Birthday Weirdness In The Rose City: A Shooting Star Falls Story
Part Nine
The final day of Wendy Corduroy's twenty-first birthday weekend started with an alarm cutting through the silence of the hotel penthouse at the ungodly hour of five in the morning. "Ugghhh… The auburn haired woman groaned as she shut off the alarm on her phone. She would have gladly slept in, but recalled the promise that her and her boyfriend Dipper Pines had made to each other about running every day in order to keep in shape. It had been a late night for the couple, as Dipper struggled to come up with a proper formula to uncover a hidden message from his late sister Mabel. Towards the end of the night, he began to seriously consider Wendy's offer of using her tears to reveal the text. "Dip… Hey Dip… Wake up man… I-It's time to go for our run…" the alabaster skinned woman said to her lover, who continued to snore in the bed beside her. "Dipper… Dude… C'mon… Don't be lame…" she said a bit more loudly to the brown haired eighteen year old. "Fine…" he muttered as Wendy kicked her feet off the edge of the California King sized bed and stared out the large window to the city outside. She had considered closing the blinds, but realized that there probably weren't many people who could see into their penthouse from both other buildings and the streets below. Part of the redhead wanted there to be, as she thought it would be a bit of a rush. Standing up, the young woman reached her hands above her head, causing her white tank top to slide up her torso, exposing her toned stomach and backside. Dipper opened his eyes just in time to catch a glimpse of his lover in this sensual pose, her black and pink panty covered bottom almost at eye level. "Mornin' sleepy head… Like what ya see or somethin'?" Wendy coyly asked with a sly smile displayed on her face. "I've woken up to worse sights…" the eighteen year old commented with a bit of a smartass tone. "Calm down there tiger… First we work… Then we can play…" the young woman said as she made her way to the bathroom. "Fine…" he replied with an air of disappointment in his voice.
After showering, the pair got dressed and was ready to tackle a slightly less challenging run than the previous day. Deciding that the weather would be just as chilly as the previous day, Dipper donned a pair of black track pants, a grey long sleeved t-shirt, his trademark blue vest and a black beanie. Wendy, meanwhile, pulled out a pair of black yoga pants, a white tank top, an oversized pink sweatshirt and her beanie. Taking the elevator down to the lobby, the couple emerged from it to see the cheery receptionist that had ordained them was once again stationed at the desk. "Mr. and Mrs. Pines! Good morning! Have a great run!" the brunette shouted from behind her post. As they had done the previous day, the pair kept their pace and replied with a smile and wave. "Wendy Pines… That doesn't sound half bad… Or… Gwen Pines… Maybe even Gwendolyn Pines… I dunno… Ugh! What the hell has gotten into me?! We've only been dating for, like, five months…" the redhead thought to herself as they exited the building and entered the still chilly air of the Rose City. The streets were just beginning to come alive with the sounds of cars and buses, as countless people were starting their Sunday morning.
Running on the cracked and worn concrete sidewalk, the couple was getting quite the workout. After about forty minutes, the pair found themselves a bit lost, but decided to keep at it; thinking they'd see a sign or major landmark soon enough. Rounding a corner the couple ran into three men who had anything but good intentions. "Hey… Give us your phone!" a scruffy man said in a stern tone as his two associates formed a circle around Wendy and Dipper. "Excuse me?" asked the eighteen year old as he removed the earbuds that had been playing a mix of electronic music for him. "Your phone. Give it to us. Now" a second man asked in a deep and threatening voice; this one skinny with a ragged beard. "What are you doing with a scrawny kid like this red?" the third, portly man said as he ran his pudgy index finger along her cheek. "Yeah… We'll show you what a good time really is…" the bearded man said in a creepy tone of voice. "LEAVE HER ALONE!" Dipper yelled as he managed to temporarily distract all three men. "Maybe we'll make him watch…" the fat man said as he grabbed Wendy by the shoulders and forced her to the ground; placing his well-worn boot on her head. The scruffy man walked over to Wendy while his bearded friend held Dipper up in a chicken wing; the brown haired teen struggling to break free of the older and stronger man's grip. The skinny man hooked his hand into the waistband of Wendy's yoga pants and began to pull down on the stretchy material. The young woman saw her opening and preceded to mule kick her assailant in the groin. Grasping his crotch, the man with the beard fell down. Dipper followed suit and struck his captor with a swift kick to his knee; drawing the breath out of him momentarily and causing him to release his grip. Dipper rushed over and without breaking his momentum, cocked back his arm and landed a leaping knockout punch to the fat man who had held his lover's head down on the concrete with his foot.
"Let's get outta here!" the brown haired eighteen year old suggested. "Nah… They tried to rob you and rape me, so I say, let's teach them a lesson… Gravity Falls style…" Wendy said with a determined look as she produced a folding knife from her pocket and flicked out the three inch steel blade. After a short fight, which included the ginger woman and brown haired man managing to restrain the trio with nothing more than her sweater, Dipper promptly called Portland Police and told them where they could pick up some attempted rapists and robbers. About forty-five minutes were spent with Portland's Finest, who were amazed with how the couple had managed to fight back against their assailants. Wendy, being well versed in Oregon State law, suggested the charges that the group of ill intended men could be brought up on. After the police left, Wendy and Dipper decided to call it a morning and retreat back to the hotel lobby, where a continental breakfast awaited them. "I am so sorry about that Wendy… I-I just wanted this to be a fu-" was all the brown haired teen could get out before his girlfriend interrupted. "Dude… Shit happens… Little did they know that they were dealing with Wendy fuckin' Pines! … I-I mean, Wendy fuckin' Corduroy… Yeah, Wendy Corduroy!" the young woman said as she tried to hide the embarrassment of her slip. "Yeah… You're a fuckin' Corduroy!" Dipper tried to reassure his girlfriend, who had begun to show a crimson shade on her alabaster cheeks.
The pair made their way to the restaurant in the lobby of the ornate hotel, where a full breakfast buffet was set up. "I'd say we earned our appetites…" Wendy said before grabbing a plate and joining the small que that had started. "Yeah… I guess that's one way of putting it…" Dipper replied as he joined his girlfriend in line. After gorging on a feast of breakfast foods, the couple retreated to their penthouse suite, where they reflected on the wild morning they had. Dipper sat down at the dining room table and opened his blue journal to once again observe the partially revealed message. "I say we try to work on these until the concert later on…" the brown haired teen suggested. "Yeah… There could be something useful in there…" his fiery haired accomplice replied. After working for an hour, Dipper made a breakthrough. "I-I think I found it!" he shouted across the table at his girlfriend. Taking a small brush that Wendy had packed for her makeup, the eighteen year old dipped it into the briny solution and rubbed it against the page. Much to his delight, a bright pink text began to appear. Wendy got up from her seat and stood behind the younger Pines twin as he read the message. "Dipper, bet you didn't know I could do this, huh? Well, I guess hanging around you and all your nerd stuff has rubbed off on me a bit. This journal is for you to log anything you find interesting/weird in your journeys. I wish I could be there to help you guys out, but I know you've got this. By the way, thanks… What you two did was sweet and means a lot. You probably have no idea what I'm talking about right now, but you will in about three years. Pacifica thinks it's pretty cool too. Well… gotta save some ink for Wendy's journal. Love you always bro-bro! -Mabel" the note read. "Well… That was cryptic and random…" Dipper observed. "Yeah… But that's Mabes for ya'…" Wendy replied with a shrug of her shoulders and a soft smile.
"Ooo! Do mine next! I wanna see what kinda message I got from beyond the grave…" Wendy eagerly said as she opened her journal and threw it down on the table in a rush. After a few strokes of the brush, her message was revealed as well. "Wendy… Or Gwen… Or whatever you're calling yourself these days…" the note began. "Holy fuck…" Wendy whispered, wondering how Mabel knew of the game she played with the rideshare driver. "I know that journals are kinda more of my brother's thing, but I had to get a matching his and hers set… I couldn't resist. You're stronger than you give yourself credit for and have a heart that is pure. Use this journal to get out how you feel and to document the exciting things that I'm sure your life has in store for you. You two are my world and even though I may be gone, I still love you – Mabel" the note finished. "That's sweet…" Wendy commented as she got misty eyed. The rest of the morning was spent watching television in the large living room of the penthouse. Dipper felt like they could have done this at home, but after the events of the early morning, decided that Wendy probably needed to relax. The last thing he wanted the newly turned twenty-one year old to do was stress out on her birthday weekend.
The couple was sitting on the couch, watching a show about a quartet of friends who played practical jokes on one another when a thought crossed Wendy's mind. "Hey… Remember the other night when we saw that guy and girl come out of the portal thingy?" the redhead asked her boyfriend. "Yeah… That was so weird… I know we were both pretty trashed and all, but I know what I saw…" the brown haired teen replied. "Yeah… Well, I was thinking that we should write it in the journal… You know, so that we can document it while it's still fresh in our minds and then we can ask Ford about it later on…" Wendy explained as she got up from the couch and began to search for a pen. Finding a few in the drawer of a desk, she retrieved the blue books from the table and rejoined the hazel eyed man. Dipper skipped the first three pages in the blank tome, drawing a confused look from his lover. "I wanna write a cool intro like Grunkle Ford did in the original journals" the eighteen year old provided as an answer. "Oh… I-I guess that I should do something like that too… Mine's gonna be less of a fact guide though… I'm gonna write about what happened that day and how it made me feel…" Wendy said as she put pen to paper and began writing in a swift but neat fashion.
The hours passed as the couple described the event in their logs. Dipper, who was the more artistically inclined of the two, drew what the portal and its inhabitants looked like. The swirling blue mass had a blonde woman not much older than him sticking about halfway out of it. Her long blonde hair cascaded down her back and framed her face; held back by a red hairband with devil horns on it. A sky blue dress with a pink and red band on it adorned the illustrated woman. Her male counterpart was much easier to draw, as he was simply wearing a red hoodie and black skinny jeans. Proud of his work, he held the book up to Wendy and awaited her judgement. "It's like you took a picture with your pencils!" the auburn haired woman commented. "Thanks… I guess I kinda learned it from Mabel. I'm not nearly as good as she was, but I think it gets the point across…" he said. A small frown formed on the face of his girlfriend and it drew the curiosity of him. "What's the matter?" he inquired. "I just wish that you could learn to take a complement is all… You're so damn hard on yourself all the time. Believe it or not, you are a pretty amazing person…" the freckled woman explained. "I'm trying… It's just that it was always more of a Mabel thing to be proud of things people said about her…" he explained as Wendy's frown softened and a knowing smile slowly replaced it. "Alright… Well, enough of all the heavy and introspective bullshit for the day… Let's get ready to get weird at the show!" the redhead said to her boyfriend. "Sounds like a plan to me" Dipper replied as the couple got ready for the concert later that evening in the Rose City.
Author's Note: I was encountering tons of writers block this week, so sorry for the delay. I know where I want to go with the story, but it's just some of the smaller details that I got hung up on. I hope you enjoyed the big reveal of what Mabel had written in the journals.
My Playlist for this chapter:
Flyleaf – "Arise"
Tonight Alive – "Breaking And Entering"
Icon For Hire – "Make A Move" (What I imagine playing while Dipper and Wendy fight back)
Dorothy – "Missile"
The Letter Black – "Fire With Fire"
The Letter Black – "Hanging By A Thread"
The Dirty Youth – "Fight"
June Divided – "Bullet"
Stitched Up Heart – "Is This How You Get To Hell?"
Hey Monday – "Homecoming"
Alan Walker - Fade