It's Just Part of the Deal

Part 3

We wake up early the next day, Pacifica heading home to get ready for work and Mable off to help Candy and Grenda with a bake sale, leaving me to mule over my books and studies in an attempt to gather all my thoughts into an organized list so that way when we go to visit Bill later I won't be a bumbling fool without any specific direction. Half way through the day my stomach growls and I realize I hadn't eaten all day which leads me to wonder; did Bill?  I sigh, knowing neither Pacifica nor Mable would be back till at least five, and it just seems cruel to not go check on him when I am well aware of his inability to take care of a human body.

I decide to text my friend from Echo Creek, letting him know just exactly what went down yesterday and that if I don't text him in at least two hours then he can call my sister to castrate me for not following the one rule we set in place for ourselves. He of course laughs at this, but I can easily imagine the look of concern on his face; if anything he'll be on edge for the next two hours waiting for my text to make sure I'm okay. I shove my phone into my pocket as I make my way down stairs and into the kitchen to grab an apple to eat on the way before I quickly dart out the door, careful to make sure I wasn't seen or heard by Stan whom's still snoring loudly in the living room with last night's pizza box lying on the ground next to his chair.

Once outside I finally release a breath I didn't realize I was holding, and silently thank the fact that my Gruncle is a heavy sleeper. The walk to the cabin is soundless aside from the occasional chitter from a squirrel, or screach of what I assume is the gnomes up to their old games again. I make sure to text my friend once I have the cabin in my sight to let him know to start his watch. After he replies I take a deep breath and knock on the door.

It's incredibly awkward standing on the porch in silence, the only sound coming from my own breathing, heartbeat and the occasional creek from the wood beneath my feet as I rock from my heels to my toes and back again. Finally Bill opens the door with a disgusted look on his face. He stares down at me with his eyes examining me for a second before glancing around to see if he could see anyone else.

"Where the hell are your little guard dogs?"

I simply fold my arms over my chest, trying to hide my nerves with false confidence,"I can do things for myself." however, I'm instantly defeated when he chuckles. Just like he did back then.

"You're all alone. And they don't even know you're here." He laughs, walking around to stand behind me and place his hands on my shoulders, lowering his head to be right next to mine. "Too bad you've got a friend waiting to hear from you, otherwise you might not still be standing."

My blood runs cold. He can still hear my thoughts.

"But of course I can, Pinetree. After all," He smirks, tightening his grip just enough to make me wince. "I know everything."

His threatening mood is ruined when his stomach growls in defiance. He groans, letting me go by shoving me inside.

I of course stumble over my own feet, luckily catching myself before I can make a horrible fool out of myself.

"You're lucky the only thing to elude me is human necessities."

"Lucky me..." I sigh, walking into the kitchen and opening the fridge that luckily we were able to stock rather generously. I quickly put together a simple ham and cheese sandwich and hand it over to him. "Here, it's not hard. You can do things like this on your own."

"I've been alive for thousands of years. Such things are long forgotten since they served no use to me." He states proudly, taking a seat at the small table so I can set the plate in front of him. "And I suggest you head back, Shooting star will be returning soon." He smirks, pointing to the clock we'd hung on the wall.

My eyes widen when I look at the clock, it's nearly four thirty? I quickly make a break for the door, however my path is suddenly blocked when Bill appears between me and my way out. "Just one question before you go though." He lowers his face to be even with mine, extending his arm past my head to point to the back wall where his bed sits. "Which one of you painted my summoning circle on the wall?"

I stare at the wall, now slightly embarrassed for doing so. "I-I thought it w-would make you feel m-more comfortable..." I mutter, turning back to face him but keeping my gaze to the floor.

He only hums and steps out of my way to return to the table. I of course don't hesitate and bolt out the door, making sure to call my friend and let him know that I'm fine and am on my way back to the shack now. I can easily pick up on the relief in his voice.

"Thank god, give me a call when you get back. I wanna talk to you about something and get your opinion."

I huff, quickly loosing my breath from running and am forced to slow to a quick walk since I'm still pretty pathetic with stamina. "I told you; I'm not gonna be any help with Jackie. You know I've given up on the whole romance thing."

"I wouldn't call being bi 'giving up' besides, that's not even what I need help with."

I raise a brow, deciding it was best that I stay outside for my conversation and plop myself down on a log by the treeline that surrounds the Shack. "Then what's the problem?"

"Well...I'll just call back later. You need to get back to the shack."

"Marco, I'm already back. I ran most the way. Now tell me what's up."

There was a long pause and I almost was about to check to see if I had just lost connection or something before I hear a dramatic sigh from the other line.

"Alright, fine. So...yesterday...when I had to go because Star was screaming..."

"Yeah what about it, is she okay?"

"Yeah. Yeah, she's fine it's just; she came into my room with a letter addressed to me."

 I can't help but raise a brow, skeptical about how there's a problem. That's how the mail delivery system works; letter's get brought to your house, and that's that. What's so wrong that he could sound so nervous about this? "And?"

"It was a love letter, from a secret admirer. It caught me off guard and it kinda worries me that they had given it to our mailman to deliver rather than writing my address on it and their return address."

"Oh...um...well I'm still not so sure exactly what help I'd be. I've never dated anyone, yet alone got any love notes."

"That's not true! What about-"

"Notes that Mable shoves under my door every valentines day doesn't count."

"Fine, but I'm just asking what you think I should do. Star wants to find out who it is and I kinda do, but at the same time I'm not so sure about this."

Living with Star has forced Marco to grow a bit of a backbone and by result, he doesn't scare easily. Hearing his voice shake like this actually had me worried. "Well, I'm sorry I can't give solid advice but you have two choices here. You can either-  A.) Ignore it and hope whoever it is gives up . Or- B.) Find out who they are and confront them however you see fit with the decision you come to." I shrug, kinda disappointed in myself for not being able to give any good advice. 

He sighs, hopefully more out of frustration than my poor advice. "Alright, thanks Dipper. I at least want to find out who it is,  but I have to wait for the mailman to come by so I can ask him what they looked like."

"Well when you see him; if he gives you another note, see what it says and reply to them."

"How?"

I notice Pacifica and Mable driving up in Pacifica's little purple bug, both singing loudly to a girly boy band song. "Same way he is. Just ask the mailman to give him a letter the next time he sees him. I gotta go, the girls are here. I'll text you later, let me know how it goes."