Mendi noticed that Wendy was typing on her phone. She called out to Wendy.
"If you needed to get a hold of us, why didn't you just call Dipper instead of running all the way over here to tell us." Mendi asked with a small smirk. Wendy put her phone away.
"Dipper doesn't have a phone." Wendy boldly answered, wiping the smirk off Mendi's face. Mendi looked at Dipper in disbelief and asked if what Wendy said was true.
"Yeah, my sister and I are phoneless. Soos may pay us, but we can't really afford a phone bill each month." Dipper said.
"Well, if this ever happens again, you can call me Wendy." Mendi pulled out her phone.
"Y-yeah..." Wendy answered. The word 'again' rang in both Dipper's and Wendy's ears with polar reactions. The two girls exchanged contacts and walked the rest of the way in silence. When the trio returned to the Mystery Shack, Dipper was surprised to see the tourist areas covered in dirt and some attractions knocked over. Wendy rested her face into her hand, thinking Soos went a little overboard with the mess.
"How did it get like this?" Dipper asked Soos.
"You forgot to put this out." Soos pulled out a sign that read 'Tours closed. Please come back later.'. "Since no one saw the sign, people just walked in and out whenever they pleased, causing this whole mess." Soos waved his arm towards the hallway. "I'm sorry dude, this is your station and I need you to be responsible for it." Soos handed Dipper a broom and dustpan. Dipper grabbed it and began sweeping. Wendy approached Soos.
"Soos, can I talk to you in private?" Wendy asked.
"Yeah, just give me a sec to tell- Ah!" Soos' ear was being pulled.
"Now, Soos." Wendy tugged his ear until they both reached the front porch.
"Ah! Ow! What was that for?" Soos rubbed his sore ear. Wendy stood akimbo.
"Why did you wreck the tour hall? I meant something small like a misplaced attraction or some dirt on the floor! Not like a typhoon strolled past the shack!" Wendy pointed.
"Dipper did a good job before he left! I had to make a mess convincing enough to look like something worth getting upset about!" Soos explained. Wendy closed her eyes and took a deep breath.
"Okay, I did ask you to do this, and I appreciate that. I'm going to go help Dipper, so he doesn't spend the rest of his night cleaning the mess I asked for." Wendy was about to walk back inside but turned around quickly. "Oh, and sorry about pulling your ear." Wendy said, seeing Soos still rubbing the pain away. Walking back inside, she saw Mendi near the front door. Mendi asked if everything was alright, Wendy answered her with a passive yes. She walked into the tour hall, seeing Dipper sweep a lot of broken glass and dirt into a big pile.
"Here, let me help you out." Wendy said, unfolding a trash bag for him. Dipper smiled, and put the giant dirt pile into the dustpan, then into the trash bag.
"Thanks Wendy." Dipper said.
"Anytime, I know you'd do the same for me." She spoke. "I was surprised when Mabel said that you and Mendi went on the outing even after what we talked about." Wendy picked up some bigger trash pieces on the floor.
"I figured since I saw it more as a hang out than a date, it wouldn't be a big deal to let her tag along. We even talked about that guy in the photo you showed me." Dipper swept another pile into the dust pan.
"Who is he then?"
"He was her best friend, before..." Dipper stopped his sentence.
"Before...?" Wendy repeated his last word, leading to completing his sentence.
"Before he... killed himself." Dipper's voice went solemn. Wendy's brows shot up.
"O-oh... That's awful."
The room went quiet for a moment. A heavy tension filled Wendy's chest with empathy and regret. Wendy was recalling how she had lost her mother in a similar way, and all the pangs she struggled through. Wendy began to reflect on the negative emotions she gained from Mendi. Wendy began to question if Mendi was truly a bad person, or if she just wanted to believe she was. She didn't show any signs, all Wendy went off of was her gut feeling that Mendi was bad news. She was being torn apart by the fact that spending time with Dipper alone made her feel out of control of her emotions. Wendy had good control when it came to her stress, but she couldn't help but lose it slightly when she heard Dipper and Mendi went into the woods together. Seeing Dipper's depressed face, she decides to change the topic of conversation.
"So, when I caught up, what were you guys doing?" Wendy became slightly anxious asking. Dipper replayed the scene in his head a couple times since they returned to the shack. He replayed her voice, her hand caressing his cheek, how she scratched his head. All leading up to what almost became Dipper's first kiss. Dipper coughed.
"We were taking a break from walking, just looking at the sunset. We were actually going to turn back after we rested a bit." Dipper said, sweeping a bit more intensely. There was a ring at the front door, it was Soos coming back inside. Soos said Mendi headed home for the day, and wanted Wendy and Dipper to know that he wouldn't be able to come in to help Melody with some work around their house.
Mendi walked home a nearly nighttime sky through the woods. She stared at the ground in front of her with every step. Mendi lifted her left hand, remembering how she placed it on Dipper's face. A red, transparent aura began to emit from her hand. The aura rose to her face, she took a deep inhale, forcing the aura into her nose and mouth. She held her breath for a moment. The white of her eyes turned a deep red, as her iris' looked to be miosis. She exhaled and began to cackle slightly.
"Wooooo..! I got all that just from almost kissing him? I wonder how much I could've gotten if I actually pressed lips with the guy." Mendi's mouth created a conniving smile as she stared at her hand. "If all goes right with you Dipper, I'll be strong enough to take control who I'm really after." Mendi's red aura in her palm formed into a flame-like shape. Inside was an image of a levitating Wendy, with her eyes closed and floating with her arms spread and her hair waving. "In due time Wendy, you'll be mine." Mendi clenched her palm into a fist, extinguishing the aura.
Later that night, Wendy was lying in bed staring at her ceiling fan slowly rotating. Her room was mostly dark, only a dim lamp illuminating some light from her nightstand. She was wearing a black tank top with a wolf design on it, plaid pajama bottoms, and white tube socks. Wendy was thinking about her mom. Lost in her mind, remembering what memories she did have of her before she took her own life. Wendy tried her best to stay away from these thoughts, always putting her in an emotional dilemma. One part of her loves her mom, remembering her being a good woman to her family. While the other hates her for leaving her family so abruptly. Wendy always ended up going in circles when she thought about her. Thinking why she did it, why didn't she seek help, and other questions that seem to go on forever because she never got closure. Wendy got up from her bed and decided to go get a glass of water. In the kitchen, she saw her dad making wood sculptures with a knife.
"What are you still doing up?" Dan asked. Wendy walked past her father and filled a glass with tap water.
"I couldn't sleep, just been thinking." Wendy answered.
"You're not planning anything stupid, are you?" he asked, pointing his knife at her. Wendy rolled her eyes and told him no. Before Wendy left the kitchen, she stopped and turned around to her dad.
"Hey, dad, can I ask you something?" Wendy asked him. Dan was focused on carving his two by four but answered that she could.
"It's about mom." Wendy said. Dan's hand stopped and met his daughter's eyes.
"What about your mom?" Dan solemnly asked.
"Just, what was she like when you guys first met?" Wendy pulled up a chair next to him, he placed his knife down. Dan took a deep breath and thought about Wendy's question.
"Your mother was... A kindred spirit, to say the least. She was fierce, stubborn, marched to the beat of her own drum. She didn't care too much for people, but when she liked you, she was loyal. Then, somehow, she said yes to a date with a just as stubborn man." Dan chuckled. "I thought your mom was gonna deck me one for asking her out on a date but turns out she had a soft spot for me too." Dan said, picking his knife back up and continuing his sculpture. Wendy rested her cheek on her hand that was leaning on the kitchen table.
"What'd you do for a first date?" Wendy asked.
"This." Dan kept his eyes on the piece of wood he was shaving. Wendy's eays darted back and forth between him and the block of wood, then winced.
"You guys made wood figurines?"
"That's right. She was saying even though I can cut more trees down than anyone on this hemisphere, she could make better sculptures than me. Both of us being stubborn, we had a small competition. Whoever made the best figure within an hour pays for dinner." Dan explained.
"How do you decide a winner for that?"
"We brought them to Greasy's and asked any passer-by to judge which figure was better while we ate. At the time, I thought I could hold my own. Looking back, your mother was clearly the better craftsman. She made my carving look like a pile of dog sh-"
"So, you ended up paying for the date?" Wendy interrupted. Dan chuckled at her question.
"I was going to pay regardless." Dan admitted.
"So, what happened to the carvings?" Wendy asked.
"I threw mine away that night because I was being a sore loser, while your mother was being a sore winner. If anyone else talked to me the way she gloated that night, I would've been in jail for assault. Hers is sitting on the fireplace, next to the family photo." Dan nodded his head towards the dark living room, Wendy thought about what figurine he meant.
"Wait, the owl with the amber eyes?" Wendy pointed her thumb to the living room, her father nodded. "Woah. I thought a professional made that."
"A professional did make that, mind you." Dan said. Wendy had a smile on her face, her father looked up at his grinning daughter. "What?"
"I've never seen this softer side of you, it's sweet, and at the same time, weird." Wendy said. Her father sighed.
"Well, she brought out that softer side of me. Made me calm whenever my vision would turn red from people's stupidity. She was a reminder that some people aren't so bad, they can be pretty great." Dan said. Wendy's heart melted a bit hearing her dad's perception of his late wife.
"Now I have a question; what made you want to talk about her?" Dan asked. Wendy's smile faded away as she stared at her glass of water. Wendy explained how her coworker lost someone close to them in the same way they lost their family member. Dan stayed quiet for a moment after hearing that.
"I guess I wanted to hear more about her, remember her as someone who lived, and not someone who..." Wendy lips thinned trying the right words to say.
"I get it." Dan put his items in his hands down and patted her on the back. Wendy swallowed back her emotions.
"I miss her." Wendy said.
"I miss her too, honey." Dan said. Wendy got up and hugged her dad, he wrapped his arms around her too. "It's late, you should go to bed." Dan instructed her daughter. Wendy grabbed her glass and headed back to her room. Dan stayed in the kitchen, continuing his carving, which began to take the form of a bird with its wings spread.