Author's note: Sorry for the longer than usual wait for this one! Had to get it down well. Anyways, I hope you enjoy! :D

Chapter 35: Jump In The Fire

Well, our lovebirds have quite the amount of things to talk about, don't they?

Anyways, picking up directly where we left off, Double D got Marie her drink, and so... the two lads began talking once more.

"Marie, might I ask, where did you get the idea for the dinner?" Double D asked her.

Marie smiles at Double D before responding, "Well, I just improvised. I can be clever, but not THAT clever. Also, don't ya feel like this is a repeat of the last conversation we had? How I basically tricked you?"

"Well... yes that would be an accurate assessment." Double D said while chuckling. "I will be returning the favor sooner than you think."

"Oh sure..." Marie said, while moving closer to him, basically wrapping her arm around him.

"Proceeding onwards, Marie, I must ask, has everything been manageable on your end at home?"

"Yeah." Marie said normally. "I mean, I'm glad your friends are supporting both you and me. But Eddy was very damn direct! That's not surprising, as it's Eddy, but dang! Never seen like that."

Double D stated, "It was quite unusual. Eddy always had those moments in his attitude where he would be quite up front with what he wanted to say, but never like that. I would ask him why he decided to do that, but he indulged into quite unusual territory today."

Marie got curious. "What'd he do?"

"Well," Double D said. "Eddy apparently listened to a song similar in the taste of Chris's preferences in music, and so, he brought all four of us into his garage, and we practiced a song that... I'm too embarrassed to reveal the true meaning of."

"Oh no you don't." Marie said, and she tells Double D, "If you don't say it, I'll start to tickle you."

Double D didn't exactly want to deal with that, so... "Alright then Marie... why you insist. Ahem! So, the meaning of the song is, as Chris put it, watching really attractive females performing dance moves."

Marie burst out in laughter, as to her, it's obvious what the song is, and the real REAL meaning of it is too. So she says, "Ha! I know the song. 'Girls, Girls, Girls', eh? Why did you guys pick that song? I wouldn't expect you to pick it, I'm so disappointed Eddward!"

"Marie! I'll have to mention that it was my choice, Eddy insisted! I had no say!" A concerned Double D said.

Marie leans in and pecks him real quick before stating, "I'm just joking silly! I know you wouldn't pick that, you'd find that embarrassing among other crap. But why did Eddy pick that song?"

"I have no clue Marie." Double D stated. "Apparently, Eddy thinks he can simply score something by just playing the song in the cafeteria. Like, why must he resort to such superficial manners?"

Marie only laughed at that in response. "He should've gone with something that wasn't so absurd. Who is singing it? You?"

Double D's face went red. "No!"

"I'm just kidding! Jeez, you need to loosen up a bit mister!"

"Well umm..." Double D said. "Moving along, Eddy decided to proceed to take the mantle of singing the song. Everyone else seemed incapable of delivering the words without a hint of laughter."

Marie found the whole thing pretty hilarious, as in her mind, this is just begging for failure to occur. But who knows really? Anyways, she proceeds to say, "When are you performing this?"

"On Monday," Double D responded. "Eddy wants to do it as quick as possible, but I fail to see the reasoning behind such a rash decision as to perform something that takes time THIS early! I mean, we practiced today, and sure tomorrow we will, but how does that constitute as ready for performance?"

Marie felt sorta bad, yet she couldn't wait to see this "amazing", performance. "Just so you know, I'll cheer you on. You have my word sweetie."

Double D shot a smile back at Marie, knowing that at least his girlfriend supports this ridiculous idea. "Thank you Marie. I'll be sure to do my absolute best, but I cannot guarantee anything unfortunately."

"Relax! Do your best okay? You can't please everyone." Marie told Double D.

"Speaking of which," Double D said. "What has occurred in your household ever since the incident...?"

Marie sighs in annoyance before speaking, saying, "Nothing. Lee has been silent, yet again. In fact, she been like that for quite a while now, ever since that incident at school. It's honestly sorta freaking off-putting, like she's planning something behind our backs, and we don't know it. All she does even is just sleep and watch TV or something. I honestly don't know if she is planning something, but if she is and I find out, I'll let you know immediately. But other than that, May and I discussed what occurred this morning in the room while Lee was again, watching FishBowl three. Anyway, May still supports us luckily, and your friends still do I assume?"

"Of course Marie! They all expressed their support in different ways." Double D responded to Marie's question.

Marie then says, "Great. I can only hope that Lee changes her mind already! Seriously, how do you persist with something after like what, nine people are against it?"

"It's actually more around seven, but your point still stands Marie." Double D said. "It's strange this persistence from Lee, as were I to receive major backlash for something, I would perhaps reconsider it. Of course, it does vary from situation to situation, but the point still stands."

Marie then asks him, "Oh yeah, I wanted to ask you something."

"Yes Marie?"

"Skylar still support us too right?"

"Positive of it." Double D explained. "In fact, before Skylar left to go back home, she expressed her support for our relationship, plus mentioning the fact that she believes that you have a correct decision, might I add."

Marie then says, "Nice. Skylar's a good friend, supportive at that too. Actually, now that I think about it, why the heck was she with you guys?!"

"Ah, well..." Double D stated. "As Chris explained to me, Skylar proceeded to visit him earlier in the day. When exactly, I am uncertain of, but I'm sure she was with him in the morning. Chris didn't fully give any details as to what he and Skylar was doing, but I would assume they were simply having a conversation or two about certain things."

Marie actually laughed at the last part, before saying in a playful tone, "Oh! I'm sure that's all the happened!"

Double D got confused, missing Marie's joke. "What do you mean?"

Marie leans in and jokingly whispers, "You think they went there?"

"Marie please!" Double D said, slightly disturbed. "Have some respect for their privacy!"

"Okay okay!" Marie said while laughing at her joke. "I'm just messing around. But I think I might bring up Skylar to Chris the next time I see him. He needs to do something already, it's embarrassing!"

"I suppose so." Double D said.

"Back to your performance," Marie said, relaxing herself. "Is this song the only one you and the boys will play? If not, what else you got in mind?"

Double D shrugged in annoyance. "Oh for heavens sake, we can only have so much time for performing a song Marie! Besides, I highly doubt we will get magically amazing reception for our performance, but one can wish for the best. Apparently, Chris can 'work his magic', as he worded it, to replicate the sounds that we seek for the song."

"Seems like you and the boys having been making big plans huh?" Marie teased slightly. "And all without me? Double D! I'm hurt!"

"I'm sorry Marie, I just can't predict certain decisions that my friends make that-"

I wonder, oh wonder, why Double D stopped his talking? Yeah, totally not because Marie kissed him. All jokes aside, Marie just shut him up for 30 seconds or so by doing that, and then she says, "Just make sure to look for me in the crowd. Or else..."

Double D shook his head in a mix of confusion and concern. Although, in his hindsight, it was more of another tease of hers. What else is new? Anyway, he responds, "Of course. I certainly hope this conflict between you and your sister does not persist, as family conflicts are not something to treasure."

"Yeah..." Marie said. "Look, I don't expect this dumb stuff to be any easy, especially since gosh, she won't even listen!"

Double D hugs her a little, if only just to cool her down a little bit. "Don't worry Marie, we will get through this. There's still the issue of how everyone is going to be talking about this, but hopefully everyone realizes the actual nature of it all."

Marie then responds, "I hope you're right. But know that I'll still love you, regardless."

"Me too." Double D said while shooting a smile

Marie then gets an idea. What's the idea exactly? To recreate what they did that one night that they had the date. Funny enough, Double D was not seeing this coming, but the moment was something he decided to... well, basically, might as well give into, as Marie was NOT gonna allow him to deviate from this little scenario he is in with her. Besides, he figured it's best to let her get her "fun", even if it's mostly her.

Truth be told, for the next 10 or so minutes... that's what they spent their time. Granted, nothing THAT excessive occurred, and to them, they didn't even realize that 10 minutes passed like that. But hey, at least the rest of the time, in Marie's mind, was spent doing something good catching up with what the heck has occurred, since they hadn't exactly been talking a lot with each other, due to keeping the whole thing a secret. Either way, nothing, and NOTHING, will split her from Double D. Then again, who made anyone god and said, "I'll split you two apart!"? Anyways, somuch for keeping the whole thing a secret now however, ouch...

Double D? Well, currently, he feels like he is in two places. First, he has Marie there with him, which, don't get him wrong, he still loves her and enjoys her company any day, it was just unexpected, her arrival, and how she decided to make an appearance. Secondly, he is sorta concerned with this whole, "song performance", idea that he and the lads made. Yeah, he likes music in general, but this was, for one thing, not his taste, and not exactly something he anticipated doing. Although, that's not to say he's 110% pessimistic, for all he knows, it could be incredible and lead into very new exciting territory! But hey, only time will tells if it stands the test of time. Terrible lines are bad.

Smoothly transitioning back to our couple, after the... "session", Marie said to him, "Okay sweetie, I know it's been fun for both of us, but I gotta go, can't say Lee is gonna be happy..."

"Please be safe Marie. As much as I enjoy your company, I do not wish for you to run into trouble with your sister." Double D said to her. Marie's response was to simply shoot a sly smile at him, and once she did that, the two of them went downstairs, in order to begin their little goodbyes to each other.

"Well Marie, I hope you have a great day." Double D said while smiling at her.

"You too. Take care!" Marie said, and with a kiss to seal the deal, she begins making her way to her trailer.

Double D then closes his door, locking it and going around his house to make sure everything is in order before he goes to sleep. Aside from a couple of dishes he had to cleanup, thanks to Marie's little scheme, everything seemed like it was in order. And so, he concluded that there was no more he needed to do, so rest, he goes to.

As if his thoughts couldn't have been anymore scattered, well... they "kinda" are. Does it make anyone surprised though? I mean, he's got two big things happening, trying to keep his relationship with Marie in check and good standing, although it seems like he is doing a very good job of doing so, at least he wants to believe. The other big thing is just his little performance with his friends. He can only pray that Eddy did not propose this in order to embarrass him. But he can only wait in the end...

And so, the night brings everyone to sleep!