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Dipper nearly fell out of his bed when the phone started ringing.
He groaned as he patted around his nightstand, snatching the phone up and answering without bothering to check the caller.
“What?” He asked as he tried to blink some sleep away.
There was no answer, only a shuddering breath on the other line.
He pulled the phone back, squinting to see who it was and-
oh
Pacifica
Suddenly he was wide awake.
Why was Pacifica calling him at three a.m.?
Sure, they were friends, good friends surprisingly enough even if neither would ever admit it, and they texted semi-frequently, but she had never ever called him.
Well- except for that one time she’d made some comment about his hair and, after telling her he only used shampoo and conditioner in one, she had found it absolutely necessary to call him in order to properly yell at him and give him a list of hair products because apparently his ‘matt of greasy hair might actually curl if you took care of it’.
In her defense, it turned out she was right and his hair had seen a much needed improvement after that beat down.
He returned the phone to his ear, trying to catch anything other than Pacifica’s shaky breathing.
“Pacifica? You okay?”
A long moment of silence, then, right as he started to think it might’ve been a butt-dial, “I… I don’t know.”
Dipper sat up straight in bed. She sounded like she’d been crying.
“What do you mean? Are you hurt?”
“No I’m not- I’m not hurt but…” she hesitated, sniffling before continuing, “Do you remember what you said… after the whole… spirits situation? That there might be some kind of… double-ghost?”
Dipper actually fell out of bed then, in his hurry to turn on the lamp on his nightstand and going to check his bookshelves for books on ghosts and hauntings, his very own journal on his desk surrounded by sketches and pens.
“What? The haunting is back on?”
“Yes? No? I- I’m not sure it’s not like before. It’s… it’s different. I’m not even sure if it’s a haunting or not.”
“Okay, tell me what happened.”
Pacifica was quiet for a long moment, “It’s… it’s stupid. It’s nothing, I shouldn’t have-”
“Hey,” he quickly interrupted, it sounded like she was trying to harden her voice, to hide the fact that she was still sniffling, that for a moment she hadn’t been as impeccable as she always pretended to be, “you are not the kind of person to raise the alarm over nothing.”
Silence.
He picked up one of his pencils, frustration building over Pacifica’s eternal refusal to be willingly vulnerable even after five years of knowing each other.
“Hey… it’s just me.”
“It’s embarrasing.”
“I’m pretty sure you’ve been there for plenty of my embarrassing moments.” Dipper cringed as he remembered two summers ago where he may or may not have been spooked by a squirrel into jumping five feet in the air and tripping into the pool when he’d been a bit too focused on figuring out if it was a nixie or trash in the water.
Pacifica sighed, “I suppose you’re right… it was a nightmare. It wasn’t- it was a nightmare but there was something… something wrong and… unnatural? I don’t know how to explain it but it really freaked me out. I told you it’s stupid, it was just a nightmare-”
“Spirits have been known to invade the subconscious mind, that can include nightmares so no, it’s not stupid Pacifica. What is it that felt unnatural?”
She groaned, annoyed at his know-it-all tendencies but at least she was no longer crying, “There was this- this statue-”
Dipper’s stomach fell to the ground, “Statue?! What kind of statue?!”
“Just one of the statues from the family cemetery calm down sheez! Are statues a bad sign or something?”
“No no sorry I just…” he had to calm down, it was probably a coincidence, he did not want to give Pacifica a reason to freak out, “Why was it wrong?”
“It just… it spoke to me. But not just in a creepy way but it was… I can’t describe it.”
Dipper had to will himself to take deep breaths, “What did it say?”
“I honestly don’t remember most of it. It screamed at me a lot and… and it tried to make some kind of deal with-”
“WHAT?!” Dipper shot up, his chair falling to the ground, entirely unconcerned with the possibility of waking his dad up, “What- did you shake his hand?! Did you make the deal?!”
“Wha-”
“Pacifica did you make a deal with him?!”
“No! I didn’t!”
“Are you sure?”
“What kind of question-”
“Are you sure?!”
“Yes I’m sure!”
Dipper cursed under his breath, running a hand through his hair as he paced his room.
It was Bill. Somehow… it had to be. Right?
“Dipper… what is going on?” Pacifica’s voice broke him out of his laser-focus on trying to figure out how Bill had shown up in Pacifica’s dreams.
“Look I… I’m not sure-”
“Don’t bullshit me. What is it?”
Dipper took a moment to remind himself to breath, stopping in front of his desk and taking out one of his older notebooks from the bottom drawer, the few notes he’d taken on Bill, sketches of triangles with red lines over them and references to older books and his Grunkle’s journal.
“I’ll tell you tomorrow.”
“But-”
“I’ll see you at Greasy’s Diner at around ten.” He grabbed his backpack, dumping out his books and pencil case to start shoving in a change of clothes, charger, spirit-box and other equipment he might need.
“What?! You can’t just come over-”
“Yes I can and I am.”
“What about school?”
“One day won’t affect me. Besides if this is what I think it is… look, just, meet me at Greasy’s at around ten, I’ll text you when I’m about to arrive in town.”
“Dipper it’s three a.m. you’re not-”
“I’ll set off at around six.”
“At least wait until the actual morning dumbass, if you fall asleep-”
“You underestimate the power of energy drinks.”
“Mabel says your car is like- barely functional, will you even make it?”
“Just be there.”
Dipper hung up as he set out the information he had on Bill, he had to go over everything.
He considered for a moment calling Mabel or Grunkle Ford but… well both their Grunkles were yet again exploring and Mabel was staying with their mom. It was on very rare occasions that the twins didn’t stay together so of course something like this would happen on one of those nights.
But he didn’t want to alert anyone in case this turned out to be a false alarm.
It had to be a false alarm right? They couldn’t have gone through everything they had just for the fucking triangle to come back after five years right?
Dipper shook his head, going to sit down.
He didn’t know whether this was a false alarm or not, but he knew he had to help Pacifica.
***
She shouldn’t have called Dipper.
It was stupid.
Pacifica sat in one of the booths of Greasy’s Diner, knee bouncing up and down in nervousness.
A strawberry milkshake, her favorite, was placed in front of her. She hadn’t ordered yet.
She turned to look at Lazy Susan, who had a hand on her hip, “Ain’t you supposed to be at school?”
Pacifica shrugged, “Something came up.”
“Uh-huh. If you weren’t a good kid I’d be worried. Who you waiting for? If you stare at the door any harder you’ll bust it open.”
Pacifica went to take a sip of her milkshake, “Dipper is coming over.” She said as nonchalantly as she could.
Lazy Susan laughed loudly, “Oh, I see.”
“It’s not like that!”
“Of course not.” She gave her an exaggerated wink with her good eye and gently ruffled her hair, “I’ll get the coffee pot going, remind the boy he’s only allowed three cups.”
Pacifica rued the day she’d allowed Lazy Susan to get so familiar with her.
She’d started working at the diner when she’d been fourteen. She still worked there Mondays and Wednesdays, the only weekdays when she had no extracurriculars, and sometimes on the weekends.
It’d mostly been to have some of her own money, money that her parents had no control over.
She’d never admit that part of the reason why she hadn’t considered stopping even after earning a fair share of money from different pageants was because she worried about Lazy Susan. The old woman was strange but she actually gave good advice every once in a blue moon and always made her milkshakes just the way she liked them. She tried to look out for Pacifica, even if it was in her own weird ways.
It was nice to have at least one person who cared.
But her reaction to being told that it was Dipper she was meeting…
Sure, they were friends, even if they both liked to pretend that they barely tolerated each other, they both knew that to be untrue.
There was a reason why she’d trusted him enough to actually call him.
And sure, she’d let him drag her into a few of his crazy investigations that always wound up with them either running for their lives or finding cool shit.
And maybe there had been a few lingering gazes that had started at some point and they somehow knew each other well enough to know just what buttons to push to either tease or comfort.
But they were just friends.
So why would Lazy Susan react like that?
It was just her being weird, it had to be.
Right as she went to look at the clock on the wall, the door opened and she whipped around, seeing Dipper walking in.
He wore old jeans, dark brogue boots and a red flannel shirt. He no longer wore hats to hide his birthmark but his curls (which only existed thanks to her informing him about the existence of hair care) mostly covered it up.
He was taller than the last time she’d seen him, still lean but no longer as skinny. He was clearly nervous, fidgeting with the keychain hanging from his jeans and the straps of his backpack and constantly glancing around even after he caught sight of her.
Either she looked even more amazing than usual, or whatever it was he thought had appeared in her nightmare was more serious than she’d hoped it’d be.
…or maybe it was a combination of both.
***
It was weird seeing Pacifica in person after almost a whole year.
The weirdest part was definitely the hair, even if she’d changed it when they were thirteen it still caught him off guard for some reason.
Gone was the bleach blonde and- well, while it turned out that, contrary to popular belief, Pacifica was indeed a blonde, it wasn’t a bleach, platinum blonde. Instead, she had dirty blonde hair that could pass as light brunette in the right lighting.
Hair that was carefully pulled back into a half up-half down do, a braid pulling back half of her hair. She wore a loose white skirt, white ankle boots and a lavender off-shoulder top with long sleeves. Silver hoop earings and light purple eyeshadow at the corner of her eyes.
Composed as ever and yet somehow still softer than she’d been years prior.
He quickly went to slide into the booth with her, setting down his backpack, “Hi.”
“Hey. Did you sleep at all?”
“Sleep is for the weak.” He automatically answered as he took out his pocket notebook and one of his pens, “I need to know a few things about your nightmare.”
“Splendid.” She deadpanned.
They ordered breakfast and Dipper did one last check of his list of questions before clearing his throat.
“Okay, have you been having a lot of nightmares lately?”
Pacifica frowned before crossing her arms in front of her chest and laying back, “Is that really important?”
“Yes. If your nightmares are repeating then that could give us a timeline on how long whatever presence is around has… well… been around.”
Pacifica fidgeted for a long minute, taking another sip of her milkshake and avoiding his gaze, “Well… I always have nightmares.”
“Recurring?”
“…yeah.”
“How far back?”
Pacifica rolled her eyes, “Well- since the summer we were thirteen.”
Dipper’s hand froze from where he was going to take notes, “That long?”
She shrugged, “They’re just nightmares.”
“Have they… gotten worse over time?”
“You could say that.”
The nightmares had started a year after they’d defeated Bill, an escalation in nightmares could theoretically correlate to an escalation in power of the presence.
And if it was Bill…
“Can you… tell me what the nightmares are about?”
“It doesn’t matter.” She snapped.
He raised his hands in apology, “Alright alright. Can you tell me what deal he- the statue tried to strike with you was?”
“Why does that matter?”
Now it was Dipper who rolled his eyes, leaning forwards, “Because one of the best ways to know what this is, is by knowing it’s strategy or seeing if it’s following the patterns of any other creature I know of.” The patterns he knew Bill to follow, “So I do actually really need to know what kind of deal it tried to strike.”
Pacifica watched him for a long moment before looking away, “I don’t… it wanted me to steal something. But I can’t remember what. The whole conversation is… blurry.”
That would make sense if it really had been Bill.
“Okay, that’s alright. Do you remember what it offered you in return?”
Pacifica frowned, clearly trying to remember, “It offered me… it offered me my old life back.”
Dipper blinked in surprise.
It didn’t exactly sound like Bill. There was no instant trick he could point out or vaguely worded thing, or well… maybe ‘old life’ could mean something different to the triangular demon.
But what really surprised him was… “And you… said no?”
Pacifica leaned forwards as well, looking at her hands as she fidgeted with one of her rings, “My old life wasn’t exactly mine you know? It was my parent’s. Sure I miss the obscene amount of money but… I much prefer what I have now.”
He couldn’t help but give her a soft smile, “I prefer you now as well.”
Pacifica of course instantly made a face, amusement hidden beneath the surface at the opening to tease him, “Wow Dipper, classy way of saying ‘you used to be a bitch’.”
“I did not say that!”
“You thought it!”
“I didn’t think it!”
“Okay replace bitch with brat and you know you thought it.”
“You were twelve you were allowed to be a bit bratty, I think every single twelve year old ever is a little bratty.”
She lifted an eyebrow, “You included?”
He rolled his eyes, admitting defeat, he’d walked right into that one after all, “Me included.”
“Yeah that aligns with what I remember about twelve-year-old Dipper.”
“Hey watch it, I’ve been saving your ass since then remember?”
“It looses it’s heroism when you brag about it.”
“So you admit I was heroic?”
“You definitely thought you were.” She smirked as she took a sip of her milkshake.
Dipper shook his head as he looked back down at his notebook, “Okay, back to the topic. What did the statue do when you refused the deal?”
“Yelled at me a bunch, like- a lot lot.”
That did sound like an angry Bill.
“Okay… did it try to shake on the deal?”
“Yeah.”
“Okay… here comes a very specific, very important question.” Dipper begged at the universe that her answer would be no. He had no idea what he’d do if she said yes, “Was the statues hand covered in blue fire when it tried to make the deal?”
“…Yeah. How did you know that?”
Fuck.
Fuck him.
This could not be happening.
How had he not realized? He’d spent five summers exploring and documenting everything about Gravity Falls, he’d even dragged Pacifica into a few of his investigations, how had he not seen Bill gaining strength right under his nose?
“Dipper?”, He snapped out of his spiraling thought to look at Pacifica, she was watching him with wide, worried eyes, voice uncertain, she almost sounded vulnerable, “Just how bad is this?”
Dipper quickly shook his head, he didn’t want to scare her, “I- I’m gonna have to check out the manor.”
“That’s not an answer.”
“Pacifica listen-”
“Dipper. How bad is it?”
He sighed heavily, “It could be really bad. But I won’t be able to tell for sure until I check out the manor. So let’s just… finish breakfast and then we’ll go over. Okay?”
Pacifica’s eyes darted across the table, clearly trying to hide her nervousness, “…okay.”
Their food arrived before Dipper could try to reassure her and Pacifica quickly changed the topic, asking him about ‘nerd club’ (detective society) and very clearly trying to bury her nervousness under idle chatter.
“Oh, by the way, I gotta tell you the newest Robbie gossip-”
“I truly do not care about that.”
Pacifica rolled her eyes, “Don’t lie Dipper. You fancy yourself a detective, I am the gossip queen of the town, you know what that means?”
“Enlighten me.”
“It means we are equally nosey, why else do you think I tolerate your little excursions?”
Dipper snorted, “Because we’re friends and friends take an interest in each other’s hobbies?”
Pacifica scoffed, “Yeah right. Does that mean you’ll let me do your makeup?”
“Can we go back to hating each other’s guts?”
She laughed and he couldn’t help but join in, somewhat glad that he’d managed to get that laugh out of her.
Far behind her, Lazy Susan shook her head in exasperation at the two clueless teens.
***
As Pacifica slid out of the booth, Dipper’s gaze dropped to her purse and he smirked.
“Not a word.”
“Is that-”
“No.”
Pacifica grabbed the purple crochet llama keychain Mable had made for her a while back and quickly placed it inside her purse.
Dipper didn’t drop his stupid smirk, “Hadn’t you said you were gonna burn it or something?”
“Shut up.”
They left Greasy’s and she followed Dipper to the car he had bought just after last summer, a rusty red color, Dipper hurrying in front of her to reach the passenger side.
“Opening my door? Are you becoming a gentleman?” She teased, quietly delighted.
“Oh no, you- you gotta shimmy it a little to get it to open.” He demonstrated as he managed to pry open the door, the metal squeaking slightly in protest.
Pacifica raised one of her eyebrows in a perfect arc, starring Dipper down for a moment.
He simply smiled and gave a half bow, offering a hand to help her get in, “M’lady.”
“Ugh.” Pacifica reluctantly got into the car and Dipper shut the door, going to climb into the driver’s seat.
It was cleaner than she’d expected at least, but the glitter at her feet let her know that Mabel had probably dumped a liter of glue glitter at some point or another.
Dipper turned the key in the ignition and, after a moment of the engine stuttering, the car turned on.
“Not a word.” He told her as he went to pull out of the parking lot.
“I wasn’t going to say anything.”
“Liar. I’ll have you know I got a great deal for this car.”
Pacifica couldn’t resist it, “Where? The junkyard?”
Dipper snorted without humor, “Wow, brava Pacifica, so original.”
“I do my best.” She took a moment to properly inspect the inside of the car, “So… I take it Mabel is your main passenger?”
“What gave it away?” Dipper joked.
There were small plushies on the right door, the glitter on the floor and a hot pink sticker stuck on the corner of the window.
“Check it.” Dipper flipped open her mirror to reveal the small mirror surrounded by a small led lights and even more glitter on the fabric part, “I can’t have a date get in without them thinking I’m taken.”
Pacifica snorted as she went to take out her lip gloss, seeing she needed a touch up, “As if you could even get a girl in your car in the first place.”
“You’re here aren’t you?”
“Are you implying this is a date?”
“I’m stating that you’re a girl and you’re in my car.”
“Well you did insist on paying and you opened my door are you sure you don’t wish this were something else?” She teased mercilessly as she carefully reapplied her lip gloss.
“I owed you a meal from last summer and the door needs a certain maneuver to be opened.” He said matter-of-factly.
Pacifica ignored him, going on, “You do think I’m gorgeous after all, I wouldn’t blame you if that were the case.”
He laughed, “Now what makes you think that?”
“Well for one, I am indeed gorgeous that is just a fact-”
“Don’t forget incredibly humble.”
“And…” she trailed off for a moment, smacking her lips as she closed the mirror and turned to him, tilting her head and smiling mischievously, “Mabel did mention that you watched one of my pageants.”
Dipper’s jaw tensed, his cheeks flushing and she knew he was very seriously going over the possibility of killing his twin before clearing his throat, refusing to meet her eyes, “I was curious about how pageants even work, like- what are the rules, that stuff.”
“Mmm, and so you just so happened to watch one where I was a contestant?”
This was what most of their friendship was, small battles and teasing. Battles that didn’t let up until one of them admitted defeat.
Speaking of which…
Dipper groaned, rolling his eyes, “If I admit you’re pretty will you drop this?”
“For now.”
“You’re impossible.”
“Maybe, but that’s what you like about me. Now let’s hear it.”
Right as he went to open his mouth though, she turned to him-
And screamed.
Because for a moment, it wasn’t Dipper in the driver seat.
His eyes. They were all wrong, vertical and elongated and yellow where white should be. His mouth impossibly wide in a maniacal smile, watching her directly.
Then she blinked and Dipper was back to normal and slamming the breaks, “What? What is it?!”
She couldn’t answer, couldn’t form words, practically slamming herself against the faulty door to get it to open, barely hearing Dipper trying to tell her to stay put.
She stumbled out of the car, nearly loosing her balance and taking a few unsteady steps into the forests surrounding the road.
“Pacifica!” Dipper caught up to her quickly, going to stand in front of her to keep her from going any further, hands hovering over her shoulders, clearly unsure if he should stop her physically as well, “What is it? What’s wrong?”
“You- you-” she cut herself off, screaming as she whipped around at a whisper in her ear, falling back into Dipper.
“What is it?”
“You didn’t hear that?!”
“Hear what?”
Again, from further into the woods. A shift in the branches and a indiscernible whisper, “That! You don’t hear that?!”
Dipper just watched her, eyes wide and worried.
Pacifica ran her hands through her hair, a frustrated half-scream leaving her, “I feel like I’m going crazy.”
“You’re not going crazy-”
“Yes I am! And- apparently I have been going crazy for years if what you said about nightmares is right!”
“Pacifica stop, I need you to look at me and take a breath.” He leaned down to meet her eyes as he gently grabbed her shoulders, getting her to copy his breathing.
He waited until she’d somewhat calmed down to guide her back to the car, a hand on her lower back, eyes glued to her.
He didn’t say anything until they were on the road yet again.
“What did you hear?”
Pacifica fidgeted with her rings, refusing to look out the window or at Dipper, just in case, “Whispers.”
“Did they say anything?”
“I couldn’t make anything out.”
“Okay… did you see something? Is that what scared you?”
“…yes.”
“What did you see?”
“You… you but… it was wrong.”
Dipper’s grip on the wheel tightened, “How do you mean?”
“Your… your eyes.”
“…oh.”
“You know what this is don’t you? You…” a sudden thought came to mind, an old somewhat-repressed memory from that first summer, her fingers trailing her llama keychain as the answer came to her out of nowhere, “it’s that thing isn’t it?”
“What thing?”
“That- that thing, the triangle demon that tried to take over the town your first summer here! It’s- it’s that thing isn’t it?”
Dipper pressed his lips in a thin line, eyes staying on the road, “Maybe. I- I’m not sure yet.”
“But you think it’s him.”
“…let’s get to the manor.”
***
They drove in silence the rest of the way, Pacifica leaning back and closing her eyes, trying to focus on the cheesy radio music and refusing to even glance Dipper’s way.
It wasn’t until he parked and opened her door, helping her climb out that she finally looked at him again.
Just Dipper.
“Come on.” She went to head up the stairs that led to the entrance.
The manor was one of the few things they hadn’t lost. But, seeing as they could no longer afford the staff necessary for such a big place, and they were far too prideful to move to a smaller home, most of the place was in shambles after five years.
She sighed as they passed the entrance hall, a rug of dust beneath them, and cobwebs far above them.
“Your parents?” Dipper asked cautiously, knowing it could be a touchy subject.
“My mother is in her room, she’s probably drunk by now.”
“…it’s not even midday.”
“Precisely. And my father… who the fuck knows honestly, he’s probably at the golf course with one of his ‘friends’. He probably won’t be back all weekend.”
They went straight to her room, which she did her best to keep at least tidy after Lazy Susan had taught her how to sweep and mop and she’d figured out the rest by herself.
She threw her purse on her neatly made bed and turned to Dipper, who was already looking around, eyes squinting and a notebook in hand.
“What are you looking for?”
“Any abnormal activity, though I’ll probably have to wait until night to detect anything actually useful. Can I uh- set up?”
“Be my guest.”
Dipper placed his backpack on her desk and took out a few instruments and more papers.
She leaned against the desk, picking up a small metal box.
“That’s my spirit box, one of the most effective ways of communicating with ghosts and supernatural beings.”
“You wanna communicate with this guy?”
Dipper shook his head, “Believe me, I don’t want to, but I need to go over every possibility, and who knows, maybe he isn’t the only thing here.”
“Awesome, multiple demons, just what I need.” Pacifica couldn’t even keep up her sarcasm as she went to sit down in her bed, hiding her face in her hands.
“Whoa- hey- no.” Dipper quickly went to kneel in front of her, gentle hands on her wrists, not pulling her hands away from her face but still reassuring her of his presence, “We don’t even know yet if it’s him okay? I- I’ll figure this out.”
“What if you can’t?”
“Pacifica-”
“No!” She let her hands fall, meeting his gaze and trying to keep her tears at bay, “I’m not stupid Dipper, I can tell you already know it’s him! Don’t lie to me.”
“Pacifica, listen, I won’t-”
“Don’t. Just- I can’t do this right now, I don’t want to talk about this.” She sighed heavily, shaking her head, as she went to stand up, going to her closet and pulling out a blanket and extra pillow, going to toss them on her couch, “You said you’ll probably get better- reading or whatever at night right? So get some rest, I need to go to the library anyways to finish a project.”
“Pacifica wait-”
She did not wait, snatching up her backpack and shutting her bedroom door, leaning against it as she took a deep breath.
She had to keep her cool.
A Northwest did not panic.
Even when it was likely a triangular demon was haunting her and making her slowly lose her mind.
***
Dipper groaned, frustrated as he allowed his head to fall forwards against the door for a moment. He could see that Pacifica was scared, it really seemed like she truly felt she was losing it.
He wasn’t sure what he could do to make it better other than investigate as best as he could and, hopefully, find that this was another entity that just so happened to share a lot of stuff with Cipher.
Looking down, he caught sight of something odd.
A line in the floorboards, a perfect section in which the wood was a few shades lighter, more worn down.
He quickly walked around the room, following the line with his eyes, finding that it created a perfect half-circle around Pacifica’s bed.
That was odd. But it didn’t remind him of anything Bill had ever done.
Dipper glanced over at his equipment, debating with himself.
After flicking on the spirit box and attempting to communicate for a few minutes, he knew that he’d have to wait until the night before he could get anything concrete.
So he reluctantly made his way to the large couch, collapsing on it, feeling defeated.
***
“You want to watch me sleep?” Pacifica asked with a raised eyebrow.
“No!” Dipper felt himself blush furiously, “I’m just saying that- I’m not reading anything yet and it’s very likely that, if there is supernatural activity it will happen when you’re asleep, so I will only get accurate readings if you go to bed!”
“…so you want to watch me sleep?”
Dipper groaned a he let his head fall back in defeat, “Yes, Pacifica. I would like to watch you sleep.”
“And you’re gonna do your investigation… thingy?”
“Yes.”
“If you film me or something I swear-”
“Pacifica just go to sleep!”
“I haven’t done my skincare routine yet! Hold up!” Pacifica stormed into her bathroom, “And don’t try to rush me!”
Dipper groaned yet again before going to the desk, reorganizing his equipment.
It was night, but there was still no sign of anything and Dipper was only growing more anxious with every passing minute.
He could hear Pacifica shuffling around in the bathroom, his fidgeting only getting worse now that he had gotten some sleep and was ready to stay up all night if need be, unsure of what would happen.
He looked down at his phone, the texts from Mable.
He’d left a note to his dad, explaining there’d been an emergency at Gravity Falls and one of his friends needed him, his dad had passed the word to Mabel, thinking that maybe she’d be headed to the town as well.
Mabel had not been amused by the fact that Dipper had taken off on his own. He’d explained that he didn’t want to spook her over what could possibly (hopefully) be nothing too serious.
Not to mention that, if there was even a chance that it was Bill, he didn’t want Mabel anywhere near.
Mabel had only agreed to not come over herself once he’d promised to give her a full report as soon as possible and that he’d stay with Pacifica for the night, since she was worried about the blonde and had also not known about her nightmares.
He could almost hear the slight panic seeping through her texts as he’d explained his suspicions.
Neither had forgotten even a second of Weirdmageddon.
Neither had forgotten Bill.
Once Pacifica left the bathroom and went to lay down, Dipper sat on the couch, watching the EMF meter and the camera with thermographic vision as he began his wait.
Then-
“Okay this is too weird, I can’t sleep like this.” Pacifica’s voice came from the darkness.
“Just do what you usually do to fall asleep.”
“I can’t, you’re here.”
“Pacifica-”
“I… I don’t want to fall asleep.” She begrudgingly admitted.
He heard her shifting, seeing her figure sitting up through the thermographic camera. He knew the only reason she’d admitted to it was because he couldn’t actually see her face.
“I’ll be right here the whole time. The second I sense something wrong I’ll wake you up.”
Pacifica said nothing, he could see her fidgeting in the thermographic camera.
After hesitating for a moment, Dipper got up, turning on his flashlight to-
“Turn that off!”
“Why?”
“I’m not wearing any makeup you dumbass!”
“Oh for the love of-” Dipper turned off his flashlight, using the camera to got to the bed, hearing a snort when he nearly stumbled and bumped into one of the bedposts before carefully sitting down, praying to not be kicked off the bed as he fumbled around before finally placing a hesitant hand on her sheet-covered legs, “Hey, nothing is going to happen to you.”
“You don’t know that.” Her voice came as barely a whisper.
“I’ll wake you up the second I see something’s wrong. Pacifica, I got you.”
They sat in silence for a long moment.
“Hey… I know we haven’t always gotten along but… do you trust me?”
“…you know I do.”
“Then you know I won’t let anything happen to you.”
This felt too vulnerable. Even as kids, the very first time Dipper had ever helped Pacifica it hadn’t been like this. This raw. This… this high-stakes.
Dipper didn’t know what he’d do if something happened to Pacifica.
Even if they liked to pretend to barely be friends… he couldn’t imagine not having her in his life. He couldn’t fathom the idea of Bill trying to use her the way he’d used him.
He’d be dammed if anything happened to her under his watch. It was a determination, a fierceness he’d seldom felt.
Pacifica seemed to sense that, her hand falling over his, a whisper of hair brushing against his side as she leaned in closer, “You mean it?”
“You know I do.”
She sighed, “Okay.”
***
Dipper had a single flashlight pointed at the ceiling to provide some lighting as he scribbled on his notebook, sitting on the floor only a few feet away from the bed where Pacifica had managed to fall asleep after about half an hour.
That’d been hours ago.
He looked down at his watch, nervous energy scaring away his sleepiness as three a.m. drew closer. If anything was going to trigger clear paranormal activity, it would be the witching hour.
As minutes flowed by, he started noticing the slight changes.
The temperature dropped by seven degrees, and his EMF (which detected electromagnetic fields and which he’d found an invaluable tool in detecting spirits) started going crazy.
Then, Pacifica started to shift in her sleep, not thrashing but starting to move around. As soon as she seemed to be distressed he’d wake her up.
He inspected his thermographic and night vision cameras, trying to catch any other abnormalities. The space around Pacifica’s bed seemed to be getting colder by the minute.
Then it happened.
The faintest of lights emerging from the half-circle of worn floorboards around Pacifica’s bed right as she started trashing, her breathing getting faster.
Dipper rushed forwards without thinking, only to be hit by freezing air and falling back on his ass, ice cold pricks running over his entire body as he shivered on the ground for a moment.
The faint line became shapes, which then became faces and… oh.
They were the spirits of the lumberjacks, emerging from the floor and going to form a half circle around Pacifica’s bed, standing right over the worn floorboards.
They were way too cold for Dipper to push past.
He scrambled, reaching his spirit box and turning it on, the ear-shattering static and changing radio stations a shock to his system as he almost screamed, “Lumberjacks! What are you doing? Why are you still here?”
He flinched at the loud radio changes before a single word slipped out of the spirit box, ‘Pro-tect.’
“You’re… you’re protecting her?” Dipper tried to inspect the scene again, and, even though he was pretty sure of the answer, he still had to ask, “What are you protecting her from?”
The switches on the spirit box somehow became more erratic, ‘Ci-pher.’
Dipper tried to get closer, only being able to bear it for a few seconds before the cold got to him and he couldn’t move any further.
“Let me through! I gotta wake her up!”
‘Tain-ted.’
“What?!”
‘You… are… tain-ted.’
Oh… they wouldn’t let him through because he himself had once been used by Cipher.
He had not seen that coming, anger taking over him all of a sudden, “Let me wake her up! I’m trying to protect her too!”
When the temperature started to rise, for a moment, Dipper thought it was the ghosts letting him through.
It wasn’t until he saw the shadows above Pacifica’s bed moving that he realized what was going on even before the ghosts spoke again through the spirit box.
‘He… is… here.’
Bill Cipher. The shadows above Pacifica’s bed seemed to form a triangle, the temperature in the room continuing to rise as Pacifica suddenly stilled and his spirit box went crazy, the static getting out of control, the smallest snippets of maniacal laughter making it through before the box suddenly caved in on itself, Dipper instinctually dropping it as the static became more and more distorted.
He raised his thermographic camera, catching the cold spirits of the lumberjacks around the bed and the blood red triangle above Pacifica’s bed, invisible to the naked eye.
He understood then. The reason why it’d taken five years for this to happen.
The spirits had done their best to keep Pacifica safe, probably standing guard around her bed every night based on the worn floorboards, managing to keep Bill at bay for five years. But the entire time Bill had been getting stronger.
Now he could fully invade Pacifica’s dreams. Now he could overpower the lumberjacks.
They could no longer keep Pacifica safe.
Dipper threw himself through the faint figures of the ghosts, gritting his teeth through the burning cold, stumbling and catching himself on the bed, grabbing Pacifica’s arms, almost recoiling at her burning skin and starting to shake her.
“Pacifica! Pacifica! Wake up! WAKE UP!”
Pacifica’s eyes jerked open and she screamed, scrambling to get away from him, backing herself against the headboard before Dipper quickly turned on the lamp on her nightstand and went to grab her arms, “It’s okay- it’s just me. You’re fine, you’re alright. I got you… I got you.”
For a moment, Pacifica kept whipping around, clearly searching for something before her strength seemed to give out and she collapsed against him, Dipper quickly wrapping his arms around her, running a hand through her hair as he tried to comfort her, “It’s okay… we’re okay.”
It took a minute before Pacifica slightly relaxed against him, sinking into the embrace, allowing herself the tiniest of sniffles.
It took even less before, quite disturbingly if he was being entirely honest, she somehow pulled herself together and pulled back, her face almost impassive as she clearly tried to shove down whatever panic and fear still remained, “It’s him?”
Dipper sighed heavily, looking down at where her hand had remained under his, the only contact she still allowed, running a thumb over her knuckles, “Yes. It’s him.”
Pacifica fully pulled away then, looking away, jaw clenched and eyes blinking to keep tears at bay and she forced her shaky voice in an attempt to sound angry, “Of fucking course it is.”
Dipper looked down at his camera, not sure whether or not to try and push her for vulnerability. He knew she was already allowing him to see her more uncomposed than ever, but it still was just scratching the surface.
“Pacifica-”
“I didn’t make a deal. If that’s what you’re wondering about.”
It wasn’t. But that was her shutting down any attempt at coaxing out an actual conversation and he’d allow it for now.
Dipper sighed heavily before going to get closer to the headboard, going to touch the wood where he’d seen the triangle in his thermographic camera, instantly pulling back at the burning wall.
“Does this wall connect to anything?”
Pacifica glanced back, frowning, “No. My room is the last in the hall.”
Dipper hurried to step out of the room, snatching up his flashlight to look down the hall, the inside, then down the hall again.
The hall was longer than the room.
He quickly went back inside, making his way to the closet, which technically should connect to that wall.
There was a space unaccounted for.
Pacifica appeared at the door frame as he pushed the clothes to one side, going to knock on different parts of the wall.
“What are you doing now?”
Dipper found what he was looking for as he moved further to the right, “It’s hollow… there’s a screwdriver in my bag, can you hand it to me?” He asked as he moved the clothes further down the rack and pulled a few out to make more space.
When Pacifica returned with the screwdriver, he didn’t wait before shoving it in between the wooden boards that made up the wall.
“Dipper!”
Dipper leaned his weight against the screwdriver to work as a pulley, managing to get the wood to wedge and quickly pulling out the board.
There was plaster behind the wood.
“What are you doing?!”
Dipper didn’t answer before going to kick down the plaster, Pacifica trying to disperse the dust that jumped at them.
Dipper flashed his light into the dark hole that had been revealed, “Hidden room.” He explained as he went to remove another wooden board to make more space.
“What?!” Pacifica stepped closer, faltering for a moment when she saw the empty space, “…you could’ve at least warned me, my clothes are gonna be covered in dust.”
Dipper didn’t answer, laser-focused as he removed two more boards and kicked down more of the plaster, finally managing to make a hole wide enough to climb through, catching Pacifica slipping on a pair of bunny-slippers to avoid stepping on the dusty floor.
Once he was through, Dipper used his flashlight to inspect the small room. The floor was covered in layer upon layer of dust, spiderwebs in every corner of the rectangular space.
The room was empty, except for a single tapestry covering the entire wall that would be right behind Pacifica’s bed…
Dipper was already helping her through the wall when his brain fully registered what he was looking at, and before he could tell her to turn back… her eyes landed on the tapestry and she froze.
It was an ancient thing, growing yellow with age. The pyramid it depicted two-dimensional and with a single eye, arms stretching out almost to the edges of the tapestry.
“Pacifica-”
She rushed forwards before he could stop her, grabbing the tapestry and tearing it down with a frustrated scream, her breathing becoming uneven as she stumbled back, the tapestry laying rumpled on the floor, spiders crawling out from under it, the space where it’d hung on the wall burned black with the shape of a triangle.
He quickly wrapped an arm around her waist as she started panicking, half-dragging her back out through the wall and nearly carrying her back to the room, guiding her to the couch and kneeling in front of her.
“Pacifica, Pacifica breath, you need to breath.”
She was fully panicking now, Dipper had to grab her wrists to keep her from pulling her hair out.
“I- I can’t. I can’t. This whole time- he- I-”
“Hey hey-” Dipper leaned forwards, trying to get her to meet his gaze, “I’ll figure something out okay? Nothing is going to happen to you-”
“It already has!” Pacifica yelled as she went to stand up, talking a few steps and running her hands roughly through her hair, “This whole time- all the nightmares- it was him! And I didn’t even fucking realize! I thought- I thought it was the- oh god I’m so fucking stupid!”
“You are not stupid Pacifica, you couldn’t have known! I should have realized that he was getting stronger, that somehow, he found a way to not be erased.”
But Pacifica wasn’t listening, just shaking her head as her voice grew shakier, “It’s all my fault- it’s gonna be my fault, it’s gonna be my fault.”
“What are you talking about?” He tried to stand in front of her, being shrugged off when he tried to grab her shoulders, “Pacifica?”
“This whole time he was showing me exactly what’s gonna happen, it’s gonna be my fault.” She was muttering now, not even seeming to see Dipper, almost talking to herself.
“What is gonna be your fault Pacifica? What are you talking about?”
“The town Dipper! The town! He’s gonna come back, the town is going to burn and it’s all gonna be my fault!”
“No! Pacifica-”
“I’m a Northwest remember? Screwing people over is what we do best… the… the next link in the worst chain in the world remember?” Her voice broke and she turned away.
Dipper felt shame rising up in his chest, “Hey… I didn’t know you when I said that.”
“And you don’t know me now… but you were right.”
“No-”
“Yes. Yes- there’s a reason he chose me-”
“He could’ve chosen anyone-”
“And yet he chose me! You know why? Cause I’m rotten, my whole family is rotten and I can’t run from it-”
“Bullshit.”
“Dipper-”
“No.” He stepped closer, hands on her shoulders, leaning down to meet her eyes, “Pacifica, I know you.”
“You don’t-”
“I do.” He leaned in closer when she tried to look away, “You try so hard to act detached, to not care but you can’t help it. The first time Mabel got her heart broken for real you sent over like two dozen boxes of chocolate and sold one of your old designer dresses to get her VIP tickets to see her favorite boy band. When Lazy Susan got into a car accident you organized nearly the entire town to make sure there was always someone able to stay with her while she recovered.”
“Pacifica you were twelve when you saw the truth about who your parents were. You were just a kid and yet you were able to tell that it was wrong, and you chose to become so much more than that.” He went to gently cup her face, she closed her eyes, clearly trying to keep herself from crying, “Since we were twelve you’ve always called me out on my bullshit. You never let me get away with anything, you’re the one who keeps me from going off the rails when I get in over my head. That’s what I like about you.”
“You… you’re my best friend Pacifica. And you are nothing like your parents, you couldn’t be further from that. There’s a reason why the lumberjack spirits chose to protect you even now-”
“What? What are you talking about?”
Dipper couldn’t help but give her a small smile as he explained, “The spirits of the lumberjacks are protecting you, that’s why it took Bill so long to invade your dreams. If my theory is right they’ve been watching over you for years, trying to keep him away.”
“But… why would they want to keep me safe?” His heart broke along with her voice as tears finally spilled down her cheeks.
“Because you helped them.”
“But my family is the reason they’re dead.”
“And you’re the reason they got their justice after so long.” He leaned his forehead against hers, wiping her tears away, “You are not your family Pacifica.”
They stood in silence for a long moment, Dipper waiting as Pacifica’s shaky breathing was the only sound in the room, trying his best to wipe away her tears, so close he could feel her breath against his collarbone.
Finally, she spoke in a hushed voice, “There’s… there’s blood on my hands.”
“…what?”
“In my nightmares.” Pacifica explained, the words falling faster and less composed as she seemed to spill her guts, perhaps for the first time in years, “Every night there is so much blood on my hands and- and- and no matter how hard I try I can’t wash it off. Or- or I’m a giant and no matter how hard I try to stay still I wreck everything, I destroy the whole town every single time. It doesn’t matter what I do it always ends the same- if something happens- it- it’ll be my fault-”
Dipper cut her off pulling her into his arms, holding her as tightly as he could as she finally finally allowed herself to break, sobbing against the crook of his neck, her knees failing her, her weight fully on him as he gently guided them down.
He pulled her practically into his lap as she let out broken sobs, a part of him unsure of what to do. He had never seen her like this. He couldn’t imagine just how much she’d been hiding, how much she’d needed this after years of guilt-ridden nightmares over crimes that hadn’t been her own.
“Pacifica… listen to me… none of this is your fault.” He rocked them slightly back and forth, trying to comfort her, a hand stroking her hair, the other keeping her close, “Bill is a monster, he was going to pick someone and he- he has a way of getting to you, of targeting your deepest insecurity, your darkest desire or secret or- Pacifica, you rejected a deal from him. Do you have any idea how much that means?”
He pulled back slightly as her sobs slowed down, refusing to let her hide her face, using a hand to cup her face, making sure to meet her eyes, “I accepted his deal, he managed to trick me. He managed to trick my Grunkle Ford. The fact that you didn’t let him get you is… you’re amazing Pacifica. You’ve been dealing with him alone for five years and he still didn’t manage to trick you. You could not be more different from the rest of your family. You’re the link that breaks the chain. I see that so clearly… and I wish you saw that too. You… you…”
Dipper trailed off, a thumb gently brushing her cheekbone.
Pacifica sniffled, wiping away more of her tears, turning away, letting her hair fall over her face, clearly embarrassed at him seeing her like this, “You… you mean that?”
“Every word.”
They fell into silence again, Pacifica inspecting his face, seemingly looking for something.
Then she looked down, wiping at her cheeks and sniffling, “You shouldn’t be seeing me like this.”
“Nonsense.”
“I’m gross.”
“You’re beautiful.” The words slipped out and he couldn’t even be embarrassed, seeing the tiniest smile on Pacifica’s face.
“Finally admitting it?”
“Yeah… yeah I’ll admit it.”
She leaned forwards, allowing their foreheads to touch once more, squeezing his hand, “You’re my best friend too. You know that right?”
“Well it’d be embarrassing if I weren’t.”
She rolled her eyes at him and he reached out to tuck her hair behind her ear, willing his heart to calm down.
“Can we burn it?” Pacifica asked in a whisper, still not moving away.
“I don’t think that’d be a good idea.” Dipper’s brain related Bill to fire, he couldn’t shake the feeling that burning the tapestry wasn’t the way to go about this, “But there’s something else we could do.”
***
It was nearly five a.m. when Dipper struggled to lift the tapestry (wrapped around several large stones and rocks and then wrapped in layers upon layers of paper wrap and tape) and place it against the railing of his Grunkle Stan’s fishing boat.
Since they’d been fifteen, he and Mabel always carried around the keys to the Mystery Shack, Grunkle Ford’s car and Grunkle Stan’s boat.
It’d been more of a struggle to get the old boat to turn on than it’d been to get the tapestry on board.
“Here goes!” Dipper gave the heavy thing a shove to send it overboard, watching it begin to sink.
Pacifica stood next to him, watching the sinking package, “Do you think that will actually do anything?”
“Having a physical depiction of him so close to you was probably helping him reach you. I don’t know if it will fully impede him from invading your subconscious but… it should at least slow him down for a bit.”
“But? I’m assuming there’s a but.”
“Well…” Dipper went to sit down, leaning against the side of the boat, Pacifica going to sit in front of him after a moment, legs brushing against each other, “From what we’ve seen… Bill attaches himself to people. Not just in the sense of possession but… he likes having specific targets. My Grunkle Ford for years… me… and now seemingly…”
“You’re saying he won’t leave me alone.” Pacifica finished for him, wrapping her arms around her knees.
“…it’s unlikely.”
Pacifica sighed heavily, letting her head drop against her knees.
Dipper scooted across the small space to go to her side, “But hey… we’ll figure something out. Summer is only a few weeks away and Mabel will help us figure this whole thing out.” He reached out, taking her hand, “I won’t let anything happen to you.”
Pacifica was slow to look up, tilting her head as she looked at him, speaking in a low tone, “What if it’s not up to you?”
Dipper didn’t know. He had a feeling that regardless, if Bill found a way to come back, be it through Pacifica or some other thing, he and Mabel would inevitably be dragged into it.
Bill wasn’t the kind of demon that forgot easily.
But Dipper didn’t know what he’d do if he was somehow powerless to keep Pacifica safe.
So he didn’t answer, instead allowing himself to gently pull her closer and kiss her.
She sucked in a breath in surprise. Then she kissed him back, hands coming up to his shoulders before linking behind his neck as he pulled her closer by the waist.
They both pulled slightly back after a moment, Pacifica leaning her forehead against his collarbone, a quiet admission slipping out right as the sun started to rise, “I’m scared.”
“I know.” He pulled her closer, wrapping his arms around her, pressing a kiss against the top of her head, “But I won’t let anything happen to you. We’ll figure something out. I’ll set up some equipment to keep monitoring from afar, me and Mabel will start investigating some other stuff. And while waiting for summer, you’re going to call me if the nightmares keep being this bad. Okay?”
For the first time since he’d arrived to Gravity Falls, he felt Pacifica fully relax against him, practically melting into the hug, “…okay.”
Their journey back to the manor was mostly silent, though he didn’t let go of her hand for even a second, a part of him wanting to panic and overthink everything that had just happened.
He’d kissed her.
And it’d been… easy. Natural. It wasn’t until he had time to think that he nearly panicked before reminding himself that this was Pacifica.
They didn’t need to talk about it, neither were big on talking about feelings to begin with, but even if they were, he still didn’t think they’d need to say much.
It’d been there for a long time just beneath the surface, they both knew, but, as per usual, they were both anything if not stubborn, quietly refusing the be the first to admit that they did care, that something had grown between them.
Now it was out there.
And surprisingly, after a brief attempt of his brain to convince him that he’d been too impulsive, he was calm, he could tell she was too.
They didn’t really have to say anything.
When Pacifica stopped abruptly when walking towards her bedroom and instead headed for a guest room, he didn’t question her.
When he’d been about to head for the couch and she stopped him, a silent plea in her eyes, he said nothing, instead simply joining her in bed, cheeks burning as he gathered her into his arms.
It wasn’t until then that Pacifica spoke.
“Dipper?”
“Yeah?”
“Thanks for coming.”
“Anytime.”
***
It wasn’t until midday that they woke up, Pacifica finally returning to her room to get ready, as she did her makeup and her hair, she did her best to not freak out over the kiss.
Especially when she’d already asked Dipper to share a bed with her.
And sobbed in his arms.
And told him he was her best friend.
And believed him when he all but swore he wouldn’t let anything happen to her.
She groaned and fanned her face as she felt herself blush.
Stupid feelings.
At least her nightmares had lessened slightly in their horrific-ness.
Pacifica steeled herself before leaving the bathroom, finding Dipper in her closet, sweeping up the plaster and dust that’d been left on the floor the previous night, the wooden boards back in place.
“I don’t know if the boards will hold up for long, they might need more nails.”
She leaned against the doorframe, enjoying the split second Dipper took to check her up and down, “I’ll ask Wendy to check it out, I think she’ll be back from college next week.”
“In two weeks.” He stepped closer to her, taking her hand, running a thumb over her knuckles, a light blush matching her own as he met her gaze, “You wanna head to Greasy’s?”
“Sure.”
They left the manor hand in hand.
***
“Pacifica?”
Pacifica slowly raised her eyes from her half-eaten meal to look at Dipper, having tuned out at some point.
“Are you okay?”
“I’m just… thinking.”
It was strange, now that she knew there was a reason for her nightmares.
That there was something lurking in the corners of her very mind. That it’d been there for so long.
“I guess I just… I wish I’d told you long ago. But I’m uh… you know I’m not good at… asking for help. Or just… being vulnerable.”
“I know.” He reached out and she easy gave him her hand, “I’m just glad you trusted me. And I hope you know that… you can always call me. Even if it’s not about this if you need anything… I’m right there. Well- I mean- not there there but- you know what I mean.” He blushed, scratching the back of his head with his other hand.
She snorted, “You’re cute when you’re flustered.”
He rolled his eyes, “You know when I said I like that you won’t let me get away with anything? I take it back.”
“No you don’t. I won’t allow it.”
He chuckled, “Of course you won’t. But in all seriousness, I’m here.”
“I know. And seeing as you’re one of the most stubborn people in the world-”
“Second only to you Northwest.” He winked.
She ignored that, “I do believe you when you say that we’ll figure something out. You stopped him once… you can do it again. I just hope… I just hope he won’t trick me before that.”
“You know what’s going on now. That’ll help.”
They finished their meal calmly, chatting about their final projects before the summer and teasing one another about anything and everything.
They walked outside, Dipper turning to look at her as they stopped in front of his car.
“You don’t want me to drive you home?” He offered.
“I’m on the schedule today. And you should get home.”
“Right… right.” He trailed off, watching her, clearly unsure if he should do what he clearly wanted to.
Pacifica chose to have some mercy, taking a few steps forwards, hands clasped behind her back as she batted her eyelashes, “Was there something else?”
He smirked, shaking his head as he reached for her waist, “You’re impossible.”
He pulled her close and kissed her, a hand sneaking into her hair as she held his biceps.
She felt herself blush as he pulled back slightly, leaning their foreheads together, the hand in her hair going to cup her cheek.
She leaned against his hand for a moment, before taking it, and stepping back, “See you in the summer.”
Dipper smiled as he slowly let go of her hand, going to open his car door, “See you in the summer.”
Pacifica watched as he drove away, his eyes watching her until the last possible moment, when he looked away to pull into the road.
She sighed, allowing herself a tiny giggle as she registered what had just happened.
Then she whipped around as she heard a whisper coming from her right.
Pacifica watched the woods for a long moment, waiting for something else to happen, but nothing did.
She hurried to get back into the Diner.
She hoped the following weeks would pass by quickly, she couldn’t wait for it to be summer.
But if something happened before then, she always had Dipper’s number.