Mabel's Candlelight Supper

MABEL'S CANDLELIGHT SUPPER

by Dangercide

 

"Is it hot in here? It's awfully hot in here," Dipper wiped the sweat beading on his forehead. "Mabel, could you open the window?" He stood at the window straightening his bow tie for the fourth solid minute.

 

"It's already open, Dipper, and the only thing hot in here," Mabel smiled from ear to ear, she was laying on her stomach on the bed, "is you for Candy!" She buried her face into the pillow and squealed a girlish squeal while kicking her legs.

 

Dipper blushed, "Stop it."

 

"Stop what?" Mabel asked teasingly.

 

"That thing."

 

"What thing?" Mabel rested her cheeks on her hands.

 

Ever since she'd set the two up on her 'Magical Mystery Tour' ploy out in the woods she'd been reminding Dipper of his relationship status every chance she could get. Dipper's cheeks turned red every time she brought it up. "Anyway, just don't embarrass me on purpose tonight, okay?"

 

Mabel gasped in fake shock. "I'm sure I have no idea what you're talking about."

 

"Yes, you do," Dipper opened up a little tin of hair gel and slicked back his hair as best he could. "Because you do it all the time, especially in front of..." Here we go, thought Dipper.

 

"In front of girls you like?" Mabel's smile somehow got bigger. Dipper turned back to the mirror with a 'harumph' and worked his hair as best he could into a semblance of order. "Listen bro, I'm the one who set up the Magical Tour thingy and I'm the one who set up this up tonight. Plus, Candy's my BFF..."

 

"You've known her for how long?" said Dipper.

 

"Ugh, long enough for her to be my BFF!" she frowned.

 

"Just don't be weird tonight," Dipper tried to smooth out his hair with a comb.

 

"Fine! I promise not to be weird," Mabel hugged her pillow, she smiled again, "as long as you promise that I can be as weird as I like at your wedding reception!"

 

"Mabel!" Dipper's cheeks, on cue, turned fire hydrant red. He tried to ignore her.

 

"And then you'll have little half-Dipper half-Candy babies!" Mabel started jumping on the bed, "And they'll be twins! And I can be their Auntie! And you two will name your baby girl 'Sun' but we'll call her 'Sunny' and the boy can be called 'Jerome' and..."

 

"Tyrone..." whispered Dipper.

 

"What was that?"

 

"Uh, uhm, don't you have something you need to be doing?" Dipper started sweating and hoped she didn't notice.

 

She didn't. "Oh Em Gee, you're right! I still have to put the bread-sticks in the oven!" She vaulted off the bed and out of the room."

 

"Well that was a freebie," said Dipper to the mirror.

 

She ran back in and gave Dipper a quick hug, "I promise not to embarrass you tonight." She ran out again.

 

"Thanks, Mabel." He smiled and went back to fiddling with his bow-tie.

 

--

 

Grenda and Candy were walking on the road towards the Mystery Shack. It was a dirt road, but Candy's white dress was still clean. The only thing the dirt was clinging to was her red backpack and her feet since she was wearing sandals, but Dipper probably wouldn't notice either.

 

"Is it noticeable?" Candy started fiddling with the thing behind her ear.

 

Grenda stopped and faced Candy, studying her for a moment. She gave her a thumbs up and smiled.

 

"Do you think he's going to be able to hear it?"

 

"We already tested it," said Grenda, "Plus Mabel said she'll have that boombox playing so the music will be too loud." Candy still looked worried. "Hey, if worse comes to worse just get up to use the bathroom and take it off."

 

They continued walking. Candy stopped again. "I'm too nervous, tell them I got lost and eaten by a bear."

 

Grenda picked up Candy and carried her over her shoulder towards the Mystery Shack. "You'll be okay." Candy didn't struggle. "You look gorgeous honey, plus you've already kissed him. That's more than I've ever done with a boy." The Mystery Shack came into view...at least to Grenda.

 

"You're a good friend, Grenda," said Candy looking over her shoulder at her friend's face. Grenda set her down gently when they reached the porch.

 

"Just remember to have fun," Grenda smiled, "we'll be with you in a sec." She gave her a wink.

 

--

 

Ding! Dong! The doorbell rang. Dipper's heart leaped into his throat. In the past he would've gone over his Checklist, but now he was winging it and started hyperventilating.

 

"Mabel! Get the door!" yelled Gruncle Stan. Dipper ran for the stairs but he felt lightheaded. He stopped to take a breath. "Fine! I'll get it!" It was after eight at night. That meant...

 

"Gruncle Stan's not wearing his pants...Gruncle Stan! Don't move! Stay right where you are!" Dipper swung the door wide and tumbled down the stairs.

 

"Ehn?" said Stan, slackjawed and scratching his boxer shorts, his hand moving towards the doorknob.

 

Dipper recovered quickly and put himself between the door and Stan. "No! Go go go! I got it!" He started shoving him into the other room out of eyesight.

 

"Oh is that your girlfriend or whatever?" Stan didn't make an effort to move, instead, allowing Dipper to manually push him away. Ding! Dong! The doorbell rang again.

 

"Well...sorta," Dipper gave a final push and he was finally in the other room.

 

"You two kids have fun," came Stan's voice from the other room, "and don't touch any of the merchandise!"

 

Ding!

 

Dipper swung open the door. Candy smiled.

 

Dong!

 

She was wearing a white wide-strapped dress that went down to just above her ankles, and a...red backpack? That must've just been one of her things. Dipper smiled back at her and looked her in the eyes. Her hair was jet-black and smooth and wafted ever so slightly. She started looking left and right.

 

"Oh! Sorry! Come in! Please come in!" He stepped out of the way so she wasn't standing in the doorway.

 

"It's good to see you again, Dipper," she stepped in close to him. He felt his arms go limp.

 

"It's good to see you too, cause, you know, it's always good to see you, I mean, you're always great to look at, is what I'm trying to say..."

 

Candy stepped in closer, "you look nice too..." He didn't know if this was one of those moments where you lean in and kiss. Was this one of those moments? He went with his gut instincts and leaned in. Before he closed his eyes, he saw her doing the same.

 

"Wehl-cuhm, to ze Chez Maybell, mah littelle lav-behrds!" said Mabel three feet away. The two jumped back. Candy letting out a little gasp. Mabel was dressed in a black sweater that she'd stitched a crude felt cummerbund to. She'd also drawn a twirly mustache on her upper lip. And that was undoubtedly her French accent. Oh no. "Ugh, geeze, did I ruin a moment between you two? I can't believe I did that!" She palmed her forehead.

 

"No, it's okay," said Dipper taking Candy's arm. Candy blushed. "So, where's this dinner you promised us?"

 

Mabel let out a sigh and held her hand above her face, when she brought it back down past her chin she was back in character. "Oui oui! Right zis way, mon frere!"

 

--

 

Mabel had covered a small round table in the backyard with a red and white checkered table cloth to serve as Chez Mabel. Dipper pulled out Candy's chair for her and scooted her in as she sat down before seating himself. Mabel pulled out a long grill lighter she'd borrowed from Gruncle Stan to light the two candles separating Candy and Dipper. One was an emergency candle she'd found in a junk drawer and the other was a fat vanilla scented candle she'd brought with her from home. Soft piano music drifted lazily from a nearby boombox.

 

"'Ere are ze menus for ze Messieurs and Mademoiselle," she handed them two large pages of stationary paper she'd secreted from Gruncle Stan's office and painstakingly decorated to look like authentic menus with her markers, colored pencils, and ribbon. There was only one entree, one appetizer, and three drinks to choose from. Water, Pitt Cola, and Milk. Candy looked thoughtfully at her menu as if taking great effort to decide. Dipper just closed his and rolled his eyes.

 

Fifty feet away in the Mystery Shack, Grenda and Mabel stood huddled over a handheld radio.

 

"They're not saying anything," said Grenda.

 

"Give them time," said Mabel, "They have to look over their menus." She pressed a button on the side of the radio, "Candy, come in, Candy, if you can hear us...then...tell Dipper that he's got a hot butt!"

 

They were met with dead silence. Then a voice whispered over the radio, "No, it's too early for that..."

 

"What was that?" came another voice. Dipper's.

 

Candy rustled her hair to cover the ear-piece just in case he saw, "It's too early...to order...because...I'm having such a difficult time making a decision?"

 

He looked confused, "Well, it's three drink choices, and every thing is free...so you could probably order one of each." In his head, Dipper congratulated himself on achieving such a sensible conclusion.

 

"Ha, yes, I guess I could do that," Candy buried her face in the menu. She felt so tongue-tied.

 

"Although..." continued Dipper, "Milk and soda almost never go well together...unless it's a root-beer float, or a Purple Cow. Have you ever had a Purple Cow?"

 

Candy looked as nervous as she felt. " A purple...what?" She wasn't going to come out from behind the menu any time soon.

 

"Oh, a Purple Cow is where you take a scoop of ice-cream and some grape soda, and..."

 

"Aahnd what shall we be ordairing for ze evening!" Mabel reappeared with a tiny notebook.

 

"Oh, I guess I'll have a Pitt Cola," said Dipper.

 

Dreaded silence filled the air for five seconds before Candy realized it was her turn. "...me too, I guess," said Candy.

 

"Ah, vaihry good! And what shall we be having for ze main cauhrse?"

 

Dipper sighed, "There's only one thing to get, Mabel."

 

"And zhat would be?"

 

"The thing you've been cooking for the past two hours."

 

"Which eez?"

 

"...I helped you make it."

 

"And how can I bring eet to ze taybell unless you tell me what eet eez fahrst?" Mabel smiled.

 

Dipper looked annoyed, "We'll have the spaghetti and meatballs with some bread-sticks, please." He handed her his menu.

 

Grenda's voice came over the earpiece, "Did you see him order your food for you? Now that's a man. I am seriously all kinds of jealous right now!"

 

A hand started tugging on Candy's menu. It was Mabel, but Candy wanted to stay behind her stationary Chez Mabel menu a little longer. She finally pulled it free and gave Candy a brief double-thumbs-up before disappearing again inside the house.

 

"How's it looking out there, Mabel?" said Grenda. She looked worried.

 

"Still too early to tell, Grendelicious," she let out a sigh. She'd give them a few minutes to get the mood going and sweep in with the food if things got out of hand.

 

--

 

Candy started kicking her legs under the table. She still couldn't look Dipper in the eyes. But why? She'd already gotten the hard parts over with. She'd held his hand and they'd hugged and even kissed that night in the deserted cabin. Why was she so nervous now, of all times?

 

"So...uh, how...was your day?" said Dipper, trying to siphon some kind of conversation from her.

 

Candy held a spoon where Mabel had laid the silverware. She began to fidget with it. "It was good..."

 

Dipper folded his hands. "Good...good...mine was too."

 

Candy could've kicked herself. "Oh, sorry."

 

"What? What's wrong?" He gripped the sides of the table.

 

"I should've asked you how your day went..."

 

"Oh," Dipper relaxed. "Oh no, you're alright."

 

Inside the house Mabel started biting her nails, Grenda started fidgeting with the radio. Mabel took the radio from her.

 

"Okay, Candy, come on. Conversation skills. I know you got 'em," Mabel was glad Candy couldn't see how nervous she looked.

 

"So," said Candy. A long pause permeated between the two. She was searching for a question to ask him but she couldn't think of anything.

 

"...so," said Dipper. He looked down at his feet.

 

"Yeesh," said Grenda.

 

"I know," said Mabel. She pressed the button on the radio. "Alright Candy, look around you. Find something to talk about. Anything at all."

 

Candy wanted to curl up in a ball. She looked around for conversation pieces. Trees? Dipper's hat? Nothing. An owl flew off a branch on a far away tree. "Owls," said Candy.

 

"Uh...owls?" said Dipper.

 

Candy's eyes widened. If Dipper weren't so nervous he probably would've found it endearing. "There are...owls. Lots of owls..."

 

"...uh-"

 

"-in Gravity Falls!" Candy pursed her lips. She didn't want to say anything else for fear of making things worse.

 

Dipper sat there in silence for a moment. "Yeah...probably."

 

"This is not good," said Mabel. She had accidentally been pressing the button so Candy heard her comment. "Candy, this is Mabel, tell him that you think he's a hottie and that you have dreams about him all the time."

 

"No," coughed Candy.

 

Grenda took the radio, "Don't listen to Mabel, Candy. You gotta take things at your own pace, girl. Listen, I don't have a lot of 'experience' dating boys...or talking to boys...or...being around boys..." Grenda looked sad all of a sudden.

 

Mabel looked confused, "...but?"

 

"...but what?"

 

"Okay, I think that's enough 'advice' from Grenda's side of the room."

 

"Hey!"

 

"What you need to do is..."

 

--

 

Candy tried to ignore the voices in her ear. They were only making things worse. The more she listened to them the more she was ignoring Dipper. She looked around the backyard for further things to talk about. The silence had grown intolerable. The moon? The candles? The table? "Mabel sure went to a lot of effort tonight," said Candy focusing on the table.

 

"Huh? Oh, yeah. She's never really even cooked before, so I guess we're in for a wild ride," said Dipper.

 

"That's a lie!" said Mabel over the radio, ignoring her argument with Grenda. "I've cooked stuff before...I'm just not a freak about it or anything..."

 

"Shush!" said Grenda.

 

"I don't really know how to cook either," said Candy absentmindedly.

 

"Oh no, I'm sure you cook beautifully!" Cook beautifully? Dipper wanted to clone himself just so he could hit himself over the head with a newspaper. Who cooks beautifully? What did he say? Now it was his turn to look nervous.

 

Out of nowhere, Mabel appeared. "Here are ze drinks," said Mabel, plopping down a small platter with their Pitt Colas. She narrowed her eyes at Dipper. "And I 'ope you are 'ungry becauze ze Chef 'az been well known for ze cookeeng skeelz," she leaned in and almost whispered, "especially for 'er dezzairts at 'er Grandma's Christmas parteez...you know...zose cookies vif ze frosteeng," She turned quick enough that her hair smacked him in the face. She walked briskly back into the Mystery Shack.

 

Candy was glad that she finally had something to do besides fidget with her hands. She reached for her drink. Ugh, Mabel put ice in it.

 

"Is something wrong, Candy?" said Dipper. He looked kind of sad himself. No doubt he was regretting agreeing to any of this. No doubt he regretted kissing her that one night.

 

Of course something was wrong! This big date that they'd been planning for what felt like forever was going horrible! She'd had no problem talking to Dipper before. She even found the courage to tell him how she felt about him. But now...now she felt like she was at a table with a complete stranger. And if she couldn't even look him in the eye on an 'Official Date' date, how was she going to act around him any other time? Why would he even want to be with her? Why would he even want to be around her? If that Wendy girl were here they'd probably be talking up a storm and laughing. She wanted to cry.

 

"...Candy?"

 

She looked down into the cola. "It's just...the ice," she lied. "I just...like it more when my soda isn't cold." She set the cola down and put her hands on the edge of the table. She was pushing herself away from the table to go.

 

"You too?" She looked up at him. He was smiling. He was smiling that adorable smile that always made her smile too. "Crud, I thought I was the only person on the planet that likes drinking their soda warm."

 

Candy scooted her chair in and rested her elbows on the table. "Oh no," she set her drink down, "as a matter of fact, in Germany it's always served warm in all the restaurants."

 

"Get out of town!" said Dipper, he leaned on his elbow.

 

"And if you ask for ice, they use the ice from the freezer where they keep all the fish cold..."

 

"Ahaha, that's gross, unless you know, you like fish cola or something!" laughed Dipper. Dipper took a sip from his soda.

 

Candy took a sip from her's too. That's one of the things she liked about Dipper, he made her feel...what was the word? He made her feel like she wasn't the only person in the room all the time. She always felt so...separate from everybody else. When she connected with somebody like Grenda or Mabel it felt like she'd been rescued from a deserted island. And whenever he talked to her, she felt like there was finally somebody there next to her. Like there was finally somebody in this universe that she was sharing an experience with.

 

--

 

Dipper took a sip from his cola. When Candy giggled it came as much from her nose as from her mouth, and it made Dipper's cheeks go red. A small tuft of hair dropped down in front of her glasses, but she made no effort to move it. If he weren't on the opposite side of the table, he'd consider moving it behind her ear. He was pretty sure that was romantic. He caught himself blushing.

 

Candy reminded him a lot of Mabel, in a way, but at the same time, she was kind of like himself too. Like Mabel, she was goofy, quirky, and fun, but like Dipper, Candy was practical, inquisitive, and...well...awkward. It may sound stupid to other people, but he came to realize that finding someone just as awkward as he was, was oddly...comforting in a way. And the fact that she was so cute was just a bonus.

 

"So Candy, how has your summer been so far this year?"

 

Candy looked down at her feet, but she was still smiling, "...it's been really fun. Especially since you and your sister arrived. Do you like Gravity Falls?"

 

He had come up with the perfect response instantaneously. He would have said, 'I liked Gravity Falls the moment I got here, but I didn't start loving it until I met you.' Instead, he got to the word 'moment' when Mabel interrupted with...

 

"Your zhpagetti and meatballz messewer and madam! Cooked, by ow-air vairy exspearionced chef!" The plates she was carrying were covered in pie-tins which she removed after setting them down gently. "I 'ope your dinnair at ze Chez Maybell is both a memorabull and hhhhhhrrrromantick one! Zee boo flay!" Dipper was sure she didn't know what Zee boo flay actually meant. She bowed graciously with a flourish and backed away quickly into the Mystery Shack.

 

Dipper picked up his fork and began twirling some sauce and pasta into a little ball. Candy appeared to be doing the same. "So, uh...no forks tonight? You know, with the, uh, fingers?"

 

Candy took a few seconds to process what he was talking about. Candy looked down at her bookbag. "Oh!" She contemplated breaking them out.

 

Mabel's voice came over the radio, "Stop right there, Candygram! Resist the urge! You're just here for a simple dinner, no need to make things complicated."

 

Candy slowly reached down for the fork-claws she'd stowed in her bookbag just in case, but decided against it. "No...no, you can only eat spaghetti with one fork...unless...unless you were ambidextrous..." she made a mental note to learn how to be ambidextrous for maximum spaghetti-eating efficiency in the future. She did, however reach for a spoon.

 

"What's the spoon for?" asked Dipper after swallowing his first bite.

 

She cupped the spoon against the end of the fork as she twirled the pasta. "With the spoon in place, you can get as much spaghetti as you want onto the fork without having it slip off the end." She smiled and took her first bite. "Mmmm...this is really good."

 

"Huh, I never thought of that before," he picked up his spoon and tried it. All the big things, the similarities, the qualities, not to mention her cuteness, those were all things that made him like her. But it was the little things, the things like the way she laughed or the way she found new ways to do stuff that made him...made him really like her as something more than just a friend. "It's weird to think that all these years I've been letting my spaghetti fall off the end of my fork like a chump..."

 

"Grrmmphmm" said Candy, before swallowing her food and trying again, "There are lots of things around you just looking you in the face that you never think about," she moved her hair out of her face, "but when you do, you wonder why you never thought about it before..."

 

The flickering flame from the emergency candle gave her face an orange glow. She smiled. The reflection of it danced in her glasses like her eyes actually were that tiny flame. Dipper offered his hand across the table, Candy blushed and reached out for it.

 

"I guess it's kind of like-"

 

"Breadsticks!"

 

Mabel had appeared behind the table in the shadows. Candy jumped back a little. "I forgot the breadsticks! Also, I got some Parmesan cheese, oh, I mean, I 'ave ze breadsteeks and ze Parmezahn cheeze for ow-air custom-airs zis evvening!" She smiled holding a tiny pencil box with the breadsticks in one hand, waiting for a response. Both Dipper and Candy looked disapprovingly at her and let the silence do the talking. She set the breadsticks down. "Okay, so, uh, if you guys need anything, just let me know...you need me to refill that soda?"

 

"We're fine, Mabel," said Dipper.

 

Mabel rocked back and forth. "...aaaalright." She backed away slowly again before jogging back into the Mystery Shack. Dipper rolled his eyes and smiled. Candy smiled back.

 

She took the ear-piece out when he wasn't looking and quickly tossed it under the table. For some reason, she didn't think she'd be needing it.

 

--

 

"It was really good spaghetti," said Candy as she gave Mabel a tiny hug in the living room.

 

Mabel beamed, "Aw, thanks!" She had washed off the pen drawn pencil mustache and put on a violently neon green sweater. "It pretty much took me all day to make..."

 

Dipper walked in, "It took 'us' about a half hour since it came from a jar and all."

 

"Hey! I put spices and junk in the sauce, it didn't come straight from a jar!" Mabel looked angry and held her hands firmly at her hips, but she softened and went back to grinning. "Anyway, I'm glad you had a good time tonight, Candy."

 

Candy looked around the room and slung her backpack over her shoulder. Once again, she didn't quite know what to say, "So...Grenda, I guess we should get going..."

 

"Oh, I'm going to sleep over here tonight," Grenda gave a devilish look, "We were thinking that Dipper could walk you home."

 

He smiled. "I'd be delighted."

 

"So I guess I should come in and make an appearance or whatever," came Gruncle Stan's voice from the other room.

 

"NO! No, no, no!" Dipper opened the door and began gently pushing Candy outside, "You just keep doing what you're doing!"

 

"Sounds good. You heading out? Stop by the gas station and pick up some milk!"

 

Dipper walked outside and closed the door behind him. Candy grabbed the hook of his arm and they both started to make their way toward the road.

 

"I had a really good time tonight, Dipper," said Candy. She rested her head on his shoulder.

 

The sky was black as ink and the diamond white stars pierced through it. "Me too." They were just about to the road. "It's funny, back home you never see stars like this. And ever since we got here I've only ever looked at the stars, like, maybe once. I mean, they're gorgeous. But I guess they're up there all the time so I never think about it. But when I actually take the time and look at the stars, all I can ever think about is why I don't look up at the stars more often."

 

"That was romantic," said Candy, she squeezed his arm. Dipper's heart fluttered.

 

"Was it?" Dipper was just expressing his thoughts so he felt a little taken aback.

 

"Yes," Candy turned to face Dipper. He wasn't sure if he reached out for her hands or if she reached out for his, but a second later they were holding hands and standing in front of one another. "It was." The moonlight lit up her face better than the candlelight had earlier. She began to move her thumb up and down the top of his hand. He squeezed her hands a little.

 

It was one of those moments that you end up taking with you wherever you go. You could forget breakfasts, and school lessons, and entire weeks of day to day living. You could forget all the brilliant ideas you come up with on the fly, or the names and faces of all the people that you meet. But this was one of those moments that has a special place tucked away inside you. And when everything else was lost and forgotten, it was moments like this that stayed with you and held you in place, and helped you remember that you were alive.

 

"Ugh! Just kiss already, geeze!" came a far off voice. It was Mabel shouting from the attic window of the Mystery Shack.

 

"Yeah, kiss her!" came Grenda's voice in tow.

 

They both smiled a little and looked into each other's eyes. A bit of hair had fallen in front of Candy's face. She held Dipper behind his shoulders and he held her behind the waist. They kissed, and if the night was cold, neither of them could tell. Hand in hand, they walked down the road as Mabel and Grenda hooted and hollered far behind them.

 

THE END