the tall granite marker, but not the Gravity Falls township.

I don't care about Gravity Falls. I just want to be where Dipper and I had our moment. Maybe he will see me here and remember too. Maybe…

She sat down on the grass and with a sigh opened her backpack and took out a water bottle, and her father's prescription Vicodin pain killers. She opened them and then looked up at the sky.

The orange and purples of the morning sky gave way to blue as the sun rose above the pine trees. Such a beautiful day. Somehow it seems right to leave on Sunday morning. She looked down at the pills again. If I take two at a time I can swallow them all eventually. She tapped out two and tossed them into her mouth, then set the pills down and reached for her water bottle and opened it. She lifted it to her lips and with eyes closed managed to swallow the first two, but it was an effort. She didn't like pills at all.

They say that you see an angel just before the end.

She sat there, trying to get the pills the rest of the way down with another swig of water, and then wiped her mouth and looked at the top of the hill. She reached for the pills and started to tap out another two but then looked back at the hilltop.

There was a bright reflection near the top of the hill. Something bright was bobbing up and down. An angel? Something coming over the top of the hill.

Something…? It's …it's someone.

The bright blond hair reflected the sunshine, but what was under the blond hair was a familiar face.

Lee. What…what is he doing here? She closed her hand around the next two pills.

He walked down the other side of the hill towards her.

"Hi Tambry."

She looked around but decided it was no use trying to hide anything.

"Uh, hi Lee."

He always smiles. But this smile…is different. His eyes…his eyes…are worried.

"I'm glad I found you. I was afraid I was too late." He was right in front of her now.

Are those…tears in his eyes?

"Too late?"

"Yeah. I…I would be really jacked up if you …if anything…I mean…if I lost you, you know?"

"You…you would?"

He sat down right next to her and put an arm around her shoulder.

"Well yeah. I care about you."

"You do?"

"Yeah man. I mean…yeah Tambry. Of course I do."

He looked down at her hand. Her closed hand. With his free hand he took her closed hand and slowly opened it. She let him. He slowly grabbed the pills from her and then threw them over his shoulder into the forest.

She turned around to look at them fly, and then turned to look at Lee. He was still smiling.

She smiled back. "Those cost my dad a lot man."

He laughed. "I know man! Haha!"

"Haha! Lee!" and she shoved him, pushing his chest, and he let himself get pushed back onto the grass, laughing and wiping his eyes. Then he sat back up and looked at her. He slowly reached for the bottle and the cap and twisted the cap back on. Then he stopped smiling.

"Did you take any yet?"

"Uh yeah…two."

He sighed then smiled again. "Man, you are gonna get HIGH haha!"

"Haha! I hope so!"

"TAMBRY! TAMBRY!"

The two looked at the hilltop. Dipper and Wendy were running up, with Mabel behind them. Dipper got there first.

"Tambry! Did you..." he swallowed, catching his breath. "…did you …"

Lee smiled even wider, and held up the bottle, shaking it with a rattle.

"She only took two man. She'll be buzzed for a while and then might get nauseated."

"Thank God!"

Then Wendy ran up.

"Tambry what the hell do you think you're doing you stupid dork?" and she shoved Tambry's shoulder.

"I…I don't know."

"Well I know, you're scaring the hell out of your friends, that's what! Don't freakin' do that again, not without talking to us at least!"

"You…you guys care about me?"

Mabel ran up. "Of course we do!" and the exuberant Mabel fell to her knees and hugged Tambry. "Any friend of my brother's is a friend of mine!" Surprised, Tambry slowly wrapped her arms around her.

"Thanks Mabel." Then she looked around at everyone. "Thank you guys."

Then she looked at Dipper. He crouched down in front of her and looked at her, lips tightly closed as he held back emotion, dark eyes looking into hers. Lee was still on one side and Mabel on the other, and so in between them he leaned forward and hugged her. She didn't care anymore what Wendy may think and so wrapped her arms around him.

"Oh Dipper!" And she started crying.

"Tambry! Now don't go doing that or you're gonna make me cry!" and with a tear running down her cheek Mabel hugged her again. Lee hugged her too, wrapping his long arms around Mabel's and Dippers. "Whoa man, it's getting crowded here!" Everyone started giggling in strange chuckles, laughter mixed with sobs.

In the middle of the hugging arms, gentle, teary eyes looking up through pretty eyelashes and wisps of her dark red and highlighted hair, Tambry looked at Wendy.

The redhead looked back down at her and with sad eyes, smiled.

"Dorkette."