Chapter 45

Back at the Rethink Avenue cul-de-sac, all was calm. The tranquil environment was in complete contrast to the business and excitement surrounding the school talent show. The street itself was completely devoid of life for, due to the harsh bite of old man winters frigid air, all of the residents had elected to take refuge indoors. Keeping with the spirit of the season, and to quote a famous Christmas song, all was also quite bright; the Christmas decorations gracing the lawns of all of the residents, as well as the huge tree acting as the centerpiece, were shining with what seemed to be the brightness of the sun.

It been ten minutes since Ed's mother's vehicle, shuttling herself, Ed, May and Sarah back from the talent show, had pulled into the driveway. The four individuals barely had time to remove their coats upon entering the house, for the telephone had rung, forcing Ed's mother to answer. Ed's mother smiled joyously as she spoke into the transmitter, as the individual on the other end happened to be Ed's father calling from a truck stop in Minnesota. He had called to let the family know that he had made the delivery early, and would be home a day earlier than expected. Ed's mother passed the phone to Ed, allowing her son to wish her father well; however, within five minutes the phone was forcibly taken from Sarah, who ultimately spent twenty minutes telling her father about her day. Ed, as usual, shrugged off Sarah's dominant behavior, after which he escorted May down to his basement room for their movie night.

May was currently sitting in Ed's solitary armchair, wearing her favorite winter outfit; a green sweater with a single yellow flower, blue jeans, and a pair of green slip-on winter shoes. She was currently observing her surroundings, glancing around the room with a smile as she ran her fingers through one of the two blonde ponytails hanging over her shoulders, each secured by blue bows.

As typical during the Christmas season, Ed's room was decorated extensively with his personal ornaments. Various knick knacks of Santa Claus were displayed on the shelves adorning the walls of his room, interspersed with his other science fiction knick knacks. On the far side of the room, Ed had placed a portable wooden mantle, decorated and painted to resemble a fireplace. Above the fireplace hung two stockings, one red with the word "Ed" written on it in gold, and one green with the word "May" written in silver. In the corner of the room stood Ed's personal tree, a miniature version of the house tree standing in the living room. While the tree was not completely decorated, due to using all of the leftover ornaments that could not fit on the main tree, there was no doubt that it was decorated with love.

May's concentration was broken due to the door suddenly flinging to the open position with a bang. Ed had gone upstairs to retrieve sodas, snacks, popcorn and condiments in preparation for their movie night. Accordingly, Ed entered the room cradling three bottles of soda, ten bags of chips, and a bowl of popcorn in his arms, all stacked up high in a cartoonish fashion.

"Special Delivery!" yelled Ed as he wobbled into the room, reaching backward with his foot to kick the door shut, "The snack man is here!"

May giggled as Ed dropped the snacks on the table he had set up in front of his arm chair, after which he placed two glasses on the table, one for him and one for May.

"Oh how romantic!" said May in her usual adenoidal voice, "Glassware instead of plastic cups. You really know how to lay on the charm big Ed!"

"Only the best for my Little May!" said Ed as he switched on the television using a handheld remote. He turned around to face May

"And guess what else!?" asked Ed.

"What?" asked May.

Ed reached behind the television and pulled out a special dish he had prepared while May had gone to use the bathroom a few minutes earlier.

" HOTDOGS!" yelled Ed as he held a paper plate full of microwaved hotdogs out for May to see.

"Yummy!" yelled May excitedly, "My favorite!"

Ed placed the plate of hotdogs down on the table in front of him, after which he turned his attention back to his girlfriend. May batted her eyes and clasped her hands as she slid over to clear space on the armchair for Ed. May, while much more conservative than her sisters regarding flirtatiousness, attempted to portray an amorous expression as she patted the space next to her signifying Ed to take a seat.

Ed smiled, at which point he nervously made his way to the arm chair, and took a seat next to May. The two teenagers sat in silence for a few seconds, both blushing at which point Ed slowly put his arm around May, and pulled her closer to him. May responded by shifting the weight to the sides of her legs, and leaning her head on Ed's shoulder.

While Ed and May had been dating for a few months, things of a physical nature were still quite difficult to them due to their shared innocence; attempts at being more "involved" with each other also seemed to lead to failure, an example being their glue mishap around a week ago. Accordingly, May responded to her nervousness by grabbing an entire hotdog and shoving it into her mouth, as Ed guzzled soda directly out of a bottle for a few moments.

Eventually, Ed placed the bottle back on the table and decided to initiate a conversation.

"Boy oh boy, that talent show sure was fun!" said Ed, "I'm so happy that Lee won, and that we were able to help."

"Yeah," said May, "It was awesome seeing Lee smile like that. That's something you hardly ever see."

"Yep," said Ed, "Especially since that big meanie Lindsay transferred to Peach Creek High. She sure does get Lee's temper up. I don't like her one bit, no no no!"

"Me neither," said May, "You have no idea how mean she can be."

Ed glanced down towards his blonde girlfriend, taking note of her disheartened expression.

"Aww cheer up May!" said Ed as he touched his hand to her chin, "Santa vs the Devil comes on in twenty minutes, and there's no way Lindsay can ruin this night for us."

"I know," said May, "It's just so sad that all of this fighting needs to happen around Christmas. It's supposed to be a season of giving and joy, but now Lee is always upset because Lindsay is back."

May turned towards Ed.

"Ever since we were in Kindergarten, Lindsay has picked on us," said May, "Lindsay hurt Lee's feelings really bad one day, and ever since then she and her group of friends started to bully us. She would make fun of Marie's eye, which gave her body image problems, and she made fun of my buck teeth and the fact that I had a bad lisp."

May grabbed her left pony tail with both of her hands, and began stroking it downward with her left hand, her red nails running though it's smooth strands.

"I always loved wearing ponytails," said May, "But Lindsay made fun of them too, teasing me for looking messy because I had trouble putting them in when Lee wasn't around to help me, and calling me a baby for wearing them in the first place. I started wearing my hair loose because of that, and never dared put them back in my hair until that day we pretended to marry you in my Poppy's house. Even then it was hard, because I was so used to being teased."

Ed watched as May told her story with an angry expression, as he did not tolerate bullying, especially when it involved his little May. However, while he was angry at the fact that May's feelings were hurt that bad by Lindsay's taunts, he continued to listen to May's story.

"It wasn't until Marie started being herself again last February that I felt like I could be myself again too." said May, "But while all the teasing really hurt my feelings, what really hurt is that I felt powerless to stop it, and I never felt like I was helping my sisters as much as I could."

May glanced towards Ed with a teary eyed expression.

"I had to skip recess and got pulled out of class a lot to go to speech therapy." said May, "Because of that, I was spared a lot of the bullying that Lee and Marie got. As I got older, I discovered that I liked sports, and Lee convinced my dad to sign me up for girls tee-ball after school. That hobby eventually turned into softball, and Lee was the one who encouraged me to try out for the YWCA team, and convinced me to keep playing whenever I had a bad game and got down on myself."

May sighed.

"Looking back, while I know Lee supported me all the way, I know it was also her way of keeping me safe, and giving me friends besides her and Marie to count on," said May, "It always bothered me that I kind of got everything handed to me in life compared to my sisters. I'm the only one that has my real dad in my life, I had friends outside of my family to hang out with, and I never really liked to get into trouble. My sisters always call me innocent, and Marie used to play around by calling me a "goodie two shoes", and while that may seem like a good thing, it always hurt me that I could get away from the brunt of the bullying while Lee and Marie had to suffer. I've always been too shy to help and speak up without them around, and I hate that about myself.

May twirled her thumbs as she paused to catch her breath.

"I hate seeing Lee so miserable," said May, "She's helped me so much in life, and I feel like I've never been able to give anything back. And I hate being so shy, I just wish I could suck it up and be bad for once."

May sat in silence for a few moments, after which she slowly felt Ed's finger lift her chin, aiming her eyes up towards his.

"Aww May," said Ed, "Why would you want to ever be bad? You're as sweet as a jawbreaker, and I looooooove jawbreakers!"

Ed smiled happily upon the completion of his compliment. While Ed's gesture was not the most romantic of compliments, it resonated perfectly with the equally positive, happy- go- lucky, sweet treat loving girl. Accordingly, Mays bottom lip trembled as her eyes watered out of happiness. She reached her hands out, embracing Ed in a tight squeeze as she buried her cheek to his chest.

"Oh Ed!" yelled May dreamily, "I don't know what I'd do without you."

Ed and May sat in silence for a few moments, enjoying their loving embrace, at which point a fun idea popped into May's head.

"You know Ed," said May in a whisper, "The movie doesn't start for another fifteen minutes, and I think I found the perfect way to pass the time."

While May attempted to convey a sultry, seductive voice, her natural nasal and adenoidal tone, in addition to her awkwardness regarding "physical interaction", inhibited the effect. Nevertheless, she leaned towards Ed's ear and whispered.

"Let's finish what we started before we got glued," said May.

Ed's face turned red as May slowly pulled her lips away from his ear, after which he giggled dopily. At that point, May lifted her left leg slowly in the air, and while maintaining an awkward amorous grin, attempted to straddle Ed's lap.

Unfortunately, May had picked the wrong night to borrow a pair of Marie's jeans. May, while not overweight, was of a stockier build than Marie; that being said, the jeans she was wearing were two sizes too tight. Within seconds of May lifting her leg, the sound of denim tearing filled the air. The seat of the jeans ripped wide open, exposing the pink panties May was wearing underneath.

May, embarrassed beyond belief, quickly returned to a sitting position next to Ed all the while blushing heavily. Ed maintained a neutral expression, his face red as well, as he continued to stare at the television.

A few seconds passed, after which May decided to speak.

"Well it's official," said May, "I suck at being sexy too."

"That's okay May," said Ed with a smile, "I don't need any of that kind of stuff to like you anyway, I like my Little May just the way she is!"

Ed delivered May a quick kiss on the cheek, at which point the couple glanced toward each other and shared an uncontrollable laugh regarding the previous event.

At the same time Ed and May were enjoying themselves, Eddy was making his way down the main avenue of the business district. Due to the harsh bite of single degree windchill, the usually busy business district was nearly deserted, with the exception of a group of dedicated Christmas Carolers singing a rendition of Jingle Bells.

The sound of the Carolers singing brought a smile to the small Ed boys face as rounded the corner into a dark alleyway; a route that was in fact quite familiar to him. At the end of the alley was a gate leading into a large plot of land, a plot that was once populated with rows of Christmas trees waiting to be harvested and delivered. Only a few small trees remained on display, due to the majority of them being sold, and the fact that Christmas was only a few days away.

Fortunately, Eddy did not have to search long for the individual he was looking for. The loud mouthed boy instantly took notice of a dull orange glow, the source of which was a flame produced by burning firewood inside of an oil drum located at the end of the alley. Next to the drum stood a familiar man; the silhouette of his grey unkempt beard and large body were being projected onto the wooden fence behind him, flickering with the flame as he held his hands out for warmth.

Eddy took a swallow, at which point he took a few steps forward. He opened his mouth in an attempt to speak; however, the man beat him to the punch.

"So you came back, huh kid?"