Starfall

Chapter 3 - Fuse

Pacifica tried to make sense of what she was seeing. Surely the stress of the evening was playing tricks on her eyes. Dipper Pines appeared to have just walked into the Nines and ordered a sandwich. Perhaps she finally had truly lost her mind. It was bound to happen sooner or later she thought in bitter amusement. She had been so stressed about her National anthem solo at the game, but she had pulled it off somehow! The crowd went wild. And just when she thought she was for once above reproach her father told her she was off half an octave in the opening. She had felt as if a rug had been pulled out from beneath her. And now she was winded and her mind was still reeling as if she really had fallen and hit her head.

Clearing her mind she focused again on the spectacle in front of her. This young man looked like Dipper, but a little older and surprisingly very well-dressed. Dare she say urbane? His hair fell in waves as the textured brown swells parted on the side. His beard was trimmed immaculately and his maroon leather bike jacket fit his shoulders and back well. The front of the jacket was open. He wore a black v-neck t-shirt and dark jeans that now was a good look he was managing to pull off. He wore a leather necklace with a small stone attached to the end that dipped over his chest. It appeared to be a black opal at first glance. It was polished black stone interlaced with iridescent steaks of teal blue, teal green, and purple. It looked like an opal but upon closer inspection, she realized it was something else entirely. Pacifica had never seen this stone before. It only looked like an opal. Pacifica realized she had been staring too long and her eyes snapped up to his face. Fortunately, Dipper had not seen her yet and seemed lost in thought.

She took a moment to gather her thoughts before she would speak. The last time she had seen Dipper eating something was at her surprise birthday party. It had been impromptu and Dipper had scaled the ivy to her balcony to sneak into Pacifica's room. She smirked, they had gone up on the roof to chat in private where they didn't have to be as quiet. Dipper had listened to her. They had not said much, but just being there had said far more than words. They swung their legs over the roof ledge that overlooked the pool directly below them. Then standing up Dipper asked if she trusted him. She had just hoped he didn't have in mind what she thought he was thinking. She looked into his eyes and nodded. He then turned and jumped taking her with him. Figures...she had thought fitting the urge to scream and wake her parents. Dipper and Pacifica had shown up at the mystery shack soaking wet. Ford was eyeing them suspiciously when Mabel barreled him over on her way to Pacifica. "YOU ESCAPED!!!" She shouted with glee! She simultaneously jumped and hugged the soaked girl without a second thought about getting her own outfit wet. Once dry again Pacifica and the twins had watched movies, eaten pizza, and eaten ice cream. Things she very rarely did herself. She reveled in the simple joy of it. She had changed into a shirt Mabel owned that had two cats hugging with the captioned words, "Friends Fur-ever".  

When she got back home the next morning her father had decided to send her off to boarding school. That was the last she had seen of the twins. She cried that night...but not in front of her parents. She wouldn't show them how broken she was that night as she sobbed into her mulberry silk sheets beneath her four-poster bed awning. Later the next day she met up with the Pines twins for coffee before she left. When she left that night Dipper had made her promise she wouldn't let her parents change her. Pacifica hugged him. Dipper, though surprised, hugged her back. "If you need anything Pacifica me and Mabel are just a phone call away." Mabel cried and said, "I'm sorry your dad is making you go." Dipper ground his teeth. Pacifica calmly said, "he's just doing what he thinks is best for me." She let a smile cross her face now. "Besides, I can look after myself. I'm a Northwest."  Pacifica told Mabel she would mail Mabel's cat shirt back to her. "Mabel said, "Keep it...to remember me by." Pacifica hugged her again.