Birthday Weirdness In The Rose City: A Shooting Star Falls Story
Part Two
About an hour into the journey to the Rose City, Wendy reached into her duffle bag, which resided behind the passenger seat. Fumbling with the large nylon sack, she finally managed to wrestle out of its hiding spot. Placing it in her lap, she unzipped the duffle and removed two items from it. "What do you have there?" Dipper inquired from the driver's seat. "It's those journals we got for your birthday…" the redhead answered as she flipped open the blue book that was adorned with a silver pine tree. "Yeah… Have you had a chance to check them out yet?" the eighteen year old man asked his girlfriend, hoping she had caught something that he had missed in the apparently blank tome. "Nah, I was kinda preoccupied with, like, other stuff and junk these past few weeks…" she replied as she read the inscription on the inside of the front cover. "Dipper, Your next adventure awaits you. I was hoping to be a part of it, but alas, this is a journey you will have to take on your own, my dear brother. Remember that I will always love you and we will meet again someday. Love, your sister, Mabel." the twenty year old woman silently recited as tears formed in her emerald eyes. "That's… So beautiful…" she noted in a hushed voice as a stray tear fell and landed on the previously untarnished page. "I know… She always did have a way with words. I think if she had applied herself a bit more in school, she could have bec-" the brown haired teen commented before being cut off by the ginger woman seated next to him. "H-HOLY SHIT DIPPER!" she exclaimed, almost causing her boyfriend to veer off the rural two lane road. "Wh-What?! Was there something in the road?!" asked the clearly frazzled teen. "No! Pull over!" Wendy commanded. The eighteen year old complied as he found a driveway to pull into. Placing the pickup into park, he glanced over to see an almost hysterical auburn haired woman.
"A-Are you alright?!" Dipper asked with concern as he noted her hand trembling. "Y-Yeah… I-I mean I don't know… Look!" she answered as she pointed her index finger at the bottom left corner of the page. Her tear had uncovered a hidden message written in some kind of disappearing ink, which of course was pink. "I-I've read about this… Some writers, like in the fifteen hundreds or something, wrote in an invisible ink that was only revealed after being slightly brushed with a briny solution" Dipper informed Wendy, who began to calm down a bit. "I-I can try to cry some more and see what it says…" the young woman offered. "Nah… I hate to see you cry… Besides, I can make a solution when we get to the hotel in a little bit" the teen replied. "I-I just wanna see what she wrote… I mean, it could be anything… A warning… A prognostication… Or maybe just a silly joke she wrote to put our minds at ease… Whatever it is, I wanna see it…" Wendy eagerly said. "First of all… Prognostication? Didn't you almost fail English the last two years you were in high school?" the brown haired teen asked, almost immediately regretting the words that came out of his mouth. "What? Just because I felt like school was a prison and goofed off, it doesn't mean that I'm as dumb as a bag full of hammers… So thanks for that ego boost, jackass…" the ginger woman replied in an offended tone. "I-I didn't mean it like that… I know you're smart… I-I'm sorry…" the teen tried to apologize. "It's cool…" Wendy replied with a sigh. "Anyways, I appreciate the offer… And I really want to know what my sister wrote in there too, but right now we need to stay focused and get to Portland…" Dipper said. "So, how much farther is it?" his girlfriend asked. We're about four hours away still… We'll be there around seven or so…" the flannel clad man answered.
Wendy placed both books back into her duffle bag and removed a handheld video game device from the nineties as she kicked her feet up on the dashboard and began to play. "You know… I saw something online that if we got into an accident and the airbag went off, that your knees would end up going through the back of your skull… So can you do me a favor and not put your feet up there?" Dipper asked as he started back down the backwoods road. "You can be such a bring down sometimes man… I mean… We almost died fighting a dream demon from another dimension… Plus, this year alone, I've been dead for about five minutes… So I'll take my chances…" the fiery locked young woman dismissed. "You know… I'm just looking out for you… In case you've already forgot, I kinda care about you a lot and just wanna keep you safe… So excuse me…" Dipper shot back. "I get it, but like, you can't be safe from everything man. I mean, for all we know, there's like some meteor or something out there in space that no one knows about that could come crashing down any second and wipe all of us out… So worrying about getting in an accident and the airbag causing me to impale myself with my legs is pretty low on my list of things to worry about. Quite frankly, I'm more worried about slipping in the shower, getting knocked out and having the continuous stream of hot water essentially cook me to death while I'm still alive…" Wendy explained. "Well… that got dark and graphic pretty fast…" the teen behind the wheel commented. "Hey, I saw it on that show about the nerdy forensic scientist chick and the government agent who work at that museum in DC… A lot of research goes into that show by people in that field of work, so it has happened before…" she informed her boyfriend. The pair continued the existential argument for the next couple of hours before having to stop for gas an hour outside of their destination.
Wendy exited the truck to go inside the convenience store, where hopefully a somewhat clean restroom awaited her. Much to her shock, the bathroom was exceptionally clean; perhaps even cleaner than hers at home was. "Now here's a topic for 'Dipper's Guide To The Unexplained' series. 'Dipper's Guide To The Unexplained: Episode 492, The Immaculately Clean Restroom At A Gas Station" she mused to herself. After exiting the washroom, the redhead walked over to a wall of energy drinks and sodas. She had never seen such a selection of sugary drinks before in her life. "This is my mecca…" she whispered to herself. "Corduroy?!" a feminine voice called out from behind a counter. Turning around, she spied a familiar blue haired woman manning the register. "Ch-Chloe?!" she responded in shock. "What the hell are you doing here?!" Chloe Price asked, also in shock at seeing a familiar face. "Well… Dipper and I are on our way to Portland for the weekend… I-It's my birthday Sunday and he surprised me with tickets to a show…" she explained to the slightly older woman. "Oh, cool. So… You're probably wondering what brought me out to the middle of bumblefuck nowhere… Well…" she started before being cut off by the redhead. "Nah… Not really…" she said, trying to fight back her laughter. "Very funny Corduroy… So, what are you up to these days?" she inquired. "I-I was an officer for the Gravity Falls Police Department… Then something horrible happened…" she said in a sullen tone. "What? You didn't blow your superior under the desk and was fired?" she asked incredulously. "Wha?! Eww! No!..." she recoiled with disgust. She had forgotten just how crass the twenty three year old could be. "No… What happened was… Was… Well… You remember Mabel and Pacifica?" she asked. "Yeah… Coked-out girl and rich bitch… yeah, sure…" she replied. The off-handed slight at the recently deceased young women had her seeing red as she balled up her fists. "Fuck you! They're dead!" she shouted as angry tears escaped her eyes. "I… I'm sorry… I had no idea… I was just messin' round…" the blue haired woman backpedaled. "Yeah… Robbie… Remember him?" she asked as Chloe nodded her head. "Well… That fucking asshole tried robbing the bank, and… And… Mabel and Pacifica were there… It went bad and he took them hostage… I-I think one of the state troopers that came in as back up got an itchy trigger finger and fired. It missed Robbie, but he had the gun pushed into the back of Pacifica. When he heard the gunshot, I guess he tensed up and pulled the trigger. It went clean through her… A… A fire fight ensued and… Mabel tried to escape and got caught in the crossfire… I got hit about five times… And then… And then he killed himself… " the freckled woman struggled to finish as tears were streaming down her face, ruining the makeup she had put on for Dipper.
Chloe Price was a lot of things, but heartless wasn't one of them. She wrapped the upset woman up in a hug and ran her hand up and down her leather covered back. "I-I'm so sorry for your loss… I had no idea…" the twenty three year old said as she continued to comfort the troubled ginger. "I-I went through a lot those next few weeks… Even tried to off myself twice…" she said as she pulled up the leather sleeve of her jacket to reveal the scar from her suicide attempt. "Jesus Christ…" Chloe whispered in disbelief. "Yeah… Not too proud of that… But it happened. I went and got some help though… And that's why I'm not on the force anymore…" she informed slightly taller woman. "That's hella fucked up… People fucking suck!" the tattooed attendant replied. "Yeah… But now I have a good job with at the State Park… A-And I'm with an amazing guy… So… While the last few months have been tough, it hasn't been all bad" Wendy said with a hint of optimism in her voice. "Nice… Anyone I know? Is it that Thompson dude? I always thought you two had a thing for each other… I mean, you're kinda the free spirit and he's the grounded nice guy… Yeah, I can totally see it…" she pondered out loud. "No… It's definitely not Thompson… I mean, don't get me wrong… He's a nice guy and all… But that would be like dating my brother… I'm with… Dipper" she answered, unsure if she should be sharing this information with someone who almost killed her once. "Dipper? That little guy who was hella crushin' on me a few years ago?" Chloe chuckled to herself as the door to the store opened. In walked a tall brown haired man, with slight stubble and a rugged look about him. "Oh, hey Dipper!" Wendy shouted to her boyfriend on the other side of the store.
"Wendy… It's been, like, fifteen minutes… I thought you might have fell in or something…" he replied with some concern in his voice. "Sorry… Didn't mean to scare ya… I was just catching up with an old friend" she informed the taller man as he joined the pair of women. "Wowzers! Somebody's grown up!" Chloe commented. "Oh… I know you… Chloe? Right?" he asked. "Yeah…" was all she could respond with as she was taken aback by how much the formerly scrawny teen had grown up in the last three years. "You about ready?" Dipper asked as he was eager to stick to his schedule. Well that and he wanted to break in the hotel bed with his girlfriend. "Your makeup! I-Is everything alright Wen?" he asked in a concerned tone as he glanced at an uncomfortable Chloe. "Y-Yeah… I was just telling Chloe about what happened this summer and got kinda emotional about it, ya know?" she informed her boyfriend. "Oh… Yeah…" he said with a hint of sadness in his voice. "Dude… I'm hella sorry about what happened to your sister…" Chloe said as she rubbed the back of her neck. "Thanks…" Dipper replied. "Well… I know it's not much… But whatever you want is on the house…" the blue haired woman offered to the couple. "I-I… That's nice and all, but I can't… I don't wanna get you in trouble or anything…" Wendy rebuffed. "Trust me, it's fine… I mean, sure, I walk around like I own the fucking place or something… Oh shit, that's right… I do…" the slightly older twentysomething informed the traveling couple. "Well… In that case… I'll take you up on it Price… " the redhead said as she walked over to the almost limitless wall of soft drinks and began pulling them out of the cases.
After picking up around thirty bottles of brightly colored soda, the young woman threw them into a bag. Dipper, meanwhile, grabbed a few bags of chips and beef jerky for the road. "It was good seeing you again!" Wendy said as she was about to depart the store with her haul of sugary drinks. "Hey! Wait! You have to pay for those!" Chloe shouted; causing the ginger woman to freeze in place and turn around. "Just fuckin' with ya Corduroy! But seriously, let's trade numbers… We gotta keep in touch, especially since Max and I moved all the way out here…" the blue haired woman said as she wrote her number down on a scrap piece of paper. Wendy tore off a piece of the paper and scrawled her number onto it. "Have fun… And don't get into trouble!" Chloe excitedly said as she saw Wendy exit the store. Stepping back behind the counter, the slender woman took a sip from a cup she had on a shelf under it. After taking a gulp of the whiskey which resided inside the cup, she picked up her phone and dialed her wife. "Hey Max… Yeah, everything's alright… I just wanted to say that I love you. I'm sorry I don't say it enough. I'll be home soon. Love you too" she said before hanging up. She leaned against the counter and let out a deep sigh as the emerald green truck departed the gas station and continued on its journey to Portland, Oregon.
Author's Note: So, this story may be more than a two or three shot as there is a lot of neat stuff I have planned for Dipper and Wendy in Portland. For those of you that aren't familiar with the character of Chloe Price, she's from the video game 'Life Is Strange' (which is an amazing game that will melt even the coldest of hearts and is available on Xbox One, Playstation 4 and PC) and previously crossed paths with our heroes in 'Underage Discoveries On A Reckless Night', which happened two years prior to this story. Also, I wanted to portray Dipper and Wendy's relationship as a real one and not some magical one where everything is perfect all the time; hence the bickering. A fun fact is that both Dipper and Wendy's existential fears are actually some of mine, so yeah. I'm not sure when the next chapter will be up, as it's con season in my neck of the woods and I have a lot of costume and prop work to do in a short amount of time. What can I say, I'm a procrastinator and proud of it. If you enjoyed this or any of the stories I've written, feel free to leave a review or even PM me. I like to read them and help bring me up when I'm feeling a little down. Until next time!
My Playlist while writing this chapter:
Tash Sultana – "Jungle"
MGMT – "Electric Feel"
Barns Courtney – "Fire"
Bleached – "Keep On Keepin' On"
The Van Bondies – "C'mon C'mon"
MisterWives – "Machine"
Hinds – "San Diego"
American Authors – "Born To Run"