Love, Hate, It's All The Same

Chapter 13: Irrelevant Details

Dipper's mind was racing. He desperately wanted to talk about Vince's phone call but every time he tried to recall the conversation, he would run into a few problems: a)his brain keeps going to the incident from the janitor's closet and b) Pacifica was pretending like he didn't exist. She wouldn't even look at him.

She'd acted like the incident hadn't affected her but she was obviously shaken up. Dipper felt like an idiot. Of course she was shaken up! Sure, she'd initiated the kiss, but that didn't mean she wanted it.

Besides, it was Dipper's fault that they had to get in the stupid closet, anyway. If he had just held in his sneeze or something, Vince wouldn't have suspected that there was someone eavesdropping on him.

The two reached the classroom. It looked like Chloe had just finished tidying up. She was locking up the room when she saw them approach.

"Well, you two look just about ready for a funeral." she greeted. She pointed her finger alternately between Dipper and Pacifica. "Why do you look so upset?"

"You know... stuff." Dipper answered. He didn't really feel like recalling the afternoon's events to her. Especially not that.

Chloe seemed to sense his discomfort because she declared that she was going home and marched off.

The thought of going home made Dipper wonder if Pacifica was still going to stay at the Shack or if she would go home to her place. Then he scolded himself for even wondering about that. Of course Pacifica would go home. After the incident, things would be way too awkward to even be in the same room as her.

According to Vince's conversation, they didn't even need to keep this whole boyfriend-girlfriend act anymore.

They still think I'm trying to be her boyfriend, Vince had said. Ha! I'd much sooner date a racoon.

Sooner or later, Pacifica was gonna suggest that they stage a breakup. Dipper would finally be free from this accursed facade! There'd be no glaring guy classmates, no gossipy girl classmates, no rich guys threatening to end him and certainly no fake bratty girlfriend! He should've been relieved!

So, then, why wasn't he? On the contrary, he felt like someone had yanked the world out from under his feet. Dipper shook his head. The last time he'd felt this way... No, that couldn't be it. That time was way different from his current situation. But then again...

"Hey." Pacifica's voice jarred his from his thoughts. She hadn't spoken for so long, he'd almost forgotten that he was walking with her. "You good?"

"What? Oh, yeah." Dipper answered. "Just, um, thinking."

Pacifica seemed to process his words. She nodded once, then went back to being silent.

Dipper looked over her. He tried to think of something to say to break the awkward tension, but after everything that's happened, what could he possibly say? Seen any good films lately?

"Sorry about... you know." Pacifica said suddenly. "I-I didn't... I mean, I wasn't trying to... I didn't know what to do."

Dipper blinked, trying to figure out what she was talking about. Apparently, he was taking too long to do so, because Pacifica shoved him and said, "C'mon, say something. Do you not realize how hard this is for me?"

"Oh, right." Dipper replied. He tried for a smile. "Sorry, I'm just not used to hearing you apologize. I think you almost made my brain short-circuit."

Pacifica scoffed and rolled her eyes, though Dipper could see a faint smile tugging at the corners of her lips.

"I don't know what you're talking about. 'Sorry' was the first thing I ever said to you."

"No, no, that doesn't count. You broke my nose and made me spill coffee all over myself."

"Now you're just remembering irrelevant details."

"Irrelevant details?" Dipper asked perplexedly. Pacifica smiled and punched his shoulder playfully.

After her being quiet for so long, Dipper couldn't help but smile back. It was nice to see something on her face that wasn't a scowl.

Mostly, he was relieved that they had gone back to teasing each other, rather than the painfully awkward state they'd been in just a few minutes ago.

They continued walking down their usual route to the Shack, though Dipper noticed Pacifica's scowl return when they reached her street.

"Walk faster." she commanded, as though anxious to leave the street behind. Dipper risked a glance into the neighborhood. He didn't see anything out of the ordinary, nor anything that could've made Pacifica so upset.

When they reached the Mystery Shack, Dipper noticed an unfamiliar car parked at the side. He figured it was just the pest control guy that Mabel said she hired, but the car seemed a bit expensive for a guy living off of pest control money, so maybe it was one of Mabel's friends.

Dipper continued to the front door, but Pacifica eyed the vehicle warily.

"Hey, you coming?" Dipper asked.

Pacifica tore her gaze from the car with apparent difficulty. "Uh, yeah."

Dipper scrunched his eyebrows together. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing, the car just looked a bit familiar." Pacifica shook her head. "Nevermind, let's go."

Dipper frowned. "If you say so."

He turned the doorknob and saw Mabel talking with someone in the living room. It wasn't pest control, nor was it any of her friends. It was a middle aged woman with long brown hair that seemed to be going in all directions. Her face seemed very artificial, with stretched, over-sized lips that took up most of the lower half of her face.

But there was something familiar about her, too, which didn't make sense since he was pretty sure he'd never seen this woman before today.

The woman's face lit up when she saw Dipper. At least Dipper thought she was looking at him.

"Pacifica, dearest!" The woman exclaimed. She stood up and went to greet Pacifica with open arms, who looked like she wanted to melt into the shadows. Dipper looked back and forth between the two of them, still trying to figure out why this woman looked familiar.

Pacifica looked up at the beaming face of the woman, then she seemed to accept the the shadows wont be taking her anytime soon. She sighed then stared the woman straight in the eye.

"Hello, mother."

~ ~ ~

Yooooo.... I'm sorry if this chapter wasn't quite as eventful as you might've hoped. If it seems rushed, that's probably because it is. I haven't been able to write much recently (you don't say), and I really wanted to publish a chapter in between all the stuff going on. The publish dates are going to be a bit random and spontaneous, but I'll try to make the chapters longer to make up for it. I usually try to make each chapter about 1000 words long but I'll see if I can make them at least 1500 or 2000 words long even.

I've also been wondering if you'd appreciate some kind of plot twist or just cute Dipcifica fluff more. Maybe I'll just do both, but I would like to get your feedback on the matter.

Hoping I haven't bored you to death yet,
Ace