Nightmares and Daydreams

Chapter 14: Horrifying Thoughts

Wirt's Pov

"Your welcome and have a nice day," I said. The customer I was just helping waved goodbye and left the shack. I rubbed my eyes and stifled a small yawn. Stan put me to work at the counter right after I woke up which meant I was seriously tired. Not to mention I didn't sleep well because of the Beast and his stupid nightmares. I still had yet to find out how to stop the Beast, but for now, I was enjoying one of the perks of working at the counter. The perfect view of Dipper, who was leading tours in the other room.

The light from the morning sun perfectly hit him, highlighting each beautiful brown curl and making his caramel-brown eyes glow. He looked like an angel. "Are you having fun staring at Dipper?" I jumped back and looked down at Mabel who was wearing a cheeky grin. "I um, no well..." Mabel giggled and sat on the stool next to me. "Ugh Wirt! When are you going to ask him out already?" "Soon, I just- I need to wait for the right moment, you know?" Greg, who was sitting on the floor next to the counter, rolled his eyes and took Jason Funderburker off his head. "That's what he says when he's trying to make an excuse," Greg whispered to the frog. Mabel giggled even more and I blushed and glared at my little brother. I had every intention of telling Dipper how I felt, but I really did want to wait for the right moment. And it's surprisingly hard to get the right moment when you're in the process of turning into a soul-feasting demon. Still, once this was all over with, I was totally going to confess to Dipper. I just needed to wait. We worked for a few more hours, but luckily since there were very few customers, I didn't get any kind of crazy headaches. At about 1:30 pm, we went on our lunch break.

"Hey Greg, how many gummy koalas do you think I could fit in my mouth?" Greg thought for a minute then cheered, "100 gummies!" Jason Funderburker croaked and Greg gasped. "What is it?" Mabel asked with a mouth full of gummies. "He said he bets that you could fit 1,000 gummies in your mouth!" "Challenge accepted!" Mabel began to shove a bunch of gummy koalas into her mouth while me and Greg watched. She made it to 618 when Dipper came downstairs from the attic. "Hm Dp, wh d ou hve yur nr gea?" We all gave Mabel a confused look and she rolled her eyes and swallowed all the gummies in her mouth. "Why do you have your nerd gear, Dipping Sauce?" Dipper's 'nerd gear' was apparently a camera, magnifying glass, his journal with the pinetree on it, and a backpack filled with who knows what. Dipper narrowed his eyes at his sister and began fiddling with some weird tracking device in his pocket. "It's not 'nerd gear' it's essential equipment for paranormal investigations." Greg's eyes widened and he jumped up off the floor. "Woah! Are you going to find cool monsters? Can I come!?" "Um, I'm not exactly looking for any creatures, I just want to inspect those branches from yesterday. But you're more than welcome to come as long as your brother says yes."

Greg turned to me with large puppy eyes and his most innocent smile. "Pleeeeease Wirt! I'll be super good and safe and Jason Funderburker can come to help with the investigations!" To prove his point, Greg held up his pet frog who was doing his own puppy eyes. I smiled and ruffled Greg's hair. "Sorry, but I'm going to have to say no. Last time you went into the woods it didn't go well and I don't want you getting hurt." "But Wirt! I wanna see cool monsters!" Dipper chuckled and smiled down at Greg. "How 'bout when I get back we all go down to the lake and see the gobblewonker." Greg cheered and sang a made-up song about the 'gobblewonker' thing and Mabel joined him. I on the other hand didn't know if seeing a lake monster was the best idea but it was better than letting Greg go out into the woods. 

Dipper was about to leave when Mabel grabbed his arm and stopped him. She had on a mischievous smirk and I was starting to get a little worried. "Dipper, it's not safe to go into the woods alone, you should definitely bring someone. Wirt, you don't seem busy, you two should totally go together!" Damnit, Mabel was trying to set me up! I should be thankful, but I seriously hate the woods after the... incident last Halloween. Then again this could be a good time to actually talk to Dipper. But what if something bad happens. The Beast could ruin things, o-or I could mess up with Dipper and ugh, I don't even want to think about that. "Um well, I-I'm not the best w-with the woods bu-" "But it will be so much fun! Plus Dipper's an expert with this kinda stuff so there's nothing to worry about!" Dipper blushed and smiled down at the floor and any worry I had almost instantly disappeared. It's amazing how a simple smile could change my mind so quickly. "I-I guess I could go." "Well then, we should get going." I nodded and followed Dipper out the shack and into the woods.