"Wake up, Sleepin' Beauty!"

Dipper woke up when Stan threw ice cold water in his face, causing him to jump out of bed with a shout.

"What the heck was that for?!"

Stan tossed the bucket to the side. He was already dressed in his signature Mister Mystery suit and tie.

"It's your first day alive again, and your first day as a Mystery Shack employee." he announced.

Dipper groaned, "Seriously?!"

He'd honestly thought that Stan would give him a break considering what they had been through over the past few days.

"Dead serious." Stan replied while stifling mild laughter. When Dipper didn't laugh Stan coughed to break the awkward silence.

"...do you get it?"

"Yeah. I get it." Dipper said flatly.

"Anyways," Stan continued, tossing a hat at him "put this on, it'll help you blend in here."

Dipper turned the hat over in his hands. It was a white and blue trucker hat with a pine tree on it. He recognized it from the gift shop.

"Your shift starts in twenty minutes, chop chop!" Stan ordered, pointing down stairs.

Dipper sighed, slipped the hat on his head, and slumped downstairs past Stan.

"This is gonna be a rough day..." he muttered under his breath.

. . . . . . . .

Mabel had already been working for nearly an hour when Dipper arrived in the Gift Shop.

Dipper could see She was talking and laughing with Wendy. When he began to approach the cash register he suddenly became extremely aware of his surroundings.

Had it always been this hard to walk? And since when did he sweat so much? These questions and more continued to pop up in the back of his mind until his train of thought was finally cut off by Mabel.

"You're awake!" she exclaimed excitedly.

There was no doubt in Dipper's mind that Mabel was going to introduce him to Wendy. The thought made him unbearably nervous. He felt like he already knew Wendy like a friend, yet she had no idea that he even existed until now.

"Wendy! This is my-"

"COUSIN" Dipper cut Mabel off, worried that she might blow his cover. After hearing Stan and Ford last night (he still wasn't sure wether or not that had been a dream) he wanted to make sure that no one knew the truth.

"I'm her cousin..." Dipper paused for a second before finishing, "Tyrone."

Wendy lifted a curious eyebrow "Tyrone?" she repeated, then smiled and nodded "Cool name."

She thinks its cool! Dipper thought giddily, trying his best not to blush.

"Yeah my friends call me Ty." he added.

Mabel snorted and playfully punched him in the shoulder "Haha, what friends?"

"Oooh!" Wendy exclaimed, fist bumping Mabel "Nice one!"

Dipper was definitely blushing now, mostly out of embarrassment.

Wendy looked closer and him, then back at Mabel, "The resemblance is crazy! You two could be twins!"

Dipper forced a fake laugh, "Whaaaat? I don't see it."

Mabel seemed to have caught on with keeping Dipper's real identity a secret, and decided to play along.

"Yeah, we look nothing alike! That's such a weird thing to say! Hahahahaha!"

Dipper coughed and nudged her with his elbow, Mabel immediately snapped her mouth shut.

Wendy's smile faded and she rolled her eyes after mumbling "Valentino at three o'clock,"

"Oh geez.." Mabel murmured, scrunching up her nose in disgust

"What're you guys talking about?" Dipper asked, forgetting to whisper.

The girls shushed him and pulled him under the counter with them.

Wendy peered around the corner and turned back to Dipper. "It's Robbie, my ex." she whispered "He's super clingy, its starting to get weird."

Dipper peered around the corner to look and found a tall, pale teenager with jet black hair wearing all black clothes, (the only color besides black was a red stitched heart on the chest of his hoodie)

"Is that him?" he whispered.

"Yep," Wendy replied, "and hopefully he didn't bring his guitar this time."

As soon as Wendy said it, Robbie took out his guitar and began to sing loudly and off-key. It was easily the most cringe-worthy thing Dipper had ever heard. The worst thing about it was the fact that the only lyric was "Wendy" sung over and over.

"This happens all the time," Wendy said, almost shouting over Robbie's singing.

Dipper was suddenly overcome with a sense of anger toward Robbie. He stood up and clenched his fists. "I'll go tell the guy to beat it."

"What?!" Wendy and Mabel exclaimed simultaneously.

"Dude, he's like twice your size!" Wendy shouted after him as he made his way toward Robbie without bothering to listen to their warnings.

"You're the one who frequently proclaims that you have noodle arms!!" Mabel added, but Dipper still didn't pay any mid toward them.

"He's a gonner." Wendy mumbled.

"Hey, Robbie!" Dipper shouted.

Robbie stopped playing and glared down at him, "What's the matter, kid? You need a baby-sitter?" he laughed before returning to his song.

"Hey!"

Robbie stopped again, looking angrier.

"What??" he growled.

"Leave Wendy alone." Dipper demanded.

Robbie looked slightly offended as he defiantly said, "Pfft, it's not like I'm bothering her or anything!"

"Yes, you are!" Mabel called from across the room.

Robbie narrowed his eyes and poked Dipper in the chest with his finger, "You listen here, junior. This is none of your business, so how about you stay out of it and get back to your video games or whatever."

Robbie began to return to his song. Without thinking, Dipper shoved the guitar out of his hands, sending it clattering to the floor.

Everyone in the room fell silent and watched as Robbie's anger brewed. He shoved Dipper, sending him falling on the floor.

Dipper scrambled back on the floor as Robbie towered over him, getting ready to throw a punch when Stan grabbed his fist just has before he had the chance to swing it.

"Get off of my property, now." Stan said irritably.

"Yes sir, Mr. Pines." Robbie replied immediately without making eye-contact, picking up his guitar and almost tripping over himself in a hurry to leave.

Before he left, Robbie shot a dirty look at Dipper before pushing open the Gift Shop door and slamming it behind him.

"Ugh, teenagers." Stan grumbled before turning to leave.

Dipper stopped him, "Wait, Grunkle Stan, um..thanks for...helping me back there."

Stan cracked a small smile and gave him a clap on the shoulder "No problem."

. . . . . . . .

"Thanks for visiting! Come again!" Dipper called to the last of the costumers before locking the Gift Shop door.

He picked up a broom and began to sweep, his last chore of the night.

Wendy's shift was officially over. She grabbed her jacket and quickly put it on before slipping out the door, "Later, guys! See you tomorrow, Ty!" she called, waving before disappearing.

"Bye Wendy!" Dipper called back, waving.

Mabel had been suspiciously watching him interact with Wendy the entire day. When her curiosity finally got the best of her, she decided to confront Dipper.

"I know what's going on..." She sang into Dipper's ear.

Dipper jumped in surprise and shied away from her.

"Geez Mabel, don't do that! It's creepy." He shuddered.

"YOU LOVE HER!"

"What, Wendy? I do not!" Dipper lied, putting the broom to the side and crossing his arms indignantly.

"Yes you do." Mabel announced, then dancing around Dipper she sang, "Love love love love love!"

"It all adds up," Mabel began counting on her fingers "the blushing, the awkward laugh, you standing up to Robbie- YOU'RE IN LOVE!"

Dipper rolled his eyes, trying to deny it although he was still blushing. He turned his back to Mabel and picked up the broom again the finish up sweeping.

Mabel continued to trail behind him while joking and singing about him and Wendy.

Just when Dipper thought he couldn't take any more of Mabel's teasing, something caught his attention out of the corner of his eye. The vending machine was cracked open ever so slightly, he could see a blue light pulsing from inside. There was no telling what Ford could've been doing, Dipper wanted to investigate.

Putting down his broom, he began to pull open the vending machine to get a better look, just a peek.

Before he could get even the smallest glance, Stan slammed the vending machine shut again.

"What're you doing?"

"No-nothing!" Dipper stammered, innocently grabbing his broom and gesturing at it with his other hand.

"I'm just sweeping, like you told me to."

Stan narrowed his eyes as he spoke, "Never go down there, ya hear me? I don't want you getting wrapped up in Ford's dumb paranormal research."

Dipper didn't want to listen to Stan's warning, he wanted to get wrapped up in Ford's paranormal research more than anything. He wanted answers, and he was going to get them

tonight.

. . . . . . . .

A/N:SURPRISE!! I DECIDED TO RANDOMLY UPDATE OUT OF SCHEDULE! *confetti*

Since I am currently preparing to go back to school, I decided to start updating as much as I can before school starts back so I don't leave you hanging for too long.

And I thought I'd give you guys a break from all the drama with some good ole fashioned Dipper crushing on Wendy.

But of course it will not remain this way...

*maniacal laugher*

Yep "enjoy the calm before the storm" is my advice for you!

I'm really sad to announce that this story is way more than half way over...
I've been writing some drafts for the last chapters and I realized that there aren't that many left (sobbing)

But to get some happy thoughts in here, I'd like to know what your favorite chapter(s) has/have been so far, I'm just curious :)

Please leave your answer in the comments (if you want to), and see you later!

~Cath