Zero Gravity

Tourist True Love Part Two (Will POV)

"Welcome to Pines manor!" Exclaims the woman from earlier, swinging open the front door flamboyantly and gesturing widely into the long corridor.

"Wow. Your brother really let us stay?" Bill asks, jumping up from the cold stone stairs as soon as she appears.

"Uhh...not...not willingly." She says, chuckling.

The woman turns to us and extends her hand. She smiles.
"My name is Mabel Pines."

"I'm Bill Cipher. But you can call me...anytime~" There Bill goes again.

He's dated ten times the girls I have. Unfortunately...zero times zero is still just zero.

Mabel tosses back Bill's phone, which she pocketed earlier.
"Now I can."

And he scampers to catch it before it hits the floor...A failed attempt. But props for trying I guess.

"And what's your name?" She asks me sweetly, leaning down slightly, as if I'm a child.

"Will." I answer quietly.

"Pardon?"

"His name is Will. He's my brother." Bill butts in, nearly pushing me out of the way.

Bill is...he's great most of the time. But he can be a real jerk.

Mabel glances at a clock hanging on the wall.
"This wasn't exactly the best time, though. There's a luncheon with the Zodiac in less than thirty minutes."

"The...Zodiac?" I question. What does she mean? Is she an astronomer?

"It's...well...it's hard to explain...can I see your hand?" She reaches for my arm, it's behind my back.

Bill volunteers his of course.

"I believe it's said: can I have your hand in marriage?"

"No, it isn't. But I respect your one liners. Pick up lines are a form of art."

"As are you." He winks at Mabel.

Bill is a trash can in human form. This is a proven fact.

Mabel studies his hands and drops it back to his side, looking dejected. I wonder if she saw any of the scratches from our "parents".

She gestures for my hand. I'm reluctant to show her but finally I give in and lift it up a little bit.

She sighs.
When she notices us looking at her she straightens her back and assumes her cheery demeanour. She claps her hands together.

"The Zodiac is nothing for you to worry about!" I look over at Bill, to express my curiosity but he's looking away.

"Just stay in your rooms during the meeting." Mabel directs.

Rooms? As in two separate rooms? Luxurious but...I've always been on the bottom bunk bed and Bill on the top bunk. It'll definitely be weird to be apart.

Bill stays quiet after glancing to me. I pretend not to notice.

Mabel unlocks two identical doors on opposite sides of the hallway.

"I'll take this one." Bill says. Pointing a thumb to the first bedroom.

It's not as nice in there, it's significantly smaller. Dirt and dust cloud the premises, spiderwebs twisting across corners. The room appears as though it's stayed untouched for years. I suppose he took this room so that I would get a better one...thanks.

"It's cool because it looks like someone died here." My brother remarks with a little bit too much passion.

"Six used to stay here, that's what I heard. He moved out, though. Nobody is certain where his second room is, or why he felt the need to leave this one." Mabel says.

Bill raises and eyebrow and she jumps a little as she realizes we have no idea who 'Six' is. Mabel rushes to explain. However, she finds herself at a loss for words.

After a moment of silence she rolls her eyes
"Probably experienced some paranormal crap."

"Paranormal?!" I jump at the word, suddenly not so quiet, this is all I've wanted like...my entire life!!

Mabel gives me a lopsided grin.

"Yeah. Mysterious..." She laughs and then stops abruptly.

"Totally fake though. Just local legends."

I feel my chest deflate.

Mabel doesn't speak again. Just smiles as she ushers is into our rooms. Then she scurries down the hall without so much as bidding us goodbye.

Silence.

I plop down onto my new bed and take a deep breath in.

This place is nice. Like really nice. Like the kind of nice that makes all your neighbors try to be your friend. The kind of nice that makes you a local celebrity without talking to a single person. It's really, really nice.

Staring at my reflection in the gold plated mirror across from the bed I notice how unfit I am in such a classy place.

It looks like I was just photoshopped in, because nobody like me is ever somewhere posh like this.

Mabel on the other hand is downright gorgeous. And are her eyes even real? If they were on anyone else I would call them 'terrifying' but she rocks them. She makes them beautiful.

I could never be enough for her.

Not that- not that I have a crush on her! No- that's...

Well, maybe. But it doesn't matter because I'm not good enough for that kind of girl. And it only makes it worse that Bill has an obvious thing for her.

Still, I might not seem like a total street rat if I tried to look a little nicer.

I go to the en suite and find myself looking into yet another mirror. There's no way anyone could sneak up behind me in this place. There's mirrors everywhere.

I pour some water onto my hands and slick back my bangs, this is what all the cool kids in my neighbourhood did but uhh...with actual gel.

A loud creak snaps me out of my thoughts and I jump. Bill must've opened the door across the hall, I can hear his footsteps as he walks down the corridor.

Mabel said not to go to the meeting. She said to stay in our rooms. He wouldn't go anywhere without me, would he?

Wherever it is, he can't hide it from his twin brother. I slip out of my room and rush after him.