This chapter is edited.
WARNING:
This story deals with some heavy topics i.e. mental health, depression, mentions of suicide, physical abuse, as well as eating disorders. Please read at your own risk.

If there was something Dipper enjoyed more than reading facial cues, it was getting on people's nerves just by baseless deductions.

It was a skill he acquired during his years in the system. In his early years, he was a watcher and listener. He learned things about the others that stayed there and was able to tick them off in just the right way.

When Dipper arrived at his home, he took a deep breath, and let out a relieved sigh. He'd picked up the prescription and was going to give it to André the next day.

He was planning to have a quiet, and relaxing rest of his afternoon at home. No interruptions. Nothing.

Plink.

Dipper froze and looked around. Did he imagine that noise? Oh wait, it was his phone.

Glancing down at the screen, he saw an unfamiliar number. To many exclamation points in the text he received.

Unknown Number: Hey! I figured you'd probably be out of your session with that dumb psychiatrist! So I decided to check up on ya! Oh, this is Pacifica 😁

Dipper felt the beginnings of a smile creep onto his face. This girl. Pacifica. To many exclamation points, but somehow it was exactly like her to text like that. Considering she spoke like that quite often.

Him: Yes. I just arrived back home. You're completely on point with my psychiatrist being stupid.

He didn't have to wait too long for her response. And he found himself anticipating it.

maybe Pacifica: yeah! I know it's probably rude to ask, but how did it go?

Dipper thought back to his session. It didn't go entirely well, but he conned his way into getting what he wanted, so perhaps it wasn't all a lost cause.

Him: I get the feeling my psychiatrist doesn't appreciate my lack of communication throughout our sessions.

maybe Pacifica: Aw, well that doesn't tell me much :(

Him: if you wanted, I could call and tell you all about it

Dipper immediately froze after sending that text. What the hell was he thinking? He'd offered to call this girl after what? A few texts?

What was this girl doing to him?

There was no warning. His phone started buzzing uncontrollably, startling the poor boy.

It was not a shriek, definitely not. It was a manly yelp of terror. Absolutely that and nothing more.

Pick up the phone?

There were many pros and cons for answering and not answering. Dipper had made a list in his head almost instantly when the phone began ringing.

Pros: talk to the person who consumes his thoughts, figure out why he's so drawn to her, let himself have a little fun for once in his miserable life.

Cons: panic when nothing comes to mind to say to her, not being able to comprehend her, and letting out a little more of his soul out to her.

For each pro there was a con that scared him half to death. He swallowed roughly. You get nowhere in life from being timid.

He picked up the phone and waited.

"Hello? Dipper?"

Rushing nerves aside, it was lovely to hear her voice. "Hello."

"Wow, you sound exactly the same as you do in person!" Her laughter echoed in his head like a little bell. "I was hoping it wasn't just a front."

"I can assure you that nothing about me is a front." Wow, already lying and they had only been talking for thirty seconds. Everything about him was a front, but he'd never let anyone else know that, otherwise his walls would crumble and he'd be a king defending the indefensible.

"Anyways, I called for a reason." She continued sounding entirely nonchalant. "If it's not too much of a bother, could you tell me about the session? I'm really into psychology."

"Right, you mentioned your father was in that field of work." Dipper found himself nodding along. "What would you like to know? I'm an open book." Lies lies lies stacked upon more lies.

"How did it go?"

"I suppose my doctor was annoyed with my lack of communication." Dipper went on, not feeling entirely up to expanding too much. "But I already told you as much, didn't I?"

"You did. What else?"

"He was prying into my personal life." Dipper felt himself getting a little more angry and frustrated when he remembered the incident itself.

Preston Southeast had tried to figure out who Dipper's lost boys were, and there was no way in hell that Dipper would ever tell him. Intentionally or not.

"He mentioned he saw me at Greasy's Diner a few nights ago." Dipper continued. "Although, I'm surprised he hadn't noticed me before. I frequent that spot occasionally. Although I never assumed he'd be the type to dine there. Suppose there's always more to learn."

"I love Greasy's!" The girl exclaimed. "You were there a few nights ago? Do you go there often? Oh wait," she cut herself off and mumbled a nice 'darn-it'. "You already said that."

Dipper found himself chuckling. She sounded embarrassed and, if he was being honest, she sounded quite cute like that. His mind wandered to if she would look just as cute in person.

Eyes widening, Dipper steeled his nerves and tried to not think of her as 'cute', even though there would always be a small fraction of him that would never let him forget that image.

"That's alright." Dipper recovered quickly. "I do happen to talk fast so it is sometimes easy to miss out on at least one thing I've said."

"I like listening to you."

It was so sudden, almost jarring. Dipper, losing all of his composure in that minute, dropped his phone onto the hardwood floor. He must've let out a sound of alarm because Pacifica was quick to fix things as soon as he put the phone back to his ear.

"I'm sorry!" She exclaimed. "I didn't mean to freak you out, it's just, well, you have a colorful vocabulary, and you're voice is, please forgive me, aesthetically pleasing to the ear."

Dipper's brows furrowed. She was apologizing for something that wasn't even her fault to begin with. It was his own. He wasn't used to receiving compliments from people that weren't his friends from the system. It was an entirely jarring experience for him, and he wish he had predicted it and hadn't reacted so awfully.

"Please don't apologize." He went with. "It was hardly you're own fault. It's mine. Sorry, I'm just not used to receiving compliments from. . ." he trailed off. What was he supposed to follow that with? That he didn't know how to properly react to compliments from anyone other than the people he grew up?

That was drastically corrupt the mood he had hoped to sell.

"From pretty girls?"

Dipper let out a sound that could closely resemble a choked off breath of air.

"Do you think I'm pretty?" She sounded so happy, hopeful even.

"Of course." Dipper rushed without much thought, which contrasted from his true self terribly. "I mean, well, what I truly mean is--" shit, now he sounded like a rambling loon!

"Hehehe, it's okay, I understand." Pacifica sounded so cheerful yet again. "I'm used to having that effect on boys."

"I beg your pardon? Boys? Plural?" He hadn't meant to sound so, well, jealous. He was embarrassed that it even slightly came off that way.

"Well, yeah." She continued oh-so-casually. "I have a ton of guy friends and sometimes I leave them sputtering like a dying car. Even guys I just meet. It's kinda funny to seem them stumble over themselves, verbally, if I give them a compliment."

Dipper shook his head. Of course she would find that amusing. There was just so much to this girl, yet she was as open with it as he was closed. Polar opposites, really.

"Sorry, not trying to make ya jealous."

Dipper scoffed, inadvertently pulling a face. "I am far from jealous, Pacifica."

"Yeah yeah yeah, say whatever ya want. But I can read your tone, well, I guess hear it. And, you're an open book. You've said it yourself." She stated matter-o-factly.

She had him there. "I suppose you're right."

"Anyways, I was kinda hopin', I know it's sudden, that we could hang out y'know?" She continued on, dropping the whole 'jealous' aspect of their conversation. "Outside a psych ward."

"It hardly counts as a psych ward, as you've so lovingly put it." Dipper rolled his eyes. "But, what exactly do you mean by that?"

"Hang out?" Pacifica echoed, more confused than Dipper felt. "You've hung out with people before, haven't you?"

But it's different when the person you're with is drawing forward a whole new batch of emotions that I've never felt before, was what Dipper nearly said. He had his composure slipping through his clenched fists, something he had always used as a shield to protect himself from letting anyone in. And now, it was nearly free-falling. Letting out a whole spew of things Dipper felt he wasn't ready to say.

Didn't think he could ever say.

"Yes," Dipper had hesitated long enough, he didn't want Pacifica to feel as though she was bothering him, or worse, annoying him. "Yes, I have. I suppose it's a bit different, than what you'd expect."

"Oh? And why's that?"

"I suppose a majority of it has to deal with the fact that we hardly know each other. We don't have much in common, and we share none of the same life experiences." Dipper put it bluntly, adopting his cold persona once more. More protection, more walls, more locks.

"But you just said that we hardly know each other." Pacifica huffed. "We might have more in common then you choose to believe in this point in time. And, get this, have you ever heard of the phrase opposites attract?"

Damn. She had him again. He was left speechless, mouth hanging half open while his brain tried desperately to produce the fuel.

"Sooooo, tomorrow? Seven? Greasy's?"

"Yes, absolutely." He replied without a second of hesitation.

"Great, it's a date." and the line clicked dead.

Dipper was left sitting on his bed, phone still against his ear, feeling entirely out of the loop. Now, it left his brain with one teasing and thought-provoking question;

What did one wear to an alleged date, exactly?

______________________

Hiya all! I know, it's been a hot minute with this story! I was trying to focus on Always because it happens to be a more popular book on my profile, however, I didn't want to feel as though I was ignoring this story.

True, it does take a little more time to produce a chapter because they are significantly longer and far more complex than my typical books (save for chapter 48 of Always because holy crap that was nearly 2,500 words).

And, not to mention the fact that, this book is told entirely from Dipper's perspective, which makes it a little more of a challenge. But, I guess when you've been writing his character for about four years, it's something you get used to XD

Anyways, dunno when I'll update this next because as mentioned prior, it takes longer to produce a solid and perfect (in my eyes) chapter, but stay safe out there, and keep smiling, my lovelies!

-Kaori Miyazono <3