Chapter 11

Double Dee had longed for this moment, a moment alone with Marie, since that Wednesday night at the Kanker sisters trailer. But he somehow felt like he wasn't ready to face her. He thought that he'd have more time to prepare himself, to gain confidence. Now he was definitely sure he would blow his chance.

"So are you just gonna stand over there by the door all night, or are you gonna come sit next to me big guy?" said Marie in a cute and semi-seductive voice.

Double Dee, broken away from his thoughts by the sound of the voice he longed to hear slowly turned around. He felt himself breaking into a sweat as he met eyes with Marie. As he did, he felt his cheeks fill with fire. He couldn't help but notice that Marie giggled and turned a bright shade of red herself as she looked down and away from him.

"Hello Marie." said Double Dee as he walked over to her. "What a pleasant surprise. I didn't expect to see you here."

Marie looked up at Double Dee.

"Well remember, you always have to expect the unexpected with me, Double Dee." she said as she giggled and twirled her hair.

Double Dee stood shocked as he stared at Maries beautiful face.

"I suppose I do, Marie." said Double Dee nervously. "The walk from your home must have exhausted you, would you perhaps like a refreshment to quench your thirst?"

Marie giggled.

"I think it is so cute when you use that sexy vocabulary of yours." she said as she crossed her legs and leaned back on the couch. Double Dee froze and choked up at that last statement. A girl had just complemented his intelligence, which he thought was a reason he failed to impress girls.

"But seriously, a drink would be great, what do you have?" said Marie.

"W-we-well, let's see, mother is sure to have stocked fresh carrot juice in the refrigerator. We also have water, supplied either from the tap or in a bottle, at your discretion. There is also a bottle of Pepsi situate…"

Marie cut Double Dee off before he finished, as she smiled.

"Pepsi please!" said Marie.

"Your wish is my command." said Double Dee as he walked out of the living room and into his kitchen, smiling at Marie. He couldn't help but think how cliché the phrase he had just said was, and he was sure he had made himself look like a complete buffoon. He quickly poured Marie's Pepsi into one of the various assorted glasses in his kitchen cabinet and filled up another glass of water for himself. He walked back out into the living room to find Marie standing up, looking at various pictures around the room.

"Here is your soda Marie." said Double Dee as he handed her the glass, his hand shaking furiously out of nervousness. Marie took notice and put down her drink on the coffee table.

"Look, Double Dee." she said as she grabbed Double Dees hand and lead him to couch. She pushed him down onto the couch. "I'm not going to attack you, I'm not going to kiss you without permission, I'm not out to hurt you, so you can stop being nervous around me cutie!"

Marie took a seat next to Double Dee.

"Listen, I like you." she said, with an innocent look on her face. She began to blush.

"I mean, it has been obvious that we Kankers have liked you Ed's since we have moved here." said Marie as she looked down at her hands, which were resting on her legs. Double Dee turned his head and looked over at her face.

"But, I feel what I have for you is something more than just a girlhood crush, Double Dee." said Marie.

Double Dee was intrigued by Marie's statement.

"What do you mean, Marie?" Double Dee said in a calm voice as he moved closer to her on the couch.

"Well, I mean, it's weird. You see how my sisters are obsessed with your friends, and chase them all over like they want to be their girlfriends?" said Marie.

"Yes, how could I not notice that." said Double Dee, chuckling. Marie chimed in with her own little chuckle as well.

"Well, what I think, is that they have simple crushes on your friends. There would be absolutely no way that May and Lee would be able to commit. See, your friends are just a couple of the guys that they chase after."

Double Dee sat still and listened to Maries words deeply.

"And I will not lie," said Marie, "I have chased guys around with them before I moved to Peach Creek"

Double Dee was quite captivated by Marie's pure honesty she was demonstrating to him. He continued to listen to what she had to say.

"But then, we lost our apartment, and we were forced to move here to the trailer park. We had moved from the city so it was really hard on all of us to adjust to suburban life. One day, while we were outside the trailer doing laundry, we heard a loud boys voice coming from the cul-de-sac. We were so excited to hear the voices of a boy, that we dropped all of the clothes on the muddy ground and ran to see. I can remember that all three of us jumped up and peered over the fence of the lane to see what was going on. We saw Eddy standing on a box yelling into a traffic cone about a 'serial toucher' and how he, you and Ed were going to solve a mystery."

Double Dee giggled.

"Yes, I quite well remember that day. Ed's sister and I had coincidentally misplaced our belongings, and Eddy assumed that someone in the cul-de-sac had stolen them. He then attempted to turn us into detectives to make money off of the kids, which failed miserably I might add."

Marie giggled.

"So anyway, later that day, we saw you guys again, only this time, you had a huge sign on Ed that said 'Don't Touch'. We were already crushing hard on you three all day, and we were tempted to snatch Ed right there, hoping that you three would follow us back to the trailer, where we could do whatever we needed to do with you."

"That is quite disturbing that we were at such a high risk of being attacked and none of us had even the slightest idea." said Double Dee.

"Yeah, it was kind of creepy." said Marie laughing. "But we decided to wait for a better opportunity to strike. After around a month of watching you, we saw you guys in the woods wearing boots and rubber gloves. We knew that it was our time to move in for the kill. I think you know the rest of the story."

"Yes, I know quite well." said Double Dee, as he smiled with his hands folded on top of his legs.

"But, here's the deal Double Dee." said Marie, "During the weeks of watching you, you began to stand out to me. You were different than others. I really admired your intelligence, and how you were always caring and willing to help people. You just always seemed like a gentleman, like the perfect guy. I felt like my feelings for you were stronger than May and Lees feeling for your friends. I really wanted to talk to you on good terms, without all of the conflict that we have caused. Unfortunately, I was too afraid to do that for many reasons, and I managed to give you a bad first impression of me"

"May I ask, what those reasons were, Marie?" said Double Dee.

"Well, I was scared." said Marie.

Double Dee could not believe that a Kanker sister had just admitted that she had been afraid of something. He was so used to the domineering and controlling personality that was typical of Marie, that he could hardly believe what was coming out of her mouth.

"What were you afraid of Marie?" he asked, as he obviously began to feel more comfortable.

"Well, nice guys like you don't particularly fall all over girls with blue hair that wear black." said Marie "And they don't like being chased and tormented by girls like that even more."

At that moment, tears started flowing down Marie's face, her black makeup running down with them. Double Dee's eyes widened.

"You probably think I'm just trailer park trash after all of the things I did to you and what I have told you tonight." she said.

Double Dee could not believe that a Kanker sister was sitting in front of him, showing a full on display of emotions. He had never thought Marie even had tear ducts. Double Dee, although extremely nervous around girls, managed to get up the courage to move closer to Marie. He put his arm on her shoulder, at which point she looked up into his eyes.

"On the contrary, Marie," said Double Dee as he looked into Maries eyes. "I have been thinking about things since that night I fixed your television"

Double Dee grabbed tissues off of the coffee table. He gently dried Marie's cheeks as she smiled at him. "And I…well…well…"

Marie stared him directly in the face, displaying the smile that Double Dee found oh so attractive for the past few days. He finally brought himself to finish the sentence as he was sweating profusely.

"Marie, this sounds odd and rather out of the blue, but I really admire you as well. I think you are a wonderful person deep down inside and after what you have said tonight, as well as the night that I assisted you with your technical problem, I am sure that I would really love to get to know the real Marie Kanker. I think you are a really special person Marie."

Double Dee could not believe that all have those words have just come out of his mouth. He sat on the couch staring into Maries eyes, feeling like he was on fire. He had just confessed his feelings to the girl he had wanted to confess his feelings to for the last few days, and one he would have never even thought prior at that. Although he felt like a huge burden was lifted off of his shoulders, he felt more nervous than he ever did before.

"You really mean what you just said Double Dee?" said Marie.

"I mean it from the bottom of my heart." replied Double Dee.

"Nobody has ever told me that I was special before in my life." said Marie.

Double Dee sat staring into her eyes.

"Surely your parents and your sisters think that you are a special person." said Double Dee.

Marie said nothing, as she began crying once more. Double Dee was afraid that he had gone too far with his last statement, as he sensed some anger and sadness in Marie's face.

"Marie, I am so sorry. Please forgive my rudeness, I did not mean for the conversation to bring up any more intense emotions than it already has." Double Dee said in an extremely nervous tone of voice.

"It's not your fault Double Dee, you didn't know." said Marie. "And I certainly did not think it was rude."

"Thank goodness." said Double Dee.

"And as far as my mother goes, she really tries. She holds down a job waitressing tables in a restaurant the business district. She relies on tips, so she sometimes works double shifts because we need as much money as we can get to afford the utilities. We do our best to try to help her out by taking turns working with her at the restaurant for extra money. That's why I wasn't in school today."

Marie wiped her eyes.

"And even though she tries and obviously cares about keeping the unstable family we have on the right path, she has never told any of us that she loved us."

Marie whimpered slightly.

"And it doesn't help that we were all unplanned babies." said Marie as she looked back into Double Dees eyes. "From the little things our mother has told us about her life, I found out that she met Lee's father, Butch, in a bar and began 'seeing' him, if you would put it that way, every few nights. A few days later after one particular night, my mother found out that she was pregnant with Lee, and told Butch, who freaked out and stepped out of her life never to return again. A few weeks later, while she was still pregnant with Lee, she met my father. His name was Bill, but everyone called him Bubba. The only thing that she has told me about him was that he was tall, rode a motorcycle, and had sleeve tattoos up the length of both of his arms. Anyway, he moved into my mom's apartment while she was pregnant with Lee, and was in her life until about six months after Lee was born. She told me that he eventually walked out on her, due to him not being able to take Lee's constant crying and demand for her attention. He was lucky that he walked out right then and there if he thought that way about babies, because after an alcohol fueled night that occurred a few weeks prior to his walk out, he managed to create me. My mother tried to track him down, to at least tell him that she was pregnant with his baby, in the small chance that he actually did want anything to do with me. Long story short, she never found him. A few months later, I was born. After I was born, my mother picked up a job waitressing a restaurant in the city, and my grandmother watched us while she was away at work. During her time at the restaurant she met May's father, Roderick, who we she and his friends call Rod. She never told us how May came to be, but what I do know is that he was in our lives until May was three. My mom caught him cheating on her with a prostitute after work one night, and they broke up."

Marie paused.

"Even though they broke up, he still spends time with all of us. He has always treated me and Lee just like his own daughters, and he has always been our main father figure in life. Because of that, I consider him my real father, not that scumbag who doesn't even know I exist. He helps as much as he can with our bills, but sometimes it still isn't enough."

Double Dee sat speechless. He was astounded that Marie trusted and confided in him enough to tell him her life story. He couldn't believe how much he didn't know about the Kanker sisters. He felt horrible that he had judged them immediately from their outward actions, rather than thinking of some possible causes for their eccentric behaviors. After a moment of silence, Double Dee inquired once again.

"Marie, if you don't mind me asking." said Double Dee. "How is it that you and your sisters are all in the same grade level at school? Even if each of you were born right after one another, it would be impossible for each of you not to be at least a year apart in age."

"My mother delayed me and Lee from going to school until May was old enough for kindergarten. For some reason, she thought it would be easier to keep us all in the same grade level."

"That's quite a strange thing to do." said Double Dee. Marie looked at him and smiled.

"Yeah tell me about it." She said as she chuckled.

"My mother isn't perfect but she does the best she can." said Marie "I guess she is the reason why we thought we should always just chase boys around and never try to commit to relationship. She always told us to never trust men, and that they are only good for money and sex."

Marie chuckled at the last statement, before looking into Double Dee's face with a smile

"But I don't want to be that kind of girl Double Dee." said Marie.

Double Dee continued to stare deeply into Marie's eyes as she continued.

"On the other hand, Lee has always been the wildest one of us." said Marie, "She has always helped us when my mother wasn't there as far back as I can remember. Getting dressed, making sure we ate every morning, helping us brush our hair. But for whatever reason, while May and myself would occasionally merely crush on boys, Lee has always had an unhealthy obsession with sex, and I can't figure out why. Even so, I never expected that from her."

"It takes a very strong and brave person to remove themselves from a situation like that, especially when there is peer pressure involved." said Double Dee.

"It hurts." said Marie. "I wish I could somehow convince her that she should stop putting herself in those kind of situations."

Double Dee sat speechless.

"Just to let you know Double Dee, you may not believe it, but you are the only boy that I have ever kissed." said Marie.

Double Dee saw this opportunity to try to lighten up the conversation.

"Well, I can also confirm that you are the only girl that I ever kissed as well, although you technically forced me to." said Double Dee laughing. Marie laughed back with him.

"You're a very sweet boy Double Dee and you don't even know it." She said, making Double Dee blush once again. She giggled.

In the heat of the deep conversations that they were having, time had flown quicker than the two had thought. It was already fifteen minutes past 7:00, and the two were still sitting in Double Dees house.

"Looks like we're missing the carnival." said Double Dee looking at his clock.

"Ah who cares." said Marie, "This is a whole lot better than some mush fest."

The two looked at each other and laughed, realizing the irony of Marie's statement. Double Dee saw an opportunity to bring the conversation into a lighter tone.

"So Marie, do you have any other requited secrets that you would like to share?" asked Double Dee.

"Depends, what you want to know." she said smiling.

"Anything, my ears are open." said Double Dee.

"Hmm." Marie said, "Well, Marie isn't my full name." she said.

"Really?" said Double Dee. "It's just a nickname?"

"No," replied Marie, "It's just part of my name. My full name is Annemarie."

Double Dee repeated the name Annemarie in his head, it was the most beautiful name he had ever heard.

"All of our names begin the same way." said, Marie interrupting Double Dees thoughts. "My mother named us Annalee, Annemarie, and Annamae. My mom and dad always call us by our full names, but as we got older, we decided to just call each other by the last parts of our names for ease."

"I know how you must feel." said Double Dee. "What a coincidence is it that my two best friends are named Edward. I had to adopt the nickname Double Dee because Eddy had already taken the name 'Eddy'"

"I can't imagine calling you anything else." said Marie giggling.

And so the night went on, with Double Dee and Marie sharing secrets and other things about themselves literally opening their hearts up to each other. Time seemed to flow rather quickly, as Double Dee's wall mounted clock was displaying a time of 11:05 p.m.

"My goodness, it's 11:00 already, I was enjoying myself so much that I completely lost track of time." said Double Dee.

"Everyone should be leaving the carnival by now." said Marie. "I better get home before Lee and May through a fit when I'm not there. I pulled the sick card again." Marie laughed.

"I actually told my friends that I had to stay home and work on some of my experiments." said Double Dee as he giggled.

"I think it's best my sisters and your friends don't know about this quite yet." said Marie. "I really don't think that they would be ready for this kind of news, especially with the past that we have."

Double Dee agreed with her, but wondered what she meant by "this". Did this mean that they were an item? Did he actually have his first girlfriend?

"Um..Marie?" asked Double Dee.

"Yes?" she said smiling at him.

"Do….doe…does this….mean th..hat you and…me ..are.." He said, choking on his words. Marie cut him off by putting her index finger over his mouth, as if to silence him. She leaned into his face.

"Don't worry Double Dee, you have me." she whispered. She then chuckled and began walking towards the door. Double Dee, although in a dream-like euphoria after hearing those last words that were uttered from Maries mouth, remembered that he had forgotten to give Marie her Valentines Day surprise.

"Marie wait!" he yelled. Marie turned around. "Before you go, may I ask you to come up to my room, I have something to show you." He said, motioning her up the stairs.

"Double Dee!" she yelled. "On our first date, how could you?"

Double Dee stood shocked staring at her. Marie began walking over to him and eventually passed him. She began walking up the stairs.

"Relax Oven Mitt, I'm only playing with you." she said looking down at Double Dee and winking. Double Dee smiled and followed her upstairs.

When they reached Double Dees room, Double Dee positioned her in the center of the room and turned her around away from him.

"Now close your eyes." He said.

As Marie stood waiting for Double Dee to return, he reached onto his desk and grabbed his concoction. He walked over to Marie and placed the glass flask into her hands.

"Happy Valentines day Marie." he said.

Marie stood staring at the familiar colored fluid in the container she was holding.

"Allow me." said Double Dee. He took the flask out of her hands, and opened the cap. He waved the smell to her nose. Marie's eyes instantly lit up.

"Is..is…that Crankshaft #5?" she said.

"Yes it is." replied Double Dee.

"But how did you…they don't make this anymore." She said.

"Well, it may seem a little bizarre, but I am guilty of stalking you too. The other day, I heard you and May talking outside of the store on my way home from school. I couldn't help but overhear that you had used up your favorite scent, and could not acquire another sample, as it was out of production. Therefore, I took the liberty of searching the internet for the ingredients to the perfume, and used the chemicals I had in my garage to create a new sample of th….."

Double Dee was cut off before he could finish the sentence. To his surprise, Marie had rushed forward and placed her lips on his. The momentum caused Double Dee to fall onto his bed, with Marie laying on top of him, embracing him with her lips still locked into his. Inside, Double Dee was on cloud nine, he had never felt better in his life than he did at this very moment. He had just been kissed by a girl, a genuine kiss, not one of the forced kisses he was so used to receiving. Without hesitating, although he was quite nervous and felt slightly awkward in this predicament, Double Dee placed his arms around Marie's body, and voluntarily kissed her back for the first time. After what seemed like an eternity, Marie finally pulled away from Double Dees lips, but remained close to his face.

"Double Dee, you are so sweet!" she said. "You must have spent hours making this."

"Well, it didn't take that long." he said "I just wanted to see you smile." Double Dee blushed.

"Thank you so much Double Dee!" Marie yelled as she embraced him once again, kissing him on the cheek.

The two got up off of the bed and headed back downstairs. They began to walk toward the front door.

"I had a great time with you Double Dee." said Marie.

"As did I Marie." replied Double Dee.

"Hey, why don't you come over to my trailer tomorrow night?" said Marie. "Lee will be out with my mom, and May is going over my dad's house. We won't have to worry about being bothered."

Double Dee was ecstatic, and quickly replied to Marie's question.

"I would like nothing more, Marie." said Double Dee, as he opened the door to his house. The cold winter air rushed in, sending a chill through his body.

"Great, I'll see you around 7:00?" she said.

"Sounds like a plan." replied Double Dee.

"Well, I better get going before I get caught." said Marie laughing.

"Alright then." said Double Dee as he stared into her eyes.

The two stared at each other for a few seconds when Marie smiled.

"So, boyfriend?" she said. "Are you just gonna stand there or are you gonna kiss me goodnight?" she said in a playful manner.

Double Dee was enticed by the word boyfriend. He could hardly believe that just a few hours ago, he was a shy geeky kid who never thought he would be able to have a girlfriend. Now, a few hours later, he was about to kiss the most beautiful girl he had ever laid eyes on.

Double Dee slowly began to lean into Maries face with his eyes closed. He began to feel Maries warm breath coming from her nose, and he knew he was just millimeters away from initiating his first kiss.

"Just kiss me already cutie." Marie whispered really softly. Double Dee felt her lips brush against his ever so slightly. At that instant, he did it. His lips made full contact with hers for a full ten seconds. Double Dee couldn't help but feel a sense of accomplishment. It had not been the first time he had been kissed, but it was the first time he initiated a kiss; and he liked it.

After a few seconds, the new couple pulled away from each other. Marie stared into Double Dees eyes and began turning around to walk home.

"See you later Double Dee." she said as she looked back at him.

"Goodbye Marie, see you tomorrow." He said as he watched his girlfriend walk down the path from his house, cross the street, and disappear behind the gates near the inlet of the cul-de-sac. Double Dee closed the door. The instant he closed the door, he began running around the room, cheering for himself in his mind. He ran over to the CD player that was in the living room, put on a sample of rock music and began dancing around the room in his own little world. In his mind he was officially a man. Absolutely nothing could bring him down from the intense love high he was feeling at the moment.

Double Dee had not noticed that while he was having fun with himself, the front door had opened and Ed and Eddy were standing in his living room. Both boys were cracking up at Double Dees display.

"Hey Sockhead!" Eddy yelled, his obnoxious voice easily overpowered the music.

"Eddy!" yelled Double Dee as he quickly turned off the music, embarrassed that he had been seen displaying such eccentric behavior. "What are you two doing here, how was your night at the carnival?"

Ed was dressed in the same clothes as he was that morning. Eddy had changed out of his 70's style clothes, and was wearing a simple red button-down shirt with jeans.

"Don't even ask." said Eddy in a groggy voice.

"The Kankers got a hold of Eddy and took him for a ride on the tunnel of love." said Ed.

"This was the worst Valentines day ever!" yelled Eddy in his usual obnoxious voice. Double Dee couldn't help but chuckle while imagining what Eddy had gone through.

At that moment Ed and Eddy noticed something on Double Dee's face. They both began grinning.

"What?" said Double Dee.

"I knew it!" said Eddy

"You knew what?" replied Double Dee. "What's so funny?"

"Forgot to clean up afterwards?" said Eddy. Ed began laughing with him.

"What in lords name are you talking about?" yelled Double Dee.

"Look in the mirror." said Eddy while grinning.

Double Dee quickly rushed over to the wall mirror to inspect himself. To his horror, sitting right in the middle of his right cheek, was a lipstick impression of Maries lips from when she had kissed him after receiving her gift. Double Dee stood shocked, having no idea what to do next.

"So." said Eddy as he sat down on Double Dees couch. "Who is she?"