Hey Mabel, Happy Birthday! I'm sorry I couldn't be there to see you turn the big 1-6. I promise I'll be around for the next one. I hope you're having an incredible day. I love you and I miss you a ton. South Africa is great, and I'm getting a lot of work done. Nala says Happy Birthday as well. It's pretty warm here, but I've been finding ways to wear your sweater anyway. It's still one of the best presents I've ever gotten. Have a great day and a good year. You've earned it. ~ Flick
There had been the general pile of junk in the mailbox–things that typically got thrown out without a second notice. But, given that today was hers and Dipper’s birthday, there was the occasional piece of mail that needed to be saved. Things from their parents, well wishes and cards from distant family that their parents had also sent along, a handful of things from friends from school. The letters from Flick, though, hadn’t been expected. They should have been, given that they wrote each other all the time. But, for some reason, Mabel hadn’t really thought that he’d send her a letter on her birthday. Giddy, she bolted inside, literally throwing all the other mail at the table as she passed and throwing herself into Stan’s vacated chair to read the latest news from her friend.
It was easy enough to get lost in it, in his words and the general excitement and just elation at hearing from him. Mentally, she was already writing her reply to him. The further she got in it though, the heavier her heart felt. It wasn’t the same without Flick around. Maybe, if he was still here, things wouldn’t be so sucky. They could paint and he would reassure her, tell her that sweaters were very grown up and that finger painting was a fun adult task. He’d be smart enough to help her figure out how to help Dipper, so that she wouldn’t have to turn to Bill. It’d be easier with him. But, really, she just missed him. He was weird and dorky and her best friend, and it sucked that he wasn’t around. She was happy he was happy, and that he was getting work done and was hanging out with Nala. But she also selfishly wanted him back here, with her. That was something she’d leave out of her letter back.













