good company

“That just gives me less of a reason to show up than I already do” he shrugged a little, not thinking much of her decision to not go back “What are you going to do though? Hire one of those fancy teachers to come here?” 

~

Jenny glanced up to give Oliver an admonishing look. “Oliver, no. You have to graduate. You promised.” She held up his hand to blow gently on his nails to help them dry. As she did, she noticed something. “Oh. You’re not wearing the ring.” She did her best to sound nonchalant and not at all hurt.

Jenny: i think i found a place for us!!!

Jenny: i was serious about that you know

Jenny: it's a three bedroom two bath apartment not far from Polaris

Jenny: since we'll probably all be going there next year

Jenny: [3 attached images]

“Yeah count to three” he picked up the other half of his “oh wait are we going on three or is it one, two, three go?” He and Mabel usually did the second where you went on go, but if Jenny wanted to do it the other way they could.

“Oh, um, I guess we can go on go,” Jenny said after a moment’s thought. “That makes more sense, right? Or at least there’s no confusion that way. But yes okay. Ready? One. Two. Three. GO!” She took a bite out of the second half of her sandwich, pulling it outward to make the string of cheese stretch out, trying not to go too fast so that it broke too soon, trying to get it as long as she could.

“That’s the best part” he smiled “The stringier the better. Sometimes me and Mabel will have contests to see who can pull it the farthest before the cheese breaks. So far it’s 76 to 65 in my favor.”

“Oh is that what we should do? I can do it with this one,” Jenny said with a faint grin, picking up the other half of her sandwich. “Do we count to three?” She felt a bit silly but that was fine. She liked being silly with Dipper. He was fun to be silly with, and it kept her mind off more serious matters, things she would rather forget.

“I wish unicorns existed. I think they would be beautiful.”

Already answered the first one!

🌟- For a secret wish or desire of theirs

“This is really, really selfish and I would never, ever tell him this but … I wish Oliver could love me back. I mean, I know he loves me but … in that way. I always feel like a horrible person for thinking it, though. I’m happy to have him in my life in whatever way he can be and wants to be. It’s just … a little secret selfish wish.”

“Um. I’m still in love with Oliver, that hasn’t changed . . . unfortunately. But, um, I might . . . kind of like someone else? Maybe. It kind of feels like betrayal, so I’m not entirely sure if I should pursue it . . . Oliver already thinks I tried to replace him with this person, and I really, really don’t want him to think anyone could replace him. I should probably just . . . not say or do anything with it . . .”

“I don’t think I pretend to dislike anything? I’ve pretended to like things, though. I just don’t want to hurt people’s feelings . . .”

“Oh I don’t keep my stuffed animals a secret! They live on my bed with me at all times. Sometimes they have to move to the windowsill if Vanessa is staying over or Oliver comes up on the bed with me. I don’t see anything wrong with having comfort objects, and Nessa and Oliver have never teased me about it.”

“yeah but that’s inside outside air and this is outside outside air” he smiled as if that actually made any sort of difference, and knowing that it really didn’t. “Okay, you have to tell me how you like your first grilled cheese on a budget” 

Dipper wasn’t making any sense at all, but Jenny just smiled and picked up one of her triangle pieces of grilled cheese. “Okay, well, here goes nothing,” she said with a faint grin, taking a bite. It was incredibly stringy, that was the first thing she noticed, and she had to break the cheese with her finger before she pulled too much into her mouth.

“It’s good!” she told him through her mouthful. “Very stringy though.”

“Thanks” he nodded as she told him the way to go “Yeah, meet you there” he smiled a little before heading down the route she’d told him. Once he was outside and at the window he took a seat “Hi Jenny” he waved with a grin. “how’s the air in there? it’s great out here.”

Jenny watched him leave before sighing softly and carrying her plate over to the windowsill. She sat down on the cushioned seat, arranging their lemonades and the chip bowl in a position where he could easily reach it from his seat outside the window. When she heard his voice again, she looked up, smiling faintly.

“The air in here is the same as the air out there, silly,” she told him, indicating the open window with her hand.

Part of him wanted to say that he’d stay in the parlor with her, but he could feel the uncomfortableness of being in a place like this already starting. “Outside is good. Sorry” he added the apology, biting the inside of his cheek.

“Oh. It’s okay,” Jenny said, keeping her smile as best she could, even as disappointment bloomed in her chest. She pointed toward the doors that led into the back garden. “You can go through there and down a bit to the open window. I’ll meet you there, okay?”

Georgette felt tears stinging at her eyes. If you had asked her when she first moved in to this house, she would have told you she didn’t like children and never wanted them. Now, though, she’d do most anything to keep Jenny safe and happy. “It’s okay, sweetie, it’s okay.” She held Jenny like that for a minute, hugging her and stroking her hair. Georgette eventually broke the silence with a question. “Do you want to order pizza for dinner?” She figured comfort food would be sorely needed today.

Jenny shuddered but felt herself relaxing somewhat as Georgette stroked her hair, comforted by the touch. She nuzzled her face some into her aunt before pulling away at the question. “You’ll eat pizza with me? Really?” she asked with a small smile, not used to her aunt eating carbs with her.

“That” he started, looking around til he found the knife block and pulled one of the ones from the bottom row out “is that all grilled cheese must be cut diagonally” he proceeded to slice one in half and then the other so that there were two triangle halves for each one. 

“Oh, is that right?” Jenny asked with a grin, watching as he cut them into triangles. She clapped for him when he was done. “Very impressive!” She exclaimed, moving to pick up the plate, then. “Shall we move to the parlor?” she asked in a haughty voice, before breaking the act to shake her head. “Well, you’ll be going outside if . . . you still don’t feel comfortable in here?” She bit her lip as she looked up at him, kind of hoping he’d hang out with her in the parlor without the windowsill between them.

a-clever-cat​:

Oliver was about to object about another present, but he knew better than to do so with Jenny. Once she had her mind set on something like this he knew there was no use in arguing. He took the box, smiling at the wrapping paper, it was definitely a Jenny paper. 

“Are these - they have a name…I know that -” he laughed, as he saw the homemade bracelet inside of the box. “Thanks, Jen” he pulled her close into another hug “I’m not very good at wrapping but,” he reached into his pocket pulling out two things that were oddly and poorly wrapped with some of the paper they used to wrap the burgers with at Fagin’s when someone ordered take out. 

Inside the one he handed to Vanessa was a putty knife he’d stolen from Handy Felix’s, and inside the one for Jenny were some earrings with little cats on them that he’d stolen from Axiom’s. 

( @vanessavonvroom​ )

Vanessa opened the small present first, smiling to herself when she saw the friendship bracelet woven in mint green, white, and purple threads; her eyes automatically flicking up to locate and study the matching bracelet that Jenny was wearing, before glancing toward Oliver to confirm that he had gotten the same thing. “We all match!” she exclaimed happily as she began to tear at the wrapping paper around the other two presents, unable to choose which one to open first. “I love it, Jenny. Hold on, lemme just…”

Dropping her gaze, she focused on unwrapping the second gift from Jenny first, her smile taking on an additional quality of genuine surprise and endearment as she held the charms between her fingers one by one, marvelling slightly at how pretty they were and how she had never owned a piece of jewellery like this in her life before. Before looking up, she tore open Oliver’s present as well and broke out into an even wider grin, recognising the putty knife instantly from the shelves at Handy Felix’s. After her encounter with Anita, she had lost the metal ruler that she normally used to break into cars, so a replacement was in order.

“You’re both too much,” she quipped while reaching out to pull them both into a hug, squeezing tightly before letting them go and running off to where she had dropped her backpack by one of the tables. Pulling out two rectangular presents, she quickly returned and glanced down at the labels before handing them one each. “So, uhm, I made these myself, so… I hope you like them!” Inside both were two wooden frames connected by a hinge, all handmade and hand-painted, with photos already inside them; one featuring all three of them, and one featuring her and the person the present was for.

(( @richfoxjenny​ ))

“They’re friendship bracelets!” Jenny confirmed for Oliver, grinning and blushing only slightly as he pulled her close in another hug. “I made them myself.” She exclaimed happily over the cat earrings, immediately taking out the ones in her ears in order to put them in, watching as Vanessa opened the gift from Oliver. She didn’t understand it, or why Vanessa seemed so happy about it, but she accepted the hug from Vanessa readily.

When she opened the gift from Vanessa, she gasped softly. “Oh, Nessa! You made this? It’s so beautiful.” She ran her finger over the edge of the frames, smiling at the photos inside each. Her chest felt so full, she could feel tears prickling the corners of her eyes, but she wiped them away quickly, moving to set the frame on the mantle.

“Okay!” she said, turning back around as she clapped her hands together. “Are you guys hungry? Let’s eat! I have some games we can play too, if you want? We have cards and Monopoly and Apples to Apples . . . if there’s a game you guys want to play that takes four people, I can get Winston to play with us.” She grinned.

“Oh, Jenny, sweetie…” Georgette pulled Jenny into a full hug and stroked her hair. “I’ll get something figured out with the school, I won’t make you go back if you don’t want to.” She kissed the top of her head. “And if anyone tries to mess with you, they’ll have to go through me first. I’ll sue them for defamation so hard their grandchildren will owe us money.” She was only partially joking, and left out the part where her handy dandy taser would probably get involved at some point.

Jenny wrapped her arms around Georgette’s waist, hugging her tightly, inhaling her scent. She knew Georgette’s perfume better than her own mother’s, which was a rather depressing thought if she focused too much on it. As it was in this moment, it was comforting, and she sighed softly. “Thank you,” she murmured, blinking back the tears as best she could. “I’m sorry.” She felt like a coward. She wished she was brave like Oliver and Vanessa.