Archive of Our Own

Fourth summer

"Should we be working?" Mabel asks. There are no customers in the store, but Grunkle Stan left Wendy in charge when he headed to some garage sale. Mabel's sure it's going to be more of a garage steal, but that doesn't sound good even in her head, so she figures it won't sound better out of her head, either.

"Of course not," Wendy says. "When do we ever work?"

Mabel tilts her head. "Hardly ever."

Wendy points a finger at her. "That's right." She yawns and goes back to looking through her magazine. Her hair falls in her face and she has to brush it away. Mabel thinks about offering her a hair band—she got new ones recently, they're pink and green with sparkles. She wonders if she might be growing out of the sparkle era, but she doesn't really care.

"So how was your school year?" Mabel asks. Hers and Dipper's was fascinating, now that they're in high school. She knows Wendy's going to be graduating next spring, so that must be awesome.

Wendy shrugs. "It was okay."

"Cool," Mabel says. "Hey, you're eighteen now! You can, like, vote and stuff."

"Yeah," Wendy says. "It's great." She turns the last page of the magazine, stares at it, then shakes her head and throws it under the counter.

"Our school year was great," Mabel says. "It was super weird. Well, not as weird as—not like weird like this place is? But life weird, you know?"

"Yeah," Wendy says. "I know. Also Dipper tried to tell me about it."

Mabel sighs. Dipper always says he's over his crush and then when they come back to Gravity Falls for the summer he gets all weird again, it's so tiring.

"So," Wendy says. "What's new with you? You still listen to that boy band?"

"Psh," Mabel says. "I'm fifteen now."

Wendy nods thoughtfully. "So that a yes?"

Mabel rolls her eyes. "I moved on."

"To other boy bands?"

Mabel grins. "Yeah!"

Wendy smiles and shakes her head.

"Hey," Mabel says. "You were fifteen when we met you, weren't you?"

"Yeah," Wendy says. "I think so. Wow, I can't believe it's already been three years."

"It's great," Mabel says. "You can give me all your tips!"

Wendy furrows her brow. "What sort of tips?"

"You know," Mabel says. "Tips. Tricks!"

"...Okay," Wendy says. "I mean, yeah, you can always talk to me, if that's what you mean."

Mabel nods. That's not exactly what she meant, but it's actually even better. "Always?"

"Sure," Wendy says. "Whatever you need, you know."

"What about now?"

Wendy raises her eyebrows. "Well, we are talking."

"Yeah," Mabel says. She chews on her lip, thinking. She doesn't really have anything to ask Wendy right now—she has a lot of questions, about everything and anything, but things often either work out or everything in her head kind of runs into each other and then things work out. (Or Dipper freaks out about something and everything for her works out because then she can help him, which is how things have always been for them.)

She doesn't want to lose whatever they have here, though. She doesn't think she will, but every summer is different. Summers always used to be the same, but ever since the first one in Gravity Falls every summer is different and strange and she knows things are always changing.

"Mabel?" Wendy asks.

"Huh?"

"You have anything you want to ask?"

Mabel shakes her head. "Not really."

"Okay," Wendy says, and tilts her head. "Oh, I know. Here's a trick."

She fiddles with the radio—Grunkle Stan has refused to fix it, because he claims it works, and you just need to give it a good kick. Mabel leans back on her elbows and tries to look cool. She grew a lot in the few months and it's great to have that over Dipper, but it's taking a while to get used to. She's not used to feeling uncomfortable in her body; it's annoying. (Her boobs are a whole different thing. They're weird. Kind of nice, though.)

Wendy hits the radio in the right spot three times in a row, fast, and it finally starts playing.

"Oh, what's that?" Mabel asks. It's a kind of rock beat with a woman singing something awesome.

"Joan Jett," Wendy says. "Thought you might wanna check out something besides boy bands."

"It's good," Mabel says.

"I know, right?" Wendy asks. "I love her."

Mabel listens to Joan Jett sing about reputation and nods happily. She's not about to stop listening to boy bands, because she likes boy bands and it seems stupid to stop doing things you like doing just because you're growing up, but she's totally up for Wendy playing her some new stuff this summer. It's nothing like the crap Robbie would listen to, and they can all have a dance party to this later—her and Wendy and Dipper.

"I think this summer is gonna be great," Mabel says.

Wendy smiles at her. "Like all summers in Gravity Falls." She sounds kind of sarcastic, but Mabel doesn't care. She knows they'll always have fun together.

"Hey, dudes, what's this?"

"Soos!" Mabel calls, grinning at Soos and smiling even wider when she sees Dipper following him. "Guys, come listen to rock music with us!"

"I am on it," Soos says, and even Dipper smiles. "Wow, it's so good the radio is smoking."

"Uh oh," Mabel says, and they all duck for cover at the same time.

Okay, the summer will be awesome after they get a new radio.

~

Fifth summer

"How am I doing, Grunkle Stan?"

"Yeah, good, very good," Grunkle Stan says. He sounds kind of scared, but it's possible he's just excited.

"Look out!" Dipper calls from the backseat and Mabel turns the wheel to avoid hitting Old Man McGucket. She sees him jump into the bushes. He's probably fine.

"He's fine," she says. She's doing pretty well for only her second time behind the wheel, she's sure. She has a lot of time to get better at it anyway, so she's not too worried.

"Mabel, the breaks!" Dipper calls.

Mabel hits the breaks, stopping right in front of the sign in front of the diner.

"Good timing, Dipper." She grins at the rear-view mirror and turns the engine off. She's totally getting the hang of it.

"You know what?" Dipper says. "I'm not really hungry anymore."

Mabel rolls her eyes. "Sure you are. Now come on, let's go! I wanna be back at the shack when Wendy comes around."

Dipper follows her to the diner, Grunkle Stan falling behind. Mabel can hear him like wheezing or laughing or something. Grunkle Stan is weird sometimes.

"Hey, Lazy Susan!" Mabel calls.

The diner has gotten a makeover, which totally confused Mabel when they went there last night after getting back to town, but Lazy Susan is still there, looking the same as ever. It's comforting.

The pancakes still taste the same, too.

"These are the best pancakes," Dipper says, and Mabel smiles at him, knowing he gets it.

"We should eat faster," she says. Grunkle Stan is finished already and flirting with Lazy Susan, even though he doesn't actually want to date her. Mabel doesn't get that.

"What's the rush?" Dipper asks.

Mabel piles syrup on her last pancake. "I wanna see Wendy."

"Well, we'll see her whether we hurry or not," Dipper says. "She works at the shack, she'll be there today."

Mabel frowns and puts her fork down, peering intently at Dipper. "Don't you miss Wendy?"

Dipper gets all weird and twitchy like he always does when Mabel brings up Wendy now. "Y-yeah," he says. "Of course I do."

"Come on, Dipper." Mabel kicks at his leg. "What is it?"

"Nothing," Dipper says, with that voice he uses when he's lying.

Mabel narrows her eyes at him and kicks his leg again.

Dipper sighs. "It's just. I don't think I have a crush on her anymore."

"Oh," Mabel says. "Isn't that a good thing? It means you won't be such a freak around her."

Dipper makes a face at her, but then sighs again. "Yeah, but like—I thought I'd always have a crush on her. And that we'd get together. I had a plan."

Mabel rolls her eyes. "You're so stupid. You can't have a plan for that. She's your friend."

Dipper deflates. "I guess. Maybe you're right."

"I'm always right," Mabel says. "And you're being stupid."

Dipper sighs. "Yeah. Yeah, okay."

She gives him a smile. "Eat your pancakes. We're going back home to hang out with Wendy."

"Why wait?" Wendy asks. She's standing next to their table, smiling at Mabel.

"Wendy!" Mabel shoots out of her seat and pulls her in for a hug. She thinks Wendy maybe freezes a bit, but she doesn't care—she really did miss Wendy a lot and they're friends.

"Hey," Wendy says when Mabel's sat back down and gives Dipper a fist bump. "What's up?"

"Pancakes," Mabel says. "Want some? We can order more."

"Sure, why not?" Wendy says, sitting down next to Dipper. Mabel gives Dipper a look, a "be cool" look. Dipper wrinkles his nose at her, but he smiles at Wendy and doesn't act too weird.

They order another round of pancakes and Mabel tries to catch Wendy up with what her and Dipper have been doing as fast as she can while also prying into what Wendy's been up to.

"I'm preparing for college, I guess," Wendy says between bites.

"Oh, are you excited about college?" Mabel asks. "I'd be excited. But it's kind of scary too, isn't it?"

Wendy shrugs. "It's okay."

Mabel fidget on her chair and runs her pancake through the syrup. "But you'll still be here next summer, right? You're coming back here?"

"I guess," Wendy says. "Unless I find a job there, maybe."

Mabel blinks. "But you have a job here!"

Wendy looks up from her pancakes. "Well, yeah, but—"

Mabel is sixteen now. She can look at things slightly, just slightly more rationally, and she almost gets that the world is super big and it's cool to check out what it's like. But she doesn't get how anyone would not want to come back to Gravity Falls.

Everything was boring before Gravity Falls. Mabel only remembers it vaguely, but she knows it was, and she knows Dipper feels the same, and she doesn't get how anyone can feel differently.

Wendy shrugs when Mabel tells her that. "I grew up here," she says. "It's different."

Mabel frowns. "But wouldn't you miss us if you never came back?" She looks over at Dipper who hasn't said much since Wendy joined them. He only gives her a sad shrug.

"Of course I'd miss you," Wendy says. "And I don't mean that I'm never coming back." She shakes her head and tucks her hair behind her ear. "Anyway, it's not like you can't come visit me, you know?"

"Yeah," Dipper says. "Mabel's learning to drive and everything. I almost know how already."

"See?" Wendy says, smiling. "You can do a road trip. That'd be fun."

Dipper grins at her, and Mabel sees it, sees the way he's no longer self-conscious and all that's left is a friendly kind of warmth. She's glad for that, at least.

"Right, Mabel?" Dipper asks.

"Yeah," Mabel nods. She stabs her fork at the plate. The pancakes feel heavy in her stomach. "Sure."

"Well, I won't be leaving till the end of August," Wendy says. "We have plenty of time."

"Time for what?" Grunkle Stan asks. "Come on, hurry up, we have people to scam."

Mabel gives Wendy a small smile. Maybe she's right. There's no point in worrying about it now.

~

Sixth summer

Mabel was so, so scared that Wendy would be different after her first year in college, but she's not. Or if she is then Mabel's different, too—which wouldn't be unheard of, she is seventeen now, after all—so it doesn't really matter, much.

In any case, Wendy treats both her and Dipper the same, and starting from the first hug that summer it's not awkward at all. They talk mostly about how the town's changed—not much, really—or who's doing what. Wendy's friends, or ex-friends, didn't go to college. Robbie went to work for his uncle somewhere in another county, Mabel forgets which one. (Dipper's still happy about that, even though he no longer has a crush on Wendy.) Everyone else is here, somewhere, and Wendy says it's weird seeing them around, but it's not weird seeing Mabel and Dipper, which Mabel will take, happily.

They're sitting around in an empty Mystery Shack. It rained in the morning and even though the sun's coming out now, not many people seem to be out, no tourists in sight. Wendy pokes Mabel's forearm with a pen and says, "What are you listening to?"

Mabel can barely hear her over the music, so she waits until the best part of the song is over and hits pause, looking up at Wendy.

"Listening to boy bands, still?" Wendy asks. "Any new ones currently around?"

"No, I started listening to girl bands," Mabel says, grinning.

"Cool," Wendy says. "What bands?"

Mabel holds the iPod up for Wendy and she smiles. "Cool. My girlfriend likes that band, too."

Mabel pauses, her eyes going wide. "You have a girlfriend?"

"Oh." Wendy shrugs. "Yeah. I didn't tell you?"

Mabel shakes her head.

Wendy looks down at her magazine. "Yeah, at college." She starts tapping her fingers against the desk, a nervous tick Mabel's seen before.

"What's she like?" Mabel asks. "Is she cool?"

"Yeah. I guess."

"What other kind of music does she listen to?"

Wendy shrugs. "Mostly the same as me."

"What's her name?"

"Jenny."

"Is she cute?"

Wendy smiles. "Uh. Yeah."

Mabel grins. "Is she a good kisser?"

"Yeah." Wendy nods thoughtfully, but she's still smiling. "I'd say so." She seems more relaxed now. It makes Mabel happy.

"Do you have a picture of her?" Mabel asks.

"Yeah, I think so." Wendy scrolls through her phone and holds the screen up to Mabel. There's Wendy and a girl with short dark hair and a cute smile.

"She's cute," Mabel says, smiling up at Wendy. "I thought she'd be some really tough chick. Like. You know."

Wendy makes a face. "She is tough. She's really—she's great."

Mabel beams at her. "You like her."

"Of course I like her," Wendy says. "Otherwise why would I be dating her?"

"You didn't like all the boys you dated."

Wendy shrugs. "That was different."

"Because they were boys?"

"No," Wendy says, after seeming to think about it for a bit. "Because they were—who they were. And it was high school and I was different, you know?"

"I get it," Mabel says, even though she's not sure if she exactly does. She's curious about it, though. "Do you still like boys?"

"Yeah," Wendy says, faster this time. "Pretty sure I do. But I like Jenny right now, so."

Mabel smiles again. That's really cute. "That's so cute."

Wendy shoves at her shoulder, but she's smiling, too. "Shut up. Don't you have work to do?"

"No," Mabel says happily. "Hey, we should go to that new place during our break. The one that opened yesterday?"

"Yeah," Wendy says, nodding thoughtfully. "That'd be cool."

Mabel grins at her, and thinks it's nice to have friends you trust and who trust you.

(The new place turns out to be run by a werewolf, but the food is pretty good, so. Could be worse.)

~

Seventh summer

It feels like Gravity Falls is in stasis. Even the air is thick with it, the heat unbearable even after the sun has set. Mabel and Wendy are sitting on the roof, staring out at the dark forest, and the low light still seen in the distance. Dipper's in his room, trying to figure out why nothing seems to be moving. Mabel thinks maybe she should go help him, but he's in his "lone researcher" mode right now, so he's probably doing fine. She'll go down later so he can bounce ideas off of her.

"You know, even if this is really fucking weird, I really don't mind the heat," Wendy says. She's wearing a short red skirt and a bikini top, her hat long forgotten. In fact, Mabel's not sure if she's even seen Wendy with her hat this summer. Maybe it's something she's let go of, with two years of college. She doesn't know. "What do you think?" Wendy asks, looking over at Mabel.

Mabel shrugs. She doesn't really mind the heat, either, or maybe even the stasis. Sometimes time moves, sometimes it doesn't. She's good with that, with letting some moments last, and letting others flicker out like they were never there. (It's possible her psychology class has gotten to her, but she doesn't mind it. She leaves over-thinking to Dipper, but she likes to just—feel, and figure things out like that. Quiet summer nights are the perfect time for it.

"Mabel," Wendy says lightly, drawing her name out. "Don't go all distant on me, it's weird."

Mabel rolls her eyes. "I'm not distant," because she's not, not at all. She can feel slightest touch of wind—maybe Dipper really is close to figuring this mess out—and the heat the sun has left on her skin. Her thigh itches and she scratches at it, pulling the skirt of her pink dress up a bit. "I like the heat. I'm like a cat."

Wendy grins at her and Mabel smiles, feeling warm all the way to her toes. She loves it when people smile at her, especially when those people are her friends. Sometimes she thinks she can never get enough of it.

"So, you and Dipper are both going to the same college?" Wendy asks after a while.

"I think so. If we get in." Mabel smiles. "It'll be fun."

"Cool," Wendy says slowly. "But what if you don't?"

Mabel shrugs. "I don't know. We'll see then."

She is a little worried about that, actually—she and Dipper have never been separated, not really, if you don't count that one time Dipper was sick and they didn't want Mabel to visit him in the hospital because he was contagious. That sucked. But Mabel pushes that from her mind. It'll work out. She's sure it will, she'll make it work out, or she'll come up with something else. She's good at that.

Wendy hms. Mabel raises her eyebrow at her.

"Just," Wendy says, "don't you want to try new things? Do something by yourself?"

"I do things by myself."

Wendy frowns. "Do you? I mean, college is about trying new things and figuring out who you are, right?"

Mabel tilts her head and purses her lips. She understands what Wendy's saying, but—

"Yeah, but that doesn't mean I have to do it alone," she says. "I know you wanted to get away from your dad and your brothers and it was good for you, but that's not what everyone wants."

Wendy's frown deepens and she looks prickly now, the way she does when someone figures something out about her. It makes Mabel feel bad, just a bit, but, well, it's not like it's a secret.

"That's not—" Wendy starts. "If nothing changes then how can you figure out who you are?"

Mabel shrugs. "Things change all the time."

Wendy doesn't say anything to that, but she looks away. She bites her lip, and Mabel wants to kiss her.

The realization isn't like, a big explosion or anything. It's like something slotting into place.

It doesn't make Mabel's breath catch, but instead something warm and comfortable uncurls in her belly. Maybe that's weird on its own. That it's not weird. Everything in Mabel's life has been weird ever since they came to Gravity Falls. She knows how to roll with that.

This is just—Wendy. Who Mabel wants to kiss. Okay.

"Except now," Wendy says, and Mabel startles back to herself.

"What?"

"Things aren't changing now," Wendy says. "Because of the—thing. The weird thing."

"Oh," Mabel says. "Yeah. You're right."

Wendy sighs and lies down, stretching out on the beach chair. Mabel watches Wendy close her eyes, watches her lift up a hand to brush her hair off her face. She turns back to the forest and wonders if Wendy's right, and nothing really is changing here.

~

"You're being weird," Dipper says.

Mabel raises her eyebrows, and Dipper huffs.

"I mean, like, weirder than usual," Dipper amends. "Quiet. You know what I mean."

Mabel shrugs. "I'm thinking."

Dipper pokes her in the arm and Mabel pulls away, scowling. "Weird," Dipper says.

Mabel sighs and rests her head on the counter. It's been a quiet day at the shack. All the days have been quiet lately; Grunkle Stan is out somewhere, trying to find a new fake attraction for the place, and Mabel and Dipper are the only ones working today.

"Come on," Dipper says. "Tell me what's going on." His voice is all gentle, and Mabel remembers thinking once that maybe they'd grow apart in time, maybe she'd start finding Dipper annoying—the way she thinks Dipper sometimes finds her—but Dipper is just...he's always there, and he sucks sometimes, but he's still Dipper. "You being weird is making me feel weird."

Mabel sighs again. "Just—Wendy."

"What about Wendy?"

"She hasn't been around much, lately."

"Well, she's busy helping her dad with stuff, you know."

Mabel's somehow transformed into a person who does nothing but sigh, it seems.

Dipper pokes her again. "Come on, what's really eating you?"

"Nothing, I just miss her."

Dipper squints at her. "Still weird."

"It's not weird," Mabel says, poking Dipper's shoulder. "I just miss my friend."

"Okay, fine," Dipper says, and goes back to working on his book. Mabel knows it's going to be great when it's finished and Dipper is going to be super famous even before he's finished college. It'll be great.

"What if I tell you something?" Mabel asks.

"Like what."

"Like that I—that I like Wendy."

"I know you like Wendy."

Mabel huffs. "Dipper."

Dipper looks up, meeting Mabel's eyes. He blinks at her for a bit, then says, "Oh. Oh, okay."

Mabel raises her eyebrows. "So?"

"I—that's nice?" Dipper tries. "I mean—have you told her?" Dipper's learned a lot about telling people how he feels about them. Mabel is proud.

"No," she admits. "Not yet?"

"Why not?"

"I don't know. Wendy likes people who are cool, you know?"

Dipper makes a face at that. "That's ridiculous," he says. "She likes you."

Mabel rolls her eyes. "Not like that, doofus."

"Whatever," Dipper says. "Wendy likes all kinds of people. You should tell her. I mean—right? That's what you'd tell me, right?"

Mabel shrugs. "I guess."

"Okay." Dipper nods. "So, take your own advice."

Mabel laughs. His brother is ridiculous, but he's also smart and awesome.

"Wait," Dipper says. "Isn't she dating someone right now?"

"I don't think so," Mabel says. "She told me she broke up with her girlfriend at the beginning of summer."

Dipper nods again. "Good. That's—you don't want to, you know. Mess things up."

"No," Mabel says gently. "Not really."

"But now it's perfect," Dipper says, smiling encouragingly. Mabel really loves her brother.

"I guess," Mabel says. "Yeah. I'll think about it."

She's still not—well, she's almost sure about how she feels about Wendy. She's not entirely sure if she wants to tell her. They're friends. Wendy's a great, great friend, and Mabel wants her to stay around for a while, so maybe she shouldn't say anything. She realizes, maybe just a little bit, how hard this was for Dipper.

Except Dipper was twelve, and it was so, so different back then. Mabel remembers being twelve, and being thirteen, and she'll look back at some point and remember being seventeen, and maybe these moments will feel small and insignificant then, but right now they don't.

So maybe she won't tell Wendy yet. It's a nice secret to have, she guesses.

There's a screech from outside.

"That sounds like a—"

"Pterodactyl!" Mabel grins at Dipper, and jumps out of her chair. They haven't seen a pterodactyl for so long. They rush out to the late summer afternoon together, and Mabel forgets all about her worries, as usual.

~

Eight summer

"You know," Wendy says. "I miss a lot of things when I'm away for school, but this is definitely not one of them."

Mabel crosses her arms and frowns at half the town arguing about something, Grunkle Stan in the forefront again, like always, probably scamming people left and right. They never really notice. Mabel's always torn between telling him to stop and being impressed.

"It's not that bad," she says. "Well. Not that unusual."

"No, I know," Wendy says. "It's just loud. I just want some peace and quiet, you know?"

Mabel nods. "Steal Grunkle Stan's car?"

Wendy grins at her. "Now you're thinking."

"Dipper, Soos, you coming?" Mabel calls out. Dipper's still sitting at their table, working on the sequel for his book. He hasn't gotten the first one printed yet, but that doesn't mean it shouldn't have a sequel ready, he'd told Mabel. Soos is watching over him, while watching the crowd. Business as usual.

"We're good, dudes," Soos says. "You go on ahead. Don't want to leave the boss behind." Mabel's not sure if he's talking about Grunkle Stan or Dipper.

"Okay, if you're sure," Mabel says. Wendy's already starting the car.

"Hurry up, Mabel," Wendy calls out, and Mabel runs over, jumping into the passenger seat. Wendy peels out of the lot with tires screeching and Mabel laughs, feeling light and alive. It really is summer.

"So, what did you miss about this place?" Mabel asks when they've left the center of town behind. "Did you miss me?"

"You know I did." Wendy shoots Mabel a grin.

Mabel smiles back. She and Wendy have always talked online during school, but never as much as this year. It made Mabel's last year of high school a lot nicer.

"It's always weird coming back here for, like, Christmas and stuff, when you guys aren't here." Wendy takes a left at the crossroads and heads towards the lake. "I like it better when you're here."

Mabel feels like she could float out into the sky. Wendy hasn't even said anything that special, it's so weird how special it makes Mabel feel. More special.

"I like it here," Mabel says.

Wendy pulls into the parking lot and turns the engine off before looking at Mabel. "So. College, yeah?"

Mabel makes a face. "Don't even. I'm so excited about it that I could puke and so scared that I could puke."

Wendy laughs. "Yeah, it's kinda like that."

"At least Dipper and I won't be that far from each other," Mabel says. Dipper's is in the same city, and the dorms aren't even that far apart. Mabel's glad they have that much, but she gets why they didn't go to the same one. The programs didn't work out for them and even though Mabel doesn't think they need space she gets that Dipper wants it. Besides, she's going to be bugging him at his place almost every day if she can. She's persistent. She has her ways.

"Sorry," Wendy says. "I know you wanted to go to the same one."

Mabel shrugs. "It's fine. Probably. It's gonna be fine, right?" She can't help the pleading look she gives Wendy.

"Of course," Wendy says. "Come on, let's go see how warm the water is." She's out of the car and halfway down the pier when Mabel catches up to her. It's high enough that they can dangle their legs over the edge without getting wet.

"I thought we were gonna check the water?"

Wendy gives her a challenging look.

"No," Mabel groans. "No, I'm not jumping in."

It's just them at the beach, strange enough. It seems the argument that was born out of god knows what has drawn everyone to the middle of town. Or maybe everyone got sick of it and went home. Mabel hopes that's the case.

"Come on," Wendy says. "Last summer before you grow up."

Mabel frowns. "I'm grown up."

"Sure," Wendy laughs.

"I am," Mabel says. "Well, not completely, but I heard that people who are grown up are just faking it, you know. So you're a faker."

Wendy heaves a sigh. "And I was hoping you wouldn't find out until it was too late." It doesn't even make any sense.

"Whatever," Mabel says. "Uh, what are you doing?"

"Taking my pants off?" Wendy asks, kicking her shoes off and undoing her fly. "I'm not getting my jeans wet, dude."

Mabel watches Wendy peel her jeans off, and swallows hard. She has really nice knees. That's probably a weird thing to think.

"Come on," Wendy says. "It might be warmer in the water."

"It won't be," Mabel says, but that doesn't matter. She slowly starts to shrug her dress off. She hasn't really let herself think much about how she like-likes Wendy in a while. Not like—not like this. But it feels kind of dishonest, now, having Wendy be taking off her shirt in front of her, and Mabel just not saying anything. Like she's keeping a secret, and it's not fun anymore.

"Wendy," she blurts out.

Wendy stops unbuttoning her shirt and turns towards Mabel. "Yeah?"

"I—I kind of wanted to ask you something."

"About college?"

"Um," Mabel says. "No." She realizes she has her dress half-off, which kind of looks weird, so she pulls it off completely, drops it down on the pier and kicks her shoes off. She doesn't look back up. "No, not college."

"Okay," Wendy says slowly. Mabel's half sure this is going to go terribly and half sure it's going to be great. "Then what?"

Mabel takes a deep breath and looks up. "I was gonna ask you what it's like to kiss a girl. Like, I thought about it for a long time, but actually this year, I kind of tried it, and it was really nice? And I was going to tell you in an e-mail, but then I didn't, and it was that day your cat got hurt, remember? So I didn't say anything, but actually, that wasn't really the point? Like, the point was something else."

Wendy nods at her slowly. She looks a bit confused, but her eyes are warm. "What was the point?"

"I wanted to kiss you?"

Wendy blinks. "Why?"

"Because I like you?" Mabel asks. Isn't that usually why you want to kiss someone? "I like you."

"Mabel," Wendy says. "You—this isn't, like. God, I don't know." She sighs, and pushes her hair away from her face.

"Isn't what?"

"If you just wanted to know what kissing a girl was like—"

"No," Mabel says. "I mean, I—that's why I kissed Sally from English. I mean, she was nice, and cute, and she wanted to see what kissing a girl was like, too, and we both liked it. It was great. We liked each other, too, for a little while. It was nice."

"Oh," Wendy says. "Okay? But you—"

"I like you," Mabel says. She's getting a bit cold, the sun slipping lower. "Since—like, last summer."

Wendy's eyes go wide at that. "Oh. I. Really?"

"Of course," Mabel says. "Why would I lie?"

"You wouldn't," Wendy says. "I don't think that. I don't think you're lying." She says it fiercely and Mabel blinks.

"Good?" she asks. "Um. Do you want to kiss me, too? Is what I'm asking. I guess." She shrugs, and tries a smile. Her belly feels all tight. It's kind of scary.

"Wow," Wendy says. "Wow, okay, I really didn't expect this."

Mabel moves from foot to foot. "Like, in a good way?"

She watches as Wendy looks down, her fingers still on the buttons of her shirt, and her hair falls over her face again, and she looks so beautiful in the late afternoon sun, and Mabel really, really wants Wendy to want to kiss her, too. She feels like she'll die if Wendy doesn't want that. A bit over-dramatic, maybe, but she embraced that a long time ago.

"Yeah," Wendy says, and when she looks up, she's smiling, tentative, but so warm and pretty and it makes Mabel feel so good. "Yeah, in a really good way."

Mabel grins, feeling so relieved it's like sunlight flowing through her. "Really?"

"Oh man," Wendy says. "Wow." She seems, like, totally blown away, still. Mabel can't kind of believe it either.

"Since last summer?" she asks, and Wendy shrugs, and gives her a tiny nod.

"Maybe? I'm not sure. It was—I remember the day when I actually really thought it. You were playing with a stray cat who'd wandered in, and he hated everyone but you, and you just—I just thought it."

Mabel barely remembers that day. There are a lot of stray cats—and small cougars, and panthers, and sometimes saber-toothed tigers—in Gravity Falls. It's so weird that Mabel might not even remember the exact moment Wendy's talking about, but Wendy knows it clearly.

"Wow," Mabel says. "Cool. Um, do you still wanna go swim—"

She's cut off by Wendy reaching for her hands and leaning in close. Wendy pauses, right before touching her lips to Mabel's, and looks meets Mabel's gaze, a question in her eyes.

Mabel doesn't give her time to voice it; she squeezes Wendy's hands and presses their lips together.

It's slow at first, and chaste, and just a bit awkward, with the way they're holding hands, but then Wendy lets go and winds her arms around Mabel's waist, and all Mabel feels is warm skin, Wendy's mouth against hers, and Wendy's heart beating. It's perfect.

They end up falling into the water by accident, and Mabel discovers that Wendy's hair isn't any less beautiful when it has seaweed in it, and kissing someone you like so much can make even a late June afternoon in lukewarm water feel like the hottest day of the summer.