The Summer After ||Billdip||

Chapter five

That night I laid on my bed emotionlessly for a long time.

No one noticed when I came back home, or how upset I was.  I couldn't stop crying over the face that Mabel called me that.  I know it shouldn't be that big of a deal, but to me it was.  It had always felt like when I was in Gravity Fall's I was Dipper Pines, this smart guy that everyone knew.  But now it felt like a wreaking ball just tore all that down.  Mabel was my number one supporter and she just acted like what she did was nothing.

I didn't even notice I was sleeping until I woke up on a familiar room. 

Why right now dude. I thought to myself.

I didn't bother so say anything.  Bill would show up when he did and that would be that.

I was beyond exhausted and I felt too numb to care about what was about to happen.

My eyes felt heavy and I felt like I had a weight on my shoulders.  My mind felt blank and I felt more lost than I have in a long time.

It wasn't until I heard Bill's voice behind me I was brought back to reality.

"You seem tired."  Was the first thing he commented.  I nodded in response.

"What do you want?"  I asked him.  He didn't say anything for a few minutes.

"Nothing right now."  He said slowly.

"Then why am I here?"  I stared at him as he walked up to me, inches away just like before.

"You needed a break."  He answered quietly.

"What does that have to do with anything?"  I asked him in confusion.  He ignored me.

"You need to start sticking up to your family more."  He added to his previous statement.

"Stop trying to get in my head, Bill."  I said flatly.

"I'm not."  He answered me, "I'm telling you pinetree, if you don't start standing up for yourself then the feeling of anger and regret is going to follow you around for the rest of your life."

I was quiet for a minute, the more I thought about it the more it made sense.

"Who did you not stand up to?"  I asked him.  He looked a bit shocked but also amused.

"You're smarter than I thought."  He moved away from me a bit but remained in front of me.

"Thanks."

"I never stood up to my parents."  He admitted.

"What did they do?  What did you do?"

"It's not any of your concern what they did."  He snapped at me, "Ford told you I burned my dimension, didn't he?"  I nodded so he continued, "my anger at my parents got the better of me.  I didn't know how to cope so I got rid of the whole problem."

I was quiet for a minute before he stepped close to me again, "Mason.  Listen to me."  He grabbed my chin, forcing me to look up at him.  I was off guard that he called me Mason and even more caught off guard with the contact, "I know you have no reason to trust me, or believe me, but you're a good person and I don't want that to change because you're family makes you feel invisible."  He said quietly.  I felt my heart racing as he continued, "just be careful of that, okay?"

I nodded with a quiet "yeah".

"You're not invisible to me.  So if you ever do want someone to talk to, about anything, I'm here.  Don't forget that."  He said quietly while releasing his grip on me.

Before I could say anything I woke up.  I shot up, confused by what just happened and confused about the group of people downstairs who were now calling my name.

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Word Count: 637
Date Published: 5/7/23