Love, Hate, It's All The Same

Chapter 11: You Never Know

Mabel burst out laughing. 

"What makes you think that?" she said in between her laughs.

"C'mon, Mabel, I'm serious!" Pacifica whispered frantically.

Mabel's laughs began to fade, though she was still wheezing near the end. "I'm sorry. People don't usually become allergic to other humans over night."

"It's the only thing I can think of." Pacifica muttered thoughtfully.

"Ok, hold on. Why do you think you're allergic to Dipper?"

"Well, my face starts heating up when he touches me and it gets really hard to breathe." Pacifica counted. She looked at Mabel expectantly, as though she knew Mabel would confirm her suspicions.

Mabel tapped her chin thoughtfully. "I don't know, it kinda sounds like..."

"Like what?" 

"No, it's a dumb idea."

"Mabel, I'm really desperate here. Just tell me."

"Fine but don't say I didn't warn you." Mabel caved in. "It- it kinda sounds like you have a crush on ol' Dip-dop."

Pacifica snorted. This time, it was her turn to laugh. Mabel had her eyebrow raised at the blonde.

"That's- that's a good one, Mabel." She said, once she stopped laughing enough to form words.

"Pacifica, who's at the door?" Dipper's voice came from the kitchen.

"It's you're favorite twin sister!" Mabel beamed. Pacifica stepped aside to let Mabel in. They made their way into the kitchen. "You made waffles, nice!"

Mabel settled into one of the dining chairs as Dipper plated the freshly cooked waffles. She immediately began to shovel them into her mouth when Dipper set one plate in front of her. The other two ate their meals with less vigor.

"Did Pacifica sleep here or did she come extra early for some reason?" Mabel asked through a mouthful of waffle.

"She slept over." Dipper stared disapprovingly at the exposed waffle mush inside Mabel's mouth.

"Ohhhh." Mabel's face spasmed, which Pacifica realized was Mabel winking at Dipper. Subtlety was not Mabel's strong suit.

Dipper shook his head. "Why are you winking?"

Mabel grinned widely, which Pacifica took as her cue to butt into the conversation. "Mabel, it's never going to happen."

"You never know." Mabel shrugged. "Besides, how can you be so sure?"

"Cause I find Dipper impossibly annoying, and he finds me absolutely adorable."

Right after the words left Pacifica's lips, Dipper burst into a coughing fit beside her. He stood up, hunched over his plate and started repeatedly hammering his fist into his chest. Once the coughs had subsided, he shakily grabbed the glass of water in front of him and sat back down.

"Swallowed wrong." he croaked. He must have choked on a piece of waffle. Right at that moment, though, there was a knock at the front door. Dipper took the opportunity to excuse himself from the table. "I'll get it."

He marched over to the door and opened it up to see a friend waiting on the other side. She had red hair, wore a green flannel top, a fur trucker hat and a pair of jeans. An axe hung loosely at her side. She greeted Dipper with a smile. "Hey, Dip."

"Wendy!" Dipper exclaimed. He went to lean against a wall, hoping to look casual, suave and attractive. Unfortunately, he missed the wall. Wendy was kind enough to pretend not to notice. Pacifica, however, snorted in the background.

"I just came by to grab something." Wendy nodded toward where Mabel and Pacifica sat. She grinned. "You wanna tell me who that is?"

Dipper rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "That's Pacifica. She's a new girl at my school."

"She's staying here?"

"Um, yes."

Wendy nudged him in the arm. "She's kinda cute."

"I-I guess." Dipper flushed. It's not the best feeling in the world when your crush ships you with someone else, but strangely enough, Dipper didn't mind it that much. Weird.

"Well, anyway, I gotta get going so I'll just take my things and go." Wendy winked at Dipper before she headed off to where ever she was going. Dipper returned to the dining table to finish his breakfast.

"Are you always that smooth with the ladies?" Pacifica teased when he reached the table.

"I panicked, okay?" Dipper said defensively.

"I wouldn't get my hopes up, Dipper." said Mabel. "I'm pretty sure Wendy's with Robby."

Dipper grunted. "Can we please just finish up and get to school?"

* * *

Leo grunted. Their final class of the day had finally ended. The rest of the class had already left the classroom. Leo, however, was one of the unlucky three who had to stay and clean the room.

"And the lucky students who get to stay and clean are..." Their teacher had declared it as though he were a host in an exciting television game show. He rapped the surface of his desk, in a sort of drumroll. When none of his students matched his enthusiasm, he slapped the table and exclaimed the names, "Moore, Pines and Ruiz!"

Leo glanced around. Dipper was hard at work sweeping around the room, while Chloe was returning an assortment of items into a cabinet. There wasn't much left that he could do to help except wipe the whiteboard, which he had already done.

Dipper noticed Leo watching his two companions. "You can go if you want to. There's not much left to do anyway. Plus, you have thing with your doctor."

"Crap, I forgot about that one." Leo grabbed his stuff and turned to dash out of the room. He hesitated. "You guys sure?"

"Just get outta here." Chloe answered, her back still turned toward Leo. He got out of there.

Dipper swept the collected dust into a dustpan and dumped it into a nearby trashcan. He went to help Chloe put the books in the higher shelves, the ones that were out of her reach, and found that she had dragged a chair next to the shelf and was now standing atop it, though it appeared she was having some difficulty balancing on it.

Chloe noticed Dipper approach her. "Oh good, you finished. Gimme a hand, would you?"

She motioned for Dipper come closer, probably to help her off the dangerously wobbling chair. Dipper complied. Chloe bent her knees to hop off the chair, when the chair buckled, causing her to topple forward, face-first toward the cold tiled floor. Fortunately, Dipper was close enough to catch her before she hit the floor. Unfortunately, her momentum forced both of them to land on the ground.

At that moment, Dipper made a mental note to ask Mabel to get rid of all the wobbly chairs in the school. He wasn't even sure if she had enough power to do that, but he can worry about that later, since right now he had bigger problems. More specifically, blonde problems who stood awkwardly at the doorway of the classroom.

Before Dipper could process the fact that Chloe Moore had just landed on top of him, he heard the classroom door creaking open. He turned his head toward the sound and saw Pacifica standing on the doorway with her hand still on the doorknob and her face a light shade of pink.

"I left something." she said flatly. "But I think I'll just come back later."

"It's not what it looks like." Dipper said stupidly. Pacifica shut the door. 

Chloe got up, her face the same color as Pacifica's. "Sorry."

"No, no. It wasn't your fault." Dipper assured her. He could faintly hear, Pacifica's footsteps getting softer and softer. "But I need to go explain that to Pacifica."

Dipper rushed out of the door, unsure why he felt such a need to explain the scene to Pacifica.