Archives Falls

EE: Part Two

"Ha! I rigged it!"

Pacifica looked up from her book to see Wendy peering over the counter, watching a boy pick up a note she had left within the array of postcards placed.

The boy seemed to read, it, his face more confused than Pacifica's own expression. After he finished it, he looked up at the two girls, then placed the note back in the stack of postcards before walking away.

"Aw, I was close, there. Thought the note thing would work better, especially since he has to say yes," Wendy said.

Pacifica looked up from her novel, and over at her sister. "Wendy, I hate to be mean, but don't you think you're going a bit overboard with this whole 'getting a boyfriend' thing?" Pacifica asked.

"What? Of course not. This is my chance, I can't let a minute go to waste," Wendy replied.

Pacifica sighed, looking down at her book for a second before hearing someone walk in the door. Gideon wiped his shoes on the welcome mat, before walking over to the counter and sitting at the chair.

"Slacking already and you just got here?" Gideon asked, a grin appearing on his face. This was the first time she really noticed he had a nice southern accent. "Man, you guys are barely here and you're already learning from me."

"There's nothing much to do, and Fiddleford doesn't seem to be around much so I assume it's fine," Pacifica said.

It was true. The last time she saw her Great Uncle Fiddleford had to be at yesterday's morning's breakfast. Since then, he had maybe once come up to see some customers, but he claimed he was working for the rest of the day and was too busy to come up and see them.

It worried Pacifica slightly. Was it going to be like this all summer? Not that she really minded being in the care of Candy. Candy seemed to be the nicest person around this place, always getting up early to come serve breakfast for the family and stayed pretty late usually. She also seemed to be pretty close to Gideon, always talking to him about her time at college and what went on around town.

"Yeah, Mister Pines isn't around a lot of the time. When he is he's going berserk about something. Don't tell, but I think his age is going through his head," Gideon said. "Usually Cands runs the place. She's basically the assistant manager, even if it isn't her official title. She doesn't care if we slack or not. But when Fiddleford does come up, make sure you look like you're doing something."

"You always slack?" Wendy said. "And how come you barely ever get in trouble?"

Gideon put his arms behind his head. Pacifica but down on her bottom lip. She couldn't help but admit, Gideon was cute.

"Because Mister Pines never catches me, simply. I always make something up that people believe, it's something I'm pretty good at," Gideon replied.

"Getting out of trouble? I'm not good at that one, I always get in trouble for sneaking an extra cookie after supper. And a lot of other things along with that, though they never seem to believe me," Wendy said.

"That's because your excuses aren't generally that good," Pacifica said.

"No! They're great!" Wendy said. "Best excuses in all the country!"

Gideon chuckled. "If you must know, I used to be a showman when I was little. My parents had some idea I'd be a prodigy child. Looking back on it, it was really lame. But part of me wouldn't mind doing it again but being cooler."

"Really? Why'd you drop out, then?" Wendy asked.

"Well, someone," Gideon started. "You know what, nevermind. It's a complicated story, kid. I don't feel like explaining it all right now."