Gravity Rises (S2)

BB: Part Six

Mabel held in yet another cough as a plume of dust hit her full in the face. She'd been in her fair share of dusty places — one of her favorite pastimes in Piedmont was trespassing on old, abandoned properties — but Grunkle Ford's bunker was a whole new level of grimy. Underground, with ventilation systems that hadn't been used in decades. Layers upon layers of the dust that only comes upon absence of human beings. You could see the patterns in the dust where the Mabel and the other three intruders had clumsily broken its spell over the room.

Her hand felt the back of the shelf she was halfheartedly searching. This room was small; there weren't that many places for the first Journal to be. Had they come down here for nothing?

Not for nothing. Dipper had found that laptop. Ford was really excited about the laptop.

But Mabel still wanted to find the Journal. She wanted to find the Journal. She played the scene over in her head as she felt around another shelf. She would find it and present it to Ford, and his eyes would light up and he'd look at her with such excitement, such pride. . .

Well, maybe not. But a girl could dream.

"Grunkle Ford, I don't think there's anything else in here." Dipper pulled Mabel out her thoughts, and she glanced over at him. He was leaning against one of the old computers, dust swirling around his elbows.

"Keep looking," was Ford's distracted reply. His eyes never left the Journal he was studying. Had he found anything yet under the black light?

"We've looked everywhere," Candy complained. Mabel winced. Couldn't Candy stand to be a little quieter? It was a small room. They could all hear her.

Ford mumbled something incoherent.

Dipper sighed and pushed himself from the computer. Mabel agreed — the Journal probably wasn't in here — but she wanted to keep looking, just in case they'd missed something. . .

She turned back to the dusty shelves.

Dipper and Candy gave up, from what it sounded like behind her, but she kept going. Just in case. Her eyes peered into dark corners; her fingers groped into tiny crevices. Nothing.

"I've already checked those ones."

Mabel started. Candy was standing right there, watching her with a bored expression on her face. When had she come over here?

"I-I just want to make sure," Mabel said.

"How long are we gonna be down here, anyway? Your uncle is still looking at that book."

Mabel pressed her hand against the metal shelf and took a silent breath. "Look, you're the one who wanted to join us on this thing."

"Hey, no need to get defensive. I'm just wondering."

Wondering. More like complaining.

"Hey, Candy, look!"

Both girls turned their heads. Dipper was standing in a little closet at the far end of the room in some ridiculous pose. "Beep boop, I am a nerd robot," he said, moving his arms jerkily and speaking in monotone — or, as close to monotone as Dipper could get.

Candy laughed. Loudly. Mabel winced again. It wasn't even that funny.

She glanced at Candy as the girl turned away. Her face was red.

Oh. Right.

She wished Candy hadn't told her about her crush on Dipper. Mabel wasn't exactly the confidant type. At least, not for someone like Candy. She barely knew the girl, and now she had to put up with the awkwardness of being around a one-sided crush. It definitely was one-sided, too — most people couldn't see the difference between normal goofy Dipper and flirting goofy Dipper, but after thirteen years of living with him, Mabel certainly could.