Love, Hate, It's All The Same

Chapter 8: You Could Teach Me That

"Wait, I don't want to go back in yet." Dipper stopped walking before they passed the doorway. He eyed the men in tuxedos inside the mansion, mixed in with the colorful gowns with a sour expression.

Pacifica raised an eyebrow. "Neither do I, but we have to. Besides, we don't have anything to do out here."

Dipper looked around for something to pass the time. A group of people inside the mansion caught his eye.

"What about that?" He pointed at the group. "You could teach me that while we're out here."

Pacifica's eyes followed the direction of his finger. A skeptical look made its way to her face. "You want me to teach you ballroom dancing?"

Dipper nodded. 

"Out here?" Pacifica asked, pointing at the ground.

"Yup."

Pacifica thought for a moment. Then she seemed to decide that dancing with this idiot is better than sucking up to a bunch of stuck up rich people. She might as well teach him now just in case they get put on the spot later.

"Alright, put your hand on my waist."

Dipper blinked. "Where?"

"On my waist."

"Uh..."

"What? Having second thoughts?"

"No. Of course not."

Dipper hesitantly held his hand out, awkwardly reaching towards Pacifica's midsection. Pacifica rolled her eyes and grabbed his hand, placing it just above her hips. Dipper shuffled his feet awkwardly as Pacifica went to place her hand on his shoulders. She then took Dipper's other hand into hers and raised them up.

"Now just step... step- no, no, don't lift your knees; just glide. C'mon, step... st- Ow!"

"Sorry." Dipper chuckled nervously.

"It's fine, just- here, try following my movement." 

Pacifica continued to guide Dipper through the basic dance steps of waltz until Dipper could look up without stepping on her feet.

"Hey, I think I'm getting it." Dipper grinned. He looked up, just in time to see the dancer's in the mansion spin the female partner.

In an effort to replicate the dancers' moves, Dipper let go of Pacifica's waist and brought his other hand, the one that hand Pacifica's hand in it, above her. 

Pacifica, who had taken plenty of dancing lessons before, recognized the move and automatically did a little twirl before placing her hand back on Dipper's shoulder when she faced him again.

"Not bad, Pines." Pacifica praised. A small smiled tugged at the corner of her lips. Dipper beamed. Pacifica gave compliments ever so sparingly, so that was pretty big for her.

"What can I say? I have a great teacher." 

"Damn right, you do."

Dipper let out a small, breathy laugh. This girl can't even accept compliments humbly. Dipper stared at the glowing face of Pacifica Northwest. Initially, he was staring in disbelief, but he realized he was now staring in awe. And he wasn't even faking it.

He'd joked about it plenty of times before, but now, he can definitely see why all those guys have a crush on this girl. Of course, it might just be the wine speaking, but damn it, Pacifica is beautiful in the moonlight.

"You're so much prettier when you're smiling." Dipper blurted out. Apparently, Drunk Dipper had no filter. "Every time I see you, you've just got this scowl on your face."

"That's because of you, idiot." Pacifica laughed.

"Yeah, right." Dipper scoffed. "You... *hic*... love..."

Dipper didn't even finish his sentence before his eyesight went blank.

* * *

"You look way out of it." Pacifica criticized as Dipper approached her.

"And you look as fresh and pristine as usual. Ugh." Dipper groaned, clutching his disheveled head. "Remind me never to drink ever again."

"I told you not to drink too much." 

"Did you? I can't really remember anything from yesterday." Dipper lied. He remembered everything. All those things he said, the dance, everything. Even stuff he was thinking. He remembered every. Single. Detail. 

"That's probably for the best." Pacifica said as they began walking down their usual route to school. She rummaged through her bag. "Here."

Dipper stared confusedly at the plastic hairbrush that Pacifica had just handed him.

"At least brush your hair on the way to school." Pacifica told him distastefully. "I don't want my boyfriend looking like some homeless guy."

"You know brushing it doesn't help." Dipper answered but he began brushing his hair none the less.

"Just try."

Pacifica watched as Dipper attempted to tame his own hair, failing miserably as he kept brushing in all sorts of directions.

"Oh, give it here." She muttered impatiently as she snatched the hairbrush from Dipper's grip.

Dipper bent his knees a little bit so Pacifica could comfortably reach his hair. Though, by doing so, he was sacrificing his own comfort since walking with your knees bent and your back hunched over isn't exactly a cakewalk.

As the two slowly made their way to school, Dipper stared up at the busy figure fixing his hair. As Pacifica continued to attack the messy jungle of hair on his head, Dipper realized it wasn't just the wine talking last night. Even if it were, he completely agreed with everything it said. Though he'd never admit it to her face, he was finding her less and less annoyingly obnoxious and more... Attractive? Lovable?

No, that wasn't it. Those words felt awkward in his mouth. Maybe he'll just go with cute for now. Yeah, that's right. Pacifica Northwest was starting to seem cute in Dipper's eyes. And he wasn't sure how he felt about that.

"You can straighten up now." 

"Thanks." Dipper breathed a sigh of relief. His knees were starting to get sore.  He pulled out his phone, checking his reflection on the screen. His hair looked nothing like it had when he left the Shack. It was actually tidy looking. He turned to Pacifica. "You are a miracle worker."

"Duh."

Soon, the two had arrived at the gates of their school, where they ran into Leo.

"Wait, hold on a second..." Leo scrunched his eyebrows. He joined his pointer fingers and thumbs so that they made a rectangle and looked at Dipper through them. "Dude, did you actually brush your hair?"

"Um... yes?"

Leo turned to Pacifica with mock horror in his eyes. "What have you done to Dipper?!"