It was a quiet, peaceful day in Gravity Falls, Oregon. Nothing seemed to be happening, as most of the inhabitants of the town were having a carefree, lazy day. It seemed like the entire town was at a standstill. Time seemed to pass a bit slower than usual, as if life was suddenly set to slow-motion mode. For Mabel Pines, it was a miserably boring day. Even fewer tourists than normal were visiting the gift shop of the Mystery Shack, where she had been forced to spend her morning cleaning. And even worse, everyone else seemed to be occupied: Stan was showing a group of people whatever scam he had found recently, Wendy and Soos were running the gift shop (to an extent, anyway), and Dipper was reading his book.

Without anyone to keep her company, Mabel felt like there was simply nothing fun to do today. She had flirted with all the guys who entered the gift shop (a total of two) for the majority of the morning with no luck. It became clear to her that she would have no luck fulfilling her dream of a summer romance here, so she finally decided to try another tactic. Mabel ran upstairs to her and Dipper's bedroom, put on her favorite sweater/headband combo, and returned to the gift shop.

"Hey Dipper, wanna go somewhere?" The young girl eagerly asked her twin brother. It was nearly noon, and she knew that their shift at the gift shop was almost over by now, so she was almost certain that Dipper would join her in relieving her boredom with a good, old-fashioned adventure. He was always up for that type of thing.

Sadly, Dipper didn't even bother to look up from his reading. And after what seemed like forever, he shook his head slowly.

"Nah, I'm busy. You go ahead Mabel." He replied with his head still buried in his book. "Maybe I'll catch up with you later."

Mabel pouted and started to walk away, when suddenly there was a hand on her shoulder. She turned around excitedly, hoping Dipper had changed his mind, only to find a tall ginger girl smiling down at her.

"You going to the town?" Wendy asked.

Mabel smiled and nodded quickly, thinking that maybe the teen would take some time off 'work' to hang out with her or something.

"I was supposed to meet Robbie there like, soon. You mind giving him this note if you see him?" The older girl asked, finding a scrap of paper somewhere behind the counter and scrawling something onto it quickly.

Mabel tried to hide her disappointment, keeping a smile plastered across her face. "Sure!" She said with a nod, taking the note once Wendy had finished writing. She shot a quick glance at her brother, who she now noticed was staring at Wendy. He didn't seem too happy that Wendy was sending what was probably a love note to her boyfriend. Mabel held up the piece of paper, stuck her tongue out at her brother, and continued on her way to the Shack's exit.

Once she was in the town, Mabel instantly ran over to the first boy she saw. He was standing in front of the grocery store, and he appeared to be around her age. He was a perfect target.

"Hiya! I'm Mabel! Are you a parking ticket? Because you've got FINE written all over you!" Mabel giggled, trying her best to look adorable.

"W-what?" The boy stuttered, completely shocked, turning around to look at her. After seeing that Mabel was only about two inches away from his face, he backed away from her quickly and ran inside the store.

"Rats! I must have scared him away with my girlish charm! I better tone it down a bit..." The young girl told herself. Just as Mabel turned around, she was suddenly face-to-face, or more like face-to-chest, with a tall teenage guy in a black hoodie. From the almost overpowering smell of anger, hormones and body spray radiating from the teen, Mabel instantly knew who it was.

"Hey loser, where's that wimpy brother of yours?" Robbie snickered, glaring down at Mabel menacingly.

Mabel backed up a bit and glared right back up at the older boy, rolling her eyes. Mabel didn't hate anyone. She was a firm believer in second chances, and she was sure Robbie had an excuse for being such a jerk to her brother, but right now, he had no excuse to be rude to her. At the moment, he was aggravating the usually happy-go-lucky girl.

"He's at the Mystery Shack, with your girlfriend!" Mabel replied with a smirk. "Oh! And Wendy gave me a note for you!" She added, reaching into her sweater pocket and getting out the piece of paper.

Robbie looked skeptical, but snatched the note from her hands nonetheless. He silently mouthed the words as he read the note.

Mabel read Robbie's lips and couldn't hold back a slight giggle once he had finished.

"She's breaking up with you…in a note?" She laughed. But once she saw the look on Robbie's face, a mixture of anger and hurt, her smile disappeared. She cleared her throat. "I mean, that's so terrible! Sorry, Robbie!" Mabel whispered, awkwardly patting the older boy's shoulder.

Robbie took a step away from her and scowled. He crumpled up the note and threw it onto the ground. "Ugh! This is totally lame!" He complained, pulling his hood over his head and shoving his hands into his hoodie pocket. He turned to sulk away, but Mabel grabbed his arm.

"Robbie…I'm super sorry. Wendy shouldn't have broken up with you like that. That was totally uncalled for. Any girl would be lucky to date you, even if you are kind of a jerk." Mabel said. She looked up at the teen and smiled somewhat sympathetically. She wasn't exactly sure why she was comforting Robbie after how he treated her brother, but she really hated seeing people sad.

Robbie looked down at her, his face unreadable. "Yeah, whatever, you're right. Now get off." He grumbled, prying her hand off his arm with little effort and turning around again.

Suddenly, Mabel had an idea.

"Robbie! Wait!" She called, stepping toward him.

He didn't turn around, but he stood still for a moment.

Mabel played with her hair, suddenly feeling slightly nervous. "When I said any girl…um, well, I'm always an option?" She offered.

Robbie turned around to face the younger girl and looked down at her questioningly. "What?" He half-laughed. "Are you kidding? Aren't you like…ten or something?"

Mabel crossed her arms. "Twelve." She corrected. "At least give me a chance! People tell me I'm irresistible!" She winked and smiled up at the teen, her braces shining in the sunlight.

Robbie blinked at her for a while, unsure of how to respond. Honestly, he was hoping that she was just messing around. When she said nothing, he let out a sigh.

"Look, do you even realize how bad it'd look if I dated a dorky pre-teen? I have an image to uphold, kid!" Robbie scoffed, seemingly shocked by the mere idea of it.

Mabel shrugged. "Who cares what people think?" She asked, swinging her arms dramatically to emphasize her point.

Robbie looked at her from head to toe, making a disgusted face.

"Obviously not you…" He muttered, pointing at her sweater. Before he could attempt to get away again, Mabel grabbed his arm tightly and looked up at him, pouting and making puppy-dog eyes. Robbie looked down, wide eyed with shock, obviously beginning to get irritated.

"Pretty please?" Mabel begged, fluttering her eyelashes.

Robbie groaned. "Alright, fine! Whatever! As long as you promise you'll leave me alone after this!" He muttered.

Mabel grinned victoriously and jumped up and down for a bit. "I promise!" She said, twirling around. "I'm dating an older man!" She added with a dream-like sigh.

"Yeah, yeah, keep it down. There are people around." Robbie growled. "Come on; let's just get this over with." As he spoke, he turned around yet again and began to walk down the street. This time, much to his surprise, Mabel didn't try to stop him. She skipped along after him, still not sensing his irritation.

They kept walking until they got to the park near Smoky Toe's All You Can Eat Restaurant. Robbie stopped for a second and looked over his shoulder to see if Mabel was having trouble keeping up with him. Much to his dismay, she was right behind him. With a sigh, he quickened his pace and walked into the park.

"Ooh! A park! What a great place for a date!" Mabel exclaimed, looking pleased.

Robbie sighed. "Whatever. I'm just here to do some graffiti. Then I'm leaving, and our little 'date' is over, okay?" He grumbled.

Mabel pouted. "Aw! But Robbie! Think of all the fun we could have!" She complained.

Robbie scowled. "Fun?" He laughed. "Apparently we have different ideas on what 'fun' is, Mabel." The teen shook his head and removed the backpack he'd been carrying. He took out two cans of spray paint then scoped the area for a good place to do some graffiti, deciding to ignore the younger girl for a bit.

"You're going to do graffiti in a park…in the middle of the day? Isn't that illegal? What if someone sees you?" Mabel asked, sounding a bit confused. She walked over to the makeshift swing set and sat down, watching Robbie from a distance.

"Pfft-Right, like someone would see me when we're in an empty park." Robbie said, rolling his eyes.

Mabel shrugged. "Well, you never know, someone could always walk past." She told him.

Robbie sighed. "Okay, well if you're so concerned, how 'bout you tell me if you see anyone around here?" He asked, sounding a bit aggravated.

"Okay!" The younger girl exclaimed, beginning to swing a bit higher so she could tell if anyone was nearby. "The coast is clear for now!" She told him, staring out toward the sidewalk intently.

Robbie nodded, his eyebrows raised a bit, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. "Good to know." He muttered, dragging his backpack over toward the clock tower and starting to work on his latest 'masterpiece'.

After he had painted for a while, he looked over at Mabel. She was still looking outside the park to make sure he didn't get caught. Robbie shook his head and looked back toward his painting. It hadn't taken him very long, but he was quite pleased with how it was turning out so far. He had gotten the idea as soon as he read Wendy's note to him, because it was exactly how he had felt. And now, as he continued to work on it, he felt like he was painting his very thoughts onto the clock tower. Thoughts that no one would ever imagine him having. It was like he was showing the whole town just who he was underneath his 'tough guy' exterior. He usually didn't paint things like this, he kept them to himself in his sketchbook, but once the inspiration had hit him, he knew that he should paint this, and not another 'explosion' or skull or something like that.

Having Mabel with him made it a bit hard to paint something so serious to him, but he kept at it. He had never really had a problem with Mabel. It was Dipper who he didn't like. Dipper, who waltzed in and acted like he was worthy of hanging around Wendy. Wendy, who Robbie had been in love with since he moved to the town. It wasn't like he could blame Dipper for liking her, but it annoyed him that Dipper thought he should be the one to be with Wendy. But now it was Mabel who annoyed him. Mabel with her stupid sweaters and equally stupid headbands, acting like she could cheer him up when she obviously had no clue how he was feeling. Trying to flirt with him as if it would somehow help. Robbie scowled and added some details to his painting.

Mabel continued to swing and keep lookout, but before too long she had grown bored of doing nothing but stare at an empty sidewalk. Her curiosity was beginning to get the best of her, so decided to look over at whatever Robbie was painting.

"Oh wow! That's super good!" Mabel exclaimed, putting her hands on her cheeks and nearly falling out of the rickety swing. She slowed down a bit, jumped out of the swing, and ran over toward Robbie, admiring his painting with genuine surprise. She glanced from the 'muffin-explosion' on the water tower to his most recent work, her eyebrows raised in shock. "Have you been taking art lessons?" She asked him.

Robbie glanced over his shoulder at her and shrugged. "Nah, I've just been more inspired lately." He said plainly, putting the finishing touches on his painting. Robbie stood up and took a few steps back to admire his work.

He had painted the shadow of a man whose posture was like a crumpled piece of paper. There was a heart-shaped hole in his chest, and rain was pouring down on him. It had turned out exactly as he wanted it to.

As Mabel got a closer look at the painting, she pouted. "Wow! This is so depressing! Why doesn't the poor guy have a heart?" She asked.

Robbie rolled his eyes and put the paint cans back into his backpack. He was a bit angry that Mabel was basically insulting his painting. His painting that she would never understand, just like his feelings for Wendy that she would never understand. "Because a stupid girl ripped it out." The older boy muttered, half to himself. "Love sucks, Mabel. Remember that." He added, a bit louder.

Mabel gasped. "Love does not suck, mister! Love is amazing and powerful and super beautiful!" She told him, putting her hands on her hips.

Robbie laughed quietly. "What makes you say that? You're twelve, and I'm pretty sure you've never even been in love before." He told her, a bit harshly. "If you think love is so great, then you've obviously never had your heart broken before."

Mabel was silent for a moment. She thought back to the note Wendy had wrote to Robbie earlier and his reaction to it. Suddenly, she realized that Robbie must actually really care about Wendy. Maybe that's why he was always so mean to Dipper. And maybe he was right; she really did know nothing about what it was like to be in love.

"It's a really good painting…" Mabel whispered, attempting to smile, before turning and running toward the exit of the park.

Robbie turned around and watched her leave, and he felt slightly bad about what he'd said to Mabel. Even if he was upset, and even if he was actually sort of relieved that she'd left, he still felt like a jerk. Usually, he wouldn't care. But something about the girl's kind, braces-filled smile made him regret being so mean to her. He wasn't sure why, but for some reason, he found himself actually caring that he'd made her upset.

"Great…" Robbie muttered, slinging his backpack over his shoulder and taking off after her.