I had swallowed them. The point I had intended on getting across was consumed, making all replacements and replicas of it meaningless. My mind became hushed in response.

In fact, we had both become hushed. I had spilled my guts out to her, whatever it was that I had said in that moment. And yet, none of it seemed to have gotten through. She looked at me.

"Are you done?" Her words weren't spiteful or taunting. Simply tired. It hurt knowing how tired she must have been of my excuses. Pacifica shifted a bit, lowering her hands as she watched me. A moment more, and she sighed.

"Dipper..." She began. "I-... You always do this, Dipper." She resisted the urge to bite her lip, her eyes shifting towards anything that wasn't me as she spoke.

"You're always... There's always something bad happening when I'm around you. Dipper, bad things happen when you're around. And, honestly, I don't really have a problem with it. But..." I stayed completely still, afraid even the slightest tilt in any direction would cause me to crash to my knees is pain. 'Bad things'. Yes. Very bad things happen when I'm around.

"I'm just- I'm tired of this, Dipper. I really am. It's like a game or something with you. And- I don't want to sound like I'm blaming you for the bad things. But, it's true.

"You're always so elusive about the details and you never tell me what's going on! Even now, you're so vague! I don't understand! How is Candy controlling you? How does she have so much power over you?"

'She knows who I am. She knows and no one was ever supposed to find out. Not even you.'

"I- I feel used, Dipper. I feel like I'm just here for kicks... Is that what this is? Am I just here because you like seeing me worry over you..?" Her cheeks grew flush, her eyes seeming to gloss over as her face began to scrunch up. She shook her head, forcing the tears away as she continued.

"You and Candy just seemed so close on the drive over... She kissed you and you didn't do anything to stop it... You just- sat there!" Her voice broke, palm smacking her own temple as she forced herself to calm down. The memory was a painful one, one that reminded her that Dipper didn't belong to her. He was someone else's.

"...Did you lie to me...?" A tear finally fell, rolling down her cheek to her chin.

"When you said you would break up with her that night... What happened when I left?"

My blood turned cold, palms clamming up. Shit. I never figured out what I would tell her. In place of the truth, nothing seemed to fit. Even the actual events of that night were hard to believe. But, at the same time, they may have been the only answers she would accept.

I blinked owlishly at her, torn between my pride and my affection. How could I even start to explain?

She stood there, tears streaming down her face as her bottom lip trembled. She looked over me, scanning for some sign that I was about to answer and that I would be answering with the truth. Instead, she found a boy biding his time, hoping to come up with some kind of con to convince her otherwise.

"...Yeah..." Her head lowered, fists balling up the hem of her skirt as a sense of betrayal overwhelmed her. "Yeah, okay." She confirmed finally, looking from me to the entrance of the gift shop.

Behind the display case of a four-foot-tall python, I could just make out a snippet of jet black hair. A grimace began to form on my lips as I snapped back to her.

"I don't know what kind of game you're playing, where- Where one minute you're this princely gentleman that would never do anything to hurt me-" Her right hand slapped against her chest, bunching up the cloth of her shirt.

"-And then, next thing you know, you're- you're someone else! You're completely different, and I don't like it!" A shake of the head, just one, and then she was back.

"I can't-! I can't keep doing this, Dipper!" Her shoulders began to hunch over as she covered her face with her hands, choking back her next wave of sobs.

"I can't just play along! I-I've already wasted so much time here, doing whatever, not asking questions..." I inched closer, viewing her sniffling form with caution. I hesitated, lifting a hand to rest on her shoulder.

A pause, a silencing of her cries as her head slowly began to lift from her hands. She looked to me, turning to the hand on her shoulder. With a pained expression, she picked it off of her and placed it by my side. My mouth became dry. Very, very dry.

She was beginning to resent me.