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"Do you got anything worth reading?" Wendy moaned as she scanned through the shelves.
I smiled at her and shook my head. "There's nothing but stuff worth reading here, Wendy."
"But all this looks so boring!" She groaned.
"What exactly are you looking for, hun?" I asked, crossing my arms.
"Well, romance, actually. Something to waste time." She shrugged.
"Well, how about this?" I handed her a copy of Lustily Gazing.
"This looks interesting."
"It's the first in a series. The new one just dropped, and it's like the fourth one. Lots of reading value."
"That's awesome!" She smiled at me. "Are they popular?"
"Among bored house wives, yeah." I chuckled. "But I was about your age when I started reading this stuff. I think you can handle it."
"Thanks, I'll take it."
I took her money and bagged the book for her. "Let me know how you like it, and, please, don't let your dad see it. I really don't want him coming here and yelling at me."
She laughed, "Don't worry. I'm good at keeping stuff from him."
"That's not encouraging." I grimaced.
She waved as she walked out and I sighed. "Another day, another dollar." I mark on my inventory sheet what she bought and looked up to glance around the store.
It was busy today, which was very good for a Wednesday. People were excited about getting new copies of books that just dropped and little trinkets. I sold a lot of journals, mainly to Ford, who was, as usual, too busy to chat. I think that was the best part of the job, getting to chat with everyone and learn about the town as I worked. It was amazing how much drama could be going on in such a small town. I looked over and saw Dipper huddled in the reference section.
"Hey, kiddo, whatcha looking for?"
"Hey, Mavis." He beamed at me, he must've been in a good mood. "I'm looking for info on wendigos."
"Wendigos, huh?" I smiled. His curiosity in the supernatural always made me happy. I'd been the same way as a kid, and the interest was coming back due to the strangeness of the town.
"Yeah, I think there's one stuck in a trap in the woods."
"That's not something to mess with, DIpper. Wendigos were turned into monsters due to their own heart break. They prey on loving couples and tear out their hearts!"
Dipper frowned. "How do you know that?"
"I have a tv." I shrugged.
"Tv lies a lot."
"But experience does not."
"What do you mean?"
I shook my head. "Nevermind, hun. But no chasing after wendigos, or I'll tell your grunkles on you."
"Aww, that's no fair!"
"I'm not a fair person." I shrugged, taking the book from him. "Why not start off with werewolves or shapeshifters? They're still dangerous, but more knowledge about them is out there."
His face lit up. "I do need to find out more about the shapeshifter we found in the cave."
"What?"
"Nothing!" He grabbed his bag and ran out of the store, leaving me scratching my head. I'd have to make a point to talk to Stan or Ford, I didn't want the kids to get in over his head.
The days past by fairly quickly. I made a lot of sales and got to catch up on the local gossip. Apparently Lazy Susan from the diner had been hitting on Manly Dan and he wasn't having it. Stuff like that just made me love this town.
I closed up shop and headed over to the diner, craving some chicken tenders and chilli fries. I walked in and the place was busy. There was only one empty spot at the bar, and I slid in before anyone else could claim it. Ironically, I was sitting beside Manly Dan, who looked to be trying to hide his face from Susan, who was busy serving. I chuckled to myself and looked over the menu.
"Hiya, hun!" Susan's nasal voice greeted me.
"Hey, Susan. You're busy tonight." I smiled at the waitress.
"Yeah, Gideon had another one of his tent of telepathy event thingies, and now everyone's hungry!" She beamed happily.
I rolled my eyes. Gideon, what a creepy little schmuck. "Well, I'm glad it's getting you an influx of customers."
She smiled and nodded. "What can I get cha, doll?"
"Chicken tenders and chilli cheese fries." I replied, happily.
"I don't know how you can eat that stuff all the time without blowing up like a balloon!"
"I get plenty of exercize." I smiled nervously.
"Uh huh, sure you do." She smiled at me and walked away. I sighed and looked around the diner.
Everyone in town seemed to be in the diner. Fiddleford McGucket sat at a booth with his son, Tate. I could see that Tate had his head in his hands as Fiddleford was rambling on about something enthusiastically. He brought his face up to run his fingers across it, seeing me and smiling. I smiled back. Tate was a good looking guy, but far too normal for my taste. Behind him was the whole Pines family; Stan, Ford, Dipper, and Mabel. They seemed to be having a very loud grumble fest about Gideon, as per usual. I knew that Gideon had tried to date Mabel last summer, and it did not go well. Makes sense, that kid was a freak. Wendy and her friends were sitting at another booth, howling with laughter. I looked over to Dan, wondering briefly if he was here only to keep an eye on her. He was a very protective dad, and that made me smile.
"Here ya go, hun!" Susan announced as she sat down my plate.
"Thanks!" I licked my lips as I grabbed my fork. Susan chuckled and scurried away, off to take care of the rest of her customers. I slowly ate, loving the taste of the very bad for me food.
"Hey, Mavis." Dan smiled as he looked up and noticed me.
"Hey, Dan. How's it hanging?" I grinned as I wiped a bit of chilli from my chin. Diner food was delicious, but very messy.
"Pretty good. Had a long day."
"Clearing out that property outside of town?"
"Yeah, the new owner wants all the trees gone."
"That's disappointing."
"Well, it keeps me flush with work, so I don't mind." He grinned at me.
"Can't blame ya there." I chuckled, shoving another bite of food in my mouth.
"How's the bookshop?"
"It's doing good. We just had several new releases hit the shelves, so I've been keeping busy. I never realized how much actual work went into running a store."
He nodded. "Yeah, it's a lot of work, but if it's something you love doing, it makes it easier."
"It definitely does. And there's plenty of downtime for me to focus on my own writing."
"You ever going to tell us what you write?"
"Nope." I laughed. "There's a reason I use a pen name. No one needs to know what I write."
"You're no fun." He laughed and took a drink of his coffee. He looked around and then looked back to me. "Hey, I'm heading over to the bar after this. Wanna grab a drink with me?"
I shook my head. "I can't tonight, I got some business to take care of." He looked sad, so I added, "But, how about a raincheck?"
He smiled at me. " Oh yeah, you gotta give me a raincheck, babe."
I was taken aback by the pet name. "Manly Dan...are you flirting with me?"
He blushed. "Well, I was trying to."
I laughed. "Thanks, you just made my night."
After eating and saying my goodbyes to Dan, I looked for Stan in the crowd. He'd snuck outside to smoke while the rest of his family was eating.
"Hey, Mr. Mystery!" I called behind him. He turned and smiled at me.
"Whatcha doin out here, kid?"
"Needed to talk to you for a minute."
"Oh dear, did I piss someone off again?" He rolled his eyes.
"I don't know, did you?" I narrowed my eyes at him and he held up his hands in defense.
"No! I've been good, I swear!"
I laughed at him. "I wanted to talk to you about Dipper."
"He been giving you problems in the book shop again?"
"No, but I am worried about him." I put my hands in my jacket pockets. "I know he and Ford go out hunting the weirdness, but today he was looking up stuff on Wendigos."
Stan raised an eyebrow. "What about it?"
"Wendigos are extremely dangerous. I just wanted to let you know so he doesn't try to go looking for it on his own. You know teenagers."
"Yeah, pains in my neck is what they are." He rubbed the back of his neck, grimacing. "Thanks for letting me know, kid."
"You're welcome." i smiled at him. "Ok, I'm going home now. I think I've dealt with people enough today."
"You get home safe, toots." He shot me a wink and I chuckled.
"Stop flirting with me, you dirty old man."
"Never."