Finals coming up so I'm trying to get out as much of this story as I can guys. Thank you for all the beautiful reviews you can't know how much they keep me going so thank you thank you thank you! And enjoy!

DISCLAIMER: DOOOOO NOOOOOOOOT HAVE RIGHTS TO ED, EDD, N' EDDY! RIGHT! OKAY!

Chapter 8

"Well?" I asked suspiciously with a subtle lick of my banana flavored popsicle. "And what might I ask is going on?"

It was an hour later until the police finally left and Charlotte and I had relocated to her room with a couple of fruit flavored popsicles.

Charlotte shifted uncomfortably in her computer chair and avoided my gaze.

"It's a family thing, you wouldn't understand," she said lightly with a dismissive flick of her wrist.

Did she honestly think I would drop the subject so easily?

"Try me," I said, slightly biting into the frozen dessert and relaxing in her red mushroom chair.

She slyly looked at me and pouted. "The story would just bore you."

Losing my patience, I snap. "Just tell me already!"

She sighs. "Fine, I guess you have a right to know after seeing all that."

All that implied the police talking to her mother and interrogating the house and everyone in it.

"Yeah it's on off day when I don't have the police asking who I am and what I'm up to," I said sarcastically.

She rolled her eyes and smiled at me. Wow, did she just smile at me in a completely none degrading way? There's a first.

"Well I guess the short of it is that…" She paused dramatically and gazed off. "I'm on the run."

I stared at her. She delicately slurped at her popsicle.

"Excuse me?" I asked when I came to the realization that she was going to be deliberately difficult

"My family had to relocate," she replied blandly.

"You're about as informative as Ed with a mouthful of peanut butter," I point out.

With a big grin, she shoved the treat in her mouth and looked at me with feigned innocence.

"You're family relocated because…" I start again.

With a loud pop, she extracted the frozen water from her mouth suggestively and licked her lips.

My stomach tightened. Was she doing this intentionally?

Her eyes swiveled back to me and she smiled knowingly? The vixen!

"Okay, okay you want to know the truth? My older sister lost custody of my nephew to my parents and a while back she tried to take him, so the police relocated us here and now apparently my sister has been spotted near here. That's what the police were telling my mother anyway."

I raised my eyebrows in shock. "And why couldn't you have just told me that form the beginning?" I asked in disgruntlement.

"Because it's fun to mess with you," she said as if it were the most obvious answer in the world.

I decided to ignore this comment.

"So have the police caught her yet?" I asked.

Her brow furrowed. "No, they just received a unanimous tip."

"Hmm…"

"Well?"

I looked up at her anxious demeanor.

"Well what?"

"What, no snide comment about my messed up family?"

"Hey I know what it's like to have a messed up older sibling," I said darkly. Charlotte looked at me with surprise written all over her face.

"But why did your sister lose custody?" I asked before she could inquire about my own familial problems.

"Oh," she looked off in embarrassment. "Well I guess it's just because she's a terrible mom."

"Care to elaborate or shall I just go on guessing myself."

"Your popsicle is melting everywhere," she said dryly.

I looked down and sure enough my melting popsicle was running down my arm. With another roll of the eyes, Charlotte got up to get me a wet towel. After my arm was thoroughly clean once again, I waited for her to get comfortable again before pouncing.

"So?"

"So what?"

"Don't play dumb."

"Durr…"

I gave her a pointed glare. She sighed.

"Well, she worries more about her new boyfriends than her own son."

"Ah."

Silence descended as we continued lapping at our popsicles until all that was left was the stick.

"So…" Charlotte said, breaking the silence. "What's up with your sibling?"

I stared at her.

"Oh come on! I spilled out my guts to you! It's only fair, give and take man!" she argued.

"Life's not fair."

"Oh don't give me that crap."

We had a glaring battle until I confessed.

"My older brother's a jerk. That's all." I said in clipped tones.

"How jerky exactly?"

"Beef jerky."

"Ha ha."

"Hey."

"What."

"I want another popsicle."

It started off as most of my dreams do. I was sedately walking down a seemingly endless and vacant hallway glinting dully with gold.

Normally I would continue down the hall and down a short flight of stairs to my final destination, a black small door.

This dream was different.

Instead of the continued progression down the hall, I made a sharp left halfway through and began meandering up a long white staircase.

Great, now I'm going to get hopelessly lost in this crack dream. But even though my mind is screaming in frustration, my body knows exactly what it's about.

Just as I figure that all hope is lost, I come upon a grand gilded door. It registers in my mind that behind this door is something different; not just a phantom wet dream of Naz clad only in a bikini and swimming in a pool of cash.

My heart throbs uncomfortably, growing numb as I consider the door. Hesitant, excited, desire; do I open this door? My life will change if I do, I know with absolute certainty.

Giving into the over brimming excitement, I turn the crystal knob and open the door slowly.

Disappointment washes through me as I look around. The lights are frighteningly bright; no shadows lurk in sight everything is cast in harsh relief.

It's nothing but an empty room.

Not knowing what to do now, I stand still. I feel the door slowly close behind me with a muffled sound.

A tiny and hesitant scuff of shoe on floor greats my ears.

I turn my head slightly.

It's Charlotte.

She's looking directly at me, but with an embarrassed look, like she doesn't want to admit my existence. Pink stains her cheeks charmingly.

I want to ask her what she's doing here, but not a word comes out. She smiles knowingly, and walks to me until mere inches divide us.

She gives me another embarrasses smile then wraps her bare arms around my neck and leans into me. I was waiting for this.

I am in a room; there is not scantily clad girl and a pool full of money. There is only Charlotte.

She lays her lips against my ear.

"Eddy,"
she whispers.

Her voice is thunderous in my ears from the stilled silence of the bright room.

"Eddy."

I want her to scream my name.

"Eddy."

My eyes are closing in pleasure, the blinding light and her smile imprinted on my mind.

"Eddy!"

The last knock was just enough to wake me up. My eyes snap open and I blindly stare forward. It takes a moment for me to fully gain consciousness.

Charlotte?

A quick rap on my back door and a hushed curse distracts me from my musings.

"Eddy!"

I stifle a groan as I climb out of my warm bed and step unsteadily to the door. A quick jerk to the handle reveals the disturbance of my sleep and my life.

"What the hell Charlotte."

She stands before me attired in a baggy shirt and mismatched holiday pants. Her hair is sticking up on one side of her head like a duck's butt and she's flushed from the cold night air, shivering slightly and arms wrapped around her slim waist in a vain effort to keep warm.

"I can't sleep," she mumbles in acute embarrassment.

Was I just dreaming about this girl? Surely not.

"And what does that have anything to do with you banging on my door and waking me the hell up?" My voice holds steady with little inflection, though I can't stop the slightly deep huskiness that enters my voice from exhaustion.

"Well, I mean… your house is rightnext door… I didn't know…" I have never seen her so flustered as she grappled to find a plausible reason for her actions.

"What do you want me to do about it?" Irritable and having to deal with this problem, at such an hour, I prop my bare shoulder against the door frame.

She sighed again in self disgust. "I don't know!"

I watch her as a great shiver runs through her body and she steps back.

"Never mind," she's saying. "Look, I'm sorry. I bothered you…" She turns to go.

Knowing I will mostly regret this in the morning, I grunt in annoyance and grab her arm before she could take a step.

"Just hurry up and get inside."

She stares at me in incomprehension.

I jerk sharply on her arm, sending her flying into my bedroom and shutting the door behind her. I quickly let go of her and stumble back over to my bed, lying with a grunt on top of the crumbled sheets.

Silence descends my room.

I open an eye warily and watch Charlotte dither where I left her; eyes me on my bed in hesitancy.

"Get over here already," I grumbled, crawling to make room on my bed. "You're making me nervous just standing there and staring at me."

"What makes you think I'd be staring at you!" she said indignantly and scuttled over to the bed, shuffling in awkwardly with a tiny huff.

I adjust the sheets around us and turn my back on her. An uncomfortable silence fills the area and I close my eyes knowing that sleep is no longer an option and, judging by the unnatural stillness on her side of the bed, Charlotte will not be getting any sleep either.

"Eddy?"

"What?"

"Thank you."

I peer back over my shoulder at her still form in disbelief. Her back is faced to me as well and I follow the rise and fall of her body with every breath she takes.

I flip over and keep a constant watch on her until her breathing becomes slow and deep as she slips into dream world with me not far behind.

"What in the name of all that is holy is going on here? Eddy!"

Waking up to the sound of Double Dee's annoyingly high pitched voice was not number one on my to do list this morning, but it happened nonetheless.

With a groan, I turned away and stretched out my limbs. There was a warm something blocking my path, but thinking none about it, I merely dropped my appendages on top of said unknown entity.

Something wiggled deliciously underneath me and there was a little warning bell in the back of my mind that something was not exactly right at the moment. Double Dee's hysterics confirmed that I was more than a little late on waking up. Something was wrong.

My brain had yet to catch up with my conclusion. I was warm, groggy, and in complete comfort so what could possibly be wrong?

I opened my eyes.

And came face to face with Charlotte's, still not awoken yet. My heart rate increased as the gravity of the situation hit me.

"Eddy!" Double Dee moaned. "Please tell me you at least used protection!"