Chapter 6
"Dipper, how can you hide this? I have your besmirched lips captured on my phone! You've GOT to tell me what happened!"
"Mabel..." Dipper held his sister by her shoulders. "Mabel, I would, but I promised Wendy I wouldn't say a thing."
Mabel frowned, and for her this was a rare event that indicated the depth of frustration in trying to get the juicy details from her brother.
"Then...I'll let the camera do the asking...I'll show the picture to Wend..." Dipper snatched the phone out of her hands.
"Not if I delete it!"
"Dipper NO! How can you do this to me?" She started crying.
"Oh Mabel..." Dipper knew he could never win this one. "Here."
She snatched it back but was still crying.
"Mabel, how can you do this to me? Can't I keep promises to my friends?"
Mabel looked up. "Oh I'm sorry brobro. I'm just not used to...to being second to another girl." And she managed a smile.
"Thanks Mabel. Please don't give Wendy a hard time about this, please?"
She sniffed and wiped her nose with the sleeve of her nightgown." 'kay..."
They hugged. Then Dipper walked over to his bed and took off his shoes.
"Dipper?" She was still sniffing.
"Yeah?" and he continued getting ready for bed.
"She...she might break your heart you know. I...I just want to know details to...protect my one and only brobro."
He smiled and got up, and walking to her in stocking feet hugged her again.
"Thanks Mabe. Don't worry, she won't. She has made it clear we're not...not a thing."
She looked up at him through the hug.
"But the lipstick...?" Dipper could see the wheels turning again in her head as she asked. He rolled his eyes.
...
The next morning Mabel decided she could use a loophole in her agreement with Dipper not to "Give Wendy a hard time."
As Wendy came in and settled in behind the register Mabel walked up to her with the phone, waving it around with a flare. If she asks me well I can't refuse, it wasn't ME who initiated anything!
"Hi Wendy!"
"Hey buddy. What'cha got there?" Ah-HA!
"Oh just a picture of Dipper coming home last night...from movie night..." and she flipped it around to show Wendy.
"He looks surprised."
"Look closer."
Wendy looked at the photo again. Her eyes went wide. Then she looked at Mabel, lowering her eyelids back to "laid back" mode. "Yeah. So?" and she opened a magazine.
"Whhhhhhhhhhere do you think the lipstick came from, huh?" Mabel began tilting the phone back and forth as she asked, but Wendy didn't respond except to turn the page. "Well I know. It had to be you kissed him again, didn't you?"
Wendy continued to ignore Mabel. Mabel decided to let her concern out, full force. She leaned over the counter to face Wendy and pulled down the magazine capturing Wendy's attention.
"Wendy, don't play with my brother's heart. Don't lead him on! If you break his heart..."
Wendy stood up out of the chair and looked down on Mabel, frowning.
"I am NOT leading him on and he KNOWS I am not playing with him because I TOLD him! I have been nothing but honest with him Mabel. Don't make up things that aren't there."
"But...the lipstick...?" now Mabel's face was pleading.
Wendy sighed and rolled her eyes.
"Dipper hasn't told you anything , has he?"
"Nope."
Wendy smiled for a moment. "I should have known he'd keep his promise, and since it is obvious he still left you in the dark you must have been making his life a living..."
"Don't say it Wendy. I love my brother and I would never do anything to hurt him."
"I would never hurt him either Mabel. Promise." She sighed and sat back down in the chair.
"Look Mabel, I didn't kiss him...on purpose. I was asleep when...it happened. I had no idea I did it, and if I were awake I certainly would have never ...kissed him. I was asleep!"
Mabel looked Wendy in the eye. She wasn't lying. That would explain her attitude and yet the lipstick at the same time...and it kinda matched what she thought Dipper was hiding. She relaxed.
"OK Wendy. I'm just looking out for my brobro, you know?"
"I know Mabes. But you sure are relentless! Haha!"
And they smiled at each other.
"OK Wendy. Thanks."
...
Mabel was on her way up the stairs, when she ran into Dipper coming downstairs.
"Hey Mabel, I was just coming to look for you."
"Me?" She looked down the stairs at Wendy. "But uh...Wendy's here."
"I know. Listen, would you want to like, you know...hang out with me tonight? Watch some movies maybe?"
Mabel's eyes went wide. "Me? Watch movies...with you? For reals?"
"Yeah man, like, for reals."
Slowly a smile widened across her face. "Yeah! Sure! I'd love to! But...why aren't you ...you know...watching with Wendy tonight?" and she tilted her head as she asked.
"Well...I think I need a break...from...you know...all the drama and ...romantic roller coaster...haha."
Mabel glomped him, almost knocking them both down the stairs.
"Sure brobro! Movies and hot chocolate and marshmallows! Quality time with my broseph!"
"Yeah! But...uh...Mabel..."
"Yeah?"
"You haven't been dreaming lately, you know...of guys...?"
