Chapter 33

As Double Dee walked home through the cold windy air, he couldn't help but once again think how far his relationship with the Kanker sisters had come since he had first met them. From the moment that he saw politeness in Marie, he knew that she was a beautiful person deep down inside; but he had no idea that her sisters were generally nice people as well.

After hearing Marie's stories about their childhood and witnessing the behavior of the sisters tonight, he concluded that the Kanker sisters were extremely misunderstood young women. They were normal teenagers and kind hearted people, twisted by a complicated upbringing, hostile living conditions, and ridicule by their peers. Double Dee rarely judged anyone, and he was disappointed that he was guilty of judging the sisters by their outward actions when he first met them. He was grateful that Marie had opened up and informed him about her and her sister's lives. Most importantly, he was glad that he had given Marie a chance, and allowed her to show him her true self. He was proud to call Marie his girlfriend.

Double Dee approached his house and walked up the gravel path toward his front door. With a turn of a golden key, the front door was unlocked and he was once again greeted with the warmth of his house. He climbed the red carpeted stairs and walked down the upstairs hallway to his room.

When Double Dee reached his room, he sat the envelope Marie had given him down on his bed, and removed his coat. After his coat was off, he picked the envelope up and stared at it for a few moments before untying the string that sealed the envelope.

When the string was fully unwrapped, he opened the tab, and peered inside. The first thing he noticed was a piece of white stationary. He pulled out the paper, and discovered the same handwriting that he recognized from the note that was handed to him the day before Valentines Day. He quickly began reading Marie's letter:

Edd,

I was going through some old things this afternoon, and I found a few pictures you may like. These are for the times when I'm not with you and you really want to see me. I really hope you like them cutie!

XO Marie

Double Dee dug into the envelope and pulled out a series of photographs, tied together with a rubber band. Marie was the subject of all of the photographs. They were of Marie smiling. Included within the pile were some pictures of Marie without her hair covering her right eye, revealing her full face.

As Double Dee flipped through photos, he couldn't help but smile as he looked into Marie's beautiful emerald green eyes.

"Marie, you are always chock full of surprises" whispered Double Dee to himself as he set the photographs onto his nightstand and began the process of changing into his pajamas. As usual, the zipper on his jeans required a few tugs to set in in motion; after struggling for a few seconds, the slim bot was finally able to loosen its grasp, emitting a long sigh as he was freed from the confines of his somewhat uncomfortable pants.

Unfortunately, as these events unfolded, an all too familiar voice rang through the air.

"Hey Sock Head." yelled the voice of Eddy, who had entered through the bedroom window, Ed was directly behind him, entering the window.

Double Dee, being caught in a private moment, jumped slightly backward. Unfortunately, this caused him to unintentionally bump his night stand, knocking a tube of modeling glue onto his carpet. His rearward momentum continued to carry him down to the floor, causing him to land on the semi-open tube, causing it to squirt glue onto his best shirt,

"Eddy what in lords name are you doing here!" yelled Double Dee, "Is it too much to ask that others have enough social decency not to violate someone's personal space on daily basis!"

There was a moment of awkward silence, at which point Eddy decided to to continue.

"Double Dee why don't you go to the bathroom and clean yourself up." said Eddy, in a quiet voice.

"Good idea Eddy." said Double Dee as he began walking toward the bedroom door. As he left the room he turned around to face Eddy.

"And when you come back, we're gonna act as if this never happened." said Eddy

"Right." said Double Dee as he darted out of the room.

Eddy and Ed stood in silence for a few more seconds before Eddy began walking around the room.

"Okay Lumpy." said Eddy, "You listen by the door for Double Dee while I search the room."

"Why are we here again Eddy?" asked Ed as he picked up Double Dee's skull from his desk, placing it on his head.

"We came to bring him to your house for our game night, remember," said Eddy, "But if you keep quiet and follow my lead while I snoop around this place for a little bit, I'll give ya a tub of gravy on Monday."

Ed could not resist the call of his gravy.

"Aye Aye Eddy!" yelled Ed as he ran over to the door and peered around the doorway. Double Dee was still in the bathroom.

Eddy walked around Double Dee's bed and soon came upon the pile of photographs.

"What have we here?" said Eddy as he grinned. He picked up all of the pictures and began going through them.

Unfortunately, Eddy had managed to find the photograph in which Marie's hair was not covering her right eye.

"Whoah!" yelled Eddy shocked by the photograph. "Hey Lumpy get a load of this!"

Eddy showed Ed the picture of Marie with her right eye exposed. "Marie looks like one of the hideous mutated space girls from that movie I saw last night "I Married a Martian!" yelled Ed as he began to act out the part of the Martians, still wearing the skull on his head.

"So this is why she always hides that eye?" said Eddy, "It's a good thing she does, or I'd probably be running away from her twice as fast!"

Eddy began laughing hysterically.

"We hit the mother lode Ed," said Eddy, "I see big plans for these pictures, where's the sock head?"

Ed removed the skull from his head and peered down the hallway, noticing that the bathroom light was still on.

"Double Dee is still in the bathroom." said Ed.

He placed the skull back on his head and began walking around the room making monster sounds, oblivious to Eddy's plans.

Eddy glanced around the room until the sight of Double Dees table top copy machine came into view. Instantly, Eddy's an idea filled Eddy's mind.

"Bingo." said Eddy under his breath.

Eddy ran over to the copy machine, and quickly made copies of both of the photograph. He then returned the originals to their pile and placed all of the pictures neatly onto the night stand. The copy was shoved into his pockets, out of sight and out of mind.

"If things go as I plan, we'll have the sock head out of Marie's clutches in no time." said Eddy as he grinned.

At that point Double Dee had returned. Although he felt extremely awkward rejoining his friends in his room, he forced himself to push the door open. He found Eddy sitting on his bed, while Ed was running around the room with his skull.

"Ed, please return that replica to its proper designated area, it is very fragile." said Double Dee in a calm voice as he walked over to join Eddy on the bed. "And what brings you gentleman over to my house at such an unreasonable hour?"

"Ready your sleeping bag Sock Head." said Eddy, "Cause all of us guys are going over to Ed's for an all nighter."

"But Eddy, I haven't packed any of my toiletries." said Double Dee

"Who needs "toiletries" or whatever, we got us some pizza to eat, some sodas to drink, and some games to play, so let's andale!" yelled Eddy as he began walking out of Double Dees room.

"Come on Double Dee!" yelled Ed as he grabbed Double Dees hand and began pulling him down the stairs.

Although Double Dee had wanted to lay in his bed and drift off to sleep, he eventually decided to go to Ed's house with his friends, as spending time with them was just as important as spending time with Marie. He voluntarily walked across the cul-de-sac, and followed Eddy and Ed into Ed's basement window. Kevin and Rolf were already in the midst of a video game as the three Ed's entered. As the time passed, Double Dee felt at home once again, laughing and making jokes with his pals, unaware of Eddy's scheme.