Hey guys! This is my new take on the Marie/Double D romance. Sorry if it doesn't follow the usual storyline, but what with the artistic license of fanfiction, I suppose that it really shouldn't matter. Anyway, I don't think I've changed any of the characters' personalities, so that should be enough, right? They're still the Double D and Marie that we all know and love (only a bit more mature). But, here you go!
Marie is a suicidal California party girl who uses drugs and sex to get through her so-called-life. Double D is a shy Southern boy who believes that having a little is just enough. When a failed attempt at killing herself gets her work-a-holic father's attention, Marie is sent to live with her mother and two sisters in the countryside of North Carolina, where she meets the easy going kids of Peach Creek and a young boy who reminds her that life isn't nearly as difficult as she thinks.
Chapter One: The Edge of Glory
"Ladies and Gentlemen, we'll be landing in Charlotte in about fifteen minutes. Please keep your seat belts buckled until further noticed. We would like to thank you for flying American Airlines and we hope that you enjoyed your stay with us."
Marie leaned her head against the window and huffed loudly. She had just had a six hour flight-with a 30 minute layover in Houston-across the country to Charlotte, North Carolina. They were minutes away from landing, and she could see the faded gray color of the landing strip beneath them.
"Are you excited?" the girl sitting across from Marie, who had been trying to chat with her the whole flight, asked with a huge smile on her face. Marie, never one for small talk, snorted and shrugged her shoulders. The girl didn't seem to notice her indifference, or didn't seem to care, and continued on, "Oh, you're just going to love it here. I suppose where you're from you haven't seen much snow? And California is a really wild place, North Carolina will just seem so different. But you'll like it here, I think and you'll be happy you came!"
Fat chance, Marie wanted to say. The whole thing was a bad idea. If it were up to her, she'd be back at her friend's house playing beer pong or...she snapped the jelly bracelets around her wrist absentmindedly.
"Well, Marie, its been wonderful talking to you!"
Marie nodded in the girl's direction, following the orders of the pilot, locking her seat belt and sitting back in her seat.
"Gosh, I always hate when planes go down. Isn't it the weirdest feeling?" The girl laughed to herself. For the thousandth time that afternoon, Marie wondered why she hadn't picked up a CD player at the airport in Houston.
She didn't seem to mind that Marie rarely responded, instead the girl continued talking as if they were the best of friends, always giving Marie the largest smile. She had even offered her part of the sandwich she bought.
All Marie wanted to do was get back to California and forget that any of this had happened.
She closed her eyes.
As the plane descended she felt her ears pop and the girl squealed loudly beside her. Marie kept her eyes shut, willing herself to be back in Inglewood, back where nights were spent at beach bonfires and sipping Four Lokos until they passed out and waking up in the late afternoon and doing it all over again. She tried and convinced herself that she had been happy then. She'd had friends. Good ones. And life had been simple. Meaningless, but simple.
Instead, she was going to get off the plane, meet with a woman she barely remembered and live with her and her two other daughters in a small town that had once upon a time been home.
She wished she hadn't forced her father to send her to her mother's. She wished he hadn't been too busy at work or with his size zero model girlfriend. She wished she hadn't been so desperate for his attention that she took a bottle of painkillers and landed herself in a hospital bed. If she hadn't, well...
"Oh man, oh man. I always get excited, you know?" Marie opened up her eyes and stared at the girl beside her. She was smiling wide and her brown eyes showed the excitement that was probably coursing through her veins. The girl and her couldn't be more different. Tana, Marie thought she'd said her name was, wore her dirty blond hair back in a perfect plait, light colored blue jeans and a button down plaid shirt. As they began grabbing their bags, Marie considered her own appearance. Her hair reached just to her shoulders and had been freshly dyed her signature bright blue. For her sixteenth birthday she had gotten her nose and lip pierced, and later on, her belly, but she hardly showed that off, unless she was at the beach, so it didn't really matter. She was pale, unlike Tana's working tan, and wore a black wife beater and green cargo pants with her usual scuffed up Converses.
Slowly, the passengers began to unload. Marie waited, tapping her foot impatiently, while Tana continued to talk.
"So, who's gonna be waiting for ya, Marie? You've got family out here, don't ya?"
Marie pushed her blue hair back securely over her eye. She was partially blind in her right eye-an accident that happened long before she could remember. She didn't mind, though. Her friends said it gave her a mysterious, dangerous look, and Marie was all about mystery and danger.
"My mom." Marie replied halfheartedly. She didn't remember much about her mother. The only things she knew were from pictures and the few stories she'd heard. Apparently, her father had met her mother once while on a vacation in North Carolina. It was an off romance, one of those forbidden ones. He was the son of a top business man, a future CEO himself, and she was a simple small town girl. They'd gotten married despite his parents wishes, had three daughters in the span of five short years, and then, one day, her father had enough. He wanted to move back to the West coast and make his millions. Of course, Diana-her dear, sweet mother, wasn't about to leave her beloved country and close knit town. Their love for their homes tore them apart, and much wasn't said about their relationship. Marie wasn't even sure why she'd gone to live with her father and her two sisters stayed with their mother.
"I'll bet you're excited to see her!" Tana continued. Marie couldn't wait to get off the plane and away from the garrulous Southern belle. Even the idea of the small hick town was more pleasant then her constant, overly-friendly yabbering. "Well, Marie...this is where we say good bye, I suppose. Who knows, maybe I'll see you around!" She giggled. "Well, goodbye then, and good luck!"
Marie waved her off and took a look around the vast airport. Hundreds of people were shuffling around, looking for their baggage or finding their friends and family. People were hugging and crying and all kinds of ridiculous stuff that only made her mood worse. Then, a girl's voice called her name and she saw three women walking toward her.
She only knew what they looked like from pictures. Diana was tall and pretty, with long red hair that she kept tied back in a ponytail. Her daughters didn't seem as lucky as she in looks. The older of the two-Lee-had her mother's red hair, but she had a boyish build and spoke in a deep baritone strange for a woman. The youngest, May, was cuter, shared Marie's natural blond hair, but was short and had slightly bucked teeth. Marie resisted the urge to roll her eyes as the three took in her appearance. They tried to come off nice, smiling awkwardly and commenting how nice her hair was, and how skinny she was, but Marie could tell that none of them had ever seen anything like Marie.
"Its good to have you back home, honey." Her mother said, pulling her into another long hug. Marie frowned into her shoulder. This wasn't home. It wasn't even close. But, there was no point in arguing. She was here until her parents decided she was fit to go back to California.
Whenever that may be. Marie sighed and put on her very best smile as she pulled away.
"I'm sure."
"Alright!" Her mom clapped her hands and turned to look at the baggage claim. "Well, why don't we grab your stuff and head on back? We've got a long drive ahead of us."
There was no joking about the drive. It seemed like hours as the high tech city faded and became country and after fields of cow pastures and horses, a sign in the middle of nowhere had Welcome to Peach Creek" written in chipping red paint. Marie resisted the urge to groan aloud. It was worse than she expected.
It was one of those 'one-horse-towns-. The buildings were old, probably family owned and it seemed like everybody knew each other. There was even a small church that looked no bigger than a classroom with a white steeple. Marie shook her head. She was definitely not going to fit in this town. Everyone looked like her sisters and mother: blue jeans and Dixie shirts.
"Well, here we are." Her mother said as they finally drove up to a small block of houses. There were trees all around, dead grass and weeds growing every which way. As they prattled down the-practically dirt-road, Marie caught sight of a rusted, ancient looking water tower, where three boys sat with what looked like beer bottles in their hands.
They arrived at a torn up looking house at the end of the road, surrounded by a small garden and a broken wrap around porch. Marie groaned inwardly. Just like the entire state, her home was completely different from what she grew up in. Her father's wealth had ensured her a nice, beach front home, with a second story and a large kitchen. One look at her mother told her that she was proud of the dingy little house she called home, although Marie couldn't understand why. Why on Earth had this woman turned down her father for this? She raised a quirky eyebrow, but her sisters smiled and got out of the car.
In the distance she heard a dog barking. May and Lee immediately began pulling her stuff from the trunk, giving Marie a chance to look around. It even smelled funny. Marie rolled her eyes and felt more out of place then ever. Could she really be expected to live here? Did her father really think a place like this could fix her? Marie snapped her jelly bracelet. If anything, she thought sourly, this place will kill me.
Her mother's voice pulled her from her dark thoughts, and, unsure of whatever the woman had said, Marie smiled and nodded and grabbed her backpack and followed the three inside.
The house was...quaint, Marie thought, for lack of a better word. There wasn't much to it, although it seemed like it had been tidied up in a hurry. There was a television and two couches and an entertainment stand loaded with picture frames and small thing-a-ma-bobs.
"This is the living room. Right over there is the kitchen, feel free to help yourself whenever you want. May moved into Lee's room, so she'll show you where you're staying.
A look passed over the two girls' faces and despite their kind, "Right this way!" Marie could tell that neither girl was too happy about moving in together. The bitch inside her made her smile at their misfortune and she happily followed both girls down the narrow hall. May pushed open a door hesitantly and held out her arm.
"Well, its not much, but its home." She said with a shrug. Marie stepped into the room, considering it for a brief moment. It, indeed, was not much. Again, the room looked cleaned in a hurry, and Marie suspected that the blond younger girl was a bit of a pack rat, seeing how there were large empty spots where piles of junk surely had been. There was a bed, with bedsheets that were almost faded, and a dresser and a mirror, but for the most part, the room was bare. May leaned uncomfortably against the door frame while her sister looked around.
Marie shrugged. "Yeah, its home." She didn't miss the annoyed look in the girls' eyes as she snickered at the word. In all honesty, Marie half hoped that if she was rude enough, her mom would send her back to live with her father. Of course, her father would expect that. He even threatened that if he heard any bad reports, she would be kicked out for good, and while Marie's pride insisted that that was perfect, her reasoning told her that just was not an option. So she forced another smile and her sisters shot her concerned ones of their own, and Marie took her baggage from the girls.
"Oh, Marie?" Her mother said, coming down the hall. She stuck her head in the door and smiled widely as if seeing Marie in this small, cramped room was a dream come true. "I'm about to start dinner. Go ahead and settle down. I'll call you when its all ready." Without waiting for an answer, she turned back down the hallway, leaving the three girls alone again. Without their mother's cheerful demeanor, an uneasiness spread between the sisters and Marie found them avoiding each others' eyes.
"Well...you're probably tired. We'll let you rest. C'mon, May," Lee said, grabbing her sister by the shirt sleeve. May shot one unsure look back at Marie and then followed her sister down the rest of the hall. Marie heard a door slam and exhaled loudly. She shut her own door and sat back on the bed. Running a hand through her blue hair she wondered for the millionth time what she had gotten herself into this time. Of all the crazy situations she'd been in-including being in jail for a night-this one took the cake.
She stood up and opened one of her suitcases, feeling the urge to get out of her tank top and pants, opting for a faded black Emarosa shirt and acid-wash blue jeans. She had just pulled on her shirt and turned around when she noticed a face in her wall. Well, it wasn't in her wall, but in a small, dirty window. Unsure for a second, she stepped forward, slumping to look out the window. A second too late, the face moved behind a bush, but not quickly enough that Marie didn't notice. It was a boy's face, a chubby, unattractive one at that. Feeling anger surge through her, Marie pried the window open and stuck her head out, feeling the cold November air nip at her cheeks.
"Hey, jackass, I saw you!" She shouted. There was a stillness outside that only grated further on her nerves. "You better hope I never see your stupid, ugly face again or you can bet I'll have my fist shoved in it!" She slammed the window close with a loud huff than searched around her room for something to cover it up with.
Hasn't this girl heard of curtains? Marie thought irritably. What a great start to this little town. She hadn't been in Peach Creek for more than fifteen minutes and already one of the neighborhood perverts had seen her undies. Great.
It wasn't like she was a virgin. No, she was far from that. She'd gotten drunk or fucked up enough at parties that she'd lost count of the people she'd slept with, and it wasn't like she had never been in less around strangers- ecstasy and beaches never really mixed. But still. She glanced back out the window. The tom had disappeared. Marie crossed her arms and looked around the room and sighed loudly. She definitely wasn't in California anymore.
So, I've never written Edd, Edd & Eddy fanfiction before, therefore, I apologize if this whole thing seems way off base. However, I've always enjoyed these two characters, and for some reason, I always like to imagine that there is so much more to characters than what's let on. I did that with Moaning Myrtle, too. -_- But yeah, Double D & Marie are one of my all time favorite couples anyway. I wanted to show these characters in a different, more mature light. I always figured Marie would be the party girl, and Double D the goodie goodie. No Double D in this chapter, but he will make an appearance in the next, I promise! Anyway, I hope you enjoyed it. Feedback would be most appreciated!