One day after school, Ed stopped Carol when she was halfway to the edge of the lawn. He placed a hand on her elbow, gently tugging her off to the side.

She gazed at him with an eyebrow raised in a questioning glance. He produced a small bouquet of half a dozen yellow roses from behind his back and she giggled.

He frowned in frustration as he watched her laugh.

"You're giving me flowers?" She asked incredulously.

"Well, yeah," he said. "Don't girls like that sorta thing? If you don't want 'em, I'll just take 'em back," he continued with a slight scowl on his face.

"No, no, I want them!" She protested, her face lighting up. "Yellow is my favorite color."

"I know," he said, his face softening as he reached out to tuck a loose strand of curly hair behind her ear.

"They're beautiful, really," she said with a sincere smile.

"You're beautiful," he responded quietly.

She lowered her face into the flowers to hide the blush that had spread across her cheeks.

"I was just gonna ask…. we've been hanging out a lot lately," Ed began, a little shyly. "And well, I was wonderin'…. If…. If you wanted to go steady."

"Um, yeah," Carol answered, nodding slowly. "Yeah, we could do that."

"Great," He said, slinging an arm around her shoulders. "C'mon, I'll drive you home."

XXXXX

It took a couple of weeks before Ed screwed up enough courage to finally kiss her. And really, she'd been the one to initiate all the hand holding in the hallways. He'd walk her to class as usual and mumble a hasty departing statement before shuffling awkwardly away.

So it took her completely by surprise when one afternoon as they stood in front of her door after he'd walked her up from the car, he'd raised a hand to place on her cheek.

She looked up at him with wide, anticipating eyes and he leaned closer, closing his eyes before placing a soft, tentative kiss on her lips. They were both smiling shyly when he pulled away.

XXXXX

Carol soon found that she liked having a boyfriend who had a car. The walk between the high school and her house was never a fun one to do at the end of the day with all her books weighing heavy in her backpack. Not that she ever had to carry that anymore, because Eddie was more than content to do it for her.

One day as he was pulling up to her curb, she noticed that her mother's car wasn't in the driveway. He was already reaching into the backseat to grab her bag when she turned to him with a pleading expression on her face. "Wanna come inside and wait with me for a minute?"

Ed nodded as he pulled the key from the ignition. He knew she didn't like to be in the house alone because she'd told him as much on several occasions.

They stepped inside and she frowned when she found a note from her mother on the kitchen table saying that she'd be working really late and not to wait for dinner.

Ed shrugged. "I'll take you out if you want. My treat."

She smiled. "Let's go up to my room and get our homework done first."

They bounded up the stairs, but Ed set both backpacks on the floor once they entered her room. He looked around thoughtfully, made a few teasing comments about her collection of stuffed animals before plopping down on her bed.

She leaped after him, swatting him playfully until her grabbed her wrists and pinned them above her head as he leaned over her.

She looked up at him, prepared to retort with a sarcastic comment but he leaned his head down, covering her mouth with his. She gasped a little in surprise and he moved his position until he was on top of her, and she sort of liked the feel of his weight.

She closed her eyes as they kissed, tilted her head back as he lowered his mouth down her neck, nipping lightly and sucking her collar bone. She became acutely aware of the face that he was rolling her shirt up. She uttered a breathless "Wait," as he skimmed his hands up her sides and across her ribs.

"Relax," he whispered, still continuing his assault on her neck as he slipped his hands under her bra.

She wrote about it in her diary after he left and smiled at her reflection in the mirror when she noticed the rather large hickey on her skin, figuring she'd better change into a turtleneck before her mom got home.