Wednesday October 22, 2014
Pine Family Residence
"Com'on Dip, you can do this." I said to my self as I look over the plan I had to make my first date with Wendy a memorable one. In all honesty this should be easy. I've been planning dates with Wendy in my head since I was twelve. But this is different, we're actually going out. On an actual date. I've got a date with Wendy. "Oh my god, ohmygod, ohmygod."
I stood up and started pacing so that I wouldn't start freaking out again.
"You ok bro?" Mabel asked as she stuck her head into my doorway. "I heard you muttering 'Oh my god' all the way out in the hall. Is everything ok?"
"Yeah, I'm just freaking my self out over something." I said as I moved to try and slide my list into my back pocket. I still hadn't told my family about the date yet.
Mabel came on into my room and sat down on the edge of my bed. She looked around and said, "Come on Dip, I know I've been a little absorbed with my own issues. I mean things are going good for me and Paz, but that doesn't mean I can't tell when something is bugging you. Now it isn't anything too bad or you would be going to Grunkle Ford for advice."
"Nah, I learned awhile ago about trying to get this type of advice from either Grunkle." I said before I realized I may have said too much. Quickly I tried to remedy the situation by adding, "I mean their advice is usually the same for every instance, no matter what the variables are."
"Yeah, I can see that. You should have heard Grunkle Stan's advice when I told him about me and Paz." Mabel said as her face went red, it looked like she was remembering everything Stan told her. She seemed to blank out for a few seconds before she shook her head.
"Oh, yeah. I remember his advice from when we went on that road trip during that first summer." I smirked as I walked over, sat down next her, and tossed an arm over her shoulder. She placed one around me as well in a sorta sibling hug.
"Hoo boy, I remember that. Grenda and I were trying to hook you up with Candy. For a bit there I really thought you and Candy were gonna hit it off romantically. But apparently you had turned into some type of little gigolo because of his advice. And we all did that because we wanted to help you get over Wendy. And look how that turned out." Mabel was almost babbling as she said this apparently trying to work the earlier memories out of her thought processes. Suddenly her head spun towards me, "Wait-a-minute, this whole troubled mood started Saturday after your movie night and dinner with Wendy the night before. Did something happen. You two aren't fighting, cause there hasn't been any angry tension at school. In fact I would say that it is the opposite if anything, you two have been as thick as thieves. Thicker even."
Her face was scrunched up in what appeared to be joyful restraint. Suddenly it seemed she couldn't hold it no longer, "Oh. My. God. Have you two finally started dating."
That's my Mabel. She get's lost reading a basic mystery novel but you put any romance in her vicinity and she turns into a detective that would put Poirot to shame. Next thing I knew she had jumped up off of my bed. And she had my list in her hands. Some how she still was able to call upon those larcenous skills she had learned from Grunkle Stan. Looking over the list, she was shaking her head and "Tsking" out loud.
"Ok, Dip. What are you doing? You know that you, her, and lists don't work." She opened it up and looked over it before I tried to snatch it away. She quickly turned and took a step back out of my reach. "Hmm, there are a couple of ideas here that I may try on my next date with Paz, but they won't be good for a date with Wendy. I mean I really don't think she's one to be impressed by you taking her to The Club and how would you even go about taking her to Portland for dinner, bro?"
"I know, I know. That's what has been bugging me. You know I've never really done this before." I said as I hung my head before plopping backwards where I was sitting on my bed.
"Hmm, here's an idea that may work." Mabel said as she sat back down beside me and held up my list. She was pointing towards an item about three-quarters the down the page.
"You know what, that will work." I said as I pulled Mabel into a hug. "Thanks, Mabes."
"Glad to help, broseph." She said as she returned the hug.
Friday October 24, 2014
Before we left school I told Wendy that what she was wearing was fine for tonight and that I would see her in a couple of hours. When I got home I went straight to my room and grabbed a clean pair of jeans and a clean flannel. Once I was in the bathroom I shaved and hopped in the shower. My time on the track team had done more then helped my physique, it also helped teach me about the importance of bathing regularly.
After I shower I dressed quickly. Checking my phone I saw I still had some time to kill so I went ahead and did my calc homework. After I had checked it twice I headed downstairs.
"Well son, don't you look spiffy. Definitely better dressed than you normally do for your homework sessions. And do I detect a hint of cologne?" Dad smirked as I felt a flush come to my cheeks.
He got up from his chair and looked me up and down, "Hmm, I don't see your backpack. And Mabel told me that we shouldn't worry about you for dinner tonight. Let me guess, I was right. Wasn't I?"
"Yeah, you were. No movie or homework tonight, we're going out." I said as I opened the closet for my coat.
When I had my coat and turned back around Dad was there, "So did you ask her out like I suggested?"
"Well no," I said with the start of a grin.
"Oh, so she asked you?" he asked looking a little shocked.
"Wrong again, I lost a bet while we were sparring. The winner got to ask one request of the loser." I said as my grin grew as I remembered what happened.
"I see, you let her win." Dad said with a wink and a grin.
"Dad. If I had let her win, she probably wouldn't even be talking to me. Let alone going on a date with me." I said with a frown as I put my coat on. Seeing the confusion on his face I smiled and said, "Nah, we were tied at one fall each and it was nearly no holds barred. She got in close before I knew it, and instead of throwing me…"
I paused there as I got the biggest grin. I continued before he could ask me to, "she kissed me. I was in such heaven, she could have counted to twenty and I would have still been down."
Right then we heard a horn out front. It was followed Mabel bounding down the stairs and rushing right past dad and I. "Alright that's Pacifica. Well I'm heading out, probably won't be home for dinner. Hope you and mom have a romantic one dad. Have fun with Wends, Dip."
And then she was gone.
"Well that was sudden," Dad said as he turned from the door she had just left and looked back at me. He had a small look of concern as he asked, "I hope Pacifica isn't a bad influence on your sister. She isn't, is she?"
"Nothing to worry about there dad, heck if anything Mabel and I are the ones her parents consider the bad influences." I saw his look of concern go to one of confusion, "Before you ask, her parents were borderline obsessive control freaks. We helped her step out on her own and develop into the person she is today and not a little clone of her parents. They despised for most of our second summer after we helped her out. But then Mabel came up with a design for their mud-flap company, that 'contest' she won at the end of that summer, and profits from the sales of the design helped sweeten their disposition."
I saw that I was confusing him some, "You know, the 'contest' that she's getting those yearly royalty checks from."
"You mean she didn't win a contest?" Dad asked as he processed what I told him.
"Well she did but well, she was the only entrant in the contest. Pacifica set it up as a way for us to try and get on her parents good side. At the time we were her only real friends. She had plenty of hanger-on's but we were her first real friends. Since then she's become integrated with the rest of our friends."
"Man you guys are growing up on me," Dad said with a tear in his eye.
I was about to joke with him about it when American Hi Fi started playing out of my pocket. Once he caught the song dad just snickered. I answered it with, "Hey Wendy. Yeah. I be out in just a sec, I need to grab something first. Don't worry, I will."
I reached under the table mom has in the entrance way and pulled out a blanket I placed there this morning. I felt dad watching me so I said, "We might do a little stargazing, that's all."
"Alright, well here you go. Just in case you need it." Dad pulled a twenty out of his pocket.
As I went to accept it I noticed there was something held in the folded bill. I opened it up and started to protest, "Dad, it's only our first date. I…"
"Look, I know. I just would rather you have one and not need it, than need one and not have it. Stan told me he had the talk with you that first summer, so I won't worry about it too much. But I do worry, so I'd rather you were protected. Consider this a bit of trust, to both you and her. And if your mother finds it, I never saw it." After being solemn though that whole bit, dad cracked a smile with the last line.
I jokingly hit his shoulder, "Think she'll believe Stan gave it to me. Or Ford even."
"That should work." He said with a chuckle. But then he continued with a straight face, "But seriously, stay safe for both of your sakes. Now hurry up, she is waiting on you."
"Thanks dad," I said as I headed out of the front door.
When I got out to the Microbus I slid open the back door and tossed the blanket onto the seat behind mine. Then I hopped into the passenger seat and gave Wendy a quick kiss. "Sorry for the wait, dad was just gloating. He told me last week that I should ask you out cause he 'could tell that you were interested'."
"Well he wasn't wrong, was he?" she said with a snicker before she leaned over and gave me another kiss. When she leaned back she asked, "So what's the plan Dip? And what type of date are we going on that we may need a blanket? I mean it may not seem like it to some people, but this is only our first date."
"Oh, don't worry. The blanket is for if we decide to do some stargazing later." I explained. Then what she said sunk in, "Wait, we had people who thought we were already dating?"
"Yeah. Susan, Tyler (Tambry's frequent pics of us together on her blog probably didn't help there), Thompson, Nate, but not Lee surprisingly. Dad, but you knew that one already." She said with a smile as I shook my head remembering how Manly Dan called us to dinner last week. She started the engine and asked, "Well? Where are we going?"
"Ok. To start off, let's go somewhere to grab some food to eat on the run. Hermano's, Yumberjacks, Smokey Joe's, its up the you." I replied as I took her hand for a moment.
"Letting me decide where to eat on a date you planned, real romantic Dip." She said with a smile and a wink incase I couldn't catch her joking sarcasm.
"Oh, don't worry. The food isn't an important part of the date. It's just to fuel us before the real date. And dad is paying." I said with a smile as I pull out the twenty he gave me, forgetting what was folded in it. I looked on in shock as the foil package flopped down on the seat between us.
I was about to die of embarrassment, when Wendy burst out laughing. My face was as red as her hair and I was about to apologize when she reached over to opened the Microbuses' glove compartment. There was a box of them with a note that read 'Wendy, better safe than sorry. Dad'.
"I found them sitting on the seat when I got out to the Microbus. I guess we now know that we have our respective families blessing." Wendy said with a chuckle. She tossed the loose one into the glove compartment and I shut it.
We laughed about it as we headed towards Yumberjack's. After a pair of Hardtack specials were bought, I had Wendy head towards the outskirts of town. We found a lookout on the side of the road and I had her stop so we could eat. It was amazing sitting there eating while looking at one of the most gorgeous views Oregon has to offer. And the scenery wasn't bad either.
Getting back onto the road, she asked "So where are we heading? I mean so far this has been fun, but this doesn't seem like it is your plan."
I decided to finally let her know where we're heading. "Alright, up ahead we should be coming to the road leading to Sprout's."
"Aw, man. I should have figured it out. He's hosting the Autumn Festival this year isn't he?" She replied as her face lit up a bit as she thought of what all they could do.
"Yep. Hay rides, cider, candied apples, a bon fire, the whole nine yards. And then afterwards I thought we could go do some stargazing if we have time.
We spent most of the evening tooling around the festival. More than once we heard whispered or muttered a 'Finally' as we walked hand in hand. We were gawked at a bit by some of our classmates who were here either with their family or on dates of their own. Well I hadn't planned on us coming out as a couple this early, but you know what Que Sera, Sera.
"What in the world, Corduroy?" we heard coming from a group we had passed. We turned around and there was Jay Evans. If I remember right his dad works with Manly Dan. And Jay was almost as big as Manly Dan. The only reason he wasn't on the football team is he's dumber than a box of rocks, and that is an insult to the rocks.
"What do you want Jay?" Wendy asked, the smile she had just a moment ago gone. To anyone else she would appear to be practically frigid in her disinterest, but I could see through her veneer. She was upset that this guy had bothered us. I started to step forward but a subtle shake of her head stopped me.
"I wants ta know if when ya turned me down last week it was cuz ya were dating this shrimp?" he said as he waved a hand in my direction. Instinctively I clinched my fist. If he was gonna cause trouble on our date, Wendy wasn't gonna be the only one to fight him.
"Not yet, but I was getting ready to ask him." She said as she shot me a smile and squeezed my hand. Then she continued, "Do you have problem with that?"
"Oh no, I wuz worried that it had been cuz I ain't that smart." He said with a look of relief. He then continued, "I'm happy for tha two of youse. Dipper here is a great fella, last year he dun save my lil sis from a group a those lawn guys."
After that incident the date went off with no flaws. Wendy schooled me in the apple bobbing contest, we snuggled close during the hayride, fed each other smores at the bonfire, and finally ended up stopping on the way back to town to do some stargazing.
"I had a great time tonight, Dip." She said as we pulled up in front of my house.
"The same here, Wendy." I said as I leaned over and gave her a kiss. We just sat there leaning into each other. Finally I pulled away, "Would you, I mean I hope you would like to do this again."
She leaned back with a smile on her lips, "Oh course I would, Dip. Maybe we can go see the new Space Adventure movie opening next week."