She Will Always Hate Me

ix: a manly yelp of terror

This chapter is edited.
WARNING:
This story deals with some heavy topics i.e. mental health, depression, mentions of suicide, physical abuse, as well as eating disorders. Please read at your own risk.

If there was something Dipper enjoyed more than reading facial cues, it was getting on people's nerves just by baseless deductions.

It was a skill he acquired during his years in the system. In his early years, he was a watcher and listener. He learned things about the others that stayed there and was able to tick them off in just the right way.

When Dipper arrived at his home, he took a deep breath, and let out a relieved sigh. He'd picked up the prescription and was going to give it to André the next day.

He was planning to have a quiet, and relaxing rest of his afternoon at home. No interruptions. Nothing.

Plink.

Dipper froze and looked around. Did he imagine that noise? Oh wait, it was his phone.

Glancing down at the screen, he saw an unfamiliar number. To many exclamation points in the text he received.

Unknown Number: Hey! I figured you'd probably be out of your session with that dumb psychiatrist! So I decided to check up on ya! Oh, this is Pacifica 😁

Dipper felt the beginnings of a smile creep onto his face. This girl. Pacifica. To many exclamation points, but somehow it was exactly like her to text like that. Considering she spoke like that quite often.

Him: Yes. I just arrived back home. You're completely on point with my psychiatrist being stupid.

He didn't have to wait too long for her response. And he found himself anticipating it.

maybe Pacifica: yeah! I know it's probably rude to ask, but how did it go?

Dipper thought back to his session. It didn't go entirely well, but he conned his way into getting what he wanted, so perhaps it wasn't all a lost cause.

Him: I get the feeling my psychiatrist doesn't appreciate my lack of communication throughout our sessions.

maybe Pacifica: Aw, well that doesn't tell me much :(

Him: if you wanted, I could call and tell you all about it

Dipper immediately froze after sending that text. What the hell was he thinking? He'd offered to call this girl after what? A few texts?

What was this girl doing to him?

There was no warning. His phone started buzzing uncontrollably, startling the poor boy.

It was not a shriek, definitely not. It was a manly yelp of terror. Absolutely that and nothing more.

Pick up the phone?

There were many pros and cons for answering and not answering. Dipper had made a list in his head almost instantly when the phone began ringing.

Pros: talk to the person who consumes his thoughts, figure out why he's so drawn to her, let himself have a little fun for once in his miserable life.

Cons: panic when nothing comes to mind to say to her, not being able to comprehend her, and letting out a little more of his soul out to her.

For each pro there was a con that scared him half to death. He swallowed roughly. You get nowhere in life from being timid.

He picked up the phone and waited.

"Hello? Dipper?"

Rushing nerves aside, it was lovely to hear her voice. "Hello."