Friday October 17th, 2014
It's been a week since the fight at the Shack and it was a fun week at that. First off Wendy and I did make it through the whole movie this time. Wendy did a great job fixing me up, she even had me take off my shirt and took a better look at the bruise Bull had left Friday. Though it was getting better she went ahead and iced it after she was sure there didn't seem to be anything broken or swollen. Though I did have fun a couple of places, just cause it was so horribly made that it was funny.
Once I got home the first thing that happened was Mom asking me why I hadn't told anyone about the bullying, to which I explained that I had wanted to try and work through it myself and that no this fight was not how I had wanted to work it out but it happened. Dad seemed to be happy that I stood up for myself, and mom was glad that I had been paying attention in our Kickboxing classes. Next mom started going through and checking out the first aid work Wendy had done and decided that she approved of her work. I didn't tell them that I was shirtless for almost the whole time I was with Wendy.
Sunday evening Mabel went to the game cause one of her new friends is a cheerleader. When she got home she told me that Frank and the rest of the guys from the football team followed through on their promise and that the Coach pulled Bull from the team. They meant what they said about the Coach having a zero tolerance policy towards bullying, apparently he had a niece that had entered a severe case of depression due to bullying. On Monday I learned that not only did Bull not come to school, but the Coach had changed his schedule so that we didn't have conditioning together anymore. It didn't seem like anyone was blaming me for his removal but Wendy or one of the other's walked to class with me most of the week, mostly it was Wendy though
On Tuesday though it seemed that Bull was back at school. Even though we no longer had class together we apparently still had lunch at the same time. I never really had noticed him there before, but on that day I had barely sat down before he walked up to the table I was at and tried to make a scene. He had barely go my name out before he was interrupted by Wendy. She reminded him that he had called her 'a crazy he wasn't touching' and if he didn't leave me alone she would show him just how right he was in thinking that. He tried to talk to Mabel, but she just grabbed Pacifica's hand for support and asked him why he thought she would even think of talking to him after he had been bullying me. He started to reach for her and I just stood up. Surprisingly that made him jump back almost a foot. I guess he was realizing that you really can't bully someone who was willing to stand up to you.
Wendy kept driving me and Mabel home after school the rest of the week. Nearly every day Mabel tried to claim shotgun but Wendy would tell her either that I had called it earlier or that I had earned it through something I had done during the day. She would come it long enough to check that my bruises and other injuries were getting better. The swelling in my lip was pretty much gone by Tuesday and the bruise on my stomach had faded by then also. She still checked daily till Thursday, when both her and mom both declared me in tip top shape. We also would help each other with homework before she would have to rush home to fix dinner for her dad and brothers.
And today we planned our normal homework/movie session at her house with one difference, apparently her Dad had asked her to see if I wanted to join them for dinner. She's still out in the Microbus while I ran in, dropped off the stuff I didn't need, and grabbed the movie and some snacks I bought when we went grocery shopping this week.
As I came back downstairs I saw dad was in the living room. My feet had just hit the ground when he said, "You ready for your date with your girlfriend, kiddo?"
"Dad, please. We've been over this, she's just a friend and this is not a date." I replied as I felt the heat rush to my face.
"I dunno kiddo, I mean the two of you are together pretty much all the time. And you have a weekly standing movie night." Dad said as he looked over from his recliner. "And do I smell fresh deodorant?"
"Dad!" I called out at him.
"Hey, I call them like I see them. And I have seen how you look at her when you think she's not paying attention." Dad said with a wink.
"Ok, so yeah I do have some feelings for her. But we decided that first summer that I'm too young for her, Besides that, I'm happy to just be friends." I said as I opened the door and headed out.
"Well that may be, but I've also seen how she looks at you." I heard Dad say as I was closing the door.
I stood there for a moment trying to decide about going back in and asking him what he meant, when I heard the Microbus's horn blast and Wendy calling "Com'on Dip, hurry up. If we wanna have time to watch one of the movies before it's time to eat, we need to get going."
I head on as I decide I can always ask him later. I climb into the van and drop my bag onto floor behind me as we head away. We laughed and joked around the whole trip to her house, but in the back of my mind I had what dad had said floating around. The homework was actually already done. Mabel had ran late for some reason and so we did it while we waited on her. So once we got to her house we dived straight into the first movie 'Squids From Neptune'.
"Oh man, look at those wires. I mean how did they expect people to actually believe those were real, let alone to be scared of them?" Wendy said from where she sat leaning against the wall with her legs stretched out across mine, before she popped a Cheeze Pretzel Log into her mouth.
"I know. And those space ships, how did they think they could spray paint some fish bowls and we wouldn't notice. And that cop trying to fight the one squid with his nightstick when his gun had no effect, crazy." I added as I laughed at the absurdity of the movie.
I saw Wendy get thoughtful for a second, as if she was trying to decide if she was gonna do something. Finally she said, "You know something else that's crazy, that my best friend never decided to tell me that he was able to kick butt on his own now."
I coughed as the Pitt I had just taken a sip of tried to go down the wrong passage. Once I could speak I said "You've been looking for an opening for that one, haven't you."
"Eh, maybe." she said with a smirk. She shifted around from how she was seated, pulled her legs under her, leaned forward, and continued "Com'on man, you gotta tell me why you've been holding out."
I was still processing what she was asking when I realized how close she had actually gotten. My mind instantly shot back to what I had heard dad say earlier. But no, she's just a friend. We're just friends.
Clearing my head I said, "Really I never thought about it. You were always there to have my back and take care of the physical aspects of our adventures. I mean I'm the brains and you're the brawn."
Her face scrunched up and she suddenly backed away, "Really, Dip. Is that how you think of me? I'm just the muscle?"
Fearing that I said the wrong thing I quickly tried to correct the mistake. "No, no, no Oh man, Wendy. I didn't mean it like that. You know you mean so much more than that to me. You're my friend, heck my best fiend. And you know that I still lo…ike spending time with you."
Suddenly she starting smiling and then broke into a small laughing fit. "Man, you are too easy sometimes, Dip. I know how you feel. I just felt like bustin your chops some. But now that I know you can handle yourself some out there, don't expect me to be saving your cute butt all the time."
I sat there for a moment shamed at how easy she had baited me there before I processed what I thought I had heard. "Wait a minute, what was that last part?"
"I said don't expect me to be saving you all the time now." She was looking towards the TV as she said it. As she turned back I thought I saw some extra pink in her cheeks. "Tell you what, we still have some time before dinner. There is a clearing out behind the house that dad uses to keep the boys prepared for survival training We can head out there and you can pull your best McSkirmish impression."
"I can't, our sensei taught us that showing off for showing off's sake is dishonorable." I said as I turned away from her. While it was true, I really didn't follow it for that reason. Back in Piedmont I never liked attracting attention to myself. I faded into the background so I wouldn't attract bullies. Though really that reason doesn't fly in Gravity Falls. The Zodiac members (and us Pines in particular) are considered heroes and nearly everyone knows us. "Besides that, Rumble practices Karate not Kickboxing."
"Ok, you got me there." Wendy said with a smirk. Then she got serious, "Man, I really want to see your fighting style. There's got to be a way. Wait, I know. We can spar."
"What? No!" I stood up as I protested what she wanted to do.
"Aw com'on man. I need to know whether or not that I need to keep protecting you." She said as she too got up off of the bed. She came around and put her arm around my shoulder and said, "Tell you what, we'll do best two out of three rounds."
"I dunno," I said as I felt my resolve soften.
"Ok, how about we sweeten the pot. The winner get's one request from the loser, no questions asked." Her eyes held a mischievous glint. I'm felt myself getting pulled into those beautiful green pools. "And to tell you the truth I think I know what I'm gonna ask for."
If I do this and lose it may mean that I'll have to do another Lamby Dance or something just as embarrassing, but if I win I'll have a favor to call in later. I could even… nah I wouldn't do that. "Alright, you've talked me into it."
She pulled me into a hug before she turned and headed out of her room. I followed her out of her room. It was till in the sixties so I decided not to worry about my jacket. Her brothers were still out and apparently gone for the night, but her dad was down in the kitchen.
"Dad we're heading out to the circle to do some training, let us know when it's time to eat." Wendy called as we headed through the kitchen.
"ALRIGHT HONEY, TRY TO MAKE SURE YOU DON'T BREAK HIM." Dan bellowed in his normal tone. "I'VE GOT VENISION STEAKS MARINATING AND I DON'T WANT TO WASTE ONE."
"Sure thing dad," Wendy chuckled as she headed out the back door.
I followed her on out. We headed down a path for about a hundred yards before we came to a circular clearing approximately thirty feet in diameter. It was a little larger than I'm used to sparing in, but I should be able to adjust to it. She stopped me about five feet into the circle and then crossed over and stood almost perfectly opposite me in position. She reached behind her back and pulled out her nearly ever-present ax and threw it into stump near the edge of the circle.
She looked in lost in thought for a moment then said, "Toss me my your hat, no point in having to worry about losing them."
I took off the trapper's hat that had gotten from her at the end of the summer and tossed it over to her. She walked over and hung both of our hats on the handle of her ax. As she came back to her starting position she pulled out a hair-tie and pulled her hair back into a tail.
'Man she is looking so good.' I thought as she was now putting the tail into a loose braid, she then wrapped the braid around itself in a bun on the back before using a bandanna she pulled from somewhere to tie it in place. It was then I saw the mischievous glint in her eye. 'She has to have been planning this. How else would she have known to bring out the hair-tie and bandanna. Wait she planned this, oh man I'm in trouble.'
As she finished she spoke, "Alright, let's keep this civil and semi safe. So no intentional head or neck shots, no weapons, and no punches below the belt. Ok?"
"Sounds good to me," I said as I finished stretching out. I was glad I was wearing a pair of loose cargo pants as they will give me a little more flexibility, but I realized the black flannel shirt I had on may be a little restrictive so I tossed it off in favor of the a-shirt I had on under it. She had the same thought as her traditional green flannel had been tossed over by our hats.
"One more thing. We'll go for the best out of three falls. Falls will count when the one down does not rise on a One, " at that she took a pregnant pause before she continued "…Two count."
"Alright." I was trying to work out the butterflies that had begun to gather in my gut. I knew I should be focused on what I needed to do to win, but in the back of my mind I kept wondering where I was going to find a lamb suit in my size. Then I realized that this was the middle of October. Halloween is right around the door. It was with that realization I heard her say "…on three."
"One, two, three." She said and then she was moving.
She closed the gap between us almost faster than her count. I was just able to get my guard up in time to deflect a punch aimed for my right shoulder. Dropping down I attempted to sweep her feet out from under her but she jumped at just the right time. I used the momentum from the sweep to push myself up into a rising uppercut. I caught her in her breadbasket and knocked her backwards. Though she landed flat she continued to roll and was quickly back on her feet. As she came towards me again I decided to try the knee and snap kick combo I used to fell Bull last week, though this time I'd just aim for her shoulder. Once got in range I brought my knee up rapidly, but it seems she was expecting it. She caught my leg. She quickly slid her grip down towards my thigh. The next thing I knew she had brought her other arm up into the underside of my knee then with a twist and a falling motion, she had thrown me onto my back with enough force to knock the air out of me. After a two count she had the first fall.
As I was getting back up she was looking at me with a smile that also seemed to have a mixture of concern in it. I stood straight in order to try and alleviate her concern. Finally she spoke, "I guess I should have told you, you weren't the only on to have gotten some combat training. Last year during the family reunion Dad had a few too many expired ciders and accidently told a cousin, Jacque, about what had happened with 'Never Mind All That'. He's a MMA fighter when he's not working at the family logging camp."
"I hope, for their sakes, that Blubs and Durland didn't find out about your dad's slip up." I winced thinking about what would have happened to the two officers if they had tried to use their tasers on Manly Dan.
She smiled again at that thought before she continued, "Nah Mayor Tyler was there and so Dad got a special lenience over it. Anyways after Jacque verified what dad had told him with Marcus, he decided he would come down and see what all we had to deal with. After his first encounter with one of the forest denizens he decided he would help supplement Dad's training. I went along with it cause I figured it could never hurt to learn some new ways to protect your butt when we're out in the field. He has a fight this weekend and that's actually where my brothers are, Marcus drove them up to see it. I was invited but I knew I couldn't blow off movie night, especially after what I learned last week. I knew I had to find out just how good you've gotten."
"I thought I had noticed a difference in the way you've been fighting this past summer. I mean you took down that redneck cat-person we ran into back in June in record time." I said as I headed back towards my starting position.
"Oh, that had nothing to do with the training, he was just a pushover." she said as she got back to her starting spot. Turning to face me she asked, "Ready?"
After a quick roll of my neck I nodded my head and started the count, "One. Two. Three!"
This time I rushed out first and met her at the center of the ring. I ducked under a pair of cross punches and slid towards her side. I caught her with a quick jab on her hip and as she started to turn I dropped low and swept her feet out from under her. As soon as she had hit, I jumped on top of her and held her shoulders down for the two count. I quickly realized what I had done and where I currently was but for the life of me I couldn't move. I mean here I was on top of the girl I have been in love with for more than three years, with my face inches from hers staring into those pools of emerald, and I froze. What dad had said earlier was again floating through my brain.
"You ok Dip?" I heard Wendy ask through the haze of my thoughts. "You seem to be turning red. Do you need to catch your breath or something."
That was enough to snap me out of my haze. I hurriedly got up off of her and offered my hand to help her up. The Cheshire like smile on her face was one to behold. There was definite mirth in it, as well as a touch of something else I didn't recognize.
"I guess that was one way to get the fall. I mean it wasn't against the rules we had laid out, but Dip you know I only had to be down for a two count. That was closer to a twenty count." Her smile now held some visible mischief and there was a definite twinkle in her eyes. I am gonna have to be on my guard. "Well now we're tied. I hope you're ready for the final fall."
We both headed back to our respective starting points and before I could even collect my thoughts Wendy called out "One! Two! Three!" in rapid fashion.
As with the first fall she had covered the distance between us so fast that I barely registered it. I tried to bring up my guard but before I could she had the shoulders of my a-shirt firmly in her grip. I expected that she would attempt some kind of throw, but man I was wrong. She did pull me but instead of some type of toss, I was pulled so that our faces were mere millimeters from each other. Then she pressed her lips to mine. I don't know how long it lasted, it felt like forever but it also didn't feel like it was long enough. It felt like nirvana, even with dad and Mabel's voices in the background saying 'I told you so."
I felt her lips leave mine as I seemed to melt into the earth. I hadn't realized I was on the ground till I heard a voice say "One and two."
"Well it looks like I win," Wendy said as she sat down next to where I lay. Reaching down she pulled me into her embrace as she asked, "You ok there, man?"
"You kissed me." I said as I sat there cradled against her. "Why did you kiss me? It wasn't just to win the bet, was it?"
"No, that was just a bonus. I kissed you because I wanted to," Wendy said as she brushed a couple of strands of loose hair out of her face, "I've wanted to kiss you most of the summer."
"Then why didn't you say something," I asked as I sat up fully and turned towards her.
"At first I was denying it. I mean I'm the one who said I was too old for you and that I wanted to just be friends. I didn't want to seem like I had been just stringing you along or something like that." She said as she looked down at her hands, "And then once I decided that it probably wouldn't matter to you, I realized that you would be leaving at the end of summer and thought that it wouldn't be good for either of us to start anything then."
"But then we ended up staying. Heck we had that party celebrating the fact, why didn't you say something then?" I asked as I scooted closer to her.
"We were never able to be alone, believe me I tried. You spent so much time at the party with you family and I didn't want to intrude on that, I mean it was a party for all of you. And the one time I was able to get you alone on the roof, well Mabel found us less than a minute later. She had some sort of problem that you had to help with. You never told me what that was about anyways?" She asked as she moved closer.
"Well apparently you weren't the only one who was happy we were staying. Someone was able to get her alone and confessed to her. It threw her at first and she needed me as a sounding board as she figured out that she was ok with it." I said as I closed the distance between us. I reached out and took her hand.
"Ok, who? She hasn't been hanging out with any guys that I know of, mostly her girls. Especially Pacifica," She stopped there as she figured it out. With a smile she added. "Well good for them. You let me know if she doesn't treat Mabel right, I'll gladly have a talk with her."
I smiled with her on that one, "I will, but so far it seems to be the relationship Mabel has been looking for since we were twelve. It's definitely the longest. I have another question for you. We've had numerous study and movie sessions since then and usually we're alone through most of them. Why didn't you go for it during one of them?"
She looked like she was trying to figure out how to answer and Before she could I leaned in and kissed her. When we separated I said, "You know what, I really don't care. I'm just so happy that this is happening."
As I went in for another kiss, I definitely could get addicted to those, we heard, "WENDY, DINNER'S ALMOST READY. YOU AND YOUR BOYFRIEND NEED TO GET IN HERE AND WASH UP FIRST." She smiled at this and gave me a quick kiss. Yeah, I could get used to this.
We got up and dusted our selves off. As I grabbed my flannel I remembered that I had lost the bet. Still fearing that she may want me to perform the Lamby Dance, I almost didn't remind her. But that would be right, she did win. Not exactly by the books, but I am not complaining. As she handed me her trapper's cap I said, "So what do you want to ask me to do? You did win."
"Oh yeah, that." She said as she placed her ax in it's loop on the back of her belt. "Well in a way I already got it so we're good."
"Com'on, you won. Go ahead and make a request." I said as she placed an arm around me as we headed back to her house.
"Alright. If you really insist how about this," she said as I prepared for the worst, "Instead of our study night next week, how about you take me out for a date."
"Ok, I can definitely do that." And with that we left the path and headed in to eat.