A/N: Soooo, are people liking this? Not liking this? Worse than Twilight? Better than the Yellow Pages?
...
"Think I need a shave again." Dipper rubbed the scraggy goatee growing around his chin.
"Dude, when did you become so vain?"
"It's a recent development." He smirked.
He leaned back against the tree, adjusting his black army cap as he did. He and his…"cronies", as Mabel referred to them, were hanging around.
They had a free period, and as usual, spent it "chillin'" on the school field. That and it was a beautiful day, or maybe it was only Dipper who thought like that. The three of them were just watching all the other groups of students milling about, doing the same as them. The end was upon them, they could all feel it. It was just a matter of waiting out the remnant of the term, graduate, then never look back.
"Speaking of "recent developments", Dipper," One of his friends, Nick, piped up. "I still can't believe that's Mabel over there. I mean, when I left four years ago, she was this goofy little thing with braces obsessed with crazy sweaters."
Nick was one of his older friends, from back when he didn't have many friends to speak of. He'd been pretty cut up when Nick had moved away during 8th grade, so naturally he'd been thrilled to have him move back before they all split up.
He was a lot like himself, in a lot of ways. Not fussed about fashion, a soft spot for chequered shirts and jeans and a messy crop of blonde hair buried under a beanie.
"She still is." He replied, casually, glancing in the direction Nick had been looking.
Mabel was sat cross-legged with the rest of her band, fiddling with the tuners on her electric Les Paul. She wasn't wearing a sweater today though, even his crazy sister had caved in the face of the heat today, settling instead on a long-sleeved blue and black striped top and jean shorts, coupled with solid purple tights. She had her long hair pulled back into a ponytail while her fringe was kept in place by a bright yellow hairband spotted with little flowers. You could clearly see the scrunched up expression of intense concentration on her face.
It was the same one she got whenever she was involved in anything, Dipper thought it was adorable.
It must have been obvious they were staring because she looked up from her guitar in their direction, after a time, right at him. Their eyes locked. He managed a weak smile, apologetically, he hoped.
Her lips curled in a small smile, he felt his cheeks go warm.
"She's hot."
He turned sharply, before he could stop himself. David, or Dave as he insisted, was a full on, long haired, dwarf-bearded, no-holds-barred metal-head. He wore the band-logo shirts, the heavy boots, the ripped jeans and the studded belts. The works.
"Come on, man." He managed, jokingly. "Not cool."
"Just sayin'" Dave raised his hands, defensively. "She could strum my axe anytime."
"That barely even makes sense!" Dipper groaned, while Nick and Dave laughed.
"Hey, is she going with anyone to the dance?" Nick asked, once they'd settled into silence again. "It's the last one and I was thinking, why not? Might be fun."
"Don't really know." He answered honestly, shooting a glance back toward his sister. She was busy with the band again. "I know she and the band are doing a set for the prom." He shrugged.
"Pine-ing are playing at the prom?" Dave asked.
The look on Dippers face at mention of the band's name made them snigger.
"You hate it, don't you." Nick grinned.
"No, it's not…well, maybe-…yeah." He gestured vaguely. "I mean, it was just a joke at first. That thing Mabel does when she really gets into it…"
It had been a fact for all their lives. Mabel didn't do things by halves. Enthusiastic didn't even begin to cover it, once she was doing something she loved. She got involved. The world was just a distraction. When she was playing, and she was good, she'd get to a point she loved in a song and just kind of switch off. She'd shut her eyes, sway and move with the music It was like she wasn't even aware of what was going on around her.. Her friends had called it Pine-ing and for some reason it caught on. They'd even named the band after her in the end.
"So anyway, she seeing anyone?"
"Seeing anyone?" He blurted. "A minute ago you only wanted to take her to the dance."
"We've come a long way since two minutes ago." He shrugged, grinning.
"You might be shit out of luck. She hit her boy craze when we were like, twelve. Nowadays her heart belongs to Lindsey Buckingham. And Andrew Latimer. And she's still in mourning for Stevie Ray Vaughan." He stroked his chin, mock thoughtfully. "Basically, unless you're a middle-aged rock legend…you're not really her type. You could ask about the dance though?"
Dave bawled with laughter, drawing the looks of some of their fellow students, including Mabel and her friends. When she realised they'd been looking her way again, she said something to a girl beside her and got to her feet.
"Oh shit she's coming over." Nick hissed.
Dave was trying his hardest to stifle another bout of laughter, while Dipper just sat back against the tree, giving her a wave as she got closer.
"Hey sis."
"Hey, Dip, Nick, Dave." She greeted each of them, taking a seat. "What's up?"
"Nothing much." Nick tried to wave it off, Dave was having none of it though.
"Nicky here wants to ask you to the dance."
"Really?" She smiled warmly. Her eyes flitted to his briefly, it was barely noticeable to anybody else. He supposed she was almost asking permission, which made him feel guilty, he wasn't about to stop her having a good time. Dipper flashed a grin.
"I mean, I hear you're gonna be with the band for some of the night, but-"
"Sure, love to."
Nick seemed momentarily taken aback. Truth be told, so was Dipper. Nick was clearly interested in his sister and he'd totally missed it. Inwardly, he wasn't sure how he felt about this, then he instantly felt guiltier for thinking that.
"Great!" Nick exclaimed. "I mean uhhh, good. Cool, cool." He continued, trying to downplay it while behind him, Dave was quickly losing his composure.
"Well, I've gotta go, but we'll meet up and sort something out." She smiled, getting to her feet. "I'll see you next period, bro." She flashed a "peace sign" with her fingers as she left.
"Later, sis." He did the same, with a smile.
As soon as she was out of earshot, Nick started railing at Dave for being a dick, while Dave argued that it was him who had gotten him the date. He watched them with a grin, despite the slight conflict he felt.
"Chill out dude." He put an arm on Nicks shoulder. "We can double up, right? I agreed to go with Jenny the other day."
I did, he suddenly thought, and I didn't even think about what Mabel thought about it.
"There, see?" Dave ruffled Nicks hair, much to the latter's frustration.
So why shouldn't she be able to do the same? He mused, feeling guilty again. That's fair, right?
"You're not even into her, Dipper."
"So?" He shrugged. "Neither of us is looking for a relationship, and we're friends. She's asked me a few times so I just said yes."
"You got no love in your soul, man." Nick wagged a finger at him, with a mock solemn tone.
He laughed, but as he glanced back at Mabel's receding form, he couldn't help but think that would have made things a whole lot simpler.