CHAPTER FOURTEEN
After the mini-bus got back to the hotel, most of the teens headed up to bed. Edd however had asked Lindsay if he could borrow her cell phone so that he could make a quick phone call to his mother. Lindsay had handed Edd her phone, and Edd then went over to the hotel's library in order to make the call.
"Perfect", Edd said to himself as he looked in at the library/reading room, "no one here".
"Well, I wouldn't say that, Oven Mitt" a familiar voice said behind him. Smiling, Edd turned around to see Marie entering the library.
"It's always lovely to see you, Marie", Edd said, "though with the trip to Stonehenge tomorrow necessitating an early departure, I would have thought that you would be upstairs in your suite getting ready to sleep in order to be alert and fresh for…." His voide tailed off as Marie first went up to him and put her right middle finger of his lips, then took away the finger in order to kiss him.
"This is the first time we've had alone together since we arrived in England, Cutie", Marie said after their lips had parted, "and I've been waiting for this moment to kiss my sexy boyfriend… particularly after your singing earlier this evening".
"I appreciate the compliment very much, Marie", Edd said with a slight blush, "but my singing cannot compare to yours".
"You are a much better singer than you make yourself out to be, Dreamboat", Marie replied, "If John Denver were still alive, he would have enjoyed how you sang 'Annie's Song' the way you did".
"Well, I did like the duet we did together", Edd said, "but I don't think that I would be taking singing up as a career as it is a career that has a lot of competition, and uncertainty".
"Perhaps you should try out for American Idol or The Voice the next time they hold auditions, Double-Dee", Marie suggested, "after all, I'm going to give it a go".
"You certainly should, Marie", Edd confirmed, "I'll never get tired of hearing your beautiful voice".
"Oooh, come here, you!", Marie playfully said as she hugged Edd. The hug swiftly gave way to a passionate kiss.
After about twenty seconds, Maree pulled away from Edd.
"I'll let you make your phone call, Oven Mitt, before things get too passionate", she said with a giggle, "See you in the morning".
With that, she walked out, swaying her hips as she did so. Double Dee stood enraptured at his girlfriend as she left the library. After she had done so, Edd then turned his attention to the phone…
As Marie was walking back to her suite, she could not help but think just how lucky - indeed, blessed - as to being Edd's girlfriend. She was truly in love with a remarkable person. A gentleman, intelligent, caring, and really sexy, she thought to herself. She was however feeling frustrated as to him holding back on making love to her. She understood why he was not doing so - damn that Integrity! - but her sisters had done so with the other Ed's and she was mindful of taking all precautions, as Tabby had instructed her some months previously in a private one-on-one chat back home.
"I'm not going to be naive and say that it is not going to happen, Annemarie, despite Edd's reticence on the matter", Tabby had said to her, "because in one's teen years, hormones and emotions are eventually going to win out over logic".
Despite the seriousness of the topic, Marie couldn't help but smile at hearing her mother using words she'd have expected coming from Double-Dee.
"Has Double-Dee's vocabulary been rubbing off on you, Mom?" Marie asked playfully. Tabby - who was smoking her one-cigarette-a-day at the time (she was slowly weaning herself off the habit) - paused for a few seconds before answering.
"Edd came to me a couple of nights ago and talked about it with me, Annemarie", Tabby quietly said, which shocked Marie.
"What?! Why?!", she said in an agitated tone before Tabby cut her off.
"Annemarie, he said nothing nasty or lewd. He is a perfect gentleman who wants to do nothing but to do right by you. He confided to me his feelings about you and his concerns about sex and wanted to assure me that he would never act in an untoward manner or put you in a compromising position", Tabby said earnestly, "You are so very lucky to have someone who cares about you that much".
Tabby let that sink in, then spoke again.
"Regardless, this time in your lives is why I've had you, Annalee, and Annamae start taking contraceptive pills. This part of your life is really big in regards to your mind reacting to changes in your body. I'm not going to say 'Go for it!', but I want you to be fully ready when the moment happens", Tabby concluded.
Marie really loved her mother all the more for speaking to her candidly on this matter, and she really loved Edd for confiding his concerns about sex to her. It truly showed that Edd loved her. Still, despite her own virginity, she really did want to go all the way with him and she hoped that something would happen soon to enable him to finally 'cross the line'...
Up in the suite occupied by the Ed's, both Ed and Eddy were getting ready for bed. Eddy yawned loudly and stretched.
"I gotta tell ya, Lumpy", Eddy remarked as he started to undress, "this has been quite a day, I'm really looking forward to getting some Z's".
Ed didn't immediately reply. He was sitting on the bed looking at the old photo he had been looking at earlier in the Globe Theater. Eddy noticed. He knew what was in the photograph.
"In a few days, we'll be over there and you can see where it all happened, Ed", Eddy said quietly.
"Yeah, I know", Ed replied equally quietly, "it just was when in the play the king had mentioned 'band of brothers' that it made me think of him", pointing at the photo.
"My granddad on Dad's side of the family fought in Italy during the war". Eddy said, "Dad didn't say much about him, except that he was wounded at a place called Monte Casino and got a silver star and a purple heart. Granddad himself was close-lipped about his wartime experiences too".
"He came back from the war alive, so he was lucky", Ed said.
Eddy looked at Ed fondly. Ed wasn't what you'd call the smartest guy on the block, but there were times where could be really eloquent. Eddy could see this was one of those times, and it was making him melancholic. Ed decided to change the subject.
"Well, let's get to bed. Double-Dee's calling his mom, so don't lock the door", Eddy said.
"Okie Dokie", Ed replied, "but I'll hit the shower first. Don't wait up and sleep tight", he finished in his upbeat dopey voice.
Nodding, Eddy got into bed. He didn't make any comments about Ed showering. May was really becoming a positive influence on him and Ed's cleanliness was one of the results of that influence.
While Ed and Eddy were getting ready to hit the sack, over in the suite that Lee and Lindsay was sharing, both girls were getting ready to do the same.
"Hey Lizzy", Lee said to her towering BFF, "While Eddy and I were at the school, what did you and Rolf end up doing? Sarah told he that you two didn't join her and Jimmy on the tour".
"Rolf and I were walking in the park chatting. LeeLee", Lindsay replied, "First time on this trip that we actually had some alone time. He was chatting to me about his Lapland roots and various traditions. One that nearly got the Ed's mailed to Norway one time!" she finished with a giggle.
Lee giggled too. Rolf Xhuxha (pronounced 'Ju-Jah') and Lindsay Statorowski were very infatuated with one another. Despite Lindsay's fears that her rapid growth spurt would turn him off her, Rolf had remained her boyfriend, though with top of his head now barely on par with the height of her shoulders. Lindsay hoped that the growth spurt had stopped. It was necessitating having to but more outfits, and getting a longer bed at home…
As for Rolf, he really didn't mind the height difference. When Kevin had once jokingly pointed it out, he had replied, "Rolf is not unhappy as Rolf's sweet Schmetlokin now has both quantity as well as quality, yes?"
Kevin had nodded without replying. He certainly could not argue with that logic…
Just then, a knock came on the door. Lindsay walked over to the door and opened it. Outside was Edd, holding her phone.
"My apologies for interrupting, Lindsay", Edd said, "but I have finished talking to my mother and I am here to return your cell phone to you. Thank you once again for allowing me to use it", he concluded.
"Any time, Double-Dee", the tall blonde diva replied as she took the offered phone, "Have a good night, okay?", she finished.
"I will, Lindsay. You too", he replied with a slight bow. With that, he left to return to the Ed's suite. Lindsay closed the door.
"Eddward really is a gentleman, isn't he?" Lindsay rhetorically asked as she rejoined Lee. Lee nodded.
"He's really good for Marie", Lee replied, "and Lee is helping him loosen up too".
"Well, I'm just glad that Marie is not so cold towards me now", Lindsay said next, "though I really can't blame her for being stand-offish after the hard time I gave her – and you and May too – back in grade school".
Lee nodded. She remembered the time that she had to almost force out of Marie's mouth an acknowledgement of an invitation that Lindsay had given to her before summer vacation the previous year. That was when Eddy had hacked into the school PA address for the purpose of Rolf singing for her.
"For God's sake, Marie", Lee had snarled to her privately shortly afterwards, "You know why Lindsay did what she did back then. Thanks to that Babik bitch and her little nest of informers on the cheer-leading squad, she would have been tortured had she not been bullying us. You've seen her scars!"
"She left 'scars' of her own on all of us, Lee", Marie shot back, "and I could tell that she enjoyed it at times back then. Okay, you've forgiven her and you two are BFF's, but some scars take longer to heel. Don't expect me to welcome her with open arms anytime soon".
"That stubbornness of yours doesn't help, Marie", Lee said quietly but earnestly, "and may I remind you that that stubborn streak very nearly cost you Double-Dee".
Marie turned pale at that and was about to make a very nasty retort, but she caught herself. Lee was right. That prank that Eddy had pulled with those photographs of hers had caused her to draw the wrong conclusion. Only her mother's intervention had saved Marie and Edd from breaking up. Lee seemed to reading Marie's thoughts.
"You forgave Eddy, Annemarie", Lee said, "so try to forgive Lindsay. You're a smart girl, so I'm sure you'll come to the same conclusion".
"You're deep in thought, LeeLee", Lindsay said, snapping Lee out of her recollection, "Everything okay?"
"Yeah, just thinking. We'd better get some sleep. Long drive tomorrow", Lee replied.
Nodding, both girls bedded down. In the other girl's suite, May, Sarah, Nazz and Marie had done likewise. Marie had quickly joined the others after leaving Edd in the library. Nazz was telling the others what she had bought for her friends and hoping that when Mr. Statorowski's company shipped back the items to Peach Creek, that they would be okay.
Sarah was still on a high from the invitation to the Royal Ballet School and was telling May all about it. May had mentioned her introduction to cricket and making a new friend. For her part, Marie mentioned with a giggle about Double Dee almost passing out in the British Museum, which caused the other girls to laugh as well. They all knew how easily a book-worm like Edd could 'overdose' on the exhibits…
For his part, Edd returned to the suite where Ed and Eddy were bedding down. The lights were out and he assumed that the others were asleep. Quietly, he quickly got his ablutions done and headed to his bed.
"Hey Double-Dee", Eddy called out, "you got your phone call done?"
"Yes, Eddy", Edd replied, "Mother is fine and is glad that we are all enjoying ourselves. I'm sorry if I woke you".
"Nah!", Eddy replied, "but Lumpy there went out like a light when his head hit the pillow".
"Well, we'd best do likewise", Edd opined, "the drive out to Stonehenge will take a while and I'd like to be awake and refreshed to appreciate the scenery on the way out".
"Yeah, whatever", Eddy replied, not really enamored about seeing a big circle of rocks in the middle of nowhere, "See ya in the morning!"
With that he got into his bed and pulled the covers over him. Likewise in the other boy's suite, Rolf, Kevin, Jimmy, and Johnny were all asleep after their chatting about their day. Johnny had quickly made notations in his diary. He was acutely aware that he was the only member of the party – apart from Mr. Statorowski – who was not 'partnered', and thus felt a little lonely, but at least Nazz and Kevin had been making him feel not so left out. He hoped though that he would eventually find someone…