Chapter 12

Double Dee stood in front of the mirror speechless. Why didn't he check himself? Why couldn't he have at least looked into the mirror after Marie had left? Why did his friends have to show up? Double Dee had realized that no matter what he did, it would take a miracle to take Eddy's mind off the subject at hand.

"Double Dee has been contaminated by the creepy repulsive monsters that are girls." said Ed as he grabbed onto Eddy. "Soon, Double Dee will succumb to their mind control and we will be forced to abandon our best friend as to not get infected ourselves."

"Ed you're an idiot." said Eddy before turning to Double Dee "Double Dee! You've been holding out on us. Who is the lucky lady?"

Double Dee stood in silence, trying to think of an appropriate explanation to the stain on his cheek.

"I'm waiting." said Eddy grinning.

Double Dee brainstormed and came up with a reasonable answer. He had no idea if Eddy would believe such a thing.

"Very well Eddy, if you must know, I am in a relationship." said Eddy. "Her name is.."

He paused for a second to try to come up with a name, he simply reversed the order and slightly modified Maries full name.

"Maryanne, she is from Lemon Brook. I met her a few weeks ago while I was walking home from school."

Double Dee had a hard time making up lies, and even more so making up lies about having a girlfriend. He wanted to tell his friends that he had just had the time of his life with Marie, but he knew that he would be faced with ridicule. Not that he cared, but he didn't want to cause unnecessary commotion for Marie, as well as start any trouble between his friends and her sisters.

Double Dee did not expect Eddy to believe one word of his lie.

"Way to go Double Dee!" said Eddy as he walked over and put Double Dee in a headlock, giving him a noogie.

"Eddy, you're giving me a headache." said Double Dee.

"See, what did I tell you, all those years of hanging with me really paid off." said Eddy as he grinned at Double Dee.

"Yeah Eddy, you're all the rage when it comes to love, may I remind you of your little incident at the carnival tonight." Said Double Dee as he snickered

"I would have been fine, but Monobrow bailed on me at the last minute. I got stuck with all three of the Kankers in the dark, and he wasn't there to take any of the heat." said Eddy.

"My goodness, they waited to ambush you until you were in the darkness?" said Double Dee.

"Yeah" said Eddy. "I got set up with Ericka, that hot chick from Bio, in the mystery match. And then as usual, Lee shows up, pushes the girl out of the way and said she was going with me. The operator pushed the boat into the tunnel. The other two were hiding in the tunnel waiting for my boat to pass so that they could help hold me down for Lee."

"And you didn't even see them?" Double Dee inquired.

"No, but I sure as hell felt them." replied Eddy.

Double Dee couldn't believe it. He did not have to worry about the suspicion that might have arose by Marie not being at the carnival. Eddy, in the midst of a sneak attack in the darkness, had confused one extra Kanker, for two.

"But anyway, who cares about that." said Eddy. "Is Maryanne hot?"

"Yeah, she is the most exquisite, beautiful girl in the world." said Double Dee, thinking of Marie's smile.

"I can't believe it Ed!" said Eddy, "Sockhead actually got a girlfriend before I did."

"I must save you Double Dee!" yelled Ed as he ran over towards Double Dee.

"Put a lid on it lumpy." said Eddy as he grabbed Ed and began pulling him to the front door. "Come on monobrow, it's late, our parents are gonna flip."

Eddy began to close the door to Double Dees house before turning around and making one last statement.

"And Double Dee, we're gonna talk about this tomorrow." he said while grinning before he shut the door.

With that, Ed and Eddy both exited the front door of Double Dees house. Double Dee could not believe that Eddy had bought his story. On a bad note, he could not believe that he had just stood in front of his two best friends, and lied directly to their face, as he had praised himself for his honesty all of his life.

But then, as he walked upstairs to get ready for bed, he thought about his night with Marie. All of the doubt he had about what he was doing virtually vanished as he pictured her laying under his covers with him smiling at him with that gorgeous face of hers. It was that thought that had allowed Double Dee to retire to the world of dreams as a happy young man. He drifted off to sleep peacefully, excited to see his Marie again the next day.

The next morning was Saturday morning, and the cul-de-sac was extremely active, as it was every Saturday morning. Sarah and Jimmy were playing hopscotch in the street while Johnny sat on the curb eating ice cream with Plank. Of course, Plank didn't eat the ice cream, but rather ended up with much of the strawberry flavored substance smeared all over his face. The rest of the kids and the Eds, minus Double Dee, were at the playground on the basketball court playing a game. Nazz was sitting on the bench watching Kevin play and cheering him on. It was two vs. two, and it happened to be Rolf and Kevin vs. Ed and Eddy. Naturally, Kevin's team was winning, and Eddy was becoming competitive.

"Rolf was off sides!" yelled Eddy after accusing Rolf of breaking the rules on the last play.

"No he wasn't dork that was a fair play." yelled Kevin.

"I say we redo." yelled Eddy.

"Whatever." said Kevin as he chest-passed the ball directly into Eddy's ribs. "We're still gonna score, so it doesn't matter."

Eddy dribbled the ball for a few seconds until he saw Double Dee running up to the court. He had been home all morning performing his Saturday morning chores. Eddy grinned as Double Dee approached.

"Good afternoon gentleman, how are you all on this beautiful day." said Double Dee.

"We're doing great," said Eddy smiling. "How is Maryanne?"

Double Dee had forgotten about the little charade he concocted the previous night to explain the lipstick stain.

"Who is this Maryanne you speak of?" said Rolf.

"Double Dee's girlfriend." said Eddy, turning around and grinning at Rolf.

"NO WAY!" yelled Kevin. "You're serious, he really does have a girlfriend?"

"We went over to his house last night after the carnival and caught hot lips here with a bright red, plain as day, lip stick stain on his cheek." said Eddy.

The whole group of boys all went OOOHHHH simultaneously. Double Dee was filled with embarrassment.

"The brainy Ed boy his finally succumbed to the affections of a female… I celebration I say!" yelled Rolf.

"Alright Double Dee!" yelled Kevin as he walked over toward him. He pounded Double Dee on his back. "I didn't know you had it in ya!"

The boys all began laughing. Double Dee was extremely uncomfortable with all of the attention he was receiving, He had to do something to get away from it all, or he would surely collapse under the pressure.

"Pardon me gentlemen, I would love to tell you stories about my recent entry into a romantic relationship, but I seemed to have forgotten to take the wash out of the dryer, as requested by my parents, I really must go finish my duty." Double Dee yelled as he turned around and began running home.

"Wait Double Dee, tell us about her!" yelled Eddy

"I will be back after I have completed my chores!" Double Dee yelled as he disappeared around the corner of the fence.

"What was that all about?" said Eddy, "That was the fastest I've ever seen him run."

"I bet he doesn't have a girlfriend." said Kevin. "That's why he ran he was embarrassed to confess."

"No, I think it's because you guys just stood here and bombarded him with a million questions!" yelled Nazz. "Now just leave him alone and continue with your game Kev."

Kevin leaned into Eddy and rolled his eyes. "Women, huh."

Eddy chuckled under his breath. Kevin passed the basketball he was holding to Eddy and all of the boys resumed their game.