Chapter I: Getting Over Her
Those first few days in Gravity Falls had been an adjustment for Dipper.
His and Mabel's new room was a lot different than the one they'd shared back home, for one thing. There were a lot more bugs to swat when you lived in the middle of the forest, for another thing. Grunkle Stan didn't act much like a parent at all, and the Mystery Shack itself meant dealing with tourists a whole lot more than he ever thought he would. Dipper was reasonably sure it was child labor. There was a lot to complain about in Gravity Falls, at least at first glance.
He might have spent those first days being a rain on Mabel's parade… if not for Wendy.
When he saw her leaning over the counter in the gift shop, half asleep and with a bored look on her face, he'd known it was love at first sight.
Grunkle Stan had introduced them to her, and Dipper couldn't even remember the first thing he'd managed to say (it was probably something stupid). But he remembered that first smile as clear as day. Earnest and kind.
"Hi Dipper, I'm Wendy."
Even after he found the journal, and his and Mabel's lives became a lot more complicated, Wendy was a constant for him. Someone to admire. Someone to emulate. Someone to wish for more from.
When Grunkle Stan sent him off on some chore, it was worth it if Wendy was there. Each smile and punch to the shoulder made it worth it. Every time he stole a glance at her while she worked, or while they bummed around and watched junky horror movies, his heart did a little flip in his chest. That rush… it was addicting.
They'd been through a lot since then. Adventures he never would have believed were even possible before he dug up that journal, and a lot had changed. He and Mabel faced mysteries with alarming frequency, and more often than not, it was on his shoulders to solve them.
But the real mystery that ate at him was how he'd ever let himself have any hope for Wendy and him. It was obvious. There was no way she could be interested in a twerp like him. She was tall and beautiful and confident and just cool as hell! … and he was… well… he was still short and his voice cracked a lot. He overthought stuff. He made absurd plans and backup plans on top of them.
He was supposed to be the "smart one", but he'd been an idiot to have ever expected anything else that night at the bunker.
Dipper rolled over, fighting the urge to bury his face into his pillow and groan.
"Grow up man, grow up."
At least he could talk to himself without Mabel around to make him feel bad about it, since she wasn't home. She and Grenda were at Candy's house for a change, which meant he had the Mystery Shack basically to himself. Soos and Wendy had already gone home hours ago due to how slow business had been. And Grunkle Stan was off doing who knows what.
Which meant he got to lay in his bed and feel bad for himself, while he waited to be tired enough to fall asleep.
"At this rate, it's gonna be a while."
Dipper didn't even have Waddles to pet and make himself feel better like he might on other days, since Mabel had taken him with her to their sleepover. He felt a flare of annoyance at the thought. He'd given up a chance at Wendy to help her get that adorable little pig! And here Mabel was depriving him of Waddles' cuddles in a time of anguish.
He'd fantasized about Blendin's time machine more than a few times. He'd dreamed about how he might have done things differently. How many times had he goofed up and made himself look like an idiot? Or worse, a kid? Maybe he could go back and fix all those little moments. Maybe enough of those added up could have meant something. Maybe he wouldn't even have needed that day at the carnival, and so Mabel could have kept Waddles too! Or maybe he could have gone further back, and made himself drink a whole lot more milk. Maybe then he wouldn't have ended up shorter than Mabel.
"No, that wouldn't have worked."
He'd read more than enough science fiction stories to know how that kind of thing turned out. He was stupid to have even tried it in the first place. Messing with the timeline anymore than they already had probably would have just torn the timeline in two or something. He wasn't going to cause some kind of time crisis just to try to get with a girl.
No matter how great or cool she was.
Because he knew the real reason it would never work. She said it herself.
'I'm too old for you. I mean, you know that right?'
In the moment, he'd done his best to grin and bear it. Wendy had been nice enough to pretend like she hadn't noticed his pining the whole time, after all. It was the least he could do for her.
But ever since, the words had echoed through his brain endlessly, making him feel like more of an idiot each time.
Mabel must have spilled the beans to Grunkle Stan almost immediately, because later that same night, Dipper had gotten a strong slap on the back, and a gruff, "Don't worry kid, there's plenty of fish in the sea."
Dipper flipped his pillow over so he could lay on the cool side.
As much as he felt stupid these days, he knew he wasn't. He'd had good grades his whole life. He'd (almost) never gotten in any trouble that wasn't Mabel's fault. He was good at math and he'd been reading at a twelfth grade level since like third grade. 'You're so smart for your age.' 'You're much more mature than your sister.' He'd heard that sort of thing a million times over his entire life.
Of course, none of that was any help here, where it mattered. A lotta good his dumb fake gold medals from end-of-the-school-year assemblies were doing him now.
He rolled onto his back, and looked up to the rafters.
Obnoxious little fruit flies flitted around in the air. At first, they'd driven him nuts; they just didn't get 'em like this back home in Piedmont. They still drove him nuts, of course, but now he murdered them with abandon. If they stopped on anything for more than a second, they felt his wrath.
Quickly growing bored of the flies, Dipper reached into his pocket and withdrew his phone.
He couldn't use it as much as he might've liked, because unlike some classmates back in Piedmont, his parents weren't paying for unlimited data. "Cheapness runs in the family," he grumbled, thinking of his grunkle and parents both. Mom had only gotten him the phone so that they could stay in contact over the summer, and in case they needed it for an emergency. He only had a couple junky games installed on it, and they didn't have wi-fi in the Shack. So as it stood, he basically just used it to text.
A little red "(1)" marked the sum total of other peoples' care for him. He already knew who it was.
Dipper opened the text message.
'Goodnight! Love you lots.'
Dipper typed out a quick response. It was pretty much the same sort of thing he typed back every night.
'Night mom. Love you guys.'
He hit send, and then swiped back to his list of conversations. It was a short list, since he'd only gotten the phone right at the end of the school year.
Mom. Mabel. Wendy.
Dipper locked his phone and dropped it face down on his chest. He didn't want to look at it all of a sudden.
A big part of him had really wanted to delete the conversation with Wendy that night after the bunker. She could still text him, obviously, and he'd still see her almost every day, but it felt like a thing that he should do. Move on. Get over her. Get rid of the trail. Hide the bodies.
Get rid of every little message that he'd agonized over for the last month and a half. Searching for the right words ("OK" or "okay", which sounded cooler?). The right emoticons (Winky face? Smile? Big smile?). The right lengths of time between messages (too quick a reply and she might think he was annoying!). It had been agony, really. But it was an agony that was worth it. Every time he saw her name pop up at the top of his screen, he felt like he'd had that much more of a chance.
Maybe that's why he kept the messages. So that he could go back and feel like the boy he'd been just a few days and weeks ago. Relive that feeling. That feeling like he had a real shot.
'Which is why I should delete them.'
Dipper ground his teeth and unlocked his phone again. He swiped over to his messages, and tapped on his conversation with Wendy.
Her last message to him was from six days ago, which was the longest time between messages from her since she'd first given him her number. Five days ago, they'd gone down into the bunker.
That final message was simple.
'get some rest, dude. I'll see you tomorrow (:'
His eyes felt heavy just looking at it. He rubbed at them with his arm, and took a shallow, shuddering breath.
'Okay. I can do it.'
Tearing his eyes from the rest of the messages, he tapped the top right corner of the message screen, and hurriedly pressed 'delete'.
A confirmation window popped up.
Delete this conversation?
This action cannot be undone.
His thumb hovered over 'delete', and he stared, hesitating.
BZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ
The phone's sudden vibration scared him so badly he dropped his phone on his nose.
"Ow!" He yelped, before picking the phone back up.
His heart stopped. There was a new message from Wendy. Just four words.
'hey dip, you busy?'
Dipper's fingers hovered over his touch keyboard, primed and ready to respond. But his brain was blank.
A part of him had already abandoned hope that she'd ever text him again. She'd said she wanted to be friends still, but that's what they always said in the movies. They hadn't even ending up having that movie night she promised. Something with her dad had come up, she'd said. But had that been the real reason?
Should he even reply? What point was there?
Luckily, his phone was cheap enough that it didn't have read receipts. He could pretend to be asleep, and she'd be none the wiser.
How the hell was he supposed to move on if she was texting him at 9 o'clock at night?
But Dipper knew how to talk a big game, and actually following through was the harder part. As he stared at her message, he imagined her asking him in person, and his resolve crumbled. He'd never be able to ignore her.
'nah, just laying in bed.'
Send. Lock. Phone face down on his chest.
Honesty was the best policy. Maybe it was a lame enough response that she wouldn't send anything back, and he could go back to getting over her.
Even as he thought it though, he knew he wanted to feel his phone buzz again.
And sure enough, his phone buzzed only seconds later, and his heart leapt up into his throat.
He tried to not be too happy as he opened her message.
'wanna go to a party?'
Dipper was suddenly acutely aware of his own breathing.
He'd never been to a party party. He didn't really count the dance at the Shack, that was more like an event. Surely she meant one of those hangouts with her friends, where they all sat around and talked about how lame life was, or had Thompson do some dumb dares. Were there even parties in Gravity Falls?
How should he respond? Play it cool? Probe for information?
He settled on a middle course.
'haunted fast food place this time?'
Never start with an uppercase letter. That was something he'd figured out was lame pretty quick. And by, 'figured out', he meant that Mabel had told him it made him seem like a stuffy know-it-all.
He didn't even lock his phone this time. He just stared at the spot on his screen her reply would show up at, trying to force himself to breathe evenly.
Her answer took a bit longer this time, but it still arrived inside of a minute. His phone made a little swish noise rather than vibrating, since he already had the screen open.
'nah dude, house party. Sandra's parents gone until tomorrow.'
Then, after a second, there was another swish.
'you in?'
There was no use denying himself. He couldn't tell Wendy no.
Dipper waited just long enough to not seem like he was waiting anxiously for each and every reply.
'of course dude'
Gotta keep it friendly. Can't just hang onto every word.
Two replies burst onto the screen about thirty seconds later.
'knew I could count on you!'
'im like two minutes away btw'
He went from elated to frenzied, and immediately rocketed out of bed, nearly sending his phone flying in the process.
Dipper looked for clean pants first, since he couldn't exactly go to a party in his boxers. But after digging through his clothes in the closet, he realized he didn't have any clean pants. He scrambled for his pile of clothes that he never quite got around to washing, and sifted through it, looking for the most presentable of his jeans. He usually wore shorts, yeah, but he couldn't wear them to a real party.
Finally, he found a black pair among them that smelled fine, and only had an ambiguous smudge on the inside of its right thigh.
As he threw off his current shirt, and furiously applied some deodorant to his armpit, his thoughts flew.
Why now?
Why wasn't she texting me if she was gonna do this?
Maybe…
He dropped the cap to his stick of deodorant and he didn't feel like he had the time to look for it, so he just placed the stick back on the nightstand without it. Then he was back to his closet, looking at all of his shirts, trying vainly to figure out which of them would give him the vibe he was looking for.
His eyes lingered on a v-neck that mom had insisted he take with him, just in case.
Dipper shook his head. It'd be too obvious that he was trying to dress up for the occasion if he wore that. He settled on a miraculously clean blue t-shirt with the logo of some band he didn't actually know very well.
He quickly slipped on a pair of socks and tore out of his bedroom in search of his favorite tennis shoes.
He had just managed to find the damn shoes hiding in the kitchen for some reason when he realized he had somehow forgotten his phone. So he sprinted back up the stairs and into his bedroom. Then he had trouble finding it because the room was dark, but he didn't feel like he had time to turn on the light, so he fumbled around blindly and wasted more time than he'd saved.
He ultimately found the phone beneath a pile of shirts he didn't even remember throwing onto his bed, and had just enough time to catch his breath and try desperately to steady his nerves when it buzzed.
'im outside'.
He nearly tripped running back down the stairs, and immediately had to turn around and go back up when he realized he wasn't wearing his hat. He found it in its usual place, and then sprinted back down again, somewhat more careful this time.
Stopping just before the gift shop exit, he took a deep breath. Or at least, he tried to.
He patted his pockets. He had his spare key, and his phone. He was fully clothed. His hat was on. Wendy was outside, and he was going to a party with her. He was going to play everything cool.
'I'm too old for you.'
Dipper was getting over her, really.
He opened the door, and sure enough, a pick up truck was parked outside. Rock music was blaring, though it was too muffled for him to make out the lyrics.
Dipper locked the door behind him, and tried to walk out to the waiting truck as calmly as he could.
His body thrummed with nervous energy as he neared the truck. It was dark, and the windows were tinted, so he couldn't make out if anyone else was in the truck with her already. He jumped slightly when the doors unlocked, and the passenger side window rolled down.
Wendy was smiling at the wheel. "You get shotgun," she said, patting the seat to her side.
Dipper's heart was beating hard even as he opened the passenger door and took a seat.
Play it cool.
"Isn't your dad gonna be mad that you took his truck?" he asked, hoping it came off more like a compliment than like he was nagging her.
Wendy snorted and shook her head. "Nah, he's out cold. Drank a little bit too much tonight." She slapped the wheel enthusiastically. "Which means he won't miss his old girl at all."
Dipper snickered.
"Besides, I'm just following his instructions anyway. 'Never go to a party alone' he always told me!" She did an excellent impression of her father as she quoted him.
"Wow!" Dipper replied. "It's like he's really in here with us."
Her laugh was music to his ears, but it ended all too quickly. "Get your seatbelt on man, we gotta get going."
"Pretty rich coming from the girl who was just texting and driving," he retorted as he followed her order.
Wendy made a face. "Psh. I was at stop signs," she answered as she shifted into gear. She lowered the volume on her radio a bit, easing some of the pounding in his skull.
They lapsed into silence as Wendy drove them out of the Shack's clearing.
Dipper looked around as he tried to think of the right thing to say next. The whole inside of the car was covered in a fine layer of sawdust. How that might have happened, Dipper couldn't say, but it made sense in his head. Manly Dan's ride being any other way would have been weird.
At first glance, Wendy was wearing the same sort of thing she usually did. A flannel shirt (red this time) over jeans, with her lumberjack hat and cowboy boots. Only when his hopefully surreptitious gaze hit her neckline did he realize she wasn't wearing an undershirt like she usually did, which left more of her pale, freckled skin visible.
He looked away with a start, and then tried to pretend like something outside had caught his attention.
As he failed to look out the tinted window, what she'd said before they started driving finally registered. 'Never go to a party alone.' His eyes widened.
"Wait, are Tambry and the guys not coming?"
Wendy shook her head. "Nope. They all bailed on me. Which means it's just you 'n' me dude." She looked aside to him and smirked. "Why else would I be driving?"
He had no idea how his face looked, but it must have shown something, because her expression softened, and she turned her gaze back to the road.
"If you don't wanna come, I can still turn around. It'd be totally okay man." Her words and her tone didn't quite match.
"Oh no, it's not that!" He exclaimed with a too high laugh. "I wanna come, it's just a surprise is all. I guess I'd already mentally prepared myself for the whole gang." He tapped his knee with his index and middle fingers in a nervous rhythm. "Who is Sandra anyway?"
Wendy shrugged noncommittally. "Just a classmate, not much of a friend or anything; her parents have a huge house." She reached over and elbowed him lightly with a smile. "When you live in a small town like Gravity Falls, you don't ask too many questions about the party, you just go. Consider that your teenager lesson for the day."
Dipper pretended to write it down, which thankfully earned him another laugh.
They drove in (relative) silence for a while. Wendy hummed along to her rock tunes, and Dipper continued his manic melody on his knee. He tried hard to not look over at her too much. And when he did look, he tried hard not to look at her neckline.
Wendy was lucky that Sheriff Blubs and Deputy Durland always played bingo in the community center on Saturday nights; getting caught driving a twelve year old without a license might put a damper on the night. Of course, with Gravity Falls being as weird as it was and everyone knowing everyone, if Wendy did get caught, they might just end up giving her a slap on the wrist.
Still, if there was a night a teenager in Gravity Falls could get away with causing some real havoc, it was bingo night. Which everyone knew, even Dipper. In fact, it had been Grunkle Stan who told him!
The thought of his Grunkle hit him like a ton of bricks. He took out his phone in a rush and unlocked it, half expecting to see a string of missed calls that he had been too nervous to notice.
But it was just his home screen staring back at him: a stylized rendition of a 38 sided die against a backdrop of a dingy dungeon. He'd kept meaning to change it, since it wasn't very cool at all, but he never got around to it.
"Don't mind me, just texting Mabel really quick," he said lamely.
Wendy waved him off with a chuckle. "Tell her I say hi!"
'if grunkle stan calls you, let him know I'm going to a party. also, wendy says hi'
About forty-five seconds later, his phone erupted with an almost nonstop series of buzzes. He cringed internally, knowing instinctively what Mabel was spamming him with. He wasn't far from the mark.
'SDFGADSOFHASDNF'
'=O'
'omg'
'such a ladieeeees man'
'i thought you were OVER her bro'
'what happened'
'ALSO TELL HER I SAY HI BACK'
Dipper wasn't in the mood to deal with Mabel being Mabel at the moment, so he just chose not to reply and put his phone back in his pocket.
They were finally getting to the main part of town, so as soon as they hit a stoplight, Dipper relayed Mabel's message. "Mabel says 'hi' back." He was nothing if not a dutiful brother.
Wendy looked over to him with a cheeky smile. "I wonder who'll be getting into more trouble tonight, you or Mabel?"
"Mabel, always," Dipper answered without even a second's thought.
They shared a laugh, and he finally felt his nerves start to relax a bit.
He could do this just fine. They could be just friends, and he'd be happy.
Really.
"Oh, by the way Dip, there's probably gonna be some booze at the party." She gave him a serious look. "Don't feel like you have to drink or anything. Don't let anyone pressure you."
Dipper chewed on the inside of his lip. "Are you gonna drink?"
Wendy nodded and waved her hand, "Probably a little bit. I'll be safe to drive us back though, don't worry man. But that's me, you do you."
He nodded, but didn't feel certain enough to give an answer.
Growing up, he'd taken part in every single Red Ribbon Week his school had ever put on. That's seven whole years of pledges to stay away from drugs and alcohol. That'd be seven pledges he'd break if he drank anything tonight. He knew he'd always been a bit of a goody two shoes, especially compared to Mabel.
Maybe Grunkle Stan was just that bad of an influence, but ever since he got to Gravity Falls, Dipper had found himself breaking more rules than he had in the rest of his life combined. Wendy was at the center of a decent amount of those rule breakings already, whether she knew it or not.
He'd nearly died several times since he came to Gravity Falls! What was a little bit of beer in comparison to that?
And, well, if Wendy was doing it…
"–Ah, shit," Wendy spat suddenly.
Dipper started. "What, what is it?"
They'd stopped, and he hadn't even noticed. There was a huge two story house up ahead, and every single window he could see had a bright light shining out. A steady beat of some electronic tune was clear even from a distance, and there were a number of people strewn about the house's porch. Not to mention its garage was wide open and filled with even more gyrating teenagers.
Wendy's green eyes were narrowed, and she was clearly rethinking her plans. Finally, she groaned. "One of my exes is here."
A strange sensation gripped at him. Some kind of jealousy? Fear?
"Oh," Dipper said simply. He scratched the back of his head as he quickly tried to figure out something half decent to say. "Well, if you don't want to go, we don't have to. It's not too late to raid the Lackluster and do that horror movie night."
Honestly, Dipper wasn't sure if he was ready for a horror movie night. Spending time with Wendy was one thing, but spending a whole night alone with her after everything… Well… if Wendy wanted it…
Wendy pondered his offer seriously. He saw her gaze flick to a specific vehicle (a green car with a bumper sticker for the Gravity Falls High JV basketball team) several times, before she finally roared and smacked the steering wheel. "I can't be a scaredy cat about something as stupid as an ex-boyfriend! And besides, I already drove us the whole damn way."
Dipper wasn't sure if he was relieved or not, but he smiled anyway. "So, party's still on?"
"Hell yeah the party's still on!" Wendy said with a grin. She reached over and punched him in the shoulder suddenly, and Dipper actually yelped (to his shame). "We still have to do another movie night one of these days though, I haven't had enough b-movie shlock in my life lately."
Wendy punched hard.
But with her smiling at him like that, Dipper found that he hardly felt the pain.
AN: Hello hello! Welcome to my first foray into Gravity Falls fanfiction. I just watched the show for the first time in the last month, and I fell completely in love. I related especially hard to Dipper and his ill-fated crush on the coolest girl in Gravity Falls. So what if things went differently?
I'm attempting a more grounded feeling than many fics I've read in the fandom. So kids and teens will be cursing and doing things they shouldn't be doing. I was a small town teen in 2012, so I'd remember how they acted. Don't expect the tone to be like the show (as much as I love it).
If you enjoyed, please drop a review. Really helps keep the creative juices flowing! I'm looking for a beta as well, so please review or PM me if you'd be interested. It would really help me out to have some long time fans helping me master the characters.