Roof Time

Chapter Nine: Best Friends

A few days passed, with me hanging out with Pacifica every day, playing it cool as I was told, and sneaking out to see Wendy in the nights. I loved it, I had new friends, I was seeing my girlfriend, and I was having a lot of fun with the whole thing. The only thing I wasn't loving was the amount of sleep I was getting. A large chunk of my night was taken up with Wendy, and most of my day spent adventuring. But that was fine, I Pacifica couldn't do anything for the next week after today anyways, she was going on some fancy expensive trip for a while, and wouldn't be in Gravity Falls. This would give me time to sleep and hang out with Mabel and Soos. I got up and dressed, and went downstairs just as there was a sharp knock on the door signaling Pacifica's arrival. I opened the door, and ushered her in.
"Hey Pacifica, what's up?" I asked, smiling.
"Hey Mystery Boy," she said. "Not much. You find something to do today?" she asked, trying to peek at my journal.
"As always," I say. "We're going to be finding a map to the lair of..." I said, pausing to build suspense. "Pet rocks. They're just rocks that scream. Apparently they're really annoying, but the notes are only half done, so I thought I'd finish them, as well as they're sure to be cool to see."
"Alright! Let's go," Pacifica said, turning and walking towards the forest, head held high. I followed, consulting my journal the whole way. We walked to the large fallen tree under which the rocks resided, chatting the whole way. We got to the tree, and I pulled out my journal and a pen to take notes, as Pacifica looked around at the rocks. One began to scream at her, and soon, they all followed suit. They were very quiet creatures, despite screaming at anything and everything, but all together, they sounded like the tone of a teacher trying to be heard over a class of students. I was just about finished with the notes, while Pacifica, still interested in the rocks, got to close, and one jumped up and bit at her. She fell over, and three more rocks jumped up.
"Gah, Dipper!" Pacifica yelled. "Get these stupid annoying little pebbles off of me!"
"Oh shoot," I said, looking down the page. The author had said to shake until they were so dizzy they fell off. Well crap. I knew the best way to do that... But Pacifica DEFINITELY wouldn't like it.
"Sorry Pacifica, only way," I said. I rolled her down the hill, chasing after her, but tripping, rolling along next to her. We both fell of a small drop into a large clump of bushes We untangled ourselves, and I braced myself for a torrent of anger and annoyance from Pacifica, but she just laughed.
"Hahaha, that was fun?" she said, cracking up.
It, it was?" I asked, incredulous.
"Sure it was!" She said.
"Well okay!" I said. "Well I have no clue where we are, we might want to try to find our way back to the Shack."
"Yeah, good idea," she said. "So what-" she was interrupted by a giant yawn coming from me.
"Sorry Pacifica, I'm not getting a lot of sleep." I say.
"Why not?" she asks. I hadn't told her about Wendy as I was afraid it might bring up the topic of her liking me.
"I've been sneaking out every night to see Wendy," I tell her. "Don't tell anyone," I say. laughing uneasily.
"Why are you still dating her? I mean, you can't even hang out with her anymore!" she says. "You might want to think about dating someone who you spend a bit more time with," she said, looking at me, but not at my eyes.
"I've had a crush on her forever. I wouldn't give that up," I said, doing the same.
"You can't even see her in public! You can't adventure with her anymore." she looks away. ""You should date someone you can be with more, and do things with. You should be with," she said, faltering, then looking back at me, right in the eyes. "You should be with me." she then turns and runs. I chase after her, running, but losing her after a minute. I looked for about a half an hour before finding her, sobbing on a log.
"Hey Pacifica," I say, sitting next to her.
"Go away." she said, not looking up.
"No, I'm not going away. You're my friend," I said.
"Exactly!" she cried, looking up. "I'm your friend! I don't want to be your friend! I want to be more! More..." she repeated, trailing away.
"Pacifica, I'm sorry. I'm dating Wendy," I said.
"What does Wendy have I don't!" Pacifica said, sinking deeper into her hands.
"What do I have all other boys don't?" I countered.
"Well, ah, um..." she trailed off. "I asked first!"
"See, you can't answer. That's cause when you find the perfect person, it's not just some one thing, but you just know. Besides. There's something you have Wendy doesn't," I said, standing up.
"What's that?" Pacifica said between sniffles.
"You're my best friend," I said. I held out my hand, offering to help her up.
"I, I'm your best friend?" she asked.
"Wouldn't say it if it weren't true," I said, grinning.
"What about Mabel?" she asked.
"Mabel is my sister, and I love her. But it's just that. She's my sister. Not my best friend." I told her.
"Well I guess I can live with that," Pacifica said, wiping away tears.
"Come on back?" I said. "I think I know where we are."
"No," she said. "I think I can see Northwest Manor. I guess I'll see ya, Dipper" she said, running away, calling the farewell over her shoulder.
"See ya," I called back. I turned around, and walked back to the shack, hands in pockets.