(Mabel's P.O.V.)

(Saturday, June 20th, 2015)(The woods of Gravity Falls, Gravity Falls, Oregon)

Sitting around and being adorable got kind of dull after awhile, so I decided to take a stroll with Waddles.

We had been walking around for about an hour before I began to feel bored. I took a seat on a tree stump and Waddles rested his head on my feet.

"So," I said, looking down at Waddles, "what do you want to do?"

"Oink."

"Hmm," I thought. "Do you wanna go to the lake?!"

"Oink, oink!" He squealed, which meant "Totally! That sounds like a great idea!" Well, either that or "Let me go, you crazy lady!" They all sound so similar!

I got up from the stump, and the two of us began to head towards Lake Gravity Falls.

Ah, Lake Gravity Falls. I had a lot of good memories there. Like catching a robotic lake monster, almost being eaten by a creature with enormous teeth, having my first kiss...

My first kiss. I remember everything about it, and the one I had it with.

They called him...*guitar strums* MERMANDO!!!!!!!!

This is because Mermando was his name.

I'd met him at the town pool, when I had spent my first summer in Gravity Falls.

I remember that day like it was only three years ago.

It was the hottest day of the year. It was so hot, that Grunkle Stan stuck the to hardwood floor and we had to pry him off with spatulas. Luckily, it was also the day the pool opened to the public, so we went there to cool off.

I was mesmerized by Mermando the second I walked in.

His flowing raven hair and his Mexican accent drew me in closer and closer whenever I was with him.

But he had a secret. A terrible secret.

He was...*guitar strums* A MERMAN!!!

It really wasn't that much of a secret though. I mean, his name was "Mermando", for crying out loud. And as I said before, it was the hottest day of the year. The pool was really packed. I was actually pretty surprised that no one found out before I did.

Anyways, he told me about how he was captured by fishermen in the Gulf of Mexico, and sent to Gravity Falls to be eaten. Luckily, he escaped from the truck that was transporting him, and he almost made it home before he got hit in the face by a log, washed up on the side of the river, and rolled down into the town pool, where he had been stuck for quite a long time.

I visited him in the pool at night as our love flourished, but I could tell he was unhappy. And that's really saying something. How can someone be unhappy when I'm around?! But alas, he missed his family all the way in Mexico. So, like any good (girl)friend, I brought him to Lake Gravity Falls and let him go.

As Dipper used to say when he went through his hipster phase back in eighth grade, "If you love something, set it free. If it comes back, it's yours. If it doesn't, it was never yours to begin with."

(I swear to god, he drank more Starbucks in that one year than I have in my entire life. Just saying.)

But before he left, Mermando kissed me.

And it wasn't just one of those friendly pecks on the cheek.

THIS WAS A FULL-ON KISS, MAN.

And it was amazing. Magical, even. I still remember the way the setting sun made the sky look like it was on fire. And how Mermando's lips tasted like salt water. And how he told me that I wasn't like any other girl he had ever met before.

But then he left. And didn't come back.

And I mean, I got letters from him. But it wasn't enough. I wanted him physically with me. I wanted to comb his hair. I wanted to tell him about my life and I wanted him to tell me about his.

I want him to look at me the way I look at chocolate cake.

It had been three years since we met and and I never stopped thinking about what it would have been like if he stayed.

When Waddles and I finally made it to the lake, it was starting to get dark. The sun was setting over the trees in the exact same way it had been when I last saw Mermando. I walked to the edge of the dock and sat down, dangling my feet over the water. Waddles plopped himself down next to me. As it was getting late, the lake was empty. There were no boats, no people. Just me and my pig.

Suddenly, I heard a splash in the water. I turned my head towards the sound of the disturbance, but all I saw were ripples in the water.

"Hello?"

I didn't expect anyone to answer me. Whatever was in the water was probably just a fish or something.

"AHHHHHHH!!!" I screamed

I jumped up and raced back down the dock. I had felt something grab the bottom of my foot. And it wasn't seaweed, or anything like that. It was a hand.

Considering what other monsters and hideous creatures I had encountered in Lake Gravity Falls, I really didn't want to meet another one.

When I decided that I was far enough away to be safe, I faced back to the lake and looked to see if there was anything that could have touched me.

Whatever was there, had vanished.

I clutched my chest. I didn't realize that my heart had been beating so fast.

I reached down, picked up Waddles, and started to head back to the shack. The moon had already come out.

"C'mon, buddy," I said to him. "Let's go home."