For disclaimer on Gravity Falls, please refer to chapter one.
Currently looking for Cover Art commissions.
Testimonials for Chapter Three:
"OMG, I loved it! I wonder what Gideon is going to tell Dipper. It would be funny and creepy if he told Dipper that his sister enjoyed it. I could only imagine the look on his face, lol. Like if Gideon told Dipper that in a jokingly way to get him back and make him mad." - EmmaAugustLover
Thank you for the feedback, EmmaAugustLover! Dipper's first confrontation with Gideon will be revealed in chapter six, so I hope you stay with me for two more chapters to find out!
Thank you to Alisi Thorndyke, sqwirmie, BitterKnitter, CrypticMoonFang, Honeygirl30, Glitchlover66, Rei Star, 1992luke2, Cerulean Pen, HPdarkman229, Piggie-Products, TheBigZ1, and Kurama111 for the reviews! Thank you to 1992luke2, Cerulean Pen, and Piggie-Products for adding to your list of Favorite Stories! Thank you to sqwirmie, Honeygirl30, puppyslipers, MorganPines8998, and thefallingpenguin for adding to your Story Alert! Thank you to Piggie-Products for adding my pen name to your Favorite Authors, as a result of this story! On Tumblr, I would like to thank msalice651 for liking the promotional post for chapter three.
Happy Valentine's Day to all the lovebirds out there... Even if you're single and you're reading this right now, then you're my valentine. Here's my Valentine's Day gift to you! I genuinely appreciate all of your support.
Chapter Four: More of the Story
Mabel sullenly stepped out of the police station, being followed closely by Wendy. The hospital had transferred her there after they completed their standard procedures for a rape case. Careful not to slip on the cement steps leading up to the building, Mabel grasped onto the metal hand railing as a guide. As the two teenage girls crossed the parking lot, Mabel took a glance back at the station, disappointed with the outcome of the consultation with the investigators.
Mabel hurried inside the truck the moment Wendy had unlocked it. She felt safe there. The ride back was just as silent as it had been before, but perhaps slightly less unnerving. She didn't dare look Wendy in the eye, but just as they were leaving, Mabel caught a slightly dejected look on her face. Although the moment Wendy discovered Mabel looking at her, she immediately put on a brave front. It was for Mabel's sake, but the younger girl really wished she could see her true feelings. Then she wouldn't have felt so alone.
At the hospital, Mabel was brought into a standard examination room by the nurse who called her in. After having Mabel dictate her health history in detail, she had her sit up on the examination table. Mabel discovered that the metal was unbearably cold when the nurse had her put her legs up in stirrups, in preparations of collecting evidence from the incident.
Following the routine of gathering samples with swabs, the nurse photographed her injuries for documentation. It made Mabel blush, having to expose parts of her body (her arms and legs receiving the most damage), but she put her feelings aside in order for the nurse to conduct her business. The nurse examiner told her that her underwear accumulated most of the forensic evidence she needed for the kit, asking Mabel's permission to collect the garment. Despite her embarrassment, Mabel knew the nurse's purpose and agreed. She knew Dipper would be furious if she refused any service that would preserve the evidence.
Before allowing Mabel to leave, the nurse spoke to her about treatment for any possible sexually transmitted infection, and prescribed her a prophylaxis. The officials at the hospital filed the rape kit, and transferred Mabel over to the police station.
While waiting on one of the furnished benches with Wendy, Mabel's eyes quickly followed any of the officials rushing down the hall. Many of them paid no attention to them, making the younger girl's anxiety grow as she waited for someone to come over and brief her on her status.
She cringed when she overheard one of the investigators' yell, "Where's the rape case?", carelessly throwing the phrase around as he smacked his mouth on a half-eaten ham sandwich. The employee sitting at the desk nearby, the one that had registered Mabel when she first arrived, pointed to the shivering girl. The man walked over to her, still chewing on his sandwich. His dark hair was slicked with grease, and his mean-contorted face was wrinkled with age. He looked like he hadn't updated his wardrobe since the late 1960s or early 70s.
A file was handed to him by a younger-looking man, possibly someone in his thirties or forties. He was slim, but shorter than the other man, and had a kinder face. Taking a moment to glance at the file, the older investigator looked back at her and asked, "You Mabel Pines?"
Mabel almost hesitated, but she stood up. Wendy answered for her, "Yes, she is."
The younger man extended his hand to shake Wendy's, then gently took Mabel to shake hers. "My name is Andrew Beck, I'm a detective for the whole county." He took a moment to gesture to the man beside him. "I'm working alongside Detective Steve Charles, and we'll be looking after Ms. Pines' case. We were wondering if Ms. Pines would follow us, please? We have some questions we would like to ask her in private."
Wendy encouraged Mabel to go ahead, gesturing that she'd wait for her on the bench.
The two investigators brought her into an empty room. Mabel had seen this kind of room on cop shows before (but not on "Duck-tective"... she guessed ducks didn't have use for rooms like these).
"All right, Ms. Pines, my partner and I would like you to ask you some questions. Just relax, we're not here to interrogate you..." Detective Beck explained.
"But it's an interrogation room..." she pointed out.
"Yes, I know," Detective Beck apologized, "We're sorry about that. The last thing we want to do is make you uncomfortable. But it seems like this is the only room we have available at the moment to discuss these questions with you privately..." Then he added, "We promise to make it up to you somehow afterwards."
Mabel blinked. "... You mean like with coffee and donuts?"
His laugh was let out into a sigh, and a small smile briefly appeared on his lips. "A common stereotype for cops, my dear," he clarified. "But if that's what you want, then..."
"I'm fine," she responded. "Can we start?"
"Of course," Detective Beck responded, continuing to carry his soft, assuring smile.
Detective Charles sat down in the seat across the table, dropping a yellow notepad onto the metallic surface. He glanced up at her while flipping through a few pages. "Was your attacker someone you knew?"
"Y-yes," Mabel answered, her voice shaking a bit.
Detective Charles jotted something down on his notepad, the black ball point pen he used glided over the paper. "Name?"
Her eyebrows scrunched in confusion. "Huh?"
"What is the name of your attacker?"
"Oh! Um," Mabel started nervously. "It's G-gideon Gleeful..."
"Where did the assault occur?"
She took a deep breath. "At a house party in Gravity Falls."
"About what time did the assault occur?"
"Around ten and ten-thirty..."
"Were either of you intoxicated at the time of the incident?"
"No," she answered, a little more quietly than she expected to.
"Did he threaten you with any form of weapon or used physical force only?"
"P-physical force..."
"Would you be able to explain to us how the assault occurred? Any details you could give us could be vital information..."
Mabel bit her lip. The words slowly came out, telling them the course of the terrifying event with just enough detail. She wasn't ready to give them an elaborative description, yet she feared that giving the bare minimum wouldn't support her very well.
When Mabel finished supplying the information, Detective Charles gave her a strange look before asking, "Did you, Ms. Pines, verbally tell him to stop?"
She felt herself shrink back, being caught off guard by his question. "No..."
"Well, then, you willingly let him touch you?" Detective Charles questioned.
"What?" she cringed in shocked confusion.
"Maybe you even liked it, but realized you'd get in trouble with your parents if they found out..."
"Cut it out, Steve!" his partner shouted. "She's just a kid!"
Detective Charles got up to pace around the room, and Detective Beck took his place in the chair. Mabel saw him giving her a sympathetic smile, in hopes to ease the tension in the room. It almost helped. She wished that he had asked the questions.
"Ms. Pines..." the second investigator explained in a softer, calmer voice. "We just need to be sure. Some teenagers decide to have sex and regret their decisions, calling it a rape to cover up the fact that they were doing something that they knew they weren't suppose to do. But that could also be dangerous."
"It wasn't like that!" she cried.
"I know! I know..." Detective Beck consoled. "But if we arrest this Mr. Gleeful, he'll be put jail, or at the very least, juvenile hall. Is this something you want us to do?"
Mabel stared back. "I don't know..."
"You don't need to decide right now. You can always think it over if you need to," he explained. "We'll keep the case on file if you ever change your mind."
Mabel slumped in her seat, thinking Detective Beck's words over. "So what would you like to do, Ms. Pines? Would you like to testify?"
Mabel looked away as she thought over her answer, unconsciously fiddling with a lock of hair between her fingers. Her fingers stopped twirling around, and she again looked up into the investigator's eyes. Once she had given them her answer, they released her from the room. To her left, she saw Wendy waiting for her on a bench. An officer exchanged a few words with the investigators, and a few minutes later, walked over to her and Wendy.
"Are you a relative to Mabel Pines?" he asked Wendy as she stood up from the bench.
"Mabel's under the care of her uncle, my employer," Wendy informed the man.
"I'm sorry, but I can only supply information to the girl's legal guardian," the officer explained.
"But as she's my responsibility, is there anything that you can legally tell me?" Wendy argued, keeping her voice strong and steady. Mabel liked having look after her like an older sister. She could tell that Wendy, having to be one to all boys, liked being an older sister to another girl.
"I am over eighteen, and I can provide identification, if that's what you need."
The officer sighed, and ushered her to come close as he muttered a couple of sentences to her. Mabel could have heard if she strained her ear far enough, but she didn't think it was worth the trouble. "You're free to go now," he said finally.
"Come on, Mabel..." Wendy murmured. "Let's get you home."
Mabel walked down the hall, slowly making her way to the exit, with Wendy following close behind. Taking a moment to look behind her, she saw Detective Charles standing in front of the interrigation room's opening, his arms sternly folded over his chest. She strained to look further behind her to try to find Detective Beck's reassuring face, but she couldn't see him anywhere. Turning herself towards the exit, she hung her head in defeat.
They didn't believe her...
As she mulled over the past two hours' development, Mabel felt the truck pull up into a parking lot. The neon lights radiating from the building across the lot indicated that they were stopping at a Dusk 2 Dawn (a newer, non-haunted location, for that matter) to pick up her prescription and other over-the-counter medication.
Wendy turned the engine off and pulled the parking break on. She flipped up the door handle, letting the door to partially swing open. With one foot stuck out of the truck, she paused to turn towards the younger girl to ask, "You sure you don't need anything else? Ice cream? It's on me."
Mabel kept staring at the glove compartment in front of her. She shook her head and answered, "No thanks, Wendy." Her words dripped with sadness.
"Okay," the redhead said in conformation as she stepped out of the truck. "Hang tight," she added before shutting the door.
Mabel sat in silence, which she thought was either comforting or confining- she couldn't make up her mind as to which one it was. The quiet atmosphere helped her think, but the stuffy, warm air trapped inside the truck blocked her concentration. Sitting in the truck for a mere ten minutes and Mabel got to a breaking point. She had to roll down the window a quarter of a way to breathe in fresh air. Sighing, she let her head rest on the doorframe.
From her peripheral vision, Mabel saw someone walk out of the convenience store. She didn't pay any attention to the person, until she realized that the figure was just standing there on the walkway. Was that person staring at her? She didn't know why, but the thought of being watched irritated her. Maybe Dipper's trait of paranoia had finally started to rub off on her... Lifting her head up, Mabel looked straight at the being. Once her eyes met with the other pair, she flinched.
A boy close to her age stared back at her. Seeing a flicker of dejection settling behind his eyes had Mabel's heart feel very heavy. She opened her mouth, trying to form the words to say to him. Then she had glanced down at the window's ancient hand crank, rolling down the rest of the window as quickly as she could.
With the window completely rolled down, Mabel faintly stuck her head out. She stared at the teenage boy, once again trying to conceive something to say to him. Tears settled against her bottom eyelids, forcing herself to stay calm. The last thing she wanted was to cry in front of him, despite the fact that the reminisces of her last tear shed were probably still apparent on her cheeks.
Her speech began to bubble in her throat, building the confidence to explain herself. She took in a breath of air to ready herself to speak. Then without warning, she felt the vibrations of the driver's door open and the motion of Wendy climbing into the truck. Mabel showed a sign of shock from the sudden occurrence while Wendy initiated the engine. Mabel's gaze stayed fixated on the other teenager until she was forced to break eye contact as the truck began to pull out of the parking lot.
Slumping in her seat, Mabel reverted to chewing on a section of her chestnut tresses to ease the worrying. She didn't realize how much of a habit it was of her to chew on herself, be that of her hair or her sweater. It was a quirk she figured she should break, if she was so easily read by it.
"How's that hair tasting, buddy?" Wendy asked lightheartedly. Mabel smiled bitterly to herself. It was ironic Wendy had said that. The last time she heard the elder girl ask her that, she was troubled by the exact same situation. Though the consequences were more dire the second time around, the circumstances were no different.
"Wendy?" Mabel breathed. "There's more..."
"More of what?" Wendy asked, eyebrows wrinkled in confusion.
"Of the story," the younger girl clarified.
"Who's that?" Mabel asked, eyeing the tall brunette at the other end of the living room.
"Oh, that's Tony," Grenda answered. "He goes to our school."
"He moved here last October," Candy added. "He's already sixteen, but he's in our grade."
"Hmm..." Mabel chimed, wagging her eyebrows.
"Ooh, Mabel!" Grenda teased in a friendly manner. "Do you like Tony?"
"Oh, I think you should go talk to him, Mabel," Candy encouraged. "The two of you would really get along well."
"Well..." Mabel replied coyly.
"Oh!" Candy said abruptly, as if remembering something important. "And he knits!"
"Oh, is that so...?" the Pines girl asked, showing interest. Both Candy and Grenda nodded their heads enthusiastically. "Well then, ladies," Mabel announced, fixing her hair to look her absolute best. "I'm going in!"
Mabel began to stroll through the room to approach the object of her current affection. It was then she was reminded of the house's occupancy, when any possible pathway through the living room became unmanageable. She fought her way through the crowd until she ended up alongside the snack table. Standing up on her toes in hopes of getting a better view, she scanned the room with a critical eye. Drat, I've lost him! she cursed to herself.
Then she saw him. No, not Tony. Him. The dapper-looking stranger with platinum blonde... no, silver hair... and the well-tailored suit. Something about him that captivated her, hypnotizing all of her attention on the particular party guest, until a shove in the back broke her trance and she crashed into the person standing near the punch bowl.
Discovering it was Pacifica she had bumped into, Mabel found herself having a mildly awkward exchange with the town's most popular girl. Their conversation didn't move beyond their scarcely bearable greeting, until Pacifica caught her gazing at the attractive young man. Then the wealthy teen burst about Gideon Gleeful. Mabel didn't want to believe her, unsure how credible the gossip was. Suddenly, her view on the stranger had change, being able to apply a name with the face.
After Pacifica had left, Mabel could feel her consciousness gravitating towards Gideon, only to see that the part of the room he was inhabiting was empty. Still, her eyes stayed locked on the spot as she began to zone out. Staring at his striking features had put her in a daze, as if she had forgotten what she was doing in the first place. Why had she wandered off from Candy and Grenda? Oh, right. She was trying to find someone, and she couldn't remember who it was... It all seemed unimportant when she started staring at Gideon.
"Hey," a voice beside her greeted, snapping her out of her thoughts.
As gentle as it was, it still startled her. Turning her head, she feigned a smile to acknowledge her welcomer. It had taken an entire second for her faux expression to instantly brighten into her genuine mien when she matched the face with the voice.
"Are you Mabel?" the boy asked.
"I see my reputation precedes me," Mabel flirted, batting her eyelashes. The young man laughed.
"I thought so," he said with a smile. "Candy has told me a lot about you. You're exactly like she described."
"Was it something like silly and sparkly?" Mabel asked humorously, and again he laughed.
"No, no! It wasn't anything like that, I promise," the taller teenager said quickly, hoping she wasn't offended.
"I'm joking!" Mabel laughed. The boy joined in with a chuckle.
"I'm Tony," he introduced, extending his hand out to shake her own.
Mabel warmly accepted his handshake. There was something about him that made her mind feel at ease. The way he laughed and smiled at her in attempts to cover up his shyness made her feel so much better than she had in the past fifteen minutes. She felt her old confident self returning.
"So... I've been talked about..." she said with a sly grin, twirling a lock of hair between her fingers. Tony gave a small, nervous laugh.
"Candy and I had pre-calculus together, so we ended up talking a lot," the teen continued his spiel. "She said she really wanted me to meet you."
"Did she want you to meet me just because you like to knit?" Mabel teased.
"Oh..." he said with an uncomfortable smile. "I guess news travels fast...?"
"It's okay, you don't be embarrassed about it. I think it's very manly!" Mabel clenched her arms and flexed her muscles like a body builder. "Grr!"
"Yeah, well, it makes for good business..." Tony informed her. He broke eye contact from her for a moment to direct their attention to somewhere across the room. "See that guy over there?" Mabel looked where he pointed to until she saw a teenage boy wear a charcoal grey beanie with turquoise skulls in the pattern. She nodded. "I made the hat he's wearing."
"Oh! It's so festive!" Mabel remarked, and Tony pointed out another party goer.
"That girl there?" She wore a decorative necklace-like scarf crochet out of mint green yarn, with translucent beads and sequins sewn on.
"That's cute!" Mabel shrieked with delight.
"That was a commission piece," Tony explained. "Kind of made me nervous since I don't crochet all that much. I usually just make hats for guys."
"I usually make sweaters," she shared. "For myself."
"Oh, yeah, Candy was telling me you're always wearing these crazy sweaters. I'm kind of surprised that I recognized you without one..." A quizzical expression flickered on his face.
"Yeah," she said with an exasperated sigh. "It just got too stuffy in here to leave one on."
Tony made a sound of amusement. By the way Mabel saw him picking at the snack bowls, she could tell he was anxiously trying to think of something to say. "So you're from California..." he asked, changing subjects. "Oakland, was it?"
"Piedmont," Mabel corrected. "but close enough. Where are you originally from?"
"Nowhere interesting," he recounted, rubbing the back of his neck with his hand as he shifted his weight from one leg to another.
"Oh, come on!" Mabel groaned playfully. "It can't be that boring!"
"All right, you got me," he joked, putting his hands up in faux defense. "I'm from Spokane."
"See? Second biggest city in Washington, that's not so bad!" Mabel reassured.
"Well, you certainly know your geography," he observed.
"I did a school report on Washington back in the fifth grade," Mabel explained like it was no big deal. "Those kind of facts just stick with you."
"Oh, by the way... Your earrings," Tony pointed out. "Are those... crinkle french fries?"
"Oh," she responded self-consciously, fondling one of the earrings with her fingertips. "Yeah... I know it's silly, but-"
"Actually, I was going to say that they're pretty awesome," Tony said.
Mabel giggled. "Oh, you scallywag!" She could get used to Tony's company. It helped her get her mind off of Gideon.
Gideon, she thought. She turned away from Tony for a moment, frowning worriedly. Glancing frantically around the room, Mabel hoped that Gideon was gone. Or perhaps, she hoped that she would be able to still see him there in the room, so she knew where to avoid him.
Tony's smile seemed to wash away, and replaced with concern. "Mabel, are you okay?"
Mabel snapped her attention back to Tony. "I'm fine!" she answered, forcing a smile.
"Oh, good," he said with a sigh of relief. "I thought I made you uncomfortable."
"Oh, no," she insisted. "Not at all." It's not you, she added to herself.
Their conversation died, resulting in the both of them snacking on the assorted finger food. For Mabel, it was the fruit salad. For Tony, the pretzels. Mabel wanted to kick herself for ruining the mood between them. They were really hitting it off, and it led to this? Guess she wasn't going to have her epic summer romance this year...
After several passing moments, it seemed like that life of the entire room had subsided and not just between them. That was, until a shirtless male- wearing a pink tutu and plastic dress-up jewelry- streaked through the living room. An uproar from the crowd brought back the energy to the party. Some of the other guys were hooting out comments, "Gay!"
"Yeah, but do you really call it being gay or just being fabulous?" Tony humored, loud enough so only Mabel could hear him, but she noticed he was speaking to no one in particular.
"Works for me," Mabel returned with a witty response. "I like boys who sparkle."
He stared back for a silenced period of time, blinking at her. A nervous smile surfaced on his face again. "... You mean like vampires?" he asked.
"Oh, no," she corrected. "I'm not really into vampires that much anymore. I just like boys who sparkle."
An amused smile crept up on his lips. "Well, hey," he started, pinching the black and white checkered shirt he wore underneath his leather jacket. He tugged the fabric up to show the silver threading in the pattern. "That's why I wore this shirt tonight."
"Tony, you're hilarious!" Mabel laughed, lightly slapping him on the shoulder. "Quit it!"
"Mabel!" someone shouted. She turned her head to see Grenda urging her to come her way; Candy was alongside her, silently motioning the same way. "Mabel, get in here! They're breaking out the karaoke machine!"
"C'mon!" she shouted excitedly, taking Tony by the wrist and dragging him to the family room. Mabel was drawn to the colored lights emitting from the open door, sparking an excitement in her (she had the grin to prove it). Her hand traveled from Tony's wrist to his hand, casually lacing her fingers through his. Entering the room, she saw platform constructed out of plywood was set up on one side of the room, set up with speakers and the karaoke machine Grenda had mentioned.
Mabel stopped abruptly when she saw Pacifica blocking her pathway, her grin disappeared instantly. The blonde's hip popped out, with her hand rested on it. She didn't like the look on Pacifica's face.
"Pacifica?" she asked in confusion, using her free hand to brush a strand of hair out of her eyes.
"Mabel!" Pacifica ordered. "I need you on stage..."
"What?" Mabel asked in confusion, just before Pacifica took her by the wrist and dragged her on the stage platform set up on one side of the room. She could feel her grip on Tony's hand loosen, until her fingers were completely released from his. "Wait, what are you doing?"
"Mabel, hon," Pacifica explained. "What's bigger than a karaoke duel?"
"A duet?" Mabel offered.
"Exactly!" she explained. "I say we team up for this one song, and we blow this party out of the water..." Pacifica held out an extra microphone to her, and Mabel stared at it.
Glancing around the room, then back to Pacifica, Mabel let out a tiny sigh. "Teens of the U.S.A.?" she suggested.
"That'll do," the blonde replied, positioning herself underneath the spotlight. "Turn it up, Juan!"
The instrumental track started before Mabel's mind could process what was happening. She glanced to the side, where she left Tony standing, then to the front where the rest of the audience were. The bright lights made it too dark to see them properly, the only thing she could make out was their dark outline. Her anxiety subsided when she heard Grenda's cheer of "Go Mabel!" somewhere in the crowd, and when the spotlight directed at her, Mabel started singing.
Pacifica took over the next section, until both of them came in to harmonize on the chorus. By the time they sang the second chorus, Mabel had put in all of her energy into her performace. Even Pacifica seemed to enjoy rocking out alongside the Pines girl. Together, they sang the ending, "We're the teens! We're the teens of U.S.A.!"
"Encore! Encore!" The crowd was getting riled up.
Mabel turned to Pacifica, and her once-rival turned to her. "Told you this would be bigger..." the blonde said smuggly. Then something (or probably someone) caught her eye. "You can take over this one, hon," Pacifica announced, handing Mabel her microphone as she stepped off the stage in a model-like walk. "Got places to be, people to see!"
The crowd's "Encore! Encore!" soon turned into "Mabel! Mabel!"
She looked out to the audience. Great, now what? Not that it was a competition or anything, but... How was she suppose to top that last number by herself? Taking a moment to glance around the room, she then got an idea. Mabel went off to the side of the stage, leaning over to Tony's eye level.
"Tony, you've got to do this next one with me!" Mabel said urgently, waving her hands frantically to usher him on the platform.
"N-no, thanks, I can't," he protested with a nervous smile forming at the side of his mouth. "I really don't sing."
"Oh, come on!" Mabel whined, pulling the same line she used on him earlier. Hey, if it ain't broke... "You can't be that bad!"
"Seriously!" he raised his voice over the crowd's increasingly loud volume. "You don't want to hear me sing!"
Before he could object to her request any further, Mabel snatched his hand and pulled him onto the stage. "Get up here!"
Mabel decided that they should sing a rendition of "Don't Stop Fixin' My Heart". Tony started out on the vocals, standing rigidly underneath the spotlight. When Mabel joined in, she took his hand into hers and sqeezed it. Like an owl, Tony snapped his head towards her with wide eyes. She held onto him tightly, successfully achieving her purpose with the reassuring gesture as Tony relaxed his body and a smile appeared on his face.
"Oh, ho! Everybody doesn't kno-o-ow!" Mabel crooned along with the instrumental track.
"Everybody doesn't know!" Tony sang back, making up with enthusiasm for the lack of skill he claimed he had. Mabel thought he was selling himself short. He sounded just fine! Sure, he wasn't pop-star spectacular, but he was easy on the ears. She'd be his karaoke partner anytime... Before long, they were coming to a close with the song.
"Don't stop fixin' my heart!" Tony crooned.
"I won't stop fixin' your heart!" Mabel bounced back.
"Don't stop fixin' my hea-a-a-rt!" their voices rang out with the last line of the song.
The crowd was going wild, chanting her name continuously. "Mabel! Mabel!"
Mabel eagerly turned from the audience to catch sight of her singing partner. Tony smiled at her.
"Hey, Mabel... I was wondering, would you want to grab a bite to eat at the diner before it closes tonight?" he suggested, shyly rubbing the back of his neck with his hand. "I could go for some killer pancakes, and the pretzels at the snack table aren't cutting it for me."
"You like pancakes?" she gasped. "Me too!" Mabel exclaimed. "Look at this!" She motioned her hands, one alternating with the other to him and to her, epitomizing their connection with each other.
"Great!" he proclaimed. "So you think you want to leave in ten?"
"Sure, I just need to grab my sweater and tell my friends that I'm leaving," Mabel explained.
"I'll wait for you at the front," he proposed to her, jabbing his thumb in the general area of his destination. "Sounds good?"
She nodded enthusiastically. "Yeah, I'll catch up with you in a bit!" Soon, the two teenagers temporarily parted ways.
"Grenda! Candy!" Mabel squealed excitedly, hurrying over to her girlfriends as if she were hopped up on sugar. "Tony just asked me out to pancakes!"
"Yeah!" Grenda cheered for her friend, pumping her fist in the air. "Mabel, you're such a total rock star!"
"Most certainly," Candy agreed, adjusting her glasses carefully. "We'll see you next week?"
"Well, of course!" Mabel zealously answered. She glanced over her shoulder animatedly, then turned to her friends one last time. "Okay, ladies!" Mabel called, giving her friends a wave goodbye. "Don't wait up for me!"
Mabel could hear Grenda yell out, "Have fun!", while Candy called, "Be safe!" to her. She excitedly ran out of the room, through the living room and out into the hallway, where the bottom of the stairs were. Finding herself at the base, Mabel stared up the darkened stairway.
A chill crept up on her, shivering at the sensation. The night was cooling down, so bringing her sweater turned out to be a smart idea after all. Still, Mabel couldn't shake off the nagging feeling she had. It was the kind of ominous feeling any seven-year-old felt when they approached a dark room, fearing that a monster would appear from the shadows.
Oh, who was she kidding, she was fifteen, not seven! You're acting riduclous! Mabel silently scolded herself, taking a hold on the banister. Slowly, she walked up the stairs.
End of Chapter Four
Author's Note: I know I promised you this chapter two weeks after Christmas, but I involved myself in a numerous amount of projects. I apologize that with concentrating on these other assignments, it put yet another hold on this story. But less than two weeks ago, I realized it was time to give my attention back to this story to honor the premiere of the new episode "Boss Mabel" (airing Friday, February 15th at 9 p.m., ET/PT).
Congratulations to Kristen Schaal for winning Voice Acting in an Animated Television Production at the 40th annual Annie Awards! Oh, and kudos to you if you know the name of the songs that Mabel parodies during karaoke!
14 February 2013