59
Pacifica

   I was leaving Reverse Falls in a little over twenty-four hours. My mom had asked if I wanted her to drive and get me considering how I didn't have my car here, but I had turned her down in favor of the bus. I would've felt bad making her drive all the way to Reverse Falls just to get me.

   I rubbed my eyes, got out of bed (officially) and checked the time. It was a quarter past eight, and I had several messages. A majority of them had been from Mabel, asking to come shopping with her around three that afternoon, Gideon had asked if we could go eat at Greasy's at noon for old time's sake.

   Shrugging on a hoodie, yes it did belong to Dipper, I pulled my hair into a messy bun. It wasn't one that most girls spend hours doing trying to get it just right, no, I just pulled my hair up, twisted it, and secured it with a scrunchie, not caring how it looked.

   I walked downstairs and was immediately overtaken by the smell of freshly made pancakes. I slowly crept into the kitchen and saw Dipper standing by the stove. On the counter next to him, his phone lay playing a soft melancholy tune. Piano, most definitely.

I stood in the doorway just watching him make breakfast and hum to himself.

"G minor seventh —saddest of all chords." He murmured, flipping the last pancake onto a platter. He turned and when he saw me, I half expected him to jump and scold me for not mentioning I was there.

But all he did was smile softly and place the platter onto the nicely set table. "Good morning, sweetheart."

"You coulda woke me up, y'know?" I walked fully into the kitchen and stared at him. "I would've loved making breakfast with you."

"Well, I wanted to make breakfast for you." Dipper countered. "Besides, I woke up early enough to do so. It's nearly nine now."

"I'll never understand how you do it, Dipper." I shook my head, "how you continue everyday, without fail, to wake up at seven."

"It's schedule, Pazzie-darling." Dipper quipped. "It was broken into me at a young age. It has been a long time since I've slept past it. Save for the time I was in the hospital."

I nodded in agreement, half-listening to him and half-listening to the piano chords played over his phone. "Did you play this piece yourself?"

"I might've." Dipper glanced at his phone. "I must admit, it has been awhile since I played for an audience, Pacifica."

"I like when you play piano." I murmured, "it's soothing."

Dipper nodded, walked over to his phone and turned it up a bit, walked back over to where I stood and held out a hand to me.

I laughed lightly. "I could barely dance at the ball, Gleeful, and that was when I was fully conscious. What makes you think I can dance better now?" But, regardless, I took his hand.

"I dunno, Southeast," he pulled me in closer, "it's just something I want to do with you."

We swayed back and forth to the music for a bit, just holding onto each other. I was relishing every second I spent with Dipper that morning.

After a few minutes, the music stopped and Dipper and I just stood in the center of the kitchen, just holding each other.

"Well, we should probably eat now, wouldn't want them to get cold." Dipper pulled out a chair for me to sit down on. "I do believe you have quiet the day ahead of you."

"Yeah, I've got lunch with Gideon at noon," I piled a few pancakes onto my plate, "and then shopping with Mabes at three."

"I see." Dipper took the seat opposite me and glanced down at the singular pancake on his plate.

"Don't worry," I brushed my hand against his briefly, just long enough to get him to look me in the eye, "I won't be gone long. After I get back with Mabes, we can do something. I want to spend as much time with you as I can. But I know the rest of our gang wants to hang with me, too."

Dipper flashed me his signature smile. "You have no reason to worry about me, I understand completely."

* * *

Lunch with Gideon had gone by so fast because we spent too much time laughing and talking about the 'old day' where we were scared of the Gleefuls for literally no reason. It went so fast that I was nearly late for shopping with Mabel.

Luckily she was understanding, but didn't wait for me to enter Gleeful Manor. She had met me outside and pulled me to her car before I had a second to breathe.

"You on a schedule or something?" I had asked her.

She had laughed and shook her head.

Mabel and I went through a bunch of different stores, trying on new clothes and just talking about how our senior years were (hopefully) going to go.

She also started gushing about her newfound relationship with Scarlett Valentino, explaining their date from the night before.

"I'm happy for you, Mabes." I leaned against her side as we waited for the cashier to finish bagging our items. "I told Dipper that I didn't think it would be a one time thing."

"Wow, you were right, who saw that coming?" She rolled her eyes. "But, thanks Paz. I really appreciate it."

   The next time I looked at the clock, it was a little past six. "Oh my gosh, it's getting so late already!" I exclaimed, pulling Mabel toward the exit of the mall.

   Mabel looked at her phone and her eyes widened. "Wow, you're right! How'd it get so late already?" She briskly walked over to her car, with me on her heels.

It took us less than twenty minutes to get back to Gleeful Manor and that was after we dropped my bags off back at the Mystery Shack.

   On the drive back back to Gleeful Manor, I decided to mention something to Mabel. "Hey, wasn't it weird that Gideon wasn't at the Shack?"

   Mabel gave me a sideways glance. "Meh, who knows what he does when he isn't with us. Doesn't he usually just wait for us to come back?"

   Despite the comment, I had to laugh. It was odd, most definitely, but he was probably out conveniently at the time I arrived back there. Yeah, convenience.

   When we rolled up to the manor, I noticed a car in the driveway that I had most definitely seen around there.

   "Oh, cool, Scarlett's here." I nudged Mabel with my elbow.

   "Really? Where?" Mabel hopped out of the car and eyed Scarlett's car. "Well, that's odd."

   "What? Were you not expecting her?" I asked as we walked into the cold building.

   "Wonder where she is." Mabel mused. "If I know her, and I like to think that I have some idea of the person she is, she's most likely in the speakeasy. Let's go."

   "Well, actually, I was going to spend time with Dipper." I admitted.

"Yeah, well, just help me find Scarlett first, then you and Dipper can go off to la la land." Mabel grabbed my hand and began pulling me toward the direction of the speakeasy.

   "Only five minutes!" I protested as I followed her down the hall. When we arrived at the doors to the speakeasy, a bunch of happy memories flooded my mind.

   Mabel stopped just outside the doors, turning her head back in my direction. "Are you coming?"

My eyes narrowed in suspicion. "Why are you trying to get me to go in there?"

   Mabel held my gaze for a second before letting out a harsh sigh. "You know what? I'm usually better at avoiding suspicion, but I don't care right now."

   Without waiting for anything, she pushed me into the speakeasy and I let out a shout.

   "SURPRISE!"

   As I looked around the room, I saw a bunch of familiar faces, but I mainly saw Gideon who stood in the center of the room tossing up confetti.

   Gideon looked around wildly. "Wait, guys, I thought we were all gonna shout surprise!"

   Scarlett snorted from where she sat at the built-in bar, sipping very slowly on her drink. Dipper sat next to her, but his eyes were on me the entire time.

   It still made me feel a little uncomfortable that Scarlett would still be around Dipper, but they were friends so it was just something I'd have to get used to.

   Besides, Scarlett was now dating Mabel, so I doubted I really had anything to worry about.

   "What is all this?" I asked, bewilderment seeping into my words.

"Ask Dipshit." Scarlett rolled her eyes, nudging Dipper with her elbow. "He is the one who set this all up."

"She over-exaggerates." Dipper said mildly, getting off the bar stool and strolling over to me. "But, I did set a majority of this up, sweetheart."

   Dropping every pretense and ignoring everyone else in the room, I leapt up at him.

   He caught me in his arms and spun me around once for good measure, "what's this about?"

   "Shut up." I laughed, feeling a few tears start to well in my eyes.

"Could you guys not show how visibly in love you are for one bleedin' minute!" Scarlett groaned, pretending to throw-up. "It's entirely suffocating!"

   For the first hour and a half, I spent a majority of my time just chatting away with a wide variety of people. Spending my time equally with everyone.

I even had a civil conversation with Scarlett, I couldn't even believe it.

"I dunno how you do it." Scarlett murmured.

The two of us had been seated at the bar, I didn't even know when she came up to me. I was entirely focused on Dipper's theatrics, entertaining guests, Mabel by his side laughing at him, mocking him too.

   "Do what?" I asked seriously, albeit cautiously.

   "Deal with his egotistical theatrics." Scarlett downed a shot and licked her lips. "Don't get me wrong, I love the guy, but how?"

I raised a brow at her phrasing, but it was, again, something I had to get used to. "I could ask you the same thing. Dealing with Mabel, I mean."

"Oh?" She turned to finally regard me. "I suppose so."

"Maybe you're right, Dipper can be a bit of a egotist." I chuckled and took a long sip of water. "Last week we went to see the sunrise together, and I was trying to take an aesthetic picture but he was standing in my way. When I told him to move because he was blocking the view, he replied with 'I am the view'."

Scarlett snorted, nearly coughing up whatever she had drank at, clearly, a very inconvenient time. "Oh-ho-ho. That's nothing! One time I was trying to give Mabes a compliment. I called her a queen and without looking up from her phone she said 'I know'."

The both of us doubled over in laughter, myself nearly falling off the barstool. After almost dying from lack of oxygen due to the consistent laughter, Scarlett nudged my arm, "you know what? You're not so bad after all."

"The same could be said about you, Scarlett." I smiled, and perhaps this was where it started; the start of a lovely new friendship.

It was truly an exciting party, a lovely little get-together for my last night in Reverse Falls. It was nearing midnight when the party truly ended.

Mabel, who hadn't drank at all, offered to give both Gideon and Scarlett a ride home. Scarlett argued with Mabel for a bit before the two girls agreed that Scarlett would be spending the night at Gleeful Manor. The 'argument' lasted long enough that Gideon ended up crashing in one of the guest rooms on the main floor.

Dipper and I both excused ourselves to go to bed a little bit after Scarlett and Mabel finished discussing what the plan was for getting Gideon home, completely oblivious to the fact that he was already gone.

   Once Dipper and I were up in his room, I let out a long yawn and glanced sideways at Dipper.

   He leaned against the door and sighed. He was distracted, clearly.

   I walked across the room in a few quick steps, fisted my hand in his tie (because of course he can't go one event without wearing one), yanked down on it, and pulled him into a necessary kiss.

With clumsy steps, we finally made our way to his bed and tumbled down onto it. He raised a brow in such a smooth manner that it made me feel all warm inside.

   What followed was, well, inevitable. What was it Mabel called it? Ah right; nuit de passion.