Wendy made her way to Tambry's house that night. The two teens occupied Tambry's bedroom. A room filled with the aroma of rainfall incense, and walls covered with indie rock and indie pop bands. Tambry was relaxing on her bed while Wendy was spinning on her rotating stool.
"So, you want me to stock this new girl at your work? Why can't you just do it?" Tambry asked.
"Because you're better at social media stocking than I am. I didn't even get her last name. I have no idea where to st-"
"Found her." Tambry interrupted. Wendy got up from her seat and sat next to Tambry on her bed.
"Mendi Philander. Sixteen years old, follows way more people than others follow her. She has had an Instagram account for two years, but only has sixteen posts... that's suspicious. There's no way her posting is that low in that timeframe." Tambry said. "So, what is it you want to know about this chick?" she asked, scrolling through Mendi's limited post history.
"I just want to know more about her history. Yeah, I could ask her, but for all I know she's lying." Wendy said. Tambry asked why specifically this girl, especially since Wendy is the type of person to give little to no care to pry into people's lives. "You ever just get a nasty feeling when you meet someone. Something your gut is telling you that your brain is unable to do?" Wendy asked.
"That's how I felt meeting Thompson." Tambry admitted. "But now we're in the same clique. You probably just need to give this girl some time." Tambry said. Wendy asked if she found anything out of the ordinary from her social media. Tambry scrolled up and down her posting history, with only one post catching her attention. "She has this photo of her with some guy near the space needle in Seattle. Everything else is just random photos of nature or aquariums." Tambry said. Wendy looked at the photo. She saw Mendi hugging a guy who looked to be their age. Their cheeks were touching, and both had toothy grins. Both had red eyes in the photo. "The caption says: 'Always a blessing to be near you.' with a heart emoji at the end. This was posted about a month ago." Tambry read. Wendy gained a furrowed brow again.
"That's peculiar." Wendy said.
"Why?"
"Earlier today she was talking about how Dipper was cute, and here she is rubbing faces with some guy in Seattle." Wendy crossed her arms. Tambry looked at her friend with concern.
"Are you... jealous?" Tambry asked. Wendy's ears began changing red.
"N-No! It's just weird that she's telling Mabel she thinks her brother's cute when her social puts off she's seeing someone." Wendy said. Tambry stared at her red-headed friend in disbelief.
"Uh huh... Well, if you're worried about the kid or whatever, just warn him to stay away from her." Tambry said, going back to texting. Wendy headed home for the night, thinking about the picture with Mendi and her guy friend.
The next day came, and the shack had small burst of tourists come and go. Mendi was restocking the knick-knacks along with Mabel as Wendy was scrolling her phone behind the register. Wendy would steal small glances of Mendi when she looked up from her phone. Dipper walked into the room, writing in his notebook. Mabel saw him and put a huge smile on her face.
"Hey Dipper! Could you fill in for me helping Mendi while I go to the bathroom." Mabel asked.
"I really can't right now I have to-"
"Thank youuuuuu!" Mabel shoved the knick-knack she was supposed to restock into Dipper's arms, dropping his notebook. Dipper grunted and groaned at his sister. When going to pick up his notebook, he saw Mendi was already holding it towards him.
"Oh, thanks Mendi." Dipper said, dusting it.
"No problem. If you don't mind me asking, what is it you write in there?" Mendi asked.
"Oh, nothing just, some findings I've come across in Gravity Falls with the supernatural, some theories, and other stuff that could be considered a phenomenon." Dipper explained.
"Wow, what's the craziest thing you ever came across?" Mendi asked.
"A demon possessed my body and we had to exhaust him to the point where we could kick him out. I would go into more detail, but there's a law that prohibits anyone from taking about an incident that happened with that demon." Dipper said. Mendi laughed.
"I bet you kicked his butt." Mendi commented. "Hey, if you ever go on another adventure, could I join?" She asked. Wendy turned her full attention to their conversation.
"Oh, uh, sure! Usually, only Soos' is up for abnormal adventures." Dipper said.
"Awesome! It's a date!" Mendi winked at Dipper before she turned back to restocking. Dipper's face turned red as Wendy's turned irritated. Dipper cleared his throat.
"Um, yeah! A date! I'll go ahead and let you know later on when the date is happening." Dipper said, tripping over his sentence slightly as he exited the room. Wendy saw Dipper exit, and stared at Mendi's back as she placed items on the shelf.
"Hey Mendi, can I talk to you for a second?" Wendy asked. Mendi confirmed, placing the box down and walking over to the cash register.
"What's up Wendy?" Mendi asked.
"What exactly are you doing?" Wendy asked with her eyes half closed and her arms crossed. Mendi looked confused.
"What do you mean?"
"I mean, why are you flirting with a thirteen-year-old when you yourself are sixteen?" Wendy asked. Mendi chuckled at Wendy's question. "What's so funny?" Wendy became vexed.
"It's just, I don't see Dipper as a 'thirteen-year-old'. I see him as Dipper. This cute guy slightly dorky with his nose buried in a book from sheer curiosity. I want to get to know him better, and I figured going on a hike with him would be a great time to do that." Mendi said. Wendy didn't believe Mendi's reasoning. All Wendy was thinking about is the photo she found on her social media. "But if you're worried about me being with your boyfriend, I'll back off."
"He's not my-" Wendy groaned. "Listen, if you get close to him, and he likes you, and you end up hurting him; I'm coming after you." Wendy threatened. Mendi still had a playful smile on her face. She raised her left hand and crossed her heart with her right.
"I promise not to play with Dipper's emotions." Mendi put her arms down and walked back over to restocking. The day continued normally, when Soos, Wendy and Mendi left, Dipper went looking for his sister. Mabel was on her bed in their shared bedroom listening to music, being very excited to see one of her favorite bands. Dipper approached her and tapped on her shoulder. Mabel's eyes opened, seeing her brother she paused her music.
"Hey Dipper, you excited to see BABBA live?" Mabel asked him. Dipper said he was and scratched the back of his head. "What's wrong?" Mabel asked, seeing her brother mildly distraught.
"Today in the store, Mendi asked me if she could go with me on a supernatural hunt I do here and there. I said it was fine, and after that she..." Dipper didn't continue his sentence.
"Yeah..." Mabel leaned her head in.
"She... called it a date." Dipper said. Mabel squealed.
"Ahhhh! It's happening! You're going on your first date!" Mabel was overwhelmed with joy for her brother.
"I-I guess..." Dipper said. Mabel's enthusiasm lightened.
"Is everything okay?"
"It's just, I've never been on a date. I thought we were going to look for anomalies or giant owl feathers, but I didn't expect it to be a date!" Dipper slightly raised his voice, revealing his anxiety.
"I mean, would you want to go on a date with her?" Mabel asked.
"Well, Mendi is helpful, and kind, and pretty." Dipper admitted. Mabel let out a small squeal when she heard him say 'pretty'.
"Trust me bro, you're going to be a natural casablanca."
"Casanova."
"That too. Besides, a little birdie told me she thought you were cute." Mabel poked her brother's cheek when she told him. Dipper's brows raised.
"She thinks I'm cute? Huh." Dipper had a smile on his face after saying that. "But even so, I've never been on a date before. What do I do?" Dipper asked. Mabel opened her mouth wide, and slowly closed it shut when she couldn't think of any words of advice.
"I don't know. The only person who I've been on dates with was Gideon." Mabel shivered. "Other than that, all my other crushes or boyfriends didn't take me on a date, or I kept them prisoner here." Mabel pulled out a scrapbook of past romances, broken hearts scribbled on multiple past faces. Mabel sighed. "You should probably ask someone who has better experience. Why not ask Wendy?" Mabel suggested. Dipper thought about asking her as well but didn't know how she would answer. Dipper also felt insecure that Wendy saw him as a kid, and Dipper thought a question like that would only solidify that perception he projects.
"I'll bring it up to her." Dipper said. Mabel smiled at her brother and went back to her bed.
"Now if you excuse me, all this past heartbreak has me in the mood for 'The Pieces We Keep' by Together in the Stars." Mabel went to lay in her bed, blasting her headphones to the pop rock band as Dipper left her to sulk.