Chapter 34
A few hours had passed since May and Marie's sisterly conversation at the Green Clover. After work, the girls had decided to go their separate ways. Double Dee had invited Marie over his house to enjoy a roasted chicken dinner with his parents, followed by another movie date in his fathers den. May had made her way back to Eds basement to help her boyfriend apply the finishing touches to Lee's ballet display, after which they decided to snuggle on Ed's armchair for a few classic stop motion Christmas specials.
The Kanker-Lonergan residence was fairly quiet, a rarity given the fact that it was occupied by a five person family with three rambunctious teenage girls. This was due to the aforemented absence of the two younger Kanker sisters, as well as Tabby and Rod. Tabby had recently regained contact with one of her good friends she met while working at the catering business in the city, and had decided to spend the evening at her house catching up. Rod was currently at work, serving his night tour of duty, and would be spending the night sleeping at the firehouse.
While the majority of the house was silent, Tabby's ballet room, located in the basement, was full of energy. Lee and Eddy had been working on polishing up their dance steps in preparation for the talent show the following night for hours. Lee was wearing her standard ballet practice attire, a black leotard with white leggings and pointe shoes; her red curls were tied up into a tight ponytail. Eddy was wearing a white sleeveless shirt, black tights, and grey slip on shoes.
The two teenagers were currently finishing up a rehearsal of the entire pas de deux portion of their dance to music, provided via a boom box sitting on top of the piano, in an effort to simulate their actual performance. Lee was standing on the tip of her right foot, leaning her body forward as she held her left leg in the air behind her body for balance. She was holding Eddy's hands in hers as she spun around several times, using the tips of her toes as a pivot; Eddy circled Lee in step as she spun, guiding his girlfriend while providing extra support.
After a few spins, Eddy planted his feet and placed his hands near Lee's hips. Lee continued spinning, executing a fast-paced pirouette as Eddy used his hand to assist her in maintaining momentum. As Lee spun, she counted out the beats for tracking purposes.
"One and two and three and four and STOP!" said Lee.
At the sound of the word stop, Lee ceased spinning and rose to stand on the tips of her left toes. She leaned to the left slightly, with her right foot extended to the side in a horizontal position for balance, as she flared her arms out and slightly upwards with a smile. Eddy froze in place as well, with his hands on Lee's hips as he stood in a vertical position. Both teenagers stared at themselves in the large mirror, maintaining the pose that served as the finale to their routine as the music faded out.
A few seconds passed, after which Lee dismounted from her position and turned towards Eddy.
"Well, that's a wrap." said Lee, "I think we're all set, all's that's left to do is rest up and do it one more time tomorrow."
"Yep," said Eddy in a somewhat low key tone, as he glanced down toward his shoes "Tomorrow's the big night."
Lee took notice of her diminutive boyfriends melancholy tone, and took a few steps towards him. She placed her hand underneath his chin, lifting his head into a position to make eye contact as she simultaneously leaned down.
"What's wrong sweetie, you still nervous?" asked Lee, "Don't sweat it. You've accomplished as much in the last week as most people learn in three months, and you've gotten pretty damn good at it. I'll admit, you shocked me with how well you've done. I wrote our routine at a more elementary level than it is typically performed, but when I saw ya catching on at such a rapid pace, I decided to up the ante a bit and change the choreography to add a few more advanced steps."
Lee leaned closer to Eddy's face as she smiled.
"I'm so proud of you Eddy," said Lee, "Don't you worry about a thing. I know it's your first time on stage performing, but you are going to be fine tomorrow night, I promise!"
As Eddy looked up into Lee's blue eyes, his mind began to wander. Over the past few weeks, Eddy had developed severe frustration over his seemingly forced involvement in the feud between Lee and Lindsay. To the outside observer, it appeared that these frustrations stemmed from Lee's domineering demeanor, and his involuntary commitment to her cause; however, the true reason for Eddy's frustration lied in the fact that he felt powerless to assist the situation. Ignorant of Lee's past regarding Lindsay, the stout Ed boy only saw his girlfriend being driven to borderline insanity by an old bully.
Since getting to know Lee, Eddy had seen her grow and mature as a person. The former bully was gone, and she had begun behaving as if she was a grown up version of her childhood self, while still maintaining a cynical, street-smart attitude. Eddy had helped her cope with the severe abuse she suffered as a pre-teenager, and was happy to see that the retreat she attended at the end of June last summer assisted her in overcoming her emotional obstacles.
While Eddy claimed to be an expert at women, Lee was Eddy's first serious girlfriend, and while it wasn't as apparent to the outside world as his friends relationships due to personality differences, Eddy adored Lee as a person, and hated to see her suffer emotionally. Years of emotional abuse had made it quite difficult for him to express feelings of adoration and love, and this lack of understanding often caused him to make questionable decisions and exhibit manipulative behavior. The support of his friends had helped him overcome his manipulative ways, and with the exception of one relapse during the previous winter, he had managed to turnover a new leaf and become a better person. However, the strong desire to protect Lee's feelings, and do what he thought was best to remedy the situation with Lindsay had caused him to slip back into using manipulative tactics to achieve a desired end, as evidenced by his plan to use Rolf to drive Lindsay away. In addition, while he refused to admit it, Double Dee was right; Eddy was in the midst of a moral conflict regarding his plan to deter Lindsay from hurting Lee. In his mind, he had all but two choices as to how to handle the situation: Resort to back to scamming/manipulating to protect his girlfriends feelings, or sit back back and watch her continue to be aggravated.
On top of all of these thoughts, Eddy had also began to wonder if Lee would do the same thing for him. Lee had been displaying rather selfish tendencies over the past few days, such as stealing Eddy's money for tickets to the dance, and volunteering him to perform in the talent show without even requesting his input. As he glanced up into his girlfriends eyes, he observed something that even he had very rarely seen from his pretty girlfriends face; a genuine, sincere smile. A smile that he saw a few months prior when he and Lee first declared themselves an item and shared their first dance together in Double Dees living room. The sight of Lee's radiant face managed to make the small Ed boy to smile, and placed him into an even deeper trance.
"Hey you!" said Lee playfully, breaking Eddy away from his thoughts, "What's bothering you? It's not like my little loudmouth to be so quiet."
Eddy remained silent for a few moments, after which he decided to reply rather nervously.
"Well," said Eddy, "To be honest, I am nervous. Everyone's gonna be there tomorrow night, Kevin, Rolf, and all of the other guys from the football and basketball teams. Everyone's going to make fun of me for dancing ballet and wearing tights, and I'm never going to hear the end of it until summer."
Lee placed her arm on Eddy's shoulder.
"Eddy," said Lee, "Let me tell you something. Those guys can laugh all they want, but I guarantee you that none of them have the balls to do what you are doing. People are going to be laughing at me too, I know it, but that ain't stopping me from dancing my ass off tomorrow night. The best thing you can do in front of foolish people like that is to exude confidence, and be the absolute best you can be. You do that tomorrow, and I guarantee that those guys will leave that auditorium with nothing to say."
Lee paused momentarily, standing up straight as she giggled.
"Besides," said Lee, "Your confidence ain't the only thing those guys are gonna be envious of."
"What do you mean?" asked Eddy.
"I can't believe you haven't noticed yet!" said Lee, "Turn around and check yourself out in the mirror, you'll be surprised."
Eddy momentarily stood still, glancing upon Lee with a state of confusion, before turning his attention toward the mirror. As soon as Eddy laid eyes on his reflection, his eye's widened with astonishment. It seemed that Eddy's dancing ability was not the only thing improved by ballet practice; his formerly skinny biceps and triceps, as well as his deltoids had gained a significant amount of muscle mass. In addition, the low cut, form fitting tank top revealed a small amount of his upper pectorals, which were equally developed.
"Holy shit!" said Eddy with a sly smile as he struck a bodybuilding pose, "Check me out!"
"Looks like all those lifts we went over paid off!" said Lee, "I bet all your friends are gonna be asking you to show them some pointers on how you got so ripped."
Lee walked up to Eddy and placed her arms around his torso. She placed her chin on his shoulder, and looked into his eyes via the mirror as she spoke with a smile.
"See, didn't I tell ya you'd be happy with the result of our dance routine?" asked Lee, "You should know by now I always look out for those I lov...care about."
Eddy smiled at Lee's words as he continued flexing his right bicep in the mirror. Lee kissed Eddy on the cheek, after which she relocated herself to Eddy's right side.
"And here I thought my little sweetie couldn't get any sexier!" said Lee, after which she grabbed Eddy's bicep with her left hand. She playfully fanned herself as if she was overheated with her right hand as she rolled her eyes for a few seconds, causing Eddy to smile.
Lee pulled away and giggled as Eddy continued to observe his reflection in the mirror. However, rather than checking out his new physique by striking a body building pose with a sly grin, he stood with both of his arms hanging towards the ground and appeared to be deep in thought. Finally, after a three second duration, he suddenly turned to face Lee and posed an all too important question.
"Hey Lee," said Eddy rather sheepishly.
"Yes Eddy," said Lee as she ran her fingers through her hair.
"What do you want for Christmas?" asked Eddy.
Lee remained still for a few moments, after which she once again kneeled to Eddy's eye level and brought her face close to his.
"All's I want for Christmas is you," said Lee in a rather sultry sounding voice.
Eddy had no time to respond to Lee's statement, as she subsequently pressed her lips to his. After around five seconds, she lifted her lips away from Eddy's, but remained in close proximity to his face.
"C'mon cutie," said Lee as she smiled, "Let's go upstairs and get changed. I'll make us some dinner, and then if you like we can go up to my room and have some fun in a different way if you get what I mean."
Lee leaned into Eddy's right ear, and lowered her voice to a sultry whisper.
"This is the first time we've been alone with the house empty," said Lee, "We don't have to worry about being quiet tonight."
Lee retained an amorous grin as she awaited Eddy's response. Unusual for the stout adolescent, the prospect of he and Lee enjoying some "alone time" (especially one which Lee promised would be more exhilarating due to an empty house) did not seem to excite him. A few moments passed, and Eddy finally decided to respond.
"Ya know what babe," said Eddy, "I think I'll head back to the old sack and turn in. This dancing thing was hard work, and I want to get a lot of sleep so I can do my best tomorrow night."
Eddy glanced towards the mirror and flexed his biceps.
"Besides," said Eddy, "These guns need to be rested so they can have the honor of successfully lifting the sexiest babe in Peach Creek."
Eddy turned back toward Lee with an amorous grin of his own.
"How about we save the fun you suggested as our reward for a job well done tomorrow night?" asked Eddy, "My folks will be out all night, we can do it at my place."
For a brief instant, Lee appeared somewhat taken aback by Eddy's denial of dinner with dessert. However, the tall slim girl finally smiled and replied to her boyfriends suggestion.
"I like the way you think!" said Lee, "I agree, rest yourself up so we can wipe the floor with the competition tomorrow night. And afterwards, I'll come over your house, I'll make you dinner, then I'll show you some tricks of my own that will make your head spin faster than I can pirouette."
Lee giggled at her statement, after which she began walking towards the door leading out to the den. Eddy remained standing as still as a statue, pondering what "tricks" Lee was talking about with a smile.
"By the way," said Lee, as she turned around to face Eddy with an amorous grin, "Those tights don't hide anything, I'm glad just talking about tomorrow makes you excited."
Eddy broke out of his "romance induced" euphoria, gazed down towards his crotch, and quickly covered the area with both of his hands while blushing. Lee giggled, after which she continued on her way toward the door.
An hour had passed, and Lee had decided to follow Eddy's lead and retire to her bedroom early. Lee and Eddy shared their goodbyes, complete with a good night kiss, and a promise to walk each other to school the following morning. In the time between Eddy's departure, Lee had showered, changed into her pajamas, and tied her red curls up into a tight bun for sleeping.
Lee was currently sitting on her bed, leaning against the large wooden headboard. She donned her typical sleepwear, a light blue loose fitting t-shirt that hung to her knees when she stood up, and a pair of pink lounge pants with white flowers on them.
In her hands was a packet of old photographs that appeared to be taken with a disposable camera. She paced through the photographs one-by-one, observing each for a few seconds as her eyes appeared to tear up from behind her glasses.
Each photograph depicted a young, kindergarten aged Lee, smiling as she played with her best friend Lindsay. The girls activities varied between photographs, and included the two singing karaoke in Lee's bedroom, Lindsay showing Lee showing to do her nails, and the two girls sitting on Rods porch enjoying ice cream cones as they shared their "best friends forever" pinky promise. No matter the subject matter, each photograph depicted both girls smiling from ear to ear out of pure joy of each others company.
Lee sighed as she reached the final photograph in the pile. Prior to flipping the previous picture to reveal it, she looked to the sky, and uttered a few words.
"What do I want for Christmas?," asked Lee, "...My best friend back."
At that point, Lee glanced back down towards the photographs and flipped the penultimate card to the bottom of the pile, revealing the final picture. This photograph depicted a young Lee and Lindsay standing in front of their lemonade stand. Lee was wearing a green dress, white leggings, and Mary Jane shoes. Her boisterous red curls hung well past her shoulders, and were held away from her eyes by a green head band. The young girl was wearing somewhat oversized black framed glasses, the broken nose piece of which was repaired with a significant amount of masking tape. Lee was displaying a radiant smile as she stood next to her best friend with her hands clasped behind her back.
Lindsay, standing to her left, was smiling brilliantly as well. The young blonde girl had not changed much in terms of appearance from her younger days, with the exception being the perceived length of her hair being shorter. She stood with her hips relaxed to the right, her right hand resting on her hip as her left hand hung towards the ground.
Lee stared at the photograph with watery eyes, focusing on her smiling best friend, as she uttered a few more words to herself.
"Lizzy, I know this isn't you," said Lee, "What did she do to you to make you this way? I wish you would have just told me, and we wouldn't be going through all this ugliness."
Lee stared at the photograph for a few more seconds, after which she gathered all of the photographs and placed them back into their envelope. With a tear running down her cheek, the tall, slim girl carried the photographs to her vanity, placed them into their designated drawer, and locked them away with the golden key typically stored under her pillow. She then climbed into her bed, removed her glasses (placing them in their case on the night stand for safe keeping), and turned out the lamp in preparation for sleep.
