Chapter 1: Love At First Sight

Lily saw the wasp before her grandfather did. And she did what only came natural to her: she rolled down the truck window and watched it gradually fly it's way out unto the highway.

"Lily, put the window up. I already have the air conditionin' on, and all that wind is distractin'."

"Sorry, Pop," she replied. Her grandfather was usually crotchety, but he used a weak brand of it on her. And whenever he looked into her tranquil eyes, he couldn't help but feel less cranky. Lily had that affect on people.

Lily was being co-pilot for Pop, checking an old yellowed map that was torn down the middle and taped up again, giving him directions while he drove. He claimed he couldn't read past the tip of his nose, so Lily was forced to "volunteer" to aid him. She understood entirely why her grandfather would want to drive somewhere in the middle of nowhere to relive in his old town, but she didn't understand why she had to go along for the ride. After all, who would want to live in a place called Gravity Falls?

She knew her parents were trying to keep her safe, but she felt that they could have at least picked a relative who didn't need a kid giving him confusing map directions. There were her aunts, her uncles, her cousins, even a couple of second cousins who would be willing to take care of her. But she knew the real reason why her parents were dead set on choosing her grandfather over anyone else: he was dying. He knew it, his kids knew it, his grandkids knew it, everyone knew it but no one spoke about it, so no one really knew how much the other knew about his illness. His cancer. Pop wasn't too old. He was barely pushing sixty three. But he could feel his life coming to a close.

Lily had overheard the conversation between her parents over why Pop was the least ideal, but the only choice they had: he had made a promise to Gran-Gran before she passed away at the age of sixty five that he would look out for Lily, their only grand-daughter. Lily sighed forlornly at the thought. They had been close, Lily and Gran-Gran.

Another reason why her parents had Pop do this crazy chore of care-taking for his grand-daughter was because since he was dying, there wasn't much more that he could do except to try and fulfill his dying wife's request. And the only way to do that, was to take her somewhere fairly secluded, and protect her there.

Lily looked up from the creased map, and saw their fast approaching destination on a sign to the right of the highway: Gravity Falls. The dusty town that Pop had grown up in. The dusty town that she now had to grow up in as well.

But on their way into town, Pop pulled over into the parking lot of a tourist trap shop along the roadside. He got out of the beat-up red truck, and Lily followed him, with an obvious question furrowed on her brow.

"Jest stopping to see an old acquaintance," he said in answer to her unasked question. "Then we'll be on our way into town. Hmm," he said to himself. "The place hasn't changed much, but why not we go inside and see for ourselves?" He walked to the porch, and opened the front door to the shop.

Lily read the enormous sign posted on the roof of the building. Mystery Hack? she thought. She followed behind her grandfather, a little timid, a little impatient, and a lot confused. What would she find here?

Dipper Pines was wiping a jar of eyeballs clean of dust and fingerprint smears. His next job would be to dust the jackalope in the museum wing of the place, and then to restock a shelf with bobble heads of his great uncle. Just another day in the Mystery Shack. Although half the time, he felt as though he were in a demented version of "Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium."

His twin sister, Mabel, was goofing off in front of the counter. She kept rearranging the candy, trying to determine which brand was more worthy of being bought the most. Soos, one of the actual employees at the shop, was fixing a light in the ceiling and was balancing precariously on a chair. Then there was Wendy, sitting behind the register, reading a magazine, and still looking as though she were bored sitting there for hours at a time. Dipper fixated his gaze on the teenager.

She was one of the coolest girls, maybe one of the coolest people, he had ever met. She was smart, resourceful, nice, and had lovely red hair. And she was totally out of his league.

He once told her his true feelings, even though he knew fully well that he didn't have a chance with her. She of course told him that she didn't have those sort of feelings for him, but that he was the funnest guy she ever met, and if it weren't for him, her summer would be a total bust. Even so, he felt heart-broken all the same.

I know I can't like her, he thought. But I can't imagine falling in love with any other girl. It's too impossible. It's illogical. It's- it's-

His train of thought was interrupted by an elderly man who walked right through the shop as though it were a familiar place to him. But Dipper didn't remember ever seeing him here before. Everyone, except Wendy, paused in their activities.

"Is Stanford Pines around anywhere?" he asked in a no-nonsense manner.

"Grunkle Stan," called Mabel. "It's for you!"

"All right, I'm comin', I'm comin'," answered the equally cranky old voice of Stan Pines. He came through the museum doorway, and entered the shop. "What's the emergency?"

"Stanford Pines," remarked the old man in remembrance. "It's been a while."

"Do I know you?" asked Stan, confused.

"Remember the boating incident of '73?" the old man asked him.

Stan paused in thought, trying to conjure the memory the man had spoken of. "Or how about meatball fight of '66? "

"Oh yeah, I remember that!" Stan slapped his forehead in sudden remembrance. "Old Popper, where've ya been all this time? Haven't seen ya in ages." Stan turned to his grand-nephew and grand-niece, who were puzzled by this new development. "Kids, this is my old pal, Popper."

"Back in high school, they called me Popper because the way I played at basketball, I just seemed to pop across the court," the man explained.

"Never let the team down," said Stan, wrapping a shoulder around his old friend.

Dipper didn't think that a conman like his great-uncle could have friends, but he was in for another surprise. Peering through the front door, and slowly walking in and closing it behind her, was the most beautiful girl Dipper had ever seen. He dropped the rag he was using to shine the jar, and just stared.

It was her eyes. Those eyes like jewels, set in a perfectly sculpted face. The way her hair fell around her face was just flawless, like a rainbow that makes a perfect arch in the sky. Her fingers seemed so delicate and gentle, like they couldn't hurt anything in the world. Dipper just couldn't stop looking at her eyes. Those eyes, like warm flames and cool water at the same time.

Dipper didn't realize he was staring until his sister snapped him out of his trance. "Dipper? Dipper!" She waved a hand in front of his enraptured eyes, and he abruptly came to his senses. Mabel had been introducing herself and some of the other residents and employees of the Shack to Lily, and had awaken Dipper luckily before the girl could catch him staring at her.

"Dipper, this is Lily," said Mabel.

"Hi," said Lily, shyly. Dipper heart leaped. Her voice! It was so soothing, that it put him instantly at ease. Which made him strangely more nervous. At the moment, he felt so awkward, he had to escape from the room.

"Oh, I just realized I need to elope the dust," he remarked. "I mean jackalope the dust! I mean-" he groaned in frustration of his blithering behavior, and rushed behind the curtain, tripping over his own feet in the process. He got back on his feet, and continued running inside.

What was that all about? Lily asked herself. She wished he hadn't left. She thought the kid was kinda cute. OK, very cute. A little awkward maybe, but that made him cute too. I hope he doesn't think I'm weird, she thought. Unfortunately for Lily, that was exactly her problem.