The Things We Leave Behind (Gravity Falls Fic)

Chapter 28: Penmanship

Saige's POV:

I was sitting in Greasy's Diner, my headphones plugged in and blasting Lindsey Stirling into my ears. I had my little book, the one with all the runes and such, a pencil, and a few sheets of notebook paper. I was sketching, practicing the runes, so that when it came time to send Marcy and Angel home, I would know how.

Forgot about that little sub-plot, didn't you? Yeah, well, it's okay, the author kinda did, too.

Anyway, so I was practicing the runes, chillin' with my music, you know, like ya do, when Mabel slides into the booth, sitting in front of me.

Her mouth moves, and I pull out an earbud, "Sorry, didn't catch that."

She repeats herself, "I said, whatcha doing?"

I gesture to the papers, "Just solving some puzzles. What about you?"

She shrugs, "Grunkle Stan and Dipper went fishing, and I was gonna hang out with Candy, but she's sick, and Grenda's grounded. So I had nothing better to do than come here."

I look back at the paper, sketching some more, "Well, I'm glad for the company."

She picks my iPod up off the table and clicks the on button, reading the title of the song, "Roundtable Rival by Lindsey Stirling. Never heard of them."

"She's awesome. She plays rock and dubstep on a violin. It's really cool, here, listen," I hand her the earbud I had taken out earlier and she puts it in her ear.

She nods at me, "I didn't know someone could play like that on a violin."

"Yeah, it's impressive, this stuff is really hard to play because of how fast you have to move and how high you have to shift on the fingerboard."

She stares at me, blankly, "I have no idea what shifting on a fingerboard means, but alright, I believe you."

I laugh, then tap the iPod screen, pointing out the name of the song, "This particular song is actually my favorite one of hers," I say.

"Well, I like it. It's cool."

I nod, letting her continue to listen while I work.

Ugh, what is in my pocket that's bothering me so much?

I shift to the side and reach into my back pocket and pull out a crumpled piece of paper.

I sigh. Oh, it's that paper with that Riley guy's number on it.

Mabel points it out, "What's that?"

I shake my head, setting it on the table, "Nothing important."

Immediately, she snaps it up and reads it, "Who's this Riley Curtis guy?"

"Just some guy I met at the Shack yesterday."

"Oh, really? He gave you his number. That means he likes you."

I roll my eyes, "I know. I'm not gonna call it or anything, though."

She puts the paper back down on the table, "Hey, what happened to that Dominik guy?"

I tense up a bit, "Oh, it didn't work out. Like I told you, we just aren't meant for each other." He wishes, but it's never going to happen.

Mabel appears disappointed, "Oh..."

I go back to my work. I was a quarter of the way through figuring out the navigation spells. I should get as much done today as possible. I had work tomorrow.