"Hello hello you have reached Mabel!" Mabel didn't pick up until the very last moment, but Wendy was so happy to hear her friend's voice that she didn't care.
"Mabel dude, how are you, it's Wendy!" she said, but she wasn't sure if she would be heard. The noise emitting from Mabel's side of the line was intense. Wendy could hear blaring pop music, along with what she was pretty sure were the sounds of hammers and buzz saws. (Growing up in a lumberjack family had unfortunately given Wendy an ear for such things.)
"I know Wendy," Mabel said with a snort of laughter, "There is such thing as caller I.D, y'know."
"Well I just assumed that you'd have dropped that phone of yours by now," joked Wendy, and there was a laugh from the other end of the line.
"The jokes on you, Wendmiester, I've my phone fully encased in foam! I won't ever have to cry over a cracked screen again!" there was a note of triumph in Mabel's that Wendy couldn't help but roll her eyes.
"Yeah, and it only took you how many fails to find that solution? Eight, was it?" she teased.
"Whatever, shut up!" giggled Mabel, and the background noise began to fade away. Her voice now had an echo-y sound, and Wendy guessed she had ducked out of whatever class she had been in. Good thing too, because she wasn't sure how Mabel would take what she wanted to tell her.
"So, what for are you calling for, my amigo? Apart from wanting to hear my beautiful voice, of course," asked Mabel, "You know I'll be there on Friday, right? Or can you not wait till then?" Wendy laughed along with her, but found herself thinking that what Mabel was suggesting might be a good idea.
"You know, maybe I can't… Did you know that Dipper was coming to the falls for the summer?" she asked, hoping maybe she was just overreacting after all. On the other side of the phone there was only silence that stretched until suddenly Wendy's ears were assaulted by the rage of Mabel
"What!?" she yelled, and Wendy could hear her voice rebounding off the echoing halls, "You've actually heard from Dipper? Tell me everything!" she demanded. Wendy explained as fast as she could, frequently interrupted but Mabel with outcries like "He just turned up?" "He's doing WHAT in college?" and "I've only known he's alive from his cheepr feed!"
A slight note of concern had crept into Mabel's voice when Wendy had finished telling her of Dipper's sudden appearance.
"You don't think… he's on drugs or anything do you? I've read people distance themselves if they're on drugs."
Wendy shook her head smiling, before remembering Mabel couldn't actually see her, "Not any I've ever heard of man, I don't think he's in that kind of trouble, but…" Wendy checked neurotically over her shoulder, as if Dipper could have appeared in her car in the past five minutes, "I think that there's something wrong with him, Mabel, he's not …right."
"What do you mean, Wendy?" Mabel asked in concern, "what's wrong?"
Wendy ran a hand over her face, and let out a groan of frustration. "The thing is Mabel; I can't really put my finger on it. He turned up in these stupid clothes, and changed courses and it's just really weird, ok?!"
"O-Kay" said Mabel, but Wendy could hear the scepticism in her voice, "Are you sure? I know he's been acting weird but maybe he's just…growing up?" Wendy could tell Mabel was trying to reassure herself, but there was an uncertainty in her voice that betrayed her.
"Mabel, I didn't want to tell you this, but… I think he forgot who you were…" there was silence on the other end of the phone.
"Mabel?" asked Wendy, wondering if the line had gone dead, "Mabel are you there?"
"He forgot me?" said a small voice in Wendy's ear.
"I think so Mabel, I might be wrong though. I just wanted to know if you had noticed anything strange about him in the past few weeks or whatever. You'll be here soon anyway and we'll find out" said Wendy, trying to force positivity into her voice, as much trying to reassure herself as she was her friend.
"Wait… there is something," mumbled Mabel, and Wendy's heart leapt, hoping it was some sort of explanation, some reason for this strangeness. But Mabel seemed to have forgotten she was there, mumbling to herself.
"Yeah, maybe that is what it was for… he was acting so weird at the time…" there was a pause, and suddenly Mabel's voice was back bright as a bell and fast as a machine gun.
"Look, Wendy, don't worryboutit, we'll get this sorted out! I'll see you real soon, ok? Ok, great! Byeeee!"
The click of the phone left Wendy in shock, staring at her phone in confusion in the growing darkness of the car.
