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It looked so cute. The big red dress, the round eyes, the cheerful smile, the blonde pigtails, the bow in its hair... Anna, that's what Gabe was calling her and she was his newest favorite. Sitting right on his desk, always at his side. Sometimes, when he was sitting at that desk and working on his next puppet play, he would even affectionately stroke the doll's head and whisper sweet little things to it.
It was adorable.
And Mabel hated it.
And she really didn't have any reason to. After all, it was her who specifically picked Anna out in a shop and bought her for Gabe. Mabel should be grateful that her boyfriend was appreciating her gift so much and always kept it at his side. But still, she felt the bitter pangs of jealousy...
But jealousy over what, exactly? It wasn't like she was being neglected for this doll. It wasn't like Gabe wasn't spending time with Mabel, because he absolutely was. Always involving her in his plays, always taking her with him on walks and events and showing her off with pride. His precious little dolly, that's what he had called her one time in front of other people, on one of their many walks...
Mabel remembered giggling and blushing about that compliment back then... but now she despised it.
Her hand slowly reached out and picked Anna up. For a few minutes Mabel just held the doll at eye level and stared hard at its face, as if Anna might actually start talking and answer all of the burning questions that kept plaguing Mabel's mind for weeks now. When the doll didn't do that, Mabel, in her frustration, began squeezing the delicate body in her hand. Harder... and harder... and then she stopped.
No. No, she shouldn't break his gift like that. And besides, it was just a doll. It wasn't responsible for her problems.
"Sorry, Anna.", she quietly apologized to the doll's smiling face, as she gently put it back on Gabe's desk and took a step back. Looking around the rest of his room, she could see all of his other dolls and puppets, just sitting around on his various shelves and tables. Some of them were made by him, some were made by Mabel... but all of them were clean and pristine and clearly well cared for. It was obvious that their owner loved them very, very much.
My precious little dolly. Mabel's stomach churned for a moment, as she thought back to her boyfriend's compliment. He might not have even thought much of his own compliment, but Mabel sometimes wondered if he even cared for her half as much as he cared for his puppets. But then again, he always did so many things for her and showered her with a lot of gifts, like that pretty red dress he bought for her the other day.
Was she being ungrateful?
Blaming him for his hobby, when he always made sure to include Mabel in it as well? Was she just being a bad girlfriend?
After all, the puppets never complained about his treatment of them.
But of course puppets couldn't talk or articulate their own feelings. Not like Mabel. Like how she chewed Gabe out that one time. They were both about to perform a puppet play together on stage, one that they had been working on for a month, and her boyfriend had felt it necessary to make a rude remark about her choice of clothes for the show, right when they were about to start.
What resulted was a long argument that same night, in which Mabel had spent several minutes ranting to him about how it was her right to choose what to wear - all while her boyfriend insisted that one must always wear their best clothes, if they wanted to present themselves and their art well. And then she had stormed out of the room, but not before throwing one last angry remark his way.
"You can't just dictate my life like that, Gabe!"
You can't just dictate my life.
Mabel sighed. Maybe that was the root of her issues. The way he always pampered her, always showed her off, always made sure she looked and acted her very best, especially during their plays... and then criticizing her when she failed in that regard. Sometimes it seemed like he only respected Mabel for her looks and her talent in puppets.
Well, it wasn't like Mabel could complain too much about it. After all, Gabe had made it pretty clear from day one, back when she was still trying to win his heart, that he regarded puppetry higher than anything else and didn't see a problem with dumping people for sub-par puppet making skills. And still, even knowing all of that, Mabel had pursued him. So really, did she have a right to complain about his behavior now, when she already knew back then what she was getting herself into?
It had been the rose-colored glasses. She had just been too infatuated with him back then... Or maybe not even with him, but rather with the idea of love in general, of finally being in a relationship. Just the thought of finally finding a prince charming for herself had been enough for Mabel to send her straight to cloud nine.
If only those early feelings were still present. If only she could make the relationship work. She wanted it, more than anything, to just be happy with her boyfriend and not have to feel inferior to him and his beloved puppets.
She had tried so hard to make it work over these last few months. Always swallowing down her own frustration, whenever he had criticized her; always appreciating his gifts and wearing them out in public; always working together with him for several weeks at a time on his next idea for a show... She had bend herself into the ideal girlfriend for him - always fulfilling his wishes, while neglecting her own needs.
She had become his perfect doll.
Suddenly Mabel had to avert her gaze from all the dolls in this room, as if their very eyes were all silently judging her... saying to her that, for as hard as she tried, she could never measure up to them. They were all perfect and pretty and were always loved by Gabe, while she was just an inferior version... one that didn't meet his standards. No matter what she decided to do, Gabe would always continue to find flaws in her.
Mabel would've loved to say that it was just her own imagination and fears; that there was no way that Gabe regarded her that way. But she couldn't. Standing here in this room and thinking about it clearly and calmly, it was the only conclusion she could come to.
...So what did that mean for their relationship?
Her brother's words entered her head, telling her all about how Gabe was just a pretentious jerk and how she would just be better off dumping him. Back then she had still been too smitten with the tall, blonde boy and had disregarded Dipper's opinion. But now she wondered...
"What should I do?", she asked Anna in a cautious whisper, still half-expecting a clear answer in return. But of course none came. This was a decision that Mabel had to reach for herself. Was she willing to keep this relationship going and put in the work to fix it? Could it even be fixed?
She kept staring at Gabe's desk for several minutes. There was Anna, always right by his side. There were autographs of himself. There were some sewing materials for his next puppet. There was a photo of him, from one of his shows...
...but not a single photo of Mabel herself.
That was when she made her decision. She calmly walked over to the desk, picked up some paper and a pen and began writing a quick message for Gabe's return. After she was done with that, she left his house - never once looking back at the puppets - and began calling Dipper on her phone.
She clearly owed her brother an apology now, for dismissing him before.