It felt like an eternity of walking, although it had only been five minutes since they finally broke their embrace; with only the pitter-patter from the drops of moisture falling from the leaves with the blowing of the warm summer winds to keep them company. Edd could still feel the stains on his cheeks that his tears had left, along with that salty taste that made its home in the edges of his mouth.
Marie on the other hand, could still feel the lingering warmth against her, forcing a wayward smile onto her lips as if to signify the closure from their argument so long ago. Like her sisters, she had made peace with her past with her respective Ed, and as such, felt a sensation of calmness that not even a snake could interrupt. Although, for reasons not even known to her, she couldn't help but glance at that scar that marked her companion's scalp. Not once had she ever really thought about what could be underneath his hat, but now that an answer was given to a question not even asked, it was almost surreal to her.
"It's funny, when I was younger, I always dreamed of having these amazing adventures, but now that I'm older, I realize how boring this really is," Marie joked after a few more moments of silence, finally deciding to spark up a conversation after she felt the dust settle from earlier. "I mean, books make it out to be some kind of huge adventure, and it really makes me appreciate how they cut out all of the downtime that happens. Granted, I feel like if our life was a book, it would probably be one of the most boring stories ever written. I mean, maybe when we were younger it would've been funny, but now it's just parties, work, school, and sleep."
"It really does put things into perspective, doesn't it?" Edd nodded in agreement, pulling a Pringle out of the can and crunching down onto it. Although he was talking to her, he was still barely paying attention. In the matter of minutes, he went from being so sure of what he wanted to do with his life, down to complete confusion.
Marie raised her eyebrow, noticing that forlorn look plastered on his face. The trip was boring enough without having Edd being only halfway in reality. She waved her hand in front of his face, only to have no response. "Edd, seriously?" Her hand slapped against her forehead.
"Fine, you leave me no choice..." Her face turned dead serious as she shoved her hand against his side, "Tag, you're it!"
"Huh?" He almost fell over at the unexpected push, having what she said sink in only after she was already meters ahead of him. "But I-" He didn't even finish when he realized what she was doing. With a smile on his lips, he decided to play along and follow after her... Albeit at easily half of her speed. 'Childish, aren't we?' He only shook his head, feeling a bit better with the lighthearted mood.
Despite her blue hair, she somehow managed to shake Edd off. 'That's more like it, Edd,' She thought to herself and let out a soft giggle, peering out from behind her tree. At first she thought he was just going to think she was acting stupid, but actually having him chase after her had proved otherwise. After a minute of watching him aimlessly wander for her and calling her name, she decided to wave him down, "Hey Edd, over here!" She smiled and tried to turn to meet him halfway. "I.. Ed, I'm stuck."
Marie looked down to notice the ground was buried halfway up her shins, taking a moment for her to realize just what she was stuck in, "Let go of me, god damn it!" She screamed this time around, feeling her heart start to race.
"What's happening?" Edd called out to her as he ran up, faster than she even realized he could run. "Quicksand?" His eyes widened as he watched her sit knee deep in the mud, but she wasn't squirming at all. "Are you okay?"
"What do you think? I don't want to die!" She gasped and uneasily played with her fingers, trying to keep herself from going into a full on panic attack.
"You'll only sink faster if you panic, Marie," The moment he scolded her, she froze up, but the look of fear plastered itself onto her face. "Now calm down, it's a myth that you'll sink underneath. Most quicksand pits are only a few feet deep, so as long as you stay calm, you'll be okay."
"But what if it's not? What if it is deep enough?" She looked up at him with her visible eye watering slightly. It wasn't often that she ran into a problem that brute strength wouldn't solve, and while she knew not to struggle against quicksand, she still had no idea how to escape it.
"I promise it's not deep enough," He reassured her, trying to keep her calm.
"How can you be so sure?!" She half-screamed in both fear and anger, but she took a gasp as she felt him grab her muddy hand and jump into the pit with her. "What are you doing?!"
"Helping you get out," He frowned wryly and squeezed her hand, "Just do what I do and follow me." With that, he lead by example, wiggling his left leg slowly, loosening up the dirt around him before sliding it out and taking a step forward before doing the same with his right leg.
Marie watched in shock at how easy he made it seem, but she did as she was told and pulled her left leg out in the same manner, followed by the right. A slight smile appeared on her face as she felt a little calmer now that she knew how to escape. "How do you know how to do this?" She asked with a wavering voice, although she was admittedly calmer than before.
"A long story; Ed and Eddy played this prank on me a few years back where they pretended to be stuck in quicksand, and after I got home, I studied ways out just in case," He shrugged and tugged lightly at her hand when he heard the fear still in her voice.
"Really? That's a pretty shitty prank," She deadpanned at the story, but felt a little relief as Edd actually put one of his feet onto solid land. "We're already almost out?" She asked before having her leg snag on the sand again, falling face first into the mud.
"Marie!" He shouted louder than he realized and let go of her hand to help scoop the mud away from her head, but the moment he separated from her, she began to flail in absolute terror.
'Oh god, oh god, oh god, I don't want to die here!' She screamed at herself in her head. There was so much she had to do with her life, and yet she could see the end of the line right in front of her. She could hear Edd shouting at her to stop, but her fear kept her from complying completely, although she did try to flail a little less at the very least. Her lungs started to burn as they started to beg for a breath of air, but just as she started to feel a little dizzy, the bright sunlight awoke her from her daze before she collapsed, taking in a deep breath of air.
"See? I promised," Edd said, to which she could head the vibrations of his voice in her ear, causing her face to flush when she realized she was laying against his chest.
"I... Thank you, Edd," She jumped up, feeling uneasy being so close to him. She offered him a nervous smile before standing up and offering her his hand. "Shall we?"
'What was that?' Edd stared up at the sky for a moment, feeling his heart pound in his throat from even that momentary touch. He only pondered it for a moment before taking Marie's hand and letting her help him up. "Filthy, filthy, filthy..." He grumbled to himself when he noticed how coated in mud he really was.
"What was that?" Marie asked as they started heading back towards camp yet again..
"Oh, nothing," He said sharply, not really wanting to admit that his neurosis was getting worse at a time like this.
"Has anyone seen Marie?" Lee called out as she wandered throughout camp in search for her sister. Last night was an interesting time for the eldest Kanker, but she awoke in her tent without Marie in sight.
"The blue-haired one?" Rolf asked as he worked on cleaning the mugs from last night. "She went to the pit of food last night, saying how she wanted to meet people."
"Wait, she actually listened to me?" Rolf could see the shock in Lee's eyes, even through her hair.
"Hey, Rolfy boy, have you seen sockhead anywhere?" Eddy asked as he walked up to the bar.
"Why does everyone ask the son of a shepherd about such things? No, the Double D Ed boy disappeared last night after you went after the Stanford girl," Rolf let out an annoyed huff. All morning, everyone had come to him with questions because he was the bartender, and these last two questions were no exceptions.
"So, the sockhead's missing too?" Lee raised her brow with a sly grin appearing on her face, "I can't find Marie anywhere either."
"So what? I haven't seen your no-good sister any-" Eddy's eyes widened at what exactly the elder Kanker was insinuating. His mouth slowly opened and closed, reminiscent of a fish, "I don't think they're doing what you think they're doing."
"I never said what I was thinking, it's just that I told her to find herself a man last night..." Lee suggested.
"So? Like Double D would ever-" He paused as what he also told him last night had dawned on him. "E-Even if I told him to get a girl, I doubt he'd have that low of standards since Sarah."
"'Ey, what's that supposed to mean?!" Lee hissed, getting a little angry now.
"You know what it means, Kanker," Eddy glared back at her.
"Plank says he knows where they are!" Johnny suddenly sat up from where he had been laying presumably all night. "Plank says they went into the same cave together!"
"Wait, there's no way he actually..." Eddy's anger died down and became more confusion than anything. He didn't really expect Edd to follow his advice, and he certainly didn't expect him to follow it and go after Marie Kanker of all people.
"You mean she actually went after a boy? But her and the sockhead hate each other!" Lee was just as confused, having mixed feelings of her sister going after her childhood crush after he yelled at her like that. Lee and May literally had to comfort her for months after the things he said.
"When I get my hands on him..." Eddy grumbled and grabbed Johnny's shirt, "Where did he go, melonhead?"
"Plank says the cave's thattaway," Johnny replied and pointed away from the camp.
"I'm coming to give that girl a piece of my mind," Lee grumbled and followed Eddy in her own fit of confusion and anger.
"The first thing I'm going to do when we get back to camp is go to the hot springs. I just want to be clean and never stop ever again," Edd grumbled, having his shoulders droop a bit in eagerness. There was only one time in his memory that he had ever been more filthy than what he was now, and that was years ago.
"They have hot springs here?" Marie looked over at Edd and stuffed her hands into her pockets as they walked. Despite liking to pretend she had no interest in such things, she always wanted to try one.
"Oh yes, the brochure said where Wishspring is on top of an old volcano, there tends to be a lot of hot springs in addition to a few geysers," Edd explained with an excited look appearing on his face. "Apparently there's actually a bathhouse not too far from camp that actually has maintained hot springs for campers."
"I... I think I may go; ya know, just to wash off the mud," She nodded, pretending not to really have any interest in them.
"I would love to run some tests on the water and compare it to other hot springs I have been to," Edd poked his tongue through the gap in his teeth excitedly.
"Tests? What on earth would you expect to find?" She deadpanned in contrast to his excitement. "I mean, water is water."
"Oh no, different hot springs may have different minerals, temperatures, and who knows what else; I want to just compare for my own records. After all, then I can know where the best hot springs really are," Edd explained, waving his hands as he spoke, as if it would emphasize what he was saying.
"Dork," Marie rolled her eyes and playfully punched him on the arm.
"Ow," Edd mumbled to himself and rubbed it painfully. Before he could complain, he noticed the tents ahead of them, to which he found he could only smile, "Ahah! Sweet, warm bath, here I come."
Marie smirked, "Race you!" With that, she took off towards the camp, leaving the confused Edd in her dust. After a brief moment, he reacted and started after her.
Needless to say, Marie completely beat him without even so much as breaking a sweat, while Edd was gasping for air by the time he arrived. She only watched him in a mixed sense of pity and humor as he took a whole five minutes to catch his breath, "Wow, you are really out of shape, Double D."
"Oh, ha. ha. I prefer to think of myself as a scientist, not a brute," He countered.
"Yeah, and I'm a scholar... That actually works out," She deadpanned again, to which Edd blushed a little as his usual excuse was thrown back into his face. "Come on, 'scientist', lets go find the hot springs."
"Y-Yeah, I'm going to go grab my spare clothes though," Edd smirked a little and headed back to his tent.
"Yeah, I suppose I probably should do that," She mumbled and looked down at her clothes, which were coated in mud and grass stains. "... And my medicine, right," She remembered that she had brought that with her, and silently thanked god that she made it back before she started having too many symptoms.
"There is no way that you really do wear the same outfit everyday," Marie was taken aback by the fact that Edd was holding the exact same style of red shirt and blue jeans that he seemed to wear nearly every time she saw him. Marie, on the other hand, was carrying green cargo pants and a white motorhead tank top.
"What? I'm a man of habit," Edd rubbed the back of his head, ecstatic to finally be wearing a hat again. Thankfully he had avoided most of the campers until he grabbed his spare, so nobody really knew about the scar still.
"You're a something alright," She rolled her eyes and giggled a little. "Let's just get cleaned up already."
"Yeah, yeah, did you bring any money?" Edd asked as he reached to pull out his wallet.
"Wait, you have to pay?" Marie blushed a little and shook her head, "I-I just kind of figured it was part of the camping experience..."
"Yeah, the brochure said is was $8.50 to get in," Edd shrugged and pulled out his card, walking up to the cashier, "Go on in, I'll pay for yours and you can pay me back later."
Marie made a wry expression before nodding, "Fine." With that, she walked off into the building.
"Cute couple," She commented as she swiped the card, "You want a receipt?"
Edd's cheeks lit up a bright red at her comment before he fervently shook his head, "We aren't.. I mean, we're just friends!"
The cashier stared for a moment before giving him a knowing look that even Edd probably didn't realize what it was about, "What? I just kind of assumed because- Nevermind." She said and handed him the card and receipt back.
"I.. Yeah, thank you," Edd nodded and walked into the bathhouse with a look of shock plastered onto his face.
He let out a soft, but shaky sigh as he undressed and rinsed off in the shower. While the water was relatively cold, it only made him more excited for the actual hot spring. The best part was that he knew how the kids at Peach Creek High were; chances are, none of them read the brochure, and so none of them probably knew about the hot springs other than who he had told. Granted, there were a couple of other book nerds, but at least that would give him someone to talk to while he relaxed.
Wrapping the towel around his waist as he walked outside into the hot spring area, he slid right in with a wide, relaxed grin. Right as he closed his eyes and tried to lose himself, he heard a voice call out, "Who's there?" To which his blood froze up.
The voice wasn't one of his nerdy friends, or even that of a man... It was most certainly a female voice. His eyes snapped open as he peered through the mist and saw something that almost made him yelp in shock...
Marie was squinting as she looked around the hot spring, as if she couldn't see anything, but that's not what he was in shock from. He noticed a certain part of her exposed above the water; or rather, two certain round objects. 'Oh god, did I just walk into the wrong bath?!' His entire body was frozen in horror, as well as some other mixed feelings. This was literally the first time he's ever actually seen a woman's breasts in person, and to make it worse, it was those of his childhood tormenter.
He noticed her lock eyes with him, causing him to freeze up, but she waved kindly, "Oh, hi there! Sorry, you just scared me, I didn't think there would be anyone else in here. Sorry if I don't recognize you, I had to take my contacts out."
Edd silently thanked the god that he didn't believe in that she was blind right now, but he was caught between a rock and a hard place. He wanted to clean up, but he also didn't exactly see that co-ed bathhouse sign outside that so proudly sat in his vision now.
'Okay Eddward, make a choice... Be truthful, or just get out and run,' He thought to himself thoroughly, and decided that he would take plan B and flee while she was still unawares.
"I.. Edd?" During his time that he was thinking on what to do, Marie had actually come close enough to see who exactly was enjoying the bath with her, and to say her face was upset would be an understatement. Her face was absolutely apathetic for a brief moment, giving Edd enough time to try and explain.
"I-I didn't realize this was a coed bathhouse?" He said and slowly started to scoot away with horror plastered onto his face.
"Oh no, I just assumed you knew and decided to become a pervert on me because of how we actually started getting along. Oh, Double D... It's okay, just let me help you get comfortable..." A look of pure hatred appeared on her face, to which the screams from the first hit alone were loud enough to be heard from all of the way back at camp.
Okay, a bit of a more comedic bit before things start getting serious. I personally liked this one at the end a little, but anyway, feel free to like, dislike, comment, critique, scenario, or favorite this story; I do enjoy some constructive criticism, so feel free to give it.
