The next morning shines on Gravity Falls, in the Mystery Shack was Wendy, Dipper, and Mabel getting ready to open for the day. Dipper kept taking peaks at Wendy, rehearsing the right choice of words to ask her for dating advice. Mabel saw that there was still time for them to be alone before they opened.
"Woof! What were you eating last night Waddles?" Mabel waved her hand in front of her face. Waddles snorted with his blank expression to Mabel. "I better take you to the kitchen, so you don't stink up the shop!" Mabel picked up Waddles and carried him to the other room. Mabel quickly peaked out at her brother and gave a wink with a thumbs up. Dipper nodded and approached Wendy.
"Hey Wendy. Ready to open?" Dipper broke the ice.
"Not quite yet." Wendy emptied a bag of ice into a cooler filled with soda. She lifted one can out and opened it, taking a sip. She let out an exhale. "You want one?" Wendy offered, Dipper accepted and joined her. "Now I'm ready." She leaned back into her chair behind the register. Dipper pulled up a chair next to her.
"Hey Wendy, you've been on dates before, right?" Dipper asked. Wendy halted herself from taking another sip, lowering her can.
"Yeah?" Wendy answered.
"From those dates, what would you say made them fun or enjoyable?" Dipper asked his follow up question. Wendy sat up and put her soda down.
"What is this about Dipper?" Wendy sternly asked. Dipper swallowed his saliva.
"I'm just curious and wanted to make sure I don't make anything stupid when..."
"When you go on your date with Mendi?" Wendy finished his sentence. Dipper's cheeks turned red.
"You heard that yesterday?" Dipper asked her. Wendy leaned back and crossed her arms, admitting she eavesdropped on that piece of information. "I was wondering if you could help me with planning a fun time." Dipper sincerely asked, there was a gleam in his eyes that hit a soft spot in Wendy's chest. Wendy sighed.
"I can't help you."
"Why not?" Dipper asked. Wendy rubbed the corner of her eyes.
"I can't let her do this to you, not to one of my best friends." Wendy said.
"Do what?" Dipper asked.
"Dipper, she... she has another guy. I don't know what their relationship is, but they're definitely more than friends." Wendy pulled out her phone, showing the picture of Mendi in front of the space needle with another guy. Dipper was taken aback by what was revealed to him.
"Then, why did she call it a date?" Dipper asked. Wendy sighed.
"Some people are just like that. Guys and girls who like to have fun with people for some time, then cut contact with them when they've had their fun." Wendy said. Dipper held her phone, staring at the photo. A wave relief came over Dipper.
"Well, at least I don't have to worry about taking someone on a date." Dipper said, handing the phone back to Wendy. Dipper got down from his chair and headed into the other room. He stopped before leaving and turned to Wendy.
"Hey Wendy." Dipper called; she peaked up over to him. "Thanks for looking out for me." Dipper smiled at her, Wendy smirked and told him she'd always help him out.
The day continued, being swamped with customers visiting for the festival. Hippies, hipsters, fans, and others taking their look around the Mystery Shack. Dipper was checking off a list on a clipboard, confirming his last tour for the day. Dipper checked his wristwatch.
"Alright, looks like I'll have time to do some owl searching before night rolls around." Dipper said to himself. He placed the clipboard on a hook and turned around, only to be met with Mendi. Dipper yelled, seeing Mendi tower over him with a smile and her arms behind her back.
"Done for the day?" Mendi asked. Dipper said he finished everything he needed to do, walking around Mendi as he said it. "Are you going to look for that large owl?" Mendi asked, Dipper said he was. "Can I come with you?" Mendi saw Dipper grabbing his backpack and bomber hat, he turned towards Mendi.
"Uhhh... I was thinking, going to look for a giant, mammal eating bird is pretty dangerous. For your safety, you should stay away from it. I would feel awful if anything were to happen to you." Dipper was using the excuses he practiced all day in case this situation occurred. Mendi frowned, then smiled at Dipper. She leaned towards him, making Dipper's blood rush to his face. Mendi hugged him.
"Aww you're so sweet to care for my safety. While that is very sweet of you, I can't just let you go out into the wilderness by yourself." Mendi broke the hug. "I'll be there to back you up." She poked the tip of Dipper's nose. Dipper standing with his mouth ajar and red cheeks. He clears his throat.
"It would be best to not go looking for it alone. It's good to have someone for emergencies." Dipper convinced himself to let Mendi join. Mendi had a wide grin hearing Dipper say that. Dipper told Soos that he and Mendi were leaving for the day, and the two headed off into the woods. Dipper kept a few paces ahead of Mendi, who was looking around at the evergreens covering them.
"It's beautiful out here." Mendi said, looking at Dipper who was studying his notes.
"Did you have forest in your old hometown?" Dipper asked.
"Nope. I'm from a suburb pretty close to Seattle, so if I wanted to go to wilderness like this, I'd have to go pretty out of my way for it." Mendi said. Dipper got a flash of the photo Wendy showed him in his head.
"Is there anyone over there you miss? Any friends?" Dipper asked. Mendi let out a one note hum.
"I did have one friend, we were close, but life has different plans that can suddenly happen at any moment." Mendi said with sorrow in her tone. Dipper asked who her friend was. "He was my best friend, Ryan. He lived in the city, and I would visit him to hang out, or he'd stop by my house from time to time when his household became very noisy." Mendi said. Dipper put that name on the face in the photo.
"Wow, he must have been pretty upset when you told him you were moving down here." Dipper turned to Mendi, who was holding her arms together and staring at the ground. Mendi looked up at Dipper and smiled again. She continued to walk, passing Dipper.
"I never got to tell Ryan I was moving to Gravity Falls. He was already gone." Mendi said. She stopped again; Dipper saw from behind she was wiping her eyes with her sleeve.
"Gone? Wh- What do you mean?" Dipper cautiously asked. Mendi turned around, her eyes were glossy and had tear streaks on her face.
"He..." Mendi inhaled a shaky breath. " He jumped off a skyscraper and died on impact." Mendi let out a painful whimper, covering her eyes again. Dipper's heart sunk to his stomach, feeling terrible for what he had assumed was the kind of person Mendi was. Dipper had recalled seeing that on the national news. 'Teenage boy meets demise, jumping from skyscraper in Seattle, disturbing thousands in the city.' Dipper tried to remember the blurb of the newscast.
"I'm so sorry Mendi. That's horrible." Dipper consoled her. Mendi regained her composure and wiped the last tear from their face.
"It's okay, the more I talk about it, the more I've come to accept that it happened." Mendi said, giving a soft smile to Dipper, with him returning a smile himself. "Now c'mon. Let's go find a giant owl." Mendi said, letting Dipper take the lead again.
Back at the shack, Wendy had closed the front door and locked it. Before she walked away, she heard a knock at the front door. She saw a man pointing at the doorknob and mouthing 'Your door is locked.'. Wendy rolled her eyes and pointed to the 'Closed' sign hanging in front of him. The man acknowledged their business hours and left.
"Ugh, I swear tourist get dumber every year." Wendy said to herself. Wendy noticed that she hadn't seen Dipper in the last hour of her shift. She turns to Mabel and Soos, who were counting the day's revenue. "Have you guys seen Dipper?" Wendy asked. Soos said that he let him off a bit early to see if he could find that huge owl he caught eye of.
"Not only that, but Mendi and Dipper might be sitting in a tree. Doing some K-I-S-S-I-N-G. Huh, Waddles!" Mabel played with her pig's chubby face cheeks. Wendy's chest froze hearing they were together in the woods.
"What?" Wendy raised her voice. Mabel became a tad timid.
"Ye-yeah. Dipper told me he had a date with her." Mabel said. Wendy asked Soos when they left, he said roughly over an hour ago.
"I'll be back." Wendy bolted through the front door and took off into the woods. She scanned the ground, spotting two sets of footprints in the mud and began running in that direction.
The sun was getting lower, and the sky bled orange and red mix across the horizon. Dipper suggested they take a break. The two sat on a log, watching the sun dip into the horizon.
"Man, finding this owl on foot was not the best idea. We covered so much more ground with Soos' truck." Dipper said.
"Hey, but you didn't let not having a truck stop you. That's what separates the good from the great." Mendi smirked at Dipper. "Also, we get to see this amazing sunset." Mendi turned her head to the low hanging sun, as did Dipper. Mendi then glanced over at Dipper, seeing his bomber hat covering his head. "Don't you get hot wearing that?" Mendi asked.
"Hmm, a little. But a very special person gave it to me, so I don't mind if it makes me sweat a little. I do try to keep it clean whenever I do get sweaty though." Dipper said. "I mean, don't you get hot in that beanie?" Dipper asked. Mendi chuckled and said she doesn't sweat in it at all. Mendi asked who the special person was.
"Wendy, this used to belong to her. Last summer before I left, she gave me this, and she took my trucker cap with a blue pine tree on it." Dipper said, adjusting his hat. Mendi scooted a little closer to Dipper.
"So, you and Wendy are pretty close?" Mendi asked.
"Yeah, she's easily one of my best friends."
"But, like, 'would you two ever date' close?" Dipper's heart raced a bit from the question.
"Um, no. Well, it's complicated." Dipper said. Mendi asked if he could elaborate. "If it were up to me, I would ask her out. It's that Wendy is older, and there's a pretty big age gap between us. We actually had a talk about that last summer, and she turned me down gently." Dipper's face grew sad, remembering the conversation of Wendy's rejection. "But I'm happy with who we are. I'm glad to see her at work, hang out and watch movies or play games." Dipper said. Mendi had her eyes on the ground, then saw Dipper looking at the sunset.
"That's not fair to you though." Mendi said. Dipper turned and asked what she meant. "It's not fair that you have to hold back your feelings. That you must be consent because of something as silly as a three-year age gap. If you went ahead and asked around other people's age gaps when they get married, you'd be shocked to know they're sometimes five or more years apart." Mendi said. Dipper's brows raised. He then shrugged and went back to look at the sunset.
"Yeah, but that's not Wendy and I. Plus, it's different for people our age. If we were in our twenties, yeah, it wouldn't be a big deal. And if I didn't hold back my feelings, then I would just end up making her uncomfortable, and push her away. I saw it happen last year with one of her ex's. They're cool now but I'd rather never have to go through that with Wendy. What I have with Wendy is a blessing, I feel like asking for more would be selfish on my part." Dipper said. Mendi looked at Dipper's hand resting on the log.
"I'm sorry to hear that Dipper. I'm sorry you have this great connection with someone, and you're too sweet to see that you deserve better." Mendi took his hand into hers. "From the last several days I've known you; you're kind, compassionate, smart, and all while being adorable." Mendi looked into Dipper's eyes, seeing his big brown iris' reflecting the sun's rays. Mendi scooted closer again making their touch. Dipper's heart began to race as his palms started sweating. She brushed her hand up the left side of Dipper's face, pushing off the bomber hat onto the floor. Mendi pushed her nails into Dipper's hair and scratched his scalp, making him weak from ecstasy. Dipper leaned his head into her hand. "You have such soft hair." Mendi whispered, loud enough for only Dipper to hear. "I want to show you what you deserve, if you let me." Mendi lifted Dipper's chin and rested her palm on his face. Their eyes were closing more and more as the gap between their lips shortened.
"Dipper!" The two heard a yell from behind them. Dipper's eyes opened fully and turned around to see an out of breath Wendy leaning against a tree. Mendi looked at the winded Wendy with disconcert.
"Wendy? What are you doing out here?" Dipper asked. Wendy's mind began to rush with excuses as to why she was running through the woods to find them. Wendy was taking deep breaths.
"It's... uh... Soos!" Wendy said, putting hands on her hips. "Yeah, Soos got pretty upset and was saying that you did a sloppy job before leaving earlier. He said he might make you stay the day of the festival to teach you a lesson, and I know how badly you want to see BABBA. So, here I am!" Wendy gave a nervous chuckle. "If you head back right now and do whatever he needs you to do, I'm sure he'll forget all about it." Wendy caught her breath and stared at the confused expression on his face.
"Oh... okay? Thanks, Wendy." Dipper said unconfidently.
"Yeah, no problem!" Wendy gave him a thumbs up. She looked over to Mendi, who stood up from her seat.
"Well, let's head back." Mendi said in slight annoyance. While walking back, Wendy sent a text to Soos.
Wendy: Soos I need a favor no questions asked. I need you to pretend Dipper did a bad job at the shack today and scold him a bit. Create some chores for him to make it up to you or something.
Soos: I don't know man, I'm pretty bad at lying. Why do I need to chew the little guy out?
Wendy: I said no questions asked! C'mon Soos you owe me. You weren't a bad liar when I covered for you when Melody asked who ate all the goody bags at her little cousin's birthday party.
Soos: Alright, alright, I'll think of something *dizzy eyes emoji*
Soos was looking at his phone scratching his head. Looking at Dipper's station, it was spotless. He did everything Soos' asked him to before he left, leaving Soos unable to think of a convincing mishap on Dipper's part. Soos noticed Mabel walking past him with a broom and a dustpan full of dirt."I'll take that." Soos grabbed the dustpan from Mabel's hand and threw the dirt on the floor.
"What the heck, Soos!" Mabel looked up at Soos. Soos reached into his pocket and pulled out all the cash in his wallet. The total being about $28.
"Here's a bonus if you promise to pretend that this never happened." Soos showed Mabel the money.
"Deal!" Mabel swiped the cash from him and began counting it.
"You did good Soos, you did good." Soos told himself, then pushing over an attraction on to the floor.