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Pacifica sat at a table in the family dining section of “Roscoe’s Bar & Grill” trying to figure out how she got talked into this. One minute she was telling Mabel that she had ran into Wendy and that she was back in town for awhile. Then Mabel mentioned that Dipper had blown off another date she had tried to set him up on. Next she wondered aloud what had happened between them and Mabel reminded her about the hard apple cider incident.
As she remembered it was sometime after a drunk driver hit the twins dad while they were at college. Dipper took it extremely hard. That summer they were all at a party and Wendy had hit the cider a little hard, pardon the pun. When she had then attempted to drive home, Dipper had intercepted her and drove her home. But apparently they got into it on the trip to her house over something, she was trying to remember exactly what reason she had heard when Mabel started in on her plan. It was like something from an old sitcom and she told Mabel it would never work. But, well, Mabel has plenty of ways to persuade her and persuade her she did. All night long.
So here she was as a familiar redhead was led to her table.
"Hey Paz, thanks for the invite. I really haven’t had a chance to reconnect with anyone since I’ve been back in town.” Wendy said as she sat down.
“Oh, I understand. I remember how hard it was to find everyone when I got back after college.” Pacifica said even though it hadn’t been that hard for her. Her most important social group had been the Pines family. Besides ever since her and Mabel started dating they never stayed too far away from each other, even sharing a dorm room back as freshmen. “So what have you been up to?”
“Well, after I left I ended up at a cousins lumber yard up north of the border. I started out in the woods but as fun as it was showing up some of those lunkheads, well, my heart really wasn’t in to chopping trees after awhile. My cousin made me a supervisor and I quickly worked my way into the office. I still head out and chop a tree or three down whenever someone tries to doubt me though.” Wendy said with a small smirk.
"Nice” Pacifica said as she saw a pair of dark haired twins heading into the bar section. Mabel had cut it close once again. Trying to keep Wendy’s attention she asked “So I don’t think you told me what brings you back to town?”
“Oh, Marcus’s wedding.” Wendy said with a quizzical look on her face. “I thought you would’ve figured it out. I mean he is marrying one of your friends, Candy. And I thought he mentioned that you were one of the bridesmaids?”
“Oh yeah, I didn’t even think of that. If course you would be in town for that.” Pacifica said before she took a sip of her water.
“Yeah, it isn’t every day that you get to be your little brother’s best man.” Wendy said with a smile. She pointed at the engagement ring on Pacifica’s left hand and winked, "And speaking of weddings, who’s the lucky lady?”
At the bar
“Alright Mabel, I still don’t know how I let you talk me into this. I know you and Pacifica love this place, but really the steaks are expensive and usually not cooked right.” Dipper said as the twins made their way to the bar. He quickly asked for a glass of water.
“Hey, just cause you spend so much time hanging out with the Manataurs that the only way you can stomach steak is as tartar or jerky doesn’t mean you can talk down about this place.” Mabel responded in a serious tone that was easily destroyed by the smirk she wore.
“You know that’s not the reason why. They claim to put a Texas char on the steaks and we both have had enough actual Texas steaks with Grandpa Shermie to know that’s false.” Dipper replied as he looked at his sister. Then he looked around at the crowd in the bar area, “But I guess that isn’t why you brought me here is it. Is it Singles Night? You’re trying to set me up on another blind date or something, aren’t you?”
With a shocked look on her face Mabel incredulously said, “No, really. Look, someone told me today they saw Wendy and I thought I’d take you out and give you the heads up. I know you still love her.”
That knocked the wind out of Dipper. It really was his greatest regret, even more so than trusting Bill back when he was younger. He had let his temper drive a wedge between the two of them. “Oh. Well I guess that makes sense. Her brother’s wedding is soon.”
Back at the table
“Oh, so you and Mabs are still together. That’s so great. You two compliment each other so good.” Wendy said with a genuine smile on her face as she looked up from the menu she was holding. Then her expression started to drop, “I guess that means you get to see Di.. Mason a lot too?”
“Well, yeah. I am engaged to his sister. And you know those two. It wouldn’t surprise me if we end up living next to each other.” Pacifica said over her menu, trying to inject a little levity into the conversation.
“Well the next time you see him, tell him I hope he’s doing good. And if he asks you can tell him I miss him,” Wendy said with what appear to be the start of tears in her eyes. Dabbing at them with her napkin she continued, “Nah, actually just tell him I’m ok.”
Pacifica reached out and placed a hopefully comforting hand over Wendy’s, “Look, Wendy. I understand. You know you two could get together and talk.”
“About what? Our feelings?” Wendy said as she pulled her hand free, “We both know that that has never been either of our strong suits.”
At the bar
“Look Mabel. You’ll probably see her at the wedding. If she asks, you can tell her I’m doing fine.” Dipper said as he took a sip of his water.
“And why wouldn’t you see her there?” Mabel asked even though she could already tell he had thought up another excuse to miss a social gathering, like he has done so often in the past.
“Well I had already been thinking of not going, since there is a history between me and the bride to be.” He said as he sat done his glass, “And also since there may be an issue with the groom’s family, it’s best if I no show.”
“Don’t you try it mister!” Mabel said with her hands on her hips.
“Mabs. We both know tensions were already gonna be tight between his family and me anyways. I don’t think Manly Dan has ever forgiven me for how things ended between me and Wendy. Hell I haven’t forgiven myself over it. I knew what I said was wrong, but I didn’t want to see another person I loved die because of someone losing control. And I knew it was the anniversary of her mother’s death. I should have just drove her home. But dad had just died and I was scared.” He said before taking another drink of his water. He didn’t touch alcohol, but it’s times like this that he wished that he did. Maybe he would understand why some people do what they do better. Before Mabel could protest again he continued, “So again if you see her you can tell her I still think of her all the time. And I wish I could go back and fix my mistakes.”
Looking like he was in the verge of tears he added, “I still want to be with her.”
Back at the table
“What am I supposed to do, tell him I still need him in my life. And that I don’t know why I didn’t fight for us more. I was hurt. I was confused. I needed time to think and a few days turned to weeks and so forth.” Wendy said as she really wished she still drank, it’s times like this she could use a shot. But she let that stuff nearly destroy her life once and so she vowed not to touch it again.
Pacifica opened her mouth to start saying something when Wendy cut her off. “You know what. We’re here to eat, not so I can talk your ear off. So let’s order. I think I’m gonna get the Coltrane Burger.”
At the bar
“Mabs, I think I’m just gonna go home.” Dipper said as he started to get up. He didn’t notice Mabel flash a signal to the hostess.
He had no sooner made it to his feet than the hostess was there at their side. “Pines twins, your table is ready.”
“Look, Dip. They have our table ready. Why don’t we just go eat and then you can head home. My treat.” Mabel said as she grabbed his arm. Seeing that he still seemed like he was thinking of leaving she added, “How long has it been since you had a good, hot meal. I know when you start working on one of your projects that you practically live on protein bars and Green Boar energy drinks.”
“Well, I guess.” Dipper said as his stomach growled at him to eat something.
As they were led away by the hostess, Mabel said “So Dip, what project are you working on this time?”
Back at the table
As Wendy took another bite of her salad, she realized that Pacifica had yet to even put her dressing on hers let alone taken a bite of it. She swallowed hers and said, “You gonna eat your salad?”
Pacifica started to come up with an excuse but realized she didn’t need to do so when she saw two familiar people being led by the hostess to her table. “Well, you see. I don’t really like Russian dressing, I prefer balsamic vinaigrette.”
“Then why did you order..” Wendy started to ask and then she saw that Pacifica was smirking as she looked over Wendy’s shoulder. As she turned to see what Pacifica was looking at Wendy caught sight of the hostess leading Mabel to their table and so she thought that must be who she ordered the salad for. Then she noticed the second head of brown hair behind Mabel. She quickly turned back towards Pacifica and mouthed ‘You didn’t?’
Pacifica’s smile grew as Wendy continued to mouth ‘I’m gonna get you for this.’
Dipper’s voice flowed out from behind his sister as they walked up, “And that’s how I’m trying to connect the European lepus cornutus and the America Jackalope…wait a minute what is going on here?”
He stared in shock as Pacifica got up from her seat with a smile. Then he swiveled his head to get another look at the other occupant of the table, who seemed to be in as much shock as he was.
“Oh my, would you look at that. Hello Paz darling.” Mabel said as she walked up and kissed her fiancé.
“Mabel!” Dipper called in a hushed tone.
“Dipper!” Mabel responded while sticking her tongue out at her brother.
“Pacifica.” Pacifica said pointing to herself. Then pointing to the other side of the table she added, “Wendy.”
Taking Mabel’s arm she then added, “There. Now that we have all been reintroduced, my fiancé and I have dinner reservations to get to. And you two have a lot to talk about, so we’ll leave you to it.”
As the couple started past, Dipper stopped his sister with a brotherly hand on her shoulder. “You promised me you weren’t trying to set me up on a blind date.”
“And I’m not Dipster.” Mabel said as she removed his hand. With a caring but smug smile she continued, “A blind date implies a lack of personal knowledge between the participants. And thanks to you forgetting to lock the attic door that one time, I know for a fact that you two know each other very well indeed.”
Dipper went red as his sister and her fiancé walked on past. Then he felt a hand push him towards the now empty seat.
“The meal’s already been paid for, so don’t worry about that. Right now you two need to just sit, eat, and reconnect. The salad has that dressing you like and I ordered you the pork tenderloin, since you have an issue the way they cook the steaks here for some reason." Pacifica said as Dipper had turned around to see who had pushed him.
“And do we have any say in this?” Wendy asked only to have Mabel place a gentle, but firm hand on her shoulder.
“Not really, Wends. I’ve put up with listening to him berate himself for screwing things up between the two of you for the last few years And from what Marcus has told Candy, you haven’t exactly been so lenient on yourself about it either. You both need this.” Mabel said as she looked down at her seated friend. “Beside that, neither of you have even tried to move on. Dipper finds faults in every person I have tried to set him up with, mostly that they aren’t you. And I heard the last guy to try and ask you out should be getting out of traction sometime next week.”
Seeing the shocked look on Dipper’s face as he finally sat down, Wendy replied. “Hey that one wasn’t my fault, he wasn’t paying attention to where he was going and walked right in front of a moped. I guess he didn’t believe me when I said he wasn’t my type.”
“And so what if I didn’t like the blind dates, sis. I keep telling you I’m fine. There’s nothing you need to worry about.” Dipper added as soon as he was certain Wendy was done. He took a quick look at Wendy before he focused on his sister and Pacifica. “Besides. If you are so worried about me and Wendy that you set this up, why were you so insistent on me going on those blind dates to begin with?”
“Nothing to worry about. Dipster. Nothing to worry about, he says.” Mabel said to whoever was listening (which seemed to be half the restaurant by this point) and throwing her hands up in the air in exasperation. “You’re becoming a recluse, Dip-dop. You’ve been holding up in your work shop for weeks at a time. Sometimes not coming out to eat even. Half the time we have to drag you out to make sure you are even getting any fresh air. And the blind dates, well, to be completely honest I was just trying to make sure you got out of the house and that you knew that the world was still rotating. I never expected anything romantic would come from them, because I knew none them could compare to Wendy in your eyes. I also knew that you blamed yourself for ruining what you had with her.”
This news hit Wendy hard. Here she was blaming herself for all of this and to find out Dipper was blaming himself too.
“Dipper, you haven’t even gone out and did any field work in over a year.” Pacifica added with a concerned look that actually shook Dipper. Wendy seemed flabbergasted at this news too.
“I’ve just had a lot of scholastic research to do.” Dipper said in defense. Though to look at him, you could tell even he didn’t believe it.
“Hockey Pucks. That was a pathetic attempt, bro. Remember what Stan used to say,” Mabel smiled as she called him out on it before continuing in an imitation of her Grunkle Stan, “never try ta con a con.”
“Well,” Dipper rubbed the back of his neck as he tried to come up with a reply, “Uhmm...”
“Sit, eat, drink, reconnect.” Pacifica said as she looked down at her watch, “We really do need to be going, our reservation is in 30 minutes. Com’on babe.”
With that Pacifica took Mabel’s hand and started towards the exit. Mabel shrugged her shoulders and said “Have fun you two. Luv you both.”
“So how are…” Wendy and Dipper started at the same time before stopping. Wendy smiled a little whilst Dipper just shook his head.
“I’m sorry…” they again said at the same time. They both started nervously chuckling before Wendy signaled for him to go ahead and start.
Clearing his throat to give himself a second to compose himself and gather his thoughts. He looked down at his salad and said, “You said this one wasn’t your fault?”
“Oh, caught that one huh.” She remarked as she reached back and rubbed her neck. “Well not too long after I got to my uncle’s logging camp some goof named Johanson tried to get fresh with me, despite warnings from some of the guys who've known me since I was little. It wasn’t too long after we split so I turned him down.”
“Well that’s not too bad.” Dipper started before she stopped him.
“Except he thought I was just playing hard to get and that 'Once I got a look at him shirtless' that I would swoon for him like some '60’s b-movie damsel. And when I didn’t, he still tried to grab me for a kiss.”
“He what!!”, Dipper yelped and instinctively grabbed his steak knife. He looked as if he was ready to get up and go hunt this guy down.
“Oh, don’t worry. I've handled worse on some of our explorations.” Wendy said as she placed a hand over the gripping the knife.
Realizing what she had done, Dipper released the knife as he felt the warmth of her for the first time in years. It hitting the table seemed to break the spell they both seemed to be under.
Reluctantly she started to pull her hand back as she continued, “As I was saying, he tried for a kiss so I head-butted him and broke his nose.”
“Ouch, but it sounds like he deserved it.” Dipper replied as he attempted to catch her retreating hand in his.
“Yeah, but what was worse was that dad heard him screaming at me.” Wendy added as she allowed her hand to be caught by him.
“Oh.”
“Yep. He found him there shirtless, blood gushing from his nose with me looking angry standing over him. It didn’t take him any mental gymnastics to decide that Johanson had done something, while shirtless, that I didn’t like.” Wendy smirked a little at the memory before continuing, “Dad grabbed him by the scruff of his neck and threw him out of the bunkhouse. It was the last I saw of him. Word was that my cousin fired him on the spot and gave him 15 minutes to grab his gear and leave the premises before he told the rest of the crew what he had tried to do.”
“Well that wasn’t too bad.”
“Yeah, though Smitty was seen cleaning the wood chipper the next day.” She replied with a straight face as she watched Dipper put 2 & 2 together before cracking into a smile and a laugh. “Relax, I’m just joking there.”
They both had a little chuckle.
“Dip..”
“Wen..”
“I’m so sorry, I should have been more forgiving.” Dipper said as he reached out to hopefully hold her hand again.
“Nah, man. I should be the one apologizing. I knew you had just lost your dad and I pulled that stunt.” Wendy said as she went ahead and placed her hand in his.
They spent the rest of the meal catching up and reconnecting. They ended up staying until closing and continued the conversation at his place.
Candy & Marcus's wedding went off almost without a hitch. Manly Dan and the other boys nearly made a scene when Dipper arrived at the venue but Wendy’s arrival and subsequent grabbing of his hand stopped them in their tracks as Dan said, “Finally.”